pafp I’M A STAR [🌙] Climbing Lesson

[FIGFEATHER]

With Wolfpaw still stuck in the medicine cat den and Figfeather released from light duty, in recent days she’s been spending more time with her kits. They were in camp today after Figfeather returned from a hunting patrol, gathering them at her paws she’s led them to a pine at the edge of the camp.

”As you both know SkyClan’s greatest advantage against the other clans is our prowess in climbing. I want you two to begin learning early so that when your apprenticed you can astonish your mentors and have a leg up against the other apprentices.” Figfeather explains to them carefully, she had been a climbing prodigy in her youth. Coffeekit and Sangriakit would be expected to follow in her paw steps and be skilled apprentices, well disciplined and ahead of the game.

She points her pink nose to one of the lower branches of the tree, sturdy and more than capable of carrying the weight of the kittens. ”I want you two to get to that branch. It might take a couple of tries, but you’ll find it easy enough, I promise.” It was a daunting task for first time climbers, but so long as Figfeather was present she’d ensure nothing went wrong. ”Up you two go now. Claws unsheathed, hook them into the groves of the bark. Use your back legs to propel yourself up not your front.” Her tail flicks to the base of the tree, signaling her kits onward.

♡ INFO BATTLE

• please wait for @COFFEEKIT @SANGRIAKIT
  Also tagging queens but this is OPTIONAL! Feel free to yell @ fig for pushing the kits too much, why she might need scolding will be seen more in the kits posts lol
  @butterflytuft @Fantastream ! @Mottledove.
• 
  » Figfeather
  » SkyClan Warrior
  » She/her . AMAB
  » Mentoring Wolfpaw
  » Mate to Fantastream
  » Sire to Sangriakit & Coffeekit
  » A red tabby she-cat with a mangled leg.
  » ”Speech”․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A foe in battle whose ability to strategize can shift tides.
  » Excels in strategizing and pre-planning her battles.
  » Fights defensively and aid to her clan to victory.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[SANGRIAPAW]

*✧･ﾟ SkyClan is a really cool place, and the cats who live here are fun to be around. Even Fluffykit, who’s too quiet to be entertaining at all, is fun to be around! And she gets to spend time with Figfeather while she’s here, too! She loves spending time with her mom, but Figfeather always has some kind of fun activity for them to do, and today is no exception. Today, Figfeather brings Sangriakit and her brother to one of the trees in camp, and she tells them that she wants them to reach a certain branch that she points out. The cinnamon torbie nods, pale paws kneading eagerly at the ground below. Once the warrior is finished explaining how to climb up the tree, she exclaims, "I can do it!"

With a wiggle of her sun-spotted rump, the kit launches herself at the tree, scrabbling at the trunk in an attempt to pull herself up. But she fails, and she hits the ground again with a light thump. "Aww," she mumbles, scraping her little paw against the bark. Her brow furrows with frustration, a frown forming on her muzzle, but the expression melts into something excited once again when her claws snag on the tree. So that’s how it works! She drags her claws lightly down the bark, then uses all her might to pull herself up just a bit higher. "Look, I’m doin’ it!" There’s a bright, bold grin on her face, having hauled herself a mere kit-tail-length off the ground. Her claws slip in place, and she remembers what Figfeather said, but she doesn’t know where the grooves in the bark are. She slides down a little, but she can’t stop now, right? And so she uses a bit more force to dig her claws in, gritting her teeth as she pulls herself up a little more.

Gradually, Sangriakit begins to climb. The needle-laden branches of the tree grow closer and closer, and she clumsily makes her way up the trunk toward the branch that Figfeather indicated. Use your back legs, she tells herself, and kicks off with her back legs again. She’s doing really good, she thinks, but she doesn’t look down yet to see how high she is. Her focus is solely on her destination, the target branch above. She doesn’t even look around her to see where Coffeekit is—he could be beating her, for all she knows.

Her little paws reach the bottom of the branch she’s supposed to reach, and Sangriakit nearly falls off the tree completely. She doesn’t know how to… how to maneuver herself to get up onto it. The kit clearly flounders for a few moments, snowy paw flailing in the air for a tense heartbeat, before she manages to get a solid-ish grip on the branch. Her legs feel kind of like that colorful, wiggly stuff the twolegs once ate, but she gives one last big kick of her hind legs, and… she’s up!

