RiverClan Apprentices' Den

[Ziera]

// @RainbowyUnknown

Brightpaw shouldered his way into the apprentice’s den, ears flat and eyes down. Shame crawled under his pelt like a living creature. I should have told him, he thought, thinking back to Creekflow’s easy smile and friendly eyes. His mentor didn’t know that Bright had broken the rules just before becoming apprenticed; Creek didn’t know that Brightpaw might not deserve his suffix. A lot of other kits got held back for the same kind of stuff he did...even Goslingpaw had to wait, though admittedly, that was a much different situation.

Bright weaved through the nests, relying more on his sense of smell than his eyes (which he was too downtrodden to lift.) He just wanted to tell someone. He wanted to tell Frostpaw, one of his best friends in the entire clan. Maybe she would have some advice for him! Or—or, well. Something.

“Frostpaw…are you here? I, uh. Could we talk, maybe?”

[Inconsistency]

Lifting her head she blinked a few times. She got up as she heard him. Sure. Is something wrong? She asked she could feel waves of hot shame roll over her. She could tell he wasn’t
happy about something. She licked her paw then ‘looked’ up again. What would upset him? He was so excited and well.. Cheerful? Playful? All the time. But being an apprentice was stressful. She had dropped herbs into a stream and made
them wash away. She can’t fish. Or hunt to good. She barely got trained at all anymore come to think of it. So she understood somewhat. But then again she didn’t understand until he told her. So she should pay attention. She almost looked straight at him turning her head to face him. It was easy to know
where he was. And he smelled like the forest so he must have been out. Her cloudy eyes flicked to the entrance then back. And she got into a sitting position.
Smiling warmly she twitched her ears showing him to speak.

- @Redtalon. -

[Ziera]

// @RainbowyUnknown

Frostpaw's kind question intensified Bright's need to just tell someone about this. The words bundled up in his throat, expanding till they threatened to spill out of his mouth to alleviate the pressure. Brightpaw shuffled a little. Yeah, she asked if something was wrong, but she also knew something was wrong. Bright could tell in the way her ears perked up, always so attentive if it meant helping. Frostpaw's really something, isn't she?

"No. I mean, well, yeah, kind of... I just..." The black-furred tom struggled with his words like a thundercat in water, but he didn't want to give up. It would feel good just to say it. Sucking in a big breath of air and courage, Brightpaw's blue eyes met Frost's milky ones. What came out of his mouth was a rambling mess of syllables that were anything but thought out well; he only stopped speaking to draw in another gulp of air his lungs begged for. "I broke the rules when I was a kit, okay? And I shouldn't be an apprentice right now, but my mentor is so nice, and after training today I had to pretend I never saw the territory before, but I have and I lied about it and I'm just feeling awful about the whole thing, and maybe I should just turn myself in right now!!"

Brightpaw stumbled into Frost's nest with a huff of exertion. He buried his nose in the soft moss, trying not to look at her, hoping he wouldn't have to see disappointment.

[Inconsistency]

Her eyes flicked to the ground where he'd buried himself. She put her tail on his back. You know? I'm sure your mentor broke the rules to! I'm sure everyone has. Even Lionstar. And you became an apprentice because Lionstar trusted you. He believes in you to learn. If you turn yourself in. The things you wished to do are wasted. She said softly I dropped herbs into a stream. I wasn't punished because I learned that I should have payed more attention. She added. Was that the right thing to say? Or did I make it worse? She asked herself. Her eyes stared off into the distance. Waiting for his response. He hadn't done anything to wrong. And if he broke a rule or two every cat has. I don't want him to feel bad. But I also want him to learn. He'll understand what she was saying right? She didn't know the feeling. Because she spent her days in the nursery doubting her ability's. But she did probably break a rule trying to train Brightpaw. So she learned. And they can train each other whenever once their older! Right? She could understand the feeling of shame though. She felt shameful for her blindness that she would spend each moon. Not trying anything really. But then she met Brightpaw and that helped her realize her blindness was actually cool. And it made her different from the others like how Brightpaw's enthusiasm made him different. And now she had an awesome friend! And that was nice.

- @Redtalon -

[Puddle~]

@Estelle

Bright yellow eyes blinking open, Baypaw rolled out of their nest, coming face to face with another apprentice, one who they'd never quite talked to before. "Oh! Hello, Primrosepaw!" Wait, she was blind wasn't she? Given that they'd never talked before, the fluffy feline wasn't sure if Primrosepaw would be able to tell who was speaking to her. Just in case, they decided to tack on their name as well. "Oh, uh, this is Baypaw by the way. Sooo... what are you up to today? I just woke up from a nap! Okay, that probably doesn't sound very cool now that I think about it, but I did have a really really really awesome dream! Have you had any good dreams or anything lately?" It didn't matter that they hardly knew each other, Baypaw always strived to treat everyone like a good old friend, even if they'd never talked before. But what they didn't quite realize was how much they were probably bombarding the poor molly with all these questions out of the blue. They simply liked talking so much that sometimes they forgot about how much they blabbered on.

