Judgement day [Bleedingpaw's Assessment]

[Rani]

Bleedingpaw
Shadowclan Apprentice | He/Him | 11 Moons

Just a Scratch | Shadow Fiend | Hulk SMASH!

Time healed all wounds. Except it didnt. Time turned wounds to scars, never as it was before, harder, tenser, tender, maimed, but not open. Metaphorical mental wounds itched.


The apprentice was more stable now however. He no longer walked with wide flashing eyes like everything was a hidden claw, a threat. He no longer seemed as if he expected the worst out of everyone. He still did, of course, but it was hidden now from view a thought in the back of his mind not screaming in the front.



So trust was a work in progress, but he'd made some choices. He'd talk to his siblings too, wrangle them all together for one fell swoop in a way the group just didnt and confront the shared specter (not Darkfall, heh) haunting them. That'd decide who he wanted to continue to take a chance on out of that group, though for now he could enjoy their company, even if they ended up just as bad as Her.

Similarly he could do the same with the others who'd gathered his esteem, enjoy what he saw even if he no longer trusted what he couldnt. Rookfire, Hawkbite, Brairsplash, Scorpionpaw, Grottopaw, they could betray him, but he'd expect it, always expect it now so it wouldnt hurt as much. It was something the bengal could live with.


Dawnstar however? She wasnt allowed.
The pretty tom was well aware he was possibly being downright irritating in the time since their talk, ghosting around her near every time she was in camp but he just couldnt help it. He needed to know she wasnt a liar, a betrayer and words werent enough anymore, even if he trusted hers more then most. That too was slowing as time and unchanging behavior proved Dawnstars character, though now it was hard to not appear a suck up given his near instinctual reaction to her emotions. Oops.





Suppose that was part of why the tom was so keyed up as they headed into the territory. What was ones warrior assessment if not the most clear and important test of an apprentice, their proof to the leader they were worth all the effort put into them. Bleedingpaw was a lot of effort, a lot of chance for a clearly lifelong disabled cat. He HAD to be worth it, more then, he had to be valuable.


But he'd prepared, taken every lesson available and done advanced battle and hunting training on top of a myriad of extras and was as ready as he ever would be. So now even as he wobbled, only slightly slower then most as his tall lean adult form made up for the disadvantage of his impeded movement, and even as he near tripped over a sneaky root, he kept up reaching the clearing and standing (shakily as always) at attention.
"Im aware of the usual methods of a warrior assessment." He'd interrogated Hawkbite "But would you desire a demonstration of my swimming, healing and extra knowledge or is that not a necessary factor."


@Undertaker

[Undertaker]

@Rani
She arches her back and drags her claws through the dirt as she gets up. Pain flares up in the back of her neck, but she ignores it. The Clan leader had slept strangely or something since there was a kink in her neck. No matter how she tries to remove it, it's been there for the last few days and occasionally annoys her. Her tail whips through the air behind her as her cool amber orbs roam the clearing for a particular pretty kitty.

It's been some time since she's been personally asked for an assessment. These days, she usually leaves the assessment to her enforcers or warriors. As much as she loved to check whether her up-and-coming warriors were actually fit for the rank, she had too much on her paws to tend to every assessment. She's loosened her control a tad, and it seems to be going well enough. ShadowClan's been having new warriors made every moon for a little while now. It was difficult to say whether those warriors would have passed if assessed by her.

Bleedingpaw's recent revelations regarding betrayal left her with a new mini-shadow. Even though she was glad he wasn't as unstable since their chat, Dawnstar hadn't expected she'd find the little furball out of the corner of her eye nearly everywhere she went in camp. Her newest parasite. She wasn't sure if he was watching and remaining nearby cause he was needy, or he doubted her and was waiting for the inevitable moment she turned on him. The latter would have rubbed her fur the wrong way if she didn't understand him as well as she did. She was guessing it was the former, though.

