Marshclan & Hawkclan's Fate | Open & Accepting

[Animals65]

Creamflower is eating a fish from the fresh-kill pile, savoring the delicious taste. She scans the MarshClan clearing, seeing whose up and about this morning.

[greyrs]

adderpaw / marshclan / apprentice / m / tags: shadowpelt

Adderpaw felt a twinge of shame at Shadowpelt's apology to Deepwater. His mentor was right - it's not like he had been deliberately ignoring the elder, but it just wasn't something he thought about a whole lot. The young tom followed Shadowpelt away from the elders' den.

"Why are you so dejected Adderpaw? Do you not like touching bedding?" Shadowpelt asked him. Adderpaw briefly flicked his ears in mild surprise. He didn't know how his mentor could detect his mood. It must just be one of those.... mentor-y things.

"No, I'd have a lot more trouble sleeping if that was the case," Adderpaw responded with a small chuckle at his own bad joke. "Just thinking about the meeting of the clans tonight." This was only half a lie. He really was worried about the meeting, despite his confidence in his clan.

While Adderpaw wasn't there during the battle, he had still heard enough to recognize that HawkClan definitely had a real reason to hate MarshClan. 'We lost warriors too,' Adderpaw reminded himself. The loss came with a sort of disconnected grief that he was guilty about not feeling more deeply. Lilypetal and Threshflight were not his family, but they had always been kind to him as a small kit. He hoped no one would forget them.

[Nyverria]

Wᴏʟғsᴛᴀʀ
〖Molly〗〖Hawkclan Leader〗〖40〗
〖Mentions: Sealsmog, Minkstar〗
〖Tags: Rowanstalk〗

The Hawkclan leader still sat outside her den as she watched most of the warriors crowd around Sealsmog for the morining patrols. Thank Starclan she could count on Sealsmog to get things going around the camp, the grey tabby felt a slight pain of guilt leaving Sealsmog to do almost everything when it came to patrols and other warrior duties. Wolfstar had always seen Sealsmog as a very dear friend to her, of course besides her only remaining brother Rowanstalk, she could always count on her to have some sort of answers to almost anything the grey she-cat had troubles with. If it weren't for her deputy, Wolfstar wouldn't know what to do. It wasn't before long as Wolfstar was chewing on her morning meal, amber eyes spotted her brother weaving through the camp approaching her. What was it this time? Did Stormpetal cause a ruckus once more? Did he have questions? Hopefully it was nothing to do with his former mate. Starclan she hated seeing how the two act towards each other ever since the death of her nephew, Beepaw. Her claws unsheathed for a moment just picturing Beepaw's lifeless body being carried back to the camp, along with Vinepaw and Dovepaw. Rowanstalk's voice snapped her back from her thoughts realizing he had finally approached her. Dear Starclan she needed to stop spacing out like this. Wolfstar didn't really see her brother dip his head but she figured he had as he greeted her. She dipped her head back in reply as he greeted her for this morning until he cut straight to the point. "That's fine if you don't want to come to the gathering, I understand the reasoning you would prefer staying here." Wolfstar replied in a calm tone as she turned her gaze to her brother. "I'm going to need you and a few others to guard the camp tonight, I don't trust Marshclan one bit." she added and turned her attention to the now lively camp. Could she possibly strike Marshclan while she and Sealsmog were at the gathering? Perhaps lie to Minkstar to say Sealsmog had taken ill when in reality her deputy lead the attack on Marshclan? So many opportunities.. so many decisions. Wolfstar did need Sealsmogs opinions about these thoughts. "How have things been in the warrior's den?" the grey molly suddenly asked to change the topic. How Wolfstar did miss being with the rest of her clan mates but now that she is leader, she must think about the clan besides herself.

Asʜғᴀʟʟ
〖Tom〗〖Hawkclan Warrior〗〖38〗
〖Mentions: Fadingwind, Irispaw & Antgleam〗
〖Tags: Mushroomshard, Sealsmog, Sunstream, Fadingwind & Irispaw〗

It wasn't until he realized that Sunstream had offered to come. He felt awful not hearing her earlier when she asked to join the hunting patrol. The ashen tom stopped to turn his attention to Sunstream and Mushroomshard "[color=657383]I don't mind you tagging along with us Sunstream[/color]!" he meowed across the way, I'm going to fetch Fadingwind and Irispaw and meet you at the entrance" Ashfall added. He turned and headed to the medicine cat's den already knowing that's where the pair would be at. Or well.. at least one of the two. Fadingwind! Sealsmog has asked for you and Irispaw to join our hunting patrol!" Ashfall called out towards the medicine cat's den praying to Starclan that some cat would hear him calling out. As Ashfall drew closer to the den, he could hear the voices that sounded like Antgleam and Fadingwind speaking to each other. "Good morning Antgleam, Fadingwind." the grey tom mewed as he entered the den and dipped his head. "I'm sorry to interupt but I need Fadingwind and Irispaw to come with us for a hunting patrol on Sealsmog's orders." he added as he was mainly focused on Fadingwind.

