target practice

[swallowpaw]

It was the same accursed fox. The same one that had driven her over to WindClan territory, she just knew that it was the same fox. Perhaps it was the way it had glowered down at her, atop a pile of rocks - she could've sworn is was mocking her. As soon as their gazes met, time seemed to slow down to a snail's crawl. All Swallowpaw had hear was her heart hammering in her ears. With a snarl, the fox had started the chase all over again. This time, however, Swallowpaw had been keen on swerving around bushes and trees. Although it was a small lesson, she had nonetheless learned that with her abilities - i.e. zero fighting abilities -, she had to use everything around her to her advantage. She crashed through bushes, the twigs raking against her legs and sides. Hissing in pain, she pushed through. Fear caused her mind to short circuit and instead of climbing up trees - as she had done before -, Swallowpaw dashed forward.

She could feel the fox's breath on her back, or perhaps that was just the wind whistling around her as she bolted. There wasn't a need to glance over her shoulder to see if it was still there, as she could hear it panting, hot on her trail.

It wasn't until she burst from the forest that she registered that acidic scent of the thunderpath. A monster came roaring down and she swerved to avoid crashing into it. The trailing wind behind the monster bufetted her and she stumbled to the ground, rolling head over paws. She scrambled up and jumped backwards, just as the fox pounced, snapping its jaws where she just was.

Irritation and exhaustion made her head spin; she hated that she was in this position once again. She hated that she wasn't able to fight back and win, that she had to just flee and cower in the corner. Her eyes pricked with furious tears, as she crouched down. Her claws unsheathed and she rushed the fox, howling, as she brought her claws down, raking right across its face.

She did not think that it would retaliate.

In one quick move, it caught her on her underbelly with its nose and flung her at the trees. As she crashed on the ground, the air was knocked out of her lungs, and she gasped for breath. The fox shook its head, its sight blurred from the attack. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see movement off in the distance. In that moment between the fox regained its composure, she screamed across the thunderpath, "Help me! Please, help!"

➳ egretfeather | the fox wants a round two

✿

[➳ egretfeather]

( "This is him talking."
This is him thinking.
"This is someone else talking." )

another day, another duty being carried out by none other than egretfeather. he had decided that a breather was greatly needed today, since for some odd reason, camp was feeling unbearably stuffy. so, what better way than to clear his mind and make his rounds around the thunderclan and shadowclan border? he had peace and quiet, and he was still doing something beneficial for the clan. no stress, no dire situations.. just a tom and his own thoughts. it was a win-win.

egretfeather strolled along, nearly arriving at the border after making a few little detours here and there. cicadas were heard creating hums and occasional songbirds added to the mix, creating somewhat an orchestra within the pine forest. all was quiet, all was tranquil. what could possibly go wrong?

then he heard a shriek, a distressed wail ringing like a siren through the territory.

egretfeather’s ears perked up immediately, and he froze in his step as though he had been caught committing a felony. after a few moments of listening intently, egret shook his pelt and shrugged it off. if someone was in trouble, it sure didn’t sound like it anymore, so maybe he should just leave it at that and walk the other way. after all, it was none of his business, and egret didn’t want to get himself into any more trouble than it was worth.

the stocky tom stalked off in the other direction, humming a tune to himself. though, as he continued to march as though he had never heard anything, his conscience began to weigh on him.

what if it was a helpless kit who was stranded? or a warrior who was gravely injured by a monster? either way, all of those scenarios should’ve been totally preventable. so, it’s not my problem, he thought.

but, his conscience had fully sunken on him now. turning around? how heartless... that’s not what a true warrior would do. that’s not how his parents would’ve wanted him to be. warriors don’t turn a blind eye to someone in desperate need.

“...ugh.”

egretfeather whipped around and flew through bushes and weeds, peeking his ears upwards and desperately trying to find the helpless squeal that echoed not long ago. at some point he pinpointed the sound, dashing through brush and weaving through monsters on the thunderpath, his heart nearly popping out of his chest.