He was very much like Sleepysunrise was (and still is) as an apprentice, eager to please. She found no reason to fault them as Dawnstar had been the same with Icestar. Only, whereas she worked her tail off for a scrape of recognition that more often than not did not come since it was expected of her, she was not as interested in dangling praise to see how high they'd be willing to jump for it. She had already tried the manipulation tactics on her first few adopted furballs, and they came back to bite her in the tail.

So now she was simply going to try and go through the more affectionate, supportive route, and see if she got different results. Which meant following her instincts more often than not, they've grown more maternal since having a litter of her own, which she still wasn't sure how it worked. Being an actual mom was an oddity to her, still, she was mostly winging it and hoping for the best here.

Small bones pop and snap within her neck as she tilts her head. A tattered ear turns to listen to Bleedingpaw as he comments on his extra training. Seriously, he was another version of Sleepysunrise as an apprentice. Dawnstar hadn't had all the extra lessons available as an apprentice, she'd learned swimming, fishing, and climbing as a leader. She should see about picking up on more herbs in time, as well, and she could use the extra medical training.

"Not necessary, but if you wanna show off, feel free. I have some free time." She couldn't promise she was the best to assess him in those categories, but she knew what it was like learning all this extra stuff and waiting for someone to pat you on the back for it.

[Rani]

Bleedingpaw
Shadowclan Apprentice | He/Him | 12 Moons

Just a Scratch | Shadow Fiend | Hulk SMASH! | Mind Reader

In some degree Bleedingpaw knew and had expected his unnecessary skills wouldnt really be of consideration in an assessment unless he brought it up. However.... Well he'd picked them up for a reason.


The golden bengal would, despite best efforts and extra training, be showing less skill in hunting and fighting then other clanmates. Or, he at least assumed that to be the case given Shadowclan held their cats to high standards, though it was possible maybe subpar warriors did slip through the cracks. Regardless. His hunting would take longer, he probably wouldnt be as effective, and against Dawnstar despite directly planning to fight her the leader would wipe the floor with him, fast. He knew his fighting was around the average level of a normal warrior with his efforts but still for shadowclan, that wasnt much.
Shadowclan didnt accept 'average'.


Hence so many extra skills that Bleedingpaw didnt necessarily 'need'. So yes, he would prove his value in other areas, just in case.
Tracking he could use in hunting, find something big and exciting to make up for quantity. Stealth would be there too. Predator combat and flaying had no place in assessments. Leaving- "Ill swim across that patch of bog and heal any wounds incurred in the combat portion myself at the end. It'll save Sleepysunrise the herbs and time for more dire cases."


It was a reasonable addition that did not interrupt the flow of things, and the tom waited, ears perked for the leaders approval. When he had it there was little use for words and got started, slipping into the mire with a small shiver at the lingering chill in the water (thankfully he'd warm up hunting and fighting after). For all the murky bog muddied Bleedingpaws pelt and scent (a benefit for later fighting) and he found that unpleasant he was indeed rather good at swimming.


With the water cushioning him and supporting him, countering for any poor balance, the tom in this environment didnt risk tipping over for once. Any rogue lashings of limbs, wobbles, wiggles, and twitches were obscured by the water and in fact assisted his swimming. Here, in the water, for once he appeared without disabilities at all, easily navigating current and obstacle, finishing with ducking under a fallen log that hovered above the water, slipping out of the mire and flicking water out of his ears the dive had incurred.

Comparing his movement on land compared to the water, he looked like a clumsy duck, waddling on flippers not suited for walking.


At least now he was closer to the other bank where some pond turtle he didnt know the name of was sluggishly trying to warm itself on a rock, slamming into it to pin it so it couldnt bolt into the water and fishing a paw into grab its retracting head. It took some paw wiggling, but eventually that was his first catch down as a errant claw pierced its eye, reptile unable to retract its head enough to escape death.


