YOU WON'T SEE ME FALL APART ♡ training

[Palefire]

A few days had passed since the Shadowclan ambush, and a bit of calm was settling over the clan. She'd gone with Flamestar to meet with Scorchstar, and an agreement had been reached. Thunderclan and Windclan would form an alliance and claim the land around Fourtrees as joint hunting territory to survive leafbare. Normally it would sound like a terrible idea, but they had little choice with two pieces of their hunting grounds now in enemy paws. She hated seeing her apprentices going hungry because there simply wasn't enough prey in the forest to feed them all.

And now they had wounds to recover from as well, physical and otherwise. Both Meadowpaw and Ivorypaw had managed to hold their own against the carrion-eaters, as much as she had worried for their safety. It had been nearly all she could think about at the time, so much so that it pulled her focus away from her fight with Briarthorn. A mistake on her part that she could not afford to repeat. As much as she trusted the girls to be strong and brave when they needed to be, she didn't trust that she had done her job as their mentor in preparing them for the harsh realities of the world outside their walls.

It was time to start taking their battle training more seriously. It was obvious now that this war would not be resolved quickly or easily, and she wanted her apprentices to be the fiercest on the field. Palefire had no doubt that both of them had every bit of the potential they needed to become fine warriors; it was her responsibility to get them there. She let them sleep a bit longer than usual this morning, knowing they were still sore and hungry. But once the sun had risen, the young warrior collected Ivorypaw and Meadowpaw from their den and led them to the sandy hollow. The morning air was frigid, but they would soon have plenty of practice manoeuvres to warm them up.

"Alright. I want to start by saying that you both did well against Shadowclan. Many of your denmates - and mine - returned home in far worse condition." She thought of Mottledpaw and Tallstep, maimed beyond repair. Barleysight and Campionsong, neither of whom would wake to see another sunrise. Perhaps the three of them had been lucky to escape relatively unscathed; or maybe it was skill that guided their paws. She didn't want to take the chance that it was the former.

The anger and resentment she felt at the stinging loss on both fronts was nothing compared to the paranoia that she stood to lose something far more precious than a bit of land. These girls, bathed in fire and snow, could not know how much they meant to her. Palefire's gaze was calm but fiercely determined as it lingered on both their faces. "This conflict is not going away anytime soon. It's… it's likely that we'll have to fight again to get back what was stolen from us. And I want to make sure you're prepared. Are you ready to learn more?" A rhetorical question; they would have to be ready.

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‎‎ooc ♡ info

• [ battle training time!! @Meadowpaw @ivorypaw ]

• 

• 
  PALEFIRE ♡ she / her, warrior of thunderclan, 20 moons
  ⭃ lh lilac lynx point w/ low white and blue eyes
  ⭃ single, crushing on no one / npc x npc / sister to bluestride
  ⭃ mentoring meadowpaw & ivorypaw / mentored by nightbird
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / all opinions ic
  ⭃ underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by limerence ↛ @limericks. on discord, dm for plots.

 

[ivorypaw]

The day dawns cold and cruel, but bright. Ivorypaw shifts in her nest as Palefire's silhouette, gilded, fills her vision. It was time to leave for training. She looks to Meadowpaw, a heap of ginger-and-white fur amidst the moss and bracken, and sighs. Her own wounds are healing, but she looks different — not as different as Mottledpaw will find herself looking, but different nonetheless. The pristine white of her coat is interrupted in places, ridgelike scars scoring her pelt.

She knows Palefire is right. They were relatively lucky, three of them, compared to some of their Clanmates, compared to some of the warriors in the other Clans who had lost their lives. She tilts her face toward her mentor, her breath billowing white in the morning air. "I did my best, but that cat..." His moves were unlike anything she'd been prepared for. Ivorypaw sighs. "I want to do better. Be better."

It had been kittypet weakness that had hindered her against Sneezeduck. She had been clumsy in comparison to his calculated blows; she'd been soft where he'd been ruthless. Ivorypaw bites her lower lip as she turns to face Palefire. "Do you think... do you think I can? Be better?" As always, she thinks of berries bursting just past her lips, of vitriol aimed at her hide as she scurried from the Clan with Leafhusk and Stormywing and Roaringsun.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• Adora . Ivorykit . Ivorypaw, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — 9 moons old, ages realistically on the 16th.
  — mentored by Palefire ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a.
  — thunderclan apprentice. npc x npc, gen 1.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh white she-cat with curled ears and brown eyes. compassionate, righteous, naive, idealistic, self-doubting, self-destructive.

​

 

[Palefire]

Cold blue depths softened at Ivorypaw's confession, her words belying the lack of confidence she knew the girl struggled with. "I want to do better. Be better." It stung Palefire's heart, to know that such a bright and promising young soul still doubted her abilities because of the cruel actions of a couple worthless foxhearts. That day, with the berries, it haunted her memories too. Having her newly-appointed apprentice pulled from her side and cast out with the rest of the former kittypets had damn near broken her spirit. But they persevered.

She steeled her expression, knowing that Ivorypaw would not want her sympathy now. She wanted to learn, and Palefire had every intention of making sure both girls were prepared for the next time they went up against their enemies. While she wanted to reassure them both that they were every inch as proud a Thunderclanner as anyone else, she knew that wasn't what they needed. The warrior nodded resolutely after a heartbeat of silence, a new fire lit within her eyes. "You can. And you will." I'll make sure of it.

Suddenly the lynx-point rose from where she sat, turning over her shoulder to stride a few tail-lengths further away from the girls. She continued a slow, predatory pace around the sandy hollow as she circled them both. Her gaze narrowed on the pair with icy intent, a smirk curling at the corners of her lips. "We're going to dedicate a lot more time to your battle training, starting now. I'm not going to take it easy on you, not anymore."

Her words danced across the space between them as she continued to stalk ever-closer. "You're going to practice on me. We'll start with your defensive moves," she hissed low as she darted forward without warning, a sheathed paw lashing out to swipe at Ivorypaw's right shoulder. She bounced back on her toes, eyes gleaming in the morning light. The snowy molly had almost been seriously maimed by Sneezeduck; she needed to learn how to regain the upper hand when her enemy had her pinned.

---

‎‎ooc ♡ info

• [ so sorry for the late reply <3 ]

• 

• 
  PALEFIRE ♡ she / her, warrior of thunderclan, 22 moons
  ⭃ lh lilac lynx point w/ low white and striking blue eyes
  ⭃ single, crushing on no one // npc x npc
  ⭃ mentoring meadowpaw & ivorypaw // mentored by nightbird
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted // all opinions ic
  ⭃ underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by limerence ↛ @limericks. on discord, dm for plots

​