“help me! please, help me!”

before he knew it, the tom had landed smack-dab in between what seemed like a menacing fox and a defenseless apprentice.

the fox’s evil eyes glowed and its pearly whites grinned, mocking him. it seemed hungry — really hungry. and then it made its move.

before egretfeather had the chance to blink, the fox had whacked him into a bush, nearly knocking him senseless. the tom winced in great pain. as he regained strength, he opened his eyes to see this fox inching in on the young apprentice. despite the immense pain rippling through his body, egretfeather shot towards the fox and made an aim to its wrist. he successfully landed the bite, and wriggled his fangs deep, only to be swiped across the face by the fox’s paw. even after that, it had its wretched sight on the apprentice.

what a persistent one...

getting up again, the tom flung his entire body towards the fox, with the aim to knock it over with his body weight. egret often times hated how his size drew so much attention to him, but at this particular moment where the fox was only a few inches bigger than he was, he was extremely grateful. extremely grateful because that was what caused the fox to trip over its own paws and tumble over. egretfeather slightly wobbled, standing and firmly holding his ground. he watched to see if the fox would try again.

instead, it gave up, believing the scrawny meal wasn’t worth the fight.

watching the fox limp away in defeat, egretfeather mustered up a victorious scoff before seating his aching body in front of the apprentice, not bothering to make eye contact. he huffed and puffed, quite clearly out of breath.

bee with swallowpaw --  egReT tO thE ResCuE

GREY!

[swallowpaw]

Truth be told, Swallowpaw hadn’t expected the figure to come dashing across the thunderpath. She had never seen someone move like that, and as the figure – now she could see that they were a bulky white furred warrior – came flying across the thunderpath and skidded to a halt, she inhaled sharply. Backed up against the tree, she crouched, her fur fluffed out and her eyes wide in horror. From her vantage point, she could see that, surprisingly, the warrior was maybe a kit’s tail length or two smaller than the fox.

Though these thoughts came crashing to a halt, as the fox sent the warrior flying into a bush. Swallowpaw flinched, her own scrapes and nicks flaring in sympathetic pain. For a moment, when the fox turned its attention back to her, a brief thought of this is the end flickered through her mind. If the predator was able to fend off a warrior like that, what was the probability of her surviving this?

The fox began stalking closer to her and she felt frozen to the ground. Her mind screamed at her to run, to flee back to camp and never go outside ever again, but she was rooted down. As the fox’s mouth opened, its white and razor-sharp fangs flashing in the afternoon sun, she clenched her eyes closed, bracing for the impact.

Instead of pain, she instead felt a rush of wind and opened her eyes to find the white warrior crashing into the fox. They latched on with such ferocity that, for a second, the warrior looked to have a long flowing mane reminiscent of the famed LionClan. Despite the warrior’s attempts, she could still feel the fox’s beady eyes on her, taunting her as if to say, “Not even this warrior can stop me from attacking you.” Swallowpaw flinched again, as the fox raked its claws over the warrior’s face, pressing herself closer against the tree. She could feel its roots digging into her back paws and back, as she squished herself against the ground to appear smaller. A feeling of annoyance at her inability to help flickered in her overwhelming horror of this attack.

In what seemed to be a last-ditch effort to get rid of the fox, the warrior hurled themself at it, causing it to stumble and trip over its paws. Apparently, that was the attack when it then decided that it wasn’t worth it and skulked away, but not before yipping and snarling at the two. And then, it was silent.
Swallowpaw’s eyes flickered from the retreating fox to the white warrior’s and she let out gasp at their state. Now that the current threat was gone, she was spurned into action. “You’re hurt! I- I can help.” Although her legs felt like they would give out in a moment’s notice, she scampered a little off into the forest.

Her thoughts pinged around inside her brain ranging from utter surprise at the warrior’s capabilities in battle to self-belittling in that she needed help in the first place. Making sure that the warrior could still see her, she rummaged around for cobwebs and chervils, trying to distract herself from her ruminating thoughts. “I’m looking for chervil roots at the moment, they help with infections. I’m going to chew up the chervil leaves and apply it to your wounds and use cobwebs to cover up the wounds and keep the chervil pulp in place. If-if you’d be OK with that,” she said, setting the herbs down in front of him. She had learned that unsuspecting patients felt more at ease when she told them what she was going to do instead of just doing it. It also didn’t help that there was the problem of this tom – she was sure of that now that she had a good look at him – being from ThunderClan.

