Training Dewpaw (Cinny & Dew)

[Kiri-chan]

(for now please just Cinny & Dew. Thanks ^^)

Cinnamonstreak stretched as he padded out of the warrior's den and into the warm greenleaf sunshine. He'd been rather busy with his new family and kits and felt like he'd sort of abandoned his Apprentice, Dewpaw over the past few weeks. He needed to get back on track with her.

Being one of the more strict mentors, Cinnamonstreak didn't believe in letting his Apprentices get soft or take breaks. In his mind, he'd failed in that area and felt he'd let Dewpaw take a rather long break since he'd not been after her as much as he had been before Sablespirit had had her litter. Determined to change that, he purposefully strode over to the Apprentice's Den and yowled for Dewpaw to get up-now. Turning on his flame colored heels, Cinnamonstreak didn't grab breakfast and Dewpaw wasn't going to be allowed to eat either. She literally had a matter of seconds to get up and follow him or be left behind as he made his way to the Eastern Riverbank.

Cinnamonstreak had a feeling some of the warriors didn't agree with his strict training regiment, but he refused to coddle or be soft on his Apprentices. Life out here was harsh and wouldn't coddle any cat caught offguard or one that was soft. Besides, this forced Dewpaw early on to learn how to track. If she didn't find him, she didn't train, and if she didn't train, Cinnamonstreak would make her life a living h*ll later in the form of no dinner.

Steadfastly making his way to the riverbank, he mentally counted down the time it was taking Dewpaw to catch up while he ignored his own hunger. If nothing else could be said for his training methods, at least he put himself through nearly the same pain as he did his Apprentice. If his Apprentice had to skip breakfast, so could he.


(muwhahahaha... I mean, *cough* training thread. yes... *inches away plotting*)

[♫ [.nighty.]]

I'm up, I'm up! She groaned inwardly. The ginger Apprentice grudgingly pulled herself to her paws and licked her fur quickly before racing after Cinnamonstreak. Great StarClan, out of all the EmberClan warriors that could be my mentor, why him? Dewpaw skidded to a halt by the Eastern Riverbank. But, if she was ever going to be a warrior, she'd have to live with this obnoxious mentor.
"So, what are we going to do today?" she asked excitedly. Nice save! What's he going to do, make me kill myself? She shook her head clear and looked at Cinnamonstreak brightly. The senior apprentice wanted to get through her training fast, she was Stormpaw's age and way older than Sealpaw. But since Sablespirit had those incredibly cute kits, she decided not to get into that and how it took away her training time. Dewpaw was almost as big as Cinnamonstreak now, and at 16 moons, she was supposed to be a warror already. Didn't Blazestar care about her? What was she, chopped liver?
"I'll never be a warrior, will I?" Dewpaw mewed dejectly, her excited tone gone.

{A bit short, sorry!}

[Kiri-chan]

(sorry my muse is totally dead. expect the following post to suck.)

Cinnamonstreak hadn't reached the river before racing pawsteps told him Dewpaw was hightailing it after him. Picking up his own speed, Cinny ran the rest of the way there with Dewpaw. As he stopped next to her, he flicked his ears forward to listen to her speak.

"So, what are we going to do today?"

Her excitement was obvious in her tone and he was glad for that. One thing was for sure, Dewpaw tackled her training with eagerness and that also made training her easier. She was already past her first birthday though and Cinnamonstreak knew that was due more to oversight on Blazestar's behalf than his. But he could always find other things to teach her, but that had to be annoying for Dewpaw. If it did annoy her, she didn't show it.

"I'll never be a warrior, will I?"

Hmm, spoke too soon. Cinny looked over sharply at her. He understood all too well what it was like to feel like you were stuck on pause while life went on around you. However, he wasn't going to let her have a pity party for herself. That would weaken her. So, with that in mind, Cinny made himself get harsh with her momentarily.

Reaching over to her with a paw, he moved to whap her with a quick growl.

"NEVER let self pity rule you! Not even for a moment!" He said, his tone commanding. Seeing the look on her face, his features smoothed out and his tone became gentler. He wasn't trying to scare his Apprentice to death, but he had wanted to make sure he had her attention.

"Self pity will weaken you, Dewpaw. That's why you must avoid it at all costs." He said, his tone nicer while he gazed at her with concern. "I don't know why you aren't a warrior yet, but don't let that hold you down. When Blazestar feels you are ready, she will give you your warrior name. In the meantime, focus on what you've accomplished and keep working on improving your skills." He said. "You'll be a warrior in no time." With a lick to her ear, Cinnamonstreak surveyed the area.

There wasn't much more to teach her, but he could keep testing her skills and reflexes to keep her sharp. Spotting some birds in the distance, he decided to work on that first. "Alright, let's test how well your stalking and pouncing skills are, but I want you to focus on catching a bird. I'll wait here." He said, curling his tail around his hindlegs.

[♫ [.nighty.]]

Dewpaw recoiled as Cinnamonstreak whacked her, and shied away momentarily.

"NEVER let self pity rule you! Not even for a moment!"

Well, help me a moment, please? That would help me stop pitying myself.
Dewpaw's thoughts were mildly sarcastic, and Cinnamonstreak's hit made her entire body tingle with anger.

