Flounder No More (Open)

Ashpaw purred as warm beams of sunlight landed across his back; he was nearly done finally grooming out all of the tangles from his fur.  Although he had been with RiverClan for about a moon now, some remnants of his life as a rogue had still remained, one of them being many patches of matted fur across his silver-tinged pelt.  When he had been spending every day hunting tirelessly with an infected shoulder there simply wasn't any time to properly groom, and even if he had tried it would've really hurt.  Now though, his shoulder was healed, and for the meantime until Stormbringer had the opportunity to take him out on his first patrol, he had nothing else to do.  It had taken a long while, but with a huff of satisfaction, Ashpaw pulled apart and licked the last few strands of fur on his flank, before flopping over with a relieved sigh.  Done, finally.  That feels so much better...

A sparkle caught his eye.  Blinking, Ashpaw focused his eyes onto the sunlit river, noticing how calmly the waves lapped against the camp's low bank as if trying to call a cat into its blue wonders.  From what I know, the warriors would say this is a good swimming day...warm, a light breeze, the sun is out to dry your fur...  Ashpaw frowned; despite knowing that he would have to try again eventually, the water still made anxious butterflies flap in his belly.  He had managed to get across before when trying to sneak into the camp, but the memory of how the weight pulled you down relentlessly unless you kicked for dear life wasn't...pleasant.  How did all the other cats do it so easily?  Was it in their blood?  He had once seen a white tom show off the odd webbing between his toes, was that the key?  No, it couldn't be, not every cat had those...maybe he just needed to practice.

Taking a deep breath, Ashpaw stood up and started off towards the edge of the water, but halfway there stopped himself with a quiet "Oh!"  It's probably not smart to try this without someone who knows what they're doing around to watch.  With a soft chuckle, Ashpaw turned to scan the nearby clearing with his vivid green eyes, trying to catch sight of someone who didn't look busy.  He spotted a young she-cat who he knew to be a fellow apprentice, though she was quite a bit older.  Suddenly, another aspect of this plan became starkly clear to him; he had to make his first friend, aside from his adoptive family.  Smiling, although it was quite a shy expression, Ashpaw padded up to the taller blue-gray she-cat and took a deep breath.  "H-Hi there, my name is Ashpaw, I don't think we've officially met before.  I'm the newest apprentice.  I was wondering - if you have the time that is - if you could do me a favor.  I want to learn how to swim, but I don't want to mess up and umm, drown.  Could you watch me, and maybe spare a couple tips?  I would really appreciate it!"

Streampaw was by the river bank, looking for some fish, when suddenly, a young cat padded up to her. “Oh! Hello there...Ashpaw was it? Of course I can help! Don’t worry, you’ll catch on quick. Us RiverClan cats always do.” She winked at him, then examined the apprentice throughly. He seemed strong and lean and could catch up on swimming quickly. “Now, you are a very strong apprentice, I can see. So, the only thing keeping you from learning how to swim is probably your nerves. Is that it?” Streampaw asked. “I remember my first time too. Why don’t you show me your swimming? I’ll keep an eye on you.” She encouraged, wading into the water.

Willowpaw was swimming in the river, enjoying it now that the water had warmed up.  As she was paddling through the current, she saw two cats in the river.  She recognized them both from camp.  It was Streampaw and Ashpaw.  She swam over to them.
"Hi!" she mewed a greeting.  She noticed the nervous look on Ashpaw's face and figured that he was learning how to swim.
She went over to watch, and give helpful tips if needed.

“Hi, Willowpaw! I was just giving Ashpaw a lesson on his swimming.” Streampaw called out cheerfully. “You can join us if you’d like.” She suggested. “The more the merrier, right?” She turned to Ashpaw. “Would that be okay with you? I dont want to make you nervous.”

OOC: Is Willowpaw older than Streampaw or are they about the same age?

OOC: I believe that Willowpaw is older, but if Streampaw's only req is Moonstone, then they're about the same

"Yes, if my being here makes you nervous, I can certainly leave." Willowpaw understood that sometimes having too many cats around could make other cats feel nervous.

(occ: please remember to wait until everyone else had posted before posting again so that no one gets left behind <3)

As soon as it was made clear to him that the she-cat was willing to help, and seemed quite happy to as well, Ashpaw let go of the breath he had been holding and beamed.  "Thank you so much!  I hope that's true for adopted RiverClan cats too."  The long-furred gray tom stood still as the apprentice seemed to examine him, and suddenly felt warmth rush to his face as a result of her compliment; did he finally look strong now instead of skinny and desperate?  Ashpaw nodded agreement and laughed a bit self-consciously, he had no trouble admitting that his first swimming experience had scared him, but if he was going to become a great RiverClan warrior he needed to move forward.

"Okay, here goes!"  Following the blue-gray she-cat into the river, feeling his skin prickle a bit at the unfamiliar sensation, he waded in far enough until only his top half could be seen.  The water was cold but not freezing, and the longer he stood there the more comfortable it began to feel; in fact, his pelt didn't feel quite so heavy like it had before.  Is it because I got out all the matted spots?  Just as he was about to lift his paws from the river bottom though, a new voice rang out from nearby, and Ashpaw turned to see another fairly familiar face paddle up to greet them.  "Hello!  Lifting his wet tail out of the water to wave, he tried to wrack his memory and see if he knew the silver she-cat's name...he didn't think he did.  Come to think of it, he didn't know the blue-gray she-cat's name either!  Mouse-brain, I should've asked her sooner!  Don't be rude.  

