Water by the Poplar Tree ((CLOSED))

Poplarstripe found himself with yet another apprentice. Two apprentices at the same time? Fishstar must trust him enough, it was an odd thought, but certainly one to be proud of. The warrior now found himself waiting by the camp entrance, he had told Waterpaw to meet him here for their first day of training.

Waterpaw trotted forward. Finally! She had thought the others would be way ahead of her by now. It had been over a week and she had been no more than a useless lump sitting in camp, watching her friends zoom by with their new mentors. She flicked her tail in excitement.
"What are we doing today?"

Poplarstripe turned his head to steal a glance toward Waterpaw, offering a small smile then hopping to his paws. "I'll show you around the territory first, then if we have time, I can show you a few hunting strategies." He gave her a nod, then turned to lead the way away from the RiverClan camp.

Waterpaw gave an excited bounce. "Okay!"  She trotted after her mentor, excited to finally see what was out of camp. She let her tail swish through the breeze and tilted her whiskers in all directions, trying to pick up every scent. She began feeling a bit nervous as they g further from camp, but she was too excited to care. She knocked the nervousness away with an excited twitch of her ears and trotted faster to keep up with her mentor.

Poplarstripe led her through the territory with a smile, glancing back at Waterpaw every so often to make sure she was still behind him. Eventually, he came to a stop beside the river, sitting down at it's edge as he peered into its swirling depths. He beckoned his apprentice over.

"There is where you'll soon learn to fish," he informed, his smile returning as he thought of the times he had come down here as an apprentice himself and trained with his mentor.

"Whoa! It's so swirly! The elders had told us about this river... But wow!" Waterpaw mewed, clearly in awe. She continued to stare into the depths of the strange water, swirling and foaming around the banks. When she realized she was staring, she blinked and peeled her gaze away and let in rest on her mentor. "Where to now?" she asked, stealing glances at the river while waiting for his response. She swished her tail through the reeds happily, taking in al of the new, amazing scents. She smelled a hint of water vole, but it was so faint that it must be stale, right? Waterpaw had no idea, but decided not to mention it. It got fainter until the scent of the river was so strong that the water vole scent stood no chance and faded away completely. She let the sunlight wash calmingly into her pelt, and placed her paws down slightly into the river, letting water soak into them. "Much better than soaked moss or a muddy puddle!" she meowed happily, flicking her ears and smiling. "This is fun!"

Poplarstripe smiled, quickly noticing the awe in Waterpaw's voice, which reflected in her astonished gaze. "We'll follow the river up toward the gorge now, as we grow closer I want you to be very careful and listen closely to me." He mewed, his tone growing a bit more serious before reverting back to his more neutral, peppy voice.

"This way!" He encouraged, brushing past her as he began to lead the way to their next destination.

"Okay!" she replied, raising her tail happily. She bounded after her mentor. "Is the gorge flooded now?" she asked, a tone of concern lacing her mew. "And how many landmarks are there?" Waterpaw asked, tipping her head. "We've been so far already! But I'm not tired. Not yet!" she mewed excitedly, bursting ahead for a moment before dropping back. "I can't wait to see the gorge!" Her pace got significantly quicker as they traveled farther. "Wow! I bet the other apprentices didn't do anything as cool as this!" she said happily.

OOC: Waterpaw is very chatty because as a kit she was always shy, and now that she has found courage, she wants to talk more, open up and make friends.

Poplarstripe smiled seeing Waterpaw so excited, watching as she bounded back and forth. "We'll see when we get there," he answered her first question about the gorge, he hadn't really had the time to actually look at it recently, so her guess on it being flooded was as good as his.

Eventually they slowed down as the pair neared the gorge, "slow down a bit, wouldn't want any accidents." He warned in a bit more serious tone.

She slowed, surprised by her mentor's tone. She peeked over the edge of the sandy cliff and her eyes widened. "The elder's weren't kidding! Do cats really die when the gorge floods?" she asked, her eyes widening even more. She forced her gaze away from the gorge, finding herself having to force her gaze away from a lot of things this morning. She snorted and managed to take a few peeks at the sandy gorge before stepping a few paw steps away from the edge.