But once she pulls herself up and onto the branch, Sangriakit is struck with the urge to look back, to look down at Figfeather. She made it! And so she looks down, eager to see how proud the warrior must be of her, how pleased she surely is with Sangriakit’s progress. But instead of seeing a look of pride upon the bright tabby’s face, she only sees the ground, so far down below. The space between her small form and the ground yawns wide, and after a moment panic seizes her body. One of her snowy paws slips on the branch, needlepoint claws barely catching her as she pitches forward. She hovers off balance for a moment, eyes wide, and fear courses through her. She almost slipped! Her limbs are shaking now, exertion taking its toll on her—for such a small kit, climbing such a distance on her first go has taken a lot out of her nearly-endless well of energy.

She doesn’t know what to do. Or what to say. She doesn’t want to move her legs, because what if she falls down? She doesn’t want to fall down! "Wait… I don’t like this game anymore, m—Figfeather." Her protest is weak, the mewling of a frightened kit. Surely this isn’t what Figfeather wants her to do; she’s supposed to be a SkyClanner, not a scared little kit. But she can’t help it. She is a scared little kit, and the pale red tabby isn’t helping her.​

​

 

[COFFEEPAW]

❝ SO GIVE ME COFFEE AND TV ————————————

Coffeekit was a known terror when it came to climbing. Having ripped up quite a few curtains and earning several scoldings for knocking down two-legs trinkets. Still, he couldn't deny what his heart desires, and it was to see the world. To be above it all and drink in the sweet sensation of winning against his sibling. Often they raced, tussled, and betted on who could climb the fake tree fastest. Now Figfeather was putting their skills to the test on an actual tree. Eagerly, he bounded up to the base and peered upward at the intended goal. Proving to Figfeather he had the metal to be a true Skyclanner was enough to fuel their competitive side. I bet I can climb even higher! Just as a confident smile curled their muzzle, he spotted a familiar bright pelt launching ahead of him.

Expression souring, he puffed and huffed towards Sangriakit. "No fair!" Sticking out his tongue, the tiny kit bunched himself up and sprung forward after her. Tiny claws outstretched and eyes bugging with elation as he soared. Eventually, pads connected with rough bark, and he stuck in place like a burr to an elder's coat. His smile returned with force as he accomplished the task, but Sangriakit had already gotten to the branch first, and he was no quitter. Determined to please his expectant guardian and beat his sister, Coffeekit trailed up the base like a painfully slow squirrel. Tiny body making gradual progress and eventually stopping for a breather just a tick above the intended branch. At last, he had finally gotten ahead but hardly a fox length higher. Their confident grin transformed into smugness as his tufted head peered below.

However, when he took in his sister's panicked state the look fell away instantly. Confusion and concern lit across the kitten's chocolate maw instead. It was fun winning, but not if the challenge scared his littermate half to death. Carefully, with claws anchored, he moved about the branch in a circle, trying to finagle a way down from his perch. Her tense voice was enough to rattle the small kit, and he quickly called back to reassure her. "Hey, look up here! It's okay sis!" Coffeekit was an excellent climber in his mind, but getting back down was always the hard part. The ground seemed forever away, and Sangriakit only a touch closer. Well, if I jumped up, maybe I can jump down? Nerves began to get the better of him as the idea of falling wasn't a very appealing idea.

Still, he couldn't leave Sangriakit by her lonesome, and so he took a daring chance. Leaning forward, he prepared to leap to the other branch. Rear and tail shimmying while his paws stepped apart, mentally calculating their aim. But one wrong move was enough to spoil the whole process. Going headfirst, he spun on the limb, and his fur spiked with surprised terror. Nearly slipping, he barely managed to catch himself and swung from the branch by two paws. Back legs kicking out wildly in an attempt to gain better purchase. A cry of fear erupted from his chest as the world seemed to spin for a moment. "F-FIGFEATHER!" His left foot eventually managed to snag on the bark, and he hastily hoisted himself up. Body flattening to the branch while their tiny black claws clung on for dear life.

[penned by tasmagoric]

———————————— TIL THE WORDS START SLURRIN ❞ ​

​

 

[pricklykit]

Pricklykit's natural sense of curiosity found her tufted paws at the edge of camp; eyes somewhere between yellow and green glued to Figfeather and her pair of kits. She felt a pang of... something, jealousy perhaps? A fear of missing out? She could hardly remember her parents faces and despite not having been a kittypet long enough to miss that life much, forgetting who brought her into this world stung like a thorn in her pad. Littermates, too... what would it have been like to grow up beside them in SkyClan? She wished she could have brought them with her. But who knows, maybe they wouldn't have taken to it in the same way the tortie smoke had. Life in the forest was second nature to her, however in her short two moons in SkyClan she'd seen just a small glimpse of the dangers that lie ahead on the path of a warrior. Perhaps it was best that her siblings were to her knowledge safe in kittypet nests, oblivious to the perilous path Pricklykit had her paws on.

