Ok...it felt kind of nice to NOT write 2020 LMAO. Welcome to 2021! To kick off the brand new year, we're introducing a round of updates, including new bio and forbidden romance rules, our Secret Santa reveal, OTM winners and nominations, our monthly patrols, and a fun new infectious disease! So make sure to check out the January Announcements for all of the new content! As we leave 2020 behind us, we hope everyone is able to put themselves first this year and practice self-care! Here's to another one! Let's write some cats!
The Apostles is a warrior cats roleplay based in northern Wisconsin. On Lake Superior, the wild cats have made the Apostle Islands their home. It is on these islands - Rocky Island and South Twin Island - that the clan and tribe cats have lived in a peace and harmony that ebbs and flows with the tide.
But as the tides turn, so does the truce that binds them to one another; and as the water raises, a darkness follows, an evil that will end in bloodshed and violence.
"Hey, where are you headed so quickly? We're in no rush. Not today at least."
"Because I got everything prepared the night before." she smugly mused to herself. Much of the preparation was mental, but some scouting needed to be done for what she had in store.
The crunch of the dead leaves, sticks and pebbles delighted Shrewfur's ears, and the smell of the dust and woodland life pleased her twitching cinnamon nose. To walk among the redwoods and explore their many meandering paths was one of her favorite activities, and she was delighted to share it with the apprentice.
Her thoughts of the forest had become less creative and oriented more toward a scientific and systematic curiosity ever since taking over the mantle of Leafpaw's responsibility from Curlycloud. The exchange happened awkwardly, however, she was glad for the opportunity to repay the new queen for her acts of valor, and kindness toward herself. Leafpaw had been quite a student, even if Shrewfur felt her attitude to be a bit much sometimes. Three months later, the pair had found a common standing and a unique rhythm to their lessons, and Shrewfur once again felt her heart swelling a bit as another apprentice stood on the precipice of warriorhood.
"We'll see about it."
Today, Shrewfur had actually had a loose plan in place. She would be pacing her apprentice through a few trials, designed by Shrewfur to dig a little deeper than hunting prowess or battlefield ease. Important aspects of the warrior lifestyle, but ones she felt that her peers sometimes put too much importance on. Delving deeper behind the curtain of simple definition, she found there, more fundamental truths and skills like observation, logic, and improvisation and it was these she aimed to assess Leafpaw on.
Shrewfur hoped giving her the tools to learn more about her world and sharpen her skills would make up for what she failed to teach her charge.
"So, Leafpaw, last time we trained, I asked you to reflect on the words, "Manipulate, Space, Control, and Blindness' and how they relate to your life personally, and the world around you."
The verbal thought exercise was a favorite technique of hers, choosing four or five words for the apprentice to mull over, serving as cloudy hints for the content of the next lesson. While it was certainly a shock in the beginning, Leafpaw had given her some interesting answers over their time, and the conversations helped add even more stimulation to an already pleasant hike, passing the time until they reached their sparring location.
he warmth of the sun pierce through the budding canopy of the redwood forest. Bright rays dappled the ground. The mulch of the previous year's leaves and decay crunched under paws, muffled only when buds of new life poked through the surface. Leafpaw had been chatting with some of her fellow apprentices when Shrewfur had beckoned her. With a prim flick of her tail in farewell, Leafpaw bounded ahead of her mentor, mind racing as she tried to recall what tasks she had been assigned in their last training session. She gave me words again...but what words?
"Hey, where are you headed so quickly? We're in no rush. Not today at least."
Leafpaw reigned in her pace, turning her bright gaze to look at Shrewfur. Her bright spring green eyes rolled at Shrewfur good-humoredly. "The faster we get to where we're going, the faster we get done." It wasn't so much that Leafpaw was eager to be done with whatever Shrewfur had planned. It was the itching in her young mind that she was forgetting something that caused her to be antsy.
The transition between Leafpaw's original mentor Curlycloud and Shrewfur had been quite the experience for the torbie she-cat. The difference in methods was night and day. While Leafpaw still found some of Shrewfur's method's eccentric (who assigned word's for practice?), she had come to appreciate the lessons. When, that is, she paid heed. Sometimes she had wracked her brain trying to solve the mental exercises Shrewfur had assigned. At other times she had gone to her fellow apprentices, pestering them with their opinions and adapting those answers for her own. Still at other times, such as this time, the words had slipped Leafpaw's mind, not to be found until Shrewfur quizzed her again. It was those times that Leafpaw had to think quickly. It was a point of pride for Leafpaw that some of her best answers seemed to come when she thought on her paws.