@Undertaker (+1 turtle, will knock out the rest of a hunting in a single post next post)

[Undertaker]

@Rani - Bleedingpaw
She flickers her tail tip thoughtfully while listening to Bleedingpaw. It made sense that he had some basic medical knowledge, considering how clumsy he was. He still wobbled, but aside from that time in her den, she rarely saw him fall. He hasn't bled much since... hmm, she might have to think about a more fitting name once he earns his warrior name.

"Go ahead," She approves with a nod. Her eyes trail him as she drops down into a long stretch, forcing unwanted tension out of her muscles. She dug her claws into the soft mud below as it leeched up what little heat she held in her pads. Dawnstar wasn't in any mood to follow him into the water; she could swim, but didn't like it. Her fur wasn't sleek like a riverclan cat's, her pelt soaked up water, which helped on a hot day, but made swimming a real pain.

Bleedingpaw didn't seem to have the same problem. He swam like a fish, perhaps he should have been taken into RiverClan instead of ShadowClan. The leader strained her ears to hear over the wildlife, but it was hard to detect his movement in the water. He didn't splash or flail around like others, reinforcing her former thought. Well, too late now, he was ShadowClan through and through.

The prey he caught wasn't ShadowClan's typical prey. It was one of those hard-shelled creature cats see now and then around the territory. She wouldn't call them common, but not uncommon either. Turtles. She's never eaten one. Once they got into the water, they were hard to catch and Dawnstar had yet to figure out how to break open their shells. Perhaps she'd take the one Bleedingpaw caught as a gift. She could see if they were worth catching or if she found another favorite prey to eat.

[Rani]

Bleedingpaw
Shadowclan Apprentice | He/Him | 12 Moons

Just a Scratch | Shadow Fiend | Hulk SMASH! | Mind Reader

With the turtle no longer twitching Bleedingpaw couldnt help but poke it for a second, testing how he could pull the retracted legs out and how the belly places werent quite attached to the top around the edges..... Ah but it wasnt time his natural curiosity now, he could poke later. No for now the tom just buried the turtle and moved on, scenting the air.


He'd long since found the riverbank was a good place for prey, as all needed to drink, so stuck to it, taking advantage of the fact he smelled like the river more then cat. The tom had been on the trail of some delectable smelling water vole, not quite close enough to start stalking when a rustle from a nearby bush sent him on alert, eyes narrowed. For a moment he thought it might be Dawnstar, but no she wouldnt have caused a rustle to speak of, before the scent of rat came and he had just enough time to raise a paw to strike before the target came.


Musk rat!


The thing was, as it always was, giant, almost a foot long and easily bigger then the toms head, and about as furious as any rat was but the tom didnt flinch. Snarling Bleedingpaw dodged the lunge, paw slamming down in the strike as he tossed it into a tree side and quickly tackled it, pinning it down and biting its neck until it fell limp. It wasnt a clean kill or a typical hunt, snorting in annoyance the tom noted a bite (not too bad, he couldnt even feel it) staining his golden pelt red and that he'd more been hunted then he'd hunted it. But a catch was a catch, and musk rats were large and hefty prey.


So he buried it and moved on, unbothered by the brief incident. It was after all, just a rat.




Figuring that the noises wouldve scared off any prey near the riverbank the tom moved on heading to a spot he knew always held prey, if a risky type. Time to demonstrate the snake hunting he'd once begged Brairsplash to teach him.

And look, there was a fat black and brown snake on the rocks.


Falling into a stalk the tom didnt bother to hide, well aware of the poor vision of the creature, and simply stayed downwind and kept his steps feather light to not vibrate the ground. Poor sight, weak hearing but should Bleedingpaw let his steps seem as more then the natural movements of the forest it'd cause the snake to flee or worse, alert it and make the hunt a risky fight. Fortunately his scattered shuffled steps felt nothing like the normal approach of a predator or cat, lulling the snake into thinking it was something non harmful, a rare advantage of his ever wobbling movement.


