brisk muscles and brute force [closed for cocoa]

True to his word, the stoic warrior was up just as the sun's rays began to disappear at the very fringes of Shadowclan territory. The world was bathed in a pale golden glow, as the sky had just begun to relinquish the realm to the moon and stars. For the time being, a sliver of white light was barely seen against the ethereal backdrop. Fangsnap stretched lazily, feeling the strain of his weary muscles underneath his scarred, russet pelt. Admittedly, this life often felt soft and easy, even though his overrun frame continued to ache.

Today, he would embark on a new adventure, one within these well-defined borders. The closest he had ever come to such a thing was meeting Fangpaw. They had fought side by side and sheltered together on many cold nights. Despite being close in age, the experience of rogue-life meant that he'd acted as more of an advisory role for the late tom. Never again would he allow events like before to transpire. He found himself jolted awake with drive and determination. Smokepaw would be trained up proper, without any soft coddling. No cat would ever take down his apprentice once he was finished with her.

Claws flexed into the earth and he shook out his pelt before padding towards the apprentice's den. One paw darted out to shake her away. The low rasp of his voice just barely reached her ear, "Get up. Time to train." There was no hesitation before he whipped around and stalked towards the camp entrance. Fangsnap didn't glance over his shoulder to check if she followed, he simply expected her to.

Smokepaw had been curled up in her nest in the corner, peacefully dreaming of rushing water. Suddenly, she was shaken awake as her mentor loomed over her.

“Yes sir,” she murmured, scrambling after him. Stars above, it was practically evening. Blinking away her sleep, she followed after him, attempting to contain her curiosity, which didn’t last.

“So… where are we going, exactly?” She mewed quietly, looking all around. ShadowClan territory looked odd this early in the night. It was still hot, too. How could the other Clans do it?

She kept up well, he was grateful for that. Fangsnap carried on without saying much of anything at all. They pressed on, closer to the the marshes. The ground became soggier and more unpleasant with each step. However, before the pair could tread very far, Smokepaw piped up with a question. It occurred to him at the moment that the apprentice was unfamiliar with the territory as this was her first time out of camp. He grunted back a simple answer, "To the deep marshes. We're going to do some training." The warrior hardly spared a glance over his shoulder but listened to her untrained pawsteps as his eyes flickered about seeking the perfect stop.

"Here." Fangsnap finally turned once he settled on a spot. The mentor and apprentice were standing in about an inch of still, murky water; it lapped at their pads uncomfortably with each step but the warrior's face gave no indication that he felt it, "Attack me." There was an intense flickering behind his gaze. The tom did not intend to take it easy on her at all and provided little instructions for a reason. Fangsnap would hit hard, but enemies would hit harder and if Smokepaw was to survive... well, he planned to give her every possible experience of a vicious fighter. Under his instruction, it would take a lot more than the average fighting skill to best his apprentice.

Deep Marshes? Oh, StarClan. Cats had died here. Yes, cats had died many places but not as a direct effect of the surroundings! Consumed by her worries, Smokepaw’s head shot up at Fangsnap’s next statement. He didn’t seem a fan of questions- Smokepaw doubted he had ever asked a question in his life, no, just statements to be proved or disproved.

“Oh, Erm, um…” Smokepaw looked around at her dreary surroundings, the murky water covering her paws… “Is this mandatory?” she squeaked, oh StarClan, she sounded like a mouse. “I mean if it’s voluntary my answer will have to be in the negative.” She didn’t think she’d get a favorable response out of the altogether far too intimidating tom facing her. Something jumped into her head, and she clutched desperately at it as she stood in the murky water. Surprise, surprise, surprise him and maybe get out of here in one piece. “I don’t think this is safe- did you come out here before you were abducted by Twolegs?” Twolegs, Twolegs, things to surprise him. “Did you meet any rogues during your time as a rogue? What did you do after being abducted by Twolegs? Why did it take you so long to get back?” This was dirty fighting, and Smokepaw knew it. As a rule, no one asked cats who had been through terrible things about said terrible things. It wasn’t done. However, no one took their apprentice to the Deep Marshes on the first night of training!!! Smokepaw wasn’t as fast or as strong as him, but she could use her words like sharp claws. Maybe distract him, or maybe he would only look at her slightly confused.

While all this flew through her head, she leapt at him, forcing him to the muddy ground. Mud was all over both of them, hopefully they wouldn’t flip into the deep mud. Her only advantage was this element of surprise, and it would be gone soon. Smokepaw held him down as hard as she could, hoping she had the strength to keep him down. It was easier than expected- the murky, water-logged ground couldn’t be used to really push off of.

Smokepaw used Leap-and-Hold, doing 8 (6+2) (Night Finesse) damage and costing 10 stamina. Leap-and-Hold lasts 2 turns.

Smokepaw
20/20 HP
70/80 SP (-10)

Fangsnap
32/ 40 HP (-8)
120/120 SP

The member 'Cocoa' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 5