"It's okay, I'm fine with more than one cat watching me.  It'll encourage me to try my best, so I don't embarrass myself!"  With a laugh, Ashpaw looked between both of the older apprentices, pale green eyes brimming with mirth.  "I'm sorry, but I don't think I know your names yet.  There's so many new cats, it's hard to remember everyone at once."

Streampaw purred in amusement. “ I’m Streampaw. I haven’t seen you around before either, so I think that it’s ok for you to not know me.” She thought that it was impolite to introduce Willowpaw, so she waited for Willowpaw to introduce herself. “Anyways, let’s continue. Now? I’m going to demonstrate how to swim.” With that, Streampaw lifted her paws off the ground, and kicked her paws. She made it look easy, but it actually took a decent amount of strength. “So, this is the simplest form of swimming. Once you get to learn this, you can learn all sorts of cool moves, like diving deep underwater or doing flips.”

"And I'm Willowpaw," she told him.
"As for swimming," she commented, "Streampaw's right about there being some cool tricks that you can do.  Recently, I've been teaching myself to swim backward." she demonstrated by slowly swimming backward, "I'm still not the best at it, I sometimes lose my balance and fall in the water.  It's hard because you have to do the opposite of what you're supposed to do for normal swimming."


Willowpaw remembered the time that Streampaw had helped her teach Fernkit how to swim.  She had liked having Streampaw help.
"It's not that hard to learn to swim," she told Ashpaw, "especially when you have a good teacher, like Streampaw." Willowpaw nudged her, smiling.

"Streampaw, Willowpaw...got it! It's nice to meet you both!" Okay, Streampaw is blue-gray like water, Willowpaw is silver like dewdrops on willow branches...please don't let me mix them up! Purring, Ashpaw watched as Streampaw dove right in, listening to her explanation with a mix of awe and worry on his face. It looked so simple, but he knew as soon as his paws left the bottom... Round eyes growing wider as Streampaw spoke of doing tricks in the water and actually going under, his attention shifted to Willowpaw as she began to swim backward, explaining how hard it was even though to him she looked like an expert. "Wow...all of that is so cool! I wish...no, I just have to try!" Heart beating fast, Ashpaw walked forward until he could barely touch the river floor with his toes before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, and lifting off.

For a moment, he sunk.

His head fell below the water, blocking his nose and filling his ears, but he forced himself not to panic. Furrowing his brow, he kicked out first with his left legs, then his right, just like when he walked on land. Left, right, repeat, and in a matter of seconds, he was moving. Gasping as he breached the surface, Ashpaw looked around at his two teachers, grinning from ear to ear. "A-Am I doing it right?" His legs kicked ungracefully below the water, churning ripples unlike the more skilled apprentices, but it didn't matter. He was staying afloat! With an excited giggle, Ashpaw paddled forward a bit, before managing to turn and head back to where he had come from, coming to a halt beside Willowpaw. I did it, I'm swimming!

Streampaw watched as Ashpaw pedaled desperately, slightly worried that he would drown. Just as she was about to jump in, Ashpaw’s head broke the surface. He was actually swimming! “Go, Ashpaw!” She cheered, her eyes glowing with happiness. “Now, you’ve done basic swimming. You just need to improve on you upper body strength. When you do, it will be much easier for you to swim, less pressure on your paws.” Streampaw dove into the water again with a graceful leap. “Once you’re done with basic swimming, you can dive underwater...like this!” Streampaw dove underwater, then tickled Ashpaw’s paws with her longer than average tail. Coming up for a breath of air, she grinned at the gray apprentice.

Ashpaw chuckled as Streampaw praised him, looking down at the water to hide his embarrassed face; he listened carefully to her instruction once more and understood what she meant.  Even though he was staying upright at the current moment, he could feel the muscles in his shoulders and legs starting to ache, especially in his right shoulder.  So I just have to keep swimming to make it feel natural, and get my body used to it?  Makes sense.  He nodded with a smile, but when he blinked Streampaw had vanished, with only ripples showing where she had been.  Confused at first, he looked around at Willowpaw to ask where she had gone, when suddenly a strange tickling sensation touched his paw-pad.  "AHHH!  Something's touching me!!"  Ashpaw flinched away with fear in his eyes, mind racing as to all the creepy, gross stuff could be at the bottom of a river, but when Streampaw broke the surface and grinned at him like a mischievous kit, he purred.  "Streampawww, that's not fair!"  Laughing, he used a forepaw to splash a small wave of water at the older apprentice, but also realized what she had said while he had been concentrating on swimming.  Diving under...I'll be able to do that soon too!  Hopefully.

Looking over at Willowpaw, her words made sense as well.  For a brief second, he stopped kicking his legs, and noticed exactly what she meant; for a moment, he didn't sink as long as he was balanced. Swimming again before he went under, he tried it out a few more times, balancing and then floating, until he decided to go forward.  This time however he kicked much more calmly as his two new friends did, and was amazing to feel himself gliding through the water, the smooth feeling of liquid passing through his oily fur more comforting now than terrifying.  Was this why RiverClan prized swimming, because of this feeling?  It was almost like...he was flying.  He had gone a couple of fox-lengths away from the others, and so when he turned his head they looked quite small.  "This...this is so awesome!  Thank you so much for teaching me! Can I try diving now?"

Streampaw giggled as Ashpaw screeched in fear. She let a laugh break through as he splashed her with water. As Ashpaw practiced floating and balancing, he was suddenly swimming. Streampaw whooped and cheered. “Go, Ashpaw!” When Ashpaw turned around, yelling what seemed like trying to dive, Streampaw nodded at Willowpaw. “I think he should try it, with us by his side, of course.”