Training. [Tag Flamestar & Fallen]

[*-*Riku*-*]

Early morning sunshine filtered through the leaves, lighting everything up in a pale, golden light that strangely enough, tainted the sky pink. Lots of animals were out and about, the birds were calling to each other as they searched for breakfast. A creamy silver-grey/white she-cat padded into the open and sat down in the middle of the sandy floor. Her dark, seep blue eyes missed nothing as she blinked in the suns rays which fell through the trees and landed in her face and on her fur, making it shimmer with a milky sheen.

It had been a half-moon since Lunapaw's arrival into the clan, and today was her first lesson, having a mentor that understood what she would feel like right after her mom died, meant that he had given her a half-moon to get used to being among so many cats once more, it was time she had used to settle into her den and get to know all the cats she would treat as Clan mates, before she started her training. In that time, her kitten fluff had smoothed out to a thick coat of warrior fur. She was gorgeous, her milky white undercoat, and the longer, black-tipped overcoat (refer to her picture and look at her coat beyond her face there's black hairs topping the white ones.) Her wispy, silver grey stripes almost blended in around her tail, her legs, and her face.

Lunapaw had already won the hearts of half the clan's toms, and those that were faithful to their mates were anticipating her growth into a warrior. She would be like a shining star that walked the earth, her beauty... her grace... at least, that's what the older cat's expected of her, though none of them said it aloud. In their minds, she would grow to be the envy of every other living cat. Every tom she met wo0uld want to be with her, and every she-cat she knew would want to BE her.

Lunapaw, however, had no desire, whatsoever, to flaunt her own beauty. She wanted to look proud of the clan that she belonged to, and so she groomed herself regularly, but she was not vain at all. She had already decided what she wanted her warrior name to be... Lunafire. She had been named Luna at birth because she had the elegance of the glowing celestial maiden, ever waning and waxing in the night sky. Fire... because she did not want to be taken advantage of, she didn't want cats to think that beauty was the only thing that mattered to her, which it would turn out that way if she were burdened with a name like Lunafur, or Lunapelt. She wanted to be known for her fierceness to protect the one's she loved... for her skill, not for her looks.

At that moment, she twisted to lick a few strands of her fur that she had missed in the den, smoothing out the ruffled hairs that stuck straight up from sleep. She was waiting for her mentor to arrive, he had done little more than give her a tour of the territory. Her mentor had been impressed with how well she kept up with him when they ran through the forest, she nimbly leaped from rock to rock when they reached rough spots, as if she had wings in her paws.

Lunapaw's only vice so far was that she got impatient quickly. Waiting was something she hated to do, which, when she finished grooming her pelt and her mentor still wasn't there to meet her, made her fur bristle with annoyance. Forcing herself to relax so that it lay flat again, she decided to utilize some of the hunting techniques that her mother had taught her, leaping up onto a low branch so that she was out of site- she waited, looking down into the clearing with her tail tip flicking from side to side. Soon, her eyes picked up movement on the sandy floor and she tensed, ready. She watched as a mouse came out of it's den and began to scurry across the floor in search of food.

Lunapaw waited until the mouse was directly below her before she purposefully rolled from the branch, righted herself in midair and landed with the mouse right in between her forepaws. She killed it before the mouse could get over the shock. Turning to the tree with her prey in her mouth she scrapped earth over it and sat down, she pricked her ears, listening to the tell-tale sounds of bracken rustling to announce the arrival of her mentor.

"Finally!" She mewed.

[Flamey]

Blackmist padded into the field, blaze plants parting before him, as he reached the place where Lunapaw stood. "Nice catch." he said, even though he hadn't actually seen how big her catch was. In fact, he hadn't expected her to make a catch, since they hadn't even begun her training. Flamestar had told him that she was only a kit when a fox in BlazeClan territory had murdered her mother and orphaned her. Her mother had probably taught her how. "Anyway, on to business. The first thing we'll do is gather some bedding for the elders." he said, leading her to the base of a tree, where clumps of moss were growing. He bent down and started to slice them off the large roots, putting them aside until he had collected enough.

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[*-*Riku*-*]

Unlike most other apprentices, Lunapaw didn't feel resentful about having to do chores on her first day of real training. She knew this part was important too, learning how to control her own strength was a very important skill that all warriors would need. by the time she had collected enough, her claws sliced neatly through the mos stems and left the roots behind so that it would grow more moss for the next time. She looked at her pile of moss with pride, their piles were almost the same size.

