Beyond Our Years [O]

Lionpaw sat patiently while patrol assignments were being given, though today had a far more casual feel than normal. Maybe it was the warmer weather and the longer, sunnier days. He wasn't about to complain, but he was a tom that needed a steady flow of things to do or things to think about or he was quick to become bored. He stood up from a sitting position and stretched his front and back legs luxuriously, just to have some sense of motion or doing something other than just waiting. He sighed quietly when he heard the warriors begin to just talk. This was going to take longer than he liked. Lionpaw's eyes traveled over to the nursery to see Rosekit and his eyes brightened. Forget it. He'd just go talk to her until the patrols were ready to go. They rarely had much they wanted to say to an apprentice anyway. The tabby and white long furred tom approached the entrance to the nursery with a slight bounce in his step.

"They'll be talking awhile." He said with a soft smile. He experimentally leaned his head forward, inviting her to headbutt him in a friendly greeting but leaving it up to her to do so. He wouldn't offended if she felt that it was too familiar. "How are you this morning?" He asked her casually. He kept one ear on the conversation that the warriors were having, but so far, it still seemed like it would be a long wait. Lionpaw was a work horse. He was far better at getting things done than standing around talking about it.

Rosekit was playing by herself in front of the nursery. Today, she was practicing her stalking, using a mossball as makeshift prey. Nearby, she could hear the patrols being organized. Rosekit was so focused on her mossball that Lionpaw was only a few tail lengths away by the time she noticed his approach. She silently chastised herself for not being aware of her surroundings; this would be an important skill later on, as her mother often reminded her.

As Lionpaw leaned his head forward, Rosekit hesitated for a moment, then leaned her own head forward and gently bumped his. She purred softly, pleased at his friendliness.

"I'm doing okay! I'm trying to practice my stalking, but it's hard without someone to show me, and everyone's always too busy." She glanced over to the throng of warriors chatting, and for the hundredth time felt a small pang of regret that she wouldn't be joining them. The kit turned back to Lionpaw, forcing herself to purr quietly before asking, "How about you? I bet you're excited to go on patrol!" She casually flicked him with her tail, hoping she wasn't overstepping her bounds.

Lionpaw purred softly at Rosekit's return of his head bump. At the mention of her practicing her stalking, he gave a small smile. He knew she was still a kit, but she wasn't that far in age behind him. He found that he was eager to work, but not so eager to actually grow up. He could see the strain life had on some of the older warriors. Bloodstrike looked especially terrible and he had an attitude to match it. Lionpaw found that he actually liked being an apprentice. Life was fairly easy still with someone watching out for you and telling you what to do and being very forgiving of mistakes. All of that changed once one became a warrior.

He opened his mouth to offer some help with stalking before Rosekit spoke again. At her following statement he chuckled. "Oh I would be, if they'd ever get around to it." His tone wasn't resentful, but he did roll his eyes and widen his smile a bit. At her tail flick, he gave her an amused look and swatted at her with his own long, feathery tail. He snickered before he continued. "I like working and going on patrols. I haven't had to fight any cats yet or anything. It seems like most clanmates stay on their side of the borders." He thought about that for a moment and took a single backward swipe at the ground below before resting his paw back in it's original place. "I'm not really sure I'd even want to." He muttered, though it was still loud enough that Rosekit could hear. "But enough about me. You want a few tips on how stalking works? I'm not a warrior or anything but I know a little bit."

As Lionpaw spoke about the patrols that were supposedly being organized, Rosekit noted with amusement his eye roll. She didn't blame his lack of patience, as she knew very well how long adult cats took to do practically anything. As the apprentice mentioned not wishing to fight other cats, Rosekit opened her mouth to ask why, then stopped herself. Prying wouldn't get her far, and she didn't want to scare off her new friend.

In reply to Lionpaw's offer, Rosekit supressed a squeal of excitement. "I'd love a few tips!" she exclaimed. "And it doesn't matter that you're not a warrior, you've gotten more action than me. Teach me your ways!" Rosekit padded a couple tail lengths away to give Lionpaw space, then pointed with her tail at the mossball she'd been using as makeshift prey. "I've been stalking that, you can use it if you want." She sat down, curling her tail neatly around her paws, then turned her gaze to Lionpaw. She leaned forward, excited to finally be doing something worthwhile.

Lionpaw blinked and his eyes widened slightly at her excitement to be taught. Still, her excitement proved to be contagious and he laughed softly a moment later. His tail twitched a few times as the new energy surged through him. At the mention of the mossball, Lionpaw looked at it, then back to her mischevously. "Gee... I really hope I can catch it..." His tone was light hearted and teasing, but the sarcasm was there. He turned to face the pile of moss and he sank low, bending his knees and elbows until his belly fur brushed the ground.

"Okay so... You have to get as low as you can, but be mindful to not actually touch the ground. The position hurts a little bit, but less and less all of the time. I was told my muscles will get used to it if I just keep practicing. Anyway..." He began to stalk forward, keeping his entire body from nose tip to tail tip in a fairly straight line. "Move slow. I have better luck when I am patient and I move slow. If I get excited and move to fast I always make noise, like stepping on a stick or dry leaf or something and I miss. Watch your tail too. Long furred tails like ours catch leaves and sticks easily and make noise." He kept his tail out behind him like a multi-hued, striped banner.

