Just a Bit Strange...[Snowsong]

[☆§wìftflame☆]

[OOC: I'm not good at titles today.]

Echopaw's eyes opened irritatingly slowly as the foggy depths of sllep slowly ceased to envelop him. His paw twitched, and with a groan he push himself into a position that was technically upright. His spine hunched over with tiredness, and his eyes were barely open. Echopaw was the farthest thing from a morning person you could ever find, but what could be done about that? Well, I'll have to get used to it...[/i] Despite the drowning drowsiness, Echopaw still felt the beginnings of excitement for his first official day as an apprentice. Now he would take his first small steps on the path that would lead him to become a warrior. Padding heavily on small paws out of the apprentices' den, Echopaw made his was towards the warriors den, where he assumed he would find his new mentor, Snowsong. Poking his dark head in, Echopaw mewled tentatively and quietly, "Snowsong? Are you awake? My training starts today, I know, but I wasn't told when. So, umm...." Echopaw trailed off into what he found to be a comfortable silence, even though it was anything but. The only thing he found uncomfortable was talking to other cats....he knew what they thought behind his back - he would never be as good, becaus ehis parents were rouges and because of his unusually small size. He had to prove them all wrong, and talking just got in the way of that. Besides, he liked silence. It gave him time to think. Shaking himself out of his train of thought, he peered into the dark warriors den, waiting for the reply of his mentor.[/size]

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Since she wasn't in a deep sleep, the sound of a small cat's paws drumming the Earth, growing clearer and closer to the den every moment, awoke Snowsong. Her gaze slowly opened, and her faint drowsiness dissipated. Her figure shifted, and then her ears flicked slightly when an apprentice's voice drifted onto her eardrums, dancing upon them. Her emotionless gaze shifted to the entrance, and there stood the apprentice she was assigned to mentor. She didn't speak, but she did flick her ears to show him that the training would start soon, as long as he got outside to give her some room to exit the den.

Her snow white figure shifted, and then she got to her paws. Her gaze's emptiness, accompanied by the usual emotionless, became clear as a speck of sunlight managed to creep through the gap between the den entrance and the apprentice. She closed her gaze to keep her gaze hidden for a moment, and then padded toward the entrance. It was like walking blind, and she was accustomed to it, using the technique quite often. When her figure loomed before the apprentice, her paw-steps ceased, even though her gaze was closed. Her closed gaze descended tot he position to what seemed would be the position that her tilt would be in if she was glancing down at the apprentice with open orbs; her sense of smell told her almost exactly where he was located.

[☆§wìftflame☆]

Echopaw immediately noticed Snowsong's subtle signs and backed self-consciously out of the warrior's den. He then stood awkwardly, several tail lengths from the entrance, waiting for his mentor to emerge. As he did so, Echopaw wondered what they'd do. Would they explore the territory, or actually start learning something like hunting or fighting? Echopaw's pelt prickled slightly with excitement, though he let no emotion show outwardly. Someone might notice, and then one thing would lead to another and he actually might have to have a conversation. Echopaw shivered with distaste. Why couldn't cats just coexist peacefully, doing their own thing? Why did conversation and socialization have to be involved? The dark colored young tom immediately allowed his features to become blank again as Snowsong pick her way through the blinding darkness towards him. Realizing the extreme darkness in the den, Echopaw padded forward a few steps to allow his scent to catch in the slight breeze that was blowing towards his mentor, so she could use the scent as a way out. For the first time he realized how early he had woken Snowsong - it was not even late enough to allow any midday sun to creep into the dens. Did she cats need more sleep? Echopaw hadn't really ever had any experiences with female cats, let alone any cats. He suddenly felt slightly resentful that he had been assigned a female mentor when Swiftstar knew how awkward he could be. The tom glared pointlessly towards her den, as if she could feel the anger in his gaze as she slept deeply in her nest. Noticing a flash dawn-darkened fur and a pair of eyes emerging from the warriors den, he realized that Snowsong had seen him. Echopaw turned quickly back towards his mentor, slightly more awkward than he had been previously. He chose not to speak, hoping that she would learn soon enough that he was much happier - or at least less unhappy - when conversation was not involved.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

