of trees and avoiding death [p]

[alec]

rookfire had grown more weary of asking for help, now feeling more threatened by everyone that possibly knew more than he did than when he had still been "that one old apprentice" or "the riverrat", as an enforcer he felt like everyone expected perfection, like he had to have taken to all the additional training and completed his warrior training with perfection. he, however, had only had a singular moon of training in shadowclan after moons of severely lacking riverclan warriors had halfheartedly thrown tasks at him once in a while, and he felt like he was far behind the other enforcers. so, the easiest choice was of course to ask another enforcer, not hawkbite or any of the other scary ones, not lostspark because he felt he had been annoying enough for the moon he was under her care, so his options narrowed down enough to make choosing sleepysunrise a quick endeavour.

not unexpected, the other enforcer had agreed, who knew she had gotten to learn how to climb during her apprenticeship, somehow shadowclans superior education still surprised him sometimes. without having the nagging voice in his head telling him that any signs of weakness would immediately make a fellow warrior realise he wasnt good enough to be an enforcer, rookfire now focussed on fearing for his life. he had climbed something once before and it had not been a nice experience. without the pressure of wanting to be perfect, he probably wouldnt have ever tried to learn either. too bad.


[ @Estelle i present to you: a very dramatic title. ]

[Estelle]

The act of teaching; an endeavour she sought to uptake more and more around the clan, and not just with her siblings. As made evident by Rookfire's presence this very day. Hawkbite had once taught how to scale the trees and today she would pass on that information to the older - not younger - enforcer at her side, whom she silently led through the territory. It would practice for her as well, an opportunity to put these climbing lessons to use and refine her own abilities, something she sought to do always, at any given opportunity. She could not expect anything less than perfection of herself, or disaster would strike once more.

Within these, Sleepysunrise was given an option; the option to start out small, a shorter tree with low, easy to reach branches. But none ever got anywhere taking the easiest route, she had learned that over the moons. If she did not challenge herself from the beginning she would amount to nothing, the same applied to everyone - even Rookfire, hence why she chose the taller (though sturdier) option, one whose branches hung higher.

Standing at its base the smaller cat looked up, eyes tracking the path of bark rising up of the tree, before facing he who shall be her student this day. She took a moment to think back to Hawkbite's lesson, one given more through example than words, she recalled. How was she supposed to explain this? Example worked for her, she couldn't trust it to work for the other enforcer.

She paused, thinking deeply as she faced the tree, certainly an odd sight for anyone in their vicinity; but such pensive pauses were not uncommon for the younger one, she was often seen sitting in silence guarding the camp, unmoving and unblinking. A feature that passed on from her youth when she used to wait for mama to return; an element that earned her a moniker of weirdness among the clan, or those who cared to look. To everyone else she was but a ghost with a name.

"Climbing."
She began, breaking the silence with a dull tone.
"You jump up. Hook your claws in the bark. Pull and push yourself up; you will create speed as you go. Like this."
She bunched her back legs, pushing herself off the ground and up against the tree, claws digging into the sturdy trunk which the used to propel herself further up with more grace than she had during her first attempt with Hawkbite, the feeling more familiar this time. Reaching a branch far off the ground, she moved herself upon it, tail a counter weighing for balance until she sat, eyes downcast.
"Come."


[ @alec ]

[alec]

rookfire followed sleepysunrise quietly, letting the silence linger between them whilst the younger enforcer appeared to be thinking about something regarding the trees. however, that silence gave him all the opportunities to worry about what was to come, the cold fear of scaling the tree, slipping and for all he knew dying immediately upon impact- yes he was aware this was very dramatic, god forbid a boy is scared. still, he didnt actually think it would be that bad, this was probably just because the last tree he had climbed had been slippery from moss and moisture and his 'teacher' hadnt even known what they were doing.
sleepysunrise finally spoke, introducing the activity theyd be doing and barely getting two sentences of explaination out before she sprung into action. what the whole thing came down to was pretty much jumping up and then clinging to the bark for dear life before recreating the same motion whilst on the tree. rookfire experimentally flexed his claws while watching sleepysunrise scale the tree a good fox length or so, before taking a seat on a branch that looked to be far too high off the ground. the weird floaty feeling in his stomach flared up, reminding him of the uncomfortable hollowness of an empty stomach that came with a tiny bit of false nausea and he swallowed hard, taking the time to count down in his mind. at once, rookfire pushed off his hind legs and towards the tree, landing with claws scrambling for purchase and barely getting the chance to celebrate this initial success because he made the mistake of looking down. with a tightness around his chest that made concentrating on anything but the fear hard, he scrambled up the trunk, slipping once right on his last step, forepaws already on the branch but hind paws suddenly dangling off. surprisingly, he didnt freeze in motion, instead pulling himself onto the branch and digging claws into the trees moist flesh as far as possible, unsure if he would hold on easier with his body pressed to the wood, he briefly lowered himself as far as possible before a sudden increase in trembling made him revise that choice immediately. stupidly enough, the thought of digging his teeth into the tree flashed through his mind, briefly distracting him enough that the next seeing glance down made him feel even more shaky than before. okay so, he was up, far too high, with sleepysunrise probably already halfway up the tree, though he couldnt look, already feeling like he was gonna slip off the branch at any movement, and he didnt feel like he couldnt move.
he remained still for a bit longer, carefully avoiding looking down for now until the shaking subsided enough to move his head, seeking out sleepysunrises gaze. "up higher?"


