Chapter 10: Technique Over Instinct

I awoke early the next morning to the sound of an unfamiliar apprentice leaving the den. I rose with a gaping yawn, but I could feel in the depths of what others would call a twisted mind that today would be a productive one. I gave Firepaw a tap to wake him, but he just blearily looked at me before falling back asleep. Fine. I'd leave him to the consequences of that choice. I padded out to the main clearing and stretched whatever remaining tiredness out of my system. Coincidentally, Tigerclaw and Lionheart came sauntering over at that moment.

"I didn't take you for an early riser Smudgepaw," mewed Lionheart.

"Looks can be deceiving. Dawn is when the most interesting things happen." I replied back icily.

Lionheart stared at me with a measure of hostile unease. He wasn't likely to attack me, but how I replied disturbed him.

"What kind of interesting things?" Asked Tigerclaw in a monotone to hide his interest.

"When cats have just woken up, they aren't fully thinking. Sometimes they say things they wouldn't say when fully awake. Sometimes you can get them with a question that they usually wouldn't answer. Sometimes you can see them do things they'd usually do with more tact. You can learn a lot about a cat based on how they act when they aren't all there." I replied informatively.

Lionheart again looked at me with unease, but Tigerclaw seemed to be looking at me with a measure of respect and slightly nodded at my statement before trying to inform me, "you should be more careful with your tongue. Things like that make cats uneasy."

I decided to make a play with my response to try and gage Tigerclaw. "I would if I was trying to elevate my position. As it stands, what I say, as long as it isn't against the code, will not harm my chances of becoming a warrior. On the other paw, if I wanted to become something, like say the deputy, I'd be a lot more careful on managing my image."

This time, Tigerclaw looked at me with something between respect and hostility. I'd been almost calling him out, but to onlookers, I just seemed an odd apprentice. Lionheart didn't take my newest statement too seriously, but Tigerclaw decided to break the tension.

"We will have words later apprentice. As you can see, the other apprentices are arriving. Late I might add!"

"Sorry Tigerclaw," mewed Firepaw and Graypaw simultaneously.

"Now don't be too harsh on them. It is one of their first days." Lightly chided Lionheart.

"That didn't stop this one from being on time." Replied Tigerclaw gesturing to me.

The pair guided us out of camp into the woods to show us their borders. I noted landmarks on the journey, but overall, the experience was quiet. Firepaw, being the inquisitive type, seemed to constantly annoy Tigerclaw with all his questions, but I could tell he was holding part of his fury back, likely due to our brief discussion on image control.

After we were shown the borders, Tigerclaw decided demonstrating hunting techniques was the next place to start. He also seemed this was a good time to try and put me in my place by testing my knowledge.

"You, Smudgepaw. Show me what you think a hunting crouch is."

I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes annoyed.

"I only know two, and they are only good in the city."

I heard Graypaw whisper, "city?"

Firepaw responded softly, "where we used to live."

I first decided to demonstrate the slink. In was an extremely low crawl for when you need to sneak up on a cat or something alert. The rustle of grass beneath me clearly demonstrated I was too low for the current environment.

"In a place without grass, this usually works for something a bit more alert," I mention, hiding that the ones I stalked weren't prey but cats.

I shifted into a higher stance that almost seemed a walk, but with how I kept tension in my muscles, I was ready to bolt or fight in an instant while keeping the illusion of passivity.

"This one is more for getting close to something that doesn't think you a threat."

Tigerclaw was annoyed that I justified crouches that weren't useful in Thunderclan hunting, but he seemed to have a slight interest in the second technique.

"Discard the first one. You don't live in Twoleg Place anymore. The second has potential for use, but not for hunting." Tigerclaw growled.

After that, Tigerclaw proceeded to demonstrate proper Thunderclaw crouching technique, but he moved quickly, so I didn't have a majorly good look at it. He then asked us to do what he did. Of course Firepaw was a near prodigy at it given his dreams had somehow been training him, but I was more unlucky. Tigerclaw looked at my failure with a look of revulsion.

I decided to make my lack of progress known to Lionheart, the seemingly more forgiving of the two. "Lionheart, can you demonstrate it again to me, but really slowly? I want to try mirroring you."

Lionheart looked confused at the term mirroring, but he decided to humor me. As he sunk into the crouch, I analyzed him and memorized each little detail of how he positioned himself before moving to match him. Slowly he stalked forward and I slowly moved to match him until I eventually was matching him pace for pace. A look of interest lit up his face as he sped up, and I copied him all the while. My stalking wasn't perfect. I didn't have the instinct for it, but one thing I was well versed in was mastering technique.

I began to ponder briefly my weak instincts. Why was I less instinctively reactive than other cats? I'd always been able to compensate with my near photographic memory and effort I put into matching prodigies like Firepaw, but I always lacked something. I could never do as well as a prodigy, but I was at least consistent in an almost mechanical way. Something like a faded memory answered my question. I don't know who I was, but whoever I was in the past required near robotic consistency and technique to the point where instinct only got in the way. The most major of which being survival. Whoever I was had no sense of self-preservation and relied on extensive training to compensate for the instinct they discarded. The thought slightly chilled me.

I snapped out of my pondering when Tigerclaw began harassing Ravenpaw for his off-balance crouch. His weight was heavily shifted off his wounded shoulder and it was very visible which seemed to piss Tigerclaw off. Thankfully, or rather distractingly, Graypaw decided to save his fellow apprentice the scolding by doing his stupidest impression of a badger lumbering about.

It was amusing in a kittish way, but I was unimpressed by Lionheart's lack of response at Graypaw's behavior. It was like both apprentices were ill suited for their mentors. Lionheart was too lax for a childish apprentice like Graypaw and Tigerclaw was too strict for a skittish cat like Ravenpaw.

Then a thought struck me. Before we left, Bluestar looked at both Lionheart, Graypaw, Tigerclaw, and Ravenpaw as if to measure them. She had looked somewhere between unimpressed and disappointed, but there was something behind the look. It was like she was looking at a pair of failing investments, expecting one to bail out the failure of the other, but instead they both were burning out. I suddenly had a theory, but to confirm it, I'd need to meet the last apprentice in Thunderclan. If my theory held, this poor choice of mentors was deliberate, both a test and a lesson. If I was right, Graypaw and Ravenpaw were the key to choosing Bluestar's successor. I felt my wicked smile starting to touch my face, but I concealed it. Even with just the theory, I now had a tool to manipulate Tigerclaw until I could get Ravenpaw to reveal the secret I craved so desperately.