I'm almost an apprentice, I should be up there... The realization dawned on the fluffy, silvery she-kit as she watched Figfeather's kits scramble up the pine bark. Now would be the perfect opportunity to dip her paws in the beginnings of scaling trees, but instead she froze like frost on a leaf. Her ears felt uncomfortably warm at the thought of staring down at the camp from above, her paws tingling with an anxious static. I'm a SkyClanner now, I'm not supposed to be afraid of this! If only she remembered her mother's face and the sound of her voice maybe she could've imagined her there, cheering her on. Perhaps she'd have the courage if her littermates were there to ascend the branches alongside her. Were those just excuses?

"You're doing great!" She called out from below the branches to the pair of kittens, shifting the focus from her own fear to instead supporting the others in their endeavor. ​

pricklykit // black smoke tortoiseshell with yellow-green eyes // she/her // kit // 5 moons // skyclan​

 

[butterflytuft]

She remembers clearly the day that Figfeather had helped her babysit the kits in the nursery, how she’d wanted them to go out in the bitter cold to play instead of remain safe and warm in the nursery. Her sister had always been the more bold of the two, the more independent one while the tortoiseshell had always been, well, meek. Butterflytuft had told her then that she had to be gentler with kits, and she was sure the warrior would grow accustomed to parenthood when her own little ones arrived. But as she watches her niece and nephew scale the tree at her younger sister’s command, she feels that certainty dwindle. “Figfeather?” She mews softly, a shakiness to her voice as she scurries closer to her kin’s side. Round, worried eyes are staring up as Sangriakit latches onto the branch, and she can see the panic form on the kit’s face. “Figfeather, I don’t think this is a very good idea, they’re still so young!” Butterflytuft adds on, whispery and trembling like a leaf.

And then Coffeekit nearly plunges, and the queen’s instinct is to crumple to the ground and hide her eyes, for she can’t bear to look and see what happens. “Figfeather! Please, get them down! This isn’t safe!” She begs desperately, peeling open an eye to see her nephew pull himself back up onto the branch and she practically deflates in relief. Still, fear grips her shaking form, and she curses herself for being too much of a coward to get up there and get them down herself. But she can’t climb - memories of falling out of a tree when she herself was an apprentice flood through her mind, and all she can do is watch helplessly from the ground as the two kits call for their mother.​

 

[FIGFEATHER]

It's unsurprising it takes a few attempts for Sangriakit and Coffeekit to get the hang of it. When the torbie falls on her rump Figfeather noses her back up gently. Coffeekit begins to climb first sending a purr through her throat, but once Sangriakit tries a couple more times she practically flies past him. A mrrow of astonishment sounds out from Figfeather, "My kits are squirrels!" She boasts in the form of a jest, watching the two form competitive glints in their eyes as they attempt to outclimb the other.

In the end, Coffeekit ends up higher. She doesn't have it in her to scold any of the kits for going higher (or lower) than she had initially told them to climb. It had been evident to her they had both pushed themselves to their limit, thats what she needed to see from them. With the attitudes they held now they'd become master climbers, by the time they were apprentices perhaps she could have them flying through trees...

Thats when Sangriakit nearly slips from her branch, Figfeather gasps but calms herself when it becomes clear Sangriakit has maintained balance. Getting down was always the hardest part of learning how to climb, and the scariest. If they listened to Figfeather's instructions they'd do just fine, she wouldn't let anything happen to them.

"Sangriakit, deep breaths. Panicking will not get a warrior anywhere." She meows, a tough-love attempt to place the kit's head back on her shoulders. "Rest for a few moments, breathe, then I will-"

Coffekit. "Hey! No, stay where you-" Too late, the chocolate tom sends himself flying from one branch to another. A maneuver Figfeather never would've instructed him to do his very first time in a tree! She feels as if she is watching a monster tumble off the thunderpath. "COFFEEKIT!" Figfeather yowls, terrified as her son dangles from the shared branch with Sangriakit. Their kitten cries send tremors through her heart and she races to the base of the tree- she couldn't climb. She couldn't!

