pafp CHILD'S PLAY ✧ first lesson

[GRANITEPELT]

In no uncertain terms is he sure Applepaw is worth his time, but the young warrior intends to find out. Having the deputy’s daughter in his grasp is a plum worth holding onto, no matter her potential. Still, the dubious expression on her face and the echoes of her insult bring tension to the lines of his body. Granitepelt ushers her from her nest and into the cool, fragrant marshes with a stony expression. “You’ve played enough kit games to satisfy a nursery for moons,” he says with a sneer. “Let’s see if any of it has paid off.”

He halts her with a slithering gray tail, his eyes pointing toward a clump of reeds gathered about a pool of slime-brushed water. Granitepelt’s eyes are unblinking as he breathes, “There is prey here. Do you scent it? Hear it?” It’s a particularly quiet little skink, barely rustling the grass with its quick movements. “I want you to catch it.” He looks at her, shadowed green gaze flinty.

✧ INFO.

• please wait for @APPLEPAW
• 
  — granitekit . granitepaw . granitepelt
  — he/him ; warrior of shadowclan
  — heterosexual ; taken by Starlingheart
  — short-haired gray tom with white and green eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Meg

​

 

[APPLEJAW]

Applepaw's shoulders are stiff the moment she enters Granitepelt's line of sight. She has no words for him, not right now, when he sneers at her simply because he could. Though – her mind supplies – he had caught her in the midst of something she shouldn't be doing. Nevermind that she had been a kit less than a moon ago, she'd had moons and moons to play games, and now, she ought to dedicate her time to something useful. Could she be blamed, for not wanting to spend time with this brute of a cat?

Yes, she could. She is guilty, recalling the advice she herself had given her brother. Listen to your mentor. she could listen without trusting. She tries not to act bothered ( but she is ). Suddenly, she very much regrets her lack of nursery hunting or fighting games in favor of fake - politics and watching her sister play with mud.

She stops when he tells her to, and attempts to follow his gaze with her own. There is prey here. Applepaw could not tell. She goes still, t he light frown on her face never listing. A pale ear flickers as she strains to find what her mentor clearly did. The scent of the bog is heavy. Could the shifting of the grass be whatever was there, or simply the wind? " I... think I hear it " she quietly says, and she is terrified to be wrong. I want you to catch it. And she tries not to flatten her ears as he looks at her.

" ...Right now? " Was that a question she'd be scolded for? Should they not review her crouch? Which scents were important, and which weren't? ...Her first caught ought to be flawless, she thinks.

ooc ༊ 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂

•  

• 

• ( I'M OBSESSED WITH THE MESS THAT'S AMERICA. ) APPLEPAW. kit of shadowclan. eldest sister to swankit, valeriankit, and garlickit.
  —— she / her; confused by the use of others
  —— currently 5 moons old as of 9.3.23. ages every 17th.
  
  longhaired blue torbie with a white chest, paws, and underbelly. A young cat you would describe as " bossy, " Applekit is quick to take charge of any situation she sees herself as the probable head of. A rule - follower to a T, and thinks herself better than the majority of her clan for this. Not ignorant enough to think herself above a warrior, but seeks to gain that status as quickly as possible. Intensely self - motivated to be the best in a mixture of blind, childish desire, and never wanting to be afraid of anything ever again.

​

 

[GRANITEPELT]

Lizards are hard to scent, even for experienced hunters, and Granitepelt’s directive is unfair. Applepaw does not claim to scent it, which pleases him—it would have been a lie he could have instantly called her on. The grass trembling, though—she hears it, and he gives her a singular nod. “Right now?” She questions him, but he can see she’s anxious to fail. She should be. He’s not taught her any hunting techniques yet… this is the beginning. He smiles, and it’s toying. “Yes. Show me how you would catch it. We will discuss after your attempt.”

It's very Pitchstar-esque of him to instruct her this way, and if he were to consider this, it would rub his fur the wrong way. Pitchstar had liked to let his apprentices learn from their failures. Granitepelt had been ridiculed plenty, nevermind he’d deserved a good deal of it… and Applepaw thinks so highly of herself that the gray warrior intends to knock her down several pegs.

✧ INFO.

