Tinderpaw's Training

[Wildstar]

Modify at will.

[Starlight]

((I think I'll just post my own so Tinder sees this in New Topics again, but thank you very much for the offer. ^^))

Ashpelt woke long before the sun came up. He was normally an early riser, but he was getting up particularly early today. He deftly stepped out of the warrior's den, holding something leafy in his mouth, and padded his way down to the apprentice's den.

He had watched Tinderpaw after her ceremony yesterday. Many cats had congratulated the newly-made apprentice, but none stuck around long, and she did not have a crowd of family or friends milling around her like the other cats. In her short time here, it seemed she had not made any strong bonds with any of the others. They would have to work on that. Strong ties to a clan meant loyalty to that clan. ((Sorry, I might be powerplaying a little here, but that's the impression I got...))

As the celebrations began to calm down, Ashpelt stepped forward again to face Tinderpaw. "You have today to yourself to get settled in and rest. We start our training early tomorrow." Of course, the young apprentice had no idea just how early. Then he smiled warmly down at his new apprentice. "Congratulations, Tinderpaw. I look forward to having you as my apprentice."

Ashpelt stopped in front of the apprentice's den and set down his bundle and poked his head inside. He waited a moment, until he could clearly see the sleeping outlines of the apprentices. He managed to make out Tinderpaw's dark pelt. He stepped lightly over and gently nudged her. "Tinderpaw?" he whispered, "Wake up. It's me, Ashpelt."

[Tinderpaw]

OoC: Don't worry, you got it right. She doesn't have many friends at the moment.

BiC: Tinderpaw had spent the remainder of the previous day, after Ashpelt had left her, simply getting used to her new name and relaxing by herself. It would be odd to live in a new place, but at least she still had one denmate she already knew.

That night had been a bit harder, getting used to the new den and all that, but she still managed to get some sleep. Of course, she never expected that her day would begin this early. She felt the nudge that was given to her and opened her eyes slowly, attempting to see through the darkness. What time was it? It couldn't be sunrise yet. When she finally saw the outline of the older cat over her, she sat up slowly, attempting to avoid waking the others. She washed her face quickly to attempt to make herself a bit more presentable, then waited to follow Ashpelt out of the den.

[Starlight]

Ashpelt nodded appreciatively. She was ready to get up and follow him without a single word about the time. He led the way out, going to stand by the herbs he'd brought. It was far enough from the den that they could whisper without waking any other cats.

"Good morning, Tinderpaw. I'm sorry to get you up so early, but I have a special surprise for you today." He bent and picked up a few of the leaves, setting them in front of the apprentice. "As you can see, no one is up this early to stock the freshkill pile, and we don't have time to stop and hunt, so I got some traveling herbs from Starlight yesterday. They will take the edge off your hunger and wake you up a little. I doubt you or Hawkpaw got much sleep last night." He paused and thought about that for a moment. "Particularly not Hawkpaw."

He bent again to pick up his own portion of the herbs and started eating them.

[Hawkpaw]

Ooc: In Hawkpaw's training thread, she woke up long before sunrise and started freaking out because she thought Falcontail had already been up and waiting for her for hours, but got fed up with waiting and went back to sleep. XD

[Tinderpaw]

OoC: I saw that and I must say, Brackenclaw was probably awake and grumbling to himself after that. xD

BiC: Tinderpaw simply nodded, partly out of respect and also because it was so early. She was even less talkative in the morning, if that was possible. Her eyes were still adjusting to the limited light at the moment, causing her to blink in an attempting to clear her vision. This was going to be the norm from now on, so there was no reason to start complaining now. As instructed, she bent down and picked up the first leave, chewing it for a moment. Then the taste hit her. Doing her best not to gag, she chewed faster and swallowed hard. What was that?! She glanced at her new mentor with an apologetic glance, realizing she may have offended him with that reaction. After all, he'd gone through the trouble of bring these for her and she had reacted ungratefully. To avoid any further offense, she quickly ate another leaf, although she could not hide the grimace on her face as she chewed. After repeating this pattern a few times, her pile was gone and she waited for the next part of training, silently wishing for a way to wash the taste from her mouth.

[Starlight]

The older cat's whiskers twitched as he watched his apprentice. "There's a small brook on the way," he told her when she had finished. "We can stop and wash our mouths out there. Now, let's get going."

