The future's in your paws. Shape it well.Roleplay in a cat Clan of warriors. Based off the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Takes place in an AU before the cats in the books existed.
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(OOC: so my loose idea was that Eaglefly has to get used to having an apprentice again. I thought it would be cool if like at first he is distant from Sunpaw since he still hurts a lot. And then like over time maybe as he teaches sunpaw, she can teach him too in some way ... idk lols but yeah let me know what you think or also too if you have ideas for what we can do that would be awesome as well
:) cant wait to rp with you I enjoy our topics lots)
To say that Eaglefly was less than amused by this recent event of having an apprentice would be an understatment. The warrior lay awake in his nest lots of thoughts wizzing in his mind of tomorrow's training he would have with Sunpaw.
Sunpaw was his niece and he held nothing against her at all - in fact of any of the apprentices to get he was glad it was her.
The reason for his emotions were more so around what happened in his past. His last apprentice Cloudy had been the best. He had bonded so well to her and they had been an amazing pairing. When she died he felt gutted by it and hollowed. He didn't know how to handle a new apprentice after that. He had asked Rapidfire not to do this to him and yet here he was. He huffed a bit at the deputy's decision though he knew the clan was in desperate need of warriors to take on all the new surgency of kits.
How can I have what cloudy and I had with sunpaw? He wondered silently to himself. He was so fearful he would mess things up on their first day and that he wouldnt ever to have a good bond with his new appretnice. He worried he already somehow had messed things up - he hadnt been the most excited at the ceremony something he regrated but had no remedy for now.
He slumped lower into his nest. If not for the knowledge of such he could have sworn the walls of the warrior den were closing in on him as he stared blankly upwards at the ceiling.
He shook the moss from his pelt and went out to the clearing of the camp sitting alone under the silverpelt of the night sky.
He glanced upwards to the sky. "Cloudypetal?" he whispered
If you can hear me... I miss ya... please if you have any power in this dont let me mess this up
He looked back down to his paws and squeezed his eyes shut ignoring the wet droplets that soon hit against his paws moments later.
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He must have fallen asleep out in the clearing of camp for the next thing he knew it was breaking dawn and he blinked in the early morning light his fur sticking out a bit from his odd sleeping position. He yawned still so tired but managed to push himself up to his paws.
He went over to the apprentice den and glanced around sleep still heavy in his eyes. "Cloudypaw? you ready to go?" he meowed out still so tired and lost in the past. He blinked slowly his heart aching at the realization.
"erm... sunpaw" he corrected himself wincing almost and hoped she had not heard that at all.
"Come on, there is much to show you" he meowed with a flick of his tail. He shook himself awake a bit more - he would make himself be on a higher level of alertness when out with his apprentice, he would not lose another one.
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Swiftheart of Shadowclan Rapidfire of Windclan Sprucebark of Riverclan Stormwatcher of Skyclan Eaglefly of Windclan Lavendercloud of Windclan Rainkit of Windclan
(OOC: Ahh I'm so down!! I love that idea - I think Sunpaw would look up to Eaglefly a lot, so that'd be an interesting dynamic! Maybe at some point he has to save her from a predator or something, and then he realizes he does care about her, deep down - or something like that! I really enjoy our topics too <3 I'm excited for another Speedy mentor!)
It was barely dawn when Sunpaw had awoken, but she wasn't ready to get up just yet. It wasn't that she was dreading her training - far from it. Deep down, she was just... worried. For all her talk, she didn't even know the hunting crouch yet. What if she was actually really bad at being a warrior? What if she was useless? All the hours of training in the world couldn't fix a lack of talent, and she didn't want to let Eaglefly - or her Clan - down. The plan had always been to be the best. Best apprentice, best warrior, best deputy; and eventually, the best leader that WindClan had ever had. That the forest had ever seen. If she ended up being nothing but a huge letdown... she wasn't sure how she could live with herself.
It was rare, the anxiety that stirred in the pit of her stomach, and she definitely didn't like it. So she delayed the start to her day; she tucked her nose down into the moss that made up her nest and covered her eyes with a paw, hoping to stave off the dawn's light just a little longer. Maybe Eaglefly was the type of cat to get a late start to the day - maybe she could go back to sleep for a bit.
