Private Thread Flick of A Paw

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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Flickerpaw's head swiveled every which way as Cloudflare led her out into the territory. Rocks and fields she had only ever seen at a distance, finally close enough to touch! Well, except for that time she ran off. She wondered how close that rock she had hidden behind was. She hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings during that episode.

The vastness of the world hit her as she gazed around at fields that ran on and on. She wanted to run along with it. Was all this space empty, or did it hold as much activity and interest as camp did? It sure didn't smell empty. Just thinking about how much stuff could fit into all of it threatened to send her into a state of euphoria. Bugs! Birds! The flowers she had seen in the medicine cats' den, prey she had eaten from the fresh-kill pile, alive and well!

Cloudflare's voice startled her out of her reverie.

"Huh? Oh, sure, yeah! What do you want me to do?" Flickerpaw's mismatched eyes shined up at Cloudflare expectantly.

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare couldn't help but notice the way Flickerpaw's gaze darted across the moor and he coudln't keep a smile from his muzzle. He remembered his first major trek on the borders to the twists and turns of the moors in which they called home.

"First thing to do is make sure you can trust your paws." He stepped onto a patch of uneven ground where the earth rose and dipped beneath the grass. Cloudflare demonstrated slowly, placing one paw down at a time and shifting his weight deliberately between them.

"It's easy when you do it slowly - you got to commit your weight. Don't just stomp around and hope the ground beneath you is as it should be. The moor isn't flat." He recalled many a time when rabbits fooled him out into a turn and planted himself in the grass with one paw in a dip.

"Alright...Follow me and the path I take. I'll pretend to be a rabbit - slow at first til you get your barings. I'll change direction, speed and over different parts of the moor as we go. Your job is to keep your balance and stay on my tail."

"Once we practice that a bit, we can work on endurance." And with that, Cloudflare was off at a trot.

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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Flickerpaw sat and watched her mentor carefully, head tilting to the side. The lesson wasn't very interesting, but that only motivated her to do her best so she could get to more advanced concepts as quickly as possible. Besides, chasing Cloudflare couldn't be too difficult. 

"Okay!" She chirped as she bounced after him. 

It ended up being harder than she had expected to keep her attention on her surroundings, her paws, and Cloudflare at the same time. She kept wanting to look around for the sources of the sounds and scents surrounding her, but whenever she did her lapse in focus caused her to stumble or slow down. Ugh! Why was this so hard already! 

Flickerpaw soon got the hang of keeping her eyes on Cloudflare and her mind mostly on Cloudflare. If she took quick glances down at the ground ahead of her, she could anticipate any immediate obstacles or difficulties. Once she had begun to pay attention, she realized that her paws needed to wrap around irregularities in the terrain and her weight needed to shift more fluidly. Of course, she still wasn't going very quickly.

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare kept his pace steady, glancing back just often enough to make sure Flickerpaw remained behind him. He could see the moment she began to understand what he was teaching. There was awkwardness at first, but she'd learn!

"That's it!" He called over his shoulder. "Let your eyes, tail and paws adjust to it." He angled them toward a rougher stretch of terrain where the grass grew unevenly around small rises and depressions. His trot continued without slowing, though his paws became more deliberate as he picked his way through.

Without breaking stride, his forelegs bounded over a fallen branch, landing with barely a stumble before immediately trotting forward. Then...he suddenly cut to the left, paws digging into the earth and his tail swung out to balance him, finally picking up his pace.

A rabbit wouldn't wait for her to catch up before changing direction.

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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This was more like it! Flickerpaw leaped over the branch a little too hastily and tumbled to the ground on the other side. Looking up, she saw Cloudflare speeding away. At least she didn't think he had seen her trip. Once she had picked herself up, Flickerpaw was after him again. Her body tilted to the side as she turned sharply. Catching back up with him proved difficult, but she was worked up enough by now that she had no problem focusing on her goal and surroundings. 

Had she been supposed to pounce on Cloudflare once she got close enough? She hadn't even properly learned to pounce yet. But maybe if did a really good job of jumping on him, he would decide she was doing well enough to move on to the next thing. Endurance, or something?

Flickerpaw put on a burst of speed and leaped. Her judgement of distance was pretty decent, she thought, from the games she had often played in the nursery. She kept her claws sheathed, same as she had in the games.

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare heard the quickening rhythm of paws behind him, ears flicking back just in time to catch the sound of Flickerpaw’s leap. Bold of her to try and leap onto him! He twisted sharply to the side, letting her airborne paws sweep harmlessly past his flank. He spared her a glance before he went forward again.

"Nice try! You almost had me!" His voice carried a laugh as he lengthened his stride, transitioning from a trot into a full gallop. He didn't want her to stop even if it wasn't part of the training.

He veered slightly across the rolling terrain, choosing another stretch of uneven ground rather than making things easy for her. If she wanted to catch him, she'd have to keep reading the land beneath her paws while managing her speed.

- And not get left behind!

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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It took a few moments for Flickerpaw's gait to even out after she hit the ground, but she miraculously managed not to trip over her paws. A smile split her face when Cloudflare's praise reached her.