She opened her mouth to taste the air and nodded to herself, confirming her own thoughts. “My name is Swallowpaw. I’m the medicine cat apprentice here at ShadowClan, studying under Chanterellegaze. You don’t have to tell me your name or anything. I just wanted to let you know who I am so that me trying to help doesn’t freak you out.” She gave a weak laugh, at her attempt at a joke.

Clearing her throat, she stared at the ground, all of a sudden self-conscious and embarrassed. “Um…thank you, by the way. For saving me, that is. I’m sorry if I caused you any problems.” Swallowpaw glanced up at the tom’s wounds and winced, before turning back to the herbs and gesturing lamely to the herbs, as if to say, “Well? Do you mind?"

➳ egretfeather | swallow’s whole reaction to this is just “O: !!!”

✿

[➳ egretfeather]

( "This is him talking."
This is him thinking.
"This is someone else talking." )

egretfeather’s muscles rippled in pain as he sat down in silence. he closed his eyes for a moment as to not look at the apprentice, and also to hide the aches he was feeling at the moment. although the pain was great, he was thankful that his large body size had shielded him from further injury. though.. what a bummer. it was supposed to be a peaceful day, a day with no trouble or conflict. obviously though, he wasn’t granted that kind of luck, seeing how this day turned out to be.

that fox... I came out for a breather today, but I got the breath knocked out of me instead. he groaned, feeling a headache come on. there was a moment of silence before the smaller cat gasped. “you’re hurt! I- I can help...”

egretfeather shot his eyes open, about to protest. “no. i’m just fine...” the tom grunted, attempting to stand and begin walking away. though, he nearly toppled over as soon as he stood, thankfully catching himself before hitting the dirt. egretfeather winced.

how embarrassing..

“I’m looking for chervil roots at the moment, they help with infections.”

“you don’t need to—“ he began, but when he looked up, the apprentice was already neck-deep in some bushes. egret sighed. the snow-white tom cautiously watched as she rummaged through various bushes, returning with some.. interesting plants.

“.... I’m going to chew up the chervil leaves and apply it to your wounds and use cobwebs to cover up the wounds and keep the chervil pulp in place. If-if you’d be OK with that...”

egretfeather’s dull eyes flickered in uncertainty, looking her up and down as she spoke. would he really let himself be babied like this? especially from her? this was a cat from another clan, and that clan being the one he held the most grudges against — shadowclan. just the mention of them caused his hairs to raise in disgust. he shouldn’t even be around another cat like this, let alone being “friendly” with them. she was nothing but an enemy.

though, taking a good look at her, he could tell that she was a sweet enough cat. a little reckless, and a little too sympathetic, but she was sweet. plus, what was a tiny pipsqueak like her going to do anyway? she didn’t seem all that menacing, for a shadowclan cat, that is.

after moments of silent pondering, egretfeather nodded and let out a huff of approval, letting her know that she could do as she pleased. once again, she was tiny — she couldn’t hurt him even if she wanted to. plus, it’s not like he could stand and walk back home anyway, so he might as well stay and get free treatment. his name though — that was on a need-to-know basis, and as for right now, she didn’t need to know.

as she thanked him, egretfeather shrugged. “it’s no problem,” the gruff tom assured, watching her fumble over her words. and then he went quiet for a moment, internally scoffing. problems... there was a list of problems she had just caused him, including breaking his set of morals by even breathing in her direction. though.. at least she was thoughtful enough to treat him, so he brought his fussing to a close.

“next time, don’t get yourself mixed up in something like that. you could’ve died.” his voice lowered sternly, rumbling like soft thunder, as he waited for her to either speak or get to putting those roots to use.

bee with swallowpaw --  egret wondering how he gets into these messes in the first place 

GREY!

[swallowpaw]

As Swallowpaw started chewing up the chervil, she watched the large tom. She knew that she should be scared of him, at the very least wary, not just because he had scared off a fox, but also that he was a ThunderClan warrior. And yet, there was a gruff kindness as he sat there, waiting for her to help him that made her feel a touch more comfortable.