But it was a tired meow that broke the silence in the den. "Cloudypaw?" For a moment, she thought it was her sister Cloudpaw's mentor, but no - the voice corrected itself. It was Eaglefly. She pretended not to hear the mistake, even if she was silently offended; perhaps he was still half asleep, after all. Sunpaw sighed, then stood. She gave herself a few licks to smooth her fur down before meeting the tom at the den's entrance. She might as well look her best before she proved herself to be a terrible failure. The molly blinked hard to clear the sleep from her eyes, then looked up to meet her mentor's gaze with a smile. One that she hoped didn't betray her fears. "Morning, Eaglefly! What are we learning today? Battle moves? Hunting?" She hoped it'd be something good! If he said something like exploring the territory, she'd have to disown him as her uncle.
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Oatfluff - T5 WindClan Warrior - #7f513e
Nightowl - T1 ShadowClan Med. Cat - #669966
Smokeytimber - T3 ShadowClan Warrior. -#626b7d
Foxpaw - WindClan App. -#f4ab6a
Sunbear - T1 WindClan Warrior -#cea716
Tortoise - T1 Loner - #6e6e33
speedy
Number of posts : 3185 Gender : Unspecified
Subject: Re: Send me an Angel Mon 17 Jun 2024 - 21:34
To Eaglefly it was unclear if Sunpaw had even heard his mistake of names. In either case she didn't bring it up which he was very grateful for. He did want to give a good first impression on their first outing at least. And explaining his deep pain over his lost former apprentice would be not a great start to things.
In a way, they were both as nervous for this for similar-ish reasons though he had no idea that she was just as nervous about all this as he was. He gave a small nod letting her wake up fully before explaining what the day would bring about.
"Morning Sunpaw" he meowed in greeting in return to her pleasantly enough.
"Not a morning cat?" he meowed in a quiet question and gave a little smile back as he just tried to make some amount of small talk.
He thought silently to himself, How did I do this with cloudy... desperately thinking back to their first day together... what had made them click right away? He wanted that again but was also at the same time scared to have it because now he knew how it hurt when it all washed away. He was sure the elders would have told him to just 'be himself' again but more recently with the death of cloudy and his mom leaving on some trip he was the least sure he'd ever been of who that was.
He gave a small flick of his ears sympathizing with her "I'm not usually a morning one either... but I thought if we could train before the super high heat of the day might be a lot better" he explained conciously trying to not shift on his paws nervously... was he overexplaining already? This had come so much more naturally when he was not so worried about overthinking it or constantly worried that somehow he would mess things up with each word.
come on... just keep it simple he meowed silently to himself "uhm.. come on I'll show y'a the best hunting spots. I'll show you all about the ways to hunt and if we are lucky maybe we can be bringing back a rabbit soon.
Usually, he may have been more aware of his clanmates (especially his own apprentice's) feelings and emotions, so usually he may have picked up on her uncertainty and fear of first day - but today he was feeling just as nervous so it was much harder to pick up on her emotions in that sense.
He flicked his tail for her to follow and lead the way out of camp and into the lands beyond the clan. He slowed his pace looking over his shoulder to be sure she was keeping up and as he slowed he realized this was likely her first time seeing the grander world beyond the camp life.
He remembered his first days out of camp with his mentor and he appreciated what Flutter had done by showing the cool spots of their lands.
"I'll show you the flower fields, they are my favorite" he explained trotting along next to her.
As they approached the vast fields stretching before them the beauty of the flowers in blossom and the swaying grassy hills of moorlands were all around them. "It's dryer than it usually is" he meowed almost to himself as he glanced at the browner grass than usual and the beginning of cracked earth in patches of the ground drying and breaking apart into dry dust.
"right... so for hunting the important idea is to remember that rabbits are very nimble and zig zagging, so that is where their advantage is. Our advantage is the element of surprise, so keep the wind direction in mind when you approach and keep yourself low to the ground. You can use grass patches for cover too" he explained as he stretched his body low to the ground in a demonstration. He grinned a little and darted over into a covering of taller grass nearby and hid himself in it. After a few moments he peaked his ears out of the top of it flicking them and peeked out of it back at her. Perhaps he didn't forget everything about who he was in some sense.
"and then to find them... try parting your jaws and breath in through your nose and uhm lick at the air... at least that is what helps me" he meowed his ears tilted back a little in flustered and slight embarassment at his unusal technique...