Sᴡɪғᴛᴄʟᴀᴡ
〖Tom〗〖Hawkclan Warrior〗〖37〗
〖Mentions: Bushsparrow, Fallenpaw & Crocusweb〗
〖Tags: Lynxpaw & Bumblepaw〗

"Sure! Bumblepaw and Bushsparrow can come with us! We should practice battle moves for today." Swiftclaw mewed with a grin stretching across his maw. The tall tom didn't his apprentice nor any other apprentice to go without battle training. This was mostly due to the fact his apprentice among the others had lost their den mates five moons ago, he could only imagine the horror they faced when they saw their clan mates lifeless bodies. Swiftclaw had been there during that dreadful day defending his clan's territory, he could even remember that tiger looking tabby cat looking oh so prideful after he took Beepaw's life and of course Vinepaw along with Dovepaw. The tall spotted tom shivered just thinking about that battle. When Lynxpaw had asked if Fallenpaw and Crocusweb could join them, he didn't see the bother in that. Perhaps the three mentors could come up wit a unique battle strategy for the three apprentices to practice. "They can tag along as well!" Swiftclaw mewed with a purr, Let's all get something to eat before we all head out. Lynxpaw, Go ahead and grab Fallenpaw so she knows what's going on." he added and then turned to bound off towards the fresh-kill pile and stop to grab Bushsparrow and Crocusweb.

Wʜɪᴛᴇғʟᴀᴍᴇ
〖Tom〗〖Marshclan Warrior〗〖46〗
〖Mentions: Minkstar, Creamflower〗
〖Tags: Lionfur, Leopardbreeze, Rosedance, Kits〗

The flame point tom made his way over to the fresh-kill pile to find something for Leopardbreeze to eat. He had seen the deputy already heading towards the nursery. Whiteflame knew he would already be there to see his own kits before the deputy would be off to do his daily tasks. Minkstar's voice calling for the warriors made the white tom perk his ears to listen what she had to say but before he would join any patrol, queens and elders first. Perhaps Lionfur might want something to eat as well? The tom had already seen Creamflower getting her own prey so he decided to bring the two queens something to eat. Picking up a mouse and vole, the flame point tom made his way into the nursery. He then sat down the mouse for Leopardbreeze and then made his way over to Lionfur to give her the vole. "Good morning!" Whiteflame mewed calmly as he dipped his head in greetings to the cats in the den. "I wasn't sure if you haven't gotten anything to eat yet so I brought you this vole Lionfur." the large white tom mewed as he then made his way back to Leopardbreeze, "How are you and the kits Leopardbreeze?" Whiteflame asked with a slight smile stretching across his maw.

Sɪʟᴠᴇʀғᴜʀ
〖Molly〗〖Marshclan Warrior〗〖38〗
〖Mentions: Minkstar, Heroncall, Mirestalk, Tigerheart〗
〖Tags: None〗

The silver tabby heard Minkstar trying to organize the hunting and border patrols. She should try to get on a patrol, it didn't matter which one to her as long as she could lend a helping paw. As Silverfur made her way over to the other clan cats and Minkstar, she noticed that Heroncall and Mirestalk had finally decided to leave the warrior's den. If only you could see them now Flooheart. Although her worry grew with Mirestalk over time. Was she just upset with Tigerheart? Her mother? What could it possibly be? Silverfur couldn't worry at the matter right now, she needed to focus on the clan.

Tɪɢᴇʀʜᴇᴀʀᴛ
〖Tom〗〖Marshclan Warrior〗〖26〗
〖Mentions: None〗
〖Tags: Blackfrost or Darkpaw〗

The young tabby tom did his best to keep his back left paw off the ground to prevent whatever he stepped on from digging further into his paw pad. He could hear Minkstar organizing the patrols as he awkwardly limped by as if he was trying not to be noticed. Hopefully either Blackfrost or Darkpaw was awake to help him out. Tigerheart needed to get back out there as soon as he possibly could to help out the clan. Soon reaching the medicine cat's den he looked around before meowing, "Blackfrost? Darkpaw?"

