Shadows Behind a Lark

[occultation]

Shadowfur emerged from the warriors’ den, pleased that the temperature was still above average heading into night. It had come to his attention that he was to give Larkpaw her assessment. This revelation was unexpected, since he figured either Vixensnarl, Cougarivy, or Sorrelflare would handle it. But, he certainly wouldn’t complain.

The Enforcer scanned the clearing, searching for Larkpaw. He hoped she was around. The sooner this assessment was done, the better. ShadowClan needed fully-fledged warriors, and the apprentice Enforcer deserved her full name.

( @Kat )

[Rose]

Larkpaw
Post Count: 128/100

Light pawsteps crunched against the ground as Larkpaw rose from her place and followed after Shadowfur. In truth, ever since informing him that Dawnstar had appointed him to taking her final assessment, Lark had been waiting. Waiting for him to signal its' start. Thankfully, she needn't wait long. Shadowfur was an amiable Enforcer, and Larkpaw was ever-so-grateful that Cougarivy had not been the one to take this test instead. Slitted amber eyes scrutinized the dark warrior for a few moments as Lark waited mutely at his side. She didn't have to say anything. Shadowfur should be smart enough to realize why she was standing a few paces from him, staring expectantly. But alright, she would stop eyeing him like a freak and actually speak. "Hello."

[ @Cherry~ - Shadowfur ]

[occultation]

Shadowfur turned as Larkpaw vocalized a greeting behind him. Figured that she’d end up in the small area of camp behind him, instead of the large swath of land he was able to survey. At least she didn’t try to surprise attack him or something.

Remaining stoic, he nodded to her and began padding out of camp. “Let’s go.”

As they walked, he explained the assessment. This was his first time assessing an apprentice, so he wasn’t fully aware of what the specific process was. He did know that Dawnstar wanted a spar to be included. Beyond that, all he could assume was that it was up to the assessor.

“As I’m sure your position allows you to know, ShadowClan doesn’t need any more cats that can’t pull their own weight,” he said. “As such, I will be evaluating your competency in a set of skills, rather than simply in battle. We’ll begin with an evaluation of your hunting ability. Then, I’ll be testing your ability to strategize. Finally, we’ll spar. If you perform adequately in all three areas, then I’ll pass you.”

( @Kat )

[Rose]

Larkpaw
Post Count: 131/100

Amber hues remained fixated on Shadowfur as the large, black-furred tom spoke. And then, when he started to leave camp, Lark followed behind him on silent footsteps. She could not help but tip her head to the side as the fellow Enforcer began explaining how the assessment was to go. She wasn't complaining on anything, not exactly. Though her ears did prick with slight intrigue as Shadowfur began talking about handling her assessment with other added sections. That wasn't what Dawnstar had instructed. It was odd, hearing one thing from the leader and then another from one of ShadowClan's elite, but... It wasn't like Larkpaw had a problem with anything Shadowfur was saying. A white-tipped paw lifted off the ground as Larkpaw attempted to rub some warmth into her stiff shoulder. "Alright." Was all the apprentice said in the end, lowering her paw back to the ground. "Sounds good to me."

[ @Cherry~ - Shadowfur ]

[occultation]

Once he arrived at the Training Cliffs, Shadowfur decided to begin Larkpaw’s assessment. He felt a pang as it occurred to him that the last time he had been here was with Hailpaw. The young apprentice had been undisciplined and frustrating, but he had an apparent desire to learn. It was a shame that he had to go and get himself killed.

Turning to Larkpaw, he focused on keeping his face emotionless and his tone neutral. “First, you’ll be hunting. I want you to go and catch a rabbit, and then bring it back to these cliffs.” By giving her something specific, he would be able to test both her tracking and hunting ability. He didn’t bother to mention that he would be observing her from upwind, hidden. She probably knew that already, and if she didn’t, telling her would only hurt her. Shadowfur wanted a glimpse of her actual hunting ability, not how she hunted when someone was actually watching.

He nodded toward the woods, silently signaling for her to start.

( @Kat )

[Rose]

Larkpaw
Post Count: 132/100

Larkpaw wouldn't be lying if she were to say that the thought of having begun her assessment brought the young she-cat an unfamiliar feeling of thrill. The air was misty, minuscule beads of water clinging to her pelt as she stood upon the Training Cliffs, silently watching Shadowfur. A rabbit. That was her end goal. Sure, it wasn't traditional ShadowClan prey, but hey, she supposed the other Enforcer had high expectations from someone his own rank. Or perhaps he just didn't want her to pass her assessment. No, she wasn't vain enough to think that he'd be jealous. Shadowfur wasn't that type of cat, as far as she could see. He was just being logical. And Lark was perfectly comfortable to let logical cats rule over her.