"erm... not everyone does it quite like I do but I found it to help... you will find over time things that work bestest for you. And when you do find those things do not be afraid to use what works for you" he meowed somewhat more confidently. Buried beneath all the uncertainty, hurt and loss that he had he was a wise and caring mentor.
"alright... your turn sunpaw. Let me see what my niece can do... I know that was a lot so if you want to just try and track a rabbit's scent for now that is a good starting place. If you do find it, try and stay downwind of it and you can even try giving chase if you feel you are close enough... but one paw at a time for now."
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Swiftheart of Shadowclan Rapidfire of Windclan Sprucebark of Riverclan Stormwatcher of Skyclan Eaglefly of Windclan Lavendercloud of Windclan Rainkit of Windclan
"Not... much of one. I just don't like being up at dawn." She answered easily, shrugging a bit. She smiled back, though. He seemed worried for some reason, even if she couldn't place a paw on why, so she wanted to try and ease his fears. She was here to learn. She'd be a good apprentice - well, an attentive one, if nothing else. Sunpaw nodded in agreement. "I'm not the biggest fan of greenleaf. Newleaf was great! But it's so hot lately, I don't even wanna leave my nest." She stuck her tongue out playfully. So he was a considerate mentor - that was good, as long as he didn't end up being a pushover. But he seemed sweet, if a bit awkward - and maybe a bit of a goof, deep down.
Sunpaw didn't think he was overexplaining. He just seemed really thoughtful - and she enjoyed the chit chat. It was definitely helping her wake up; she'd managed to get so little sleep that her eyes were still bleary and her joints were still stiff with sleep. How do we break the ice? She was sure it'd come naturally, as they got moving. Well - she hoped, anyway.
For all her introspection, she couldn't help but perk up at the mention of hunting. So they were doing something interesting! She could help feed her Clan today, if everything went well! "I hope I can bring back a rabbit! Think of how impressed the Clan would be if I brought back actual prey on my first day of training!" She took a deep breath as they padded along, doing her best to tuck her anxieties down. She wasn't usually so nervous... but for all her talk, she knew she'd have to prove herself. Sunpaw walked along a bit slower than Eaglefly, green eyes wide with wonder at the way the moor seemed to stretch on and on before them. Did it cover the whole world? It couldn't - what about the other Clans? Was everyone's territory so big?
Eventually, they made it to the fields. She tried not to stop and stare, but the flower fields were so pretty - and the warriors could come here whenever they wanted?! StarClan, why didn't they just make their camp here? She could see why her mom loved them so much. "This is Nectarflower's favorite too... I can see why." Sunpaw glanced around, her eyes wide, but when Eaglefly started talking about rabbits again, she snapped her attention back to him. It was best to hang on to his every word. If she knew everything about hunting, then she couldn't be bad at it - right?
As he explained the advantages rabbits had, she found herself taking mental notes. Make note of the wind direction. Right. Intensity burned in her eyes as she took everything in. Right now, which way was the wind blowing? Sunpaw closed her eyes for a moment and thought. It was blowing... away from her. Towards Eaglefly. If he were a rabbit, he'd have startled by now. She nodded enthusiastically, then paused - where was he going? A grin spread across her face as he ducked behind a particularly verdant patch of grass. She purred, amused. "Oh no! Where'd you go?" Sunpaw joked, making a big show of looking around for him. Then he popped up, his little triangle ears becoming visible above the grassy patch and a grin spreading across his own face.The young she-cat snickered, trying not to burst into laughter as he came back. "I'll have to keep that in mind!" Even though she usually took herself pretty seriously, it was hard to be all silent and mysterious all the time. She just didn't like most of her Clanmates, for as much as she loved WindClan itself. But Eaglefly was funny - and it was rare for anyone outside of Moonpaw or Cloudpaw to get that reaction out of her.
"Alright, coach..." Sunpaw turned, parting her jaws a bit like he'd said. As she tasted the air, she tried to pinpoint anything that might even slightly resemble a rabbit scent. She imagined it'd smell like the fresh-kill pile... she just had to think of the smell of food. Easy enough. She walked a few more steps, hoping the wind would carry any prey scent her way. Suddenly, she perked up and turned back to Eaglefly. "I smell something!" She whisper-yelled. But her focus wouldn't be swayed. Sunpaw searched the landscape in the direction of the smell, her eyes peeled for any speck of grey or brown among the grasses. There! Sunpaw crept toward the little rabbit. She was pretty sure she was downwind, and her size meant that her pawsteps were pretty quiet - and she could hide pretty easily. She should have this one pretty easily. Her heart began to beat faster as she neared the rabbit - was she about to make her first kill? Eaglefly would be so proud!
