Iron Sharpening Iron

Sprucebark awoke the day after he had met with Perchstar and went over to her den at the exact time he said he would be.  Of course: the warrior was not a moment early or late. Seeing his leader, he gave a polite wave and got up greeting her.


"oh good, let's begin while the morning is still in our favor for catching fish" with a flick of his tail he started out towards the river making sure she was right behind him.  He didnt love going to the river but with Perchstar having his back he felt a bit more sure that things would be fine.

"after we catch some things, we can see about getting a practice spar in.  I think it would really help us both.  Both of us are the clan's experienced warriors and we should be ready for anything really.  Part of the clans job is to keep you ready for battle in case we should ever need to, don't you think Perchstar?" of course: it would be sprucebark to bring up the duty of clan to its leader and such. After all he was very philosophical in such questions and always had that mind of asking questions about this.

He glanced as the river came into view and that icky feeling of hesitation washed over as if the water itself was already against him.

The fur along his back stood up more on end as he stared at the speed of the river.  Tail flicking back and forth momentarily not saying a word just lost in thought.

Snapping out of it he went towards the riverbank and sat down waiting patiently for the fish to be by.


He felt anxious being here and found it hard to sit still so the fish wouldn't see him.  He closed his eyes thinking back to how brookstone taught him.


The memory of her telling him how to fish that first time they went out together all the way back when he was an apprentice was clear in his mind as if it had happened yesterday.


Opening his eyes again he waited patiently for his opportunity to come by, Brookstone always said patience was needed.

A flash! and his eyes tracked it immedietly as it swam close to him he darted his front paw in hoping to catch it by its fin and hook it out.

Sprucebark tries to catch fish for -3 sp ...

Success!

Hooking into the fish he yanked as hard as he could and dragged it to land where it flopped around for a little before he landed the final blow to it.

He did it! He finally caught a fish after so long of not fishing and so long of not going to the river.

The member 'speedy' has done the following action : Dice roll

---

'Hunting Dice' : 3

Spending time with her Clanmates was never a bad thing. Perchstar did not hate or even dislike a single one of them--even Larkpaw, as she had recently confided in his brother. However, different cats did require different attitudes. She tried to be soft and reassuring to Cinderpaw. Rookpaw needed straightforward conversation. Some cats required the stoic leaderly disposition, while others needed her to show a more relaxed side. (Well, as much relaxation as she was capable of showing.) Rarely did her guard ever come completely down. Sprucebark, however, was not very difficult to spend time with. He didn't really seem to judge her for her odd moments. He spoke a lot, leaving a need for her to speak very little, and only spoke on topics that interested him, which eliminated the need for awkward small talk. And he was Poppyshine's son--which made her, according to her best friend, an aunt of sorts to him. It was that near-family relationship that she supposed made interacting with him so easy. Either way, whatever the reason, she looked forward with contentment to their day of hunting and sparring together.

"All members of the Clan should be battle-ready," she agreed. "I believe some practice now and again is a good idea. Of course, it would be best if we never had to fight, but the world isn't perfect." They stopped when they reached the river. He was not an apprentice, and he was not incapable. However... Perchstar still sat downstream of him. Partially out of habit, partially out of a hope to make him feel safer. Partially because she still couldn't get the image of a calico head dipping below water out of her brain. But thankfully, it didn't appear necessary. Sprucebark shook himself off, waited patiently, and then caught a fish when it swam by. It was good progress. "Nice work," the leader commended. There was little need to say any more than that. He was working on his fear, and that was good enough for her.

It was her turn to bring her attention to the river. Perchstar felt her light blue eyes scanning the rippling stream's surface, darting to and fro with the motion of the current. She sat perfectly straight, one white paw raised and waiting. Fish were especially abundant this time of year. It wouldn't take long until... there. A glimmer of silver. Instinctively, she unsheathed her claws and made a quick swipe. Some part of her expected a goose or weasel to come running out to stop her. However, the motion remained uninterrupted, and soon enough a fish was out on the bank beside her. A swift flash of claws ended its life. She said nothing, but simply let out an inaudible sigh of relief. It seemed the stars' ire had been turned from her for now.

