to see the sun paint the sky | twitchpaw (training)

[Daisyflight]

"SUREFIRE, YEAH, THE SETTING SUN WANTS COMPANY"​

Daisyflight sat amidst the bustle of the morning camp, having just ushered out a few patrols. All the while, her gaze strayed towards the entrance of the apprentice den. She wanted to catch Twitchpaw before he began any tasks for his parents, as she so often saw him doing.

The instant his frazzled form emerged from the bent-back ferns that made up the den's structure, she slipped across the clearing towards him. Flared and curled ever so slightly at the tip, her tail wove into an immaculate wave of 'hello'.

"Good morning! I thought it best we got started on your training right away. Today will be fairly relaxed, how about a tour of the territory, hm?" Primly tucking her paws beneath her, one ear flicked forward and another flattened to listen to the clearing behind them. Her kits were older now, but the urge to check in on them still held firm.

"There's no rush, if you'd like to eat or groom I will wait. I get off on the wrong paw without an orderly pelt and meal too." Daisyflight gave the smaller tom a kind smile, trying to encourage him past his often nervous inclination.

/ heehoo @TWITCHPAW
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[TWITCHBOLT]

Twitchpaw burst from the threshold of the den, as he did every day, to settle short-lived calmness with a deep breath of cool morning air. It was a habit as a kitten and was a habit now- a harsh dose of reality was often what he needed when he tore away from the often nightmarish content of his dreams. Shaking himself of dust, and beginning to tear a tongue through some of the smaller knots in his fur, the bicolour apprentice had hardly noticed his mentor as she foot-fell feather-light toward him, tail waving a plumed greeting that he did not see.

A shrill screech of shock left him as soon as she spoke, and even as he sat the recoil threatened to throw off his balance. Stomping a paw into the dirt to keep himself steady, he took deep inhalations to temper his breathing. Training, right. Training. He'd been expecting it. Why had he screamed? What had he thought was going to happen?

"A tour sounds... nice." His words emerged slightly strained, though not insincere. Taking up her invitation to groom, he spent a concerningly little amount of time trying to work the knots out of his fur. Some of them had long since become unmanageable, and he'd not recently had help dealing with it. "I'm not- PTTTHHHTT- hungry, though. So, I'm- PLEHTHH- ready when you are, really. Yeah." Fumbled words fell through a mouthful of fluff, fur spat out at every interval. It was not a graceful display, a sharp contrast to the prim femme that stood over him now.​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[Daisyflight]

"SUREFIRE, YEAH, THE SETTING SUN WANTS COMPANY"​

"Mm, alright." Response off-kilter at the apprentice's sudden shriek, Daisyflight could only gloss over the show of surprise. His hasty grooming assuaged a little of her concerns, though she made a mental note to incorporate cleanliness techniques into the training in the future. If he had been one of her kits she may have done it herself, but it was not her place.

"Excellent, well let's begin right away." Remark already afloat on the breeze behind her long frame, the warrior began to stride out of camp on unfettered feet. The weather was compliant, an idle sun letting in enough light to keep the understory of the forest bright. Natural skylights split the canopy, the lucent green foliage beneath them soaking up its rays.

"Now, I want to get us off on the right paw. What do you enjoy doing most? Any little tricks of yours I should know about?" Glazed with interest, Daisyflight's eyes flit to meet his. There had to be something Twitchpaw had proficiency in, and once they worked that out she would do all she could to bring out the best in that skill. Before them, the solid stilt of Tall Pine's trunk came into view. Wreathed with a flower-flood clearing, their blooms waning in leaf-fall, it took up much of the horizon. A quiet explanation of the location they stood in followed its appearance, Daisyflight lifting a considerate paw to its leafy crown.

//aHHA this- isn't late. nono ​

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[TWITCHBOLT]

At least it was warm- as unequipped as he felt for this training, the world was compliant with perfectly reasonable training conditions, and seemed for once not to despise him. Such a thing brought... little relief up, but as with anything that was brought up it was tainted with the bile of nerves. What if he was just... irredeemably awful, an untrainable wreck? She would hate him, she'd drop him as a student, he'd get kicked out the Clan...

Spirals, spirals; she brought him out, gasping at water's surface, with a question that sent more darkening confusion twirling and whirling in his skull. Anything he was good at? Any tricks? Was he meant to have come prepared with a repertoire, armed with knowledge so he could knock her paws off? He'd barely had a moment as a kit to discover what he liked- only what he wanted to do, and there had never been much time for that.

His contemplation of the question was obvious in the silence that stretched between them, crickets surely audible if only it was night. For that time he stared, stared, stared. Peridot flecked amber could only widen empty, bewildered. "Uhm- no, no." Spluttered out finally, his pupils dropped to the ground in shame. What good-for-nothing student was he? "No. I... didn't have time for that. But I wanted- I always thought that, uh- that climbing looked fun." Generic- boring- she probably thought him pathetic for thinking that was so interesting. Who didn't like climbing? What freak? He at least had proven to her he was not a freak. Preferences-wise, anyhow.​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[Daisyflight]

"SUREFIRE, YEAH, THE SETTING SUN WANTS COMPANY"​

Her granite-and-honey ears picked up his words, attentive. His bafflement threatened to draw out a sigh of exasperation but she smothered it, knowing it would do no good. Daisyflight had never had to speak at length to one so paranoid and flighty, the twists in Twitchpaw's behaviour unpredictable to her. "It's not a trick question, don't worry. And climbing? Well, we can certainly begin there. You'll be the best climber in the clan before you know it." Cool and collected, she let the statement settle without implications. He had every chance.

Ferrying them through the clearing, the calico paused at the base of a smaller pine tree. The lowest boughs brushed the trunks of it's neighbours, a hopefully unintimidating start. "We'll be taking the next leg of the tour by tree. Take your time getting up there, there's no need to be quick. Try and push most of your weight with your back paws." Daisyflight took several paces back, before making her own ascent. Steady limbs raced up the base, snagging onto the rough surface. Larger than the apprentice, she didn't have to drag herself far to get to the first branch- relying mostly on the momentum of her sprint.

Her head popped out from between the alpine fronds, watching. She was ready to spring into action at any sign of struggle, positioning herself carefully.
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