Resume (P)

[Duskrise]

Aloepaw/Andri

Duskrise had been assigned to take over an apprentice by the name of Cinnamonpaw's training.

He briefly wondered what cinnamon was... It was fun to say. Regardless, it was well before the sun had risen. The sky had settled on a strange dark gray-ish color. He sighed. In Green-leaf the sky tended to not look like some cat dragged their slush covered paws across the sky. Now, he loved the beauty of nature no matter what! It was just... A little less beautiful right now. 

He was waiting for his apprentice to awaken and come out of the den. He felt it was alright, considering how not everyone woke up so early naturally, like he did. In fact, he always heard grumblings and such whenever he left the den in the morning...

Regardless... There he waited.

[Deleted]

Cinnamonpaw sleepily rolled out of his nest with a huge yawn, eager to train but not so eager about waking up before dawn. Before, in the first few days of his apprenticeship when he just figured Vinewhip was too busy to train, the bobtailed apprentice had tried to teach himself the basics… but after getting lost in the territory twice, he'd sorta given up on that. Three moons of doing nothing but laying around camp hadn't really helped his weight issues.

Things would be different with Duskrise, he was sure. After all… this mentor was already getting down to business, and the ceremony had been fairly recent! Shaking out his pelt in the hopes of scattering his weariness away, Cinnamon plodded out of the den and turned to find the grey tom.

"Morning! Um, so what are we starting with?"

[Duskrise]

Duskrise's attention was caught by the voice of his new apprentice.

He turned his head towards the direction that Cinnamonpaw's voice was coming from. He gave a smile, as he got to his paws and walked over to the white and ginger furred young tom. "That depends! I don't know what your previous mentor has taught you. It'd be great if you could tell me, I'd imagine it'd be boring having to go through the same lesson twice!" He meowed, with positive energy, his tail even waving behind him, held high. 

[Deleted]

"Oh, um, actually she never taught me anything," Cinnamon replied with an embarrassed twitch of his stubby tail. "I got Vinewhip as a mentor a few moons ago but I think she disappeared or something."

This probably wasn't giving Duskrise a very good first impression. It seemed like everyone expected an apprentice his age to have already learned a good deal, yet he was behind, and it didn't feel good. Hopefully the warrior wouldn't be too irritated about having to start from scratch.

[Duskrise]

Duskrise smiled.

"I see then! Have you learned anything on your own?" He asked next. Since it was clear Cinnamonpaw's former mentor, Vinewhip, hadn't done much... He had to ask if Cinnamonpaw learned anything through observation or perhaps their own exploration. It was always a possibility! He felt a little bad, asking so many questions of this nature to his new apprentice, but he had to in order to train them properly.

[Deleted]

Dropping his gaze to the ground, the American Bobtail shuffled his paws slightly. "N-no. Sorry," he murmured. The territory seemed too intimidating to explore after he'd gotten lost several times already, and the other apprentices usually seemed too busy to accompany him. Then, as he got older, it seemed like his Clanmates expected him to already know his way around the mountains. It was a rather self-defeating cycle.

[Duskrise]

Duskrise gave a sympathetic smile.

"There's no need to apologize." He meowed softly. "Come. I'll show you around the territory. No need for your territory tour to be delayed any further." He began to slowly walk towards the camp's exit.

[Deleted]

Cinnamon glanced up slightly. Was that it? Just like that, he'd get a tour? Though the young tom was slightly confused, his eagerness returned started to return. He'd expected Duskrise to berate him for waiting so long to get a replacement mentor, or something along those lines. This wasn't at all like the situation he'd built up in his head.

Following closely behind his mentor, Cinnamon eyed the camp entrance with a combination of concern and anticipation.

[Duskrise]

Duskrise was confident in his apprentice's ability to follow him.

He began heading towards the Treeclan border. The standard tour consisting of showing apprentices the borders for the most part. Duskrise thought it might be a good idea to show Cinnamonpaw a few more places that lay within Iceclan's borders. It would be good for him, he was sure. A good first day with a tour and long walk around the territory. As he walked along, the ground became more level and went from stone to soft soil gradually. 

[Deleted]

Being out in the territory under the guidance of a mentor felt… different. Though he was still worried that he'd get lost or something, Cinnamonpaw knew that he'd probably be okay if he didn't wander away.

It was definitely hard to stay focused on following when the scenery was so enthralling, though. Cinnamon's attention was constantly being drawn by interesting rock formations and strange things off in the distance. The view up here was great!

As they descended, he found himself having to make an effort not to stop and sniff every unfamiliar object. "What's that?" the apprentice asked as they passed a big hole leading into the ground: probably the entrance to an abandoned fox or badger den.

[Duskrise]

When Duskrise looked back to make sure his apprentice was following, he saw Cinnamonpaw taking in the sights.

He smiled. Despite having been allowed out in the territory for quite a long time, he did that every single time, never tiring of Iceclan's territory's beauty. It warmed his heart to see another taking it all in for the first time. He wondered if it would retain its beauty for the young tom under his mentorship, or if it would simply become familiar background in his life. 

Finally, his apprentice spoke up. He stopped in his tracks to look back. "Hm?" He walked over to see what Cinnamonpaw was pointing out. He sniffed. "This is an abandoned fox den...." He meowed softly. He looked straight at Cinnamonpaw, a serious expression on his face, as opposed to the constant sunny demeanor he radiated. "Take in this scent. If you ever encounter this scent again and it's fresh... Don't go looking for the fox." After a short while of waiting, he returned on the path up right to the border Iceclan shared with Treeclan.

[Deleted]

"A fox den?" Curiously, Cinnamonpaw stepped closer to the tunnel; he could only see a few tail-lengths inside because it twisted and turned into darkness further down. The apprentice wondered how far it stretched but didn't want to go inside to find out. It definitely looked abandoned, but… what if he got stuck? Better not to test his luck.

After a moment, he stepped back and trotted to catch up with Duskrise. "What are foxes like? Are they dangerous?" he meowed, glancing over his shoulder at the abandoned den. He'd never met a fox before, but now he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to.

[Duskrise]

Duskrise didn't stop Cinnamonpaw from poking his head in the tunnel.

It was a good way to catch the scent. At least it was abandoned. The last thing he wanted for either of them was for a fox to attack the two of them. Cinnamonpaw was completely untrained and Duskrise wasn't exactly confident enough in his fighting skills to take down a fox by himself.

As Duskrise came to a stop at the Treeclan border, Cinnamonpaw asked about foxes. "... Yes. That's why you shouldn't even be trying to get a look at one alone." He figured he was exaggerating, though he believed it would be best to instill a wariness of foxes. Cinnamonpaw didn't strike him as the reckless kind, who would throw away all self-preservation for a good adventure. Still.

[Deleted]

Hmm. So foxes were indeed dangerous, but why? Did they spit venom or something? Cinnamonpaw had heard from Maplefrost about other things that lived in the ground, like snakes, and he'd learned that those were sometimes venomous. Maybe foxes were the same way. He'd have to visit the elders later and ask if they could tell him more about all that.

Nodding, the apprentice glanced around. It looked like they had arrived at… wherever this was. "Is this a border? I smell something weird," Cinnamon meowed, nose twitching as he investigated the TreeClan scent.

[Duskrise]

Duskrise nodded.

"This is the border we share with Treeclan. Every cat has their own unique scent, though each clan tends to have their cats have a certain common smell to them." He explained. "Treeclan's entire territory is more or less surface." He explained.