cue training montage #1 [open - climbing practice]

[Johnnyflame]

MY WORLDS ON FIRE, HOW 'BOUT YOURS?
THAT'S THE WAY I LIKE IT AND I NEVER GET BORED."​

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”Today we’re working on the basics of climbing; mainly, the best technique for climbing up, and the best technique for getting down.” announced the tomcat as he led his apprentice over to a row of pine trees just beyond camp, where the lowest branches seemed reasonable enough for a training apprentice to not find themselves horrible injured should they mist-step. While not every cat in the clan was known to climb, the majority of them had learned to master the craft. It was a part of the clans culture to use the trees after all, be it for hunting, fighting, scouting, or whatever. Besides, whether Sangria turned out to be a fan of scaling the pines or now, it was still an important thing to learn the basics of in case you ever had to get out of a sticky situation on the ground.

”Now, the most effective way to climb is to push with your back feet, and anchor with your front.” explained Johnny as he hopped onto one of the trunks, demonstrating the position before he began scooting up the pine, using his back legs to launch himself upward while his front hooked into the bark to hold whatever ground he’d made. Once he'd made it to the lowest branch -nothing high enough to cause severe bodily harm if they fell- he gracefully pulled himself up on it to balance there.

”Getting down is the tricky bit for most. There's a few techniques you can use, but for now we’re gonna stick with the classic ‘backwards shimmy'. You just kind of shuffle your way down the tree until your close enough to turn and hop down.” A tried and true method that was good for beginners getting the hang of things. And like before, Johnnyflame demonstrated the proper technique for scooting back down the tree until he was close enough to the ground to turn and jump.

”Any questions about how it's done? If not you can hop up and give it a go yourself. That first branch there will be your finish line- just make sure you don't go past it.” he instructed, trusting her to listen- the last thing he wanted was for Sangriapaw to get overzealous and try climbing higher, which could potentially put her in a dangerous situation. Not that he'd let it get that far. If he had to climb up there, scruff her like a kit, and ground her to camp until the next gathering, he most certainly would, but he didn't really expect it would come to that. Sangria was a good student, eager to learn and to prove herself.

OOC- @SANGRIAPAW

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[SANGRIAPAW]

✧ Climbing is something that SkyClanners are supposed to do, and Sangriapaw and Coffeepaw had been taught how to do it at an early age. Or, well… they didn’t really get taught, they got told to climb and then Figfeather tried to tell them how to do it. Thinking back to that scary first-time climbing lesson, and how Coffeepaw almost fell out of the tree, makes the girl frown. If Greeneyes hadn’t saved them, what would have happened? Figfeather couldn’t climb up to get them down. At least her second try at climbing had gone way better, she thinks.

Johnnyflame’s voice brings her attention back to the present, and Sangriapaw tries to force her usual smile back onto her muzzle. She’s excited for training, she can’t be all frowny and upset! Her mentor explains that he’ll teach her to go up and back down a tree, and the torbie is grateful for that. She thinks she can go up real well, but the getting down part is the hardest. She hopes he has some secret lead warrior way to get back down, or something. His demonstration of how to climb up looks super easy, so Sangriapaw just nods along as she watches him. He looks really comfortable as he settles himself onto a branch—that’ll be her someday, too! He says getting down is the tricky part, and the torbie nods along again. He’s right about that, as far as she knows.

The technique Johnnyflame uses is the backwards shimmy, and it sounds funny so the girl stifles a giggle into a white paw. But she pays close attention to how the warrior moves, as he moves backward down the tree before hopping the rest of the way down. "You made that look so easy," she comments, but she trots over to the tree trunk anyway. She’s gonna try it next! The branch her mentor points out seems pretty easy to reach, so she nods and sets about her task. As she anchors her front paws and pushes with the back ones, the climbing up is just as easy as she expected… but the backwards shimmy isn’t as simple. "How d’you move so you can shuffle down?" She attempts to maneuver herself along the branch, but when she swings a leg down she just can’t get a grip on the tree again. Okay, this is way harder than it looked when Johnnyflame did it…

✧ gliding down the rainbow

• ooc: —
• 
  SANGRIAPAW ❯❯ she/her, daylight apprentice of skyclan
  ⭃ cinnamon torbie with white spotting and vibrant leaf-green eyes. bold, bright, and curious.
  ⭃ daughter of fantastream & figfeather ; sister to coffeepaw
  ⭃ mentored by johnnyflame
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  ⭃ penned by foxlore

​

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[MALLOWLARK]

Oh, it'd taken him a while to get to grips with climbing. He'd grown up on the moors, of course! No trees there, even before Sootstar came along and flattened it all, burnt the horrible place to a crisp. With newly-born siblings... or, he supposed, they'd be quite old now... he hoped there was some light leaking in, but- he'd smashed those windows! No going back, even if he wanted to! Oh, but he didn't... if he were to flee again, it'd probably be into death's arms, jaws...

