running through the night -- training

[Orangestar]

Two apprentices, one right after the other ... how about that? She decides to start from scratch. Orangeblossom can't give them an in-depth tour of the territory like she would have hoped; between the snow and her injuries, she'd be asking for trouble if she took them out right away. Who knew if WindClan would be lurking on the nearer side of their borders again? And, besides; she hasn't done a lot with Vulturepaw since he'd been apprenticed last moon, her hopes not matching up with his ability and comfort level, so maybe starting the two of them from the same point would be for the best.

The deputy gathers her two apprentices after Blazestar dismisses the meeting, an appreciative nod afforded to Heavy Stone as her father helps her limp to the side of the camp. She sits down gingerly, careful to tuck her injured leg away for minimal pain. "So." She begins, and gestures for the two to get comfortable.

"Since I'm injured at the moment, we won't be jumping out of trees right away. Instead we'll start with the boring stuff, so we can get it over with." She's never had an apprentice before, let alone two, but she remembers being young and remembers well that she'd hated sitting down and listening. "You're apprentices during the hardest time of the season-cycle, and this leaf-bare is harsher than usual; if you do well now, you'll find it easy when it warms up; but it will be hard to do well. I don't expect perfection, but I expect perseverance - you fall out of a tree seven times, you scramble back into the branches eight. As SkyClanners, the trees are a second home to us: we hunt in the trees, we fight falling from them, and as soon as I'm able I will be getting you up into them."

She pauses to smooth a piece of her shoulder fur down, and fixes the two adolescents with an even stare. "When you become warriors, what do you want to be best at? And what do you want to know?"​

✦ ooc ✦ info

• @VULTUREPAW @eveningpaw
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring vulturepaw and eveningpaw.
  ✦ 25 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[VULTUREPAW]

The small kit has been keeping mostly to himself, unsure of the world around him since those strange cats came and attacked them. He is unsure of a lot of things now and even more so has come the realization that he is different. That unlike most others his vision is different. It's not something he has come to terms with and honestly he is upset. He finds himself not wanting to talk to anyone like he used to and as he follows along the path after his mentor he realizes too that he has to share now. Pale and blind gaze is fixated on the ground as he walks after the other, dropping further and further behind. He doesn't want to pick up the pace and so he totters on the edge of the conversation. His small shape pulls even smaller as he sits down, facing slightly off center. He pulls his ears in Orangeblossom's direction as she speaks about them climbing and fighting in the trees. That it is their second home. For them. Not him. He frowns as he shifts his paws back and forth before he lets out a dry sounding sigh.

Mama must think terrible of him from where she watches him. Maybe that's why she left. "I don't wanna climb trees...." He mutters with a despondent air as he curls his tail against his own body. He lifts his head slightly then as he tries to focus on where the other is before he shakes his head. "I wanna go back to the nursery. It's better there."​

 

[eveningsun]

eveningpaw follows, hot on her new mentor's heels. she sits down promptly when they halt, eyes beaming up at the deputy. from the moment that meeting began the tortie could barely sit still, waiting impatiently for new adventure.

orangeblossom says that they have to start with the boring stuff, but even that couldn't falter her bright expression. she speaks of the trees her paws had been itching to climb since the moment she set eyes on them, and eve couldn't help but grin. the girl remained uncharacteristically quiet as if to soak up every word that left the molly's tongue.

she stopped speaking, and turned to her and vulturepaw for answers to her question. like the polite young lady eve was, she waited for her fellow apprentice to talk first, only to be left with a slacked jaw at their answer. "what? the nursery is totally boring!" she huffed, unable to believe her ears. maybe it wasn't totally boring, she did quite like spending time with her family and whatnot, but you couldn't do anything in there! now, they had the whole world at their paws! promptly after making her point, she turned back to orangeblossom. she had a simple answer to her question. "everything!"​

[ FALLEN STAR ]​

 

[Orangestar]

"You can decide to be a nursery-helper once you know how to be a warrior, Vulturepaw. Our queens know how to defend themselves and the kits in their care, you'll need to as well." Orangeblossom meows, deliberately missing the point Vulturepaw is trying to make. She doesn't bring mention to it otherwise, however, and the only sign of her disapproval is a twitch of her whiskers. It's odd to her that one of the kits would want to stay in the nursery, when there's much more to experience outside the camp, and that opinion is solidified somewhat as Eveningpaw bursts out incredulously in an echo of her thoughts.

"Everything? Stars, Eveningpaw, you're not going to go easy on me here." The twitch of her whiskers, this time, is amused, and Orangeblossom abandons her hopes of keeping her maw shut for most of this session. She'd deal with the pain of overuse later. "We'll start with the basics then. Two moons ago, after Blazestar's daughter was killed in a skirmish, Emberstar of ThunderClan proposed a set of rules that all Clans need to follow to keep the peace. The only rule in it currently is that while you may have friendships in other Clans, your loyalty must remain first and foremost to your home - so that you can defend your Clan with your life, even if you meet your kin in battle someday." Paler cream-and-white flashes across her vision when she blinks, and Orangeblossom shoves the image of her sister far from her thoughts with a flick of her tail. Apricotflower is RiverClan's problem, now. Not hers.

"Have you noticed how some SkyClanners leave at sunset? Those are daylight warriors, who return to their twolegs at dusk and return to SkyClan once the sun has risen. While they leave us at night most of the time, our daylight warriors are kept fed and healthy by their twolegs, even in harsh leaf-bare like this. However, it comes with risk - like in the blizzard, where they didn't return for a few sunrises because they were kept in their twoleg dens for safety." She explains, eyes alighting on a familiar blue tabby pelt across the camp. Her ears warm, and she draws her gaze back to the duo in front of her before Hailstone might catch on she'd been staring again. "As far as I'm aware, no other Clan is accepting of that lifestyle in the way we are. This makes us different, but it also makes us strong." A thought comes to mind. "What about you is different? How can that make you strong?"​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring vulturepaw and eveningpaw.
  ✦ 25 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[eveningsun]

her fluffy tail moved to cover her front paws as she sat listening. orangeblossom spoke of some rule being created in the wake of morningpaw's death. eve was too young to remember most of the details, but it was hard to be unaware of the camp shifting into sadness. the deputy said that emberstar of thunderclan made this rule, but she didn't understand why that meant she had to follow it. she blinks, loading up a rebellious quip, but orangeblossom is already off again.

a silent, yet enthusiastic nod was granted to her question. the daylight warriors, the ones she had met were nice. still, some skyclanners seemed to hold some type of weird grudge against them. her mind began drifting off to what her life might be like if she were a daylight warrior. the name sounds cool, and she imagined a pampered life. that would mean leaving her family behind, only for the night but eveningpaw still didn't know if she could do it.

before she could get much further, a question was sprung upon her. a look of confusion dashed across her face. different? "um... well," she said tentatively, filling the stagnant air that grew uncomfortable. she didn't know what made her different quite yet. "i don't know yet, is that okay? i can think real hard if not," she said, gazing up at the bicolored molly hopefully. she had already thought real hard, but if orangeblossom wanted more she would think until her head exploded.​

[ FALLEN STAR ]​