Turning away from the warrior with the shadow namesake, Larkpaw set off on a trek of her own, light pawsteps carrying her certainly in the direction where she would be sure to find a rabbit. The WindClan border. The young molly stuck to the shadows as surely as any ShadowClan warrior in all their glory would, but just the thought of ShadowClanners plus shadows made Larkpaw's teeth grit with mild annoyance. Dawnstar herself had disapproved of the cats who'd not bothered to heed the call of the name they were bound to. Some ShadowClan cats lumbered around like idiots, Larkpaw had witnessed the disgraceful manner herself, having been a part of ShadowClan thus far. But alas, all she could do to contribute was to teach the silence of the woods to the youngsters, and hope that one day those warriors would be ashamed enough to fix their ways.

By now, Larkpaw had arrived at WindClan's border. Well, not exactly. She was situated still in ShadowClan's dense forest, fiery orbs of orange watching in silence, until finally, finally, the caped molly spotted her target.

There. Three rabbits scrounged in the forests' remains, looking for a source of food. It was an odd time for rabbits to be out, since Lark had figured they would burrow away by now because of leafbare. Granted, it was odd for Shadowfur to have asked her to hunt a rabbit of all things in this weather, but ah well. Perhaps she was lucky, or maybe Larkpaw ought to give more credit to her sense of smell for leading her here. Slowly but surely the young damsel slid into a well-practiced hunting crouch, inching her way forward towards the two adults and single juvenile. It wasn't frequent that little ones were birthed in winter, more likely to be born in spring, but there always those couple few. And right now, Lark only needed one out of the three.

A smile crept over the apprentice's face when an idea struck, but she shouldn't linger long or be too loud, lest the prey be alerted to her presence. Hunting rabbits was an art meant for more than one cat, unless on an open plain. But here there were trees, and Lark was alone. She'd have to make do with what she could get.

Tenderly picking up a pebble off the ground, Lark lifted it to her eye for aim, and then chucked it straight towards a tree that stood opposite her. Undoubtedly, at the swish of air that stirred at her movement, each rabbit's head shot up, ears swiveling in alarm. But the sound of a thump, the rock, hitting soundly against tree bark had them sprinting. Sprinting straight towards her, and danger.

A flash of fur erupted suddenly from the woods, tackling the nearest adult rabbit in it's frenzied state and bringing it's life to a stop. Larkpaw let the other two rabbits race off, because after all, Shadowfur had only asked for one. Turning, holding the deceased bunny by its scruff, Larkpaw made her way back to Training Cliffs on light paws, making sure to conserve her energy. She didn't particularly care where Shadowfur was, but he had said to bring the prey back to ShadowClan's trainee area, so that's what she was doing.

[ @Cherry~ - Shadowfur / ( +1 Rabbit ) | You can continue under the pretense that Larkpaw has arrived back at Training Cliffs with her rabbit and is waiting for further instructions! Also, feel no need to match this post in post length lol, I was just feeling exceptionally motivated, so short, to-the-point posts are entirely okay by me. Especially since these are just assessment/overall training related. ]

[occultation]

Shadowfur gave Larkpaw to a count of thirty as a head-start. Despite the weather, her scent should be strong enough for him to easily follow. Once he hit thirty, the older Enforcer set off, mind set on analyzing each of the points he wanted to score her on for this particular part of her assessment.

He stuck to the shadows, keeping far enough away from Larkpaw so that he could see her without her knowing he was there. His black fur was a great aid, allowing him to be virtually invisible at night in the dense pine forest of ShadowClan’s territory. He didn’t envy the lighter-furred members of his Clan, just as he was sure they didn’t envy him when sheets of snow covered the ground.

After some time, Shadowfur realized that Larkpaw was heading somewhere specific rather than searching through the territory as a whole. Approval washed through the tom as he began to see the trees thin, signaling that she was heading for the WindClan border. A good decision. A part of him wondered if she intended on crossing the border. He hoped not; a decision like that would force him to automatically fail her and report her to Dawnstar.

Fortunately, Larkpaw wasn’t so reckless or so stupid. She remained in ShadowClan’s territory, amongst the pine-needle-covered hills. Shadowfur followed her gaze and caught sight of a trio of rabbits. A lucky find. Rabbits weren’t rare in this season necessarily, but to find three at once? That was rare.

He hid his body behind a pine tree, holding back a sneeze as the tree’s soft needles brushed his nose. His face was all that was visible, his ears blocked by a branch.

Larkpaw grabbed a stone and hurled it at a tree. The resulting thump caused the rabbits to sprint directly towards her. With a level of efficiency that Shadowfur would expect from a warrior, she leapt upon a grown rabbit and killed it. Well done.

The black tom resisted the urge to leap at one of the other rabbits as it sprinted by him. Doing so would reveal his presence, and he didn’t want that. Instead, he backed out of Larkpaw’s path and future line of sight. He remained perfectly still as she passed, about a tree-length from him.

He followed her back to the Training Cliffs. On the way back, he caught a mouse for himself, to give a reason for his absence at the location he’d told her to return to. Once she had arrived, he casually strolled out to meet her. Dropping the mouse at his own paws, he turned his gaze on her rabbit.

