The Commander would continue to stare at the puddle when addressed initially. "Curiosity is fine when it's not dangerous," he commented. "You don't have to pretend that you're worried, I pass no judgement on that," he'd finish. He would catch that correction, but his monotone words would express how little he cared about it. Hawkbite was the last to have any say on how much he cared for some of his clanmates. There were certain cats he would watch die if given the chance.
Hawkbite's ears would flick. Oh, that's right... He'd nearly forgotten about Rookfire's past. The Enforcer had been around the clan long enough that his RiverClan roots were drowning in the mud of ShadowClans present grip on the feline. His green gaze would flicker towards the dark warrior before noting the plants he reached for. Didn't Lostspark try to teach them about those before? She never did finish that lesson, so Hawkbite had no idea what he was looking at. The Commander had only ever been on one... maybe two herb patrols too, so he had no idea what plants what were what, aside from catmint.
"Funny how that worked out, huh?" Hawkbite would speak, his gaze watching Rookfire as the tom would cater to his cuts. "Now look at you, one of the ShadowClan elites. Little Rookpaw would probably be shivering in their pelt if they knew about this. At least, that's how I'm understanding it," he half-joked. Hawkbite hadn't even remembered the name Rookfire back to the clan with. It was irrelevant information to him now. "Now me, younger me would've been furious about not achieving the deputy rank yet. Though, I'm content," Hawkbite sighed, thinking about his conversation with Dawnstar the day he suggested Mistlewhisker. "For now." He whispered more to himself, but didn't care if the Enforcer heard it.
If Mosquitopaw needed to know anything Mudslide was a firm believer that learning general territory was a great place to start. She walked with a slow pace through the forest, giving her apprentice some time to look around. Also, she was far too tired to move her legs at any speed higher than this one or she might collapse into dust.
She then came to a stop, raising her tail and curling it at the tip, her ears flicking around as looked from side to side. Where? She asked inwardly. Where are we? What makes this place Shadowclan territory?
Tags:
@nyme // Mosquitopaw (this guy is such a sweetheart :3)
TIMID TWITCH IN YOUR WIDE EYES
── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✧ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──
MOSQUITOPAW . 6 MOONS . HE/HIM . SHADOWCLAN
Mosquitopaw ventures out after his mentor at a pace so slow that he barely registers her own sluggish movement. This is. A lot. Objectively he'd known it would be, that there'd be more to see and to smell and to hear, but that doesn't stop it from being near-overwhelming the further they crept away from camp. Mosquitopaw's got his narrow head down and his long, wormy tail tucked close to his haunches. He looks like he's one unexpected noise away from springing out of his on skin.
Copper eyes flick sideways constantly, checking and checking and re-checking that Mudslide is still there as if she might up and evaporate if he doesn't.
"It's um. There's." Whew. "There's a lot. Out here. Uh," she's drawn to a stop and so does Mosquitopaw. The pause gives him time to think very hard about how he is not going to start counting the trees. He keeps his eyes on the shaded forest floor or on the back of Mudslide's head to avoid getting sidetracked on the one-two-three-four-five trees—hey knock it off!
"Uhm!" He coughs. "D-Do you have a uh, a favorite? Place? In, uh, in the territory?" Questions, questions.
Mosquitopaw ventures out after his mentor at a pace so slow that he barely registers her own sluggish movement. This is. A lot. Objectively he'd known it would be, that there'd be more to see and to smell and to hear, but that doesn't stop it from being near-overwhelming the further they crept away from camp. Mosquitopaw's got his narrow head down and his long, wormy tail tucked close to his haunches. He looks like he's one unexpected noise away from springing out of his on skin.
Copper eyes flick sideways constantly, checking and checking and re-checking that Mudslide is still there as if she might up and evaporate if he doesn't.