[ @Estelle wowza sorry this is rushed but i wanted it out of the way ]

[Estelle]

Her eyes lingered on the bottom of the tree, watching as Rookfire gathered up the courage to scale the carefully chosen perch. Frankly, she had almost believed he wouldn’t do it. He seemed to be shaking in his skin and the younger feline thought he would either crash and burn or give up at the first sign of struggle. But surprisingly, he didn’t.

Rookfire remained shaky, she could tell even as the enforcer scaled up the tree and reached the branch – struggling from a similar issue as she had the first time around, though managing to catch himself without aid. That was good. There wouldn’t always be someone to hoist him up or catch him. It seemed Rookfire was more willing to try than she thought.

At his question, Sleepysunrise looked up, judging the thickness of the branches before giving a curt nod. Her paws were swift in motion, scaling up the branches like a fox would the ground, until she abruptly jumped onto a branch, walking to its very safe edge while soul piercing eyes came to find that of the trainee.

“They get weaker;”
She nodded to the branch she stood on.
“You have to assess the branches’ sturdiness before treading too far. One wayward step,”
The petite cat took a tentative few steps forth, the tip of the tree’s branch lightly beginning to bend beneath her weight, quietly creaking.
“and the branch might break.”
She stepped back.
“It varies from tree to tree, cat to cat. A heavier cat can’t go as far. Some branches aren’t as strong as they look. Always be careful.”


[ @alec ]

[alec]

rookfire watched sleepysunrise scale another length that felt like twice the amount they had already done and regretted his question immediately. be it through fear or the wind blowing harder the further they got off the ground, but the younger enforcers words felt far more distant than they should to rook. branches getting weaker made sense, even his panicked brain could wrap its head around that, thinner stick, easier break yeah. oh there should also be a difference in type of tree, general and overall strength of the wood. a difference between evergreen trees and those that shed their leaves in the winter. trees with lots of bugs and trees with bark so dry it popped off. there was..so much more. so so so much more up here that he had never really considered until it became immediately relevant in order to not fall to his death. all the different types of trees, he could find out which tree dropped the branches he preferred to gather for medicial purposes, identify the leaves and bark and wood colour.. quiet, sleepysunrises voice filtered through the wall of thoughts that had collected at the forefront of rooks mind and pulled him back to reality. back to standing on a branch and flinching so hard at a nut hitting the branch next to him he felt like half of his soul had passed to starclan.
how had he even gotten so wrapped up in thought about trees? ah yes, stability of branches. which was pretty on topic with sleepys current explaination, watching the younger feline step towards the edge of the branch and having it bend dramatically made his stomach flip. if sleepy could make a branch bend like that, could he even go that far up? sleepy was fluffy and he semi expected her to not be teensy tiny under all that fur, but he still stood at a taller height and estimated that even the most sleepy could weigh wasnt close to his own.
still, it was expected of him to follow up so rook unhooked his claws from the bark of the branch he had remained practically glued to and pushed off with his hind legs, landing a few branches further up with the same desperation of holding on as before, hoisting himself onto to branch entirely to briefly gather his strenght, the mental kind at that. the next few stops he took werent as long as the first one, only once freezing in place when placing his paw on a branch without looking (he had been trying his best to not look down and pretend they werent that far up) and it had snapped in half. finally, feeling pretty darn damp from fear and mental exhaustion, he pulled himself onto the branch opposite the one sleepy had chosen, internally celebrating his not yet death.

[ @Estelle ]