pafp YOU LIFT YOUR EYES UP FROM THE DUST — climbing lesson

[DOEBLAZE]

✿—— the tabby takes a couple of pawsteps hesitantly towards the pine tree orangeblossom has deftly guided the pair of them to, stopping short of its weighty trunk with hesitation clear in her movements. at some point since her kits' ceremony, blazestar had started to introduce her to skyclan's namesake skill, of course, but she certainly doesn't feel nearly as comfortable among the branches as her orange-and-white denmate seems to. climbing. it seems so intimidating. she can't imagine herself leaping deftly between the trees as so many of the clan's warriors, even its apprentices, do; to envision herself snaring birds in her claws as easily as stray moss seems utterly impossible. pale eyes turn hesitantly to the deputy, unsure.

"so, um, so what do i do?" her voice is nervous as she looks between orangeblossom and the tree, paws shuffling anxiously in the dirt. bobbie hastily adds, "blazestar sort of in-introduced me to it, of course, but ...." she trails off, the pine tree she's so casually dimissed before suddenly seeming looming, huge, frightening. perhaps she should wait for orangeblossom's instruction, or maybe climbing was something that had to be demonstrated. orangeblossom's skilled at climbing, though. her thoughts chime in unhelpfully and she shakes her head slightly to dismiss the idea, adding quietly, "i just—don't really know w-what i'm doing. obviously."

---

┏━•✿°•° OOC -ˋˏ ༻⚘༺ ˎˊ- INFORMATION °•°✿•━━━━━┓ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀

• ooc: please wait for @orangeblossom !!
  

• 

• ❀ bobbie — for her kithood love of bobby pins she/her ; cisgender female — skyclan — queen — 39 ☾s —— bobbie is a beautiful but insecure lilac tabby, dotted with white patches and with pale green eyes. a queen of skyclan, she's sweet and kind if prone to melancholy; the heartbreaking end of a lifelong romance has left her scarred.. —— smells like sweet lavender & tea leaves ; sounds like sansa stark ; speech in #D64933, thoughts in #B1C797 —— peaceful / healing powerplay permitted ; attacks/contact in underline ; won’t start fights ; will flee ; will show mercy ; won't kill or maim —— pansexual panromantic monogamist, divorced, not looking ; open to friendships, enemies, casual interactions, plotting ; not open to unplanned romance & unplanned battles penned by dejavu— desklamp9 on discord for plots

• shhh don't look here (battle info will go here at some point)

​

 

[Orangestar]

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — fullbody by merc!<3

"Neither do most apprentices at first." Orangeblossom's long whiskers twitch, but she's not looking at Bobbie. Instead, her eyes dart over the pine's surface to try and figure out where a good claw-hold would be. She paces around the trunk slowly, focus furrowing her features, and gestures Bobbie over with her tail when she finds one that's a good starter height. As a recent addition to the warriors, Bobbie wouldn't have the strength in her legs to jump to a SkyClanner's usual hold.

"Claws out, obviously. It's easier if you try to hold your own weight. See that break in the bark where it kind of looks like clawmarks at an odd angle? When you jump, try to get one of your forepaws there."

​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

✿—— "neither do most apprentices at first." the words sting a bit, to see herself so easily compared to the freshly promoted four-moon-olds, but she doesn't ruffle her fur. orangeblossom's right; she's no more skilled than their newest apprentices, in fact more than likely less so. this is the first step she has to take, she reminds herself with a steady exhale, fixing her eyes on the steady trunk of the pine once again, though her mind is elsewhere. she wants to be better than this—she will be better than this—for the clan, for her kits, for herself; she'll work until her paws are naught but bone, if that's what it takes, and this is the first step.

the deputy appraises the tree, her brown eyes seeing something in the nondescript trunk bobbie's own clearly don't, and then beckons her over with a flick of her tail. the tabby nods and trails dutifully over, listening to orangeblossom's guidance; the deputy is correct in her assumption that bobbie needs a lower clawhold. green eyes seek out the odd pattern of bark the ginger-and-white she-cat indicates and bobbie nods, bracing her unmuscled legs for the jump. she unsheathes her claws, inhales again, deep, and leaps.

it all happens so fast; one minute she's resting on the steady, unwavering ground, and the next she's suspended in the air for a moment. the needles of the pine rustle as she jumps, and before she knows it, she's hanging onto the trunk of the tree. one forepaw is hooked into the space orangeblossom had pointed out, the other scrabbling for purchase for a perilous moment until she finds a crack in the bark. the tabby's hind legs are braced against the trunk of the tree, barely keeping traction on it; she can feel her muscles burning with the effort, and she trembles slightly from holding the position. bobbie mews nervously, "uhh, what do i d-do now?"