“Set that down,” he ordered. She had passed with flying colors, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. He wanted her to complete the rest of this assessment as if she believed she was failing. “Next, I’ll be evaluating your ability to strategize.”

He gestured with his tail toward a medium-sized poplar tree, one of the few trees in the area that wasn’t a pine or spruce. “There’s a kit trapped in that tree. They’re too scared to climb down, too high up to jump. You’re alone. You can’t climb. How are you going to get them down?”

( @Kat )

[Rose]

Larkpaw
Post Count: 133/100

When Shadowfur re-appeared, seemingly out of thin air and ordered her to set the piece of prey dangling from her mouth down, the apprentice did so, lowering her head without complaint. She wouldn't ask his thoughts, because Lark didn't think apprentices were supposed to be so nosy and ask about their own performances.

Her head tipped to the side as he continued to the next topic. Strategizing. Well, Lark was adept at that. Her mind used situations as an excuse to branch out towards every plausible possibility. And right now, listening to the dark-furred Enforcer, Larkpaw didn't waste a second letting her brain pick out prospects.

'There’s a kit trapped in that tree. They’re too scared to climb down, too high up to jump. You’re alone. You can’t climb. How are you going to get them down?'

First, the young she-cat surveyed the tree. It was a poplar, not very common among ShadowClan's firs and pines. But that wasn't the question, was it. Placing herself at the base of the tree and tilting her head back to look upward, imagining a real kitten yowling for help, the apprentice Enforcer set to work formulating ways for it's safe descent.

Eventually, Larkpaw found that she was stumped. Okay, that pun was unintentional, but Larkpaw could not think of a risk-free way to get the imaginary kitten down. The kitten was too scared to climb down, coaxing it would not be effective. Larkpaw could never make a leap that high, it was just impossible. And she was alone. Well, in her imagination she was alone, with Shadowfur nowhere behind her. She also couldn't climb, which was quite true. Larkpaw's mother had tried to teach her climbing once. It... had not gone well.

Finally, turning back to face Shadowfur, Larkpaw was left with one answer. It was a stretch, but it was the safest route. Especially since trying anything else would be very very risky, for both her and the hapless kitten. "I'd tell it to remain there, and then race off to get help from a more experienced cat in climbing. Because if I tried to make it jump and attempted to catch it, that could result in injury." Truly, that was the best answer Larkpaw could come up with. Everything else just seemed too idiotic or careless to attempt or risk.

[ @Cherry~ - Shadowfur ]

[occultation]

Larkpaw almost took a little too long to make a decision. In a real scenario, Shadowfur hoped that she’d be a tad quicker in making a decision. Taking action as fast as possible could mean the difference between life and death.

He looked around. The leaves on the ground had mostly decayed away, removing one of the options he had thought of upon giving her this scenario. The snow had also melted away. “Consider your environment in situations like these. If there were leaves or snow, you could form a pile large enough for the kit to safely jump into. Since we lack those things, going back to camp is the best option.”

Shadowfur lapsed into silence as he thought of another scenario. He would be giving her three in total, and then judging her passing or failure on whether or not she satisfactorily strategized in at least two out of three. “Next scenario. There’s a fire in camp. Your leader and a litter of kits are trapped. The kits are young and cannot walk. Your leader may have lost a life or two, you aren’t sure. You don’t have time to go get help. You have to pick one or the other to save. You can carry the kits in your mouth and on your back, or you can drag your leader to safety.”

The point of this scenario was not just to see what she’d do, but where her priorities lay. Arguments could be made for saving either the kits or the leader. Kits were the future of the Clan and depended on older cats for safety. The leader was necessary for stability, especially during a crisis like a fire. Yes, they had nine lives, but they could lose all of them if they couldn’t get out of the fire.

( @Kat )

[Rose]

Larkpaw
Post Count: 136/100

After listening to what Shadowfur had to say, Lark merely nodded, accepting his answer as well. She hadn't thought of it, because of the lack of snow, but making a safe pad to land on was pretty smart.

As the shadow tom went on, providing her with another situation to think on, Larkpaw's brow furrowed in thought. A fire? Well, that called for greater action than merely running to camp for help. Kits of the Clan, and her leader. Lips pursed, Larkpaw put herself consciously in the situation. Her heart wanted to save the helpless kittens, because they still had so much life to live, and undoubtedly a queen later on would have her head. But it was stupid to save the kits.

"The leader." Her leader. Always her leader. If they managed to gain the trust Larkpaw had for Dawnstar, she would give them her undying loyalty. Sure, the kits were important to the Clan, but as much as Larkpaw hated to say it... Kits were more expendable than the leader. "Leaving the leader to die will doom the Clan. Without a leader, injured or not, the Clan would be left without someone to properly lead them."

Whether her answer was right or wrong, Larkpaw would truly have saved the leader, despite how heart wrenching it was to let kittens die.

[ @Cherry~ - Shadowfur | Short on time right now, so apologies for the short reply ]