Training with Talonstone [Private]

[nocturnal]

// @littlefox

The tom hadn't known what to expect with his secondary apprentice, but the first impression he received from the young feline was an indecipherable conglomeration of repeated flashes, memories, and emotions. Without any movement to give away that he'd just experienced the barrage of attacks, Talonstone flicked his tail ever so slightly and began:

"As my apprentice, I will expect, but not demand, that you treat me with respect. Should you encounter any troubles, know that I am here to assist, even if others may question your actions. Unless you inform me that you are due elsewhere, training begins immediately once the dawn patrol exits the main camp. I will await you in the clearing always, though practice may take place wherever I deem fit."

He'd detected something that vaguely resembled sarcasm in the apprentice's greeting, and although he wouldn't think too badly of Hailpaw, it certainly didn't earn him any points. Talonstone found himself wondering if his former mentor, Ravenvine, felt the same way seasons ago. He, too, had refused to speak… and when he finally mentioned anything, it hadn't been the kindest of words.

Dismissing those thoughts, the large feline prompted, "Any questions before we begin? Regardless, what you rather learn first?"

[nocturnal]

// @VALLIANCE

Her response seemed almost flustered, and it faintly amused him behind his stony mask. Though the reaction had not been his goal, it sat with him well all the same. "It is true," the warrior exhaled quietly, "-that no felines live forever. Some, however, live longer than others… undeservingly so. Correspondingly, there are various ways to meet one's final fate. Clan cats deem certain deaths as honorable, others not. I disagree. Death is death. I presume you think similarly."

Talonstone stepped back into the shadows, and they hid him well regardless of the color of his pelt. "Allow me to rephrase my inquiry," he reattempted. "What experience do you have with death? I will be skeptical if you say 'none.'"

[littlefox]

Hailpaw did his best to refrain from any of his usual mannerisms—no rolling of the eyes or snorts of disrespect exhibited themselves in front of Talonstone. This revealed more than one would think about Hailpaw’s impression of his mentor. It was a feat all on its own that he had managed to stay his version of “polite” for this long. Hailpaw would say he deserved points just for that. But alas, all good things come to an end.

Here we go... Hailpaw thought to himself as Talonstone began his speech. The big white tom almost seemed... annoyed, or maybe tired of the spiel. Hailpaw knew he wasn’t the warriors only new apprentice, and this must not have been the first time he’d had to have this talk recently. Talonstone intrigued him, if not only for the fact that he had been entrusted with the training of two separate apprentices. Hailpaw figured this meant good things. At the very least, competency.

The apprentice caught himself as he began to zone out, focused on his trailing thoughts of his mentor. What had Talonstone said? Something about not demanding respect? That was new. Hailpaw figured that meant Talonstone was either a coward or a liar. The apprentice assumed the latter. “Nice speech.” He replied when his mentor had finished. The snarky, sarcastic quality of his tone from earlier was back. Those who didn’t know better might have figured that this was just how Hailpaw’s voice sounded naturally, with how often it sounded that way... but it was always intentional. Hailpaw was immensely curious at this point, and wanted to see how much leeway he had with Talonstone, pushing the boundaries early on. Talonstone seemed less strict than Ferretsnout had been so far, but who could be sure?

”I do have a question, actually,” Hailpaw dared. Lapses in the tom’s judgement were not uncommon. “Do you lie to all of your apprentices?” His tone sounded more innocent than accusatory, like the question was genuine. He moved on from the question quickly—it had been rhetorical in Hailpaw’s mind anyway. “But I want to fight. I’m good at it.”

[ @bmkmb ]

[nocturnal]

// @littlefox

The second Hailpaw mentioned that he had a question, a strange sense of recollection washed over him. Hadn't Sparkpaw said the same exact thing many moons ago? Albeit with a cheekier tone and less hostility behind it. He braced himself for some unorthodox question, glad that he did once he received the inquiry.

"My speech contained no falsehoods," Talonstone remarked bluntly. "If it did, you would not be standing here unscathed." He was fully capable of incapacitating his apprentice if he felt the need. Luckily for them both, the warrior possessed more patience than most—a side effect of his former mentor frequently turning him into a practice target and demonstrating multiple rather painful examples on him in the past. It taught him resilience, and patience often went paw-in-paw with that.

What irked Talonstone most wasn't the question itself, but that genuine yet not, somehow snarky sort of monotone that Hailpaw voiced his thoughts with… His own mentors must have silently despised it; although he, at least, once attempted to limit his use of the tone, only because certain felines effectively threatened him into displaying proper manners if nothing else. The forced etiquette remained with him though those felines were long gone.

If his suffix didn't fit him so well, he might've knocked his head against a tree branch out of frustration. Of course Hailpaw would enjoy fighting. All his apprentices adored slicing up bodies and beating others to death, it would seem. Honestly, it might've been some strange curse placed onto him—escape the Wicked Forest, only to be assigned the most dark-aligned apprentices that the clan could muster from the depths of the nursery.