By some StarClan created miracle, Coffeekit manages to pull himself onto the branch. His fur bristling and claws digging into the bark of the tree for dear life, "Oh- Coffeekit! You can't be doing that! Never do something unless I instruct you to!" She scolds, her fright turning into frustration. What a disaster that could've ended in!

"Calm down- both of you. You're safe so long as you listen to what I say!" Why was this going so bad? This isn't how she had pictured the lesson to play out in her head... if they just- if they listened to her.

Pricklekit is at Figfeather's paws and shouts encouraging words at the kittens in the tree. The kit's support is likely the only support Figfeather will be getting though, Butterfly shows up at her side horrified. Insisting they must be brought down. "No- no Butterflytuft. It's okay! They have to learn how to get down themselves, that's how it works- they got up there and now they need to get themselves down." It made sense to her, it seemed rational to her. "They can do it- just. Listen to my voice! Coffeekit, Sangriakit, when you're ready slowly position yourself back on the base of the tree as if you're about to climb-" An interrupting voice, Butterflytuft's, another queen's, a warrior.

♡ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Figfeather
  » SkyClan Warrior
  » She/her . AMAB
  » Mentoring Wolfpaw
  » Mate to Fantastream
  » Sire to Sangriakit & Coffeekit
  » A red tabby she-cat with a mangled leg.
  » ”Speech”․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A foe in battle whose ability to strategize can shift tides.
  » Excels in strategizing and pre-planning her battles.
  » Fights defensively and aid to her clan to victory.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[GREENEYES]

It is a rare occurence, Greeneyes getting upset with Figfeather — a sibling he often finds himself looking up to. But, the scene before him leaves his heart pounding, his anxiety rising. She pushes his niece and nephew — her children — to climb as if they're apprentices taking part in a lesson. She labels them as warriors in their panic.

" Figgy, maybe you shouldn't — " the lead warrior starts his own protests in agreement with Butterflytuft's, words getting cut off by the shouts of Coffeekit's plummeting form. He shouts too, paws darting forward only to falter as the brown kit catches himself.

" Fig, " he starts again, only to get cut off by her insisting words. Rambling opposition — they can do it. They will be talented climbers in time, he's certain. But Greeneyes hardly could climb for ages himself, and Figfeather expects her kits to still, after all of this? " Figfeather! They're kits! " They're nowhere near apprenticeship, and they won't be for a long time now; his sister, out of all of them, should be aware of such. Viridian gaze locks with amber, crooked tail lashing behind him.

" They're kits. Not apprentices. Not warriors, " the lead warrior insists with sharpened words. There's a reason why they don't train kits so young. There's a reason. " They're scared, and they're too young for this. Coffeekit nearly got hurt, for StarClan's sake! " It feels strange, foreign, to oppose Figfeather, but he can't let this go on for longer, can he? Another fall might not end in safety, might end in far worse.

" Get them down. Please. " he says to his sister, motioning to the tree before them. If she doesn't, then he'll do so himself.​

✦ ABOUT

• 

  GREENKIT ‣ GREENPAW ‣ GREENEYES
  ── Lead Warrior of SkyClan
  
  ── Daisyflight x Raven Ramble
  ── AMAB; He/Him
  ── A red tabby and white tom with bright green eyes.
  ── Mentored by Sheepcurl; Currently mentoring Falconpaw
  ── "Speech"; Attack​

​

 

[SANGRIAPAW]

*✧･ﾟ The little torbie watches her brother scale the tree higher than she had, but in her panic she doesn’t even think to pout. He’s beaten her at climbing, but—she doesn’t even want to beat him at climbing. She doesn’t want to be up here anymore, and both Figfeather and Coffeekit’s assurances that she just needs to calm down and that it’s okay don’t do anything to calm her down. She can only stare as her sibling tries to lower himself down onto the branch. And then… She can’t help it, she shrieks when her brother takes a flying leap from their perch to the branch. She’s too afraid to let go of the branch to try and help him, but tears well up in her eyes and begin to spill over, her expression crumpling into something wretched. She’s stuck up here, and now so is Coffeekit, and they could have fell and hit the ground so hard they got hurt. She only manages to sniffle when the dark brown tabby manages to hoist himself back up onto the branch, and she reaches out a badly-shaking white paw toward him.