They quietly left the camp, stopping briefly at the promised brook. In his eagerness to wash away the taste, he stuck his whole muzzle in the cold water and the current pass through his open mouth. He looked quite foolish, and knew it, too. Maybe it would help Tinderpaw relax a little.

Then they were off again, climbing higher and higher up the mountain. They traveled mostly in silence, though Ashpelt would occasionally point with his tail to show Tinderpaw herbs or good hunting spots. He travelled slower than he would have on his own, letting the younger cat take in the sights around her, though he still set a brisk pace.

They reached the peak of the mountain just as the sky was turning gray in the predawn light. He plopped down onto his hindquarters and took a deep breath of air. "The air tastes different this high up, doesn't it?" Ashpelt reflected, mostly just talking to himself. Then he looked back at Tinderpaw. "Come and sit. We still have a few minutes before the sun crests." He waited for the apprentice to comply, then continued. "I'm curious. You're still rather new to MountainClan. What do you think of it, so far? Honestly."

[Tinderpaw]

After she had quickly washed her mouth in bit of a neater way than her mentor, Tinderpaw quickly followed him as they headed off into the forest. It was all so beautiful and new. The most she had seen of the actually territory had been the lake and path she'd used to get here; this was all so amazing.

Though she didn't have that much time to enjoy it as she made her best attempt to keep up with Ashpelt. He wasn't going too fast, not in the least, but with her short legs and all over kit-like stature(?) it was hard to keep up with the large tom. She still managed it and remained a good following distance behind him the whole trip.

At the mountain's peak, Tinderpaw couldn't help but gasp in amazing, and also to catch her breath, but mostly in amazement. So high up, she thought and she crept towards Ashpelt. She wanted to get closer to the edge, but was afraid she'd fall or something like that. Instead she sat next to her mentor, neatly wrapping her tail around her paws to take up as little space as possible. She turned to face the older cat after he asked his question, though she turned away shyly before answering his question, "Well, I...I think it's a very nice place here. Everyone is very warm and friendly, everyone's willing to help you. Very safe, though maybe a little bit difficult to adjust to." She looked up a bit shocked that she'd actually said something like that; what a horrible thing to say. "I-I mean, not that that's a bad, not in the least, I don't even know why I said it, because it's probably all me and none of the actually atmosphere of the clan, just me, I can be hard to get along with, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anyone in the clan," she quickly rattled off, only stopping because she needed to take a breath. She curled her tail around her paws more tightly, waiting for the older cat to get angry from her insult.

[Starlight]

"No offense taken, Tinderpaw," the mentor said with a small smile. "I did ask for your honest opinion, and I'm happy you trusted me with that." Ashpelt looked back out at the landscape around them. "As you have probably already heard from our elders, MountainClan was originally StormClan. But many, many seasons ago, our territory, our home, disappeared from under our feet, swept away by the Great Water. We were forced to set out and start anew, and we founded MountainClan. It was a new clan hidden away in the moutains, in a camp nearly impossible to find without StarClan's aid. Yet more, and more cats keep stumbling into our mountains, like you, or like Kaity. What was once our personal safe haven has, I believe, become a place of refuge and community for cats who are lost. StarClan has helped us in our time of need, and put us in a position to repay that act by sheltering cats with pasts like ours." He trailed off for a moment, staring into the slowly brightening sky, then snapped out of his reverie and looked back down at Tinderpaw. "Of course, that's only what I believe. I do not commune with StarClan at night, like our leader, Wildstar, or our medicine cat, Starlight." He shuffled his feet, a little embarrassed at the presumptuous speech. After all, he'd only meant to tell her of MountainClan's past, not get lost in what he was saying and start rambling on about safe havens and StarClan's will.

But then both cats were distracted as the morning sun finally rose over the mountains, casting everything around them in red and orange light.