That was when Leafpaw remembered. The words. During their last session together Shrewfur had assigned her more words to reflect upon. Turning her gaze ahead again, Leafpaw nibbled on her lower lip. What were the words again?
She didn't have to wait in apprehension for long. As the pair hiked through the towering redwoods, Shrewfur stirred up conversation, listing the words from her previous assignment. Oh yeah, those words!
Leafpaw had picked up her pace again, hoping the slight distance between them would give her a little more time to think of decent answers. Why couldn't they have been easier words? She wondered. As she wracked her brain, Shrewfur's voice floated toward Leafpaw again. "Did you-ah...did you do that?"
The young apprentice's laughter was her reply. "Of course I did," was her immediate response. Just start talking. "Manipulate is something a cat does in order to get a situation in their favor. Or, I guess also a cat could manipulate others to do what they want." Leafpaw grinned, remembering a previous occasion. "Like the other day when Blackbriar asked me to help change the moss in the elder dens. I convinced Rosepaw that if she helped change the moss the clan would be impressed with the initiative she took! Ha, while she worked, I got to nap."
Leafpaw blushed, flushing with embarrassment at revealing such an event to her mentor. Flustered, she tried to recall the next word, hoping if she moved on quickly Shrewfur wouldn't have time to comment on it. But Leafpaw could not recall what the other words had been. Fumbling, she finally had to admit defeat.
"Uh....what were the other ones again?" Mouse-dung.
∙ cinderface ∙ mistflower ∙ fog that hangs in air ∙ loudstorm ∙ sun that shines above ∙ aspenpaw ∙ aster ∙ eaglefang ∙ leafdapple ∙ orchid that blooms by night ∙ sparrowheart ∙
Leafpaw's explanation wasn't what Shrewfur would have brought to mind herself. Manipulation of that sort was a different kind of alchemy than she herself was used to. She doubted that such things were warriorly in spirit, but against the warrior code? She would need to consult the higher ups for that one.
"Well, well, and I thought I had the clan's worst memory. I don't want you picking up all my habits, now." she tried to joke.
It was interesting to Shrewfur that Leafpaw would not only remember that specific word, but also have a developed answer for it. Not that she wasn't already privy to the social engineering skills that she had been developing with in the young she-cat, but it was telling of her character.
If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't sure how she felt about such things. It was behavior that seemed more becoming of a Thistleclan cat, but...was it wrong?
Either way, she had done what Shrewfur had asked, and also applied it to her real life, all in her own way. She smiled internally. Even if that wasn't what she tried to do, Leafpaw was beginning to show that she was capable of navigating the world in her own way. The grand puzzle of life could be solved in a few different ways, and if she was finding her solution, it was her duty to mold that skill into something great.
Not to mention, the obtuse hypocrisy of not allowing her to do so, when she herself had to carve out a way to make it as warrior.
"Manipulate. Very good, Leafpaw. You seem to have that one down. What might help you along is to add this to your concept. It isn't just other cats you can manipulate. Yes, you want to gain an advantage, but-"
As her thought stopped in it's tracks, so did she. She was aware of the motions Leafpaw was making to get her to focus, but was too busy chasing the rest of the sentence.
"You...you want..to- uh-Oh!" As her mind re-engaged, her body began to move again, and they were on the way, as if nothing had ever happened. "Gain your advantage, but try to use everything to do so. It seems you're familiar with using cats and their minds. Great tools, but try to look beyond that a bit. The gravels beneath their feet is a tool. So is the weather above their head, and the trees, birds and rocks. Every stick, every river, everything you see can be used somehow. Manipulate it." As she explained, she tried to make her point made, but was feeling the familiar strain of an idea failing to take launch. Shrewfur prayed she got something out of it.
"Let me think of an example." she mewed, after hauling herself over a boulder. It was a way of saying, 'It'll make sense to me later.'
Approaching the spot where she would soon spar with her apprentice, she spoke again. The place was near a small hill with some rocks, elevation, trees, and all kinds of pieces of small vegetation and detritus along the forest floor.
"Alright, my young friend. I chose this spot for a few reasons, and they have to do with the second word. Space. Before you can manipulate the space around you, it's essential to have a grasp of where you are in relation to the world around you. In every aspect. For example, we're standing about two feet away from each other. We also share a bond as a mentor and apprentice, and we're close in that way. As for age, rank, and methodology, we are a little farther apart. Those sorts of things have to be measured in the moment. Like right now we're uh...you would probably treat me with respect around Finchstar and at camp, but here, in this space, I'm not expecting you to pull swipes.