From below, she hears somebody shout, and then Figfeather is shouting Coffeekit’s name and scolding him, and the cinnamon-splashed kit squeezes her eyes shut. She can’t look down again—Figfeather tells them to calm down, that they’re safe, but all that she can do is cry more. She isn’t listening to the marmalade tabby’s instructions any longer. "MOM!" She cries out, and she doesn’t know which parent she’s calling for—her mom or Figfeather. She just wants down, she wants to go back to the nursery, she wants to go back to where she and Coffeekit aren’t balanced precariously on a branch and nobody is helping them! "I wanna go home…" she whimpers pitifully, tail tucking in against her body.​

​

 

[butterflytuft]

Butterflytuft, belly still pressed to the cool ground, can do nothing but stare helplessly up at her sister with wide eyes. Figfeather assures her it’s fine, that this is a necessary lesson, but she can’t see any reason to this! “No! They shouldn’t be learning this yet!” She tries to plead with her, but it falls on deaf ears. Figfeather is only silenced when she’s interrupted by their brother, the authority in his voice reminding them both of his status in the clan. He scolds the marmalade she-cat, and Butterflytuft returns her shaky attention to the kits up in the tree.

They’re too high for Butterflytuft to reach - she’s never been a climber, only ever able to cling to the lowest branches. But she gets to her paws and walks towards the trunk, trying to seem as confident as possible but in truth she is still trembling. “Sangriakit? Coffeekit? Start to come down very slowly! I’ll be right here to catch you! I’ll- I’ll come meet you! You’ll do great, you just have to trust I’ll be here, okay?” Her kind voice is filled with worry, but she tries to force it to remain calm, unsure if it’s working. She creeps up to the lowest branch, unfortunately the highest her jelly-legs will allow her to go, and looks up at them with wide eyes.​

 

[FIGFEATHER]

Figfeather’s eyes narrow on the orange and white tom, a rare show of defiance for the tabby she-cat. ”Coffeekit nearly got hurt because he moved against my instructions!” She yells with a striped tail lashing. Why were her siblings acting as if this wouldn’t have been perfectly safe had the two kits just listened to her?

From the tree branch she’s clinging onto Sangriakit calls out for Fantastream, Figfeather glances around for the torbie expecting to get a tongue lashing from her as well. Butterflytuft heads for the base of the tree to try and calm and assist the two kits, she looks at Greeneyes an anger still burning in her eyes. ”I can’t.” She says, stiffening up her crippled leg all while feeling a wave of embarrassment flood over her. She is forced to resign, ”Bring them down then.”

♡ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Figfeather
  » SkyClan Warrior
  » She/her . AMAB
  » Mentoring Wolfpaw
  » Mate to Fantastream
  » Sire to Sangriakit & Coffeekit
  » A red tabby she-cat with a mangled leg.
  » ”Speech”․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A foe in battle whose ability to strategize can shift tides.
  » Excels in strategizing and pre-planning her battles.
  » Fights defensively and aid to her clan to victory.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[GREENEYES]

His shoulders stiffen at his sister’s yelled opposition, ears threatening to fold back as his own gaze narrows and a rare frown pulls at his maw. He opens his mouth to speak, only to clamp it shut in frustration. He’s a kit, he wants to tell her again, wants to get it through her head how dangerous this is, how senseless she’s being. He doubts she can listen to him better than she claims her own kits are right now.

Do kits as young as Sangriakit and Coffeekit ever listen well enough for tasks like these? Either way, they shouldn’t be climbing, shouldn’t be put into difficult positions when they’re far too young, too small for them. Greeneyes doesn’t want to find a star in the sky for either of them.

His own wave of embarrassment washes over him as his gaze flickers down to her forever-injured limb, a reminder that Figfeather is not the climber she used to be. He’s the climber of the family now.

“ Right, “ he mutters with a lash of his tail as she tells him to get them down, a sharp exhale escaping his maw as he turns to approach the tree. Looking to Butterflytuft on the lowest branch of the tree, he gives her a small nod in reassurance, “ It’s okay — Stay there, just in case, “ he meows, before springing upward to grab hold of a higher branch.

“ Cariños! Listen! “ he calls to them when he finds his own balance. He doesn’t know if they actually will, but it would help in the long run, “ Stay right where you are — if you can — and I’ll come get you! “ He continues forth, hopping to the next branch towards the first kitten he’s able to spot.​

✦ ABOUT

• 

  GREENKIT ‣ GREENPAW ‣ GREENEYES
  ── Lead Warrior of SkyClan
  
  ── Daisyflight x Raven Ramble
  ── AMAB; He/Him
  ── A red tabby and white tom with bright green eyes.
  ── Mentored by Sheepcurl; Currently mentoring Falconpaw
  ── "Speech"; Attack​

​