Though at his comment, the fur along her spine rippled. “I didn’t ask for the fox to start chasing me,” she retorted, remembering the first time the fox came after her. “But sure, next time I come across it, I’ll ask it nicely to please go away, as it devours me.” Apparently her first thought of him being this virtuous warrior was wrong; what in StarClan’s name was he expecting her to do?

For the next couple minutes, she gnashed on the root, trying to keep herself occupied with something else other than snapping back. She felt humiliated in needing help and she hated that feeling; how was she supposed to defend herself when all she knew was herbs and healing?

Taking a deep breath, she forced her irritation aside. “This is going to sting,” she warned, before spreading the chewed herbs on his wounds. Despite her annoyance, she still made sure her touch was gentle. Sure, was she a bit annoyed that he was blaming her for something she couldn’t control? Absolutely. But she also couldn’t take it out on someone who was from a different clan, but helped her nonetheless.

“Don’t move while I put the cobwebs on.” Swallowpaw took on the tone Chanterellegaze had used with her unruly patients, with the added raised eyebrow as if to ask, “You’re not going to cause me any trouble now are you?” It was so easy to imitate her mentor, especially when she needed to put on a confident front all she had to do was look to Chanterellegaze for guidance.

Swallowpaw wrapped his wound, taking special care to not tangle anymore of his fur up in the web as she moved; it was the least she could do for her fox-slaying hero. When she was done, she paused for another moment, trying to find the right words. “Thank you, though, for your concern. I was told by my clan to watch out for ThunderClanners.” Although she purred, her tone was rueful. “But you risked your own life to help me and you didn’t have to.”

She didn’t want to do this song and dance of skirting around the topic, of acting defensive when another clan had to help her. Because her humiliation would double - maybe even triple - when the truth came out.

“How long did it take you to feel confident in taking on a fox, after you trained as an apprentice?” There was another question she wanted to ask, one that popped into her mind as soon as she saw him dashing across the thunderpath, but she figured that it would be too soon to ask.

Although she knew that he would want to go back to his clan, to his territory, something desperate bubble up and she was talking before she knew what she was saying, “I only ask, since I didn’t want there to be an awkward silence between us. Your cobwebs and the pulp need to set before you go. If you don’t, then they’re going to fall right off. And you don’t seem like the kind of warrior who likes to waste things.”

➳ egretfeather | playing a sassy swallow is very interesting tbh

✿

[➳ egretfeather]

( "This is him talking."
This is him thinking.
"This is someone else talking." )

upon the apprentice’s fiery retort, egretfeather couldn’t help but let his eyes widen a bit, taken aback. he hadn’t expected a pipsqueak like her to nail a sarcastic comeback like that.. given the chance, that’s something he would’ve done. egret imagined her as the type to shy away and take the advice, but at least she managed to hold her ground in that aspect. and to be honest, he couldn’t even bring himself to be annoyed. managing to hold back a small smile, he silently chuckled on the inside. to stop himself from outwardly showing his amusement, he coughed and straightened up his posture, wincing again in the process.

as the young she-cat went silent and chewed on her interesting concoctions, egretfeather watched her intently. she seemed as though she wanted to let him have a piece of her mind, but she held her tongue, which he didn’t really understand. why get defensive about his comment? it was just his way of showing concern. then again, he wasn’t the best at expressing himself, so the young one wouldn’t have known either way. egret squinted and looked at the piles of mushed up chervil, feeling nauseous. eugh, he inwardly gagged. I’d rather manage with this injury than to put on.. whatever that is. his ears flickered, slowly pressing down to his crown with uncertainty. whatever. it probably won’t hurt —

“agh!” egretfeather hissed as swallowpaw applied the medicine to his wounds, nearly jumping out of his spot. he knew it was going to sting, as she had warned him, but he didn’t know how deep his wounds truly were — or how much stinging power that root packed. “watch it!” he growled, feeling inclined to curse or stomp the dirt in agonizing rebellion. though, he didn’t want to seem like a huge whiny baby in front of such a young cat... that would terribly bruise his ego, and he already took one too many hits in front of the apprentice. deciding against reacting harshly, he bit his tongue and shut his eyes for a split second, taking a deep breath.

