private if you need some help 𓍊 lupinepaw

[edenberry ?!]

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 〰 An unbreakable spirit is hard to come by... but easier to manifest the younger you are. It had been evident in spring-glimmering eyes and a kitten-toothed smile that Eden, a leggy kitten kittypet, was not daunted by the great expanses of the unknown in the slightest. They'd been warned, definitely, by adults that knew better (if Cherrypaw's rumor mill was to be believed, Slate's advice had been of angry bias as a failed kittypet himself!) but largely, unfortunately, went ignored.

If they'd been asked what they thought they should be like as a nearly full-grown adult themself, a twin pair of scars down their back and a bite-gouged face would not have been amongst their descriptors. They also, cheerily, would've suggested that they should be a supremely talented hunter by now. That they would be a beloved, friendly asset to their clan whose good deeds did not often go overlooked. Rewarded instead, by a merciful weaver of fate, if the concept of karma was to be trusted.

The universe, or what the clans had deemed their all powerful ancestors, had decided that goodness and kindness were not worth giving peace to. Edenpaw found it harder and harder to believe in these supposed benevolent spirits when time and again they were punished for having arms stretched open to anyone and everyone. But today, they had remained stubbornly confident that they were not quite yet a lost cause as far as being the warrior of their dreams went.

Inspired by Cherrypaw's success on the journey, and encouraged that they are not completely out of depth by Glimmerpaw's own admission to training struggles, they'd sought out another friend for some private tutoring. Hazelbeam was patient enough and gentle enough as not to frighten her apprentice from asking for help but... swallowing down the image of who'd been there before her made the whole 'mentor' thing a little complicated.

"It's probably not a good sign I haven't caught anything though, right," they ramble, turning to the dark-furred girl next to them with a small frown before continuing their ranting. "I mean.. we're all almost warriors by now and I can't even catch a stinking mouse!" The very suggestion that cats could simply not be good at certain skills was lost on them- a battle of self-confidence encouraging blind faith that anything is attainable with enough effort and time. "Thanks for keeping this quiet by the way... it's really embarrassing and just... you and Cherrypaw are so much better at this stuff but I'm pretty sure she'd like... totally cuff me over the head if I missed for the fourth time in a row. I can do the climbing part easy because I climb the big wooden spikes around the garden all the time- how do you know when you're close enough to pounce though? I always hesitate too long- get too close I guess."


-- @LUPINEPAW​

 

[LUPINESONG]

❀‿ Lupinepaw—decidedly—was something of a critic of notions such as fate and karmic mercies. Sure, it seemed nice that they all would get to hang out and relax together in a starry forest after they died and such, but to think that she would be given the power to bestow blessing upon her successors and be privy to the fates of the living seemed... Well, ridiculous.

The forest itself did not bend to the wills of the living creatures residing within them, why would the dead have any more say in its fate? The forest's complete indifference to whether she and her loved ones lived or died may have been a macabre notion to bring up to anyone else, but Lupinepaw felt quite free without the pesky chains of destiny tying her down alongside everything else working against her. Cruelty seemed like a unique power of cats to be used against each other, and it was a power that could destroy the forest from the inside out. In turn, compassion rose as cruelty's arch-nemesis, and Lupinepaw would do her best to keep mind to wield it like a sword. She couldn't get behind the thought that these things existed in the non-breathing things around her nor were they injected into the universe itself... A tree would not fall on her because it hated her, and she... appreciated that.

She hummed as she listened along to Edenpaw's ramble, she felt flattered to be seen as a fair enough hunter that the other apprentice thought to look to her for advice. Lupinepaw knew that any of her acquired hunting skills could be attributed to the fact that she did her very best to avoid battle-training at any chance she got. Still... she could bask a little in the compliments, right?

"Well, I wouldn't say that, like, catching no prey is better than catching something... But you shouldn't be so hard on yourself! It's leafbare, even the best hunters are having a hard time catching anything. I think Figfeather came back from a hunt empty-pawed the other day..." She's quick to assure Edenpaw, though she knew that it might be ... hard for them to pass a warrior assessment if they never caught anything.

Well, good thing she was there to help!

"Anyways, climbing's the hardest part of tree-hunting, so you're like, totally going to pick this up in no time," Lupinepaw purred, remembering her own trouble with learning how to climb back in the early days of apprenticeship. She hoisted herself up onto a low branch and beckoned the other to follow, "Pouncing is just a matter of practice, honestly. Eventually you do it enough and your muscles remember, I think."

She crouched and sprung forward to pounce upon a small patch of moss growing upon the branch. "Just, like that. Now you try." The dark furred apprentice hopped to perch on a branch nearby to watch Edenpaw's form.

NOBODY YET EVERYTHING ⊹₊°❀‿ A POOL TO SHED YOUR MEMORY

• OOC:
• 
• 
  — lupinekit . lupinepaw
  — trans she/her. 9mo apprentice of skyclan. padding after falconpaw
  — a tall, pretty, long-haired black smoke with low white and green eyes
  — smells like sweet lupine flowers and young pine needles
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — fullbody by pikaihao and chibi by rae
  — penned by eezy

​

 

[edenberry ?!]

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 〰 The suggestion that it was the fault of the weather was a kind explanation, one that Edenpaw mulled over in complete thought for all of two seconds. It was hard to take, hard to accept, when they of most of SkyClan's numbers, blended into the snow closely. If there was a better time to make up for their mistakes, it was under the guise of the frost, the snow with spring-green eyes to mimic the sprouts begging to regrow at the first sight of spring. The mention of Figfeather as a compass for success is... helpful, if only because if anyone should be a master of hunting, it is probably going to come from those who'd journeyed far away and come back alive. Figfeather could hunt in mountains well enough to survive and even still... had less luck here.

"Maybe she's just too distracted thinking about Miss Fanta- they're having babies," they share, knowing this news not to be any big reveal at this point but the idea remains. Would Edenpaw also be so distracted if they had young kittens to fret over? It was hard to imagine any of their own tiny mimicries running about (they were still so young, only just ten months old really) but then the images of Fluffykit.... that makes it a bit more relatable.

Lupinepaw doesn't even hesitate to reassure them that the hard part is well behind the both of them. If climbing was more than half the battle, then victory was all but guaranteed at this point. It was just a matter of time. Lupinepaw was not necessarily that much bigger than them outside of her fur being a lot thicker but something about the way she lunged through the canopy seemed far more graceful, as if she could extend every muscle just a hair longer to really throw herself into a catch.

A shame it had to be moss, for the sake of practice, because it would've been an absolutely beautiful kill had a bird been there instead.

Giving a stubborn, self-assured nod, the leggy cat crouches as the branch bows to compensate the change in weight... a bobbed tail flicks to try to maintain balance (maybe that was another secret missing ingredient?) before hopping towards the pile of tree-fuzz with a exhaustive grunt. The branches take all the momentum out of most of their jump, having flung itself back against the pressure of hindlegs kicking out and while they do not miss entirely, do not plummet to the forest floor, it is a messy scramble to land half a tails-length away from the moss instead of on it.

"See what I mean? Just barely too shy every time... it's like.. the trees are out to get me. Do you think they can hear us? Think they know what we're doing up here?" They balance carefully towards the trunk before bonking their head against it with a pleading whine, "I'm never gonna graduate if you don't be nice... pleassseeee... I'll do ground hunting in the spring if you help me out mister tree!"

Desperation was not a flattering look.​