Eye of the Tiger

With this sudden and bone-chilling leafbare had come some new, startling responsibilities. A talented and respectable warrior like himself should not have been surprised by the addition of an apprentice, yet every morning he awoke, the sensation of remembering his apprentice was always a shock. Ebonypaw was her name, and she certainly looked capable and intimidating. But her flaws were plentiful enough.

But that's the task hhe was given: to fix the mess of Ebonypaw into a fine warrior. A fantastic warrior. It would take a fair amount of time, as most apprentices did, but Ebonypaw already had the ground work. She was compassionate and cunning, two less traits he had to instill in her. Most unfortunate, however, was her inability to connect with the tom apprentices. Or the lack of crushes and lovebirds. By the end of her apprenticeship, Ebonypaw would have a sworn mate for life. He was sure of it.

The apprentice den soon loomed in front of him. Spiderspark's tail swayed easily behind him as he quickly approached the den. The tom-cat opened his maw and spoke into the den, "Come on now, Ebonypaw. I would hope you are awake by now. Time for apprentice stuff!"

Ebonypaw’s ears perked up as soon as the voice of her mentor echoed into the den she was still getting used to sleep in as a new apprentice. It almost looked a bit goofy how her ears moved to subtly point towards the entrance before she raised her head, as while her real set of ears moved normally like one would expect a cat’s ears to do, the set of pseudo-ears she was born with tried and failed to move alongside them with the same grace and accuracy.

She basically jumped out from her nest, sleep unable to cling to her body as the excitement to start her training pushed it off. Her paws didn’t mind the colder surface they were forced to come in contact with as soon as she stepped outside of the Apprentice’s den, her attention completely centered on her mentor instead.

“I am awake! What are we doing first?” Countless possibilities flashed before the apprentice’s eyes. There was so much to learn, so much to experience, so much to understand…dear StarClan, would her time as apprentice be even long enough to learn it all? Her life? Only one way to find out, apparently.

Rimepaw sat a couple of tail-lengths behind his mentor, patiently waiting for his fellow apprentice. He'd been awake for awhile now- as he grew older, he was beginning to become more and more of an early riser. He smiled a little at Ebonypaw's excitement, although it was more wry and a tad condescending than mirthful. "I believe we're going to be trained on fighting techniques," he meowed. Rimepaw was already sizing up the other apprentice, eyeing Ebonypaw's body structure and mentally taking notes on her size and stature. Spiderspark might be too proud to actually fight me himself, so I suppose it's fortunate he has another apprentice for me to train with now, Rimepaw thought to himself. His mentor was.. an interesting cat, to say the least.

"Wow, okay. That's a lot of morning energy," Spiderspark acknowledged as Ebonypaw came bounding out of the den. He blinked a few times to clear his mind. If only young Ebonypaw could lend some of her early morning spirit, now that would make having an apprentice 100% worth it. He turned to see his other apprentice sitting so calmly beside him. Spiderspark visibly deflated dramatically at the tom's expression and words. "I believe we're going.." he began mockingly. Spiderspark knocked the tom apprentice lightly with his shoulder. "What a snooze. Where's the excitement, Rimepaw?" the warrior inquired. "First lesson of the day:" he declared boldly. "Enthusiasm results in rewards and lovers." Spiderspark nodded as he spoke.

Truthfully, the tom had held no plan for either apprentice. But he was becoming fairly sick of always hunting - so a fight would definitely spice things up. Thank you, Rimepaw for an excellent idea. "He's right. I planned a day of intense battle training." Spiderspark informed the duo. The lie slipped right through his teeth without a second thought. He was slick. The tom moved confidently towards the exit to camp. "Follow me, snails." he grinned as he picked up the pace to enter the territory.

Ebonypaw could barely keep herself still as she waited for an answer, but her attention was soon snatched by the older apprentice sitting calmly behind Spiderspark, eyes suddenly going wide with realization, a flash of excitement quickly showing on them.

A rival.

Her front paws shuffled a bit with excitement. Now, she had heard rivalry stories from other apprentices, and she had always wondered if the tales of great improvement with some sprinkles of self-discovery were true…and this was her chance to find out!

Her ears twitched a bit with Spiderspark’s words… ‘rewards and lovers’, well, she could see the rewards bit, that was for sure and she was glad her accidental enthusiasm could lead to that, but the lovers bit really caught her off-guard and confused her a bit. Love was something she had never really thought of, even less prioritized, so it being mentioned wasn’t something she would’ve expected at all. Definitely food for thought once training was over, and a couple hundred questions about it for Spiderspark the next day regarding that.

