First Day Out [TINPAW - training]

[Marbleback +/+]

Marbleback stretched as he rose out of the nest. He had waited so long for this day and he could hardly believe it had finally arrived.

He thought back to his own apprenticehood. His mentor had been so kind and helpful to him - he hoped he could do the same for young Tinpaw. He shookshimself out a bit and hopped in place. The bouncy and energetic cat had no issues waking up - ever - but this little routine just made sure he was ready for the day. He took a deep breath and left the den.

Yesterday, when Tinpaw had received her apprentice name, he had been happy for her. He hadn't spoken with her or her parents much as a kit so he had been surprised greatly when he was named as her mentor. But he was please and he hoped she would be to. He would do everything in his power to make her apprenticeship both amazing and informative. He wanted her to have a good time, but still end with the skills she needed.

He trotted over to the apprentice's den and poked his head in. He wasn't sure if she had been able to sleep the night before. This was a big and exciting deal! "Tinpaw?" He said quietly into the den. "Tinpaw, I want to take you out to see the territory this morning."

[Tinpaw]

Tinpaw awoke drowsily from her fitful sleep to the sound of a cat calling out her name. “Uhhg” She moaned quietly, confused and disoriented due to her sleepiness. Through her squinted eyelids, she could just make out the shape of a small cat. At first, she thought it was one of her siblings. She was about to tell them to go away when she realized that this cat was a tortoiseshell, unlike any of her brothers or sisters. “Marbleback?!” Recognizing the shape of her mentor, Tinpaw leaped out of her nest in a hurry. All of her sleepiness was forgotten when her mentor told her they would be taking a tour of the territory. She bounded out of her den, her tail thrashing back and forth excitedly.

“Cool! What are we going to go see first?” Even though she had already seen most of the territory between her short time as a mentor-less apprentice and her adventures as a kit, the young female was still eager to be taught the lay of the land by a true warrior. She wanted to be the best warrior Stoneclan had ever seen, and knew she would only achieve her goal if she had the best mentor around. Marbleback, however, left a lot to be desired in Tinpaw’s opinion. The male cat was small; around the same size as his apprentice, in fact. To be honest, he didn’t appear as though he could hold his own in a battle. But looks could be deceiving; at least that was what Tinpaw kept reminding herself. He was certainly better than nothing though, which was the only other alternative.

The young apprentice hastily brushed aside her doubts about Marbleback. She was determined to make the most out of her situation, even if she didn’t have Falconstar for a mentor like her stupid sister did. Her paws kneaded the ground anxiously, ready to go on an epic adventure with her new mentor.

[Marbleback +/+]

“Uhhg” Oops! It sounded like she had been sleeping. Well, that was ok. She needed to learn quickly that Marbleback slept rarely and was always ready to go out and do something and now that he had her, that something was training her!

The sleepiness seemed to drain from her as soon as she recognized who had called to her. She leapt out of the nest and ran toward him (almost kicking another apprentice). “Cool! What are we going to go see first?” He knew that she had already been out a bit before he had been named as her Mentor so he had to make this walkabout super exciting and new. "I figured we'd go to the Construction Yard first. While it will be awhile until we go there to actually train, you should know more about it and how to navigate it safely. It's one of the most common places for young cats to go to play and get hurt because they don't know what they're doing."

He was partially speaking from experience. When he was young, one of his friends had gone out there to be brave and cool and gotten badly injured. He didn't want the same thing to happen to his little apprentice. He started toward the entrance to the camp, making sure she was following.

[Tinpaw]

Tinpaw was oblivious to how obnoxious her excitement could sometimes be. She earned more than one startled stare when she barreled out of the apprentice’s den, and may have woken up some of her fellow apprentices in her haste to get out of bed. The young female listened with rapt attention as her mentor described where they would be going and why. She was excited to hear that they would be going to such a dangerous part of the Pineclan territory, but disgruntled that Marbleback thought she was dumb enough to get hurt in the construction yard. Granted, she was prone to getting herself into dangerous situations, but she wasn’t stupid enough to go and get red bite! However, she quickly reminded herself that the construction yard was where mentors took their most advanced apprentices, so she shouldn’t be insulted that Marbleback wanted to take her there so early even if it was only to have a look around. I bet Steelpaw hasn’t gone to the construction yard yet. She thought with a smug smile. Tinpaw was always trying to outdo her siblings, especially her only brother. In her opinion, she was doing a pretty good job of it.

