alderstep
he/him
thunderclan
russet tabby w/ white paws, green eyes
Eyes opened to...well, not the sun. Clouds forced the moonlight to peek out and wink deceivingly at Alderstep. He sighed and stretched before exiting the warrior's den to sit in the clearing. The cold bit hard into the cat. To keep warm, he paced around the clearing occupied by only his thoughts. It had been some time since he'd taken Morningpaw out training. Perhaps he could do that at sunhigh when it was less cold. Otherwise, the she-cat would be complaining all day about the cold and Alderstep wasn't in the mood for that. He never was.
The scent of the nursery drove Alderstep away from that side of the clearing. The last thing he needed was a run-in with some fuzzball with a penchant for nipping and clawing. He avoided the warrior's den, too. Either his siblings or Creamcloud or Rabbitchatter could be in there and they might wake up and try to say hi. So now he was stuck out in the freezing clearing. Ugh.
It had felt like forever once the sun finally started to show and cats began emerging from their dens. Alderstep had stayed in camp, knowing all too well going out alone in the cold snow could end up with him dead. Still, he'd been fighting the temptation to risk it all just to get some prey for the clan. The tom silently watched the clearing, wondering what exactly he was going to do. Probably do whatever he wanted all alone. For a moment, his gaze zoned out as he spaced away from his life. So much thinking about what to do and how to help and how to avoid everyone else. And no sleep, either. The tom sighed but cut off suddenly as he spotted an apprentice out doing nothing. Where was her mentor? He fixed his gaze on her, glaring. Maybe she'd get the idea to scram without him having to talk to her.
Honestly, what was wrong with the youth? Why couldn't they just work as he did? Every day, Alderstep forced himself out of his nest and did what he had to so the clan would benefit. What could be so hard about that for the apprentices? They had all that young energy they could use to help the clan. Even some warriors had the same problems. Alderstep lashed his tail angrily, redirecting his attention back to the clearing. And that apprentice.
The day before was very breezy, it was an easy day as she had gone out and got a lot of prey. Now today, this was a different case. The winds would howl in her ears and make them flatten while her tail lashed, trying to keep up with the cold that was spreading like a stream throughout her entire body. It was only that she noticed another cat glare at her when she had turned her head to meet the gaze. She responded to his glare with another glare of her own. If he wanted to play big kid and try and act like a boss, well she could too. This time she decided to walk up to him and say something she might regret later. But that wasnt the point. ”Why do you keep staring at me, if its because I’m not doing anything you might as well just look at yourself this fine morning” she said plainly. Even without thinking she gave a pretty round up explanation and words to the thoughts the other tom might’ve had about her.
alderstep
he/him
thunderclan
russet tabby w/ white paws, green eyes
Annoyance burned through Alderstep's pelt. Who was even raising these kits to act like little brats? Either they turned out soft or left the nursery thinking they were worth something and had the audacity to push back on authority. He maintained his steadfast gaze. Why did this apprentice even have a reason to glare at him? She probably just saw him and decided to be angry for getting called out. Or she was in just as bad a mood as Alderstep was. But why would she be in a bad mood? Last he checked, she was younger and got to laze around. Much too often, in his opinion.
And now the apprentice was walking over to him. Alderstep dug his claws into the ground and hunched over even more. At this point, he was better off just pretending nobody else existed instead of meddling in other's businesses (not that he did that too often unlike some cats.) Except thinking that and trying to act upon it was difficult when it came to seeing some cat sitting around in camp. It was easier to ignore when the cat was a warrior or a kit, but not so much when it came to an apprentice. It just seemed right to tell them to get up and do something. That was how one helped the clan and became a warrior. Otherwise, the assessments would be on sleeping and not hunting or whatever it was: memories were getting fuzzy for Alderstep, despite him being young.