---

┏━•✿°•° OOC -ˋˏ ༻⚘༺ ˎˊ- INFORMATION °•°✿•━━━━━┓ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀

• ooc: she's hanging on to the trunk of the tree but has no idea where to go from here lol
  

• 

• ❀ bobbie — for her kithood love of bobby pins she/her ; cisgender female — skyclan — queen — 40 ☾s —— bobbie is a beautiful but insecure lilac tabby, dotted with white patches and with pale green eyes. a queen of skyclan, she's sweet and kind if prone to melancholy; the heartbreaking end of a lifelong romance has left her scarred.. —— smells like sweet lavender & tea leaves ; sounds like sansa stark ; speech in #D64933, thoughts in #B1C797 —— peaceful / healing powerplay permitted ; attacks/contact in underline ; won’t start fights ; will flee ; will show mercy ; won't kill or maim —— pansexual panromantic monogamist, divorced, not looking ; open to friendships, enemies, casual interactions, plotting ; not open to unplanned romance & unplanned battles penned by dejavu— desklamp9 on discord for plots

• shhh don't look here (battle info will go here at some point)

​

 

[Cherryblossom]

The girl traipses through the pines, listlessly following on the sooty heels of @SLATE . The forest is stagnant today; the branches overhead are devoid of birds, but she can faintly hear their calls echoing in their canopies. Not that it matters to her, seeing as she's never even gotten close to catching one yet.

Her ear flicks before she even registers the sounds. A burbling brook—a tumble of bundled branches—voices. Salvation! Undeterred by the presence of her mentor, Cherrypaw calls out, "Hey! It's my ma and Bobbie," and scampers over to them before Slate can pin her down.

White paws gently lope to a halt at her mother's side, but her eyes stay glued to Bobbie. A few strands of her fur sway gently in the thin wind, probably groomed back to perfection just this morning, but it's the only thing graceful about her right now. She observes a single, deer-like hind limb jitter faintly beneath the pressure of her bodyweight. A giggle bubbles up from her throat, but it's airy and mostly unmalicious. "You go up," she advises, as though offering the simple yet sage words that would eventually lead the molly to a life-changing realization.

Taking the opportunity to show off, she adds, "Like this," and stretches her own paws onto the trunk. A few pats for a foothold, then a hop, and her mirthful eyes are level with Bobbie's. "It's not that hard," she says kindly.

Though the movements come to her as easily as walking, her initial burst of energy dies down in a flash. Her limbs feel like they've just burst into flame with only a few seconds of holding herself up. Cherrypaw clumsily jumps off the tree, half-skidding against the bark in her descent. She shakes the bark flakes off her chest, then tames it back with a few tongue swipes. Uh no, she's not embarrassed! She diverts the flushed attention back to her mother, assuming she's been saying something that whole time.​

 

[SLATESNARL]

Another day, another patrol with his new apprentice, Cherrypaw. It was a slow-going process, really, getting used to each other and building a sense of patience and understanding between their clashing attitudes ( newsflash: it wasn't going great ). It would have helped if Cherrypaw was more quiet and obedient, willing to do everything he said and not step a hair out of line. The multi-colored she-cat was quite the opposite. She was vocal about her complaints and boisterous, always getting into something with her peers. She was a free spirit, much like a horse that couldn't be wrangled.

For instance, she ran off from him even at the slightest distraction.

"Hey—" It was too late. There was no way that Cherrypaw would listen to him; she'd much rather see what her mother was up to. Stars, how would Slate ever get through to training this kid?