"It's um. There's." Whew. "There's a lot. Out here. Uh," she's drawn to a stop and so does Mosquitopaw. The pause gives him time to think very hard about how he is not going to start counting the trees. He keeps his eyes on the shaded forest floor or on the back of Mudslide's head to avoid getting sidetracked on the one-two-three-four-five trees—hey knock it off!
"Uhm!" He coughs. "D-Do you have a uh, a favorite? Place? In, uh, in the territory?" Questions, questions.
Mudslide
She, Her\Warrior\17 moons\Shadowclan
"I miss the yellow. I miss the yellin' and the shake downs."
The tall warrior gives the area another once other, icy eyes gliding over her surroundings. She had been aware that Mosquitopaw kept glancing back up at her and Mudslide had to bite the urge to tell him to stop. She didn't like to be looked at, regardless of--- of whatever! She just... It was uncomfortable.
She perked her ears as her apprentice began to choke our a few words, unsure but questioning. Mudslide turned her head around, her large ears catching on sunlight, and looked down to properly lock eyes with him. Honestly, she liked anyplace there was bugs. Specifically beetles. But those little guys liked anyplace, there were no specifics. "Darkwater Mire," she rasped, blinking at Mosquitopaw before turning her head back around.
The flicked her long thin tail in one sweeping lash, though she was careful not to hit Mosquitopaw, that would just be sad. "Shadowclan." She said generally. Hopefully he'd understand this this place was just the overall territory of Shadowclan, nothing particularly special.
She then gave a strong flick of her tail before moving on to the next area, sparring Mosquitopaw one single glance to make sure he hadn't run for the hills.
__________________
❝And the cats kill one by one!❞
- Hartebeest by Yalokre
She couldn't blink twice before a flurry of paws joined the fray, and large dark frame casting a shadow over the ground and standing tall against the slowly retreating badger. Sleepysunrise's blows on its legs had undoubtedly drawn blood slowly trickling to the ground, Darkfall's attacks driving it all the further back. A part of her felt a searing anger, wanting to deal with this alone; but the rational part of her knew better, and circled the badger to attack it from the opposite side - to nip, scratch and bite it wherever she could, claws racking across its fur and diverting its attention while Darkfall, being larger and physically stronger, landed the truly harmfull and killing blows, until the beast fell limp at their paws.
A monster laying defeated at their paws, vibrant blue eyes landed on the trickles of red pooling on Darkfall's skin -- injuries of which she, somehow, had sustained little to none that needed treating. Unlike him. But her attacks lay in the defensive distractions, while his were purely offensive, taking the badger's life - she should have done as much, and the youngest enforcer could not accept those words of praise he sent her way; she could only blink dully, pondering her following actions. "Stand guard,"
She ordered, voice monotone and dull, "I'll bury Sunpaw. Then the badger. You guard it-"
She gestured to the fallen beast, "I'll come retrieve it. Then get yourself seen by Mossfreckle."
Darkwater Mire. He's sure he'll get to see it some time today, and that thought cheers him some. Mudslide's not a cat of many words and Mosquitopaw would hate to try and pry them out of her, so it feels important to pay extra close attention to what little she does have to say. "Okay. Th—, uh, thank you. For telling me." And, of course, to thank her for them, but that's plain good manners when speaking to anybody.
"Shadowclan," He agrees with a firm, emphatic nod. It sure is real Shadowclan out here! That must mean all these trees are just trees, and not some special patch of trees that have earned a cool name (like Darkwater Mire). Mosquitopaw gives their surroundings another good look, jaw tightening. Yes, it is big and a lot and it makes his head spin. Yes, he has no idea how a cat can ever get used to so much space, much less good at navigating it. But plenty of them—all of them—have, and that has to matter more than how unnerved he is right now. He holds that thought close as he trails after his mentor and on to the next place.
The Commander would continue to stare at the puddle when addressed initially. "Curiosity is fine when it's not dangerous," he commented. "You don't have to pretend that you're worried, I pass no judgement on that," he'd finish. He would catch that correction, but his monotone words would express how little he cared about it. Hawkbite was the last to have any say on how much he cared for some of his clanmates. There were certain cats he would watch die if given the chance.