the feeling of the pulp was not only painful but also sticky, and it made him feel dirty just looking at it. the urge to shake it off was overbearing, but egret held himself in place, not wanting to have to repeat the process all over again. swallowpaw had even subtly thrown him a warning look, the ‘don’t you cause me any trouble’ look, and he just figured it was best to sit still. it’s not as though she could do anything if he threw a tantrum, but she was nice enough to help with his wounds, so it was just courteous to comply. as she finished wrapping the cobwebs, he stood up slowly, not wanting to disturb the pulp and cobweb.

there was a sticky silence between the two for a few moments, an awkward pause. egret felt as though that was his cue to leave — to say thank you and depart as fast as possible. though, before he opened his maw, swallowpaw began to speak.

“thank you, though, for your concern. I was told by my clan to watch out for thunderclanners ...”

as she was saying thank you, egret was about to shrug it off with a “no problem” before her other comment, resulting in the tom huffing in slight disbelief. they say to look out for thunderclan, do they? that was such an amusingly bitter thought to him, when he had always thought the opposite. the shadowclanners were the suspicious ones, the ones who plot and connive, the ones who start all the conflict. he stared at swallowpaw, eyes narrowing. in a way, she did start conflict by engaging that fox.. but then again, he didn’t know the full story, and it was his choice to intervene anyway. so, they were even.

“... but you risked your own life to help me, and you didn’t have to.”

at that last bit of appreciation, egretfeather‘s harsh gaze softened ever-so-slightly. he really did risk his life for this cat’s safety, whether he realized it or not. that was something he had never really done before — but that was mainly because not many situations required it up until now. well, there’s a first for everything.

the hefty tom dipped his head — his way of saying ‘don’t sweat it.’ “don’t worry about it,” he began, lazily swiping his paw in the air back in forth, as if saying “it’s no big deal.“ “any reasonable warrior would do the same.” egret‘s words got quieter as he finished, gaze set on the apprentice. she was a bit scrawny — there was no way that she could’ve scared away that fox on her own. if he hadn’t jumped in, things would’ve went completely downhill from the moment she backed herself into that tree.. just thinking about that saddened him.

upon her following question, egretfeather’s shoulders slightly dropped. this cat.. was she really going to keep him here all evening? as much as he appreciated her help, the hot sun was beating down on his thick pelt and egret had the feeling that he had been away from home for a suspicious amount of time. though... the cobwebs did need to set in, and all of this would be a waste of time if he dashed away and ruined her hard work. he hated wasted time and efforts — she got that right on the mark. so egret figured that he might as well stay and indulge in her curiosity — after all, it wasn’t often that he had a little apprentice gawk over his sheer strength. not even his apprentice, hornetpaw, was at that stage. and while egret didn’t really like attention, he could stand to get used to this kind.

tilting his head in a pondering manner, egretfeather sat down with a deep hmmm, draping his wispy tail over his paws. “well..” his voice rumbled, head turned to face swallowpaw. “you don’t really get confident in those situations. a cat just happened to be in trouble, and instinct took over..” egret took a brief pause, turning words over in his head. if he was going to be completely honest, the fox had terrified him, but the adrenaline of the scenario was what kept him going. aside from skill, his size was really the only saving grace he had. “..there’s no training that breeds the confidence of fighting a fox, really.”

as he finished, egretfeather once again examined swallowpaw. she had a smallish, lean build, a build that definitely had not seen the experience of a fight. it was peculiar to him, since in thunderclan the apprentices are thrown into those kinds of practices right off the bat — every cat needs some form of defense, right?

“.. back at shadowclan... they don’t teach you to fight? because you didn’t defend yourself at all.” he scoffed, raising a brow out of curiosity. the tom wasn’t saying that to make her feel bad about herself, it was just a comment on what he’d noticed. or maybe he couldn’t say much, since the only part of the story he witnessed was her backing into a tree stump, helpless. then again... were medicine cats trained to fight like warriors? most likely not, but even then.. she should’ve had some sort of experience in the defense department, one way or another. egretfeather gazed at swallowpaw, curious as to what she’d say. 

bee with swallowpaw --  AH this got so long :’)))) so sorry

GREY!