Once he was a little less than a fox-length away from the mossball, he leaned back on his haunches just a bit, wiggled his body to calibrate his jump, then sprang forward. His paws landed out in front of him onto the mossball. He took a quick snap at it to simulate dispatching prey, then turned to Rosekit and sat with a slight smugness on his face.

"That's what I know. The ground is definitely easier than the trees, but any advice I could give you about branch stalking won't be as good as what Birdstar already told us."

He moved away from the mossball so she could try it if she wanted. He stood there and patiently waited to see if she would try it or if she had more to say. His ear rotated in the direction of the warriors again... only to hear them prattling on about something unrelated to patrols. Were they going to make it out before sunhigh??? Jeeze....

Rosekit smirked slightly at Lionpaw's jab. He had such an easy way about him that she couldn't help but laugh along with him. She watched intently as he crouched low to the ground. As he talked his way through the demonstration, Rosekit couldn't help but but notice how easily it seemed to come to him. Reminding herself to be patient, she purred excitedly as he launched himself at the mossball.

"If that mossball had been real prey, it would've been dead for sure!" Rosekit exclaimed after Lionpaw had "killed" the ball. As he stepped back, Rosekit dropped to the ground, attempting to imitate the apprentice's tactics. He made it look so easy! The large kit stumbled slightly as she inched forward. Not letting herself be dissuaded, Rosekit stalked forward a few more steps, trying her best not to brush leaves with her paws and long, plume-like tail. When she was a couple tail lengths from the mossball, she wiggled her haunches, then took a huge LEAP! Whack! The mossball was very dead. Rosekit sat up with the mossball in her jaws, and looked over at Lionpaw proudly.

She dropped the ball, and mewed, "That was fun! How'd I do?"

Lionpaw took the prize with a smile and a slightly tilted back chin, but he recovered himself quickly ad paid attention to what Rosekit was doing. She picked up on things very well! Her technique was nearly as good as his on the first try. Once she caught her mossball, Lionpaw tapped his forepaws against the dirt in rapid succession like an applause.

"That was great! If you're learning this fast you'll be a warrior before me!" Lionpaw said encouragingly. He was about to say something else when a shadow was cast across the floor and over him. He snapped his head to look, curious, and found himself staring right into the face of Bloodstrike. He flinched, but then turned to face him with a sheepish grin. "Uh... hi Bloodstrike! I didn't even hear you coming..." A rookie mistake. His ears rotated back just a bit in preparation for harsh reprimands... that he was surprised to see never came.

---

Bloodstrike had been watching from a tree branch high above the two. He didn't need to stand around with the other warriors, he could hear them just fine from where he was. He did however take a particular interest in the nursery lately. He thought it would do him some good to be around kits. Their lives were so much brighter than his and it had helped to take his mind off of... recent events.

Once Lionpaw had his back turned, the giant, 20lb tom smoothly and silently made his way down the tree that he was in. He crept quietly up behind Lionpaw and purposely cast a shadow over him. The apprentice realized his mistake and looked embarrassed, but Bloodstrike wasn't going to be harsh with him. Not this time, at least. He didn't want to discourage apprentices from caring about the kits or taking interest in them. Stars knew Skyclan could use that level of bonding after all that had happened.

"You need to stay aware of your surroundings when you hunt also. While you're stalking a mossball, or a mouse even, a fox may be stalking you." He was speaking to both the apprentice as well as the kit. Bloodstrike's harsh, heavily scarred appearance frightened even warriors who weren't familiar with him. He could vividly imagine what his appearance did to kits. It didn't mean he was going to hide himself though. Kits needed to be strong, and part of that strength was strong nerves despite what they saw.

He gave his exposed fang from his torn left upper lip a lick as it began to dry out. He turned so that the kit and Lionpaw could see the nasty bitemark scar in his shoulder. It might not have seemed so impressive against the massive burn scar on his back or the many many claw marks littering his body, but it was still visible.

"A fox gave me this. Luckily I'm a fairly large tom or he could have disabled me for life with that bite. I took it on purpose so that I would have a clear shot at it's throat. This same fox killed our medicine cat, Sagelight, and killed one of my daughters as well. Dustpaw was her name. She never saw it coming." A bitter reminder of what the world was really like, but shielding them from the truth did not save them from it. Bloodstrike wasn't going to beat around the bush. He never had.

Now that he was done, he sat down slowly and winced, his joints stiff and aching from the prior night's sleep and the storm in the air that was approaching. He figured it would be here by sunhigh. "You have the potential to be a fine hunter, Rosekit. You're going to be big too, I can tell." A rare trait for someone outside of his bloodline, but he knew her mother and he knew her father. Neither were related to him. "My advice to you is this, Rosekit, use your strength wisely, and with a better strategy than what I used, or you'll be my twin in no time. Just because you're bigger and stronger than most cats doesn't mean you should throw yourself into the jaws of every enemy that comes your way." This was probably the most honest Bloodstrike had been about himself as well as to a kit. He'd made horrible mistakes and they had cost him greatly. And for what? Ego? He'd sooner have his pride ripped to pieces for all to see if it meant he could bring his loved ones back.