Kᴇsᴛʀᴇʟᴋɪᴛ
〖Molly〗〖Marshclan Kit〗〖3〗
〖Mentions: Lionfur〗
〖Tags: Leopardbreeze & Gatorkit〗

While Kestrelkit was resting on her paws she began to fall asleep once more until she heard Rosedance speaking with the queens in the nursery. The little tabby kit opened her eyes once more tiredly to basically listen to their conversations even though she really had no idea what they were talking about. It was then she noticed another cat walk into the nursery carrying more fresh-kill and to her surprise it was Whiteflame. As much as Kestrelkit wanted to get up and bounce around the older white tom she felt as if her paws were not allowing her to really move at all, almost as if her were stuck in place.

Nɪɢʜᴛᴡʜɪsᴘᴇʀ
〖Molly〗〖Marshclan Warrior〗〖42〗
〖Mentions: Open〗
〖Tags: Open〗

The dark colored she-cat was resting in her nest at the very back of the Warrior's den. Nightwhisper had always kept to herself as she was a kit.. still to this day. Tonight would be the great gathering of both clans. She hoped to Starclan she wasn't chosen as one of the warrior's to attend the gathering. She preferred staying at the camp to defend or better yet.. provide food for her clan. Her green gaze fixed at the warrior den entrance as she watched her fellow clan mates leave the den, soon she would join them hoping either Rosedance or Minkstar would assign her to a patrol.

[Animals65]

Creamflower notices Whiteflame passing by her as he walked towards the nursery, seeing the tom carrying prey he grabbed from the fresh-kill pile. Finishing her fish, she gets up and pads over to the nursery, seeing that Leopardbreeze and Lionfur, the other two MarshClan queens, are already up. She also sees that Whiteflame and Rosedance, MarshClan's deputy, are with them as well. "Leopardbreeze? Lionfur?" she asked. "Is everything okay in here?"

[FerretMonarch]

Shadowpelt•Tom•Warrior•16 moons•He/him•Crush:open•Location:Marshclan Elder den•Tags: Adderpaw, open

Shadowpelt gave a small chuckle at the joke. "I suppose that is true."

He looked down at his apprentice wondering how to word his next sentence; he didn't want Adderpaw to think he was disciplining him, but Shadowpelt also wanted him to realize that there was a reason to do these 'chores' as the apprentices called them.

Shadowpelt looked down at Adderpaw realizing that the battle had affected the young cat more than he had realized.

"... I know hanging out with the elders and help change their bedding or hearing them talk about the same two and a half stories only to have them forget in the middle and restart isn't the most exciting thing when it comes to being an apprentice and I understand that it probably seems more like a chore than anything else and that it isn't a vital skill when it comes to being a warrior. And-and it won't give you any vital skills except for maybe another look; elders don't have any duties anymore and most of the time they're pushed to the back of everyone's minds with everything else going on and it's understandable I do it too. I suppose being raised by elders as soon as I was able to be weaned makes me this way. I felt abandoned; not by my clan, but by someone far more important and I haven't really gotten over it yet and I turned to the elders when I needed someone to talk to or if I was uncertain or anything really if the other clan members were too busy I didn't want to bother them. So I tend to get defensive and protective about them; they served the clan for most if not all of their lives and yet we tend to forget them in the bustle and hustle of life and I don't want anyone to feel the way I did." Shadowpelt took a shallow, shuttering breath blinking away tears.

"I'm not sure how much you've heard about the battle with Hawkclan, but obviously you know some things. I know you were close with Lilypetal and Threshflight they talked about you so much you would've thought you were their own kit." Shadowpelt choked out a small laugh they couldn't help the tears that came now.

"I want you to know that even though we don't see eye to eye with Hawkclan it isn't wrong to sympathize with them; we both lost warriors and both sides have done wrong and grief is a weird thing. And if you don't think you're feeling as guilty as you should than it's just how you are working through this; it's a lot for a cat to handle expesially with one your age. Trust me whatever amount of shame or guilt or upsetness you're feeling no matter how small you think it is it is a lot. And it doesn't matter how you go through grief and there's no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed about it. Okay?"

Shadowpelt gave Adderpaw a sad smile before sighing.

