Where talons meet trees [P]

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 38 moons
The Dancing Bird

There hadn’t been time before the war against Riverclan to meet with Willowpaw. The stuttering she-cat had been sent into battle by Dawnstar’s side. Returning with a changed look in her pale green eyes, or at least he thought he could see that. Perhaps he was wrong. The large tom wasn’t one shy of bloodshed, in his early days he had never yearned for it but that had changed as he grew. Being more earnest, more innocent, kinder back then made it hard to fight, despite his fascination with it. Now he had no problem doing so, often jumping quickly to unsheath his smoothed black claws and carve through flesh. He’d taken life without quarrel, watched as blood pooled below his paws, left with a sour metallic tang coating his tongue.

Owlthroat’s previous envy had subsided slightly, still present just lessened. The fight was over Riverclan withdrew and we remained victorious, always claiming our place at the rightful top. He was glad the alliance with Windclan had drawn to an end, he scorned his father who lived there. It was no fur off his back to leave them in the dust. Perhaps peace would settle again for a time, deep down he doubted it. No, he longed for more bloodshed and a piece of the action. Needed a release where he could let his talents truly show as he became a fury of carnage, where other cats shuddered in anticipation of his next brutal blow. That was his peace, his only escape. The tom knew it was a twisted way of looking at the world but he didn’t know any other way to be useful, didn’t know any other way to live. Especially as his brain rotted with the sadistic pleasure he took from every scarlet drop.

He had wandered to the edge of the camp at the break of dawn. Expecting Willowpaw’s presence. He felt sorry for her being dragged into it, but it was a superficial kind of sympathy. Quickly overrode by his desire to hear how she fought, how she represented him, whether or not she spilt blood and inflicted damage. Training started now, there wasn’t much more she needed to learn he had found out. The basics covered by her previous mentor and other clanmates. What he really wanted was the responsibility off of his paws as soon as possible, she was just another boasting piece for his arsenal if she had performed well in the war. He would acclaim good skills for himself and the bad on her previous mentor.

Plumes of fur from his tail lashed impatiently, a menacing scowl lined his face.

[​​ @Myling ]

[Myling]

〚~Willow'Paw~〛
| 10 Moons | ShadowClan Apprentice | Female, She/Her | Purrks:
Kitty Soft Paws, Heightened Perception [smell]
[a small, fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes and an atrociously fluffy tail, a small tick in her right ear]

Ah, yes. The apprentice's den. A calm, peaceful environment for the young ones training to be warriors.

Here, Willowpaw is snoozing away, and you can practically hear the Nocturne Op 9 in the air, wafting tranquility through her mind.


And in the dream:


snork, mi mi mi mi mi

snork, mi mi mi-




HAHA JK *BLASTS IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING AT FULL VOLUME*






Willowpaw sat up with a yelp.

Wait whaaa? Why was she all panicked and stuff? Wha happened??


Oh. Oh right. Oh no.


TRAINING. WHY. DID SHE. HAVE TO BE THE EMBODIMENT OF STOOBID?

How'd she oversleep training?? That was the BASICALLY ONLY THING YOU DID IN APPRENTICESHIP. Oh wasn't she AN AMAZING apprentice? With half of her mind having a mental breakdown, Willowpaw quickly got up and out of stump that served at the den. It was always a surprise to wake up here. Everytime she opened her eyes from a relaxing sleep her brain went: AAAA WHERE R WE??? She barely got a startle from the unfamiliar snork mi mi mi-ing place, before she was out at the entrance of the camp, a fair amount of time late.


