from the shadows to the sea [private lesson]

[Estelle]

Most of the trainee’s actions remained within the back of her mind, their idle chatter pointing to no immediate danger or distress which she had to step in on, ears mostly tuning into Rookfire’s words as he mentioned putting one’s head under water. She flicked her ear at that, sight resting on the still shallows surrounding her dark paws, single white one slightly shifting. That couldn’t be comfortable… And yet. It held interest; beating an opponent at their own game. She blinked, slowly, contemplating. She could try it. She could try paddling, too. She was still paying attention. Even when her head was fully submerged under water in an unceremoniously brisk movement, entirely forgetting to take in a breath of air before doing so. Blup, blup, blup.

Terror strikes. Sleepysunrise, under with her head for far longer than ought to be safe, got a striking feeling in her chest that something was amiss. Not with her. But with another. It would be easy to laugh at the ridiculous appearance of namely her head when she finally lifted it from the water with a big gasp of air – fur ruffled wildly and sticking to her thin frame, making her look more like some wet rabbit or dog or skeleton than a cat. But her vibrant eyes soon found the cause of concern, eyes briefly widening at the struggling Birdpaw. A strange feeling seized her heart, and without hesitation the youngest enforcer met her sister halfway, walls collapsing as did her frame when she moved to support her sister, upholding her within her paws like a protective wall from the dangers of the world, drips of concern prickling her normally stoic expression.

“Birdpaw. What is wrong? Breathe.”
She whispered.
“You’re safe. Birdpaw.”
It was an odd feeling. She knew many of her siblings were attained by difficulties, she never knew what exactly, nor did she know what to do. All she could think of was to calm her sister, looking deep into her eyes as she slowly began to breathe in and out, trying to probe Birdpaw into doing the same, into following her pace and calming her nerves. Would it help? Pray, Sleepysunrise hoped it would, holding the younger apprentice within her arms in a protective embrace.
“You’re safe.”
She repeated, voice low, mimicking the comforting tones she had heard from Nightshiver and mama all those moons ago, carefully stroking her sister’s back.


[ @Mica @alec ]

[alec]

ROOKFIRE
[ he/him | shadowclan enforcer | purrks ]

rookfire sort of blended out most of the following chatter, mostly lost in thought, vaguely watching the apprentices with an empty look to his eyes. that was until birdpaw started splashing around and the tell tale grinding wheeze of air being force in and out of a throat wholely disagreeing with the motion, which snapped him back to attention. with birdpaw already halfway towards sleepysunrise and the younger enforcer offering quiet words and support, rookfire felt unsure, yet momentarily frozen in place, thoughts filing through any knowledge that might be relevant if this got worse and he had to step up. with water quietly sloshing around his legs, rook stepped a bit closer to the two, silently hovering behind the sisters to watch, not yet feeling the need to intervene with something sleepysunrise appeared to know how to handle. in all honestly, it made him a bit anxious to just stand by and not be able to do something, perhaps another reason he should either bring as much distance between himself and any and all medical emergency situations, or invest more time in it.
rookfire left them the time they needed, remaining motionless, ..more than he wouldve liked before continuing but it wasnt quite her fault anyway, "sleepysunrise, birdpaw feel free to catch a breather with roachflare and tell me if it gets worse, the rest can progress into the deeper water now. i want to see some nice swimming now, no more messing around until i can be sure you wont drown out of nowhere" the dark tom announced, having straightened back up to full height, looking a bit slimmer now that a good portion of his fur was slick against his body.


[ - @Luminous - pigeonpaw
- @Oliver - muddypaw
- @Mica - birdpaw
- @redshiftreign - grousepaw ]
- @Estelle - sleepysunrise
i would like to kindly encourage the people that have not replied between my last post and this one to catch up on the things their character has missed, as i do not see this as full training unless every lesson post has been interacted with in some way ]

[Mica]

Birdpaw
ShadowClan
she/her | 8 moons | 71/100
[Grey-blue tabby with dark blue overcoat, white underside and amber eyes]
Purrks: Lyrebird's Lullaby [PERMANENTLY ACTIVE], Don't Mind if I Do!
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Fool ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
· · ────────────── · ·
[Pigeonpaw - @Luminous ] [Muddypaw - @Dolomedes ] [Rookfire - @alec ] [Grousepaw - @redshiftreign ] [Sleepysunrise - @Estelle ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Birdpaw's vision swam, dark spots flooding her eyes and dimming her vision. Her chest spasmed with every labored breath, panic rising higher and higher until it threatened to drown her like the swamp tugging at her long grey and white fur.

But then a warm, familiar presence settled over her, paws coming to rest over her shaking shoulders. Birdpaw let herself collapse into the similarly small form of her elder sister. You're safe. You're safe. Birdpaw knew that--she really did. The water wouldn't hurt her, but the air surrounding them stabbed claws into her weak lungs and tore.