Hawkbite's ears would flick. Oh, that's right... He'd nearly forgotten about Rookfire's past. The Enforcer had been around the clan long enough that his RiverClan roots were drowning in the mud of ShadowClans present grip on the feline. His green gaze would flicker towards the dark warrior before noting the plants he reached for. Didn't Lostspark try to teach them about those before? She never did finish that lesson, so Hawkbite had no idea what he was looking at. The Commander had only ever been on one... maybe two herb patrols too, so he had no idea what plants what were what, aside from catmint.
"Funny how that worked out, huh?" Hawkbite would speak, his gaze watching Rookfire as the tom would cater to his cuts. "Now look at you, one of the ShadowClan elites. Little Rookpaw would probably be shivering in their pelt if they knew about this. At least, that's how I'm understanding it," he half-joked. Hawkbite hadn't even remembered the name Rookfire back to the clan with. It was irrelevant information to him now. "Now me, younger me would've been furious about not achieving the deputy rank yet. Though, I'm content," Hawkbite sighed, thinking about his conversation with Dawnstar the day he suggested Mistlewhisker. "For now." He whispered more to himself, but didn't care if the Enforcer heard it.
a low humm made its way from deep in rookfires throat to confirm, or rather, agree, with what hawkbite said, carefully wrapping cobwebs (he had came across shimmering silky between thick blades of grass) around a stick absentmindedly. "i'd say a certain aspect worry was involved, though i must admit not on a personal level. you fill a important role in the clan and it'd be a pity if you were to leave this situation in worse shape than necesarry." truthfully no more than a work relationship at this moment, rookfire would care about his well-being to a higher degree than that of any random clanmate sure, but despite the trouble of getting a new stable commander that would come with his death or stepping down or any other possibly situation in which he might leave the position open, rookfire probably wouldnt care a whole lot. death had long since become a simple part of live, eat or be eaten. how could one care for others on such a substancial level when the only rule every single animal aligned with was violence?
"th' riverclan version of me wouldve been pretty horrified yeah" the enforcer huffed a laugh, having returned to hawkbite and perched on his hind legs in order to gently brush fur away from the wounds with his forepaws. the strong tangy, sort of dry feeling taste of marigold coating his tongue as molars grind the leaves and saturated orange petals into a poultice before applying the mass to hawkbites wounds and covering each in a thin layer of cobwebs. overall, he didnt think it was neccesarry for most of the tabbies wounds but in combination with ease of application and the simple fact that it would make for cleaner, quicker mending of his skin, there wasnt a reason not to. minkpaw wouldve been terrified by most of the things rookfire turned out to be. being male for one, being one of the center ones he didnt think his younger self wouldve been able to wrap her head around. tearing flesh from bone, soft golden fur sticking to blood slick dark grey one, his run-in with fadingsun,, yeah there was a lot that changed. "you're still young, 'not sayin i dont like our current leadership, quite the contrary, but theres always the future." he shrugged. whilst rookfire himself had not quite given up on his dream about perhaps one day being chosen to serve his clan as medicine cat, the desire had shifted to the back of his mind considerably, entirely content with his status as enforcer at this moment, he could understand why hawkbite wanted more. it had always been a thing with riverclan, he was sure of it, why else would one let down chase him to finally snap and another leave him unshaken. there was some kind of underlying issue or reason for sure, and even though the truth lay close to the surface its slippery nature made it hard for rook to hold on for long enough to fully grasp it.
he shuffled around the older enforcer, beginning to tend to his other side after briefly eyeing the wounds he had to work with. "i think..if you're meant for more you'll be guided there. towards your truth." apart from one medium sized wound that required a bit more marigold paste than the rest, the commander had managed to leave the altercation with mostly small nicks and cuts, meaning rookfire moved with slightly rusty yet practiced ease and completed treatment within a few moments. "all done"
ⵌ ➜ #GUTSPAW ˗ˏˋ ✮ it . teeth . bite . // sixteen moons ˎˊ˗
small spiky-furred black tabby with striking icy blue eyes. has a huge fluffy tail & a few scars in the shapes of bite-marks - notch in left ear.