What is the first expression she is greeted with? A scowl. Willowpaw flinched even though she was pretty sure that was Owlthroat's neutral face. Well, neutral-i-am-mad face, sounded more fitting. And she had to get that neutral face away. Because she'd fall on her head upside down and Moon Theme from Duck tales would begin to play and she'd float away if someone was scowling at her the whole time. Ok, Willowpaw, come up with a good excuse for being late. "H-Hi. Uh, s-s-sorry i'm l-late, a-and all. Wh-What, uhm, wh-what are we d-doing? F-For tr-training, I mean." ... SHE HAD NO EXCUSE. 'Quick quick why were we late? We can't seem lazy the first chance we get! YOU! Give us an excuse, hurry!' "So, er, the r-reason I'm late i-is, uh, so y-yesterday, i-i was uhh, t-trying to, err, trying t-to fl-fly, a-and I-I-I succeeded, and s-so i t-took a n-nap o-on a t-tree, got b-b--bored, a-an-and fl-flew up to-to the moon, a-and took a-a-a-a nap there in-instead, a-and then s-someone h-had to come g-get me, a-and we t-took a detour to a s-star to see i-if we could g-get directions h-home, a-and then w-we were attacked... BY VICIOU-VICIOUS SPACE DOGS! A-A-A-A-And th-then w-we al-almost d-died, an-and the reason y-you can-can't see any w-w-wounds on m-me is be-b-b-because... be-because th-they use, uhm, em-emotional a-attacks and th-they were r-really r-re-really good at it, s-so we-we barely m-made it ou-out.. a-and th-then we f-found st-star cats th-thats aren't StarCl-Clan a-and they l-l-led us b-back here.... a-and th-thats why i-i'm late; uhhhmm, i'v-i've been on th-the moon,a-and i c-couldn't m-make it back, s-so i-i had to b-be re-rescued, f-fought star dogs, a-a-nd then s-star cats h-helped us..."


.......


Tongue click.


She was screwed.



[ @Daragca - Owlthroat! // sorry the replied took so long TwT ]

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 38 moons
The Dancing Bird

His tail lashed lazily as he watched Willowpaw bound over. She was late. He hissed inaudibly through his clenched jaw. He heard her stuttering voice admit to her own tardiness and he was about to open his own mouth before a stream of utter nonsense began to babble word after word from the apprentice. His eyes widened in shock, the battle with Riverclan immediately forgotten about. Owlthroat couldn’t even follow half of what the young tortoiseshell was saying. Something about flying, another line about stars, cats and dogs. Was this cat delusional? Had she completely snapped. Nothing at all she said made any sense, he hadn’t exactly encountered anything like this before. Perhaps he should send her to the medicine den quickly and have her declared as unfit for duty, possibly exiled. He hoped. But then paused, that would reflect badly on him, he couldn’t show a weakness like that.

Instead he closed the distance between the two, fur raising. Rage flashing in his eyes, he didn’t care about that nonsense, even if she was unstable he only cared for her abilities. He towered over her, his hulking form exuding his very special brand of bitterness. ”You will stop with this nonsense, immediately”, the tom snarled threateningly. ”I won’t tolerate this, your hare-brained antics will get you nowhere. There is no excuse for being late other than the fact you allowed it to happen.” Owlthroat’s claws began to unsheath, digging roughly into the dirt underneath him. Anger building and building inside him, it was evident.

”As my apprentice, I demand greatness. You WILL apply yourself and you WILL succeed, anything less you fail both me and your clanmates. Believe me, I will show you what real wounds can look like.” With his last words he raised a paw, poised to strike the young molly with jagged ebony claws. But didn’t. He lowered it slowly, Owlthroat needed to instil fear in Willowpaw. She must be willing to do as he said and push herself past this discorded brain of hers. At least she had creativity, he enjoyed a challenge, perhaps even one as shocking as this.

[​​ @Myling ]
[No worries at all c: btw I just adore the way you write Willowpaw, she’s fabulous!]

[Myling]

〚~Willow'Paw~〛
| 10 Moons | ShadowClan Apprentice | Female, She/Her | Purrks:
Kitty Soft Paws, Heightened Perception [smell]
[a small, fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes and an atrociously fluffy tail, a small tick in her right ear, and a scar on her cheek]


Her foolproof plan hadn't worked.


'Hey, Willowpaw, sure DO WONDER WHY HUH?'