Then the creature froze. Its little ears twitched, and it turned its head and looked up - right at her! "Fox-dung!" As it sprinted away, she got ready to give chase... and froze as it ducked down into a nearby burrow. "Dang it." There was that anxiety again. It gnawed away in the pit of her stomach as she turned back to Eaglefly. Maybe she did totally suck.
Sunpaw attempted to catch a rabbit - and failed! (-2 EP)
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Oatfluff - T5 WindClan Warrior - #7f513e
Nightowl - T1 ShadowClan Med. Cat - #669966
Smokeytimber - T3 ShadowClan Warrior. -#626b7d
Foxpaw - WindClan App. -#f4ab6a
Sunbear - T1 WindClan Warrior -#cea716
Tortoise - T1 Loner - #6e6e33
Last edited by chicago on Sat 22 Jun 2024 - 21:29; edited 1 time in total
Mistpelt
Characters : Mistpelt Clan/Rank : RiverClanWarrior Number of posts : 15510 Age : 30
Subject: Re: Send me an Angel Sat 22 Jun 2024 - 21:26
The member 'chicago' has done the following action : Dice roll
'Hunting Dice' : 9
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♪~Founder/Owner of WCC~♫ ~Forever a RiverClan Warrior~ ~Please pm Administrators with queries as I'm not active~
speedy
Number of posts : 3185 Gender : Unspecified
Subject: Re: Send me an Angel Sun 30 Jun 2024 - 19:37
Eaglefly gave a little nod at it being Sunpaw's mom's favorite as well. It was a beautiful spot and it was always a peace of mind of his coming here. It reminded him of his own mentor Flutterpetal, a cat he missed dearly.
He shook his head refocusing and as he began the lesson and pulled his goofy little stunt of hiding in the grass and he got to see her laughing a bit he felt a lot of relief off his back. He was a prankster and a joker at times, and deep down he would do just about anything to make others either laugh or groan at his bad jokes. Perhaps where a lot of his worry came from on his new apprnetices first journey out was just being liked. The sting of losing his last apprentice hadnt really ever cleared and he had at first resented slightly Rapidfire for giving him another one, but perhaps this would not be all terrible.
She was sniffing at the air now and he watched she was tasting at the air too and he smiled a little to himself wrapping his tail around his front paws. Even if he could teach today that doing things slightly differently in your own way and to not worry about others judging you over it, he would consider that a win.
He closed his eyes and sniffed and tasted at the air too his little tongue stuck out in its derpy but somehow cute as well style that he always had while hunting as he tried to find the rabbit she had reported, eventually he found it too and nodded.
She was tracking it down now and he stayed well clear not wanting to get in her way he nodded again at her whisper yell and spotted it as well. It would be up to her from here on out as he stopped in his tracks motion less.
He watched from a distance her approach looked good, everything was lining up for her nicely- she would get this!
He winced slightly as for no fault of her own the rabbit spotted her and it took off into the safety of its underground. There would be no recovering that.
He knew first paw what it felt like to miss a catch, yet alone in front of your mentor. He had felt it in front of Flutterpetal, but somehow his mentor had always been able to make him feel alright afterwards something he hoped he would be able to inherit. If he could install half the confidence into his apprnetice his mentor had given to him after a missed catch he would take that.
He went over to Sunpaw's side and gave a nod, "That happens sometimes, you didn't do anything wrong in your approach. You had things right, you had the right wind direction and kept low. Some of these things are out of our paws. Perhaps todays lesson is not about just catching rabbits but realizing that after a miss the world does not end, there will be lots more chances do not worry"
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Swiftheart of Shadowclan Rapidfire of Windclan Sprucebark of Riverclan Stormwatcher of Skyclan Eaglefly of Windclan Lavendercloud of Windclan Rainkit of Windclan
The longer she watched the spot where that rabbit had disappeared, the more she was disappointed in herself. It should've been an easy catch. She could've fed a Clanmate, and instead she'd chased one more rabbit into the burrows below. It'd been a turn of bad luck, of the wind changing suddenly, but she'd never been easy on herself. She'd never be a warrior if she couldn't catch one stupid rabbit.