Rosekit was smiling happily at Lionpaw's praise when she saw a massive, tattered-looking tom approach behind Lionpaw. This was a cat whose name Rosekit knew: Bloodstrike. She knew only because her mother had told her after Rosekit had run into the nursery as a young kit, scared at the sight of the knarled tom. This time, Rosekit was determined not to be so easily frightened. After all, this was one of her clanmates, and could very well end up being her mentor one day. She tilted her head up slightly and forced her tail up in friendly greeting.

When Lionpaw noticed Bloodstrike, Rosekit saw him twitch his ears slightly. She tilted her head, then looked up at the larger tom, carefully watching his expression. Tension seemed to briefly pass between the two for a split second, but Rosekit couldn't be sure.

As the large warrior began giving his advice, Rosekit's gaze trailed up and down his body. When she's seen him as a young kit, she'd been able to see his horrible scars, but they were even more obvious up close. She repressed a shudder, and turned her expression to Bloodstrike as he spoke about a dead medicine cat she'd never heard of, and his dead daughter. She saw his tail thrash, and felt a pang of sympathy for the grizzled warrior. His angry, almost melancholy air began to make sense. Perhaps Rosekit would seem scary too if a fox ate a member of her family.

Bloodstrike's compliments to her size and potential took Rosekit by suprise. She didn't know Bloodstrike well, but she could already tell by Lionpaw's reaction to his arrival that the seasoned warrior was difficult to impress. As he gave his advice, Rosekit tried her best to commit as much of it as possible to memory. She wanted a few scars, to show her strength as a warrior, but she definitely didn't want to look as terrifying as Bloodstrike.

As Bloodstrike finished, Rosekit made sure to nod in appreciation, dipping her head low to show her respect. "Thank you for the advice, Bloodstrike!" She tilted her head as an idea came to her. She glanced at Lionpaw, hoping he wouldn't mind, then asked "Bloodstrike, could you please show me a thing or two? I want know how to be properly aware of my surroundings, like you said!" She looked up him with pleading eyes. "If you have time," she added.

Graypaw too was listening to the warriors talk, and if she had to guess, she would almost swear that Wolfblossom was doing this on purpose to see who paid attention. There was simply no other way that patrol assignments could take this long. Maybe they really were just talking... But Graypaw had caught sight of Lionpaw heading toward the nursery, speaking with one of the kits. It was when Bloodstrike jumped down from the tree that they truly captured her attention, though. She'd never admit to anyone that her great grandfather was terrifying, but watching him offer advice to the kit wasn't what she'd expected the old-as-dirt tom to do. Not that she would call him that to his face. She gave Lionpaw a nod in greeting, glad to see that she wasn't the only apprentice who decided to interact with the kits on occasion.

The mention of foxes by Bloodstrike made her ears flatten as she drifted closer to them. Killed a medicine cat? And an apprentice, which was horrifying to anyone with a brain. Foxes weren't something to mess with, that much she knew. "I'll be happy if I never have to fight another fox again. We recently hunted down one of the ones that came into camp that day. It didn't injure anyone but I can't say it's something I'd want to do without a full patrol with me." The Skyclanners had been too quick, too powerful for one fox to take on, and Thornstalker's experience had helped the patrol to victory, but Graypaw couldn't say it wasn't unnerving.

Bloodstrike's next words were true. Throwing their weight around without thought wasn't something that would lead to Graypaw seemed to be a bit less bulky than some of her family, but she was still tall. Not as tall as Bloodstrike or Wolfblossom, though. Ending up as beaten and scarred at Bloodstrike was? She hoped not. And she'd like to keep her clanmates and family from ending up like that too. The older apprentice didn't comment, but a nod confirmed her agreement with the old tom's words just as well.

The kit - Rosekit? - asked a question, and Graypaw had to admit she was curious to know what Bloodstrike would say in response.

Bloodstrike was quiet for a moment after Rosekit had asked her question and it was just long enough for Graypaw to approach and tell her own small story of foxes. At least one of the foxes had gone down. Bloodstrike would never tire of killing them, he hated them so. Anyway, back to Rosekit's question.

"It is the easiest thing to do, actually. Look, listen and smell all at the same time. But you know why so many warriors are caught unaware?" He leaned in just a bit for intensity, because this was important and he wanted to be sure he had Rosekit's full attention.

"Because it is the easiest thing to not do as well. We become complacent. We become bored. We get too comfortable. Then we forget to do it and that's always when tragedy will find you. Stay vigilant. If something feels wrong, trust your gut and get out of there." It was simple advice, but sound advice. He hoped it would be enough.

---

Lionpaw himself stayed quiet and just listened. He rarely heard Bloodstrike speak, but when he did, why wouldn't he listen to the old warrior's words? An old tom in a clan full of much younger ones obviously knew a thing or two about the world. Lionpaw just hoped he would not let the cruelty of the world make him cruel.