“Okay Marbleback!” Tinpaw grinned and bounded over to the camp entrance, only to stop suddenly when she remembered that her mentor should be the one to lead the way. The small gray tabby stumbled a little over her paws, partly due to the sudden deceleration and partly because she had only just woken up. She waited for Marbleback to go first, hoping that he wouldn’t walk agonizingly slow like some other adults did. Why would anyone walk when they could be running? It never made any sense to Tinpaw.

[Marbleback +/+]

Tinpaw was almost as energetic and bouncy as he was. Usually, apprentices and mentors were paired as opposites to try to balance each other out, but for some reason, Flaconstar had decided to double up the excitement with this duo. And Marbleback was entirely ok with that. It meant more fun to be had later on!

He watched her take off toward the camp entrance, only to pause and trip herself. He grinned, remembering the number of times his short legs hadn't wanted to work for him in the beginning. It was good to know he wasn't the only one. She'd looked back to make sure he was coming along (he really should be leading) and to show her that her excitement for this first session was more then appreciated, he took of at a run, barreling past her and pushing his way out into the territory.

Once they were out of the camp, however, he did want to slow down a bit. There were a few specific things (like a hunting spot he loved) that he wanted to show her on the way and he didn't want to breeze right past it.

He asked her a few questions as they walked, hoping to get to know her a bit better. "So, what was it like training for a few moons without a mentor? I really hope that I'm not redundant and don't repeat things you already know...What kind of things are your favorite; do you prefer hunting or battle practice? What is your favorite prey?"

He stopped her after about ten minutes of walking and pointed his nose in a direction back toward the center of the territory. "That little patch right there is one of my favorite places to hunt. There always seems to be something nosing around and after, there is a great spot to just lay down and rest before taking the prey back to camp. It's perfect!" After that, he continued on his way toward the construction site, asking her a few more questions and answering any she had for him.

[Tinpaw]

Tinpaw was elated when Marbleback took off ahead of her. Maybe he wasn’t the best mentor an apprentice could have, but at least he was fun! She matched his quick pace but found it surprisingly difficult to keep up with him. What with her mentor’s stubby legs, Tinpaw had never thought he could run so fast. She was not deterred by this though, and enthusiastically pushed herself harder to keep up.

Unfortunately, their race did not last long. Tinpaw reluctantly slowed down along with Marbleback as he stopped to question her about her training preferences. In an unusual turn of events, the young apprentice actually thought about what she wanted to say before spitting it out. “Well… it was kind of annoying. Bronzebreeze taught me a little, but sharing lessons with Steelpaw was irritating.” Despite having taken a moment to think about her answer, Tinpaw ended up speaking her mind anyway. She loved her brother, but now that they were older she noticed that he tended to hog all of the attention even if he didn’t always mean to. Between him and Marblepaw, who got more attention than the rest of her littermates combined, Tinpaw and her sister Snowpaw were often ignored. “It’s nice to have a teacher of my own!” She beamed at Marblepaw, glad she was no longer the odd one out.

As far as his second question went, Tinpaw was not exactly sure how to answer. “I haven’t done much of either… but I think I like battle training more. Hunting can be so boring sometimes!” Tinpaw was not the type of cat who liked to sit still for long periods of time, and hunting required that kind of patience that she so lacked. “I like birds because they’re the most exciting to hunt, but I think rabbits taste the best, so I’m not really sure which is my favorite!” She answered Marbleback’s last question with an enthusiastic flick of her tail. Tinpaw enjoyed all of this talking about herself perhaps more than she should have.

The pair walked for a little while longer before coming to a stop at a place that the warrior claimed was his favorite hunting spot. Making a mental note of this, Tinpaw asked, “What are the other good hunting spots around here?” The apprentice had no idea where the best places to hunt were, and it would be good to know so that she could beat her siblings in hunting competitions if they ever challenged her. Plus she wanted to catch as much food for the clan as she could, to prove she was the best apprentice there was!