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Post by silentpaws on Apr 6, 2019 10:45:38 GMT -6
Having another apprentice after Morningflight's promotion had been a pleasant surprise to Marigoldflare, as she'd expected there to be a fair few moons before Floodstar gave her another one. But she'd hardly returned from her two moons away before she was assigned to Chirppaw, and she'd happily begun the training process all over again with the young she-cat under her care. She'd known that it wouldn't be the same as training Morningflight by any stretch, but four moons in and she was finding herself getting more frustrated with Chirppaw than she wanted to be. Of course she knew where Chirppaw's complaints were coming from, she'd been a headstrong apprentice herself after all, and it was this understanding that kept her from getting too outwardly irritated during their sessions. But that didn't mean that she wasn't feeling her frustration inside.
Still, she had a job to do nonetheless. As she waited for her apprentice by the den entrance she went through her plan for the morning; after a while of trying to decide between stealth in battle and swimming in rougher waters she'd decided to combine the two and teach her water combat tactics. Or at least begin to, as that was something that took a long time to learn and would probably need refining until the end of her apprentice days.
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Post by theatricals on Apr 10, 2019 15:00:41 GMT -6
If Marigoldflare was waiting by the den for her, then it was likely she would be waiting a long time. Chirppaw padded into the camp with a water vole in her jaws. It was a measly thing, but one she was proud to have caught. Hunting could be a pain when the prey saw her white fur from a tree-length away, which was why it was all the more exciting when she made a catch. She had to assume her fur had to brush up against something, drawing attention to herself, because she was almost sure that she kept as silent as possible as she walked. Maybe she should ask her mentor about it.
Looking around, she spotted her waiting by the den and frown. Oh, she had been angry at her, hadn't she? Chirppaw had almost forgotten about that, and her frown turned into a scowl. She couldn't ask for advice when the tension still hung between them. However, the apprentice knew she couldn't just ignore her mentor, so after dropping off her prey on the fresh-kill pile, she padded overly slowly, opening with a, "Hi?"
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Post by silentpaws on Apr 11, 2019 14:05:48 GMT -6
The telltale flash of white caught Marigoldflare's attention, and she glanced across the camp to see Chirppaw walking into camp with the results of a fruitful morning hunt. The expression on her apprentice's face when she looked her way made a muscle twitch in Marigoldflare's jaw, but she was more relieved that Chirppaw had chosen to approach her than anything else. What happened before had happened, she was always happy to start on a new foot. "Good catch," she said with a smile as Chirppaw greeted her. "You ready for training? I did have a plan but if you wanted to get back to the hunting we can scrap it 'til tomorrow."
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Post by theatricals on Apr 17, 2019 21:36:35 GMT -6
Chirppaw let out a short breath, somewhat relieved that her mentor didn't seem to be angry at her anymore. Deep down, Chirppaw could still feel the annoyance at their earlier interactions, but she decided to push them down for now. Truthfully, she did feel like hunting on her own some more, as it was a nice quiet way to sort through her thoughts, but she knew that training came first. She wouldn't be a warrior by spending all her time out of camp hunting. "We can train," she said, trying to will herself to sound more eager. It didn't work much, but at least she got it out.
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Post by silentpaws on May 16, 2019 2:56:23 GMT -6
Marigoldflare nodded. "Good. Let's head out," she said, pleased that there had been at least a little positivity in Chirppaw's words. It hadn't been a lot but she'd take what she could get. With a flick of her tail she began to lead the way out of camp, heading towards the river at an unrushed pace. "I was thinking we should work on water combat today," she said, breaking the silence before it could drag on for too long. "You're a good swimmer already and this'll help you get even more confident in the water. But it's not easy to get the hang of so we'll both need a fair bit of patience with each other." There was a slight note of warning in her tone, their previous altercation still in her mind, but alongside it was an admittance that it was as much on her as it was on Chirppaw.
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Post by theatricals on May 18, 2019 14:59:01 GMT -6
Chirppaw followed without a word, preferring to remain quiet rather than interrupt Marigoldflare. She didn't have much of a reason to, anyway. They were just going over basics, something that didn't really need her input. When the she-cat brought up water combat, she started for a moment, but continued on. She liked the water well enough, even felt comfortable enough swimming--but getting out was another story. The way it hung off of her could be uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure why or how other WillowClan cats could get the water to slide right off their fur. Combat was another challenge all together. It wasn't one that she wasn't willing to accept, but she had hoped that they would be doing something a little simpler.
Stating that out loud was out of the question, though. She wasn't going to come across as weak or a coward. She already had it ingrained in her mind that she would work hard, but her mentor's last comment did make her falter slightly, and she purposely kept her silence after.
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Post by silentpaws on Jul 2, 2019 18:30:16 GMT -6
Chirppaw's silence didn't bother Marigoldflare too much, but it meant she could only hope that Chirppaw had heard her properly since there had been no verbal confirmation. She almost asked her apprentice if she'd heard her, considering the issues she'd had with Chirppaw apparently not hearing her in the past, but with the fragile relationship the two shared at the moment she chose to stay silent. Once they were at the shallowest part of the river she stopped, glancing over the bank to make sure there was nothing unexpected beneath the surface before she walked into the stream to stand with the water lapping around her knees. "We can just swim around for a while until you're comfortable. Like I said, I'm not in any rush," she said to Chirppaw with a smile, motioning with her tail for her to join her at her own pace.
