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She already decided that Lilacpaw would make a decent associate, so her words were music to the Huntress ears. The Huntress Smiled and nodded slowly as if she were taking in the proposition. She just could not appear to eager to take her on. "Hmm... I could. It's not the way I did it, but I'm sure you could still learn something with my help." She looked up to the sky and spoke again. "I would a few promises and other things on your part. First: let someone know that you are leaving, and that you don't want to be found." She returned her gaze to Lilacpaw and gestured towards DayClan's camp with a flick of her ears. "I don't need search parties tracking me down because an apprentice got lost."
Lilacpaw looked back to DayClan, she expected a deep sense of longing when she looked back at it, but it was just another horizon like all the others. She loved her family and it was because of this that she understood that they were all in a good place that when she would leave them they would be fine. Her shining green eyes turned back to the Huntress, "Deal, so long as I finish this week out as DayClan's apprentice. They have an event called the Eve of Peace coming up, I want to be a part of it. It helps learn more about the other clans and it'll be a nice final moment in a clan before leaving for good. What else is expected of me?"
Perfect. The Huntress saw no longing in the apprentice's eyes when she turned to the horizon. She had already chosen to leave long ago, but was waiting for someone to tell that she was ready. The Huntress purred. "Of course, enjoy these last days with your family. Once we leave you won't see them for a long time." This Eve of Peace sounded interesting, almost like a fantasy. Everyone claimed that they sought after peace at every turn, and here someone was saying they found it. Whoever this cat was, they were certainly delusional among other things. "It may sound like a lot, but I expect loyalty once you join me." She paused. "I expect that you remain loyal to me and only me. Our actions in the future may not always be perfectly moral or just, but they will have purpose."
Lilacpaw looked up at the Huntress at first intimidated at the idea of loyalty, but the more she listened the more she realized there was no one else she trusted so quickly. If there was anyone she could be endlessly loyal to it was the Huntress. "On my honor, after the week is over you have my complete loyalty," She promised, "I can meet back where we just met once the week is over and we can go?"
(Once you reply I can make my next post jump ahead to when Lilacpaw returns to meet with her to leave)
The bengal smiled and rose to her paws. "Good. I'll return here in a week, and we'll begin. Say your goodbyes, or not. I don't care. That's the beauty of my way of life. It's your decision alone." The Huntress turned away from her and walked towards the edge of the territory. "Oh, one more thing. Please come alone, and hydrated. There isn't much water where we're going."
Lilacpaw walked through the dark the way she had come days ago felt safer than it had originally. She still looked up and down for owls just to be sure before proceeding along the path and sat down waiting for the Huntress. A lot had happened, drawing her back in and a lot had happened to make her withdraw further away, so it was a tug of war just the way she had left it last time. She took in a breath and smiled, that was alright though, whatever happened next was going to be one heck of an adventure.
The Huntress prowled through the wheat fields with the same confidence that drove her to meet Lilacpaw for the first time. For her not much had changed in the past week, though it was more than productive. She took care of some business in SunClan, and met a few cats she'd spend time with again, but this was going to be the highlight of her week. All she had to do was pull Lilacpaw from everything she knew and into a searing desert. Easy stuff. As agreed upon, the she-cat emerged from the wheat where they first met with a glint of amusement in her eyes. "Lucky for you, there are no owls where we are going."
Lilacpaw's ears perked up as The Huntress neared closer to her and she spun in her direction, a giddy nervous excited smile crossing the planes of her youthful face, "Let's do this! I even ate and drank up before hand."
Her mind was buzzing at the possibilities of where they were headed. Maybe they would train in the dark streets of two-leg place against rival rogue gangs. Or they could possibly go to a secret remote clan no one knows still exists like CrowClan. The wonder was truly endless and she was more than prepared to get started. Sure, she had grown up knowing about stranger danger, but at this point she had talked to so many strangers that it didn't even bring up any warning signs that she had promised to follow The Huntress's every word.
The apprentice's excitement would prove to be invaluable. Excitement for the Huntress's brand of training was hard to come by, if not impossible to find, after a few days. The Huntress's needed to test her loyalties, after all. The first test had already begun.
