When in Doubt, Train it Out~

Maplecloud sat next to the coursing river, observing the charred, burned territory that Thunderclan was supposed to call home. She had promised two apprentices- Barkpaw and Shrikepaw- some training time near the river. She had told them to meet her near the river, which had the least amount of ash and soot from the fire, and they could also possibly get experience with meeting another patrol.

Shrikepaw padded along the river on his way to find the place he was supposed to meet Maplecloud and Barkpaw at. He had never been outside of camp before thanks to his sudden sickness, and now he hadn't even gone back to camp since it burned down with the rest of the territory. Things were looking pretty grim for the clan. Since his sickness had finally healed, he was ready to train again. Shrikepaw had already grown pretty big for an apprentice, even rivaling some of the newest warriors and a few smaller, older ones in height and weight. But he had yet to do any real training, and thus was fairly excited to begin learning with Maplecloud. The striped silver tom spotted her in the distance and quickened his pace, jogging slightly to reach her side.

"Hello, Maplecloud! I'm ready to get started!" He meowed impatiently, forgetting about Barkpaw.

Barkpaw hadn't been too far behind Shrikepaw, not saying a word. It was hard trying to keep up with the larger apprentice, but thankfully he got to their meeting spot in a timely manner. "Yeah! Me too!" he said, stopping short of the two cats.

Smiling at the two apprentices eagerness to start, Maplecloud got up from her spot beside the river."Alright you two, how would you like to start off today? Does battle training sound alright, or would you rather go on a patrol?" As she broke off from her question, she looked at the two carefully, trying to read their emotions. Barkpaw seemed to be excited but not as much so as Shrikepaw, who was practically bouncing with the eagerness to start off today. She smiled, awaiting their decision and hoping to Starclan that they agreed on one thing.

Shrikepaw's thick tail flicked side to side as he considered his options. He hadn't learned much about fighting save for what he knew by instinct and the games he'd played as a kit in the nursery, but he also hadn't seen much of the territory and was eager to learn more about the other clans in the forest. He had heard the wildest rumor about mountain cats coming down to the forest to live with SkyClan, and he wanted to know more about that type of information. "Well," Shrikepaw meowed, glancing briefly at Barkpaw to see what he was thinking. "I'd prefer to do a patrol, if that's alright with you guys. But if you wanna fight we can do that instead." He didn't want to step on any toes or make the other apprentice do something he didn't like, so he phrased it more as a suggestion than an outright statement.

"A patrol? That sounds good! I haven't seen the territory yet," he replied after Shrikepaw. Since Maplecloud was giving them the option, Barkpaw was hoping that's what they would do. The fire had messed up some plans, so he had gone through zero training. He barely even knew what the territory looked like, much less about the other clans. It was exciting to be old enough to venture around like this. "Fighting can wait for another time even though I want to get to that too. Imagine the victory when you're fighting another clan!" he mewed, slashing his paws through the air pretending he was in a fight. "But that can wait."

Maplecloud was glad that the two agreed on a patrol- that was what she was hoping to do today anyway. She turned to look around her then back to the two apprentices and said, "A patrol it is then. We'll start here along the river, then around to the Thunderpath and go from there. Any questions?" She asked politely. She looked to both apprentices, seeing clearly that this wasn't going to be too hard, and they most likely wouldn't give her a hard time today.

Shrikepaw grinned when the other apprentice commented about winning a fight. "Some of the warriors have some crazy scars. I wonder what it's like to actually attack someone, though." He meowed, genuinely curious. He couldn't really think about just... hurting someone. It didn't seem right. Unless he was defending the clan or a friend, that is. The silver tom shook his head at Maplecloud to say that he had no questions and was silent for a little while. "Well, actually, have you been in a fight, Maplecloud?" Shrikepaw asked, furry tail curling at the thought of hearing about some cool border war or a camp raid.

"Yeah!" Barkpaw almost squeaked at the thought of having battle scars. It would be the coolest thing to show off how he saved the day or defeated one of the other clans. Instead, so far, all he'd gotten was a nice bald spot on his head from where the fire singed off his fur. He didn't think too much of it, however, as Shrikepaw went on to ask Maplecloud about her fighting experience. Immediately, the brown tom's eyes lit up at the thought of the she-cat fighting with other cats. That would be so cool! "Yeah, Maplecloud! Have you been in a fight? Have you taken down another clan? I bet it's amazing!"