The member 'Ash' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 3

Sprucebark blinked looking at his fish... "I got one??" the surprises of his own success evident in how he said it. He glanced over and saw Perchstar had caught one as well... he was keenly aware that she had positioned herself downstream of him.  And was very grateful for her doing that.  And it did make him feel safer.

Perchstar had saved him before, from those nasty weasels.  So having her downstream as he faced a long time fear of his was reassuring as ever. He trusted her a great deal and looked up to her alot.  He had learned so much from her.  Between Perchstar and Poppyshine he had become a better version of himself.  Sure, he would always be very rule and code oriented but that had been paired now with good guidance from his mum and a lot of in depth conversations with Perchstar too.  

Perchstar had always been there for him, and she had been for his mum too.  He thought of how Perchstar had saved mum from drowning as well.  He thought back to how when Perchstar had gone missing how awful it had been.  How when he was separated from the clan how his life routine had been flipped on end and how terrible that had been.  He thought about all this while waiting for another fish to pass by.  Fishing certainly gave alot of time for thinking.  

Then he thought about how happy the clan and he had been when Perchstar finally came home from being lost, and what an uplifting boost to morale and spirits that had been.  Things got back to normal again after that and more stability in how things ran smoothly.  Thinking all this over he slowly came to the realization that ... he had been wrong, wrong about an answer he had given in the past.

Blinking he sat there again reanalyzing everything and thinking through all rules and code that he knew but ended at the same conclusion once more that his original statement had been incorrect.  

Or perhaps, more accurately, it had been correct at the time he gave it but no longer was.


Which meant that his guidelines of what he concidred morally allowable had shifted slightly over time, softened a bit.  He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing but was sure of this: the answer she had asked him back then now had a different answer.

Tell me, Sprucebark... what would you do if I had broken the code? This is only a hypothetical, so don't worry. I would just like to hear your thoughts.

His answer: at the time was that if this had occurred he would want her to step down and no longer be leader.  But now?? Now things had changed, the answer was simply he didn't know.  One side of him held fast to the rules and code BUT ... a growing and ever more clear side to him felt that IF this had happened IF perchstar ever broke some rule it would have been with good reason.  He trusted her with his life, so he should also trust her judgement and reason by extension.  And he did, so if he trusted her with his life and all this then whatever rule she hypothetically had broken had a reasonable explanation to itself.

After a little while of not even seeing any more fish he stood back up.  His knees were stiff and sore from being crouched low by the river for what felt like a very long time and now that the morning was more bright the fish were sure to stop being around so clear.  They had not done so badly either, enough to feed elders and kits and this wasn't even a formal hunting patrol.

Going downriver over to Perchstar and being very careful not to cast his shadow over the water to disrupt any fish that might have been close to her away he settled in next to her.

"The fish seem to be quieting down for now.  Wanna get the spar in and all?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"oh? and Perchstar? I want you to know, that I'll always have your back.  You asked earlier if I would ever face Stormwatcher in battle if it ever came to that... Stars forbid I hope it never does.  But yes, always.  I will always do that for you.  Know that I trust you lots"

perhaps even more then ever before he added in quietly but just to himself.


he hesitated not sure if he should share all what he had thought about, not wanting to bug her too much but thought it might be important, after all this was a big change to a question that she had originally asked.  And... he always had been open to Perchstar and Poppyshine and he saw no need to change that now.
"Awhile back, you asked what I thought of a hypnotical of you having... done something wrong." he meowed explaining.

"I think... my answer has changed.  I trust you with my life.  So it seems silly that I would not also trust your judgment of something in this.  I wouldn't like it if you were to break a rule or code, but I think if you did I would know that your reason in the moment had been sound.  So... I would no longer ask that you step down, but I would say that you would have to go to moonstone and confess to starclan, and make sure that they still okay with you being leader" he answered.

Nightstar no longer being leader and starclan taking that away from him seemed proof enough to him that the ones who broke the code unneccessarily seemed to lose power anyways, and seeing as how reasonable Perchstar was... it didn't make sense to him anymore that he should ever call for her to step down now.  And his new answer reflected that as such.