•  
• 
  — granitekit . granitepaw . granitepelt
  — he/him ; warrior of shadowclan
  — heterosexual ; taken by Starlingheart
  — short-haired gray tom with white and green eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Meg

​

 

[HONEYJAW]

He misses Applekit, and that is not a simple, easy thing to say. She was an apprentice now, and it felt much like losing Dragonflykit all over again. Not as close as his own family, of course, but he remembers it anyway. The younger cat reminds him of how his own kit had been. How she'd grown up all too fast and started leaving camp, and him, far behind. At least her mentor was one that he trusted. Granitepelt– well, he's probably not a bad warrior, but he's...annoying. In a way, at least. A little too harsh on the littler ones, that's all; Honeyjaw's always been a softie. He's not fit for mentorship the way that these others are. Couldn't dream of making anyone's lessons flat and boring and strict. The best way to learn is through an adventure.

This isn't that.

No he hadn't meant to stumble across their little lesson. He was off hunting on his own, though thankfully not the apprentice's same skink. He approaches behind them in a casual hunter's stalk, quiet paws on marshy ground. For a moment he considers lightening the tone of this training. Making a joke of it, or laughing with Granite about how hard he's being on a cat who doesn't deserve it. Instead, he leans his weight back and watches with wary eyes, without disruption or funny quip. Whatever this is, it's their business. He's just here to learn in his own way.

﹥ˏˋ  OOC NOTES ╱ REFERENCE ╱ 07.02.2023  𝘙𝘌𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘋𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘔𝘌 𝘏𝘖𝘞 𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘛𝘓𝘌 𝘐 𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌 ˊˎ＜

• ooc: —

• 

• honeyjaw ╱╱ 36 moons old ╱╱ he - him - his ╱╱ warrior of shadowclan.
  ──── a former loner who joined the clan approximately six months ago (give or take).
  ──── named for the deep honey-brown of his pelt as well as his too natural charisma.
  ──── has an apprentice-aged kid he joined with, def scared of watching 'em grow up.
  ──── bisexual- kinda flirtatious yet never seems to really pursue a relationship. single.
  
  a short-furred dark chocolate point tom with the smallest splashes of white on his forehead, front paws, and tail tip. well-built, but overall average in size and unremarkable aside from his lightly curled ears and the magnetism of his smile. seems to show signs of aging earlier than expected, with a salt-and-pepper dusting around his jaw and muzzle.

• "speech"

​

 

[APPLEJAW]

She thinks that’s horrible. This is horrible – to teach only after she has already failed. Is this what she gets, for not playing more productive games, when she was in the nursery? Her siblings who had claimed she was good at lots of things, were they here to see her fail? The look she gives her mentor is a little less than horror - filled.

She has to do it.

Applepaw knows that to hunt, you needed to be quiet. So her tail should not be dragging through pine and leaves – she should lift it, and she should prick her ears. Her earlier assessment had not been corrected – and so she assumes that she had been right, that the grass that rustles within her ears is indeed where something was hiding. What exactly? How quickly would it move? Were she to misstep, would she have no chance of finding it again?

She crouches. Every kit knew of the hunting crouch, but not so much, what exactly it is. When she steps, it is too loud, and she isn’t sure if she’s imagining the way the grass has stilled or not. She could barely even hear it, to begin with.

Clumsily, she leaps, and she finds that there is nothing beneath her paws. Blankly, she stares, and if she strains hard enough, she thinks she can hear the rustle of grass, going farther and farther away from her.

It isn’t the great failure she had imagined, but somehow, jumping just to be met with nothing at all is much worse. Applepaw says nothing, her back to both her mentor, and the onlooker she knew nothing of.

ooc ༊ 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂

•  

• 

• ( I'M OBSESSED WITH THE MESS THAT'S AMERICA. ) APPLEPAW. kit of shadowclan. eldest sister to swankit, valeriankit, and garlickit.
  —— she / her; confused by the use of others
  —— currently 5 moons old as of 9.3.23. ages every 17th.
  
  longhaired blue torbie with a white chest, paws, and underbelly. A young cat you would describe as " bossy, " Applekit is quick to take charge of any situation she sees herself as the probable head of. A rule - follower to a T, and thinks herself better than the majority of her clan for this. Not ignorant enough to think herself above a warrior, but seeks to gain that status as quickly as possible. Intensely self - motivated to be the best in a mixture of blind, childish desire, and never wanting to be afraid of anything ever again.

​

 

[GRANITEPELT]

Granitepelt hears the soft, blurry pawsteps of Honeyjaw behind them, though he does not look in his direction. Let him watch and judge, the gray warrior thinks to himself. Applepaw is his apprentice, and any cat who would dare to interfere in their training would meet the rough side of his tongue or worse. Smugly, he thinks of the grave in ShadowClan, filling with cats who had wronged him by the day. Honeyjaw, Frostbite, Halfshade—any of them could be next, if they were too flagrant with their misdeeds.