Maplecloud didn't know what to tell the young apprentices, she didn't want to scare them- but then again, they would eventually find out some day. "Well, I've been in plenty of border fights. There was one battle in particular," She said as she turned around, flicking her tail for the two to follow. She then continued, "You may have heard of it. It was a battle with Sleetfang, he had been, um, messing around with all of the clans, and well, a big fight broke out at fourtrees. So many cats were hurt." She paused for a moment. "Do you know Blacktwig? I'm pretty sure you both do. Well, at the time, he wasn't my mate, but we were best friends, and Sleetfang, well, he killed his father, and I-" She took a breath- this was always the tough part to tell. "It just became too much for me. Sleetfang was injuring cats, too many of them. He even killed a few. I just couldn't handle it anymore, so I k-" She choked up, she hadn't meant to- she was just trying to get him to stop. She had just gotten over it not too long ago, and she never wanted to have to go through it again. Killing Sleetfang was the hardest thing she'd ever done, and ever would do. "I killed him."

She turned around to face the two apprentices, not wanting to give a lecture on this now but feeling it was necessary. "You should never kill another cat. It may sound cool and fun to be in battles, but they are serious things. Don't take your life for granted, because one day, it could be gone." She knew that today was supposed to be somewhat relaxing and fun, but this was important, and she didn't want these young cats to have to go through that. She was also overprotective of the younger ones, which was both a virtue and the opposite. With that, she turned so they could see her side, which was laced with tiny scars, and three large ones that stood out from all the others. They were huge claw marks, and they would never heal to look normal. There was also teeth marks on her hind leg, where he had tried to rip her leg from its socket."I got these from Sleetfang himself, along with my torn ear." She flicked her left ear, which was ripped down the center and was torn to shreds in battle."Is that cool enough for ya?" She mewed playfully.

The silver tom's big ears perked immediately when Maplecloud started talking about the battle with this Sleetfang character. "Yeah, 'course I know Blacktwig! He's my mentor. He's just busy right now since the forest burned up and things like that." He meowed enthusiastically, and then shut right up to listen to the rest of the story. His smile quickly faded when Maplecloud began to choke on her own words. Had he asked the wrong question? Should he have not even said anything? Shrikepaw's expression quickly became one of awe and respect when the warrior turned to the apprentices. He nodded to her quickly to show obedience and fought back an excited grin when she showed the pair her scars from the fight. "You bet it is! You're so cool, Maplecloud. You're cool enough to be the deputy. I hope I can do awesome stuff like you when I'm a warrior."

When Maplecloud started her story, Barkpaw sat down, prepared for the awesomeness that was fighting. He had no experience in one, so hearing anything was absolutely amazing. Simply nodding when the she-cat mentioned Blacktwig, he felt his body tense up at the part of the battle with Sleetfang. He wasn't sure if he had heard the name before, but he sounded like a terrible cat. Maybe it was a good thing that Maplecloud killed him. For sure, the young tom had a new respect for the warrior. "Whoa..." he breathed, not even realizing that his ears were nearly flat on his head while his heart felt heavy. That's just how the forest was, though. "Yeah! You're the coolest! If I ever meet a bad cat, I hope I can fight like you! He won't stand a chance!" He said, trying to perk back up.

OCC: I guess we can wake this topic up owo
So sorry 'bout the wait, posting kinda just didn't happen

IC: Maplecloud was absolutely stunned by the admiration the two young apprentices were giving her. She'd told them a story and showed them scars, and they were in complete awe. But she shook it off, she wasn't really one for compliments, although with showing them the scars, even though they asked for it, it seemed a little like she was looking for them. They were starting to stray from their purpose, though. "Did you guys want to give hunting a shot? I mean, we might not catch much, but the clan really needs it. Besides, you two are the best hunters when it comes to apprentices." She said, the last bit with a tone of playfulness. She flicked her tail, motioning for the two to follow her along as they answered. They charred territory left black marks on her paws, making her white paws look the complete opposite of what they were.

Shrikepaw's head tilted at Maplecloud's teasing praise, taking it far more literally than she had probably meant. He followed her deeper into the ashen territory and looked a bit dismayed at all of the emptiness. "I haven't really hunted much. I've been really sick so I've been staying at Sunningrocks instead of training. Can you help me practice my hunting crouch, Maplecloud? I don't think it's right anymore." Shrikepaw said, an edge of disappointment in his meow. He was really far behind in his training, and he didn't want Barkpaw or Maplecloud to think he was dumb or lazy.