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Post by theatricals on Mar 9, 2019 17:05:16 GMT -6
It may have been the most foolish thing she had done recently, taking on another apprentice. But there was logic behind the madness--of her taking Aurorapaw as her apprentice. Obviously the she-cat hadn't been told the full extent of her mother's actions--which was for the better, in Rowanmask's opinion. There would be no benefit in putting ideas into her head.
But Rowanmask's motives went beyond simply just tormenting her enemy's kit. Despite what she felt, she knew that Aurorapaw hadn't actually /done/ anything... yet. Her need to ensure the loyalty of her clanmates could be considered obsessive, but she didn't see how others could think so. If loyalty wasn't what held them together, then they couldn't call themselves a Clan at all. This she-cat, despite her innocence, would have to prove herself to Rowanmask in order to gain her trust. It was fortunate she had never put her trust in Ivorysky, even if her leader and her brother had.
Sitting among the meadow of herbs, it still wasn't what she would call beautiful weather, with a damp, cool breeze sweeping through her fur, but at least the snow was beginning to melt. She trusted that when Aurorapaw was dismissed from her patrol, she would be told the right way to go.
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Post by niftyshark on Mar 10, 2019 8:34:03 GMT -6
Unfortunately for Aurorapaw, no one told her what was next after her patrol. She entered into camp with knowledge that she would have training, but no way of knowing what it was. Or where her mentor would be. Her patrolmates dispersed before she could ask, and she was left standing in the middle of camp, lost and confused. She looked around frantically, but no one seemed aware of her plight. She felt herself beginning to panic—what was she supposed to do? Her mentor wasn’t anywhere. Breathing quickly, she rushed back out of camp again and continued to look around. Anxiety raced under her skin... what would her mentor do if she was late? But was she even? She didn’t know. She already saw her mentor as unforgiving, she didn’t want to give Rowanmask another reason for disliking her—something she didn’t understand in the first place.
After a fruitless search of every possible training spot around camp, Aurorapaw went farther out. It was only then that she remembered she could try to follow her mentor’s scent. She walked around with her mouth open, desperately hoping to find something. She walked around enough without finding anything that she almost gave up, but at the last moment she caught the familiar scent. She raced in that direction, splashing through snowmelt puddles, and came upon Rowanmask sitting calmly in a meadow. Aurorapaw stopped a short distance away, soggy and shaking as she caught her breath, fear spiking once more.
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Post by theatricals on Mar 13, 2019 20:19:30 GMT -6
For a moment, Rowanmask had allowed herself to get lost in her own thoughts, letting herself go as she was left to her own devices. It was quiet enough for her to actually do so, with nothing but the whistling of the wind and faint sound of a flowing stream. It was peaceful, even. But she had not become a warrior for nothing, and the sound of pawsteps approaching was a lot closer than the stream, and she turned around just in time to see Aurorapaw approaching.
A puzzled expression crossed her face at the apprentice's less than stellar appearance, and while it may have been better to pay it no mind, she had to admit that she was curious. "Did you happen to /swim/ here?" It was not overly sarcastic, but she couldn't help but ask.
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Post by niftyshark on Mar 15, 2019 17:38:39 GMT -6
Seeing her mentor so relaxed and nonchalant, while she was frantic and struggled to even find her, left Aurorapaw with a pertinent thread of discord. The question posed towards her made her step back, and she felt dismayed. "I ran here to find you! I didn't know when we were having training, or where, and you were nowhere to be found." Her energized state led to her spilling the word in quick sentences. She seemed to find herself a moment later, and she drew into herself. "I mean... Uh, are we training now?" Her voice weakened at the end of her question when she realized Rowanmask could potentially take it as her being mouthy. She couldn't very well take back what she said, so she braced herself for any reaction.
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Post by theatricals on Mar 16, 2019 21:41:46 GMT -6
Aurorapaw's rant was unexpected, but not one that Rowanmask would have reacted well to had she been fully present. Apparently her clanmates hadn't told the apprentice where to go, but Rowanmask didn't think it to be her issue. She had only told Aurorapaw that they would be training--not where and certainly not when. They could have been training late at night for all she knew, but at the she-cat's prompting, Rowanmask tilted her head slightly and replied, "If you can move past your frustrations, then I would like to." Her voice was flat, unconcerned, and suggested that she was not really concerned with whatever issues Aurorapaw may have.
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Post by niftyshark on Mar 23, 2019 20:58:37 GMT -6
Her frustrations? Aurorapaw ground her teeth together to keep from complaining further. She wasn't frustrated, she was upset from the lack of apparent structure. She didn't think that would fly by Rowanmask though, so she stayed quiet about it. "Fine, yes. I'm ready," she relented, averting her gaze from her mentor in favor of removing the water and dirt that clung to her pelt. A mixture of dejection and resentment bubbled under her skin, but there was little she could do about it. Rowanmask seemed unphased and uninterested in making anything easier between them, and the thought of having to get through moons and moons of training like that made her anxious and worried.
