maplepaw's training (p)

[Needleclaw]

(Alright, so I want you to please keep your post count to a 20-word-minimum! Consider it part of you "training" :>)

Needleclaw sat at the entrance of the TreeClan camp, still a little tired as he waited for @maybelle to show up. He had been up all night, sitting vigil, as was the custom for newly-named warriors. The dark tabby flexed his claws impatiently, waiting for his apprentice to approach.

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May awoke rather early and made her way over to where she was pretty sure Needleclae would sit. "Morning Needleclaw." she greeted the tired looking cat with a polite wave of her tail.

[Needleclaw]

"Morning," if felt weird to be called by his warrior name, and to be thought of as a mentor. He had been an apprentice quite literally yesterday. "Have you eaten yet?" it was sun-high so he assumed that Maplepaw had at least eaten breakfast by now. He didn't eat lunch but if she did he was fine with waiting for her to grab a bite before they headed out.

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May nodded. "Yep, I'm ready to go," she assured with a small smile. She had figured since training started at sunhigh, so bad better be fully prepared. 

[Needleclaw]

Needleclaw nodded, glad that she had already eaten. "Cool," he got up and began padding through the camp entrance, beckoning Maplepaw with his tail, "c'mon, we should head out now." He stopped as soon as they were about a fox-length past the camp's entrance, letting the she-cat get a glimpse at the territory, "we'll just be touring the territory, starting with the FireClan border. Do you have any questions?"

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May tilted her head. It appeared Needleclaw was trying to be nonchalant, but it seemed before he a bit hesitant and nervous. May shook her head at his question. "Nope."

[Needleclaw]

"Good," the tabby mewed, then began to walk towards the FireClan border at a brisk pace. "The sun stones mark our border with FireClan. We fight over them a lot, but things look calm for the time being--not that I trust those rabbitbrains to keep their paws to themself for long," he flexed his claws, "anyway, you shouldn't go there on your own, there are a lot of snakes crawling around that place... now, let's see. What can you tell me about FireClan itself?"

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Maplepaw shrugged. "They fast, their primary prey is rabbit, they have a lot of huge open expanses, and their leader used to be Darkstar but is now..." she narrowed her eyes on consentration as she tried to remember the one conversation about them she had over heard, "Oceanstar?"

[Needleclaw]

Needleclaw nodded, "good. Oceanstar is their leader, he used to be called Jackalfrost. Their new deputy is a she-cat named Cloudskip--she's half TreeClan, I heard," he began to lead Maplepaw away from the border and towards where fern gully, "they have a medicine cat named Honeyfur. I don't know whether or not he's taken on an apprentice. Anyway, the rest of what you said was pretty spot on, let's get moving towards the IceClan border. We'll have to pass over fern gully to get there. You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

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Maplepaw shook her head. "Not at all," she responded with a small smile. She was afraid of her own things, but none of them were things others would undertstand.

[Needleclaw]

Needleclaw nodded. "Good, then let's get going," he trotted towards the tree bridge that let cats cross over the top of the fern gully. "You cross first," he stepped to the side, giving Maplepaw room to walk in front of him, "I'll be right behind you. Don't rush, you don't want to slip. It's a long way down."

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May glanced down quickly to check how far exactly it was and exsamined the bridge before crossing, slipping at some point in the middle but picking herself up quickly before making it the rest of the way and turning to face Needleclaw.

[Needleclaw]

Needleclaw watched as his apprenticeship, apprehension building in his stomach. He refrained from lurching forward and grabbing her scruff, instead seeing if she was be able to steady herself--she was, and he gave an approving nod and followed her the rest of the way across the tree bridge. "There are a few more bridges like this that cross over the gully--it's a good way to save time since it's pain to trek all the way down the side and then all the way back up the other. I'll take you down into fern gully eventually, but there's not much to do down there other than hunt, so it probably won't be today. Now," he picked up his pace, walking past Maplepaw, "follow me, we're heading to the sun stones. Do you know which border that is?"

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Maplepaw studied Needleclaw's face. When she had slipped was it worry that rang through? As a kit she had watched the meeting where fights broke out and was pretty sure her mentor was one of the key rebels. While she hadn't picked a side, so was born a loner, and she was surprised to see such an emotion from him directed at her, even if he didn't know she was adopted.

She snapped back to attention at his question. "Fireclan I'd guess." she shrugged, randomly taking a guess.

[Needleclaw]

"Good," he mewed with a nod of approval, "this is the border we share with FireClan--sun stones. Right now our border runs down the middle of it. Our clans have been fighting over who has rights to the whole groups of boulders for countless seasons," he jumped up onto one of the sun-colored boulders, being able to get a better view of FireClan's territory from atop it.