Shut up. Just shut up and go away and bother your mentor. Stop talking. Every bone in Alderstep itched as he forced himself to ignore whatever that bee-brained apprentice had said. He did things, and what would she know, anyway? He'd bet his best catch that she still had kit fluff up in her ears and was too busy watching butterflies to notice anything around camp. She sure hadn't noticed her lack of contribution to the clan, that's for sure. The tom lashed his tail and sat up a little straighter. "Where's your mentor?" he asked irritably. Despite his hostile manner, Alderstep forced his fur to lie flat. Lately, he'd been trying to dissociate with the youth. Which unfortunately meant trying to not get riled up every time one of them looked at him funny. Sure, in his mind he was pretty angry. On the outside? Alderstep was keeping the best indifferent composure he could. Perhaps then the apprentices and kits would think him boring (awful, but acceptable) or not worth it. Either way, they'd probably leave him alone.
Most would say she wasnt the type to be calm and kind. And those were nothing but facts. She wasnt going to talk back to the warrior if he had just minded his own business instead of sticking his nose into her business. For StarClan’s sake, he didnt even know how much work she herself had been doing yesterday. She’d caught a nice mouse. For another fact, she’d watch another warrior eat it. Which meant that she truly did have some purpose and was doing just as she needed to. ‘Where is your mentor?’. the growl that is used when addressing the question doesnt even catch her off guard. She’s far too well known with this to be fooled with those words which are basically just the bossy words of a warrior under the covers of other words. ”Climbing up all the trees in the forest while learning how to fly like a bird” she says sarcastically. Even a person with just a little bit of logic should have realized that if she was appearing to be ‘slacking off’ then obviously today was her day off from training, her mentor had realized she was sick, or that her mentor was out on a patrol or doing things that were much more needed for her own mentor. ”I worked very hard yesterday, so my mentor let me stay in camp today, got a problem with it, go bring it up with me mentor, not me” her nose wrinkled at the start of a slight growl. The last thing she needed was another warrior tagging along with her to another stupid hunt just because she had been enjoying herself for barely a second.
alderstep
he/him
thunderclan
russet tabby w/ white paws, green eyes
Alderstep snorted. "Then you really should just stay here since you'd just fall from the tree and be a bother," he muttered. He really didn't have time for some apprentice that somewhat acted like him, except for the fact that she was simply disrespectful. His green gaze studied the apprentice for a moment, trying to figure out if she was lying or if she'd actually been doing something. The warrior noted her wrinkled snout too. Well, there were two things he deduced from the way the apprentice looked: she was both unsurprised and angry. Well, that's just great.
Alderstep's tail twitched in annoyance. He didn't even know her mentor or her name, so it wasn't like he could just go hop into the forest and go complain about it anyways, not that he had any plans to do so. Rising up to his feet, he turned to go. Sure, it was way too cold out to really go disappear for a whole day as he usually did but honestly at this point it was better than dealing with apprentices or kits or other warriors. And yeah, he'd started it. Alder would admit that much. That didn't change the fact that every bone in his body was brimming with anger and some other kind of feeling that felt like anger but also not.
Oh no. Did it look like he was running from a fight? His steps faltered as uncertainty flickered through his pelt. That apprentice was probably having a good laugh about how she'd scared off a warrior or she was running off to gossip. Alderstep gritted his teeth in frustration. Nothing ever could be easy for him, apparently, but he couldn't just turn back now.
Satisfaction lit her pelt. Now she could walk away proud that she had done what she was already used to doing. She didnt care how strong her tongue was, this was what it was meant for. How weak could one be to be actually hurt by a tongue’s mere words. Though Alderstep seemed to have understood that as he hesitated to leave before looking at her. ”Since you seem soooo confident about yourself, why dont we go hunting? It will be a little practice too.” she said. The reality was, she didnt care if she won or lost. Most likely she would just walk away and head back to camp while he was too busy being so confident and acting like he could beat everyone just because he was older. ”Or you’re backing away?” she dropped the mouse that had been hooked on her claw. She rarely got to start a fight with a full grown warrior. This would be fun.
alderstep
he/him
thunderclan
russet tabby w/ white paws, green eyes
Ah. She's talking again. Tensed up, Alderstep swung around to face the apprentice head-on. She was beginning to give him a serious headache. And also seemed as if she were trying to bait him. Was this all a ploy? An attempt to get out of camp by annoying a warrior? Had this apprentice been lazing about specifically because she knew he would be bothered by it? Had he just fallen for a set-up? And there were many more questions like that, though they had flitted by too quickly to ever really be acknowledged. Alderstep flexed his paws, digging them down into the snow a bit. Hah. No. This was just some annoying, sassy, bothersome apprentice with a penchant for laziness.