With her gaze remaining closed for some kind of secret hidden within their depths, Snowsong padded a few tail lengths away from the den, pausing to wait for Echopaw to trail after her for training. After a short moment of waiting, she padded toward the gorse tunnel. She reopened her gaze to narrow slits when she was several more tail-lengths away from the apprentice, and she made sure her gaze was clear of Echopaw's sight. She was actually glad that he had woken her up this early, noticing that it was still halfway dark, which she took a liking to; at least some parts of her might have chances of being concealed. Though, she didn't show any emotion nor liking on the exterior, and continued to pad on toward the forest.

When the shadows oft he forest began to dance upon her pelt, she allowed her gaze to widen to halfway to usual, and her paw-steps became as silent as a dead forest. Her expression remained emotionless, but her gaze seemed to betray the emptiness that she was attempting to conceal by showing a glimmer of it within the depths of her gaze. She inwardly cursed at herself for being so weak against her painful emotions. Now was the time to mentor, and so she inwardly shook herself to clear her mind and collect her thoughts more efficiently. Before she realized it, she had reached a clearing in the forest, and her paw-steps ceased, awaiting Echopaw's appearance to occur behind her.

[☆§wìftflame☆]

[OOC: Sorry about that I wasn't supposed to be on the computer, and then my mom got home and I had already written a lot so I just was like WIP really really fast and closed it before she came in. xD]

Echopaw was a little more than pleasantly surprised that his mentor had passed without a word - he was thrilled. Maybe being an apprentice wouldn't be so bad after all, if his mentor didn't like speaking to others either. He noted with pondering curiosity the fact that his mentor's eyes were barely open - maybe she wasn't a morning person either? Shaking off the feeling that there might be a real reason for her not opening her hazel eyes, Echopaw padded slowly and, as always, silently, after Snowsong. Though she had still not spoken a word, he assumed that they would be doing something in the forest by the direction they were heading, which was opposite of that of the hollow where most of the apprentices and their mentors usually trained. The snow-covered leaves, though quite stiff from the cool air, made no sound as they traveled beneath his small, black paws, nor did the twig that, under any other cat's paws, would have snapped loudly. Echopaw's absolute silence was unintentional, though useful in most situations. In this case however, it caused his mentor to look back and check to make sure that he was still following her. Speeding up his pace to a slow and soundless trot, Echopaw flicked his tail slightly to signal that he was following still. As his did so a bramble caught, but only for a few moments as it snaked it's way out of the silky fur of his short tail on it's own accord. He twitched it in slight pain, however, as the bramble had broken his delicate skin. Echopaw shook off the pain insistently, a considerably low growl for his young age reverberating through his small frame. He couldn't start crying like a kit over a little prick from a thorn! Finally catching up, he casually glanced behind him at his stinging tail to make sure it wasn't bleeding noticeably before falling into step with Snowsong. He halted soon enough as she did, however, and as they did he realized that they had come to a small clearing. Would they practice battle training here? Or was this the starting point for some sort of hunting trip. The intensity of his bubbling curiosity burned in his eyes, but still Echopaw said nothing. A cold breeze whipped bitingly around his small, vulnerable ears as he did his best to contain his burning curiosity and excitement. He still felt the same as all of the other apprentices, excited and thrilled to finally be training to be a warrior. But he did feel one extra thing that forced him to hold all of that back, and that was resentment. Resentment towards his loner parents for abandoning him in the forest so soon after his birth, resulting in his abnormally small size, which would probably stay with him forever. Resentment towards his peers, who seemed to treat him differently because his parents were loners. It was as if they thought that any moment he would be off to join them, probably attacking helpless creatures as his parents most likely did. He was always fighting to contain this resentment, and he was sure it would all pour out if he let any emotions through. So he didn't. And he never would, if he could help it. Even if the burning desire to ask questions about anything and everything seemed to be about to explode inside him. He would stay silent, even if it meant giving up acting like a normal apprentice. Echopaw just wanted to be treated like everyone else.