"I like to go out at night before I go to bed and speak all of the names of cats and clans that have come and gone. It's calming and I like to think that even if every cat, but me forgets them then at lesst the trees and rocks, the grass and rivers, clouds and stars will hear their names and remember these cats and clans. It's a nice way of letting them know they may have fallen, but they're never forgotten."

Shadowpelt got up "We best not keep Deepwater waiting with that bedding."


Lionfur•Molly•Queen•13 moons•They/them•Crush:open•Location: Marshclan nursery•Tags: Leopardbreeze, Whiteflame, Creamflower, open

"Morning... a-and thank you." They said hesitantly.

'Why were they giving them a vole? Clan cats sure were weird.'

Lionfur gave the vole a sniff keeping their eyes in this unfamiliar tom before giving it a small bite. It didn't taste weird and maybe Lionfur was a bit hungrier than they had thought, so they quietly took some more small bites of it.

Lionfur shrugged at Creamflower "I won't speak for the others here, but i'm fine I think they may have wanted to watch the kits wiggle around." They chuckled attempting to make a tiny joke.






Clouddust•Intersex•Warrior•13 moons•He/they•Crush:open•Location: Hawkclan Warrior den• Tags: sugarpaw, sealsmog, open

"Oh, well, um it's just that Sealsmog might think that its stupid since i'm inexperienced, but l-let's go find your mentor!" He said trying to explain their feelings as little as possible.

Clouddust got up and looked at Sugarpaw before walking towards Sealsmog

[galaxy,]

𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌
hawkclan warrior | in camp | tags: ashfall, mushroomshard| mentions: pebblepaw, irispaw, fadingwind, antgleam

the she-cat twitched her tail as mushroomshard and ashfall accepted their company for the patrol. she felt restless and watched blinking her eyes as ashfall approached the medicine cat den to fetch fadingwind. she was never sure what happened between fadingwind and the medicine cat, antgleam. their apprentices, irispaw and pebblepaw, seemed to be concentrated in their own cahoots by the apprentices' den. she had only just become a warrior and there was so much in the camp she didn't understand about the confusing dynamic between the warrior, the medicine cat, and their apprentices, even if all other warriors shared glances and smile full of meaning. but then again, she was just happy to be involved in patrols.

let's go to the entrance then, we'll wait for the others there. sunstream said to mushroomshard and she padded towards the entrance.


𝐏𝐄𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐖
hawkclan med cat apprentice | in camp | tags: irispaw | mentions: fadingwind, antgleam, ashfall |

pebblepaw felt peaceful that morning as he groomed his grey pelt. he was daydreaming about the fat vole he would eat later when the hunting patrols arrived with that day's catch, when he felt a tug on his tail. the medicine cat apprentice yelped as he jumped to one side but seeing the familiar eyes of his friend, he gave her a friendly shove. hi, irispaw! fadingwind is agaaain waking me up in my den to talk to antgleam but i think he's looking for you. but considering they're talking, we probably have a bit of time! he said shooting a glance to the medicine cat den. hmph he thought as he saw ashfall, one of the warriors, pad into the medicine cat den. they probably had less time than expected to mess around until irispaw would have to leave to complete her warrior duties.

he lowered his voice with a furtive look around camp. if you need to go on a patrol, i found a really cool burrow i could show you later on the side of the forest. and it has a massive collection of cobwebs - and they're very strong! i want to surprise antgleam. even though pebblepaw was eleven moons old - if he had been a warrior apprentice, he would've been fully named in only one more moon - he fell into repeated habits when he was with irispaw. clumsy and too focused in his own world, pebblepaw would hyper-concentrate on whatever he was interested in at the moment (like finding strong cobwebs) and would completely forget if antgleam asked him for something else. he also loved exploring hidden corners of the forest, and having irispaw with him made him feel safe.


𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐊𝐈𝐓
marshclan kit | in den | tags: pumpkinkit, rosedance, others in nursery| mentions:

frogkit started to wake when he felt the warmth provided by his sister's body disappear and something that smelled too yummy was right on... his nose? he blinked, turning over on to his back and stretch as his eyes wandered around the nursery. he saw, in fact, a piece of pray that looked just as delicious as it smelled. and then his eyes fell on his father and a surge of energy washed over him. frogkit leaped to his paws and bounced around rosedance. dad, dad, can i go on a patrol with you today dad? i promise i'll catch the biggest vole in the entire marsh! he growled as he leaped on pumpkinkit. see? if i can take down pumpkinkit i can also hunt! and fight!