When Blackmist told her it was time to go home, she immediately bent down to roll the moss she had collected into a ball and bent down to collect as much as she could with the bedding. He showed her how to hold 2 balls of moss at once so she wouldn't have to make several trips. On the way back to camp, she had a little trouble carrying both balls at the same time, but she managed well enough, by the time they'd gotten to the elder's den, she had squeezed out all the water and it had fallen on her chest. She worked for the rest of that day cleaning out the elder's bedding and spreading around the new moss with Blackmist.

It didn't take long to do, and when she was finished, she stood in the camp clearing, looking at Blackmist. "So now what are we going to do, Blackmist?" It was barely sunhigh, and she needed to go back and she had collected her mouse from when she had hunted earlier. She looked up at her mentor, her deep blue eyes sparkling with eagerness to do some real warrior training now.

[Flamey]

As Blackmist helped her clean out the elder's bedding, he couldn't help but marvel at her diligence and enthusiasm. In fact, it was very encouraging. Maybe being a mentor wouldn't be so hard after all. She would definitely make a fine warrior. She already had many toms' heads turning her way. "Well, since you did such a good job, we can go do some hunting now." he said, leading the way out of the camp, back to the field of blaze plants. Once they got there, his senses perked up. He opened his maw, letting the scents of the field flood in. He picked out the scents of prey, separating it from all the rest, and let it lead him to what would be his next kill. There. He spotted a squirrel nibbling on an acorn, so engrossed that it didn't even notice the two cats nearby.He crouched down, keeping his tail up, until he was only a few tail-lengths away, before he pounced, slapping his paws on top of the squirrel. He quickly killed it, sending a silent thanks to DreamClan for his catch.

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[*-*Riku*-*]

Lunapaw looked down at her white coat. "Blackmist... My mother told me that I'd be no use to stalking prey the way you do. The prey would see my white coat before I could get close enough to pounce. I stand out too much." She mewed, confessing her worries about her physical appearance getting in the way of her stalking ability. "She taught me to climb trees and drop down on my prey from above." She said. "That way, if my pelt gleams, the prey will think it's a ray of sunlight. Is that right? Or can you teach me how to stalk on the ground, because... well, I don't know if you've noticed, but there aren't a lot of tree's in this area."

Lunapaw flicked her tail to congratulate his catch as she spoke about her problem. She only knew how to hunt from the trees.

[Flamey]

Blackmist thought for a while. He hadn't taken her fur into account.... She could put some mud on her pelt to help her blend with the surroundings, but that would make washing herself very, very hard. "Maybe you could teach us your tree hunting technique." he suggested. It could benefit those who also had trouble sneaking up on prey if they had an alternative technique for hunting.

ooc: sorry for the short post, I need to go D:

[*-*Riku*-*]

Lunapaw nodded at his request to see her mother's technique. She led him over to a tree and climbed up the trunk to one of the lower branches. "My mom taught me that if you need to hunt in a forest, a white pelt is best utilized dropping from the sky. So this is what she taught me to do. First, you climb a tree and settle down on one of the lower branches of that tree." Lunapaw mewed, settling down on her branch, "Then you set your eyes on a spot below you and wait for prey to wander out below the branch you're waiting on. When it comes, roll off of your branch, right yourself in midair without making a sound and-" She demonstrated what she meant, gracefully unhooking her claws from the branch she was on, she rolled over and fell through the air. Instinct took over and she righted herself automatically to land on her paws as if she were trapping a mouse under her claws.

She looked up at him. "That way, if your pray happen to look up, your pelt won't look like anything more than a flash of sunlight." She mewed, proud at having showed her mentor her own hunting skill. "I mean, I understand that not every cat will want to try throwing themselves off of a branch to catch prey, but it works, and it teaches younger cats to trust in their own abilities." She said.

[Flamey]

Blackmist found it slightly odd that instead of him mentoring his apprentice, it seemed like the other way around. Of course, this was only temporary. But there was a lot that he could learn from this she-cat. He nodded, " Others in BlazeClan with white pelts will definitely try to learn this move." he meowed. Her mother had probably taught her everything she needed to survive before she found BlazeClan. But what she hadn't taught her and what he needed to was how to live in a clan, follow the warrior code, and of course show her the territories. Once again, he realized that he hadn't expected mentoring to be so easy. But of course, clan life was always filled with unexpected surprises. "We should probably go hunt some prey for the clan." he said. With a flick of his tail, he vanished between the bushes behind him, off to follow the scent trail that a mouse had left behind.

[*-*Riku*-*]

Lunapaw nodded enthusiastically and followed Blackmist through the undergrowth. "So what are we hunting for?" She asked. Letting her tail tip twitch back and forth. She opened her mouth to taste the air and found the scent of squirrel coming from nearby. She turned her head around to look and saw a squirrel perched on a low branch nibbling an acorn. Lunapaw dropped into a crouch, her eyes intent on her prey.

