NOT LITERALLY // trying to swim, failing

[SHININGSUN]

☼ Surely it couldn't be that hard, right? Well, he was eating those words now as he found himself flailing in the water near Sunningrocks in a desperate bid to fight back against the current that threatened to carry him off further downstream. All that fluffy fur he possessed worked against him as it pulled him down and made the effort of keeping his head above the surface increasingly harder. Eventually the struggle paid off as he drifted back into shallower waters that allowed him to root his paws in the sandy riverbed. Saved! Though the heat of embarrassment was swift to consume him as he staggered back up onto the shore looking utterly drenched. "W-well... that wasn't my b-b-best idea." The cold of the water made his teeth chatter, but with the heat of the day it didn't take much to warm him back up.

"Jeez! How do RiverClanners do it?" Shiningpaw exhaled loudly as he flopped back onto the soft soil and sand, taking a moment to savour the sun's warmth on his soaked belly. "Guess I won't be catching fish any time soon."
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[MOUSENOSE]

Mousepaw quite enjoys Sunningrocks, and can see why RiverClan had wanted to keep them so badly. The warm, flat surfaces of the stones are intoxicating; she lays upon one now, flat on her back with her legs kicking up into the air. She's supposed to be doing something -- @Silverlightning had sent her ahead to begin listening for voles in the cracks of the stone, she thinks -- but surely even he wouldn't begrudge her a few moments of sunning!

The mostly-white tortie is distracted by splashing in the water nearby, and she's immediately on alert, flipping onto her belly with her ears flattening. Has RiverClan already come to claim them again? She can't fight RiverClan! She'll just get sneezed on again!

But it's just Shiningpaw, bafflingly shuffling about in the cold river water. "Guess I won't be catching fish any time soon." Mousepaw giggles and hops down from her perch. "Why would you wanna eat stinky old fish, anyway? Help me find voles! But don't shake your pelt off by me. You get me wet and we'll have a problem!" She sticks her tongue out playfully.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Dewfang]

"Good thing we aren't RiverClan then," The senior warrior rasps as he swerves around one of the giant stones to step into the light and make himself known to the two playful apprentices. His own should be nearby, he too had sent them to practice stalking mice in the cracks of the boulders. For once, ThunderClan was eating well and gaining plump. It was a good time to be a warrior.

Dewfang's icy gaze drifted over across the river, half-expecting RiverClan warriors to stream out of the reeds like clockwork. It did not come. "Next time, Shiningpaw," He cautioned, "Be more careful. You're a target floundering in that River. We may have beaten RiverClan that moon ago, but that River is their strength as much as the forest is for us."

@B A S I L P A W // @skypaw

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[Sparkwing]

Swimming? Ha! Swimming was for fish!! He bounced over to Shiningpaw and Mousepaw, carrying a fresh mouse he had caught moments before. He was a good hunter, he liked to think. It was gratifying and rewarding, made him feel useful

He hadn't seen Shiningpaw get nearly swept away, but he did see him soaking wet. Just absolutely sopping wet on the floor.

At least he didn't drown? That's the good part. He won't soon forget what happened to Flamewhisker. He wouldn't soon forget the warrior who did it, either.

"Fish are more fun to watch, anyways!" He chimes in. "They just wiggle and go places."

Truly incredible creatures. How do they do it.

A brilliant idea struck him, seemingly out of the blue.

"What if you held onto a root and tried to float???" He suggested. Yes. He was smart. "Or if you've had enough of the water, we can hunt voles with Mousepaw!"


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[BASILWHISKER]

Maybe it made him look more like a ThunderClanner than not, but Basilpaw absolutely despised the idea of swimming in any sort. The young tom wasn't exactly know for having great core strength, and he had absolutely no experience keeping himself afloat at all. The farthest really being ankle-deep puddles, nothing in comparison to the tumbling tides of the river. He was careful to give as much distance as possible between himself and the grassy bank.

"None of that sounds sensible." He deadpanned to Sparkpaw, twitching his tail in his only show for distaste. The battle for sunningrocks was a political move that was beyond Basilpaw's own remedy of opinion. He simply hoped it wouldn't be a frequent place Dewfang brought him to. "This will be a large water source for the other prey we eat. We should utilize it that way instead."