Ok the one who controls our arguments come out.........uh, nevermind. You can go back to whatever brain burrow you had before. You don't look....... in shape. The essential part of communication that looked like an oversized, skinny and gray monkey and is probably worse than Whirlpool from WoF scurried away. So that part of her was gone. Now she should do whats right. Admit she'd overslept. That should be easy enough? "Y-Y-Y-You're right...." 'Good. Good job Willowpaw, you didn't screw everything up again. But i'm still unimpressed since you got us into the mess in the first place. And also, no GREATNESS is coming from you, ninnyhammer.' She internally made an 'ugh' sound to punish herself and show that she was very exasperated with Willowpaw. And while she wasn't looking: "B-But I c-can d-defend my-myself!" 'OH MY GOD. God dang it Willowpaw, you got so close. Had to screw it up again, did you? Go eat a rotten turd, Willowpaw.' Willowpaw was starting to dislike Willowpaw. But ok she had to come up with A VALID EXCUSE- "I-I a-ate a magical-" 'Oh. Oh you're not doing that again.' "I-I'm pretty exhausted af-after the b-battle, i-i got a f-few w-w-wounds......... a-and I-I ate a ma-magical mouse." 'WH- HUH? Are we STUPID? Well, of course we are but why did i say that?? Why did Willowpaw have to SAY THAT?' Oh god she was panicking again. And close to crying. But SHE COULDN'T CRY. CRYING WOULD MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE!

A story of the magical mouse that once ruled the land of the fairy tales and cats with horns and wings that had made peace with the mice, but a sudden stir in politics made the peace treaty waver perilously, where the clouds could talk and the dirt sang nursery rhymes you would hear kits sing when you were sad rang in her head. 'And there was this queen, and she was called All mighty Queen Moss But Mice Like Moss In This Universe the 2nd, the all royal majesty in our world. And you are wandering through this kingdom, eating all the mushrooms on your way!' She made a face that said "what.". So apparently her train of thought had gone adios and been replaced with some blah blah waa waa softie story about mice? And everytime she tried to think of something else, the story circled back, clashing against her actual thoughts. 'The forests and waterfalls flowed over the cliffs like- Owlthroat will have our head before we can say magical mouse, which honestly i'd rather never hear the word agai- And one day, on your walk through the rocky terrain, your foot caught on a root, and you slipped down a hill. At the bottom of that hill, a small mouse rested upon the soft grass under a tree, happily munching upon seeds that fell from its vast and dense canopy shielding- I hope Owlthroat doesn't hate me. He can hate Willowpaw sure but Willowpaw is also me. So should i hate Willowpaw or should i hate myself before he hates me, so it hurts less? He probably already hates me. Well, that sucks- and then the mouse raised its head, eyes gleaming, and then you realized those stunning hues were a blazing purple, where normal mice would mostly have brown or yellow or red eyes, but those with red should be avoided because they were most often against All mighty Queen Moss But Mice Like Moss In This Universe the 2nd-' Her thoughts spun around like a small carousel in her mind. But in this case there were two different carousels with a thought in every seat and they were at max speed, flinging them at each other with muddled accuracy.

She for one had NO IDEA WHAT WAS HAPPENING. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? SHE WILL THROW A MAGICAL MOUSE AT WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE.


[ @Daragca - Owlthroat! ]

[ Willow's thought goin all bonkers because of OCD and this also contributes to her chara development arc that i'm tryna have her do :3 Also thank you!!!!! ]

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 38 moons
The Dancing Bird

Owlthroat listened eagerly for Willowpaw’s next response. Almost huffing a sigh of relief when she stuttered out that he was right. Of course he was right, his pride swelled. Then immediately flattened as she blurted another jumble of a thought straight out. Magical Mouse. What on earth that could mean Owlthroat couldn’t even begin to process in his brain, this young apprentice truly was harebrained. Completely out of her mind. He gaze narrowed again, unsure of what to do or what even to say, she seemed all over the place. Out of touch with reality, and despite being a wreck she didn’t react and slink into place with his threat. Not like they usually do.

But ego consumed him deeply, it was a raging love affair between his hubris and his sensibilities. If he brought her to the medicine cat or to Dawnstar that would be a failing of his own abilities. Reflect oh so badly on himself and he wanted to be an enforcer after all. He finally wanted a real sense of duty and responsibility. But Willowpaw, well she was just making this all feel too impossible. No. No, this young apprentice couldn’t ruin that for him.

He blew up. ”ARE YOU INSANE?” Owlthroat’s words bubbled out similar to how Willowpaw’s had, instead in a fit of escaping rage. He began to frantically pace. Back and forth across the edge of the camp, claws digging and digging into the dirt beneath him. He wanted to hurt her, knock some sense into this crazed cat. But he was in public, camp wasn’t the place for this. Too many eyes rested on him here, he’d get found out. So he held it in, ever foaming inside.

