Talking and Training [Closed]

Mumblefoot did not feel like going out into the forest. It reminded him of when he was a kit and experienced similar feelings. However, these were brought on by something different. Last time he had gone out, a cat had ended up dead. The tailless tom did not blame Hazelpaw in the slightest, she did her duty defending the territory and she was still young. However, he was older and the acting warrior on their patrol. Somehow, he should have stopped the fight. If he had a tail it would have been dragging on the ground behind him.

"Otterpaw, are you ready?" He called rather unenthusiastically. His paws shuffled the dirt a bit awkwardly as the feelings knotted and twisted in his stomach. The little black and white warrior wanted nothing more than to stay in today. But, Rippedstar wanted him on training Otterpaw immediately. Mumblefoot settled down outside the mouth of the apprentice's den and waited for the apprentice to join him as he tried to convince himself that it would be okay.

Otterpaw emerged from the den as soon as he heard his mentors voice. He felt like he hadn't slept a wink since he got appointed an apprentice. The young tom was overly excited to begin this training and he couldn't wait to tell everything to Mumblefoot, he had a wide smile at the corner of his lips until he looked at the other tom. He looked sad, nonetheless. Otterpaw lowered his ears and brushed his cheek against Mumblefoot's as he approached him in a kind, trying to be comforting matter. "You know, I did hear what happened last time you were out," He spoke, sitting on his rump and wrapping his tail around his paws, "I know you're probably nervous about going back out, but it's okay.. Things happen that are sometimes out of our control and it can.. lead to worst things but I promise while you're training me, I will fallow every command and listen to you only! I will not step out of line and put myself in danger unless you tell me to. I will be careful if it helps you calm down! We don't have to do that much today if you don't want to! I understand if you're tired.." Otterpaw wanted to be as understanding as possible with his mentor, but the sadness rubbed off on the feline as well. Not because Mumblefoot was sad, it was more of he didn't like seeing sadness in general. He didn't understand how cats could be so down and Otterpaw felt almost.. bad that he was so excited to start training but mentor shared none of the emotions that the tom wanted to show. Otterpaw was compassionate and sensitivities to other's emotions, therefore he didn't want to force Mumblefoot to do much. The newly grown kit cared for his mentor. "I'm sorry.. if none of that helped. I just want you to feel better.." He shuffled his paws awkwardly.

A crestfallen Mumblefoot glanced up as his apprentice gently greeted him. Looking up into his genuine and pure gaze, the black and white tom couldn't help but feel some of the guilt melt away from his heart. As he expected, Otterpaw was more than ready to do all the talking. As he listened to the young tom, the innocence and confidence in his mentor were refreshing. With a soft sigh, he lowered his head for a brief moment. Otterpaw did not deserve a disengaged mentor. Besides, the reassurance that this apprentice would listen did help to soothe some of the ever-present anxiety. The warrior finally looked up as the brown tom muttered an apology. He quickly stood to lick the top of the other cat's head with one gentle stroke.

"Thank you, Otterpaw. I appreciate it. You are going to be a great warrior..." A rusty purr broke from his throat with the accompanying half-smile. Even if the words did not fix entirely everything, it gave him enough confidence to step paw outside of the camp walls. Over the moons, he had learned to focus his inner turmoil onto the cats of the clan. They were his motivation. Even if he had screwed up with Hazelpaw, Otterpaw was nothing like that. Already, he had confidence in the young tom. As he glanced towards the entrance, the tom meowed, "Ready to head out? We have a whole forest to explore?" Steps were a little less heavy than before as he led the younger cat away. Otterpaw deserved someone invested and Mumblefoot was determined to be that cat for the sweet apprentice.

As they approached the nearest tree, he sunk his claws in and swiftly hauled himself up. The mixture of Windclan and Skyclan blood constantly helped for speed and quick navigation of the trees. Especially because up here was the only place he felt truly confident, Mumblefoot had to remind himself to slow down for the other time. It was the apprentice's first time truly navigating the forest. At the lowest branch of the tree, he peered down as he waited, "You got this, Otterpaw. We can leap through the trees next if you're ready... I can show you a lot of the forest today. Whatever you want." Mumblefoot was certainly a lenient mentor and that really shone through. Although his heart thudded at the thought of allowing something like the events prior to transpire again, Otterpaw had managed to help soothe that fear in him.