[OOC AGAIN: I'm so dramatic lately! I'll try to cool it down a but after this, I just get caught up in what I'm writing and its like WOOSH. ANGST. MUCH. xD]

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Figuring that this apprentice disliked conversations, probably much more than she did, all she could do was hope that he understood her way of sending messages with signals rather than speak; she doubted she'd like to waste her breath by speaking to the apprentice and get nothing out of him. With a faint, inward sigh, she straightened her figure up and shifted her figure to face the apprentice; her gaze remained narrowed to barely slits. Her stance seemed to note that he should be prepared for anything, and a slight flick of her ears should have meant that it was a confirmation of the message her physical position was giving off. Her gaze rested calmly, with the majority of it being extremely emotionless, upon the apprentice. thoughts and plans for his training flashed through her mind, and she chose one; practice battling.

Without a single signal of what she was doing, she coiled her nearly hidden muscles, the action being next to impossible to detect. Her figure only slightly lowered slowly, and it didn't signal anything of her mind's thoughts. A breeze began to whisper, which barely but surely ruffled her pure alabaster coat. Her hazel gaze remained barely slits, though they were prepared to close and allow her to train this apprentice like an experienced blind warrior. Perhaps she could teach him to use her senses and instincts like her, she thought, but soon decided that it probably wouldn't be truly worth it. With yet another inward sigh, she prepared herself to begin a somewhat slightly fierce first lesson; challenge or not, she was going to teach this apprentice.

As a second breeze whispered, a faint shuffle sounded a split second before she launched herself at the apprentice. Her figure was meant to signal the apprentice to obey what his instincts and senses told him. She was progressing swiftly toward the dark coated, slightly minuscule tom, and her figure showed no signs of threat except throwing her weight around and probably with just paws, with sheathed claws, to stun or distract. She was only aiming to bowl the apprentice over, and she decided that she'd have to break the silence to inform him on lessons, which she truly hated that fact. However, her mind soon swiftly cleared to concentrate on her figure preparing to collide with the apprentice.

[☆§wìftflame☆]

Echopaw stood, absolutely silent and still, in the cool, breezy clearing, wondering what his mentor would do. He widened his ice blue gaze slightly as to take in everything she did, and everything around him in this tree-filled clearing that Snowsong had led him to. Echopaw once again felt a twinge of satisfaction that his snow-white mentor was a comfortable with elongated silence as he was. Though no emotions were visible on his strangely small face, Echopaw did feel true gratitude at his mentor's acute understanding of his difficult situation. Maybe they would actually...get along! What a strange notion - Echopaw had never had any true friends, not even the queen who had so kindly taken him in and nursed him. However appealing the idea of a friend might be, that was a long way off. First, he had to figure out just what Snowsong was doing.

Concentrating deeply, Echopaw opened his senses fully, hearing every breath his took as his ribcage methodically expanded, seeing every sway of the fronds of the ferns, noticing every twitch of the leaves of the trees. As Echopaw's gaze focused on the snow-white she cat, he finally saw movement. Judging by her solid, prepared stance, her slit-like eyes alert, Echopaw also copied her position, trying to be alert as she was. His small paws tingled as his claws instinctively unsheathed, and he had to concentrate deeply to force them back into their sheathes. Sharply bringing his gaze back to his mentor, Echopaw once again looked for any signs of what to do next. From her positioning, he assumed that they would be training for battle, but could glean nothing more. He started as her figure lowered slightly, but couldn't figure out why she had done so, as nothing else had occurred. All he could do was copy her every movement, hoping it would lead to something useful for battle. Gazing into her hazel, squinted eyes, Echopaw was sure he detected a flash of something that could have been doubt - of his skills? His resolve hardened, his claws once again sliding smoothly and silently out of their sheathes. If she was doubting his skills, Echopaw would teach her just how wrong she was. He had plenty of potential, no matter how little he knew of tactics.

