back to basics [ tree climbing! ]

[Estelle]

She waited. And she waited. And she waited. And she waited. But no one else showed up. And though she looked over at MintyFeather, he wasn't teaching her. And wasn't getting up and saying, 'okay, let's get started!', no. Even after she had asked, she was just told to wait. Well, Poppypaw had waited long enough, in her humble opinion. She didn't want to wait any longer! Everyone else was climbing up in trees, and she wanted to climb too! Besides, how hard could it be? Everyone seemed to be doing it with relative ease, she surely could climb up a little big tree too. Humpf. Huffing out a breath, turning her back on her supposed teacher, Poppypaw wobble up the nearest tree. She looked up, then left - seeing someone climbing a tree - then right - seeing someone jump off the branch - then back at the tree in front of her. Here it goes.

Flexing her little claws, she noticed others using them to hold onto the tree. But first, came a little jump up. A little head tremor betrayed the slight bit of nervousness she felt, but her face was laced with determination. Crouching low, wobbling in place, she took in a deep breath and !!!!! JUMP! But, her launch was poor, barely landing her with one paw on the tree and still nearly at its base. still, her one claw latched into the tree's bark and, with much difficulty and determination, she just about managed to wedge her other paw's claws into the tree and pull herself up just a little higher. Phew. That was a lot of work.

She glanced down, noting that she'd barely lifted off the ground, then in front of her, noting her others were up much higher. She wanted to be up higher too, like when Pap gave her badger rides! This thought gave her the determination to move forth - or up, more accurately. Huffing and puffing and with the lightest head shakes, she pulled up on her paws, digging her back claws into the tree then - nearly falling - tentatively putting her right paw up higher. Followed by her left paw. She was nearly hanging from those two paws, but with much struggle, she managed to pull herself up high enough to have to move her back legs a bit more up. And... She did so, in nearly one awkward swing, before repeating the steps above.

Honestly, she was surprised herself. Climbing turned out to be far more exhausting than she had expected, but! She made it!! After a loooong time (or at least, what felt like a long time), she was finally up on the tree's first sturdy-looking branch! Now, Poppypaw was a little stuck. Very stuck, actually. She was here, hanging in the tree (her arms and legs getting a little tired despite being more light-weight), and she wanted to get onto the branch. She wanted to stand on it, and walk on it! But that wasn't really working, because she didn't know how. Others seemed to be climbing up, then jumping down... But she didn't want to be jumping down just yet, she liked being up this high!

Hesitating, but tiring, she tried something. Reaching out her right paw, she latched the claws into the bark, on top of the branch. Then, with little coordination and skill, she tried to do the same with her left paw. That went about as well as you'd expect. The moment she reached right with her left paw, trying to grab the branch, Poppypaw lost all grip and slipped -
"AH!"
She squealed, virtually hanging from but one leg, the other barely against the tree, her backside dangling above the ground below. Her head began giving more violent shakes, her heart pounding as she slowly began to realise that perhaps this wasn't how things were supposed to go.

Looking down, she felt a bit nervous, but -- everyone else was jumping down, she could too, right? She wanted to, but once again, she wasn't sure how. She had no way to push off! All the brittle apprentice could think of was swinging her legs back towards the trunk - which she did - but the pull of the swing promptly stole whatever bit of grip she had left in her upper body, tearing her away from the branch. And with not even her back legs gripping the tree, Poppypaw was quickly falling to the ground below with a loud squeal, much like this:
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"


[ @taillow ]