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Post by theatricals on Mar 25, 2019 15:37:31 GMT -6
The she-cat may have said more, but it appeared that Aurorapaw didn't like her much. Maybe Rowanmask should have been more upset about it, but right now she didn't think too much of it. She was a mentor--liking each other didn't factor into the equation, even if a small part of her wished it had. Her relationship with Briarpool had been close enough, but since she disappeared from RavenClan, Rowanmask had been reluctant to think about her. She was a warrior, and her duty was to teach.
"Hidden Trails," she said abruptly, moving in one direction with the urgency of a queen returning to her kits. "A place that no cat should travel alone. It is easy to get lost, and there are predators around. You must stay alert."
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Post by niftyshark on Apr 6, 2019 11:16:48 GMT -6
Aurorapaw was expecting a response, but she still found herself off guard by how curt it was. She swallowed, caught on a frown--and then a smile when Rowanmask continued. Hidden Trails? She'd already snuck a visit there with Cougarpaw, and they never encountered anything awry. The thought of her friend was enough to clear some of the sullenness that clung to her, and her shoulders picked up. She felt confident enough that nothing would happen to them during this visit either. She was still convinced that the stories were made up, so she brushed off her mentor's concern. "Yeah, but I think we'll be fine," she said as she followed behind. "It's part of our territory for a reason."
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Post by theatricals on Apr 10, 2019 15:27:18 GMT -6
"That does not mean we are out of danger," Rowanmask said off hand as she walked, not even thinking as she headed in the direction she had chosen. "If somewhere needed to be safe in order to be considered our territory, we would have no more space than the edge of camp. There are times when an encounter with a predator simply comes down to chance." While she spoke calmly, even the warrior couldn't predict what they might come across. The trails were known to house threats that could easily cause trouble for any of them, but Rowanmask knew it was an important part of their territory, all the same. The small part of her mind whispered the possibility of them running into trouble--her, a seasoned warrior, and Aurorapaw, an inexperienced apprentice--but she shook away the thought just as quickly as it appeared.
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Post by niftyshark on Apr 13, 2019 18:43:59 GMT -6
Aurorapaw scowled. "So we should just be afraid in every part of our territory, then? If it's down to chance, I'm not seeing why Hidden Trails is considered so dangerous." She didn't like to think that their territory held dangers at every turn. She knew the area right outside of camp as well as inside it--and while alertness was always necessary, downright caution wasn't. Maybe the fringes of the territory required caution, but even then she wasn't sure. "I never saw anything as half as scary as a mouse in the outlands." The pine trees grew more frequent in number as they approached the start of their destination, and it didn't look any different than the first time she saw the trails save for the deep snow that was there the last time. The uneasiness she felt was actually worse back then. She snorted at the thought.
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Post by theatricals on Apr 17, 2019 22:02:23 GMT -6
"Perhaps I should leave you there to deal with whatever we come across, then," Rowanmask remarked casually as she walked, showing very little sign of irritation even when it bubbled within her. She had half a mind to do exactly that, but the knowledge that she would get chewed out by their leader and senior warriors was enough for her to hold back. They were making good time with getting there, with the fields turning into scattered trees, and then into a more dense forest. She was comfortable enough among them, but the closer they got to the Hidden Trails, the more her fur rose. These trees were different, more clustered together and... darker.
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Post by niftyshark on Apr 24, 2019 19:26:38 GMT -6
“You wouldn’t.” Aurorapaw said it calmly, without any indication of concern. A mentor’s job was to watch over their apprentice—to leave them to the dangers of the wild was against everything a training pair was supposed to be. She understood it easily, enough that she could pick apart Rowanmask’s comment. The comment was an unnecessary one, and she didn’t know what her mentor would gain from it, so perhaps it was an attempt to unnerve her. Well, it wouldn’t work. She kept her head high until they reached Hidden Trails, and her eyes drifted over the dark woods. She noticed Rowanmask’s fur rising up, and it took all her willpower to bite back a comment. “Well, what are we waiting for?” She moved past the ruddy she-cat and took a few pawsteps into the boundary of the shaded pine trees.
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Post by theatricals on Apr 26, 2019 13:25:16 GMT -6
"Are you mouse-brained?" Rowanmask nearly shouted, racing ahead to block the apprentice. "You'd have to be, if you were considering walking into unfamiliar territory without bothering to check your surroundings. If you would like to seek out a fox, that is fine, but I will not take responsibility for the injuries it gives you." She couldn't even be sure there were any predators close by, but from the stale fox scent, she could guess that it had either been there within the last few days, or that it made its home somewhere in the area. It would certainly pose an issue either way.
