give it all you got (orchid training)

[FORESTSHADE]

// @orchidpaw suffocating time >:)

"You call that a pounce? Come on, get up and go again or you'll be picking ticks off the elders till morning!" The she-cat demands with a remarkably lighthearted tone to her voice. It's as if she doesn't understand how harsh she sounds. Truly, she believes she's doing what's best for her brand new apprentice. If she's got any shot at turning her into a hunter half as good as her, then Forestshade has to be hard on her.

She sits with her rump in the damp earth, heavy-boned frame leaning against the Burnt Sycamore. Her ears remain trained on Orchidpaw's movements and she flicks her tail casually. "I can hear your paws - way too heavy! Where is that silent stalk you did outside the nursery? Again, come on!" She'll stay out here with the young apprentice as long as it takes to get it down. That's the only way she'd turn her into a warrior worthy of pride.​

 

[orchidbloom]

Mama, I want my mama. Ears pin against a cinnamon colored skull as she hangs her head in shame, her heart threatening to pound outside of her ribcage. Would Forestshade be able to hear that, too? I don't want to pick ticks off. She nearly wants to cry, paws shaking beneath her, her legs feel like near jelly. I'm trying. She is, but as her thoughts race, her frustration with herself only grows in to an amounting sense of dread.

Disappointment. It's an emotion that Orchid had been foreign to, rightfully so, fiercely protected by Rosesky and Sagepond until they had to release them to be an apprentice. And oh, how they so desperately wished their parents would take them back. She wants to be tiny again, she wants to curl against mamas belly, she didn't have enough time-

"O-Okay." she forces her voice to not waver in her stupor. They crouch, doing their best to imitate what they had done when they had first met the warrior. They stalk forth, but nerves makes her shoulders tense, and though quieter than her last attempt, soft thumps could be heard when paws meet the marsh flooring below. She knows instantly that she had messed up.

Oh...

They dare not speak immediately. They... They don't want to disappoint Forestshade. They don't want to heart her same lighthearted tone, mixed with words that (at least, they were sure they are) were disappointed. She just wants to make the other proud. "I-I'll- I'll try again."​

"speech"​

 

[FORESTSHADE]

Her chin tips up as her apprentice tries again, half-lidded eyes staring unseeing at the ground in front of the girl. Again, she hears the thumps and her head is tossed back in exasperation. "Orchidpaw, that was even louder!" She moans, frustrated. She gets to her paws and stalks forward, ignoring the she-cat's nervous stammering. "Buck up, kid. You sound like a sniveling mouse kit. Come on, get in your crouch." Forestshade comes to a halt right next to her and pins her ears back, expression neutral yet she is intent on drilling this lesson into her apprentice's head. "Now, you'll hold that until I say so, got it?" Plopping herself back down into the moss, she waits in boredom and casually licks a paw. "Don't you move a muscle; you're gonna build strength and learn discipline one way or another." This is how she'd get through to her, right? All she needs is discipline and she'd shape up to a skilled hunter in no time!….right?​

 

[orchidbloom]

"I-" her explanation was futile as Forestshade stalks towards them, ohm [i[you've really done it now.[/i] Her tail bushes up in fear, not of Forestshade herself, but of the scathing words that she knows will escape from the other girls mouth. "I'm- I'm sorry." she keeps her voice flat by some sort of miracle as tears dance around the surface of her eyes, blurring her vision. Sniveling mouse kit, it feels like a blow to the barely there ego that Orchid had and so shoulders slump, defeated as she tries to keep back her crying to not make her mentor upset as well.

"O-" her voice wavers, but she takes a deep breath to steady herself. "Okay, Forestshade." high-pitched is her voice as she gets in to the crouch she had been expected to do before, and wild is her mind as thoughts race. I should have been able to do this the first time, she thinks bitterly, upset with only herself now. Now my legs hurt, is this really how you build this?

Orchid doesn't dare to voice their complaints, not once.​

"speech"​