[swallowpaw]

When the tom shifted after her retort, she glanced up curiously at him, though his expression was inscrutable. He was able to look equally bored and annoyed without any effort. It was impressive really, if she thought about it; he was acting like one of those heroic warriors her father used to tell her about, silent, steadfast, courageous-

At his sudden hiss, she jumped, her eyes widening. That...wasn't the response she had expected. When he growled out, "Watch it!" she forced herself to not sigh aloud; the patients who complained and reacted as though she had clawed their eyes out while she was helping them tested her resolve. Though she had to hand it to the white tom, he didn't throw a tantrum like some others had done.

As he took his deep breath, Swallowpaw found herself breathing along with him, keeping hers steady and calm. According to Chanterellegaze, it apparently sometimes calmed down patients in pain, though she hadn't had the thought to ask why.

Once she was done dressing his wounds and he got to his paws, Swallowpaw took an unconscious step back, now having to crane her neck up to look at him. Although she had known that he was a rather large warrior, now that she was this close to him at his standing height, she felt herself shrink back. And even though she had an inkling that he wouldn't just attack her, she couldn't help but feel that pit of fear growing in her stomach.

He wasn't just large, but he was powerful and Swallowpaw's throat tightened. Were their warriors in ShadowClan that had the same build of this tom? Absolutely. But she knew that they were friends and allies - after all, they came from the same clan - but with this ThunderClan tom, there was this wariness.

But as his gaze softened ever so slightly after she thanked him again, a little bit of the wariness dissipated. Swallowpaw watched as he swiped his paw in the air – a seemingly calm movement that nevertheless had her watching it just in case –, before dipping her head again, murmuring a “I guess so.”

Under his scrutiny, she shuffled her paws on the ground, not meeting his gaze. It looked like he was appraising her. His question soon confirmed her suspicions.

Shrugging, Swallowpaw replied, “I haven’t had a lot of lessons, yet. Though the ones I have had have been about herbs and treating the wounded.” She doubted that one of her future lessons would include training to fight. Chanterellegaze didn’t look like the type who wanted to bat around an apprentice as thin as Swallowpaw was.

Granted, there was great power in being able to treat those who were sick or battered, and she did count herself lucky enough to be chosen as Chanterellegaze’s apprentice. However it made her feel powerless in situations where she had to defend herself.

She couldn’t ask for or expect warriors like this tom in front of her to just appear out of nowhere and help her – she was sure that the fox would be back, maybe with a vengeance to recover its lost pride. Therefore she had to learn how to fight and protect herself – that much was obvious.

Swallowpaw wasn’t sure if asking Chanterellgaze was the right idea: her mentor was already stretched thin with training Swallowpaw and tending to the sick. Tansystorm was out of the question, if not for the sole fact that Swallowpaw was terrified of the she-cat; there was an imposing aura around her that made the medicine cat apprentice stutter and falter. Of course, she could ask Sagepaw for help, but despite the fact that she adored her friend, she wasn’t quite sure the other apprentice was ready to teach someone.

As she came to that conclusion, she eyed the white tom for a moment, though she didn’t say anything aloud. He already seemed to be hesitant and so maybe the best way was to approach the subject with caution. “If I’m being honest, I don’t know if anyone around me would be able, or who would have the confidence to beat back a fox. I mean- I don’t even think battle training is a part of my training as a medicine cat.” Here, she paused and frowned, trying to recall if there was any mention in battle training at all.

Coming up short, she shook her head and continued, “Those who I would trust in teaching me the right things are too busy with their own apprentices.” She shrugged, giving him a look of “what can you do about it?”

Swallowpaw continued, “And my mentor? Well…” She paused, her ears flattening a bit in thought. She wasn’t sure if she should say anything more; there was something off about Chanterellegaze, but Swallowpaw hadn’t been able to define it. Turning back to look at the tom, she managed a soft smile and shook her head. “Well, she won’t be able to, in any case.”

And here was where Swallowpaw hesitated again, trying to choose the right words. “What would you suggest, then? Clearly you have what it takes to go up against a fox. Is there any training regiment you would suggest for me to do?”

➳ egretfeather | (': big reply as well

✿