An Aspen, and a Berry. [CLOSED]

Quiet pawsteps filled the clearing as Aspenstrike set off to the Apprentice's Den. It was what he assumed, was dawn. Barely anyone was up yet, he supposed it must be. He hadn't been sleeping well lately, he was worried about his family. Jaystar seemed more... disconnected from everyone. His kits were scared, Flurryshine must be getting barely any sleep. The kits must be waking her up. This entire ordeal was stressful. Stressful was an understatement. His fluffy head poked into the Apprentice's Den, seeing his brother's white figure first. Finally his eyes were set on a young golden tom. "Berrypaw, time to get up." He gently nudged him with one of his paws, and went to stand near the entrance to camp. Life must go on, even if the sun was gone and the stars were hidden.

The tom was surprised when another cat woke him but when his nose recognized the scent of his mentor, he jumped happily from his nest. His first day of training with Aspenstrike! What a wonderful thought! The large apprentice followed the tom with a cheerful smile that seemed to forget the dark sky above their heads. No matter what the clans were facing, he was going to push through and train so he could fight for his clan as well. Since he was a young kit... since he knew about his origins, he had wished for a war because it was the only way he had to rise up... so he could be someone in the clan. As a rogue kit, he had to work twice as hard so the more purist RiverClanners could accept him. No matter what, he was going to prove his worth. "What are we going to do, sir?"

The fluffy tom lead the even fluffier apprentice out into the territory, glancing back occasionally to ensure the golden apprentice was following. Despite the crimson surroundings, the day was filled with the cool breeze of Leaf-fall. His ears flicked as he heard his apprentice, quite surprised he had been called "sir". He looked back at his apprentice, smiling brightly. "You don't have to call me "sir" Berrypaw, call me Aspenstrike. I see you've been getting bigger since you were brought into camp, how are you? Everyone is treating you and your siblings well I'd hope." His head had gone back to the front, leading them both to one of the shallower rivers that still held fish.

As they reached the bank, Aspenstrike halted them both. "Here we are. Not the biggest river in the territory, but one to start with. First I'll be teaching you how to swim. If you want to step into the water we can begin." Aspenstrike slid into the water, remembering his first experience. He had gone under his first time. These waters are easy enough to learn effectively for swimming in the River though. "You can put your head below water if you want to see the movements, you need to keep your legs moving to tread water." He began to float in the water, paws moving at a steady pace in the water. "If you go under, remain calm. In these waters you shouldn't, but you never know. If you go under hold your breath and begin treading water to try coming to the surface. Swimming forward also will do the trick, which is just moving your front and back paws in the same direction."

Aspenstrike demonstrated swimming for the apprentice, his waterproofed fur keeping him from getting chilled by the water. He soon slid out, shaking his pelt to allow water to come off of him. "Now, it's your turn."

Berrypaw blushed slightly when the older tom told him it wasn't necessary to call him sir but he did not let that drop his spirit down. "Yeah! Jaystar had been so generous to let us in and a lot of cats see us as true Riverclan apprentices! But... I would be lying if I say everyone treats well. Not everyone likes rogue kits like us, you know? Especially after what Lichenmask had told." He mewed giving a glance at the red moon that lurked in the sky. What a weird spectacle.

He soon lost interest on that when Aspenstrike stopped. His big green eyes sparkled with excitement when he told them what they were going to do. Berrypaw didn't have to be told twice and he soon rushed to the water. As a kit, he had already experienced the feeling and it felt as he was going back to a home he had long forgotten in the messy tides of his memory. It just felt so natural around his webbed paws... But when his mentor suggested the idea of putting his head underwater, he looked at him surprised. "Can we really do that?!" His gaze turned to the water and stepping in deeper, he sunk his face into it. He forgot to breathe before so he didn't last there for too long. Despite that, he was able to see the underwater, blurry world and the wet liquid in his face felt great.

When he lifted up his head, he was breathing fastly, his heart beating as his amusement grew. The apprentice watched how his mentor swam swiftly like a fish. Berrypaw wanted to do that too! The golden tabby entered the river even more until his paws stopped feeling the muddy ground. At first, he started to sink but a natural instinct told him to keep his chin up and his legs moving. His swimming was sloppy and he raised his paws a lot, splashing everywhere. At least he was floating and not falling like a rock to the bottom. "How... am... I... doing it!?" He said with small pauses to breathe in between.

The bicolored tabby smiled as he noticed the apprentice getting the hang of it immediately. "Excellent job! You're doing better than I did when I first started swimming. I almost sank like a rock." He summoned the apprentice back to him, allowing time for the golden tom to shake himself off thoroughly first. While he waited, he watched the sky. There was no sign of the sun coming back to normal anytime soon. This had to stop... the red was hard on his eyes anyway. He just wanted bright colors again.

"Alright, come over here." Aspenstrike beckoned the young apprentice with a flick of his tail. "We're also going to be learning how to hunt. What you need to do is wade a little ways into the water-" He padded into the water slowly, allowing time for getting used to it. The water was colder this time of year. "We also need to ensure our shadows aren't over the area where fish might swim. Once we've made sure of that, it's a waiting game. Once you do see a fish though, you need to flick your paw in and out quickly. Simply flicking the fish out of the water."

Aspenstrike sat patiently beside the fluffy tom. His leafy-green eyes watched the river for familiar shadows of fish. Once a shadow was found, he flicked his paw in- and out. The fish was now beside him, flopping crazily. Sometimes it was sad watching the fish die, it was suffering. Still, it was prey, prey was prey sometimes. "That's how you get a fish, you try."

OOC: im not using dice because would hate for a predator encounter lol

Berrypaw wanted to keep swimming. Even though Aspenstrike praised him, he still felt his technique was sloppy and needed some improvement. However, he wasn't going to refuse his mentor's orders. He could sneak out of camp later to keep practising and even invite Firepaw or Sparkpaw! The young tom swam back to the shore and to his surprise, his fur wasn't as wet as he thought it would be considering that he had no Riverclan blood and that meant he was probably not going to have a waterproof fur like his mentor's. What a pleasant surprise!

The eager apprentice nodded at every of the older cat's tom and saw him approaching the river. A few moments later, Aspenstrike had a fish on his paws and Berrypaw was stunned and amazed. That was so graceful and amazing! He wanted to do the same. "I'll do my best!" He mewed when he was called to do the same.

The large golden cat stepped into the water and searched for a spot without shadows. It was hard to do it with that dark sky but after a few seconds of scanning around, he found the perfect place. He wasn't the patient kind so it was hard for him to just wait. That was why, when the shadow of a fish approached him enough, he rushed to hit it. However, he didn't think where to toss it and when his claws hit the fish, the slippery animal flew away from the water just to fall in the centre of the river, far away from Berrypaw's reach. "Oh..." He mewed disappointed by his failed first catch.

Upon seeing the disappointment in his apprentice's face at the missed catch, Aspenstrike had to cheer him up. "That's alright, not everyone catches their first fish. You're already quite exceptional though!" He nudged the apprentice lightly. "If you want, you can try again. Or we can go back to camp. Your technique is good, it's more the patience aspect you should work on." His tail flicked as he waited for a response from the young apprentice.

(ooc: short, im outta muse)