PEARL DIVER | intro; fishing

[Ospreypaw]

TAGS — Cindersong was not surprised to find Ospreypaw already awake at the crack of dawn; was even less surprised that her apprentice was raring to get down the the riverbank to hunt with the rapacity of a dog. It had been a couple moons now since the blue-blotched tabby was apprenticed, and her hunger for work, for skill, was one rarely matched by other apprentices (and, she thinks smugly, even by some warriors). Gone before the sun had fully risen above the horizon, the duo marched to the river for today's training.

"You have to have more patience," Cindersong chides her apprentice. Frustration mounts in the silver molly's chest. The sun now hung sleepily in the vibrant blue sky; it must have been an hour at least since they'd set out. Cream-tarnished muzzle crinkles at its corners as Ospreypaw readies a reply: "I'm being patient." But even as she hisses her retort, she knows what to change — when she plunges her blue-laced paws into the water, she never lets the fish get quite in range of her fish-hook claws. It's hard to tell when they're sitting at the bank as opposed to wading in, but Cindersong won't let her. You won't be able to handle the temperature come leafbare! she warns, you have to learn to do it right, and you have to learn it now! It's annoying advice, but if she wants to succeed as a warrior, she guesses she'll obey.

A new shadow slips below the rippling surface of the water. Toxic-yellow eyes lock onto the sleek shape, waiting for it to come unsuspectingly near the shallows. She's careful to duck so that her shadow is not cast in its path. Her tail-tip twitches with anticipation. It comes closer, and closer still, and then....

It's little more than a flash of cream and blue, but Ospreypaw has done it! She wrangles a trout to shore, and in a deft blow to the head, kills it. It's small, as far as fish go, but it's a success nonetheless. Cindersong mrows happily: "There you go!" A fleeting spark of joy flashes through Ospreypaw's muscular chest, and they toss their freshkill farther up the bank for safekeeping. It's a success, but a small one. They can always do better. What they didn't anticipate is seeing another clanmate watching them. Their jaw slacks for a moment as they catch their breath, but quickly they summon up a greeting. "Hey," the apprentice mews, gesturing to their spot on the bank, "wanna join?"​

 

[shellpaw]

shellpaw is still a very new apprentice. she knows this, mulls over where she’d be had she graduated with her brothers as lilac - capped paws trail the wading shores, if sickness had not strung her lungs up and squeezed the life from them until she was left gasping within moonbeam’s den. she is seven months old and not a fish beneath her claws just yet, try as she might — and try as she did. the rubbery taste of twoleg trash still lingers on her tongue, harsh as the sound it had made to match. the reed brushes along the length of her tabby ribboned back, saccharine eyes held low and glinting with curiosity beneath their lifeless half - lid when she casts a glance out over the glimmering waters — still not sure where to look first on these little patrols, but soon enough, her mind is made for her.

through a bushel of cattail and the waters open up around a wide bend, revealing the forms of cindersong and ospreypaw where they seem to bicker over the waters. her ear twitched, swiveling forward to catch whatever was being exchanged when suddenly, the former yanks a fish from the waters. it’s a writhing, fighting thing for all of two seconds ; gone limp between the older apprentice’s pearly teeth, still dripping river water down onto her finely toned chest. he is a natural, by her mentor’s joyous mrrow from the sidelines — she can tell, can see how joyous the river is to accept them, how willingly it offers up its lifeblood in the form of a nice trout, and shellpaw.. well, she watches. yet to feel the warmth of scale and white meat beneath her fangs, to lift up with a heavy breath, rivulets cooling the ends of her fishbone fur.. not yet, implore and pray as she might. ospreypaw is bathed in a dazzling gleam of blue - golden dawn light, the waters around her pinkish with dawn glow and shellpaw can only stare.

a light slap pulls her back from hazy daydreams, strawberry - toned luminaries flitting down to the fish at her paws before flitting them back up. eyes like bitter toxin pin her already and she swallows hard, flutterbeat breath falling from her maw, not so much nervous as her soft vocals would imitate but embarrassed that she’d gotten caught. yet the silvery feline invites her to his side — an apprentice invites her to fish with her. an apprentice, just like she was. it does not show on the blank of her safe, the ever - serene half lid of her gaze.. but her pelt burns and the ends of her fur sway ghostlike in the beat of quiet between ospreypaw’s flippant wanna join a her slow, hesitant, ” umm.. yeah. yes. “ she was allowed to, now, even if she’d yet to reel her own catch. it still feels strange, but she could pretend.