[greyrs]

adderpaw / marshclan / apprentice / m / tags: shadowpelt

Realizing he was staring at Shadowpelt, Adderpaw blinked. He was a little bit stunned at his mentor's intuition. Was he that easy to read? The whole speech was a lot to take in. Now after hearing about Shadowpelt's upbringing, Adderpaw felt even worse about not taking the task of caring for Deepwater as seriously as he should have.

HawkClan was another subject entirely. Feelings swirled around in his mind like a whirlpool and he could only pick out fragments of comprehensible thoughts. 'I miss them - This wasn't right - Fighting with the other clan is just a part of life - Everyone says something different...' It occurred to Adderpaw that Shadowpelt would have been an apprentice during the battle. An older apprentice, sure, but still an apprentice. He didn't know what to do with this information but it was there in his head and it was not leaving.

Adderpaw nodded without a word. He padded towards the back of a camp, glancing behind to make sure Shadowpelt was coming with him. He checked around the base of a few trees slightly hidden away. "Shadowpelt, is this good?" he asked, tilting his head towards a particularly soft patch of moss that was thankfully also dry.

[anathema]

━xxＭxxＩxxＮxxＫxxＳxxＴxxＡxxＲxx━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

♀ ━ 38 moons ━ marshclan leader ━ location - camp ━ tags - cats in the clearing

Scryheart almost immediately approached—eyes wide and bright and tone saccharine—which nearly caused Minkstar to visibly raise an eyebrow out of suspicion. With the latter's sibling being one of the sweetest cats she knew before suddenly defecting, any extra-sweet talk these days almost immediately put Minkstar on high alert. But, remaining entirely professional and keeping up appearances as always, the leader gave a nod of her head to acknowledge the warrior's presence.

"Thank you," she mewed, turning to face a throng of approaching warriors, with Yellowmoon at the very forefront. "And thank you, too, Yellowmoon. As a matter of fact... would the both of you mind doing a two-cat hunting patrol for me? I think I might lead the border patrol today, actually, and Rosedance will be in charge of camp."

It was a bold move, with inter-Clan tensions high and all. But Minkstar was itching to keep herself distracted.

As Heroncall fell to her side, Minkstar could physically feel her muscles relax. Her former apprentice was almost like a son to her... and his prefix didn't help, of course. Heroncall's existence in and of itself was a major cope for the leader who still grieved her sibling's betrayal, having once been named Heronswoop for the soft, elegant gray-and-white birds that leisurely trod the marsh.

Heroncall was a second chance, and Minkstar had, in part, gotten to raise him herself. The way she would've raised Kiteswoop, had she been given the chance. She wasn't controlling, or anything—yes, that she knew was wrong—but she'd definitely played a part in steering the young tom in the direction she wished she could've steered Kiteswoop.

Oh, if only I could've foreseen everything... or just anything at all. Minkstar endlessly wondered which exact sunrise Kiteswoop had made the decision to leave. To be clairvoyant... maybe I could have even stopped you!...

That was enough for now.

"Morning, Heroncall," Minkstar finally said to the tom. "I'm taking out a border patrol—would you like to come with me?"

━xxＫxxＩxxＴxxＥxxＳxxＷxxＯxxＯxxＰxx━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⚲ ━ 38 moons ━ hawkclan warrior ━ location - camp ━ tags - open for any interactions!

Kiteswoop was intent on going to that fox-dunged gathering tonight.

They nearly sprung out of their nest, pale yellow eyes clouded and weary from a long, hard slumber, and flexed their claws before stretching out their long haunches as they exited the warriors' den into the crag formations that made up HawkClan's scenic camp. A few cats were already outside, but this was common. Kiteswoop was almost never the very first HawkClan cat to wake, but they were always one of them. It was a stark contrast from MarshClan, were the pace of Clan life had always felt slower.

It had been moons, though - and many at that. Kiteswoop could barely remember what it was like to be a warrior of MarshClan. HawkClan felt like their true-born home at this point - the only home they'd ever had - even with full MarshClan blood still running through their veins with every step they took. Even so, HawkClan seemed to graciously accept them, and Kiteswoop didn't care whether this sentiment derived from altruism or not.

I don't care one bit if I'm just a wagering pawn to these cats, Kiteswoop thought, glaring up at the blushing morning sky. Political chess piece or beloved turncoat warrior, Kiteswoop, for the first time in their life, finally felt free... and for the love of every cat that danced upon the stars of Silverpelt, they wanted their sister to know it.