"Self pity will weaken you, Dewpaw. That's why you must avoid it at all costs."

You don't say? Dewpaw sank her claws into the ground to refrain from flying at her mentor and starting to claw his eyes out. Her fur bristled for a moment, and she clamped back a sharp retort. Just like Blazestar to pair me up with the most evil warrior in EmberClan! she thought angrily, and a small hiss escaped her maw. Restraining yet another urge to sink her claws into Cinnamonstreak, and Blazestar, she listened to what her mentor was saying and tried desperately to calm herself down.

"I don't know why you aren't a warrior yet, but don't let that hold you down. When Blazestar feels you are ready, she will give you your warrior name. In the meantime, focus on what you've accomplished and keep working on improving your skills." He said. "You'll be a warrior in no time."

At that, Dewpaw smoothed out her fur and just glared at Cinnamonstreak, wondering if she could disobey her mentor, run back to camp, and.... come out to whack him with a tree branch. That would be a laugh. But as long as Cinnamonstreak wouldn't neglect her again, Dewpaw told herself it would be okay.

"Alright, let's test how well your stalking and pouncing skills are, but I want you to focus on catching a bird. I'll wait here."

Could things get any easier? Dewpaw relucantly obeyed and sank into her best bird-hunting crouch.

Light steps, light steps....

She stepped over the debris by the Riverbank, and at last found a nice spot to spring. Gathering up her haunches for a more controlled leap, Dewpaw sprang into the air. The bird gave a small cry, and Dewpaw sunk her claws into the bird's throat, and it fell silent.

Ew, bird guts.

Dewpaw sniffed, wiped her paws on the shore of the Riverbank, and pulled the bird back to Cinnamonstreak, delight written all over her face.

Not bad.

She told herself coolly, restraining herself from further excitement. It would be very much like Cinnamonstreak to point out that she leapt a heartbeat too early, or sprang too high, or anything of the kind. Trying not to roll her eyes, the dappled ginger feline looked up at Cinnamonstreak, though her eyes did not betray her expectance of praise.

If he daresay that I did something wrong, I'll have his eyes out!

Dewpaw let a sly grin play across her face.
"So. . .?" she mewed expectantly, tail faintly twitching. Dewpaw quickly stopped her tail from moving and hid a grin by studying her forepaws before looking back up at her mentor.

(And Cinny wins the Oscar for Least Controlled Temper! LOL)

[Kiri-chan]

(lol, Cinny's meh mean, bad kitty. hehe)

Cinnamonstreak could tell Dewpaw would much rather pounce him than a bird, but he pretended to be oblivious to her glare. Hiding a smile at the way she could go from emo to fiesty in three seconds, Cinny sometimes was tempted to mess with her just to watch her fluff up. But she was his Apprentice and Mentors weren't supposed to helliate their Apprentices - at least not on purpose. If they got frustrated during the course of training, well, that was slightly different.

So, watching her pad off with an air of one that knew what she was doing, Cinny wasn't surprised to see her return shortly with a dead bird. He didn't miss the look in her eyes either that said he'd better praise her or she'd probably tackle him and beat it out of him, though it was quickly hidden. As she pulled herself into a composed frame, Cinnamonstreak found himself fighting not to smile again.

He deliberately took his sweet time in confirming that yes, the bird was dead. He wasn't just testing her good hunting skills. He was also testing her patience, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Finally, after turning it over and scrutinizing it from every angle imaginable, he looked over at her. He mentally debated with himself if he should say it, or not. Be nice or see how she'd react to some indirect ribbing? Oooh tough choice. Indirectly helliating her finally won out.

"Well you caught it, so that's good... but... it's dead." He said, blinking at her and sounding somewhat confused, as if being brought a dead bird was something unusual. "Good job on catching breakfast, but ah, I said I wanted you to catch it, not kill it." He said, watching her in case he needed to scramble up a tree to hide his laughing or something.

Inwardly he was keeping a tight lid on his laughter, though a part of him said he was being mean. He justified himself though by saying catching a live bird was a lot harder and not many cats could do that. And if that didn't show Blazestar Dewpaw was warrior material well... Cinny would just have to keep Dewpaw doing other harder things. Like catching a live squirrel or something. He wasn't sure Dewpaw would appreciate what he was doing at the moment so Cinny was prepared in case Dewpaw's temper flared and he had to beat retreat up a tree to die laughing.


(poor Dewpaw. She did get a mean mentor didn't she? xD)

[♫ [.nighty.]]

{I totally agree. }

Dewpaw choked on the bird's feathers and dropped it, glaring at Cinnamonstreak.

"I was assuming catch meant kill." she meowed frostily, fur fluffing up. She almost added: I don't know what Sablespirit thinks in you, But kept quiet, not wanting to be any meaner than her mentor.

"Well, I think your mate would rather eat dead bird than live bird." she pointed out coolly, though every instinct was screaming at her to just fly at him.

"So what do you want me to do? Use magic to make it alive?" Dewpaw added sarcastically.

Or tell StarClan to beg Blazestar to get me a different mentor?

It didn't seem like Cinnamonstreak cared about her training at all, so, instead of clawing him or bursting into angry tears, she thought at just throwing the fat bird at Cinnamonstreak's head, or dumping it in the river. Maybe giving it to StormClan if there was a patrol.