So not long it was that Bleedingpaw reached the snake, and snagging a rock he stunned it with a harsh blow before grabbing the dazed creature in his mouth and killing it.




If only the rest of his hunting went as well, as Bleedingpaw found his next attempts poor. A stalked bird (he was always bad at those) heard him approach and flew away, the scent trail of a squirrel went cold, and he needed to slip into the shadows to catch a piddly mouse after way too long with nothing.

Shadow Fiend: Active

This, this was why Bleedingpaw had to learn more skills, try twice as hard to be acceptable. Because even at his best he still fell short of an average catch of a normal clanmate.


Still after what felt like hours of hard work he had a turtle, a musk rat, a watersnake, and a piddly mouse to show for it and he sat in front of his haul, waiting for Dawnstar to reappear and hoping it was enough.


@Undertaker (fyi the snake isnt the venomous kind but he was trained in a way so just in case he wont be but)

[Undertaker]

@Rani - Bleedingpaw

Her paws roll a small pinecone between them while she observes the apprentice as he briefly plays with the dead turtle before burying it and setting off. He doesn't go far, so she doesn't have to move much as he wanders along the river. Her pinecone is left behind as she watches him freeze and turn his head towards a bush. Her head follows as she sees the bush rustle. She parts her maw and tastes the air, but she smells no predators around.

Bleedingpaw wasn't stupid enough to hunt something that could kill him, right? Her muscles stiffen as what looks like a small beaver comes flying out of the shrubs. It was a Muskrat, prey, but not something commonly hunted in ShadowClan. Anything with the word rat is expected to have a rather nasty bite. Despite its size, Bleedingpaw dispatched it without too much trouble. Still, she reminded herself to hunt for bites and ship him off to Sleepysunrise after this.

As Bleedingpaw moves further from the river, Dawnstar tenses her muscles underneath and evergreen and leaps upwards, hooking her claws into the tough bark. She climbs the massive tree till she finds a sturdy enough branch to hold her weight and sits on the limb. It's not difficult to locate Bleedingpaw again, his pelt doesn't exactly blend in seamlessly with his surroundings. He's hunting something new.

Confusion brightens her amber eyes as he grabs a rock and manages to hit a snake. He catches the snake after stunning it, but Dawnstar finds the way he catches it quite displeasing. She knew cats had different techniques and whatnot when it comes to hunting. The main goal was to catch the prey; how it was done should be that big of a deal, at least not to her. But it didn't mean she had to like it.

The rest of his hunt was rather lackluster. She wouldn't blame him for the bird, those were tricky. The squirrel he had been hunting she watched escape up a tree, which made her wonder if he knew how to climb, but then thought sticking a cat with balancing issues in a tree was asking for trouble. The ambushing of the mouse was a bit of overkill, but it caught more prey for the clan.

As he collected his prey and returned, Dawnstar stayed on her perch, doing one more quick scan of the territory, and then climbed out of her tree. She landed heavily on the forest floor and slipped into the shadows, winding her way through the trunks and foliage until Bleedingpaw's pretty pelt greeted her gaze as she pushed through some ferns.

"Not bad," Dawnstar strolls over to get a closer look at the catches.

"You caught more than you lost, and the muskrat was quite surprised, but you handled yourself well enough. Your hunting technique with the snake was interesting to say the least." Her huge claws hook into the crevices of the turtle shell as she batters at it lightly.

"The turtle's new, I've never seen anyone catch one personally." She'd have to mess around with that later. "I'd say you pass. You get bitten by the overgrown rat?"

[Rani]

Bleedingpaw
Shadowclan Apprentice | He/Him | 12 Moons
Just a Scratch | Shadow Fiend | Hulk SMASH! | Mind Reader

The brief flash of envy watching someone else exhibit a skill he'd never manage (long having decided that tree climbing was not worth the risk) was a familiar one and easily squashed as Bleedingpaw sat, awaiting judgement. He knew full well that his catch was not particularly great given the turtle was a catch of opportunity and the muskrat had ambushed him, plus the mouse was a bit small, but it was still catches and would have to do. Itd have to.