The Huntress smiled and rolled a necklace into view from behind her neck. The necklace had no fancy ornamentation, just a simple vine and a leaf. She rolled it off her neck and gingerly opened the leaf with a single claw, revealing three light red berries. "Here's the little catch. I'm going to be honest: I still do not know if I can trust you. This is a safety for me. These berries will knock you unconscious for a few hours, and give me time to get us to our training grounds." She nudged the berries towards Lilacpaw. "I need you to take them." She locked her eyes with the apprentice's. "No hard feelings if you want to back out. I understand. My methods aren't for everyone."
Lilacpaw looked up at The Huntress with admiration watching as she reached for the necklace. When it came out with red berries it was concerning, red was always a sign of poison in DayClan from holly to apples to death berries, but maybe they were traveling herbs? She looked hopeful, but her excitement faded a little hearing that The Huntress would have to knock her out. She was scared, she had never been knocked out before, what if she didn't wake back up? What if The Huntress didn't know how many her body could handle and she died from the berries? At the same time though she also didn't want to come off as a scared kid. "I understand, I'm just a little disappointed you didn't tell me ahead of time," Lilacpaw said walking up to the huntress before lying down. She didn't hesitate the roll the berries over to her, but eating them was hard to convince her brain to do. There were so many warning flags and she had eagerly agreed to eat them only out of peer pressure to keep a confident image.
"I did agree that I would do everything you said though," Lilacpaw said, mainly to remind herself before eating the berries up and resting her chin on the forest floor ready for sleep to take her.
Her momentary hesitation and push back did not escape the Bengal. She expected it. The Huntress asked her for more trust than she deserved, but it was all part of her game. She remained silent as her eyes followed the apprentice as Lilacpaw approached the berries and ate them, again as the Huntress expected she would. She kept her promises, as the Huntress knew how to keep hers. "First lesson: don't eat something if you don't know what it is." She pulled the necklace back over her head a little her words hang in the air. "Those berries won't kill you, but, as you'll see in a few hours, they do some damage." She bent over to meet the apprentice's eyes. "They're not native to the clans. My home called them nightmare berries. They'll knock you out, and give you the worst nightmares you've ever had." She chuckled and flicked her ears as she rose to her paws. "Hmpf. A few of the weak ones have been driven to insanity by these things."
"I'm already confused, so if the rule is to do as you say and the other rule is I shouldn't eat anything I don't know then is that an exception to the doing as you say rule?" Lilacpaw asked, feeling more groggy by the moment. Lilacpaw had never been much of a dreamer, most of the time she had empty sleeps without any dreams or nightmares. The threat of being put to sleep was far more scary than the threat of a nightmare that induced insanity. Hopefully it would be over soon and she would fall asleep and before she would know it she would be up. That was the nice thing about nightmares, you would wake up eventually. Or maybe even better she would face each of her fears and wake up fearless, that would be cool, but for now feeling the herb taking over and pushing her to sleep was the scariest thing on her mind.
"There are layers. Like you had the code everyone in the Clan lives by, and then you have some other stuff to follow. The same goes with my rules. I expect you to do what I tell you when I tell you, but there are certain place where I expect hesitation. " She could see the berries tightening their grip on the apprentice's young mind. She maybe had another 15 seconds conscious, 30 at best. "One of those, didn't eat something unless you know what it is." The Huntress sighed. "You know, I may have to knock some common sense into you later." Lilacpaw committed to her by eating the berries. The Huntress could let her mask slip off a bit now. "I'm sure we'll think of something to get that out of you."
Lilacpaw's limbs felt heavy like gravity suddenly was pressing her into the ground. She whimpered listening to the Huntress as shame burned at her pelt, but even that feeling faded. Whatever fear she went through it was hers to own or let it devour her. She had chosen to leave DayClan and put all of her trust in the Huntress. Now that she ate the berries she would fall unconcious and the Huntress could take her or do with her whatever she pleased. She was right, this was stupid, hopefully knocking common sense into her wouldn't hurt. Her vision blurred as she closed her eyes feeling sleep lift into her easily. However at this point with the weighted feeling inside of her bones and the way her vision vanished entirely she welcomed some rest. Her head lied on the floor, she was full asleep now.
(I've honestly been dying to reply to this one to see what happens next xD)
--------- She knew what those berries could do to cats. She'd seen some break, some wake up screaming, and some lose themselves. Others woke up stronger. Fear was another mountain they had to climb, and they did. Unfortunately, like many do, they forget fear is a mountain rage. Conquering a mountain is a start, but nowhere near good. That was the point of training: breaking cats down to build them back up. To build them back up to be stronger, more capable soldiers. Her soldiers.
