go and be free | sweetpaw

[covecatcher]

To be honest, even Cove has herself surprised when she had told Sweetpaw they were going to train today. She had plans only to abandon them, oh, she does hope her friends aren't exactly mad at her... But now they're walking through the snow-blanketed forest together, silent, listening for any bird chatter, movement in the trees. Cove is surprised once more when she doesn't get distracted with the glittering snow, solely focused on her apprentices movements.

It's weird how she has an apprentice now, someone that looks up to her (even if he doesn't, its still a terrifying thought) and watches her own movements. She has a lot to learn about mentoring, a lot to teach and she hopes its not too obvious that shes learning right besides him. All her life shes taken care of herself and sometimes her older brother so it cant be... that different!

Theres a bird, one that hadn't migrated to the warmer parts yet, that settles upon a snowcrested branch. "Sweetpaw, look right up there." quiet, the words vibrate in her chest as she whispers down to him. "Do you know how to climb trees yet? Do you want to go try and go after it?" she blinks warmly, giving him the opportunity. She does fear, in the back of her mind a whisper, it getting away but rather decides it would be used as a learning experience instead. Sometimes you got prey, sometimes you didn't.

// @Sweetpaw ​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[Sweetpaw .]

SWEETPAW - THUNDERCLAN - MALE - 6 MONTHS - SINGLE - HOMOSEXUAL (UNDISCOVERED)​

---

Sweetpaw was ecstatic. While he'd been patient regarding his apprenticeship, knowing that the clan had been dealing with a lot since he'd first joined, it hadn't made him any less eager to begin his training. The youth was enamored with the idea of becoming a warrior, of learning to be strong and capable enough to protect and provide for the cats around you. Even as a kit, wandering the neutral lands with his rogue mother and littermates, that's all Sweetpaw had ever really wanted. His heart was big, and his name was enough of a giveaway to that, so it made sense in a way that he would be so intruiged by the idea of learning to do these things.

And he was an apt pupil, even if this was technically their first time doing anything together. Attentive, intuitive, and ever observant, it was clear that he was eager to learn and happy to soak up whatever facts Covecatcher had to offer him. Short but lively, the speckled tom followed after her with a bounce in his steps, pausing only when she did to point out a bird on the branch above them.

"Do you know how to climb trees yet? Do you want to go try and go after it?"

"Yeah, mom taught us how when we were young. She said being able to climb could save your life against a dog or fox." he replied, keeping his voice soft so as not to spook the avian, and it felt good to say because the older he got the more he came to realize his mother hadn't prepared him and his siblings for the world very well. He hadn't even known what snow was, let alone what it was capable of or how to survive in it.

He could only pray to Starclan that his littermates had found safe places to live as well.

Quiet as he could, Sweetpaw made his way to the base of the tree and began to haul himself up, slow and steady, trying to keep the sound of claws biting bark as quiet as he could. This was the first time he'd ever tried to catch prey in a tree like this, but he was determined to do his best because the clan needed to eat and the snow was already making things hard enough.

He was thankful for the coloring of his coat as he slowly hauled himself up onto the same branch as the bird, each movement painfully careful, his only goal to not shift the branch enough to spook it and give himself away. His white coat broken through with black painted the perfect camoflauge against the snow covered bark, patches of dark against the white that he could blend into. He kept his eyes straight ahead of him as he slowly lowered himself into a slinking crouch, body flattened against the branch as he repeated the mantra 'dont look down' over and over in his head.

Seconds ticked by as he inched closer and closer, muscles quivering in anticipation. And then, he pounced.

It was not a graceful or clean catch by any means. His teeth clamped onto the wing of the bird just as a paw pinned it to the branch beneath him, but it also left him scrabbling for purchase on the snow-wet branch. His hindquarters slipped, dangling him from from forepaws as the bird beat wildly in his grip, smashing its free wing against his face. He held fast though, more concerned with keeping his grip on the prey than his grip on the tree. And he was lucky for the blizzard and piles of snow, and the fact that the branch hadn't been that high, because Sweetpaw was suddenly falling.

He hit the ground with a ground, but it was more of shock than pain, his body sinking and all but disapearing into a snowdrift that had piled beneath the tree. A bit fo scuffling and shifting snow, and then the sound of the bird stopped and Sweetpaw was popping his head out of the snow, smiling up at his mentor with bright green eyes and the bird clutched in his jaws.

"I dhd iih!" came his muffled reply as he wiggled his way out of the snow to stand before her, dropping the now dead bird to beam up at her, repeating himself so she could hear. "I did it! Did you see that Covecatcher? I snatched it right off the branch!"

He didn't mention the fact that he'd fallen, or that he might have actually hurt himself had there not been snow beneath him. As Covercatcher would come to learn, her apprentice didn't have much sense of self-preservation. His own needs and safety were always secondary to those of the cats around him, and if the clan needed prey he'd happily drop himself out of every tree in the forest if it meant he could bring a bird home for them.
​

---

A SHORT WHITE TOMCAT COVERED IN OFF-BLACK PATCHES AND SPECKLES, KNOWN FOR HIS PRETTY GREEN EYES