[goddess of ducks]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

In all the time that they had trained together, there had only been one other time that Clawpaw had seen her mentor smile. To her, she took it as a sign of pride. If he was proud of her, he would smile; otherwise, there was no chance. The white feline got to her paws, tail twitching back and forth as she did so, a look of semi-worry on her features but it faded after a moment. "What do you think? Do I need more work, or am I ready now?" She asked. His opinion meant more to her then her own. Most apprentices looked up to or wanted to be like their mentors, but Clawpaw just wanted approval. Approval was what the younger cat seemed to feed off of. Even if it was just a simple 'you did good' or 'I believe in you' or something like that, any form of praise or approval, even just a smile, meant more to Clawpaw then all the attention in the world.
　
To her, the spotlight was a place cats went when they weren't able to get enough praise of their own. At that point, they were instantly popular. Everyone wanted to be around them, talk to them, get help from them. Even medicine cats got their moments in the spotlight, though why, Clawpaw couldn't understand. She'd been to the medicine cat before and she had never liked it. It smelled like herbs. Which, to her, smelled like weaknesses. She didn't like it at all. Gingerly, the apprentice shifted her weight. She would be a warrior soon-- what would her name be? In the past, she'd wanted to be leader almost as soon as she became an apprentice.

　

In her own words, the 'best of the best.' But now that all seemed silly. What did she want to do with her life once training was over? She wouldn't have anything to do. And starting a family seemed stupid to her-- cliche, overrated, and practically everything she thought of love as. Maybe that was because the feline hadn't really felt love before. She hadn't ever been loved, even as a kit/younger apprentice. She'd always just been there, in the shadows, watching. She awaited Rusticash's response and wondered what her assessment would be. Most cats just did a little hunting and a bit of work. More work then she preferred, but it wasn't a big deal. She'd just brush it off as she did everything else, as no big deal. Everything was no big deal to her. Everything was constantly changing and twisting over time, constantly becoming different. And, when it did, there were always two options; either adapt to the change, or end up hurt.

Rusticash's smile slowly faded from his maw. Whenever smiled,he didn't like it. He thought that happiness could be a weakness, showing affection, a weakness. He was waiting for her response when she turned his question back at him. He didn't really care, he just knew that she was old enough. Sure he believed in his abilities, but he didn't really know what it was like to be ready. He had been made a warrior early, that way he could be more effective to Blazingnight in the Evil Era. Of course, he didn't exactly agree with the naming for the time. Sure most cats thought of them as Evil, but Rusticash saw them more as cats who saw the truth, cats who weren't blinded by the elders old stories about Starclan. Besides, Blazingnight, when she was leader, never mentioned anything about seeing Starclan in her dreams. That was most likely why she, nor to his knowledge all the other leaders, had not received their nine lives. But they had all fallen, died, or in the Windclan leader's case, fled. The so called Evil Era was over, and worst of all, his sister had come back with Halestar. So Blazingnight had failed to rid the Clan of the two she cats. Rusticash could take care of at least one of them, which would have a high possibility of making the other crumble. He would just have to take a note from Blazingnight and take the sneaky, dirty way to it.

"Yes, I believe you are ready for it." he replied simply, not feeling too bad for taking a few moments to consider the thoughts. Of course, it had been a quick thing, not taking much thought from him. The scarlet marbled tom shifted on his paws and looked Clawpaw directly in the eyes. "Now, every warrior does their apprentice's assessment differently. Mine will focus heavily on the fighting portion, but by the Clans standards I must test you on hunting as well." he said, his eyes narrowing. Hunting was a waste of time when some one else could do it for you. "Now, we will do the hunting segment first, as I have something special planned for the fighting part. Oh and don't even ask about it, because I won't tell. All I will say on the matter, is that it will test your endurance, strength and ability to dominate the battle grounds. Willingness to do what is told to you." he said, his gaze unmoved from hers. "For the hunting segment," he said, finally removing his cold green gaze from her. " the hunting segment will be like most others. You must catch prey, and I will be hidden in the bushes, trees, or whatever I can find as I watch you. You will be alone in your hunt. All I ask specially of you is that you catch three different types of prey. Once you do so, I will meet you and we shall return here to begin the fighting portion. Also, as you catch the prey, leave it by the nearest tree and I will pick it up, therefore you do not have to worry about retrieving it."

"Are you ready to begin?"