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Post by niftyshark on Apr 26, 2019 20:56:50 GMT -6
The sudden sharp tone sent a bolt of shock through Aurorapaw and she flinched away. She was tempted to reveal that she’d been in the area before, and even more tempted to assert that they were on RavenClan territory, but the fox scent followed the thoughts and stalled her defense. It was faint, enough to be hard to notice, but not enough to miss if she had been paying closer attention. She deflated. Given the turbulent nature of their relationship so far, she had a hard time seeing it in the way it was probably meant. “So you only care about your own reputation then? I see.” The words were bitter and left a sour tang on her tongue. She didn’t know what the churning sensation was in her gut, or why she was surprised to feel anything negative. She turned away to widen the distance between her mentor and herself.
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Post by theatricals on May 1, 2019 21:57:11 GMT -6
"My reputation for not killing a cat who is supposed to be a clanmate, someone my leader trusted me with?" Rowanmask retorted sharply, before lifting her head once more and adopting a more straight-forward, somber expression as the memory of her past apprentice moved to the surface. "Yes, I suppose you can say I care about that." She gave no more indication that she wished to scold the she-cat, instead padding forward cautiously, ears up and tail still as she made her way through the undergrowth. While Rowanmask was most comfortable within the trees in their territory, these ones seemed more suffocating than anything.
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Post by niftyshark on May 18, 2019 17:08:36 GMT -6
Aurorapaw had no more to say to that, so she fell silent. Lucky for her, Rowanmask turned away, clearly just as done. While she could admit that her mentor had a good point, she still struggled to see past the bluntness the case was presented with. It was like Rowanmask didn’t care for -her- at all. But then why should she? It wasn’t like they were going out of their way for each other. Mentor and apprentice were the only roles they played towards each other. Caring didn’t have to factor into that. With heavy reluctance, she followed her mentor deeper into the trees, making sure to stay several pawsteps back. The silence was almost deafening, and in a bid to counter it, she asked, “What are we aiming to do here?”
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Post by theatricals on May 18, 2019 18:37:15 GMT -6
"We are aiming to test your senses in a place where they are almost entirely cut off." She had never done this with her own mentor, as many times cats would just go to the tunnels for that, but it was not a place she wanted to return to. Emberstreak hadn't seemed too willing to take her there, either. So here they were, and while it was far preferable to the far smaller tunnels, Rowanmask still felt a chill creep up her spine. It was far too quiet here, and her paranoia would only grow the more she kept still. "Prey scent here is muffled by the undergrowth, and the farther you go, the harder it is to see." The slight haze already made it somewhat difficult. "You would have to reach out further than normal, and that is not a skill one naturally has. It must be developed."
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Post by niftyshark on May 27, 2019 16:46:53 GMT -6
Aurorapaw was a little doubtful upon hearing the answer, but she took a moment to think about it and realized there were no obvious signs of prey in the area. Even the bird calls that she heard often around their territory were silent. Could they really hunt here? She was now feeling doubtful for a completely different reason. “I have to develop my other senses.” It was a statement, as if she was processing the words out loud. “So do I... just walk around?” She couldn’t imagine how she would begin to hone her senses. Look harder into the fog? Stare longer at the dirt? Part of her almost mentioned that out loud, but she didn’t think Rowanmask would appreciate that kind of questioning.
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Post by theatricals on May 31, 2019 16:16:19 GMT -6
Rowanmask clenched her jaw, partially out of the annoyance, but the lack of any direction had her spooked as well. She knew what she wanted to do, but the lack of fresh stimulation had her feeling on edge, her mind as foggy as the area around them. Straightening up, she said, "You are accustomed to the noises within the territory you hunt in. Here, it does not come so easily. You have to listen closer, pay attention to the earth beneath your paws. Without anything else around you, it is imperative that you are able to identify a prey scent as opposed to a predator's scent."
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Post by niftyshark on Jun 12, 2019 20:47:13 GMT -6
She didn’t speak for a long moment. It might have appeared that she was taking Rowanmask’s speech to heart and was actually listening, but it was more like she still felt confused. She knew how to listen, and scents were getting easier to tell apart the more she trained. Was it so different here? Eventually Aurorapaw shrugged. “I’ll try,” she said, more to acknowledge than any kind of will on her part. She glanced cautiously at her mentor before she took a few steps forward. The mist hung heavily, and she swore she could almost taste it on the air. Did it block out scents, then? “Why is the fog so heavy here, anyway?” she mumbled through her concentration.
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