Spit escaped the corner of his lips as he snarled again. ”How do you expect me to train you huh? When you can’t even keep your mind straight.” He’d met cats who had snapped before, some who had gone bad. But never something as jumbled as this. A mind completely disjointed from the concept of reality. He fell silent, unsure what to do. He hated this. Surely he had to do something, he couldn’t let this be his failing, he’d be scorned for letting an apprentice go awry. Maybe she just needed a gentler touch, she probably did. Owlthroat didn’t know how to provide that, he’d been set in his ways for moons.

His haunches lowered and ears flicked back.

Was this what defeat felt like?

[​​ @Myling ]
[Apologies that Owl is an absolute terror when it comes to stuff like this. If you want me to include anything specific to help the dev arc just lemme know!]

[Myling]

〚~Willow'Paw~〛
| 10 Moons | ShadowClan Apprentice | Female, She/Her | Purrks:
Kitty Soft Paws, Heightened Perception [smell]
[a small, fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes and an atrociously fluffy tail, a small tick in her right ear, and a scar on her cheek]

Ah yes, ego. Here we see, in the wild, the large, majestic beast. Notice how when it takes a step, the ground shakes, even though it is only as big as you average cat. It grazes most of the day off you brain chemicals and hormones. "Ego" stays in one place for its entire life, following that tutorial on EVERY SINGLE T-SHIRT IN EXISTENCE making it so its schedule looks like: eat sleep repeat. The species strictly avoids each other, due to each ego being something a cat owns. So, lets try finding another one and see if it acts differ- Wait. Why is it shrinking? That- That disobeys everything we know about the world itself! One cannot create or destroy matter! Why is it just evaporating????? 'POP!'. Oh. Oh of course! Someone ran out of "ego", and it warped out of reality! Wonder who it belongs to....





Back in the real world, stuff's goin real bad for Willowpaw's self-esteem.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" The words bounced across her mind. 'Probably' She thought. "How do you expect me to train you, huh? When you can't even keep your mind straight." Each word stung like a thorn bush thrown at mach 5 aimed directly at her head; reports expect aimbot or kill-aura was used, investigation ongoing on whether brain should be banned. "I-I'm sorry, l-like r-rea-really sorry. S-sorry s--sorry, s-su-super so-sorry." She half-pleaded. Willowpaw bowed her head submissively. She had to hold back as hard as she could to stop herself from rambling about how the magical mouse WAS AAAccAttuuuUUUaaLLy A PRINCE! No way!!1!1 And that prince had An EMmoO bACkSTORY!111 'So, a long time ago-'


Her mind rambled on about that backstory and Willowpaw herself contemplated her life choices.


Wasn't life just great?


She shook herself so hard she felt her stomach go: "hey uh. stop. stawhp it. now." "S-So, uhm. C-C-C-Can we st-start the l-lesson?" She stammered

Of course she wouldn't mind being heavily punished for her actions, 'because boy do i deserve it.'


[ @Daragca - Owlthroat! ]

[might be a little low quality due me lacking inspiration ]

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 39 moons
The Dancing Bird

It was a strange feeling not knowing what to do with himself. The cat usually so self assured, almost being knocked down a peg or two due to severe confusion. Lack of comprehension. So he sat, awaiting her next bumble of thoughts. But his ears pricked back up again as he heard an ever too delightful sorry grace the air. His head rose back up, ears returning and flickering forward. Watching as Willowpaw bowed her head submissively almost pleadingly. That was more than enough of a win for him with this cat.

It was time to get on with things, she had been put into place. A moment which must be grasped before it escaped him again and slipped away into the frankly unworkable nonsense he faced just moments before. A soft snarl curled across his maw as she requested to start the training. He’d done it. Owlthroat had done it once again, he had achieved the unachievable, she was still a stuttering mess yes. But now she was workable, his outburst paid off once more and his head swelled to twice it’s usual size. He’d won. Of course that didn’t mean he’d take it easy on her, but for now he had won and he wanted her off of his paws as quickly as possible. So training must commence and she seemed to share the same sentiment.

He didn’t mind being cruel if that was what was required to push her through, perhaps a deft nick of his claws here or there could even do the trick. His mind gleefully floated to take out his anger, but he reigned it back in. Couldn’t have Dawnstar seeing that he’d been beating on his trainees, but he did doubt Willowpaw would even have the capacity to tell on him without confusing herself with magic mice. He knew what he needed to get over and done with. Swimming.

