I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN -- BLAZESTAR

[butterflytuft]

// @BLAZESTAR finally....tree climbing

She doesn't know how, she doesn't know when, but she's done it. With her mentor's steady and patient encouragement, Butterflypaw has found herself on the very lowest branch they could find on a pine tree. Black claws dig into the bark as she crouches low, eyes practically bulging out of her head in disbelief as she stares down. She feels so high up! How did birds manage to fly? How did her clanmates manage to climb to the very tops of these trees? She's only roughly a fox-length up and already she feels petrified! With a harsh swallow, she peers upwards, searching for Blazestar's creamy pelt among the boughs. "I-I did it!" She calls shakily, trying to hide the trembling in her voice. Perhaps she'd be proud if she weren't so scared! I'll bet Daisyflight will be proud of me! Maybe now, the other apprentices won't be able to make fun of her anymore. She can be a good SkyClanner just like they can, now that she can climb. "What next?" Her soft voice inquires, craning her neck to see around her shoulder, still searching for him.​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Blazestar is only a branch higher than his apprentice, his own enormous golden paws precariously perched on the thickest section. His claws are extended and sunk deep into the bark. He tries to limit his breathing, his movements. Should he have enlisted Daisyflight or Redstorm to help teach Butterflypaw tree climbing?

The SkyClan leader should be as good at scaling trees as any of his warriors, he'd told himself dejectedly. It was his duty to train his apprentice, and Butterflypaw would need to know. His warriors lived most of their existence in the trees, darting up and down trunks and through branches like long-bodied squirrels. He doesn't want her to feel anymore an outsider as she probably already does, after all.

Blazestar peers through the pine needles, blinking warmly at her as she calls up to him. "Well done," he purrs, waving his tail to keep his balance. "We'll go a little higher. I'll go to that branch," he gestures with his nose to the one just above him, "and you can climb to the one I'm on now. Okay? I'll be right here, don't worry."

With a deep inhale of determination, Blazestar removes his claws from the branch shaking beneath his weight and secures them into the center of the tree. Pulling his body weight up is a terrible chore, and his shoulders ache from the effort, but he finally manages to accomplish his goal. He feels like the entire tree trembles as he puts his weight on the next highest branch.

- ,,​

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[butterflytuft]

Her mentor's voice draws her eyes in, and she cranes her neck to see straight above her. There, his creamy fur shows through the pine needles, and relief floods her. He's right there. Everything will be okay. She swallows and keeps her eyes up, legs trembling. Just...don't look down. "O-Okay!" She calls back, wispy voice shaky. She closes her eyes tight for a moment, drawing in a calming breath (it doesn't work) before she opens them and focuses on the tree trunk ahead of her. Slowly, she grapples her way towards it, tail lashing wildly to keep her balance. When she finally reaches the trunk, she places her forepaws upon it and sinks her claws in, exhaling slowly. With another glance up, she spots her mentor shimmying to the branch of him; the sight comforts her. If Blazestar can do it, she can too! They're both former kittypets, after all. She gulps before hoisting herself up the trunk, on her way to the next branch. And it's going smoothly! She reaches the limb, begins to scurry onto it, when she makes a grave mistake.

She looks down.

A wave of dizziness overcomes her and she finds herself swaying, balance now thrown off. It's no use, her claws are helpless when she can't even stay on the branch straight. She leans too far to the left, and gravity does the rest. With a nauseating scrape, her claws fail to keep her on the branch and she is falling, a terrified yowl sounding. This is it! I'm done for!

Thump!

What a tree Blazestar had chosen, what a smart mentor. Luckily for her, a blackberry bush stands just below the pine tree, and the shivering apprentice finds herself within its leafy branches, eyes clenched shut.​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

He looks down to check on her, and she's there, scrabbling against the pine tree's flimsy, splintering bark. She's doing well -- she's mounted the branch he just left, has an almost-satisfied look on her face.

Until she looks down. She looks down, and she begins to sway. Blazestar trembles, panic in his voice as he says, "Hey! No! Eyes up here! Sink your claws into the trunk!"

But she tries, and she can't, because she can't balance, and she slips over the edge. Her claws grasp uselessly for pine needles and branches, and Blazestar watches helplessly, mouth agape, as she plummets to the forest floor.

"Butterflypaw!" StarClan, what has he done? How can he be expected to teach a kittypet to climb when he can barely do it himself?!

His apprentice's yowl splits the air, but is cut short when she finds herself caught upon the spindles of the blackberry bush decorating the base. She makes no other sound, does not look at Blazestar, and he has a horrified feeling she's died from shock on the way down.

"Hold on!" He's desperate to get down to her and check on her, but he's lost all sense of propriety in the branches. They tremble beneath his clumsy bulk, and he hears a sickening creak as he steps wrongly onto one that can't quite bear his weight.

Crack!

His fall is not as far as Butterflypaw's, but it's also not cushioned by a blackberry bush. Luckily, he's oriented right, and he lands on all four paws, a wave of shock and pain flooding from the pads of his paws up to his clenched teeth.

But he's alive, and as he shakes his fur out, he realizes he can see her breathing -- just in a comatose panic.

"Hey, are you hurt?" He's dizzy, and his joints are screaming, but he's alive and in one piece -- and more importantly, so is his apprentice. He approaches her and gives her a worried once-over before sighing deeply. The exhale almost makes him keel over.

- ,,​

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