Minkstar. Kiteswoop's mind spat the cat's name out. Leader of MarshClan. Leader! How preposterous. How... rich. Kiteswoop had been more of a leader as a kit. MarshClan was doomed, and Kiteswoop reveled in the thought of it.

━xxＧxxＡxxＴxxＯxxＲxxＫxxＩxxＴxx━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

♂ ━ 3 moons ━ marshclan kit ━ location - camp ━ tags - leopardbreeze, kestrelkit

A young Gatorkit slowly began to wake up in the warm confines of MarshClan's nursery, pressed against his mother and sister for warmth. A soft smile spread across the bengal tom's face as he turned over and nuzzled his resting sister.

The conversation taking place between his mother and the other two queens caused him to fully wake up, though - not that he minded. It was time, anyway, and he was already a little hungry. Gatorkit yawned before slowly sitting up, wrapping his tail around his body as he blinked his amber eyes open - not yet knowing that this key trait was given to him by his late father.

"Mmmorning," he mumbled to his mother and the other queens, tilting his head sleepily.

[fortissimo]

████████ ⚘ 𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑶𝑾𝑲𝑰𝑻 ████████████████████████████

hawkclan kit | tags: bushsparrow & heathermoon | mentions: x
Fallowkit would have kept her yellow-green gaze fixed heavily on her older brother, blinking up at him, as if staring at him intently would somehow convince him to accept her appeal — but her mother interrupted her thought process with a light scolding. Feeling a little sheepish at having been caught playing with her food, even though it was against the warrior code, her ears flattened against the back of her head and she turned to Heathermoon, nodding to indicate that she had heard the rebuke. “Sorry, Heathermoon,” she mewed hastily, though quietly — her natural volume. Fallowkit had never quite learned the lesson of speaking up in order to be heard, and her natural timidity certainly did not help in that regard. Turning away from both adults, Fallowkit returned her attention to the barely-touched mouse by her paws, crouching down and taking a few more bites. She wasn’t too peckish just yet - she rarely got hungry after just waking up - but she appreciated the gesture nevertheless.

Still, as she ate, she gave Bushsparrow her full attention… or, as much of it as she could. Were she older, with a little more life experience to her name, she might have recognized his hesitation as a telltale sign of rejection — but instead, as he mumbled over how best to say no to her, she took it as a good sign. Say yes! Say yes! Say yes! she thought to herself, her body coiled up like a spring at the excitement she felt at the idea that he might actually accept.

“Sorry, little one…”

Oh.

As soon as the words came out of Bushsparrow’s mouth, Fallowkit’s tail - which had previously been waving high in the air - drooped in disappointment, her posture slackening. Suddenly not feeling hungry anymore, she sat back up on her haunches, ignoring the half-eaten mouse (the rest would be for her mother, anyway. As far as she knew, Heathermoon hadn’t eaten yet) to peer up at Bushsparrow, trying to gauge if he might change his mind. Seeing that he seemed resolute in his decision, though, she mumbled under her breath, “Oh, okay…”, not realizing that he might not be able to hear her. Mouse dung! And after she had built up all that courage to ask in the first place! She turned away from him, her attention suddenly fixated on her front paws as she scuffled the grass beneath them. Of course she wasn’t upset with Bushsparrow - she could never be, given how he always selflessly took the time out of his day to visit her and her mother. Truly, she couldn’t ask for a better or more attentive big brother - rather, she was dismayed by her predicament. Too young and too small to leave camp even with a warrior and apprentice’s supervision, and without a denmate to at least wile away the time with. It occurred to her that Bushsparrow was still talking, but she didn’t pay him too much mind, accepting that his next words were probably just platitudes to soften the impact of his refusal.

She would have resigned herself to spending the rest of her waking time, before drowsiness inevitably pulled her into a midday nap, to sulking… until Bushsparrow mentioned potentially showing her some moves later, alongside his apprentice — now that got her attention! Perking up a little, though not as much as before she’d been denied, she looked up at Bushsparrow again and nodded resolutely, “Really, you mean it? That’d be great, thanks Bushsparrow!” Sure, she knew that this opportunity wasn’t nearly on the same level as getting the rare chance to leave camp and see HawkClan’s territory for herself, for what would have been the first time — but the offer was better than lazing about camp all day, so she’d take what she could get!

