Training (P/Whitepaw)

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

The sun had barely started to rise when I had exited the warmth of the warriors' den into the cool morning air. Fluffing up my fur a little, I walked across the clearing to the apprentices' den, calling softly inside. "Whitejaw? It's time to train." Backing away, I sat in the middle of the clearing, going over the plan for training that day.

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw groaned at the sound of a voice calling his name. It way way too early. Well, he knew he would have to train early, but he didn't think it would be before the sun was fully up. The young tom slowly opened his tired, blue eyes and looked up, seeing Dapplecloud sitting in the clearing. Whitepaw yawned and lifted himself from his nest, stretching his long legs before walking out of the apprentice's den and into the clearing.

"Morning," He yawned as he approached Dapplecloud, offering a tired smile.

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

"Good to see you up, Whitepaw," I said. "Though from the sound of it, you're not quite used to early mornings." I added, on a humorous note. Without any sort of preamble, I gestured up at the sky with my muzzle. "Good thing is is that we're only up this early for a tour of the territory. If we have time, we might even get the basics of hunting down. Sound good?" The territory was quite large and difficult to navigate, so it would take a while to get to the borders.

(Just an fyi, there's no official map of VWW's territory, so I'm using Tiger/Moonpool's map here.)

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw nodded with a small 'mmph' before also looking at the sky. It was still kind of dark so he thankfully didn't have bright sunlight shining into his tired eyes- at least there was that upside to waking up early. "Okay," He smiled, "Sounds great."

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

Still purring inwardly at Whitepaw's sleepy expression, I gestured with my tail for him to follow me out of the camp. Leaping up a tumble of boulders that led up and out of the camp, I waited at the top so I could explain about the territory. "As you can see, RockClan is not easy to get around, though when you're a seasoned warrior, you'll know it like the back of your paw." Looking around the rather barren cliff, I continued. "It also makes it harder for us to be invaded, though there's not much cover for hunting around the camp." The small copses of spruce trees still had their leaves, but looked rather bedraggled from the increasingly cooler winds. Only the crags remained unchanged. Turning around, I started to walk toward the borders, making sure he was following.

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw followed Dappleccloud to the camp exit without sound, walking a little slowly. He couldn't help but grumble a little when he saw that he had to climb pretty high to get in and out of camp. He crouched a little and jumped up onto the rocks, having to scramble up as he only just managed to reach the top. Once he had managed to get up the black cat sat down and smiled as he looked at the territory.

"It does look pretty big and confusing..." He said quietly, bright eyes scanning the area with interest.

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

I nodded. "Yes, it takes every apprentice a few moons to get used to the layout of the territory. Including the borders." I added, as I broke into a slow run. I was now heading south, toward the first border we were visiting. I spoke as I trotted along. "A long river flows through our territory, separating the cliff from IceClan, FireClan, and TreeClan. We'll be looking at the FireClan border first." I said, as the scrubby trees started to get more dense, indicating the presence of the river.

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw nodded, having to jog to catch up with Dapplecloud's slow run. He followed her with slight confusion, he had no idea where he was at that moment. The territory was confusing him a lot more than it probably should... But Dapplecloud did say that it was confusing for younger cats.

"Fireclan..." He mumbled to himself quietly. They didn't sound like the nicest of clans. He felt like he could remember pretending to be an evil warrior from there once. "Is it hot there?" He asked, using inference.

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

I led Whitepaw to the steep cliff overlooking the river and FireClan's territory before I answered his question. The river was nearby, the copse of trees at our backs, with the prairie stretching out below us. "In greenleaf, yes, it can get hot there. Like I told you when you were a kit, they have very little shade." I said. While RockClan territory was rather barren, FireClan was even more so in terms of plant life. A wide open field was all I could see, with a few silhouettes of trees in the distance. "Now, take a deep breath, and try and catch their scent so you can remember it."

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw only felt slightly nostalgic when Dapplecloud mentioned the conversation the two had when the black cat was only a young kit. He obidiently lifted his head a little and began to sniff the air, inhaling deeply to make sure he got a good whiff of the repulsive scent. Fireclan smelled gross. So gross that he felt the need to fake gag and choke at their scent.

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

In spite of myself, I couldn't help purring inwardly at Whitepaw's over-the-top reaction. "Yep, smells much more different than RockClan. Like rabbits and tall grass." I said, wrinkling my nose. I mean, those scents on their own weren't so bad, but the relatively unfamiliar stench at the border could be overwhelming. Turning to the right, I beckoned Whitepaw with my tail and started to run again along the riverside.

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw began to speak again, probably coming off as a little rude to the other clan but not worrying too much as he knew that unless there was a gathering, the clans were not friends. "I'm glad Rockclan doesn't stink like that," He said as he followed Dapplecloud after the signal, mildy excited to see whre they'd go now.

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

"Yes, I'm glad for that, too." I agreed. Still loping along the riverside, I slewed to a halt in a small inset of the river, where it was thin enough to leap across to the edge of the cliff. Looking downward, a steep tumble of rocks led down to a grassy area, cut short by a line of trees hiding the other Clan's territory. The dense greenery and the musky odor coming from the border, at the base of the rocks, led me to explain. "This is TreeClan's border. As you can see, their territory is a lot more forgiving, which makes for better hunting, though they're less hardy on rough terrain, like us. They've had their fair share of battles, though." I added.

[Whitejaw]

give me time and give me space

Whitepaw looked around at the Treeclan territory. It looked strange. There were lots of trees, rather than just a few, and a lot of grass as well. The area looked busy. He sniffed the air as he looked over the border before beginning to gag again. They smelled worse than Fireclan! And that was saying something. "Ew!" He exclaimed, black ears flattened to his skull, "They stink worse than Fireclan!"

He was so happy to be a part of Rockclan at that moment.

aeron at thq

[Dapplecloud]

Dapplecloud

"Good thing is, you won't have to smell them much unless you go on border patrol." I joked. "Though if you've got the scent down, we can get to the last border and maybe get some hunting basics down." I glanced up at the sky. It was sun-high now: running across the territory had taken a while, though on the way back to camp, we could cover the hunting crouch and other basics. The finer points would be covered another day. I turned and trotted quickly in the direction of IceClan's border. It wasn't that hard to see, in relation to TreeClan and IceClan's territory: the peak rose even higher than RockClan's cliff.