Grandfather Knows Best - Closed

After a long and tedious season of constant snow and frost, the downpours of rain that now plagued the territories were a welcome change, for Leopardclaw anyway; he would much rather deal with muddy paws than mountains of wet powder that blocked your every step.  A fine drizzle floated down from the sky as the golden spotted deputy padded across the camp, and poked his head into the entrance of the apprentice's den.  "Pantherpaw, sweetheart, it's time for training."  He had been avoiding this for far too long, and even now every cell in his body screamed against what he was doing.  The thought of his granddaughter roaming the territory, fraught with dangers, almost stopped his heart.  She could get bitten by an adder, or come across a badger or a fox, or wander onto the Thunderpath, or, or....  His thoughts raced on and he let out a tired sigh.  So much had happened in these past moons, so many cats he loved gone...he refused to let even one more more join the stars, not while he was there.

The smoky  spotted tabby she cat opened her bright greenish eyes as she heard her grandfather's voice as he called her for training. Her only thoughts were Finally I can at last train. With no other thought in mind she got to her paws and gave a small stretch before she padded over."So what kind of training are we going to do today"she mewed ready to train and become the best she could be. The only thing is is that she hoped he would train her as she was supposed to be trained instead of trying to smother her with his protectiveness.

The familiar bittersweet feeling once again flushed his chest when his beloved granddaughter slipped out of the den; everything about her reminded him of her late mother Orchidfeather, the way she walked and talked down to the placement of spots on her smoky pelt...  For a moment the suppressing tide of grief that he had been holding back ever since her death threatened to overwhelm him, but he quickly pushed it away with an abrupt shake of his head.  Gazing down at the she-cat with one of the few authentic smiles he had to give now-a-days, he thought for a moment before purring; "Well, why don't we start with some basic hunting and stalking techniques?"  

He knew that every new apprentices was usually eager to learn all they possibly could, but the thought of subjecting her to border patrols where she might get into a skirmish, or even just battle training against the older apprentices made his heart flutter with alarm.  He knew that she hated his over-protectiveness... he was fully aware of his hypocrisy in this matter, especially after he had called out Specklefang in the past for doing the exact same thing, but times were different now.  The borders weren't safe, they were surrounded on all sides by enemies...anything could happen.  With a flick of his tail-tip, he began to pad across the clearing, slowing his pace so that Pantherpaw would fall in and walk beside him.

Pantherpaw's excitement kind of deflated a little bit. Basic hunting or stalking. She had hoped something like learning the borders or a little battle training. She tried to hide her irritation as she spoke to her overprotective grandfather and mentor."Why basic why could we do a border patrol or battle training. "She spoke keeping a calm voice.

Leopardclaw gazed down at the smokey-pelted she-cat, exasperation apparent in his eyes.  He had known this would come up.  "Every apprentice starts out with learning basic hunting moves Pantherpaw...but I suppose if there's enough time...we could go to the training hollow afterward."  His voice was strained as he said it, but he did mean it.  He hoped though that hunting would take longer than expected...  "Well, let's head out then."  With a flick of his tail, the deputy set out at a walk towards the camp entrance, and out into the forest.

Pantherpaw blinked and her Smokey colored ears flattened for a split second before she just nodded. He was just way to overprotective and she knew otherwise. She knew the other apprentices got to explore the borders of their territory in a patrol and everything while she was stuck doing otherwise. With a slight flick of her tail she mewed "fine let's just get started"she mewed

Bump

(occ: sorry Dx)

After a little bit of swift trotting, the two cats reached a clearing, rays of faint sunlight beaming down between the leaves and branches overhead.  With a flick of his black-tipped ears, Leopardclaw stepped into the clearing and meowed "Okay Pantherpaw, let's begin."  Dropping down into his perfected hunter's crouch, the deputy motioned for his granddaughter to do the same.  "This is the basic crouch for hunting, you've probably already seen it before.  Before you hunt though, I want to correct any mistakes in your posture; it's easy to twist a paw if you don't spring correctly."  Or worse  The golden-pelted tom was keenly aware that this was a worry for all apprentices, and that he had never pointed this out to his former trainees...but he couldn't help it.  He just wanted her to be safe, he needed her to be.