Well, what could Fallowkit distract herself with now? Her mother had said something about moss balls. Perhaps she could wander around camp and see if she could find a sizable one to amuse herself with for a time? Then, she suddenly remembered what she had been wondering about before Bushsparrow and Heathermoon had joined her: the gathering! Right! She still had no idea what that was. “Oh, um, um, by the way, what’s a… what’s a gathering? I heard there was one tonight. Can I go?” she asked, posing the query to both adults. This time, she prepared herself for rejection; given that she had no idea what the occasion was, she doubted they allowed kits to come with… but hey, it never hurt to ask, just in case!

[Mezzo]

███████ ☀ 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 █████████████████████████████
─────── MarshClan Warrior | Tags: Firelight (for a second), Minkstar | Mentions: tags, Sleetpaw, Shadowpelt, Reedwhistle, Deepwater, Scryheart, Yellowmoon, Heroncall, Rainpaw, Adderpaw

What to do, what to do…

If there was one pitfall that came with Doeprance’s effervescence and sense of adventure, it was that she always wanted to do anything and everything, and she chafed readily under boredom. Luckily, there was always no shortage of tasks to be done to maintain the clan’s status-quo, but then she faced the conundrum — what exactly to devote her - and by extension, Sleetpaw’s - energy and time to. Call it the hesitation of being a first-time mentor, but she didn’t want to bore her apprentice, and while practice certainly made perfect, there had to be something to be said about repetition dulling the senses! Perhaps if she coordinated with Shadowpelt and Reedwhistle, the other mentors, they could organize a joint training session… but alas, she’d noticed Shadowpelt’s eponymous black fur heading towards the elders’ den earlier, so she supposed the other was already busy this morning. Oh well, there was always next time, and at the very least Deepwater was being taken care of, meaning her apprentice didn’t have to take on the grunt work today! As for the other she-cat… well, Doeprance hesitated to say that she didn’t get along with Reedwhistle, per se — it wasn’t like she went out of her way to avoid the other or pick fights (StarClan knew she wasn’t that type of cat!), but there certainly seemed to be a mutual, comfortable neutrality or distance between the two warriors, a gap that Doeprance had never hitherto bothered trying to bridge.

Ears pricking at the familiar timbre of their leader, Doeprance swiveled her head towards Minkstar’s direction, barely taking a moment to think it over before bounding over towards the burgeoning group gathering around the older molly. Well, that answered her question on what to do: if they were in need of more volunteers for patrols, then she was surely the cat for the job! It seemed that she had arrived a tad late, however, as Minkstar had turned away from Scryheart and Yellowmoon, no doubt having given them some orders for the day, and was now in conversation with Heroncall. Doeprance vaguely remembered that Heroncall had once been Minkstar’s apprentice, and she admired the closeness the former mentor-apprentice pair still had; perhaps she and Sleetpaw could be like that someday?

En route to the leader and warriors nearby, Doeprance passed by her brother, who was seated vigilantly nearby, ever-ready to assist anyone in need - though it seemed he wasn’t too keen on volunteering for a patrol just yet - and though she didn’t full-on stop for him, she spared him a passing, jovial, “Hi Firelight! Let’s make it a great day again!” Although she didn’t leave him much time to reply before turning her attention to Minkstar. Admittedly, she nearly forgot to dip her head in reverence — though not out of disrespect or flippancy toward the she-cat’s position so much as forgetfulness. “Good morning!” she chirped readily. “If it’s all the same to you and you don’t have any other plans, Minkstar, I’d like to take Sleetpaw on a hunting patrol today.” They’d gone over some battle moves recently, and Doeprance would rather not overwhelm the young apprentice with too many things all at once; a simple hunt through the marsh seemed to be a fair change of pace, and it would give her a chance to check in on his hunting prowess! Of course she could also take him on a patrol to their borders and refresh the scent markings, but that was a job for the dawn patrol.

Speaking of the gray apprentice, there was still no sign of him, but she figured she could wake him after she got the okay from Minkstar first. Doeprance wasn’t too keen on the idea of bursting into the apprentices’ den in search for him lest she wake any other sleeping apprentices, but oh well. Some sacrifices had to be made and besides, Adderpaw had already started his day; why not Rainpaw and Sleetpaw, too?