Creeping down under a blaze plant and pinpointing her quarry, she wriggled her hindquarters and kicked off from the ground hard in a massive leap. The Squirrel was alerted by the sound of leaves being thrown up by her hind paws but it was too late to flee. Her claws hooked in the squirrels tail, she let her weight bring it down to the ground where she killed it quickly with a bite to the neck.

[Flamey]

Blackmist followed the scent of the mouse to the base of a large tree, one of the few trees in the field. As such, mice often came there to gather seeds, like right now. There were about three mice that he could see, and a few more he couldn't. A shame to let the prey go to waste, but he could only get one at a time. So he looked for the biggest one, fixing his eyes on it, before pouncing, scaring away all the other mice, but coming out with a large, plump mouse dangling from his jaw. He went back to find Lunapaw, congratulating her on her own catch.

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[Fallentear ||]

|| get me out of this place
before I cause more damage

Not far from where the two cats trained, a black shadow drifted among the undergrowth. It moved at the same speed as a cloud racing by overhead, and took care to move in the patch of shade without revealing a single shiny black hair to the sun’s rays. The creature slid forward ever so carefully, his muscles smoothly rippling as his limbs shifted forward in an uninterrupted and natural looking jaunt. He moved like water, flowing across the ground and under vegetation as silently as the shadow of the cloud overhead. The birds in the trees had become silent as he exited Blazeclan’s camp, and they had warily watched him pass. But now that he had worked his way further into the field of Blaze plants, and was stalking through their cover and that of the cloud overhead, the birds resumed their springtime rhapsodies. Taking note of a little brown sparrow foraging for fallen goods on the dusty earth, he immediately slowed his pace to fall behind the shadow of the cloud, and crouch beneath a Blaze plant.

|| a small price to pay
for building houses out of matchsticks

As the sun slipped off the edge of the cloud and billowed over his pelt, the muscular tom froze in place, careful not to give away that he hadn’t been there before the cloud had passed over. He was so still, it looked as if he could have been a black stone that had stood there for ages. His indigo eyes trained on the little bird, the tom’s thickly corded leg muscles bunched beneath him so very slowly; as slowly as the sun moves when it sinks beyond the horizon. With the same stealth, he began to inch himself—belly flat on the ground—towards the unsuspecting little thing, hopping around joyfully while looking for a scrap of food. In his head, the image of two piercing optics watching him from the shadows materialized in his imagination, but he shook it off. Yes, he knew his mentor would have followed him from camp to track his progress on his first hunt. The jet black apprentice shoved it to the back of his mind, as he was already nervous enough. He had even practiced hunting alone before, but had failed every last time. This time, however, he was determined not to make a fool of himself.

|| don’t forget, we’ve got unfinished business

Thoughts swirled in his head, and he didn’t realize that he had moved a bit too fast. The bird froze, its left eye watching the black shadow that was positioned slightly to its left. The young tom swore inwardly, and gathered all his strength into his hindlegs for a longer leap. As the bird lifted into the air, he was already halfway across his leap. His forepaws raised up into the air, his back arcing into a u-shape, as he crashed down onto the bird. Surprised dawned over his face, as he realized that he had actually managed to pin the creature beneath his unsheathed claws. He swiftly dropped his head to deliver the killing blow to the nape of the neck. With a huge grin of triumph on his face, he growled in pleasure and picked up his kill from the ground. His first kill! And it had been an amazing feat of midair acrobats. He hoped Flamestar had witnessed it.

|| stories yet to unfold
tales that must be retold

Midnightpaw glanced around the long stretch of Blaze plants. If Flamestar was watching him, he was really good at concealing himself. After one last quick look around, he shrugged and trotted off through the brush, hoping he would show up. Midnightpaw almost dropped his prey as he rounded a large tree in the middle of the field and almost ran headfirst into Lunapaw. The wind had been blowing straight into his face, but the scent of fresh sparrow filled his nose, and he hadn’t heard the sounds of the other cats as he had been lost in his prideful thoughts. Lunapaw looked at him with laughter in her eyes at his confused blinking. He had totally forgotten about his plan to be her rival, and that she would be out here today. The charcoal tom hurriedly regained composure and dropped his sparrow at his paws, the blood spatter neatly contained within its thick plumage. ”So I see you’ve managed to catch some prey too..” Midnightpaw commented, stiffening as he caught the scent of other prey. She’d already caught other things as well! He cursed himself for being such a slow hunter. His stony indigo gaze softened as he looked up into hers. ’Damnit, why did my rival have to be so pretty.. and good at hunting?’ he thought in despair, trying to think of something of worth to say.

