Stroll with a Red Pigeon at Dawn

[Undertaker]

@GoldenDays @Toodle
The ShadowClan leader lifted her ears and scented the air as she left ThunderClan's Camp behind. The sun was setting bit by bit, she was expecting the territory to be bathed in darkness soon enough... or at least it would have been if their trees weren't still bare. With newleaf here, she could see the trees slowly sprouting their leaves again, but they were only just starting to grow and were as bare as ever. There were little to no shadows to be found here, much to her disgust. She missed the darkness, the quietness, missed the shadows that wrapped around her and bathed her in their blackness. She was even starting to miss her clan, as disturbing as the emotion was for her.

The longer she stayed here the less certain she felt about ThunderClan. Her clan was falling apart and losing activity while she was here wasting her time. She should gather her cats and take them home, let ThunderClan try to recover themselves as ShadowClan reminded them what it was like to fight tooth and claw. Sighing softly, the broad-shouldered feline turned her head to look at the pair of apprentices with her. Dawnstar hadn't taken them far from camp, rarely did she go too far in case something happened.

Stopping in front of what ThunderClan dubbed the Weeping Tree, a willow tree, she lifted her head noting the increase in squirrels with newleaf here. She should hold a hunting event sooner rather than later. It could be her departing gift to ThunderClan. "Alright, Redpaw, what do you know about hunting?" She questioned the four-legged apprentice while waiting for his response she looked over to Pigeonpaw. "I want you to walk circles around the base of the Weeping tree, as you get used to walking, move into a trot, and a trot into a run. Increase your speed as you grow more comfortable with the movement. Don't be hasty, you can start slow, this is going to affect how you fight and hunt in the future. You need to become as naturally on three legs as you were on four."

[IcarusUntamed]

@Undertaker @Toodle

~Red’paw~

The young Tom trotted quickly after his leader, gazing around at thunder clans barren trees, how could any cat stand to live in such sunlight? It was nothing compared the the darkness the trees back home created. There was foliage yes but everything was so bright you could be spotted a mile away, it was a wonder any cat caught anything without shadows to hide in.
Soon the trio stopped by what Red’paw assumed was the Weeping Willow, thunderclan named their landmarks the strangest things. It sounded like the tree was depressed, why would a tree be weeping? It was nonsensical.

He turned slightly to face Dawn’star when she asked him what he knew.
“Owl’feather taught me a basic hunters crouch and showed me how to leap “ he mewed in response, he hadn’t had much time to learn anything before they had went to thunderclan but it still made his paws shift nervously that he knew so little. The spotlight was soon shifted from him though as the leader turned to Pigeon’paw and told her what to do.
Honestly the calico pitied pidgeon’paw. Yeah they would try their best and might even get somewhere but they would never stand a chance against a fully able-bodied warrior. Pigeon’paw would never be a real warrior now that they only had three paws, it was sad but there were plenty of other things a cat could do in a clan, Pigeon’paw could take up medicine or maybe even look after kits.

[Toodle]

Pigeonpaw focused on Dawnstar's tail as they trekked through the bare forest. She focused on keeping up as she held her stubbed leg over the ground. Once they stopped Pigwonpaw realized how much more tiring walking on three legs was than on all four. She listened to Dawnstar ask Redpaw about his knowledge on hunting and his answer. Pigeonpaw was eager to try to show Dawnstar what she knew, momentarily forgetting that she was essentially back to the nursery. Her face burned hotly when Dawnstar turned to her to instruct her to walk around the tree as reality came crashing back down. She was learning how to walk all over again. She swallowed her pride and nodded.

She hopped towards the thick willow. She looked down at her missing paw, a sick feeling settling in her gut. She realized that she could likely balance just fine on her nub and would then get all four legs to carry her weight again. It had to be less work than hopping. But the idea of setting her freshly healed nub on the ground made her dizzy. She tested it on the ground and realized it was sore but didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. Taking a deep breath she slowly put more weight on it and half hopped half limped on the stub as she moved forward. She let her breath out, it worked! Moving slowly and awkwardly, she made her way around the tree once then twice then a third time. She was getting quicker but it still felt awkward and clumsy as she continued.