 

[SHININGSUN]

☼ "Ho ho! Don't tempt me, Mousepaw. I'm just itching to shake!" Shiningpaw playfully warned with a growing sense of mischief. The temptation was strong, so very strong! He was about to join her with hunting some voles when Dewfang's voice caught his attention and it caused him to lower his ears in partial submission. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Though given that RiverClan is strongest in the water I thought that learning a little bit about swimming might help if they ever decide to attack us." The notion of being drowned by a RiverClanner was something that would surely haunt him for some time unless he had the ability to protect himself.

"I would like to try fish one day. Though that can wait for another day. Come on, lets catch some voles! I can practice swimming again later." Preferably once he had dried off and warmed back up again. Speaking of drying off... Shiningpaw picked that moment to finally shake out his soaking fur, attempting to catch anyone stood too close to him with the resulting spray.
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[crowflower]

Compared to many cats, Crowflower is a lot more...progressive. Her curiosity and eagerness to learn as many things as her mind can possibly handle has led her to believe that her clan limits themselves by only doing things as they've always done. It isn't often that she voices these opinions aloud, but she can usually be seen performing a variety of odd activities. The skunk-furred cat has always been interested in the secrets guarded by the river, but she now believes that learning to swim is a necessity. Pulling Flamewhisker's sodden and bloodied body from the river, just barely clinging to life, was enough to scare Crowflower into a sense of urgency.

"Learning to swim is a matter of safety," she says sternly, looking at the gathered apprentices and then settling on Dewfang. "Learning to fish is a fun challenge, but knowing how to swim might save your life." Crowflower does not challenge her clanmates often, but the fear sparked by the remembered sound of Flamewhisker calling for her mother gives the warrior a backbone she normally doesn't possess. Satisfied that her point has been made, she turns to her own apprentices. "Stay in the shallows by the pool and practice your paddling. We will never be swift like Riverclan, but it's good exercise!"

// @Cherrypaw @D U C K ​

 

[Cherrypaw [in.]]

"THAT'S WHEN STRANGE SENSATIONS, START TO GROW"​

---

It seemed as though Crowflower didn't need to say it twice, or even at all, for Cherrypaw had already leapt into the shallows of the pool, splashing and paddling about with ease. Midst the few training sessions he used to have with Tybalt, he would take it upon himself to leap into the pool of water and start swimming around, as suggested by his father. He even would accompany him sometimes to the rivers so Cherrypaw could get his day's worth of swimming in and use up some of his restlessness from being contained inside the camp at all times. However, it was much easier to swim properly back when he was smaller. Now that he stood upright on the bank of the pool just before it sloped down into a deep portion, his entire--and very much dripping wet--body stood over the surface of the water with hardly any effort, his spindly legs able to reach the bottom with ease. In fact, the deepest portion of the pool was the only place he could still effectively swim in without throwing himself into the river entirely.
In short, his height was a little... too high for the pool.

He pushes through the water, leaving little particles of sand and dirt swirling in the water from where his paws brushed over the bottom in his wake, and he pulls himself back out. "You'd think it'd be deeper," Cherrypaw grumbles, shaking his own pelt to rid himself of water sagging his pelt down. "But I'm curious about something--why is it that majority of you can't swim? Is it looked down upon? My dad told me it was critical I learned how to swim, else I had to flee from something or fight in the river--didn't you all learn the same?" He glances at his new mentor Crowflower, curious, but as he looks around at the other apprentices, his attention is quickly drawn away from the topic, and he bellows with laughter when he sees Shiningpaw crawling out of the river looking like a deranged rat.

"I think the voles will be scared of you before you're ever able to catch them, Shiningpaw!" There was no malicious intent or a lilt of a jeer in his laugh--it was all in good fun to him. Sunningrocks was finally theirs to enjoy after so long of a starvation, and his belly growled in anticipation of the juicy prey that was to come their way.
Finally... Things are starting to turn out for us. He's looking around at the others, and a slight smile forms on his face.​

✦ ✦ ✦​