"I will see that your fighting skills grow adept," Talonstone allowed. "However, hunting and theory are equally of importance. What do you know of catching prey, swimming, climbing, and skulking?" he asked. Don't get him wrong, they would be sparring first; everything else later or in between. The warrior only wanted to know for future reference.

[littlefox]

Huh. Hailpaw was, admittedly, taken aback. Talonstone wasn’t what he’d been expecting. The big white tom didn’t act like a mentor, at least in Hailpaw’s mind. He imagine that Talonstone would have been screaming insults or flashing claws by now. It made him uneasy that he wasn’t. The break from routine, from normalcy, from the expected... it almost made Hailpaw more uncomfortable than if Talonstone had actually lunged at him. He’d threatened him, sure, but Hailpaw didn’t think he’d follow through with it unless the apprentice gave him a reason to. He also had the itching suspicion that he wouldn’t know he had stepped too far out of line until it was already too late. It seemed he was still in safe territory for now, but decided it might be best not to push Talonstone any further. For now.

The apprentice watched his mentor through pale, narrowed eyes. The fluffy white fur along the back of his neck had begun to raise subconsciously. Hailpaw wasn’t at stoic as Talonstone seemed to be—the apprentice was actually rather bad at disguising his emotions. Either bad or didn’t care. Why am I so uncomfortable? he questioned in his head, suppressing a growl of frustration.

As Talonstone began to question Hailpaw’s competency in other skills, he blinked slowly as he thought about his answer. What did he know of these skills? Not much. Hunting... he could hunt, but he wasn’t very good. Ferretsnout always said he didn’t have the patience. Skulking he could do. He was proud to be from Shadowclan, and has dedicated the time to get good at one of Shadowclan’s trademark skills quickly. Swimming and climbing didn’t seem like Shadowclan skills to him though and he had no experience in the areas. Instead of answering Talonstone’s questions with these mental observations, however, all he responded with was ”I told you I can fight, and I can keep out of sight like a Shadowclan cat should be able to. But swimming, climbing? I’m no Thunderclan squirrel or Riverclan fish. I don’t see why I need to learn any of that.”

[ @bmkmb ]

[crumbl]

Originally Posted by bmkmb

// @VALLIANCE

Her response seemed almost flustered, and it faintly amused him behind his stony mask. Though the reaction had not been his goal, it sat with him well all the same. "It is true," the warrior exhaled quietly, "-that no felines live forever. Some, however, live longer than others… undeservingly so. Correspondingly, there are various ways to meet one's final fate. Clan cats deem certain deaths as honorable, others not. I disagree. Death is death. I presume you think similarly."

Talonstone stepped back into the shadows, and they hid him well regardless of the color of his pelt. "Allow me to rephrase my inquiry," he reattempted. "What experience do you have with death? I will be skeptical if you say 'none.'"

Hazelpaw's gaze hardened, and the young molly glanced away, forcing her ears not to flatten. This was what he was getting at, eh?

"I've known plenty of cats who have died." Her mew was deadpan. "My mother told me my littermates died at birth, but of course, I never knew them. Then my mother died. That was after she left me. Cats told me she was sick a long time, and it was the Twolegs that did it, chaining her up like that." Somehow, she was beginning to relax, whereas some cats might grow aggravated. "A rogue I knew. Fish. He helped me survive, but they killed him. I was there and I saw how he bled, and how his eyes glazed over..." It was coming easily now-- there was almost eagerness in her voice. "Then Cherrypike died. She led me into RiverClan. She froze to death in the river. She was cold. Just like Bay, little thing. He was cold too. So cold." Laughter bubbled up inside her. "Oh, and Boar died. He went down and he crumpled, but then he didn't care anymore. You don't care when you die. Sometimes living cats care. They never care. They-- I want to know what-- what it's like--" She ran her claws into the earth, wanting to go on, needing to go on-- but slowed, looking away again. She couldn't get carried away. She knew not all cats thought about it the way... the way she did.

Driving her eyes back to Talonstone, she forced a false chuckle that convinced no cat. "I don't know how much that helped, but I've had the experience," she whispered. "What does this have to do with training?"

[nocturnal]

// @VALLIANCE

He kept count as she spoke… one, two, three… four, five, six at the least. Each word came more naturally than the next. She was… unwinding, the warrior decided. Like a snake coiled up, hiding beneath the stone. Yet, when forcibly removed from its home, it received the chance to stretch and straighten out—either that or it would strike out of sheer anxiety.

It took him some time, understandably, to recall that his apprentice displayed an outsider background. The names gave it away, and curious it was that she encountered the riverdwellers before running to the shadows.

Hazelpaw was broken, he established in his mind. However, he would not allow that to cloud his judgement. Their relationship was meant to be give and take. He provided lessons; in turn, he earned respect… or something like that. He should not care, should not want to help if that was even possible. Any other mentor would yell—yowl at her for being a psychopath, blame her for the deaths. Though, any other mentor would not have asked such a strange inquiry, so they might never know.