small - toed paws move, giving a glance back to where her mentor lingers in the brush somewhere behind ( unwilling to face their scathing frustration again, still frozen to her marrow with regret that she’d ever done it in the first place. punishment. she could do without. ). she takes ospreypaw’s side with her head tipped, curiosity glowing in the pits of lifeless amber eyes, still straight - mawed as ever, ” didn’t mean to.. stare. “ haunting, her tone is low and light both — ospreypaw was good. relative, perhaps, to her experience ; the lily - lunged molly could still count on a flit of whiskers how many times she’d been out of camp, only swept a paw in the shallows for her own swimming practice. she’s good at it, now, though — taking to the water like a cygnet, colored just the same. now, though, she toes the shore on her way towards the older apprentices side ( she can hang out with them now, a giddy and private thought she hopes does not present itself anyway in the way she settles close ), letting her gaze drift towards the water before him, ” but the water.. it likes you. “ and the fish too, by extension.

her lips purse, ears flitting forward as a small shadow passes beneath murky waters. it’s gone before she can track it, too deep to make an impact against the hazy glimmer of riverwater. she doesn’t know when to strike, can’t even tell when if she wanted to — it was too quick. her ears flit forward, ” how can you tell when.. they’re close? “

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 ° 𓇼 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒

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  SHELLPAW 𓆉 SHE / HER. SEVEN MOONS OLD, APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN, MENTORED BY LICHENTAIL ; SMELLS LIKE SALT & RIVER BLOOMS. HAZECLOUD xx LICHENTAIL, NIECE TO SMOKESTAR. PENNED BY ANTLERS ----------------- ° ❀ ⋆
  frail alabaster molly with lilac striping and watery amber eyes.
  
  she is pallid ; platinum splotched with ribbons of dovey lilac curls, wisped ends like memories of a distant shore and plush enough to conceal the juts of malnutrition beneath. tufted elderdown fur conceals a body worn fragile by tumultuous youth, too thin in some places and round with baby fat in others. her face is short - muzzled, framed half mast by eyes coined rheumy, rosen amber. the anemic cold pink - purple at tender paws and nose tell a lifetime of sickness, further made obvious by the feathering weakness in half - whispered tones.
  

  CHRONICALLY ILL ; prone to wheezing, nose at a constant drip from longterm illness - induced nasal polyps. not contagious.

  
  

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[Gladefrost]

Cindersong had taken Ospreypaw out fishing, and it seems as Shellpaw wasn't far off. Had Shellpaw had her first catch yet? The warrior sketches through her memory but doesn't have an exact date on when the daughter of Lichenstar and Hazecloud had talked nor celebrated their first catch. She watches from the side with a smile dancing on delicate features and she nods at the new apprentice's words that it did seem as the fish liked Ospreypaw. “It does seem like that,” she compliments with a purr towards the blue toned apprentice as an chambray gaze flicks to the waters with occasional fish swimming past.

“Do you want to try and catch a fish, Shellpaw?” Troutsnout would inquire with a tilt of her head towards the lilac tabby who seems confused as a fish she attempted to track quickly darted away. Hopefully, it didn't seem as she was imposing on Lichenstar's territory but she wanted Shellpaw to feel apart instead left out. She crouches down by the water and angles herself so the reflecting sun doesn't keep her shadow on the waters, lingering a little back from the edge yet close enough to watch the wish. A nearby fish slowly heads to the shore and starts to turn before a flash of ivory lurches forward.

In a split moment, curved claws snatch onto the fish and fangs react to leave a clean bite in the fish. An chambray gaze turns to meet amber ones of Shellpaw's, and her eyes smile at the apprentice before laying it down. “You have to position yourself so you're shadow doesn't cast on the surface and catch them when they're off guard.” The warrior would meow as she gives advice to the frail girl, her eyes glistening with admiration that the young girl learns or even catches her first fish.
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