A faint shuffle caused his gaze to fly back to his silent mentor, moments too late. His primitive instincts took over as the fierce she-cat flew aggressively towards him. Though her claws were safely sheathed, his remained out and sharp in the face of what his instincts took to be danger. With Snowsong growing closer every moment, Echopaw's mind leaped into overdrive. How could he soften the impact. Maybe...a roll?

Pushing as hard as he could with his young and underdeveloped muscles, Echopaw rolled himself roughly onto his back, sliding slightly in the slushy dirt. As his mentor's body slammed into his, Echopaw finished his roll, deflecting the brunt of her weight. Though his shoulder throbbed slightly where it had been slammed cruelly into the frozen ground, Echopaw felt more alive than he ever had in his short life. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, widening his ice blue eyes even further and making his leap up straight with excitement. Was this what a battle felt like? He certainly had a lot more to learn, though . More like everything to learn. It had taken him far too long to roll, reflexes slow and untested. His small head whipped around excitedly to see what his mentor had thought of his first attempt, actually allowing his eyes to shine slightly with the glow of interest.

[/blockquote]

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Snowsong had a faint smile of amusement, and an impressed hint of a flash appeared within the depths of her gaze for a split second before it dissipated completely. She had remained shifting around, though, for she was weaving swiftly around Echopaw. At first she hesitated, but then spoke. "Be prepared for anything, and expect the unexpected; that may not be the simplest thing, but it is what I desire to perhaps teach you a bit about today." Her tone was emotionless and somewhat hushed, and her paw-steps were as silent as dead again. Her figure fluidly weaved from one side of the apprentice, and then suddenly on the opposite side. Her gaze remained locked upon his figure, and her gaze had slightly widened, but barely any closer to usual size. It no longer gaze off any emotion, and no more hints of her thoughts or anything; it just grew somewhat empty as she managed to hinder the path that led to her emotions that her gaze contained.

Her movements noted nothing of what she planned, and she was quite glad she contained this ability; she couldn't help but wonder if her apprentice contained the exact, or similar, ability. Her paw-steps began to weave extremely close to him, but she made sure that it would be difficult for him to catch more than a strand of her fur. It was soon after that she, after coiling her muscles, launched herself backwards, literally and skillfully, to the edge of the clearing. Her gaze remained concentrated upon the apprentice, and she waited for the whispering breeze to silence before making her move. Once it quieted down, her figure flashed as she launched herself to the side of the apprentice tom. It was then that she swiftly dug her now unsheathed claws into the Earth in a split second, and then swung her figure around with half of her strength and weight to cause a large but not severe and extremely stunning impact upon his back.

[☆§wìftflame☆]