Talonstone contemplated her words, then admitted, "It helped… immensely. Far more than you would think." Now, he knew far more of her past along with her skills, and he could determine the best course of action.

Since she asked, he felt obligated to reply. "Before I can teach you to kill, I must know how well you understand death. Some react badly to the concept… I do not believe that will be an issue for us." Combined, they likely knew more of death than half the entire shadows.

[nocturnal]

// @littlefox

He received that same reaction nearly every time. While his first apprentice had been elated at the thought of learning specialized skills, the next two were much more battle-oriented. That was what set them apart.

"It confounds me that most shadowdwellers think themselves better than every other clan, yet we lose immediately when raiding because we cannot match their skills. The second they see their target, shadowdwellers have a bad habit of forgetting to stay in the shadows. Thundercats bounce off rocks, make for the trees. Riverdwellers dare opponents to come near water. Even windrunners, supposedly weak, drive us from our own home, in our own camp, because they are too fast for us.

"The battle took place at midnight. Our time. Our numbers were even; still, we lost. We lost in the night because we underestimated the enemy, because our clanmates were, frankly, incompetent.

"This camp we reside in is more dangerous than the last. Should the riverdwellers decide they want revenge, they only need to enter the camp, and they will win because of the stream that runs through this gorge. Thundercats will scale the walls, race up the roots while raining down strikes on us. In a gorge, there is only one shadow, or no shadow depending on the time of day. If we cannot learn from our mistakes, then the second an otherclanner learns the placement of our camp, we will be moving again."

Talonstone watched Hailpaw carefully, ready to gauge his reaction. The warrior had spoken for much longer than he expected, and they were wasting daylight. Once the discussion, if it could be called that, wrapped up, he planned on taking them into the territory.

[littlefox]

Hailpaw sat in silence as Talonstone lectured him. At least, it felt like a lecture, or maybe more like being scolded as a kit. Nothing in his mentor's words was disrespectful towards the apprentice, but for some reason, they made him angry just the same.

The tom was... surprised to hear that Talonstone didn't agree Shadowclan was better than the rest of the forest cats. Surprised further that he even sounded like the other clans were better than Shadowclan. But he had to remind himself that his mentor wasn't even born in this marsh. Maybe that's why Talonstone didn't understand. Wasn't he proud to be apart of the greatest of the four clans? Or at least grateful towards the clan that adopted him?

But the more his mentor spoke, the more Hailpaw understood that he had a point. Perhaps one of Shadowclan's greatest weaknesses was their pride. The realization made him uneasy. Like every tale of greatness or victory he'd heard in the elder's den had been a lie.

He didn't realize he'd been kneading his claws into the ground until a churned up pile of earth lay beneath them. Hailpaw sheathed his claws quickly but hadn't spent his frustrations entirely. The apprentice lashed out with a paw, kicking up a spray of loose earth and hopping to his paws. "You don't have to retell recent history to me!" He spat. "I know we lost. I know. Watching Windclan strike down my brother was a good enough reminder." The apprentice fell back hard on his haunches almost as quickly as he had stood, as if the fire in him had died as quickly as it had sparked up. "So fine. If you think acting like I'm not Shadowclan will help me protect it, then fine. Teach me to be better than all of the clans if it means I can protect mine."

[ @bmkmb ]

[nocturnal]

// @littlefox — For future reference, Talon's ThC background isn't common knowledge. The former leader of ShC took on something of a liking towards him, so his loyalty has never been questioned, either. Anycat younger than thirteen moons wouldn't know of his past unless an older warrior mentioned it to them for whatever reason. <3

—

Hailpaw was a bit more volatile than himself or any of his other apprentices, Talonstone noted silently. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Some felines thought love was the strongest emotion, others believed in its opposite, hatred. To feel anger, not on that extreme of a level, of course, was normal. Healthy even. Better yet when directed towards a goal; something or someone. Driven felines tended to earn more achievements than others.

He stood his ground, keeping his chilled gaze on the apprentice as he lashed out. Not at him or some bystander, thankfully, but at the dirt and air around him. However, they stood in the center of the clearing. It wasn't quite noon, but even the kittens were already out and about. Others were bound to have noticed.

"As you wish," the warrior agreed. If Hailpaw wanted to be the best, then Talonstone would support him. He'd get there eventually, even if he would need to continue training after death. Many felines did that—extend their knowledge far past their final breath in the living realm, that is. After all, being dead was boring, or so he presumed from personal experience.

The shadowdweller barely felt anything at the mention of the dead sibling. He understood the pain of being left alone; that wasn't saying it was the same. Never. He'd despised it when clanmates claimed to know how it felt—they did not. They'd lived their own lives with their own troubles, and their troubles might've been similar but not identical to his!

So, he saved Hailpaw from that predicament by ignoring the outburst whereas some other mentor might've yelled right back, or on the flip side, tried and likely failed to comfort him. What, exactly, was the meaning of comfort, anyway?

Once he confirmed that everything had settled down, Talonstone motioned with his tail for Hailpaw to follow him. "We will begin with battle training elsewhere," he informed, heading for the forest.