Chilled desert winds swept across the desert in waves as the sun set below the horizon. The frigid breeze carried tiny particles of coarse sand in all sorts of awe-inspiring shapes. The sand almost looked like water with the swirls and waves flowing over the yellow sea. The Huntress had set the apprentice down in a basin between a few dunes a little while ago, and now returned to the sleeping apprentice with two new leaf bundles. She set each down and opened them up. Inside one was an oily, white, five petaled flower with light purple bleeding in from the edges of each petal, and the other contained the stem of a plant. The stem oozed a starchy fluid from the severed ends.
The Huntress's eyes settled on the apprentice. A layer of sand coated Lilacpaw's unconscious body. The Bengal turned her gaze to the moon above. It was only a matter of minutes before she woke, sane or insane.
Lilacpaw woke with her start. Her breathing was ragged, she could hear each pronounced breath echoing around her. Her eyes widened in slow terror, there was nothing around her, it was just darkness. She unsheathed her claws, but the tips hitting the marble like flooring shattered her eardrums at the harsh noise. Everything in this environment was loud, yet had no substance.
"So you're my reflection?"
Lilacpaw looked both ways before her eyes trailed to the dark reflection beneath her. She knelt down closer to her, but the reflection didn't mimic her, "Are you supposed to be me or something? Let me guess, darker cooler version?" She smirked, "Wow, my mind is super original."
"Try Reflectionpaw, your imaginary friend that was really a coping mechanism to work through your issues. In other words."
The reflection surfaced up to the top of the marble floor, she or... Actually more accurately he was lying on his back, his out stretched paw bopping her on the nose. A shock of fear and crushing anxiety gripped her heart sending shock waves of pain throughout her heart and stomach. He was white, really white like a ghost, he was see through. "I'm Anxiety." The tom introduced.
"You're Anxiety?" Lilacpaw winced, but her tone remained judgmental.
"Yeah and you eating whatever that herb was is making me feel insane inside... Like SunClan, they came for your mom, they're going to come again. They're nice now, but don't believe it, even that Arcticpaw girl, she's just pretending. They're all pretending. We can't be careful" Anxiety rambled on, losing all sense of everything around him as he spoke. As he did Lilacpaw could feel blind fear running through her mind, it took something deep inside of her to snap out of it.
"That's ridiculous. Even if that happened, even if they betrayed us, we would be okay," Lilacpaw purred.
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Anxiety hissed back at her and this time she lost herself. Lilacpaw didn't know how long she tumbled into an abyss of fear, but when she came out of it she could feel herself trembling with the aftershock of paranoia and fear. "See, nothing could save you from that, you're helpless, we're helpless and doomed," Anxiety continued as his paw moved to touch her again, but Lilacpaw caught it and stomped his paw to the ground. Her body was trembling, but her voice was composed.
"You're right, I don't have control, but I'm not afraid and god dammit, I will always be in control of myself. So the next time you scream nonsense in my ears, the next time you try and put fear in my heart I'll walk away. You'll always be there, yelling in the distance at me and I might never get far enough way to stop hearing you, but I'll keep walking."
She turned, but Anxiety must have not been convinced. He pounced onto her, claws out, if she was going to remain calm in the head she could, but she wouldn't be able to avoid his claws.
[End of Dream Sequence]
Lilacpaw opened her eyes once, seemingly adjusting to her surroundings before briefly being pulled back into sleep. The second time she had to blink a few times. Sleep tugged at her, the nightmare close to pulling her mind back into its grip, but she managed to keep herself awake. The new surroundings startled her, making her heart race, but her mind was calm. "It feels like I was out for weeks," Lilacpaw admitted. One thing hadn't changed, she still felt the sinking feeling of betrayal for eating those herbs. It didn't matter though, because she agreed to do this. She wanted to be trained by her and if these were her training methods she had to accept them. She sat up, the sand pouring off of her, it was weird how awake she was, she had felt so groggy before and now she felt like she could be awake for the rest of the night.