This is to say, any decision that takes space into account, has to take the 'entire' space into account. Make a note of everything you can about the situation you're in, then manipulate accordingly."
It would have been unfair not to giver Leafpaw some due warning. "What I want to see here, has to do with the next word. Control. I want to see you looking at the space and manipulating it, with decisive action. I don't have any reservations that you can handle it. Go get up that hill and wait for me to come at you."
While she waited she took an aggressive stance, and leveled her eyes to her apprentice once she was in place.
"Okay. Here I come."
She waited for a moment, then began running toward Leafpaw's hill. As she closed, she made it obvious she would attack with a frontal swipe from her right leg, and wondered how she would respond. Hopefully, she took the information to heart.
807|I you'd rather use dice than freehand, thats cool|moony
eafpaw shouldn't have been worried. Shrewfur had never been one to be overly harsh when the younger she-cat failed in an assignment, so as the warrior joked away Leafpaw's bad memory, the silver torbie relaxed and jovially continued alongside her mentor. Shrewfur's praise of Leafpaw's one answer left the she beaming with pride. Nailed it. But, as Shrewfur continued on into her teaching mode Leafpaw knew she would be wise to pay attention this time around. One narrow miss was enough for one day. Just as Leafpaw resolved to listen to her mentor, however, Shrewfur stopped in her tracks. Leafpaw shuffled to a pause as well, confusion wrapped over her face as she tried to regain the black tabby's attention. Then, just as suddenly, Shrewfur regained whatever track she had fallen from and Leafpaw had to quickly adapt to her mentor's pace. It wasn't strange for Shrewfur to suddenly freeze like that. After the first few times Leafpaw had experienced it, she had accepted it as just something her mentor did.
As the two she-cats trekked up the hill Shrewfur enlightened young Leafpaw on the rest of her word lesson. Space, grasping where she stood in relation to the world. Not just physically, but relationally and emotionally as well. Make a note of everything you can about the situation you're in, then manipulate accordingly.
"Cool, so, I should learn to manipulate everything around me, not just others." For a fraction of a second a frown crossed Leafpaw's face. That sounds really shallow, Leaf. Better not get too manipulative of things around you.
Shrewfur continued on to the next word: control. Know the space and manipulate it with decisive action. That was control. Okay. Sounds...easy...ish. As Shrewfur took her position at the base of the hill, Leafpaw scrambled the rest of the way to the top, and upon her arrival to the summit she heard Shrewfur call out her warning. Okay..okay. Think. Look.
Leafpaw watched her mentor race up the hill. Leafpaw's eyes flashed from mentor to surroundings. Breathing deeply to keep herself calm, Leafpaw tried to recall all the lessons she had ever received, from both Curlycloud and Shrewfur. The moves they had taught her, the warnings they had given her. Make note of everything, Shrewfur had told her not even an hour ago. Leafpaw watched the gap between her and Shrewfur shrink.
As the moments passed Leafpaw realized that if she kept trying to think about how Shrewfur wanted her to act, she was going to fail. As the warrior closed the final space between them, Leafpaw knew she had to strike. She recognized Shrewfur exaggerating her move, and it almost made Leafpaw smile. After charging up hill she was going to stall in her momentum to strike with one paw. Cheeky confidence surged within the calico she-cat, and imagining herself shoving her mentor back down-hill Leafpaw lowered herself to shove under Shrewfur's strike.
Unfortunately Leafpaw thought only about Shrewfur's relation to the world around them, and not her own. Otherwise the she-cat might not have acted so cocky. Forgetting that the laws of gravity reigned over her just as much as Shrewfur, and that her mentor could now latch onto her back and drag her down with her, Leafpaw charged straight into the tabby's chest.
∙ cinderface ∙ mistflower ∙ fog that hangs in air ∙ loudstorm ∙ sun that shines above ∙ aspenpaw ∙ aster ∙ eaglefang ∙ leafdapple ∙ orchid that blooms by night ∙ sparrowheart ∙
It wasn't long before the pumping of her legs brought her to the top of the incline. Attempting to focus on Leafpaw and how she would react left little focus left for her balance, but that was a bridge to be crossed in the next few seconds, not now. Now, her eyes were focused solely on her apprentice.
A slight hop would allow for stability and lead into her attack. As she crested over the start of the incline, she landed, and immediately reared up so she get the blow in the right spot. While another warrior might have been looking for the swipe to land, Shrewfur smiled. Leafpaw was already in motion, meaning she had completed her process of observation and decision making, and was already commited to an action. Her attack would fail, and that was exactly what she wanted.