@Undertaker @GoldenDays

[Undertaker]

@GoldenDays @Toodle [I'm not certain why but I thought Pigeon lost her whole leg, is she only missing a portion?]

Ears swerving to catch Redpaw's response, a grimace crept up onto Dawnstar's face as soon as she found that he hadn't learned much hunting-wise. But she couldn't blame Owlfeather for that considering that Dawnstar had snatched up her apprentice. "It's better than nothing," she replied, "let's see how good your nose and ears are, what scents do you detect and what sounds do you hear?" Dawnstar mostly meant prey scents and noises, but she wouldn't mind if he was able to pick anything besides that. The leader noticed Redpaw's glance at Pigeonpaw and barely refrained from hissing at him. She could see the pity in his eyes, it annoyed Dawnstar beyond words.

Thankfully, Pigeonpaw seemed more focused on training than dealing with her beebrained denmate. It wasn't the fact that Dawnstar was overly concerned about Pigeonpaw's emotions. It was more that she didn't like Redpaw deeming any member of ShadowClan as weak. If Dawnstar was keeping the cat around it was for a reason, and it was certainly not due to weakness. But Redpaw was young, he wouldn't understand. Her amber glare remained trained on Pigeonpaw's progress as she waited for Redpaw's answer.

"You move a little strangely, but that doesn't really matter. You're getting faster. It'll feel a little strange at first, I'm sure, but the more you learn the better you'll adept." Dawnstar somewhat praised Pigonpaw as the apprentice persevered. The she-cat was rather proud of the apprentice, Pigonpaw could be grappling with depression and self-loathing instead she was keeping her chin up and pushing through to becoming a warrior of ShadowClan. The apprentice should be admired not pitied.

[IcarusUntamed]

@Undertaker @Toodle

~Red’paw~

The apprentice shook out his fur a bit as he focused on his senses, parting his jaws to take in any scents he could and pricked his ears for any sounds. Thunderclan territory smelled odd but he had grown used to it in the moon they had been there. He hadn’t noticed the leaders flash of anger, focusing in on the task at paw. Red’paw could smell a few scents, the main one being oak seeing as thunderclan territory was filled with that, a rabbit had been nearby not long ago. Overhead he could hear the light chatter of birds, there might be one near the ground if they looked.

“There are definitely a few birds nearby, if we look around we might find out at ground level!” he mewed, there obviously wouldn’t by any in the clearing though, prey tended to leave if they saw cats out in the open. He took another sniff to check again. “But I’m also catching something I’ve not smelled before, it’s stale though, definitely not nearby right now but it must have passed through a while ago ” Red’paw didn’t know this but that stale scent was fox, while it may not be nearby anymore it would be a good idea to keep a look out.

[Toodle]

(Oh ya, she just lost her actual paw so her leg ends in a nub)

Pigeonpaw lowered her head and focused on her steps, stopping only when She heard Dawnstar's voice. As soon as she realized the molly was addressing the other apprentice she set off again walking her laps. Redpaw was getting to practice scents and hunting while she had to practice walking again. She breathed heavily as the thoughts weighed on her but she narrowed her eyes and refocused. She couldn't allow herself to get bitter, she would learn how to walk even better than she had before and she'd become Shadowclan's strongest warrior, a missing paw didn't have to stand in the way of what she always believed.

She stopped and looked at Dawnstar when she began talking to her. She nodded. She felt a moment of self-consciousness at the idea that she moved strangely but really it sounded like Dawnstar was praising her and she had to know that she was moving strangely, she was missing an entire paw. She felt a proud heat flush her cheeks and puffed her chest a bit as she focused again on walking. She started slowly, putting her stub on the ground and focusing on moving on it evenly. It wobbled on the ground and a deep soreness ached all the way up her leg but she bit her tongue and pushed through. Figwind had said something about callouses. Maybe with more use her stub would grow hard enough for her to walk on without pain. The thought felt impossible at that moment as the aching pain lingered down to the very bones of her leg but if she didnt have hope then she'd never be able to push through.

@GoldenDays @Undertaker