Wolfhive leaned in close and flicked his paw to bap Alpinepaw's muzzle. He noticed the stare, didn't understand it, but wasn't otherwise bothered. He chalked it up to her being a lil weirdo. "Well, today we're gonna fix that! Willow's Rise is a decent spot to hunt, so why don't you show me your best hunting crouch?"
Kestrelpaw was all too smug to be out on an outing with her singular parent. She had a stupidly big grin on her face, all but skipping alongside Mountaintalon. Lost in her own thoughts, her own world where her father was the sun she orbited around. To be the one her dad picked for an outing (there was only her and Warblerpaw anyway, but still!) was awesome!
Wait wait wait. . . Rewind. Her dad was apologizing? To her? For what? Obviously Mountaintalon had no faults whatsoever. "That's okay!" She responded cheerily, over the moon to be spending time at all with her father. Oooh, climbing. "No, I haven't done climbing yet. I'm done with everything else though!" Was she boasting? Yes. Looking for praise? Yes. Did she realize it? Pshaw, don't make her laugh, but yes.
Of course she would wave him off easily. If Mountaintalon knew only one thing about his daughter, it was that she was too quick to forgive. Too kind. In most cases, he would find a reason to scoff at it, but here, it made things much easier for him. They were more susceptible to molding if they never pushed back.
He made a humming sound in the back of his throat. "So you're nearing your ceremony? That's more than I can say for the rest of your siblings. The others have apparently found better things to do, and Warblerpaw..." Mountaintalon was more frustrated with Warblerpaw than the ones who vanished, to be honest. If his children were to stick around, he expected them to act like warriors. Kestrelpaw was doing it. It wasn't difficult.
He side-stepped the graves and approached a tree toward the edge of the clearing. "Keep your eyes on me," he rumbled. "I'm going to show you, and you're going to copy me."
He reached up, hooked long claws into the oak, and hauled himself up to a low-hanging, sturdy branch. With a critical expression, he looked down at Kestrelpaw. "Your turn. To the branch above me."
Alpinepaw blinked and recoiled into a sapling. The sapling broke in half, and she squealed like a scared kit. Alpinepaw stopped and took several deep breaths before proceeding to crouch.
Her belly was somewhat above the ground and her tail low to it. Alpinepaw's right forepaw was farther away than her left one. The end of her tail was slightly up. It was not often she would practice this.
"Easy there!" Wolfhive hadn't anticipated her reacting so harshly to that, and he peered at her in concern. "You alright?"
She seemed to be, physically at least - and she began to get into position. Still, he was concerned and kept a closer eye on her just in case. [b]"The crouch shouldn't be uncomfortable, it should feel natural. Bring your right paw in and raise your tail - it needs to be straighter and higher from the ground."[b] Her stomach seemed a bit low too, but Wolfhive figured her posture would improve it.
So she had a demonstration, he lowered himself into his own crouch. "Like this, then I want you to move forward. As quietly as you can."
Of course she would wave him off easily. If Mountaintalon knew only one thing about his daughter, it was that she was too quick to forgive. Too kind. In most cases, he would find a reason to scoff at it, but here, it made things much easier for him. They were more susceptible to molding if they never pushed back.
He made a humming sound in the back of his throat. "So you're nearing your ceremony? That's more than I can say for the rest of your siblings. The others have apparently found better things to do, and Warblerpaw..." Mountaintalon was more frustrated with Warblerpaw than the ones who vanished, to be honest. If his children were to stick around, he expected them to act like warriors. Kestrelpaw was doing it. It wasn't difficult.
He side-stepped the graves and approached a tree toward the edge of the clearing. "Keep your eyes on me," he rumbled. "I'm going to show you, and you're going to copy me."
He reached up, hooked long claws into the oak, and hauled himself up to a low-hanging, sturdy branch. With a critical expression, he looked down at Kestrelpaw. "Your turn. To the branch above me."
Eyes all but sparkling with happiness at being complemented (even at the cost of her siblings' reputation), Kestrelpaw mrrowed with obvious pleasure at the praise. She'd be a warrior soon, she'd make her Papa finally proud! No thought to the fact that after reaching that goal. . . Kestrelpaw did not know what was next. For right now, she did not think ahead. She was the epitome of living in the moment, to the extent that her only goal ever was to make Mountaintalon pleased with her, and she had yet to achieve it, even after nine moons of living.
Trailing after the large grey warrior, Kestrelpaw eyed her father curiously as he hauled himself up. It looked... so effortless. That fact in itself made it a little intimidating. Hold on now - her, intimidated?!? No can do, Kestrelpaw. She wasn't intimidated. By anything. Ever. Period. No question about it. It wasn't changing. She was the coolest, duh. But looking up at the branch she was supposed to reach, Kestrelpaw felt a little too... inadequate. Em. She suddenly felt short, too. Come on now, tree, she wasn't that short, be a little forgiving.
Her gaze darted briefly to Mountaintalon, and then back at her destination. "To the branch above Papa." She repeated the instructions quietly back to herself, the tic helping her focus, and then unsheathed her claws, digging them into the rough bark. Her progress was really much slower than Mountaintalon's, but eventually she made it, heaving herself onto the branch above him and trying not to pant from exertion. Hello?!?!?!? Why did tree climbing have to be so hard? Why were they climbing trees anyway? They were land cats! But if she had to learn this, even if she knew she'd be sore all over in the end, she would.
Alpinepaw followed his instructions by moving her right paw closer to her body and raising her tail a bit. She then creeped along until she was a few fox lengths away from Wolfhive.
"Good!" Wolfhive praised. He didn't see anything immediately problematic with her stance and movement. "Keep moving and scent the air. What do you smell?"
She kept slinking and smelled the air. It smelt like there was a rotting predatory animal nearby. Alpinepaw turned to the source and said, "Wolfhive, I think there is a rotten animal over there..." The young cat continued to move carefully towards it. The scent grew stronger, it was getting obvious that something was eating away at it.
risingstorm walked through willows rise looking for herbs that he hardly knew about as he searched he found a poppy flower taking the whole thing in his maw before looking around more
Re: Willow's Rise