"I'll get you next time!" She called after him.

And she might have made good on her word if she hadn't been so occupied with keeping the terrain flashing past and under her from tripping her up. At this new speed, it didn't take long for her to tire and lag behind. 

When she couldn't run any more, Flickerpaw slowed to a walk, breathing heavily. Having given up on catching her mentor, she took the opportunity to get a better look at the nearby vegetation. A butterfly alighted on a tall, wilting wildflower plant of some sort, and she halted, eyes wide with wonder and fixed on the insect. 

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare slowed to a stop several tail lengths ahead, chest rising and falling steadily as he looked back. He expected to find Flickerpaw collapsed in the grass after that burst of speed, but instead found her utterly transfixed. His eyes followed her gae and his breath pulled through his nostrils as he padded over to her, careful not to disturb the creature.

"Distracted already?" He teased her lightly, briefly raising his eyes to his surroundings before commiting to his next breath. "That's fine. You're earned a breather. This will be a fitting beginning to working towards endurance."

The heather bush sported a wide variety of flowers in which the butterfly was pollinating, and looked beautiful besides. He settled onto his haunches, allowing himself a bit of rest too. He wasn't as youthful as an apprentice. "How did that feel?" He asked her.

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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Flickerpaw started when Cloudflare approached her. Her tail gave a quick lash, and she glanced at him with ears flattened. She would not be made fun of. She promptly forgot her annoyance when he asked her about the training.

"Sort of hard, but fun, I guess. I thought I was better at running. I'm so tired now!" She sighed dramatically and flopped onto her side. The movement spooked the butterfly, and it pirouetted up and away. It was blue as a piece of the sky, and as it sailed out of view it was as if the heavens reabsorbed it. Stingy. As if there wasn't enough sky already. Flickerpaw made a noise of disappointment and rolled back onto her stomach. 

"What kind is it? And what sort of plant is that?" She tipped her head towards the plant that had served as the butterfly's perch. "I saw another butterfly on a flower when we left camp. Do butterflies like flowers?" 

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare gave a quiet chuckle as Flickerpaw flopped onto her stomach as eyes trailed after the butterfly as it flapped from its perch. "That's a heather bush." He remarked after another quick glance at the conical flower towers.

"As for that butterfly..." Cloudflare's ears tilted back sheepishly. "I haven't got the faintest idea... but yes. Butterflies like flowers. They feed on the powder inside them. You could always ask Rowanglade when we head back what kind it is." Cloudflare was more than content to let his apprentice have a few minutes rest. That was just thee kind of thing that happened after a good chase, especially for stockier cats like him.

He loafed beside her, easing into a contented sigh. "Smell nice doesn't it? Do you smell anything in particular?" There was the slight scent of mouse underneath the grass and flower smell.

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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Heather. What a nice name. Flickerpaw stared down the plant, trying to commit to memory its clumps of flowers and stiff, spiky leaves. 

Powder? Did flowers have powder inside them? This called for investigation. Flickerpaw stepped over to the shrub for a closer look before poking a flower with her paw. 

“Hmm.” She lifted her nose to the air in response to Cloudflare’s question. “Smells like grass and flowers… oh, and prey! It’s prey, right?”

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare’s whiskers twitched with approval, his copper eyes bright as his apprentice picked up the scent despite the world masking it. "That's right. You're smelling mice. There's at least one nearby, probably foraging beneath the grass." His ears angles towards the scent beneath the nearby heather bushes.

He rose onto his paws. "Since you’re rested a bit show me your hunting crouch." He demonstrated first, lowering himself until his belly brushed the grass. He moved a step for her, showing how he tried to both move deliverately and quietly. His tail was kept low and balanced.

"And remember what we were practicing earlier. Even when you're moving slowly you need to know exactly where your paws are going. One bad step and that mouse will hear you before you ever get close. What to try it?" Her sire and mentor gave her an encouraging nod of his chin.

Never be bored and you'll never be boring.

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Into a crouch Flickerpaw went. She had "practiced" this position several times before in kithood games and felt confident about it. Her form wasn't perfect, but she lacked the experience to notice the unnecessarily low position of her head. 

She nodded enthusiastically at Cloudflare's invitation. Real hunting! She probably would have tried to catch the mouse even if he hadn't told her to. 

Slow as syrup, Flickerpaw neared the source of the scent until she spotted the mouse foraging beneath the flowering bush. She sprang on it, but ended up catching more bush than mouse, and the rodent scurried away into the grass. 

"Aww…" She whined as she untangled herself from the heather. 

Love is just a cloudy sky as far as I can see
⤝ ⥈ ⥈ ☁ ⥈ ⥈ ⤞

Cloudflare watched the mouse vanish into the grass and intsead of letting her disappointment linger, he meowed. "You got close enough, we will have plenty of time to practice hunting proper." He nosed a stray twig from her fur and aimed a lick of encouragement across her brow.

"You were so focused on catching it that you forgot where your paws were landing." He hoped that his words sounded familiar. They had come full circle from the beginning of their lesson.

"We'll practice it again another day. For now, I'd say we've done enough for one morning."