He gave a grin to her "Come, lets get started, you better be ready because I know how dangerous you are and so I will not be going easy at all on you..." he gave a purr and then a little reassuring wink that this was of course all friendly.  

"even so... I think you will win but I will do my best to make you work very hard for it.


With that and once he was sure she was ready he gave a pretend hiss and began the spar!  Leaping out at her with front paws to try and bowl her over and get a quick start to what he was sure would be a very long and technique filled battle.

He pawed at her using his advantage of getting to start knwoing he would need all the help he could get when it came to sparring agaisnt Perchstar with all the experiance and knowledge she brought to this.

Sprucebark uses jumping strike -13 dmg and -7sp -3 sp for the earlier hunt as well

Sprucebark:
70/70 hp
150/160 sp(-10)

Perchstar:
67/80 hp (-13)
170/170 sp

Active affects:
Riverclan: Slippery Coat active for Perchstar and Sprucebark


Star bonus: Leaders gain an extra +10HP/+10SP on top of their tier active for Perchstar
Star Striker: +2 attack Active for Perchstar

The river trickled softly, its gentle rushing sound peaceful to Perchstar's ears. She simply sat and observed the steady flow, enjoying the silence stretching between her and Sprucebark. It was a companionable silence, which was one of the things that she liked most. Sitting still was no issue for her. Honestly she could have sat by the river bank all day without needing to stretch or move, aside from flicking an ear or raising a paw to fish. However, Sprucebark got up wordlessly and shook out his fur, cueing Perchstar to straighten herself up and move further away as well. He spoke up in a moment, offering the spar they'd mentioned earlier. She simply nodded and rolled her shoulders back. Though she was not the most active of cats, the idea of a spar had become more appealing to her the more she thought about it. Aside from the brief battle with Shrikestar during the skirmish at the Gorge, she'd gotten remarkably little fighting practice in recently. Training with one of her senior warriors was a good idea not only to appraise his skills, but to brush up her own.

Before that, however, Sprucebark spoke once more. Perchstar's ears tilted forward to listen... and at what was said, more matter-of-fact than his usual logical questions, she felt something warm fill up her chest. He trusted her. Not just the trust of a warrior for a leader, but... a slightly closer bond. As Poppyshine's son to Poppyshine's mentor. As Sprucebark to Perchstar.

"I think... my answer has changed.  I trust you with my life."

The previous words had haunted Perchstar. She'd lost a moment or two of sleep to the answer Sprucebark had originally given--an answer that she might once have commended, but had worried over due to the unspoken words that lay buried in her heart. To hear that his mind had changed... it was a heavy weight off her back. To hear that he trusted her judgment enough to know that she would never break the code on purpose felt as if the stone sitting in her stomach had finally vanished. She hadn't broken the code on purpose. And like Poppyshine had promised... few, if any, of her Clanmates would blame her for it if it was ever necessary that it should come to light. Perchstar vowed to herself then that she would tell Sprucebark. Maybe not now, and maybe not in the near future, but at some point. He deserved to hear it after placing such faith in her.

But for now, there was the spar looming. All that Perchstar had time to say was a heartfelt "Thank you." Then moments later, Sprucebark squared up and leapt for her with claws sheathed. She took the blow, allowing him to bowl her over, and rolling with the movement. As she fell, she slipped forward on the soft grass beneath him, ending up behind his form which was still finishing its leap. From behind, she grabbed his tail in his teeth--not hard enough to hurt or break the skin, but with just enough force to really pull--and yanked him onto the ground.

Perchstar used Tail Yank, dealing 12 (10+2) damage and costing 15 stamina.

Perchstar:
67/80 HP
155/170 SP

Sprucebark:
58/70 HP
150/160 SP

Sprucebark flinched a bit and tugged his tail away, that was a good reminder already, in a real battle he should be keeping closer attention to that kind of thing.

Shaking off the stun he continued to try and put some amount of pressure against her knowing he would have to go for dynamic play if he wanted to stand a chance to her much more expereince.

