pafp high heels in the morning | training

[Halfshade]

"We are going to practice walking without getting anything but our paws dirty!"
She had roused her apprentice after a light rain, encouraged her to eat a nice breakfast before they began and her task seemed frivolous and nonsensical at first but Halfshade was a cat who kept clean and there was very good reasons for it. A cat with light steps who did not splash about was a quiet cat, a good hunter; the flick of water or squelsh of heavy paws would drive away prey as much as the vibration of too weighty a step might do the same. The marshland was a soft, pliant hunting ground and if they did not respect it then it would not unfold its treasures for them to take. It was also a poor show in her opinion to appear muddied and filthy when crossing paths with border patrols, the other clans already had bad opinions of them based on their territory and looking like they had wallowed in filthy only added to it. Besides, they already naturally smelled of the peat soil and swampy water so hiding their scent wasn't a necessity here in the territory. Outside it, perhaps, but that was a lesson for another time.
"The camp is full of puddles, we're going to prance about and avoid them as best we can!" To demonstrate she rose to stand, poised and tail high, shoulders up and head tilted upward proudly as she began to take light skipping steps about the camp. Though her steps were quick they were also pointed, her paws never hitting an area too hard or too centered to slosh water any higher than just the middle of her toes and though she never looked down she gauged the places where mud was too wet and the ground too uneven to maintain her balance and smooth strutting about. Halfshade was, if anything, a cat who knew how to walk very well.



@. Heatherpaw .
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[. Heathershade .]

Truthfully, Heatherpaw had expected their first training session to be something along the lines of combat if anything, her hunting skills she had proven time and again- her fighting skills? She may as well be a new born, flailing about.
Yet, as her mentor trilled on for their task of the day, Heatherpaw almost tilted her head in surprise. Disappointment was no where to be found as the chimera began to eagerly nod.
She gets to her paws with Halfshade, sunny glazed eyes watching with piqued interest.
"Like hunting, but without all the crouching?" She lightly mused, but her mentor was already beginning her demonstration.
She points her own feathery tail, her shoulders flexing upward, almost revealing her well hidden muscular frame, and her usually round eyes now slightly narrowing with focus. "Okay.. 1,2,3-" her countdown is quick, and she makes her first skip.
Her forepaws land elegantly at a point, but her back paw lands a little too hard, and half-frozen flecks of mud flare up.
Again, she… prances. This time, she makes sure all of her paws are at the right angle. Does she feel silly? Absolutely. Are her paws relatively mud free by the time she has caught up with her mentor? Hell yeah they are!

"Speech."​

[ COCOA BUTTER KISSES ]​

 

[Needledrift]

Mint green eyes watch the pair with a sort of curious fascination. They're like dancers to the gray she-cat, dancers putting on their own little show for no cat in particular. Did she look that graceful when she slunk through the marshlands muddy underbrush? Surely not. But still, there was something rather intriguing about the way Halfshade pranced rather than slinking or walking like any other - if Needledrift didn't know any better, she would say that her clan-mate was strutting more than anything.

A smile played at the corner of her lips as she rose herself, taking a few tentative steps in the prancing pair's wake. Don't look down, she observed, so she tried her best not to, though it proved more difficult than Halfshade made it seem when she tried to dance one way and ended up slipping in cold mud. Oh, quills.​

she smells like lemongrass and sleep​

 

[BONERIPPLE]

This is an interesting training method. Definitely strange to her and she finds herself watching the prancing forms of both mentor and apprentice. Ears angling forward she tries to deduce the need for such training. Ah, perhaps to help with stealth or maybe it's for just keeping as clean as possible while out hunting? The woman frowned slightly and rolls onto her side, eyes half open as she continues to watch the pair. And then suddenly Needledrift is a part of it and she chuckles softly to herself. It seems that this training is alluring but the molly doesn see a reason to also participate. So instead she keeps her eyes on them, staying laid upon the ground with her tail wrapped around her own figure.​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Flickerfire watches the display with incredulous, wide eyes. Halfshade and her little apprentice are prancing around camp like deer fleeing from Twolegs, their paws light and dainty, barely making a mark upon the soft, sinking earth in their camp.

She beckons with the tip of her tail to @Siltcloud. and shakes her head. "What'd'ya say, Siltpaw? Wanna dance around puddles all day instead of doing real training?" She supposes, begrudgingly, she understands the point -- it's about stealth, light-footedness, remaining still to one's prey and one's enemies. But the method... she can't get behind it, she just can't.

- ,,​

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[. Heathershade .]

When Needledrift begins to try it herself, Heatherpaw is ecstatic, and shows as much with a jovial smile from where she stands at her mentors side.
When the warrior slips, the chimera bounds over, still keeping her newly learned skip in her step-though she almost slips herself. "It’s really difficult with all the frost everywhere" she admitted with a sheepish flick of her ear before she’d aim to help the other to their paws, keeping away from any mud the other might have slipped into. While she doesn’t notice Bonejaws observing presence, Flickerfire’s teasing comment does catch her attention.
She keeps her charming smile as she turns to the brindled warrior now, "You guys are always welcomed to join! I’m sure your paws would thank you!" She calls to her, her tone sweet and civil but her eyes pointedly flickering to the warriors mud-splattered paws before she’d turn back to Needledrift. "Here, hold your forepaws at this angle, and then your back paws like this, it makes the landing easier" she advises, demonstrating by holding one paw of each at the desired angle.
"Speech."​

[ COCOA BUTTER KISSES ]​

 

[✧ Siltcloud.]

MY IGNORANCE HAS STRUCK AGAIN​

siltpaw | 06 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf​

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Silt watches with thinly veiled curiosity. Dull green gaze watches from the corner of her eye, jealous f the easygoing way the two seem to be prancing about and having fun. At least, it looks like it's fun. She's startled out of her selfish musings by her mentors words - gaze wide as it flicks up to make contact with copper orbs for once, she gives a small nod, eyes immediately flicking downwards once more. She gets to her paws and ables over, cautious, hesitant. "So.... you just.... don't step in the puddles?" it seems straight forwards, but its hard to shake off that ever present sense of insecurity - that fear that she'll do something wrong.

 

[Halfshade]

"It helps you learn your footing better, gives you a sense of your own balance~ How will one catch prey if they bumble about through the marshlands like a-" She was going to say something, lost her train of thought immediately when Needledrift stumbled and she laughed though not unkindly at the she-cat's attempts. "Excellent enthusiasm! A little less weight with your steps, lovely~"
At least some of the clan was willing to humor her eccentric methods, it all had a purpose at least despite how silly it might appear. As Heatherpaw attempts to aid the clumsy silver cat she herself gives a few careful little hops around a puddle to make a deliberate stomping step downward onto one near Flickerfire with a haughty smile that showed her sparkling white teeth-immediately after she snaps her head away from the tortie to answer Siltpaw in her crooning voice, fond of the apprentices even if her fellow warriors treated their training like a borish chore.
"Yes yes, do your best and practice placing your paws evenly! The ground here is soft, it's easy to lose your footing!"
​