“You failed,” he observes. He rises to his paws and approaches Applepaw so that he is standing over where she still crouches. “You failed, and now I will tell you why, and how.” He uses a forepaw to press onto her shoulders, attempting to lower her back into some semblance of her hunter’s crouch. “Your weight was not balanced, so your steps were loud. Lizards are the quickest prey we hunt. The moment it detected you, it fled.” His green eyes gleam. “Show me the correct hunter’s crouch now.”

He still hasn’t shown her exactly what that was, but he’s hoping she now has a better idea.

✧ INFO.

•  
• 
  — granitekit . granitepaw . granitepelt
  — he/him ; warrior of shadowclan
  — heterosexual ; taken by Starlingheart
  — short-haired gray tom with white and green eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Meg

​

 

[lilacfur]

If it weren't for Granitepelt's grating personality and sour presence in nearly every and any situation, Lilacfur may have thought him as a worthy representation of her brother's work. It was undeniable that Granitepelt worked hard for the Clan as a warrior, that he put effort into making sure he completed his responsibilities spotlessly. Unfortunately, it couldn't outweigh his faults to the rosetted tabby. She heard him distantly instruct his apprentice somewhere in the marshes and she paused to listen. A hunting escapade by the sound of it.

Lilacfur came closer, not to far from where Honeyjaw rest, but the same distance away from the mentoring pair. Applepaw failed to catch her scaly target and her ears twitched at the sound of it skittering away. Hopefully it wouldn't remain uncaught for long and it would scurry right into another patrol.

Granitepelt is quick to get right into what she hadn't done correctly, and Lilacfur tilted her head curiously. "You sound like my brother." Is her only comment, though from her tone its far from an insult. A curious observation at most, but she would expect Granitepelt to take it in the worst way anyhow. ​

[ sad hello's and mad high low's ]​

 

[APPLEJAW]

“ You failed. ”

Applepaw is still, no acknowledgement given aside from the single flick of a blue ear. Pointing out the obvious is all that he’s doing. To be annoying. That’s all that he’s doing. Her paws feel clumsy, even though she knows that they are not. She could do anything with these paws that she wanted to, if only she knew how. He just wanted to laugh at her first. It probably made him feel better. At least – At least once this was over, she could try her best to make it so no one ever had that same satisfaction over her again.

Granitepelt would likely keep on as an exception though. Was this how apprenticeship would be the entire time? She need only get good – and… quickly. “ You failed, and now I will tell you why, and how. ” He repeats it just to be annoying. Just to be annoying. Applepaw stares at the muddy ground.

She bites down her discomfort as Granitepelt jostles her into a more proper crouch. “ Your weight was not balanced ” Applepaw doesn’t really understand what that means. Was that bad? “ The moment it detected you, it fled. ” Her shoulders sag just slightly. There’s the barest hint of a nod. “ Show me the correct hunter’s crouch now. “ What was that, even?

Applepaw does much the same as she had initially done, though she positions her paws differently – or at least she thinks she does. Maybe… the balancing of weight was about even space between your paws. She is tense, as she tries to fix the mistake she made. Her head turns to find green eyes in a questioning glance – and it’s then, that she is aware of both Honeyjaw and Lilacfur. Mortification strikes her quickly. She tries not to shrink under the gaze. Applepaw wishes that she could see their thoughts. Were they judging her, right now?

" You sound like my brother, " Lilacfur remarks. Applepaw thinks that is a very bad thing.

ooc ༊ 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂

•  

• 

• ( I'M OBSESSED WITH THE MESS THAT'S AMERICA. ) APPLEPAW. kit of shadowclan. eldest sister to swankit, valeriankit, and garlickit.
  —— she / her; confused by the use of others
  —— currently 6 moons old as of 9.27.23. ages every 17th.
  
  longhaired blue torbie with a white chest, paws, and underbelly. A young cat you would describe as " bossy, " Applekit is quick to take charge of any situation she sees herself as the probable head of. A rule - follower to a T, and thinks herself better than the majority of her clan for this. Not ignorant enough to think herself above a warrior, but seeks to gain that status as quickly as possible. Intensely self - motivated to be the best in a mixture of blind, childish desire, and never wanting to be afraid of anything ever again.

​