private I knew from the start - Cloudypaw

[Flamestar]

Teeth would bare as the corners of her mouth were pulled back into a long yawn. Forelegs extended forward, gripping the moss and other nest materials as she stretched for the morning. Heavy eyelids blinked away the spoils of a plentiful hunting dream that had blessed her dreams during the night. She would step forward, stretching each back leg as she progressed towards the warrior den exit. The Molly lifted her gaze to the sky, doing her best to try to tune out the singing of the birds above. Waking up this early was starting to become more normal again, but she couldn't recall it ever really being easy.

By the time she made it to the apprentice den, she was mostly awake. She would poke her muzzle into the den and call, "Rise and shine Cloudypaw, I'll wait by the exit." Short and sweet, and frankly she wasn't good with thinking of things to say this early in the morning. Another yawn would erupt from her jaws, and she would wait for the other she-cat near the camp's tunnel.

//
@Cloudypaw

[₊⋆]​

​

 

[Cloudyfur]

Rise and shine Cloudypaw

Cloudypaw awoke at the call, and by the time she opened her eyes the lead warrior was already gone. Groggily, she wondered what reason Flamewhisker had to call upon her. She arched her back in a long, slow stretch as she tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

Then she remembered that she had a new mentor.

In a hurry, she shot up to her paws and sleepily stumbled around her denmates. If nothing else, she wanted to be punctual for her first day of training with her new mentor. It might be her only chance to make herself seem like a good apprentice before Flamewhisker saw her skills. Or, lack thereof.

Guilt built within Cloudypaw as she thought about it. She didn't understand why Howlingstar had decided to give her, of all the apprentices, a lead warrior for her mentor. Flamewhisker should have someone competent as her apprentice, someone who wouldn't let her down. Cloudypaw was so, so scared she was going to let her down.

Suppressing the nerves rattling around inside her, Cloudypaw approached her mentor waiting by the camp's tunnel. "Um. I'm ready to go!" she announced with an awkward smile.​

 

[Flamestar]

As Cloudypaw hurried over, her eyes widened slightly. She hadn't been waiting for more than just a minute or two, she had expected it to take her new apprentice a little longer to wake up...Starclan knew it had taken her forever to finally get out of her nest! The ginger Molly rose to her paws, and motioned with her tale for Cloudypaw to follow her. "Good morning. I hope you slept well." She would pause her speech as they padded out of the camp and into the forest. "Today I want to see where you are at on your training so I know where to start. Lets start with hunting first, and if we have time we can do a little battle training." This would be different than Jaypaw, with him she had started from the bottom. Cloudypaw had some training already, so all she had to do was build on top of that. "We will start by the Great Sycamore. The prey has been pretty lively over there so we should have some luck. Just don't go climbing into any trees...I'll have to fetch your uncle to get you down." She would chuckle at the last few words, hoping to not seem to lighten the mood.

Once they arrived at the Great Sycamore, Flamewhisker would slow her pace and pad carefully, hoping to not disturb any nearby prey. She would open her jaws slightly to take in the scents around her, picking up on a mouse nearby. Her attention would then shift to Cloudypaw, giving her silent permission to start a hunt.

[₊⋆]​

​

 

[Cloudyfur]

"Good morning." Cloudypaw returned her new mentor's greeting, unable to keep the slight edge of nervousness out of her tone. Over and over she kept trying to tell herself that there was no reason to worry, she'd already had a mentor once, and this was no different. Reason, however, did nothing to quell her anxiety. Her last mentor, she couldn't help but think to herself, hadn't been a lead warrior of the clan. Flamewhisker would no doubt have higher expectations for her.

Those thoughts swarmed in her head as she padded out of camp alongside Flamewhisker.

"Uh, I'm actually not that great at climbing. Stormy and Pebble are both better at it than me, and Stormy is the one whose really good at it." Cloudypaw chimed in awkwardly in response to her mentor's words, and regretted it the moment she did. Flamewhisker had been making a joke after all, she knew that. She was ruining it by being too serious.

She tried to steady herself as they arrived at the Great Sycamore. Her nerves were taking her over, and if she let them do that while she was hunting it'd make her even worse than usual. All she need to do was calm down, there was nothing to worry about.