❝HIGH ACHIEVER, DON'T YOU SEE? BABY, NOTHING COMES FOR FREE !!❞
『 彡 ➜ @alec || sorry this took so long ! ;0; 』
Gutspaw's ears perked up at the permission, a wide grin spreading across bite's face. "Coolcool, thanks Rook-io, " it replied, burying the prey it had gathered once more together. Hopefully the Enforcer wouldn't get to up in paws about the nickname. Some cats got weird about 'em, but they could screw off. The more one rebelled against them, the worse nicknames they would get. Rather quickly, the apprentice disappeared again once more.
Of course, teeth did pick up two pinecones as they were always useful to have. However, it didn't just stop there. Little did Rookfire know, Gutspaw had came with ulterior motives. Crafting materials. It needed to stock up! It would wrap ferns around its neck for easy holding, though they were a bit dry. Soon, it would get too cold for them to grow.
[ the collector has been UNLOCKED ]
The apprentice would stray a bit more away, picking up a purple pansy for its nest. They always smelled good. It would also stumble upon a large leaf, and would go out of its way to find a stick and collect some sap from the surrounding trees. Little bit overboard, but this was fine. Gutspaw returned to Rookfire, unburying the prey and picking it up. "Rweady, " it confirmed, voice slightly muffled.
inventory :
- 1 fish
- 1 shrew
- 1 fern
- 2 pinecones
- 1 large leaf
- 1 purple pansy
- 1 sap stick
·̩̩̥͙**•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙* ˚Duskpaw of Shadowclan | 12 moons | Purrks: n/a | Training Tracker˚*• ̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*·̩̩̥͙
Quote:
Originally Posted by idia
SQUIRRELRISE she/her. 15 moons. small, scarred russet molly with brown markings and yellow eyes.
[ chill of death, hulk SMASH ]
"well..er..y-yes, mostly.." squirrelrise nods. there was a bit more to stealth than just being quiet, but she'll explain that later. first, she needs to correct duskpaws crouch – the intention was there but it seemed the molly just lacked experience. so, stepping a bit closer, she stretches out a paw to gently correct any mistakes in the apprentices form so long as duskpaw allowed.
"try..to make s-sure your..s-stance isn't too..narrow, and your..belly..i-is low to the..ground..just above it. keep..your tail low, too.." she advises before taking a step back. okay, moving onto the actual stealth lesson – she remembers simply playing hide and seek in an event hawkbite held, which didn't give her a whole lot of info, but she does remember the little bit she learned from vulturefang. hmm.
"first..s-stealth is about being..quiet, s-so keep your..pawsteps light and..breathing even. but, you sh-should..also be..aware of everything..around you, including yourself." she explains, bushy tail flicking to gesture at the territory around them. "you..also don't want..to be s-seen." she finishes, pausing for a moment to let the information sink in before she moved on. she supposes the best way for duskpaw to learn is just jump right in...?
"I want you..to try to..s-sneak up..on me, okay?" squirrelrise meows, glancing at the shadows and greenery that surrounded the small clearing. she reasons that it should provide enough cover for the apprentice to creep around. "er..b-but, if..you make a mistake..and I'm alerted..you'll have to..s-start..over. it's..easy..though, s-so dont..worry." she adds on, almost apologetically. she's sure duskpaw won't have to start over though. she's got faith in the apprentice.
Dusky flicked her ears at Squirrelies instructions. Low... wider stance... "Well i'm blind so... best bet is for me to... listen to my own pawsteps and adjust from..." she trailed off.
[Duskpaw rolled a 17!]