He pawed back at her pushing as hard as he could to try and create more distance so she couldnt get back at him

Sprucebark uses random recall to recover from tail yank and uses front paw strike for the standard move attatched to random recall -10 dmg and -7 sp and -5 sp for random recall

Perchstar:
57/80 HP (-10)
155/170 SP

Sprucebark:
58/70 HP
138/160 SP (-7) (-5)

Thankfully, such a cheap and standard trick wouldn't work for long on Sprucebark. Brookstone had trained him well. So Perchstar adapted, taking the quick blow from him and firing back with one of her own. Careful not to use her claws, she lashed out to knock him on the shoulder, hopefully to send him sprawling.

Perchstar used Front Paw Strike, dealing 12 (10+2) damage and costing 7 stamina.

Perchstar:
57/80 HP
155/170 SP

Sprucebark:
46/70 HP
138/160 SP

Sprucebark was sent back from her successful attack.  Landing a bit back he circled a bit trying to recollect himself.  It seemed with her strikes she was trying to keep a the fight at distance so that she could use her longer legs to strike him while he was out of range.

He gave a sly smile, there was a reason she was the most experienced in the clan.

He would have to do just the opposite then or at least attempt to and keep the fight closed and try and not let her have the distance advantage be used.

Running at her and jumping at her back and gripping hold of her scruff wanting to control and slow down the fight or else he wouldnt have a chance.

He was careful not to hurt her while keeping the realisim of the spar as real as possible.

Sprucebark uses Scruff Shake -10dmg -20 sp

Rolling for length of stun...


2 Turns!


He shook as hard as he dared without actually wanting to hurt her hoping to gain some sort of advantage or change in momentum in the fight.



Perchstar: (Stunned 2 turns)
47/80 HP (-10)
155/170 SP

Sprucebark:
46/70 HP
118/160 SP (-20)

The member 'speedy' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6

Perchstar braced herself, noting the way that Sprucebark's eyes were darting around, looking for his angle of attack. He knew that he was outclassed in sheer skill simply by virtue of her having lived longer than he. So his next move was a smart one, trying to get at her from behind and stun her with a quick shake. Unfortunately for him, she was ready. As he went for her, she rolled away deftly, avoiding the sharp teeth aiming for her scruff. A sheathed paw aimed at his legs to strike them away. She barely missed since her dodge had been too fast. Instead, she got up on her paws again, offering him a quick nod in acknowledgement of his good strategy.

Perchstar used Dodge-and-Fight. Move dodged, counterattack failed. -7 SP

Perchstar:
57/80 HP
148/170 SP

Sprucebark:
46/70 HP
118/160 SP

The member 'Ash' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Effect Dice' : 3

(had meant to get back here for so long. Luckily got it before the 1 month time out for informal spars.)
Sprucebark tilted his head slightly, it was rare for Perchstar to miss a counter like that so he would use this opening now created because of this.

Darting in he pawed at her pushing her back while still being careful not to claw her.

spruce uses desperate blows and front paw strike total 16 dmg and 14 sp


Perchstar:
41/80 HP (-16)
148/170 SP

Sprucebark:
46/70 HP
104/160 SP (-14)

Well, Sprucebark was certainly very persistent. He'd be a very formidable opponent to face; Perchstar was glad his claws were sheathed. But she had some tricks behind her own tail, as well. The leader took the heavy blows, which allowed her to get in close to the senior warrior--then she darted forward, sweeping his front legs with a swipe of her own paw, sending him toppling stunned to the ground.

Perchstar used Experienced Steps, dealing 10 (8+2) damage and costing 10 stamina. Sprucebark is stunned for 1 turn.

Perchstar:
41/80 HP
138/170 SP

Sprucebark: (stunned 0/1)
36/70 HP
104/160 SP

One second he was upright and the next he was splat on the ground. Sprucebark let out a dazed sigh as he blinked trying to get his barings or at least some paws up to block at perchstars hits...

No wonder you are leader he thought in his dazed state.


Sprucebark cannot do anything this turn

Perchstar:
41/80 HP
138/170 SP

Sprucebark: (stunned)
36/70 HP
104/160 SP