Particularly loathsome to him, never mind frightful. But it was what she was missing, he hadn’t been chosen for the fight against Riverclan due to his fear of the depths. Perhaps training an apprentice to swim could make it look like he’d gotten over it?

”Swimming, lets go.” Discorded syllables flowed freely now his goal had been achieved. Only Starclan knew what time would bring with this cat, he wasn’t letting anything slide when now he knew there was so much fun to be had in desperately attempting to straighten out this mess of a cat through his intimidation and claws.

Turning away, he began a brisk pace towards the pines.

[​​ @Myling ]
[No worries! I completely get that, don’t ever worry if you need to delay there’s no rush <3]

[Myling]

〚~Willow'Paw~〛
| 10 Moons | ShadowClan Apprentice | Female, She/Her | Purrks:
Kitty Soft Paws, Heightened Perception [smell]
[a small, fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes and an atrociously fluffy tail, a small tick in her right ear, and a scar on her cheek]

Swimming.


Ok. She could do that. Yeah she could do that! She's go super fast and zooooooom all the way to the otherside of the world! She could DO THIS! 'No we can't. Well, way to ruin the mood man.' She lightly pawed at her un-injured ear. 'Hello? Anyone else in there? Or am i just being an insano and imagining things. Yeah you probably are to be honest. A little bit too honest for my taste.' She felt a prickle along her pelt, she realized they were out in the territory now. Well, of course they were. The evergreen forest seemed to stretch on forever and ever. This territory felt even more ominous, mostly because she had absolutely no idea what ANY OF THIS WAS. For all she knew, that place could be called asjfkskhobblegobbleskmouse! And there could be ghosts there! 'Hey, ghosts would be pretty fun to see. I dare you to run off. No. No no no. I'm not screwing myself over with STUPID GHOST STORIES, and I'm not screwing myself over EVER AGAIN.' She had to resist harder than she liked to admit to not run off into the forest looking for spirits "of a time before her own".

Whatever that meant.


'Oh wow. You actually don't know? PATHETIC! It was a METAPHOR. Mhm, keep telling yourself that. Yeeeessir. Thumbs up you just have to keep on believing. Why am i having this conversation with myself? Probably because your insane. Makes sense.'

ˇˇ Every part of Willowpaw, including herself, agrees she is probably insane ˇˇ


[ @Daragca - Owlthroat! ]

[Daragca]

Owlthroat
he/him | Shadowclan Warrior | 39 moons
The Dancing Bird

The silence as Willowpaw trailed behind him was serene. Owlthroat led her not too far from camp to a reclusive murky pond. Its surface still and thick with clumps of algae, water a murky green. It stretched onwards but he knew its waters weren’t too deep. Although not a pleasant sight or smell. Murky and sour almost to the taste, not that it was advisable to drink from it. Pebbles lined upon the shore, he once visited with Leopardfang. An attempt to standoff against her ended in a match of stone skimming and questioning. A fond day for the memories.

One of the only waters that didn’t consume him with panic, it was unmoving and unchanging. But he still kept distance from its edges, not daring to dip his paws into the murk. In all fairness it was a good spot to teach a cat to swim, he needed to get this lesson over and done with. He knew how to swim of course, being taught by Darkleaf some moons ago. But he didn’t know if his skills would hold up anymore, it seemed likely that he may freeze and follow suit of his gentle sister. Agape water cascading over him, sucking him under, drowing, death. Maybe. A shiver rippled quickly down his spine, fur standing on edge.

No cat should die like that, not even his blathering new trainee. As much as he had swiftly come to despise her and her mind. ”Let’s begin, get in the shallows. You must splay out your feet and learn to push forward off the bottom, use your tail to steer and change direction.” Growling out his words he also raised a black paw to demonstrate. Widening his paw pad out but slyly flashing his claws at the same time. ”Stay where you can touch the floor for now, go further and you drown. I won't rescue you.” It was a cold statement, he didn’t know how true it was. Would he be able to rescue her if she went under? The tom didn’t even know how he would react in a situation like that. His thick tail gestured towards the slimy pond, his eyes flashing with command.

[​​ @Myling ]