███████ ♠ 𝐋𝐘𝐍𝐗𝐏𝐀𝐖 ███████████████████████████████
─────── HawkClan Apprentice | Tags: Swiftclaw, Bumblepaw, & Fallenpaw | Mentions: Crocusweb, Bushsparrow, Heathermoon, Wolfstar, & Fallowkit

Gratified by his mentor’s ready agreeance, Lynxpaw’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he hung on to the older tom’s every word, nodding sagely - so he liked to think - at Swiftclaw’s directions. “Sounds good!” he mewed. Of course, of course, battle training made sense — he and the other apprentices had to be prepared, after all, in case MarshClan got any ideas! Granted, he had still been Lynxkit when the clan lost Beepaw, Dovepaw, and Vinepaw five moons ago, his world back then confined to the warm security of his mother and the walls of the nursery, so he hadn’t necessarily known any of the late apprentices well, but he vaguely recalled them visiting the nursery on occasion, bringing food for the queens, and sometimes - with enough persuasion, or more accurately doe-eyed pleading - he and the other kits managed to convince them to show off what they’d learned, demonstrating the hunting crouch or a battle move for their wide-eyed, impressionable young audience.

No, their loss didn’t hurt like a burning, suffocating grief resonating in his maw - not like it did for the rest of the clan, it seemed - but he was nevertheless sorry not to have gotten to know them better, or to have seen them as young warriors when he was named an apprentice. Who knows — had things been different, had they survived, one of them might have even been his mentor instead of Swiftclaw!

… Not that he didn’t like Swiftclaw, though, but sometimes his imagination liked to run its course. Actually, if anything, Lynxpaw was grateful that Wolfstar had named the other bengal tom his mentor — perhaps it was just him, but he felt they vibed well with each other, at least as much as a mentor and their apprentice could. Still, even if they were a good match for each other - in his very humble opinion, anyway - Lynxpaw would always take the opportunity to include his fellow apprentices, no matter how far along (or not) they were in their training, to a learning session. It livened things up, at least he thought so, and he enjoyed hanging around with cats who were closer to him in age. Accompanying warriors was a great experience too, but he constantly felt as if he was treading on thorns in doing so, always feeling like he had to be respectful and say the right thing and learn to prove that, yes, he was a good, attentive apprentice, and Swiftclaw was teaching him well!

Besides, Bumblepaw was a senior apprentice at this point - just a moon before his final assessment, if Lynxpaw recalled correctly - so it served as a perfect opportunity to possibly pick up a few pointers from the calico tom before he inevitably moved to the warriors’ den. Fallenpaw, on the other paw, was a younger apprentice - Lynxpaw remembered that she had started a moon later than most kits did due to illness; in that case, he couldn’t embarrass himself in front of her! Call him mouse-brained, but he would like it if the younger apprentices could look up to him at least a little! It wasn’t that Lynxpaw had a big head - well, he certainly hoped not! - but there were few things in the world that beat the warm, fuzzy feeling he got when he was able to help others or serve as a good role model for them. Perhaps that was why he so often indulged Fallowkit’s requests whenever he stopped by the nursery.

Seeing that Swiftclaw was already making his way over to the fresh-kill pile, Lynxpaw turned back to Bumblepaw and flicked his tail in acknowledgement of the other apprentice. “Why don’t you go fetch Bushsparrow? Then we can share a meal together before we all head out, like Swiftclaw said,” he suggested cheerily, looking around camp and seeing that the brown tabby-and-white warrior was near the nursery, with his mother and younger sister. “Best of luck dealing with Fallowkit, though,” he added quickly with a mrrow of amusement. It wasn’t that the young kitten was difficult or anything but, as with most kits, she seemed eager to accost any passing apprentice or warrior into an impromptu learning session. Lynxpaw could sympathize; he still remembered when he was confined to the nursery, and all he’d wanted to do was go out and prove that he was the best warrior the forest would ever see!

After addressing Bumblepaw, Lynxpaw turned away, bounding over to where his mentor was waiting. Normally he would have rebuffed the idea of eating so early, as it went against the warrior code, but he’d noticed Bushsparrow had already seen to it that the sole queen and kit of HawkClan were well-fed, and if they and the elders had already eaten, then what was the harm? While Swiftclaw rummaged through the gathered prey for a meal, Lynxpaw approached Fallenpaw, who was seated vigilantly nearby. He had to admit he was impressed by her self-control, sitting so close to the fresh-kill pile and yet refusing to indulge; his own rumbling stomach confirmed that he would be far less capable of such a feat. But, regardless, he greeted her with a hearty and hale, “Good morning, Fallenpaw! What say you to a joint training session with me and Bumblepaw after we eat? I already ran it by Swiftclaw, and he said it was fine so long as Crocusweb and Bushsparrow are okay with it!” Admittedly he didn’t know the charcoal bengal she-cat very well but duh, this training session could be the start of changing that so long as she was willing to meet him halfway.