As Lilacpaw stirred for the first time the Huntress looked to the top of one of the surrounding dunes and beckoned a tom down. No one woke the first time after using the berries. The nightmares were powerful, but the tiredness given by the berries outlasted the nightmare inducing part. The Huntress herself woke on the second try like Lilacpaw when she first took the berries. The third try was not out of the ordinary, but anything beyond that... was complicated. Sometimes they woke up fine, sometimes not. The Bengal snorted at Lilacpaw's comment. "It will pass. You have another choice to make." The Huntress first pointed to the stem, and then to the flower. "Both of these will do some damage. One will make lesions on your skin for, say, two weeks, three if you're unlucky. The other lasts for up to a day and causes vomiting, muscle spasms, blurry vision, and, should you choose to fall asleep during my lesson, insomnia. You'll see soon which does what."
Another gust of breeze propelled the new tom down the slope. His glassy blue eyes stared right at Lilacpaw, yet seemed to see through her. As he approached, the his pelt's poor condition became more noticeable. Dirt, sand, and grime clung to it like kittens to their mother. Scars covered his pelt, but the Huntress raised her tail to touch one on his chest: an upside down triangle. "You will point to a plant, and this one will deal with the consequences of your choice."
Her tail drooped at the sight of more herbs. The last herbs were like a briar of thorns, she had gotten through it, but she lost pieces of herself along the way. Faith that the road ahead would be easier was what drove her forward. Now seeing the next challenge she realized it was only going to get harder. She deflated, wondering if The Huntress would only begin training her if she suffered enough, but this challenge was different. She had thought the herbs side effects would be for her, but instead the tom was going to suffer. She didn't even know who he was, he looked injured...
Some part in the back of her mind took this as a warning sign. This tom followed The Huntress much like she did, he suffered yet obediently followed, maybe that would be her someday. Still, there was a choice to be made, "If I'd have to choose, I would say the stem."
In her head she was already calculating, or as much as she could think ahead while being a bit groggy. While she wanted to guess the easiest option for the tom so he didn't suffer she couldn't help, but suspect the The Huntress might make her eat the one that doesn't get chosen. For this reason she decided on the stem, they were typically the most dangerous part of plants.
The Huntress removed her tail from the tom's chest and pointed it to the stem. The tom padded forward with purpose until he stood just above the stem. His eyes locked with Lilacpaw's for a moment longer before he bent down and swallowed the half the stem in one bite. He looked back to the Huntress about the remainder, and she shook her head. The Huntress had other plans for the herbs. SHe just need to drive a point home. "Lesson one: You will make decisions that will harm someone you know. Fate doesn't discriminate between those you care about and don't. By the end of our time together, you will not hesitate. You will a decision and be done with it."
She took a few more steps forward until she was a few feet from the apprentice. "Now, we are going to learn desert combat." She kneaded the sand beneath her paws. "Feel the sand beneath you. Notice how it gives when you push. Any attack where you have to ground your feet presents as risk." She flipped her wrist around in a heartband and sprayed sand at the apprentice's eyes with just a small flick. "Small movements have the greatest power here." The Huntress took a few steps back and gestured at the tom. "Try some smaller strikes on him. Then try something heavier."
Lilacpaw froze as the tom stared at her, but when she tried to peer back at him his gaze felt devoid of anything, just nothing there. Or maybe that herb did more to her than she thought, maybe he was staring pleadingly at her, but she couldn't see the emotion any longer. By the looks of things she slept for hours, but in that nightmare it felt like years of brutal mental torture. She turned to look at the Huntress when she spoke, before she never felt out of place in the Huntress's presence. Like she knew she belonged by her side learning from her, but now she felt aware of how far apart they were. The Huntress had a heart that wasn't used, probably hadn't been in years, not in the same way other people used their hearts at least. Not only that, but she didn't come from a clan, she came from the league. Lilacpaw was an orange tabby who came from a good family, had everything handed to her, but was never satisfied. Was she really going to turn out powerful like the Huntress? They had completely different backgrounds, different strengths and personalities.
Still Lilacpaw braced herself, but watched carefully at the Huntress's moves. She lifted a paw up as sand was sprayed into her eyes. She murmured a grunt as she rubbed her eyes repeatedly, "Small strikes," She repeated out loud, more reminding herself than anything.
Looking ahead at her opponent she stood up straighter wondering if he would attack back. But of course he would, he wouldn't just stand there. She swept her claws at the tom, faking the attack, but used her back leg to spray up sand before attempting to slam into his side to unbalance him.