He'd gotten there eventually though- and often he practiced his right along the lower branches, ending up eavesdropping on mentor-apprentice conversations. Silver eyes glinted from the shadows, wraithlike lims carrying a towering, night-dipped form over, head snapped impossibly to the side. Lopsided curiosity glimmered in wide moon-grey- Sangriapaw was perched awkwardly upon the tree, casting a straining look over her shoulder. Yep, yep- getting down, that was the hard part!

"Don't sweat it! Johnnyflame'll save you breaking your neck if you fall," he called, tone joyous, words whipped into an encouraging call despite their contents. She'd be fine- it'd be difficult to land wrong when you weren't very high up, anyways. ​

☺PENNED BY PIN​

 

[Johnnyflame]

MY WORLDS ON FIRE, HOW 'BOUT YOURS?
THAT'S THE WAY I LIKE IT AND I NEVER GET BORED."​

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”Oh, haud yer weesht!” he chuckled, reaching out to shove playfully at the white cats shoulder. ”Don’t go scaring my apprentice talking like that.”

His scolding held little heat behind it though, more backed by humor than anything. Mallowlark was essentially harmless, just a puppy-dog .with an unsettling smile. And Johnny certainly wouldn’t let her break her neck- not that the branch was high enough to allow that anyway. He’d fallen from shed roofs taller than this and come away with only a few bruises and maybe the wind knocked out of him.

Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to Sangriapaw, who was now stuck on the branch and attempting to get back on the trunk so she could shimmy down.

”The tree branch you're standing on right now? That’s your new ground. Pretend you're gonna go up and attach yourself to the trunk just like you did when you were down here. Then, instead of shoving yourself farther up the tree, shimmy.”

Most apprentices would psyche themselves out at this stage, so he wasn’t worried- he’d warned her getting down would be tricky.

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[LITTLEMOON]

it's not my fault i have my father's eyes .
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

A silly memory — Littlepaw ( at the time ) had enjoyed his tree-climbing lessons more than anything else. It was the one thing that brought warmth to the angry apprentice. Hunting had been difficult to swallow since his panic-induced haze — but now, Littlemoon enjoyed his mundane tasks despite the lack of energy that seemed to follow the freckled warrior wherever he went.

“Fear is a warranted skill.” He muttered a few branch lengths away from the two warriors, helm tilted to watch Sangriapaw fail or succeed. Being scared was a weakness, but Littlemoon discovered if used correctly ( if someone could use that correctly, he wasn’t too sure ) can be a strength.

Littlemoon wasn’t old enough to offer helpful tidbits, having become a warrior himself. He wasn’t peculiar about words of encouragement either, preferring to remain silent and observe rather than voice too sweet words like “You’re doing a great job”. His nose crinkled in disdain.

Humming, dull ocean hues skimmed the tree’s length, determining what little energy he had left to climb higher or descend. In the end, Littlemoon shimmied his way down, careful to put calloused paw pads against the rough bark of the tree.

If anyone noticed he had slowed his movements and made some more exaggerated, then it was no one’s business but his own.

Another example could never hurt. ​

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thought speech​

 

[SANGRIAPAW]

✧ Mallowlark’s so-called supportive words aren’t encouraging at all, and Sangriapaw shoots the wide-eyed tom a concerned glance over her shoulder. He’s not hoping she’ll fall, is he? No, no way, because that would be ridiculous, right? He’s just trying to help her—by being totally not-helpful! Johnnyflame is quick to cut in with one of his funny sayings, and even though the apprentice isn’t sure what it means, he follows it up by telling the other tom not to scare her. Well, she’s not scared! And it would take a lot more than the idea of… of falling and breaking her neck to… to scare her. Sangriapaw’s throat clicks as she swallows, green eyes shifting to look down at the ground below.

A noise catches her ears, and the girl’s gaze flicks to where a black and white form shimmies down a tree trunk. Littlemoon does it so easily, Sangriapaw can’t help but gasp at the sight. But she’s able to see… exactly how the older tom moves his feet, and replicating his movements isn’t easy, but it’ll definitely get easier, she thinks. One paw shifts downward, and then another, and then the first one again, and—she’s doing it! It’s working! "Yeah… okay, yeah! I got it!" Soon enough, she’s shoving herself off the tree and dropping the last short distance to the ground, unharmed and filled with pride. She stands before her mentor with a broad, bright grin, tail fluttering back and forth with joy. "I did it! Now what do I climb next?"

✧ gliding down the rainbow

• ooc: —
• 
  SANGRIAPAW ❯❯ she/her, daylight apprentice of skyclan
  ⭃ cinnamon torbie with white spotting and vibrant leaf-green eyes. bold, bright, and curious.
  ⭃ daughter of fantastream & figfeather ; sister to coffeepaw
  ⭃ mentored by johnnyflame
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  ⭃ penned by foxlore

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