Although, how her attack was halted left a bit of room for improvement. Shrewfur immediately realized that her efforts to balance would be undone, as the coiled form of Leafpaw sprang forward to jump off the edge, along taking her along.
The collision of her apprentice's mass hit in just the right spot. A contraction of the diaphragm ejected all the air out her lungs and sent her careening backwards. The mentor and apprentice tumbled down the hill, rolling through bush and debris, until they finally eased to a stop.
"Very good, Leafpaw! I could see it right before you threw yourself. There was a little part of that noggin that was weighing every option, taking in every part. I know it feel weird, but the more you develop your sense of that feeling...hold onto that. Think about it. Give it a name, a motion, a trigger, anything...so that you can do it again."
She paused, letting the rest of the sentence come to her before her. This was an abstraction she had practice with.
"For me it starts with my eyes. A gentle...oh, how I put this...a gentle squeezing around the eyes. Once you figure it out, you never look at the world the same way again. You start to see things. New problems emerge before they cause trouble, and new solutions to old ones appear. Things just feel more complete. More understandable. Instead of the world being too slow or fast, things move at the correct speed. Living feels smooth and tastes sweet, like honey. Everything's just...easy. How about we try again?"
She sighed at the of implication of her lesson while she waited for Leafpaw to take her place.
"Alright, defend yourself, and..." The voice of her own mentor, Tigerpool, seemed to meld with her own, passing on what seemed to be his golden technique to life and battle.
"..heh...Don't think so hard about it."
Again she closed, but this time she listed to the side, and once she summited, primed a kick for the purpose of deflection.
er stomach lurched. Shrewfur wrapped her paws around the torbie she-cat, pulling her down the hill as well. A hiss of pain and surprise slipped through Leafpaw's maw as the pair tumbled. The earth, dry from the summer heat, spat dusty clouds with each bump. It was disorienting, and Leafpaw knew she would feel the bruising tomorrow. The tussling pair shuddered to a stop at the base of the hill. Pushing away Leafpaw rose to her paws, stance spread for stability in case Shrewfur decided to continue the attack. Very good, Leafpaw! Leafpaw blinked in surprise, relaxing her stance and pricking her ears forward to listen to her mentor. Okay, listening time.
Shrewfur's praise sent a flush of pride through Leafpaw. Her drooping shoulders perked up, and a cocky smile flashed across her face. As the tall she-cat described what she meant, Leafpaw mused on what her trigger could be.Her mind was a whirl of motion as she retraced her memories to moments before she initiated her attack at the top of the hill. I changed my breathing...maybe that's the trigger Shrewfur is talking about?How about we try again?
Leafpaw refocused on Shrewfur, he stance hardening from it's relaxed posture to prepare for the coming tussle. Defend yourself. Leafpaw was already concentrating, eyes narrowed, sucking in a deep breath to try and trigger whatever it was Shrewfur was trying to teach her. Don't think so hard about it. Leafpaw didn't quite register the advice, her ears barely flicked in acknowledgement. Her yellow-apple eyes flitted across the terrain. It was different from the crest of the hill where she had met the first attack. Flat and mostly even, there was no risk of tumbling down a hill if one lost balance. Pebbles and sticks littered the ground, which posed potential tripping hazards. I need to meet her head-
Shrewfur's movement drew Leafpaw from her thinking, and the she-cat realized she had been to slow in her analysis. Leafpaw had time to comprehend her mistake as Shrewfur moved on the offence. Scrambling to defend herself from the approaching kick Leafpaw reared back, twisting her torso to stay out of reach of Shrewfur's strong legs. But she had started just a second to late, Shrewfur's legs kicked out and caught Leafpaw in her side, throwing the calico to the ground. A growl of irritation escaped from Leafpaw's lips as she scrambled to her paws "Thought to hard!" Just do, Leafpaw.
The moons of her training flashed through her mind, memory spurred in her muscles. Her long, smooth fur stood on end, increasing the appearance of Leafpaw's size. Her plumed tail lashed from side to side. Shrewfur rounded for another attack, and instinct took control of Leafpaw. She reared back while Shrewfur was mid turn, the leapt forward to shove Shrewfur once again, bracing herself to leap from Shrewfur's reach once she had pushed her mentor to the ground.
∙ cinderface ∙ mistflower ∙ fog that hangs in air ∙ loudstorm ∙ sun that shines above ∙ aspenpaw ∙ aster ∙ eaglefang ∙ leafdapple ∙ orchid that blooms by night ∙ sparrowheart ∙