This time, she grasped the concept fairly easily. Pawstep after pawstep, quieter and quieter each time. After the small practice, she trotted away into the brush around the clearing.
One pawstep, silence. Two pawsteps, quiet. Three- stop. Leaf. dont step on that, it'll make a craaaaackle. she mused silently to herself. Three, dont step on the leaves!!
[AAAA super late, forgive me ]
__________________
Reply lengths/time depends purely on my motivation, please be patient as I have Dysgraphia and ADHD, and tend to forget things!!
Sunrisestar is the current leader of ALT SKYCLAN, she has an OPEN den policy!
ⵌ ➜ #GUTSPAW ˗ˏˋ ✮ it . teeth . bite . // sixteen moons ˎˊ˗
small spiky-furred black tabby with striking icy blue eyes. has a huge fluffy tail & a few scars in the shapes of bite-marks - notch in left ear.
❝HIGH ACHIEVER, DON'T YOU SEE? BABY, NOTHING COMES FOR FREE !!❞
『 彡 ➜ @alec || sorry this took so long ! ;0; 』
Gutspaw's ears perked up at the permission, a wide grin spreading across bite's face. "Coolcool, thanks Rook-io, " it replied, burying the prey it had gathered once more together. Hopefully the Enforcer wouldn't get to up in paws about the nickname. Some cats got weird about 'em, but they could screw off. The more one rebelled against them, the worse nicknames they would get. Rather quickly, the apprentice disappeared again once more.
Of course, teeth did pick up two pinecones as they were always useful to have. However, it didn't just stop there. Little did Rookfire know, Gutspaw had came with ulterior motives. Crafting materials. It needed to stock up! It would wrap ferns around its neck for easy holding, though they were a bit dry. Soon, it would get too cold for them to grow.
[ the collector has been UNLOCKED ]
The apprentice would stray a bit more away, picking up a purple pansy for its nest. They always smelled good. It would also stumble upon a large leaf, and would go out of its way to find a stick and collect some sap from the surrounding trees. Little bit overboard, but this was fine. Gutspaw returned to Rookfire, unburying the prey and picking it up. "Rweady, " it confirmed, voice slightly muffled.
inventory :
- 1 fish
- 1 shrew
- 1 fern
- 2 pinecones
- 1 large leaf
- 1 purple pansy
- 1 sap stick
rookfire huffed a half laugh at gutspaws nickname and took to staring at the trees around whilst bite collected whatever bite wanted to collect. hmm what was there to see. bark, a lot of different bark. greyish bark with deep cracks making for rough edged oval-ish seperate 'isles' of bark with a rough texture that looked like they would peel off easily. a lot firmer, harder to climb as well perhaps, looking were the ones with more shallow cracks, and especially those rookfire knew to bear large cracks but more wood like bark unlike most other trees. the deciduous trees more common near thunderclan border and in their territory rookfire knew to shed leaves like crazy in leaf-fall and stand bare until new-leaf appeared to have overall softer bark which rookfire imagined could potentially cause cats to slip and fall when climbing which was weird considering that was sort of thunderclans whole thing. huh. odd. riverclan didnt really have either of those, barely trees that kept their leaves the whole season, and even fewer of those that shed their crowns once the season cycle was close to coming to an end. given that..riverclan couldnt really come into possession of all the knowledge shadowclan could.. they didnt really have the tools for it now, did they?
before rookfire could think more irrelevant thoughts, gutspaw appeared with a whole lot of plants and confirmed its completion of bites unplanned pinecone hunt with a muffled voice. with a flick of his tail, rookfire picked up his herbs before leading the way back to camp.
Redleaf yawned as she padded out into Shadowclan's territory, the sun was still up. Her green eyes looked around the forest clearing, her ears perked up for any sound of prey. The russet red she-cat padded further into the territory, suddenly she stopped when she saw a bird sitting on the ground floor pecking at nothing. Her green eyes sparkled as she crouched down, reading to jump and killed. Letting her guard down all around her.