Otterpaw purred with the older tom, his ear lowering gently as the black and white cat pressed his tongue against him. He grew quiet just for a few moments as he watched Mumblefoot turn and leave out of the clan camp. His heart rate increased, the young feline was more than excited to head out of the camp and see what the earth had to offer him. Wide green eyes took in the sight of the forest, leafs filled his eyes with the wide, never ending blue sky. He grew with wonder and almost.. fear, for what could be out here. But Otterpaw quickly pushed those thoughts away and shook his head as if to shake them out of his head.

"You think there's more forests out there? That no cat has ever gone? I wonder how many there are, it must be so big, I could barely even image how much is out there. How many trees there are to climb. Do you ever feel restrained because of the boarders or do you think that we have plenty of room and there's no reason to ever explore more? I know that the clans have been put to a certain size for many moons, but I don't really hear cats complaining about the size of space we have." The few short moments that Otterpaw had been quiet were quickly replaced with the questions that were leaving his mouth too quickly before Mumblefoot even had a chance to answer them. "OO! Whatever I want?" He asked looking up at the tom that had climbed up the tree, the apprentice quickly going onto his hind legs and hugging the tree truck awkwardly with his front paws. Naturally he learned how to use his back legs to push himself upwards and catch up with his trainer. "Can we do hunting? I've been telling Tawnyfur for moons now that I'm going to be the best hunter ever and I'm not gonna let the clan go hungry because they deserve better than that, and I care about every cat that has been born into Skyclan. Obviously we're all here for a reason, therefore there's no reason to let any of them go hungry so I have to train super hard to get my skills as high as they can be!" Otterpaw was sure he was making far too much noise and scaring away the prey that was near by, but he was so excited to start training that he couldn't help but express it.

Already his apprentice's tongue was more than overwhelming. Mumblefoot could hardly get a word it! But, that actually contented him. The tail-less warrior preferred to listen than he did to speak. Talking had never been his strong suit. So, as Otterpaw rattled on, Rippedstar's son settled for listening intently. As he allowed the questions and excitement of the apprentice to fill him, it seemed as if for a moment he could forget his insecurities and worries and enjoy the day. As the topic of more forest and territories came up, the tom tilted his head for a moment to ponder over this. He had never thought much about it and was rather contented in the forest like all the clans seemed to be for moons. Otterpaw was certainly a thinker, like his mentor, but with more of a broader train of thought.

"Okay, okay." Mumblefoot finally chuckled softly once the onslaught of words seemed to slow down a bit. He tried to remember all the things he was supposed to say in response, there had been a lot of questions and thoughts. As he continued on slowly through the treetops, allowing for Otterpaw to keep up, a deep breath left his maw and he meowed, "That's certainly a lot to think about. I have heard of faraway places, like where our clanmates from the tribe our from, but it is tradition for the clans to live here, so I don't think many have considered leaving. We have what we need here." It already felt like he had spoken so much, but Otterpaw had expressed an interest in hunting and that did require a fair bit of explanation. Thankfully, to Skyclan cats like them, catching prey in the trees was almost second nature to the ability to climb.

"Well... we have to go a little further for hunting. And you have to be a little quieter for a short bit. We don't want to scare the prey away. Watch me for a moment, do as I do, and then you can try it out yourself." His orange-brown gaze fixed on a leaf in the next tree ahead of them. Carefully balancing on the branch, the lithe tom crept forwards, evenly distributing his weight. Once close enough, his strong hindlegs bunched up and he sprang to catch the leaf and pin it to the tree. The wind was still and the 'prey' did not move, so it was a rather poor example. But, this was a start. Mumblefoot turned back to explain a little more before allowing the apprentice a chance to try for himself, "So, you have to account for the wind as it picks up. That can mess up even the best hunters. Also, this mostly works for birds that are settled in trees. Squirrels are much more difficult and often require a bit of a chase. The better you are at navigating the trees, the easier hunting becomes."