Lowering into a crouch, Cloudypaw followed the mouse scent as best she could. The stance still didn't feel natural to her, she felt clumsy and a bit too large every time she settled into it, but at least she could manage it now. Slowly, she stalked along the roots of the massive tree, her muscles tense with her concentrations. Too tense.

After a few moments, she spotted it, and instantly she froze.

It was so close. Skittering along the edge of the tree, it seemed completely oblivious to her.

Slowly, she lowered herself back onto her haunches. Then she slung herself forward, awkwardly launching herself though the air with all the grace of a thrown stone. In the split second before she crashed into the ground atop it, the mouse darted toward the tree, leaving her too off balance to scramble after it before it darted between the roots where she couldn't follow.

Cloudypaw winced in shame.​

 

[Flamestar]

Cloudypaw's response to her joke hadn't been quite what she had expected, but she wasn't too surprised. A frown tried to tug at her maw, but she pulled it away. She wasn't disappointed in her apprentice, she was disappointed at the fact that she was scary to her apprentice. Jaypaw had been shy at first, but not this shy. Was she doing something wrong? She forced the thought out of her mind as they arrived at the tree.

When they arrived, she could practically smell the fear radiating from Flycatcher's niece. She would watch as Cloudypaw followed her instructions. Her apprentice sunk into a hunters crouch, though she appeared uncomfortable in the position. She had scene her hunt successfully before, so she wondered if this was just her nerves. Still, she had managed to find the mouse, and almost catch it.

Cloudypaw winced in shame, and Flamewhisker felt her heart sting. The fiery molly beckoned her closer with her tail, and she would lower herself into a sit. "You almost had it. Could you tell me what you did wrong?" she would ask softly.

[₊⋆]​

​

 

[Cloudyfur]

At Flamewhisker's gesture, Cloudypaw padded over and sat beside her.

"I didn't have my paws beneath me right, so I was clumsy when I leapt for it. It happens a lot." There was a dejected certainty to her words. Nerves had made her worse, certainly, but they were not the sole issue. This was a mistake she had made before. Even though she knew what was wrong, she just couldn't get it right. At least not consistently.

Cloudypaw had gotten her hunters crouch to a point where it worked, but it was still uncomfortable for her. Moons of training with training had taught her how to succeed in spite of her own clumsiness, but it had not yet rid her of it. She stared at her paws, wondering what her new mentor thought of the poor apprentice she'd been saddled with.

At times, it felt like she was cheating somehow. Her form was sloppy, not like other apprentices her age. When she managed to get a catch same as them in spite of that, she couldn't help the guilt that welled within her. It made her feel like an imposter. Everyone else had so much more skill than her.

Cloudypaw knew that she would be a warrior one day, but could she wasn't sure she'd ever be a good one.

"I'm worried my warrior's ceremony will be delayed." She admitted suddenly, almost too soft to hear. It made her feel a little silly admitting it. There was a time she would have felt happy becoming a warrior at all. Now though, the thought that she might not get to stand next to her siblings as they got their new names, it scared her. "I'm just learning all of this so slow."​

 

[Flamestar]

Her apprentice came to sit beside her, and Flamewhisker would lift her tail and gently touch the younger molly's shoulder. She listened as Cloudypaw explained where she went wrong, and she would ever so slightly nod along as she spoke. It was something she had noticed already from their outings together, but she wanted to hear her say it aloud. It was something that her mother had done when she was still learning, and she often tried to remember the different ways her mother had taught her. She wanted to relate to her apprentice, but she refused to lie to her. Hunting had been a skill that she had picked up naturally, but it was probably more because she didn't have the option. She had been very young when her mother had been injured, and if Flamewhisker hadn't learned how to hunt, then she and her mother would have starved. The clan had it easy...they all took care of each other here...out there, it was a completely different story.

Flamewhisker was silent for a moment, as she formulated words in her mind. Finally, she decided what to say, and she opened her jaws.

I'm worried my warrior's ceremony will be delayed.

The words blurted from Flycatcher's niece's maw, and Flamewhisker's eyes widened notably. "Why would you think that?" The words fell from her maw moments before Cloudypaw's reasoning. She would blink reassuringly, and shake her head. "Everyone learns differently Cloudypaw. Everyone has their different strengths and weaknesses. I may be a great hunter, but I am not a good fighter. I can't swim, or climb either! Flycatcher tried to teach me how to climb, and I fell off the second branch!"

[₊⋆]​

​