Midnightpaw finally cleared his throat, trying not to stutter like an idiot as he recovered from realizing she’d already beaten him at hunting. ”Good job. This was my first catch, actually. Knocked it right out of the air.” He didn’t mention that this was not his first time out hunting. It was already embarrassing enough that he bragged the other day, and got shown up right off the bat. ”How long have you been at it today?"

He heard a rustle in the brush behind him, and caught the scent of his mentor. Immediately, he glowed with excitement to show off his kill. But Midnightpaw did not take his gaze off Lunapaw, wanting to hear her reply.

|| running from lions
never felt like such a mistake

-----------------------------
Sing in me muse;; Running From Lions(Electric) – All Time Low
And through me tell the story;; Midnightpaw
Gods in Olympus;; 924
Speak of the dreams they've sent;; My muse randomly sprung up, and I just HAD to get on to roleplay with you guys, no matter how busy I am right now. Senior year, and graduating from High School in 7 more school days!!!! WOOT WOOT!

[Flamey]

ooc: ahh Fallen, monstrosity! XD

Cleverly concealed within the thick undergrowth, Flamestar silently but swiftly followed what appeared to be a black shadow, except that it seemed much darker than it was supposed to be. Following his apprentice through the forest, he paused briefly every now and then to scent the air for any other cats nearby. He had planned to set up some training together with Blackmist and Lunapaw. A health rivalry never hurt anyone, and it would push the apprentices to do their best. It would also help in the sense that Blackmist could point out anything he missed. He continued to follow the other tom as blaze plants suddenly appeared around them, marking the beginning of the field of blaze plants. He saw Midnightpaw flatten himself onto the ground to stalk some prey, but he moved too quickly. "He'll never be able to catch it like that," he thought to himself, when the apprentice leaped up to grab the bird just as it was about to fly away. Surprise dawned on Flamestar's face as he realized that Midnightpaw had managed to catch the bird.

Perhaps he had underestimated him. With enough training, he might just turn out a good warrior. Thoughts floated around his head as he made new plans for what to do when training started. Maybe he'd teach him some battle moves, since his apprentice had apparently been practicing his hunting already. Emerging from the bush that Midnightpaw had gone through, he spotted Blackmist and Lunapaw, to whom he gave nods of greeting. "That was a good catch." he said, turning to his apprentice. "Now what do you say to learning some battle moves?" he meowed, addressing both apprentices.

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[*-*Riku*-*]

Lunapaw purred. "That's great. I've been out here since dawn, but I've only managed to catch a mouse and a squirrel so far. My mom once told me she caught a hawk once. I plan on doing the same." She said, crouching down and wriggling her hindquarters again to show off her hunters leap. She kicked off from the ground like a spring unleashed and swiped her claws at the air above her head in a neat little flick, as though she were ready to scoop down a star from the sky. Her muscles rippled as she twisted her body around and grabbed the lowest branch of the tree to stand on it, just as Flamestar appeared through the blaze plants. She purred at the mention of battle training and nodded. "I'd like that. Can we take our prey to the camp first though?"

When Flamestar gave her the okay, she twitched her tail tip again and looked back over her shoulder. She looked down at her mentor. "Can I show them my hunting technique?" She asked. She knew that Blackmist's idea to teach other cats with white pelts her technique for hunting would be useless if they did not have the Clan Leader's approval.

[Flamey]

Blackmist eyed his apprentice with somewhat of a new admiration. It was only Lunapaw's first day of training, and already her future as a clan cat looked very bright. And such ambition! He wouldn't be surprised if she became the clan leader one day. He thoughts were broken by Lunapaw's voice. "Be my guest." he said, chuckling at the curiosity on Flamestar's face. "Lunapaw has her own way of hunting, since her pelt doesn't blend in with the forest. She thinks that other cats with pelts like her could learn the technique." he explained before his leader could ask. Flamestar looked at the apprentice and nodded his approval, waiting for her to start, wondering what technique Lunapaw could possibly show him that he didn't already know.

[*-*Riku*-*]

Lunapaw nodded and crouched down on her branch. "Well, the way my mom taught it, was... if you can't hunt well on the ground because the prey can see you like a beam of sun through the trees, why not appear to be exactly that? She taught me to hunt by climbing a tree and dropping onto my prey from above. That way, if the prey looked up, My coat would look exactly like a beam of sunlight." She said, unhooking her claws from the branch and rolling over on her branch so suddenly that it looked as though she had fallen, but the way she righted herself in midair as though she was dropping right onto the head of her prey, her claws unsheathed, her back straight so that she landed squarely on all four paws. She managed to pin a floating leaf down beneath her paws and looked up at her clan leader. "Like that."