((Had to ask Wildstar to find out what actually happened to StormClan. I'd always assumed they were attacked or something. Apparently, she's never really told anyone before. -.-))

[Wildstar]

Ooc: I'm sorry I'm not good enough! ;m; No one asked before this! -liverpout-

[Tinderpaw]

OoC: Hahaha. ^^ (Sorry this is a bit short, Starlight)

BiC: Tinderpaw, who had been watching her mentor in awe as he told her the truth of clan's origins, now turned with the same look to the sunrise. So many colors and so bright. It was beautiful. She looked down at her own pelt which seemed to have gained a red tint from the sunlight, though she was too awed to react to that. In that moment, she felt all that pain that she'd still been holding onto in her heart simply float away on the wind. She loved this, it was worth every moment of lost sleep.

[Starlight]

((It's okay! A person just can't help short posts sometimes. I have a whole theory on that, but you probably don't wanna hear. And you can just call me Starry, btw))

They sat in appreciative silence for a while. Ashpelt waited until the sun rose clear of the mountains, its vibrant colors slowly returning to normal. Then he spoke again. "I think it's important that you see some of the beauties of the place you are soon going to tie yourself to, in your warrior ceremony. Personally, this has always been my favorite thing to see." Ashpelt stood then, and stretched out with his tail-end high in the air. His limbs had gone stiff with sitting in the same place in the chilly air for so long. He lamented at the creepings of old age beginning to take effect on his body, though he knew he had stayed fit as any young warrior for longer than most cats. Besides, he still had a ways to go before anyone even thought of throwing him in the elder's den. That thought cheered him, and he stood erect again. "How would you like a tour of the territory, then?" he asked Tinderpaw. "I can show you some of the more important landmarks and still have you back before the travelling herbs wear off."

[Tinderpaw]

OoC: Okay. Sure, I'd love to hear it sometime.

BiC: Tinderpaw nodded, standing in order to stretch herself and wake up her muscles. This was amazing, she was glad that Ashpelt had brought her, even if it had cost her some sleep. She seemed to be getting a bit of an excited gleam in her eyes, though she maintained a calm and stead look about her. The nervousness that she'd felt yesterday was almost gone now, not completely, but it was slowly disappearing. Though hunger was beginning to build in her belly, she was perfectly willing to ignore it for a little while longer if it meant seeing more of the territory. Though she'd never been too curious about it, after seeing the sunrise, she felt ready to take on a badger. Not that she would actually take on a badger, but she definitely felt inspired to do something big like that. She waited for her mentor to start this tour, her paws now itching to begin the long trek.

[Starlight]

((So, I really don't know much more of the territory than you, so I'm just gonna beat around the bush a little here. Actually, I'm pretty sure Wildy's the only one who knows any of this stuff in any amount of detail.))

So Ashpelt led Tinderpaw through the mountainside, pointing everything from good hunting places to funny-looking rocks as they passed. He also filled her in on what was expected of her as an apprentice, some of which she already knew from her short time with MountainClan. Filling the freshkill pile before taking any for herself, replacing the moss in the elders' den and doing whatever odd chores they asked for, and other such jobs. Of course, Ashpelt would also train her, and he listed off the things he planned to teach her. They'd start with hunting technique first, of course, and once that got old he would teach her the basics of fighting, and they would keep switching back and forth as they pleased. He warned Tinderpaw that, as a mentor, his job was to prepare her to be the best warrior she could, and that extended to much more than learning to defend herself and hunt effectively. There were other, arguably more important factors to being a good warrior, or just a good cat in general, like watching sunrises and finding beauty in what was around her. Today was just the beginning of such unusual lessons.

Finally, they meandered back into camp around noon, their bellies growling despite Ashpelt's promise to be back before the herbs wore off. He padded to the pile, mumbling something about a nice, long nap. "The rest of the day is yours, except for one thing. Remember what I said about important traits for every cat to have? Well, one of them is making good, strong bonds with the other cats in your clan. A cat has no reason to be loyal to be loyal to his clan if he--or she--doesn't feel one way or another for her clanmates. So your assignment this afternoon is talk, really talk, to one of the other apprentices, or even one of the kits. Get to know 'em. Find at least one thing you like about 'em, that you admire. Got it?"

((Soooooo...we can bring someone in, like Hawkpaw (I'm sure she'd be happy to help), or Tinderpaw can talk to Starlight, Springflower, or Brackenclaw, or we can skip this part and just sorta pretend it happened. In which case we move on to the next thing, whatever you'd like it to be. Probably hunting or fighting lessons...))

[Hawkpaw]

Ooc: I'd be happy to help!