The scarred Maine Coon shook his head with an exasperated sigh and trailed off after her, soon finding that she had happened upon Orangeblossom and Bobbie in a lesson of sorts. He was sure that the deputy, of all cats, knew how strong-willed her daughter was and would understand this little... disruption.

He watches through a half-lidded stare as Cherrypaw takes to the tree like a fish to water, eager to prove to the adults her skills. He rumbles to Orangeblossom, any vexation absent from his tone as it was replaced by something of vague amusement, "Your daughter's a bit of a perfectionist." He's nearly blunt enough to outright call Cherrypaw a showoff, but he doesn't want to risk creating any friction between him and Orangeblossom. Hey, it was true, though.

Slate's eyes lift toward the lilac tabby former kittypet who was looking quite laughable as she was shown up by a kitten. Everyone looked awkward at first, even a giant brute like him who perhaps had looked more out of place than Bobbie had. He didn't really have much to add in terms of advice. He wasn't one to offer advice about climbing, as he didn't do much of it himself. The last time he had slipped off the branch and plummeted to the ground in front of a group of his clanmates. Needless to say, Slate was going to avoid scaling pines for the time being ( or at least until his bruised shoulder healed ).​

 

[Orangestar]

— info

• —
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — fullbody by merc!<3

"It can be hard if you're not used to climbing, Cherrypaw." Orangeblossom corrects her daughter, keeping her attention otherwise on Bobbie as the lilac tabby tries to keep her straining muscles from setting her loose. She scans the trunk above the new trainee, quickly alighting on a path that she can use, and squints against the shower of bark Cherrypaw drops on them as she skids down the trunk. There's no squeak of pain, no limp or visible injury, so Orangeblossom isn't deterred from her lecture. "Pull yourself up to that branch above your left ear, Bobbie, and you can rest there. Find clawholds- a lot of the trick to climbing is sturdy clawholds and holding your own weight, using the push of it to haul yourself up. It's easier if you use that momentum."

The deputy's torn ear flicks as Slate rumbles a comment about Cherrypaw, and Orangeblossom suppresses an amused purr. She's not, however, good enough to mask the flash of amusement across her features.

"Your apprentice's a bit of a showoff." Orangeblossom fires back quietly. It's her daughter, she can call Cherrypaw that in confidence to her mentor. Besides, the proud calico is just out of earshot of her mother's quiet remark, busy licking at her chest fur with embarrassment. Orangeblossom beckons Cherrypaw over to the two adults on the ground with a flick of her tail, and would rasp her tongue across her daughter's ear the instant she got into range.
​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

✿—— she is only somewhat saved by the arrival of cherrypaw and her mentor, embarassment hot in her ears at the thought of the lead warrior she distinctly dislikes watching her fail rather miserably at climbing. her shame only grows when cherrypaw bounds over, giggling and clambering up the trunk as easily as if she were walking across the blessedly solid ground that feels so far away right now. cherrypaw's ensuing jump off is lost to her, humiliation warming her thick pelt at the fact that she's just been bested by one of their newest apprentices, a reminder that no matter how hard she works—she has a long way to go, much longer than the forestborn cats her age or younger.

thank starclan, slate merely remarks on his apprentice's antics rather than her own failings, for which she silently thanks the dark tom (despite her dislike for him). orangeblossom ignores cherrypaw's educational attempt, which would be amusing if not for her burning muscles, instead instructing bobbie to make her way up by clawholds and momentum. ignorant of the conversation on the ground, spurred on by her embarassment at the paws of a near-kit, in a neat burst of energy she hauls herself onto the branch orangeblossom indicates.

relying on the momentum the deputy had spoken of, she hooks her forepaws into fresh clawholds and swings herself over onto another branch, crouching on this on and gripping it with nervous claws, sore but proud. the tabby murmurs, mostly to herself, "i did it."

NO LOVE, HOWEVER BRIEF (✿) 𝑰𝑺 𝑾𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑫

• ooc: ignore me resurrecting this </3
  also she rolled a 16 so she didn't fail for once
  
• nothing here, have a nice day :-)
• 
  — bobbie
  — she/her ; warrior of skyclan ; 40 ☾s
  — "speech" ; thoughts ; attacks
  — chibi by its_oliverr
  — penned by dejavu
  

​