Alderstep lashed his tail once before letting it rest. "Don't you wanna enjoy your time off?" he sneered. He wasn't about to play mentor with some stupid kit that acted just like Morningpaw. Maybe her disappearance had been good riddance given all the headaches she gave him, but at least she was manageable. Maybe. This apprentice was far from manageable. And it wasn't his job to take care of the bug anyway. His breath clouded and billowed in the cold air. Hm. Whatever. Stupid cat. He just wanted to disappear away from all of them.
And so, the warrior turned around with a shrug. Fine. What did it matter? No cat ever really talked to him anyways. Let him become some shameful piece of crowfood, see what happens. He barely even stuck around in camp, so what rumors would he catch? And maybe nobody wanted to talk to this bratty dormouse anyway. "Go back to the nursery where you belong!" he snarled over his shoulder as he stalked away towards the camp entrance. It's not like the snow was ever going to stop being cold. Might as well deal with it and face the consequences later.
A little chuckle escaped her jaws. This would be very fun indeed, though the light chuckle was hidden under a monotoned face as she glared at the other. There was a time when she would actually be scared of a warrior acting like Alderstep and would've really ran to the nursery. But she was better now. She was all... grown up now. A stupid and bossy warrior wasnt going to take her down so easily. In fact, she'd make it the opposite. "I wish I could, but I was told not to listen to those who didnt do anything themselves and expected them to work" she didnt hesitate to step closer to the warrior as a toothy smirk spread across her face
alderstep
he/him
thunderclan
russet tabby w/ white paws, green eyes
Wouldn't it be funny if he just...snapped? Was that what this apprentice wanted? Was that what everyone wanted? Did they all want to bother him? Oh, but that's just fine. Everything was fine. In the end, this was just an apprentice. The youth! And he was...older. Oh. Hah. Right. Someday he'd die and everyone would forget him (ah, yes. Liberation from pesky rats) and he'd be replaced by this random kit. Oh, that was hilarious. So nothing really did matter, did it? No, no, of course not. Why had Alderstep ever entertained that thought in the first place? Such a silly little cat. Of course, that wouldn't stop him from working just as hard as before, as usual.
Would it be easy to smack her? To use his claws and tear up everything that had ever made him... But wouldn't Sparrowstar be mad? Why was that a question? Of course she would be. Everything inside of Alderstep wanted to screech, to yell that he did his share of work, that he did what he had to do. Why was that so hard to understand? Why did everyone have to be so mad when he tried to get them to do the same, to do their part and help the clan? That was how life worked. Why did cats have to be so mad? Nobody likes to do a lot of work, yeah, but that's...just how it is. The less whining, the better. He'd learned that. Look how great it'd worked out!
The proximity of the apprentice made Alderstep's pelt prickle. As if ants were crawling in his fluffy fur, biting him. He twitched his whiskers, which was better than flinching away. Ah, but no. Warriors don't flinch, so of course Alderstep hadn't. "Oh yeah? And I was taught to do whatever could be done. So grow up, dormouse. Or just suffer. I don't care," he hissed back. Better than his original plan to say something...else. Yes, better. Mature. Wait. No. Probably not. But this cat had to get out of his pelt, and he sure as hell would do his best to get her away. Alderstep took his own steps away from the apprentice, but he already knew that she'd have something else to say.
A dormouse? Well she had to admit, that was way better than the fool he was acting like. Acting with his heart rather than his brain. ”Oh calm down, I thought you warriors could keep your temper? Behave using your brain rather than your emotions” her tail lashed. Her voice was silky and smooth, as if trying to lull the warrior with a nice insult that would get into his head. And surprise, surprise. She knows how to defend herself very well, whether its physical or emotional or with speech or with her mind. She can beat whoever she wants to beat, and so far Alderstep seems to not understand that yet. Poor him. He’d understand sooner or later
get up and work