Echopaw had done his best to remain acting bored and emotionless, but he could contain his excitement no longer. He relaxed his grip on his emotions slightly, and as he did so his in tense concentration, interest, and excitement shine through. The force of his emotions shocked him, and for a moment he lost concentration, experiencing the rush of new emotions. He was rather sharply interrupted as Snowsong weaved expertly around him, demonstrating how he should move. Then, for the first time she spoke, her soft voice surprising him somewhat. Ice-blue eyes glowed as he drank in her advice, already imagining how he could apply it to his fighting style. Always expect the unexpected. Completely unnoticed, Echopaw bunched his muscles slightly, sinking fine claws into the damp ground underpaw. Gaze still shining innocently and intently, he shifted his weight backwards slightly as well. Echopaw was confident that Snowsong hadn't noticed the minuscule shift in his positioning. Simultaneously, Echopaw continued to drink her appearance, monitoring everything she did. Her weaving paws continued to move, but Echopaw had a strange feeling that he knew where she would move next. Muscles already bunched up, Echopaw sprung forward, claws sheathed, but snarling. And, despite his unpredicted move, Snowsong was also demonstrating the outcome of her lesson. At the exact same moment as Echopaw the she-cat launched herself towards him, aiming her his vulnerable back. But he was already flying towards her, and there was nothing he could do to stop himself. Panic flashed in his eyes as he realized that the combined force of their leaps could seriously injure his fine, fragile bones. His eyes squeezed nuts, true fear on his face. Eyes now covered by their dark lids, Echopaw couldn't see Snowsong's reaction, nor what she was doing as they flew ever closer.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Echopaw's launch if his figure barely surprised Snowsong since she herself had expected something out of the ordinary to occur, if it was indeed out of the ordinary. She figured that, at this speed and launch time, her apprentice may get harmed slightly more than he was supposed to. She twisted her figure to the side, aiming to miss him by at least a centimeter. But even her expert twisting failed since they were both flying at each other at a speed to swift. Her gaze remained open and unblinking, and she inwardly cursed at herself when her side rammed into his head. She hoped she hadn't harmed him, and she launched her hind legs at the empty air to make sure she reduced her momentum slightly so the remaining impact wouldn't occur. She managed to slightly glide back about a couple of millimeters, and she knew the impact was lessened thanks to her swift reflexes and reaction planning.

But the trouble didn't hinder there, for she soon noticed that they were now heading closer to the bottom of a tree trunk than safety would allow. The impact wouldn't harm her much, but she figured that the trunk would likely harm her apprentice on impact, and so she twisted her figure back to in front of him; directly in front of him as possible. She then placed her forepaws upon his back as a grip, and then she suppressed a yowl when she felt a powerful impact on her back that knocked the air out of her lungs. they began to drop, and so she twisted to under her apprentice, and then managed to land upon all fours. A second later, she felt another impact upon her back, and her legs gave in, and she collapsed onto the ground. She soon wriggled free on the weight upon her back, shook herself slightly, and then whisked around to see if her apprentice was without injury, her gaze containing a hint of her concern.

[☆§wìftflame☆]

Echopaw's tightly squeezed lids flew open with surprised pain as the impact gouged at his brittle skin. Still flying, he cursed his fragility through tears of pain, knowing he would be in intense pain from this. He expected to land and crumple in pain, but he was wrong. The tree was too close much too close... In Snowsong's wild and skillful attempt to protect his underdeveloped body, they slammed into the tree. Echopaw felt his impossibly thin skin tear in too many places, a sharp gouging in his right flank, and stinging above his left eye. He cursed aloud this time, not from pain but from anger at himself, for being to breakable. For any other apprentice this would have been a minor scratch, nothing bad. But Echopaw's head now ached as his heart made up for the considerable amount of blood welling in deep scratches from the trees bark. A small twig was sticking out of his burning flank, and, judging by his stinging brow, a scrape up there too. Now he was not bothering to hold in the one emotion in his body - anger. He yowled curses and meaningless howls, outrage at himself twisting his features. WHY!!! WHY DID THEY MAKE ME LIKE THIS?!? I HATE THIS!!! WHY WAS I EVER EVEN BORN?!?!"

[/b] His yowls progressed through every bit of profanity he knew before fading into to a keening howl. Why?[/size][/blockquote]

[OOC: xD I'm sooo dramatic. ]

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Snowsong was taken by surprise, if not shock, as Echopaw's sudden outrage and rampage of speech. She was also quite concerned when she saw those wounds, and a twig standing out, upon his figure. She padded closer, and she had to calm him down before something else began. "Hush, Echopaw.... You were born for a reason, not to be this stressed all the time... Calm down, and we'll get you healed..." At first she hesitated, but then delicately wrapped her tail around her apprentice's fragile figure, and then her snow white figure merged with his as she sat down neatly next to him, gently pulling him into her flank. She then wrapped her jaws around the twig in his flank, and then pulled it out without getting it shaky, even though her breathing was slightly heavy from the impact. She flung the twig into the bushes, and then gingerly rasped her tongue over her apprentice's wounds, her gaze narrowed to barely slits. This act reminded her so much of Bluekit, her dead niece, and it began to sting her insides. She suppressed a flinch of mental pain, and she managed to do so by being accustomed to the pain. "Let's get you t--" she broke off abruptly as she realized that her apprentice wouldn't desire to be seen like this in Camp; but she knew she could dash off and get Ripplepaw now, or ever, in that matter. She hoped the apprentice would calm down to think straight, and then inform her if he would desire to go back to Camp for his own good.