The next part of the conversation was way less confused, and a tad bit more exciting “Fighting?” She had had been part of a couple playfights in the past as a kit, but she doubted that would be anywhere close to what she was about to learn here.

She wasn’t as experienced as Rimepaw, and her build was definitely on the smaller, slender side of the spectrum, which wouldn’t really help out much on what she already guessed was going to e a 1 on 1 battle training against him. She licked her nose as she allowed her thoughts to run wild…if strength wasn’t on her side, then she would need to get creative once they started the mock-battles.

Eyes once more switched attention from one cat to another, tail and ears raising as their mentor called them out of camp “Snails?” With could easily be described as a mix of a jog and small excited bouncing, Ebonypaw rushed to catch up with the warrior and go past him to take the lead, completely guided by impulse “We will see who the snail is when we arrive to- ….uh…..where are we going again?”.

Visible contempt entered Rimepaw's expression as he was bumped by his mentor and pretty much directly insulted. He rolled his eyes, unwilling to actually acknowledge the 'lesson' he was provided with, and moved to follow the other two cats out of camp. "You know full well that I'm not slow, Spiderspark," the elder apprentice huffed upon being called a snail. "Ebonypaw has a point-- where are we gonna be doing this?"

Spiderspark contemplated swatting Rimepaw as the tom rolled his eyes - what a snob! - but he had a feeling the warriors lazing about the camp would not approve of that mentoring style. And Spiderspark was not about to risk getting in trouble, so, for now, he would let it slide. He was a cool mentor afterall. His gaze drifted back to Ebonypaw, whose eagerness did bring a small smirk to his face. Stars - she still had the energy of a kitten.

However, it was a welcome change from the usual high and mighty vibe of Rimepaw. The elder apprentice, though he would never believe it, could stand to learn a few things from his younger counterpart. The gray tom eyed Rimepaw but chose not to say anything. Not that the tom apprentice would listen to him anyways.

Spiderspark relaxed as the wind flattened his pelt to him. The dirt underpaw flew up beside him with each stride.. now this was Windclan. He chuckled at his two apprentices. "Yes, snails. Slow, slimy, and uncoordinated snails." Spiderspark teased as he increased his stride length to catch up with Ebonypaw. At Rimepaw's protest Spiderspark could only huff a few words of retaliation. "You? Not slow? Who gave you that idea?" the tom joked.

He could tell them where they were going, but he could also tire them by having them run circles around the moor. Fitness was a good trait to instill in the upcoming warriors. Spiderspark was about to open his maw when something emerged from the surrounding brush. He slowed his gait suddenly as the strange tomcat approached them. Even Spiderspark, a fairly tall tom, was seemingly dwarfed by the massive figure before them. His pelt bristled uneasily. Why did this have to happen to him? Why Starclan? Was this some joke? Spiderspark lashed his tail as he stepped towards the mangy rogue. Even though his insides felt like jello, he had to show his apprentices what a true warrior behaved under pressure.

"Ebonypaw, Rimepaw, behind me." for once, Spiderspark spoke without a hint of laughter in his voice.

The member 'puddlesdog' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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'Battle Dice' : 1

Ebonypaw’s hyperactive behavior came to an abrupt end when the unknown voice reached her ears. Her tiny claws dug into the frozen soil under her as she spun around as fast as possible, aiding her on keeping her balance, the fur on her back rising as her eyes landed on the large rogue standing before them.

This was her first-time face to face with an intruder, let alone such an intimidating, large rogue like this one. She felt a shiver go down from the back of her skull to the tip of her tail, but she wasn’t able to tell what exactly it was right away. Was it fear? Was it the thrill of battle before it even starts? The sudden urge to defend her clan? She wasn’t really sure, to say the least…

That’s when Spiderspark spoke. Both regular ears and pseudo-ears seemed to perk up as soon as she noticed the unusual tone her mentor was using. Not without some hesitance, Ebonypaw obeyed the warrior, rushing to hide behind him. Yet she refused to go too far, claws unsheathed and ready to pounce into battle if necessary. She might be the smaller, youngest of all three cats, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her.

The member 'Silver Ink' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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'Battle Dice' : 5