But as she turned back to her mentor, she didn't find any disappointment or anger in his gaze to reflect her own. No, he was just right back to encouraging her. Sunpaw felt a burst of resentment, but she released it with a sigh. She couldn't be mad at him for her mistake. As tempting as it was. A brief thought crossed her mind; if he'd been any other cat, someone who wasn't kin, would she have snapped at him? Probably.
There were two parts of herself fighting to be heard right then. There was her superiority complex - the part of her that said she was better than any other cat, that she'd be the best apprentice that ever lived, the best warrior. That one little mistake didn't mean she was good for nothing. She was not made of weak stock like Weevilpaw or Foxpaw. But the other part of her, the part desperate to prove that fact, was crushingly disappointed. She was better than this. Wasn't she? Self-doubt flooded her, and her jaw tightened in her anger.
"Mistakes don't feed the Clan, Eaglefly," Sunpaw replied despondently, but she was still grateful for his attempts at cheering her up. She tapped her tail against his flank as though to say thank you."I'm just... I'm better than that. It's unreasonable, but I'm better than that. How can one do everything right and still miss?" She dug her claws into the soft earth. She'd try again. She had to.
"I'll be right back." The small apprentice muttered, then took off before he could say a word. She was going to come back with a rabbit. She would. And if she didn't, well, she might have to stay up all day and night until she did. This time, she saw the rabbit before she scented it. It was facing away, none the wiser.This time, the wind didn't shift, the rabbit didn't spook, and she pounced and sank her teeth into its neck before it even knew what was happening. She stalked back over to Eaglefly with the juicy kill between her jaws. A mixture of irritation and satisfaction pulled at her. "See?" Sunpaw grinned up at her mentor, happy now that she had a kill to her name.
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Oatfluff - T5 WindClan Warrior - #7f513e
Nightowl - T1 ShadowClan Med. Cat - #669966
Smokeytimber - T3 ShadowClan Warrior. -#626b7d
Foxpaw - WindClan App. -#f4ab6a
Sunbear - T1 WindClan Warrior -#cea716
Tortoise - T1 Loner - #6e6e33
Last edited by chicago on Wed 3 Jul 2024 - 15:48; edited 1 time in total
Mistpelt
Characters : Mistpelt Clan/Rank : RiverClanWarrior Number of posts : 15510 Age : 30
Subject: Re: Send me an Angel Wed 3 Jul 2024 - 15:43
The member 'chicago' has done the following action : Dice roll
'Hunting Dice' : 1
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♪~Founder/Owner of WCC~♫ ~Forever a RiverClan Warrior~ ~Please pm Administrators with queries as I'm not active~
speedy
Number of posts : 3185 Gender : Unspecified
Subject: Re: Send me an Angel Thu 4 Jul 2024 - 9:31
As the moments of silence passed of his apprentice staring down at the burrow the rabbit had escaped to, the more he was unsure of what he had said was such a good idea. It slowly hit him that clearly she was driven to do well putting on herself a mountain of self given responsibility.
He blinked at her words, he supposed she was right, mistakes did not feed the clan. He had just not wanted her to be too hard on herself, perhaps he was too nonchalant about it. Had he messed everything up? He wondered to himself, he had wanted so much to have a close relation with sunpaw as his new apprentice the same way he had with cloudy.
He forced himself to relax his pelt laying flat again on him and he tilted his head slightly as if curious as to when she explained she was better than misses.
"I know you are, I'm sure you will catch one in no time at al--" he blinked seeing as how she had already darted off without him to try again. Wow, she was fast he grinned a little to himself that he was having to keep up with her now. He saw her off in the distance stalking another opportunity and he settled down keeping out of sight to not disrupt her or the rabbit.
When she came back a short while later he nodded approvingly at her catch. "wooo whooo! That's my apprentice" he chirped wildly dancing a bit on his paws.
"hey that's a big one too! Maybe you can give it to your mom" he suggested as he walked along side her.
"oh and that reminds me - tomorrow we got sparring training alright?" he meowed.
He would not go easy on her tomorrow, the skills she would learn there could one day save her life or a life of their clanmates.
But for now, he was just happy to see her grinning once more.
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Swiftheart of Shadowclan Rapidfire of Windclan Sprucebark of Riverclan Stormwatcher of Skyclan Eaglefly of Windclan Lavendercloud of Windclan Rainkit of Windclan