[☆§wìftflame☆]

Of course you were born for a reason...

Echopaw's eyes narrowed, and he muttered, No I wasn't...

[/b] But he submitted to her minimal healing skills, though a bit grudgingly. However, as she wrapped her tail around him, he jumped back as if he had been burned. He immediately turned away, knowing he had overreacted but refusing to meet his mentor's gaze. As far as Echopaw knew, he had never been intentionally touched by another cat, even as a kit. After all, he had never had a mother. I don't need anycat. I'm fine how I am. Snowsong can bed my mentor, but I don't need anything else from her. Just to be a warrior. Any hope of being a normal apprentice had completely vanished from Echopaw's future upon his contact with the tree. That's what you get for being friendly and inquisitive with other cats. If I hadn't played along and tried to surprise her, none of this would have happened, and she wouldn't that I was all fragile. That was another thing that bothered Echopaw about Snowsong...well...touching him. She had done it out of sympathy, out of pity. And pity was one thing Echopaw could not and would not tolerate. He hated it with a burning passion, and nothing angered him more. WHY couldn't they understand that he didn't want their sympathy, their pity? He just wanted to be treated normal! However, his side was beginning to ache with the effort it was taking his thin blood to pulse around the wound, though most of it was rushing out instead. With one more silently muttered curse, Echopaw turned back to Snowsong, though sitting just within her reach this time. He leaned forward to allow her to remove the protruding twig, and gasped with pain and relief as it was carefully pulled free. But they both knew that he would need a medicine cat, and this was the last way he wanted to be seen walking into camp. He didn't explain as he was sure his mentor was thinking the same thing as he, but simply said, "I'm not going."[/b] The fragile young apprentice had no idea how he was going to be healed, but he wouldn't have his clanmates gaping at him, thinking he been in a fight with somecat. How they would laugh if they knew it had been a tree...[/size][/blockquote]

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Snowsong nodded slightly, and then got fully to her paws. "Remain hidden and undetected.." She then turned her back to him and dashed off to search for Ripplepaw. Though, thoughts about him surged through her mind on her slightly slow way back to Camp. Was he really that unsocial? The vulnerable part wasn't really a wonder nor question at all, but perhaps it was one of the reasons he was like that. But why did he have to be so stubborn about the pity and things? She could just feel the irritation and anger burning in his pelt the moment after she touched him. Perhaps being that kind was pointless after all. A light sigh escaped her lips, and she shook her head. It was soon that she reached Camp, and her gaze scanned the clearing. She then dashed into the medicine cat den and glanced around for Ripplepaw.

(( Didn't know what to post. ))

[xradx]

Ripplepaw had been checking his herb store to see what he needed more of when Snowsong entered the den. He made a mental not that he was short on Tansy and then lifted his head to look at Snowsong. He was both relieved and concerned to see her there. She was probably there because she needed some sort of assistance because something had gone wrong. On the bright side, at least he had something to do instead of go through his herbs again to make sure he had enough. "Is something wrong?" His eyes were round with concern. He looked over Snowsong, who appeared to be in decent shape herself, before deciding that she was probably here because of someone else. He swallowed hesitantly. That meant whoever was in trouble couldn't come themselves. Of course there were plenty of reasons a cat couldn't come to the medicine cat den, and not all of them were bad. Relax Ripplepaw, he told himself, You don't even know why she's here yet.