The longer Birdpaw rested against her sister, the easier her breathing became. Eventually the spasms stopped, and the pain subsided slightly. "'m okay--" Birdpaw wheezed, tears streaming down her already sopping face. "'M sorry--s-sorry." This was so embarrassing--usually Birdpaw wasn't bothered by doing embarrassing things, but now Sleepysunrise was brought into it and she was treating Birdpaw so nicely like an actual sibling and oh stars Birdpaw was crying rather ugly-like now.

As Rookfire and the other apprentices moved away, Birdpaw gently pulled herself from her sister's embrace, taking as deep of a breath as she could without launching herself into another coughing fit. "T-thanks, Sleepy." She whimpered, amber eyes so similar to their mother's hazy with tears and lack of oxygen. "'M okay. I can continue." As the fear of suffocating subsided, it revealed what made Birdpaw special. Her unending enthusiasm and drive to learn. She would best this training even if it killed her. ... okay maybe she would avoid dying. This little scene wasn't fun at all.

Birdpaw remained by Sleepysunrise's side as they followed behind Rookfire and the others, Birdpaw catching the last bit of instruction. She hesitated before stepping away to try swimming in the deeper area, glued to Sleepysunrise's side by fear. Shaking out her pelt, Birdpaw steeled herself. She couldn't be weak, now could she! She had to become an amazing warrior like Mama, like Papa, like Sleepysunrise! Birdpaw nosed her sister's shoulder. "I love you, big sister." She purred weakly, giving the slightly smaller cat a grateful smile before wading deeper to join the rest of the apprentices.

Birdpaw didn't have to be told twice to keep her head above water as she gradually left the safety of the shallows. Once her paws could no longer reach she squeaked, fear spiking through her, but she kept going. Strong strokes, even breaths (even if they were a bit shorter than they should have been), open toe beans to catch more water. Some of it became instinct, and the rest was filled in by Rookfire's teaching. Soon enough, Birdpaw was doing it! She was actually doing it! She grew tired very quickly and came back to where she could stand, breaths sawing in and out of her chest as she looked at Sleepysunrise, pride in her previously terrified eyes. See? She could do it! Her breaths were still a little disjointed, so she decided to sit in the shallows and watch the others for a moment to fully catch her breath.

[Estelle]

Sleepysunrise
[ 11* moons | She / Her | Shc Enforcer ]

She blinked, the stroking movements across the apprentice’s back slowed as Birdpaw’s breath steadied and the older of the pair finally felt as though she could breathe again. Still, her eyes were glazed with a foreign worry reserved only for the special few, paws tentatively pulling her younger sister closer.
“Don’t.. Don’t apologise. Not mad.”
She mumbled to her sister, trying to search her eyes and understand where these apologies came from; where the sudden idea of anger might have arisen. But all too soon Birdpaw pulled out of her embrace and declared herself good enough to continue; Sleepysunrise wanted to protest. First of all, her name was Sleepysunrise and not merely Sleepy – but most of all, was Birdpaw truly capable of continuing? What if this happened again? What if she could never breathe again, and what if it all went wrong? She couldn’t lose another sibling, much less to her own fault. But she had to accept the apprentice’s wishes and let her try, or she wouldn’t ever learn how to swim. She had to blink, and decide to remain close to her sister during the remainder of the event… A silent compromise.

And Birdpaw seemed to share a similar thought as the two sisters wadded deeper into the water side by side, taking it slow as the liquid lapped around their paws and Sleepysunrise looked all the more ridiculously soaked. But her attention remained on her little sister, protective and unsure; she couldn’t let anything happen, and yet there was such a thing in letting go. Letting them try. Even when she felt Birdpaw’s touch upon her shoulder, and those foreign words rang in her ear. Love. Mama used to call her Love, her Love, once upon a time. Sleepysunrise treasured that memory. And yet, this was different, was it not? I love you. Big sister. Words she never thought she would hear; she was Birdpaw’s big sister, she strived to be. But did it make her a bad big sister, to not know if she should return those words? To doubt the meaning they carried? Love was a feeling of care, was it not? So perhaps, Birdpaw meant she cared for her; a sentiment which alights warmth and confusion within the enforcer’s chest. She cared for Birdpaw too, at least, she thinks she does. But the expression still sounded so foreign, so odd.
“I… Love you.. too.”
Sleepysunrise uttered hesitantly, seemingly searching the minute meaning of every single syllable that fell from her maw; she hesitated, but before Birdpaw could leave she opted to lightly bump her head against the similarly sized apprentice, a sign of affection more familiar to her.

And just like that, there stood the unknowing older sister, watching her little sister swim through the water like second nature. Sleepysunrise’s face was dull, near devoid, of expression and yet pride was what she felt as she watched her sister, a silent sentiment shared through the tilt of a head and the sheer focus of unnerving eyes on the dark apprentice’s pelt. Soon enough, Sleepysunrise dared join Birdpaw in the water; it was a strange sensation, and yet not the worst one so far. Cold water seeped into her fur in full, and toes beans were spread as she caught water within her paws to propel herself forward and keep her head high above water, growing more and more familiar within the water as time went, even when Birdpaw had already exited the transparent liquid. Soon after followed the elder of the two, wanting to practice further but deciding she’d better sit next to Birdpaw in solidarity.


[ @Mica @alec ]