[alkaline]

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Ah, there was RiverClan's deputy, again with the greeting small nod. Alderstep stretched sitting down, minutely correcting his posture into something less slouchy and more rigid. It had something to do with looking presentable, out of slight respect, though Alderstep still couldn't care less about that. He gave the other ginger cat a tiny nod as well, glad to sit in silence. That was the only good thing about RiverClan; they had a quiet deputy. WindClan, though...their deputy liked talking too much for his own good. Alderstep took a moment to be grateful that ShadowClan didn't have a deputy. That was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. He wanted to stay far, far away from those frog-eating wannabe territory stealers.

Studying his clan again was a fruitless attempt to comfort himself, as nobody down there gave him comfort. Obviously. But, so far, the clan was behaving, which was the most Alderstep could ask for. He picked up on the tortoiseshell pelt of his other apprentice, Fireflypaw, to his surprise. Maybe he'd been wrong. Of course he had been, what young child would miss their first gathering? Alderstep watched her for a moment, wondering if she'd talk to cats from the other clans. [ @jupiter ]

"...Rough moon?"

Tensing as he was caught off guard, Alderstep looked to the other deputy. For a moment, he contemplated three choices. One, shove this loser off the stones. Two, jump him right then and there. Three, scoff and ignore him. Tonight was no ordinary night, though, so Alderstep went with the mysterious fourth option. He snorted in half-amusement and shrugged. "Maybe," he responded. What with fighting ShadowClan, which was never fun, and having trespassers on their territory, it had been a rough moon. But Alderstep would never admit the toll it was taking on him, the way he lay awake at night stressed out wondering if history would repeat itself. It was best to pretend everything was going splendidly and ThunderClan was thriving.
@Estelle