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Post by theatricals on Jul 2, 2019 20:48:47 GMT -6
Her eyes caught on almost everything they passed, not because she hadn't seen it before, but simply because it was beautiful enough to catch her eye. When they reached the water, Chirppaw tilted her head, the soft trickling sounds something she wanted to hold onto. She only heard the last bit of Marigoldflare's statement as a quiet mumble, but she caught the gist as soon as she lifted her head. It wasn't something she really wanted to do today, with her paws feeling a bit of a chill as it was, but she didn't refuse as she all but threw herself further into the river, her long fur immediately starting to pick it up and drag her down. Her paws still touched the bottom, but the rest of her fur fanned out among the water, making her look almost comical. "Now what?"
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Post by silentpaws on Jul 5, 2019 17:47:46 GMT -6
"Now we try to go underwater," Marigoldflare said, wading further in so that she was having to tread water to keep her head above the surface. "Don't try and dive down yet, just dip your head underneath the water and try to open your eyes to see the riverbed. It's probably gonna sting a bit to start with but you get used to it pretty quickly." To demonstrate, she ducked her own face below the surface so only her ears were poking out from the water, wanting to make sure she had at least one of her senses still working in case Chirppaw needed to catch her attention.
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Post by theatricals on Jul 8, 2019 15:12:08 GMT -6
Chirppaw had gone underwater before, and didn't find it too intimidating, but it was only for short bursts when needed. To actually stay under was another story, and suggested that she needed to work on self-control in order to work with it. Holding her breath, she copied her mentor, dipping beneath the surface and coming back up right after. It irritated her eyes and ears, having not swam in quite a while, but it wasn't enough to deter her from trying again. More carefully, she dipped below once more and opened her eyes more carefully, making out the blurry image of the riverbed beyond her.
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Post by silentpaws on Jul 10, 2019 14:34:17 GMT -6
Marigoldflare watched with her head back above the surface as Chirppaw practised, waiting for her to duck her head under a second time before she dived down fully to meet Chirppaw's gaze from under the water. She grinned at her apprentice's expression before surfacing again, letting Chirppaw join her above the water before she spoke again. "Sorry if I scared you a bit. But that's what we're doing next, just trying to duck all the way under. It's a bit scary when you start so just take your time, if we spend the rest of the session practising diving then it's all good." She smiled at Chirppaw then, really wanting her to know that she wasn't trying to rush her at all.
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Post by theatricals on Jul 12, 2019 13:42:21 GMT -6
The pressure around her was an odd sensation, but not unpleasant. She was almost tempted to remain under the water, and was disappointed when Marigoldflare eventually returned to the surface. Following her, she broke from the water, the pressure dissipating but leaving her with water in her nose and ears. The apprentice sneezed, finding the prospect of spending the whole time diving back and forth to be monotonous. She hoped that they would move forward doing something else, but she couldn't remember if Marigoldflare had mentioned anything along those lines. "Okay," she said, for lack of better response.
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Post by silentpaws on Jul 16, 2019 17:42:02 GMT -6
She could tell Chirppaw was bad, that was obvious enough, but Marigoldflare had needed to go through the basics of diving before she could risk moving onto something more difficult. While she didn't want to focus on Chirppaw's history she had always kept in mind during their swimming sessions that she wasn't a born WillowClan cat, since she knew from Mousefern's session with Batpaw that he struggled with swimming so knew that Chirppaw was likely to too. "Now we make things interesting," she said with a smile. "Dive under again, and try to knock me under the water. Imagine I'm an AspenClan warrior and can't swim well, try to unbalance me. Don't worry about hurting me, try as hard as you can." She'd be keeping a close eye on Chirppaw so would hopefully have some warning before she was knocked below the surface.
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Post by theatricals on Jul 17, 2019 14:33:48 GMT -6
She was glad Marigoldflare was going to let her stay under, rather than struggle to keep coming up and down. It was dizzying, and she'd much rather have a goal in mind. Nodding to her, she dove under again, the drag of her fur the only true obstacle against her determination. It wasn't comfortable, but it was a necessary sacrifice. She was just grateful that the weather was still nice enough for this. Paddling somewhat awkwardly--but more strongly than on the surface--she dove for Marigoldflare's two front paws, turning on her side to hopefully throw her weight at her. Still, she wondered if it might actually work, as the water pressure took away a portion of the force she could have inflicted had they been on land.
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Post by silentpaws on Aug 11, 2019 7:32:30 GMT -6
Marigoldflare kept her paws churning lightly as she watched Chirppaw's gleaming pelt through the water. She looked to be moving with a lot more strength under the water compared to on the surface which was a really encouraging sign, something she knew she would commend her apprentice for when the the session was over. With that thought in her head she was almost caught off guard by someone slamming into her front paws, her head splashing into the water as she was left off-center with her back legs still kicking. She was grinning when she broke the surface though, waiting for Chirppaw to join her above water before she said "That was absolutely brilliant."
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Post by theatricals on Aug 23, 2019 16:47:23 GMT -6
Chirppaw wasn't even sure if she had done it right, but it felt as though she had taken Marigoldflare by surprise, and that alone was enough to boost her confidence. When she finally surfaced she took a deep breath, feeling more relieved than anything when her paws finally hit solid ground. Her fur was heavy, her paws felt unbearably so, but she had at least done what she had set out to do. It suddenly occurred to her that what she was hearing wasn't the water, and that Marigoldflare had actually been saying something. When Chirppaw looked at her, her expression was pleased, so she had to assumed she was praising her at the least. She smiled back but said nothing, feeling mouse-brained for having not listened.
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