It was seeming to, at least. Nodding at her comment on the snake the tom remarked "When Ms Brairsplash taught me snake hunting she recommended either a precision bite to the neck or a hard blow to the head to stun them and not risk a return strike. However my precision is.... hit or miss." Meaning there was always a good 50/50 shot a rogue wobble would send his head a good few inches off course, part of why he bodily tackled most prey before going for the kill, it made aiming without escape risk easier. "And Im prone to.... crushing the snake if I hit with a paw. I can demonstrate more in the combat section but using a rock to stun is how I instead hunt snakes with little risk."


On topic of the turtle though he straightened a bit, eyes brightening as he pointed out something he noticed to the leader. "Its new to me too, I simply took the opportunity present, but I think I know how to open the shell. When it died I felt its belly.... relax? So to speak. Around the edge of the stomach shell and back shell there seems to be a gap, I think inserting a claw and cutting the skin around it will let you separate the two so you can get at the inside." If no one claimed the turtle after his assessment Bleedingpaw would have to do so personally, he was curious now.


As for injuries? The tom jolted, seemingly forgetting that it'd occurred, genuinely not feeling the bite in the moment or now with his weird resistance to pain and reported. "The rat broke skin but its not deep, it just broke skin. I can continue the assessment as I hardly feel it but after Ill be sure to use chervil roots on it instead of just marigold to make sure no infection forms." It was unlikely however given the shallow nature of the wound and that the musk rat was not eating as much carrion and trash as its twoleg dwelling brethren, muskrats were basically discount beavers and so cleaner. As it was Bleedingpaw wanted to start the combat section while his blood was up and self doubt wasnt screaming that he was doomed for failure from the beginning.


He would be enough. He had to be.


@Undertaker

[Undertaker]

@Rani - Bleedingpaw

Hearing the logic behind the decision eased some of her concerns with his snake-hunting methods; it made sense. She didn't like it, but to each their own. So long as her clanmates caught and brought home prey for the clan, she wouldn't make a fuss about how it was done. She also hadn't put much thought into his wobbly nature either. Honestly, she thought grabbing a rock and chucking it would be more difficult than simply pouncing on it, but since he was less likely to get bit while keeping his distance, it worked.

Her tattered ears were rammed straight when the turtle was brought up. Its belly? She walked over to the dead creature again and went to inspect it. Her claws slide into the holes where the heads and legs extend, but she is a bit lost on how he feels the belly relax until he mentions the gap. The leader's long black claw slipped further out of its sheath as she found the gap he spoke about. Intriguing.

"You can fiddle around with this one. We'll have to go turtle hunting. You can show me how to break open the shell." Despite the leader's age and experience, she was never shy regarding her curiosity and willingness to learn from others, regardless of their age and rank. She'd have the chance to bond with her little shadow, too.

Uh, she had already forgotten he said he had taken an extra lesson regarding herbs. So a visit to the medicine cat would be unnecessary. All this reminded me of is that she needed to take some extra medicine lessons.

"Wonderful, get your prey hidden, and we can start the combat. You've done satisfactorily enough to pass your hunting portion." She tells Bleedingpaw as she turns away. Her amber eyes scanned their surrounding; this should be good enough for a combat ground.

"We'll spar with claws unsheathed, though the same rules apply in a regular spar," Dawnstar says when she turns back around, no vital spots and severe damage. The leader leans down into a loose but comfortable fighting stance. Her swaying tail stills as she relaxes the tension in her muscles.

"You're not fighting to beat me, impress me." She reminds him before allowing him to make the first move. It was unlikely he'd get a chance in the first place to attack first, not with that wobbly, he'd be a target until he showed the other cats in the clan that he was more than that.