[Estelle]

Apparently this was her new nest, and her new little corner. Her new supposed to be safe place. Her new go-to. It still was strange, the apprentice den was much less comfortable than the nursery and some of the others that slept within the same den weren't so nice. No no no. But Primrosepaw didn't pay much attention to it- not right now at least. She was very occupied with a work of precision that she couldn't quite see. Practically laying in her soft nest (that wasn't as soft as her nest in the nursery), the tiny apprentice was moving something around with her paws: she was decorating her nest with feathers and flowers and plants.. All sorts of pretty and soft things of which some, in her mind, served as homes to even smaller creatures.
She was busy placing one of the feather's she'd stepped upon earlier that day, when an unfamiliar voice rang up. the white calico lifted her head, turning towards the sound and sitting up. She caught most of the meaning of their words... Like name, dream, nap, ... And some others. In other word, she somewhat understood what the other apprentice said! As they finished, the youngling couldn't help but giggle in amusement. She nodded her head as to answer their question, and then shuffled her paws around the feathers and plants within her nest to show what she had done, silently asking and hoping they'd like it. But! She was also curious about that dream! Primrosepaw liked dreams, she liked them a lot, so after having waited a moment for them to take notice of her wonderful decorations, she somewhat turned back to the voice called Baypaw and tilted her head, curiously squeaking "Dweam?" as to ask what his dream had been.

[ @Puddle~ ]

[Puddle~]

@Estelle

Hm... they weren't quite sure why Primrosepaw had giggled. Perhaps she had found their rapid-fire questions or silly babbling to be amusing. Whatever the case, it made Baypaw giggle a little as well. It seemed laughter really was contagious. Now, following the other apprentice's gestures towards her nest, daffodil yellow eyes glanced over the neat little display of plants and feathers. "Woah! That looks awesome! Where'd you get all that stuff? You must be super duper good at finding things!" Maybe they ought to go out and find decorations for their nest sometime. Spruce things up a bit. After all, who liked a boring old moss nest? Why not toss a little bit of pizzazz into the mix? Perhaps they'd try and find some nice shiny pebbles or something later today. But that was besides the point. Their attention was caught once more when Primrosepaw finally said something, "Dweam", which they assumed meant she wanted them to explain what sort of dream they'd had.

"Ok so, what happened in my dream was... at first, it was just a normal day. My mentor took me out to fish at the Cattail Pond, but the entire clan also came along for some reason? I'm not sure why, but anyways, we were fishing normally, but then, I caught a gigantic fish. When I say gigantic, I mean it! It was like ginormous! The size of fifty cats! I've got no idea how a fish that big even fit in the pond. But when I tried to pull it out of the water, it literally turned into more water, and the pond became super big, but still shallow enough for even the kits to stand in somehow. So the entire clan just ended up having an awesome splishy splashy swimming day in the water!"

They finished off with a great big smile. Now they were curious to see what Primrosepaw's latest dream had been about. "How about you? What was your dream like?"

[Ziera]

// @TheShadowAnimal

Brightpaw stuffed his nose into the moss. While his body language spoke of despondence, his ears flicked toward the sound of Frostpaw's voice; he traitorously hung on to each comforting word. Creekflow couldn't have broken any rules. Bright's new mentor exuded easy confidence, like he'd never had a problem in his life, like doubts never bothered to come knocking. Why would a cat like that have need of bending rules? Or Ignoring them? Still. Maybe... maybe Frost was right about Lion.

Stormtalon never spoke one word against their former leader, but Brightpaw knew he had opinions, some of which bordered on distrust. The younger tom never understood why. Lionstorm, when he had been Lionstar, always seemed to lead with fairness and strength. But... maybe there was stuff Storm knew that Brightpaw didn't. That, or his brother was judging before he knew all the facts, which wouldn't be too off par for him, actually.

Frostpaw's mentioning of Lion stuck in his head, though. Had their former leader really believed in him? Is that why, instead of punishing Brightpaw for leaving camp, he granted apprenticeship? Maybe it was true. Maybe. Feeling a bit less awful, Bright turned his attention on Frostpaw's own personal story. The fluffy black tom lifted his head to peer at her with wide, searching eyes, ones that reflected the sky on a clear evening. "The herbs... that was just an accident," he said. Breaking the rules? Leaving camp? That had been an informed choice for Brightpaw. Not only did he disregard Lionstar's rules and trust with that choice, but Stormtalon's, as well. Starclan... he was hopeless.

"D'ya think... I should tell Creekflow, Frost?" The question slipped out before he could really think about it. Thankfully, the comfort of her proximity subdued most of Brightpaw's panic. Her words helped, too... but it was the closeness he felt most. "I just. Don't want to disappoint him."

[Inconsistency]

After the news of Stormtalon becoming her mentor she knew how it felt somewhat. The herbs.. Well it was an accident but she should have heard the stream. Felt it. Smelt it? She wondered on that note. She wanted to show Stormtalon that she deserved to be friends with Brightpaw! Tell his mentor? That might be the right thing to do but the right thing to do would also to learn from it. He wanted to not disappoint him. She could see how any apprentice wouldn’t want to hurt, disappoint, or, anger their mentor. Creekflow sounded like a good cat from what Brightpaw had said. His choice to break the rules had been an honest mistake and she didn’t want him in trouble maybe he should tell him a way he could tell his mentor? The best way she could think of was probably a sinister apology explaining and a few words like ‘I’m really sorry, it’s ok if you punish me’ but she didn’t want him to be punished why did she have to think so hard into this! She had overcome a lot threw her life but she couldn’t even think of how to tell her best friend how to deal with a problem? He said he snuck out. Had he gone hunting personally she had never snuck out thinking it was plenty dangerous her mother told her that owls came around and would snatch her up and she wouldn’t know because she was blind and a kit. Finally after the long pause she spoke finding hopefully the right words. If you told them what would be the point though? Do you plan to break the rules again? Only cats who think to deserve punishment. The curiosity overcame you. It happened to many kits but they learned as I said before every cat makes mistakes that what makes us special the herbs were an accident I wanted to impress my mentor I wanted to be the best! But I can’t fish. I dropped herbs into that stream when I should have heard it. She meowed softly. Creekflow must have made one mistake or you know what I think? Their boring no cat could be a different cat without mistakes without mistakes what if I was named Brightpaw? Or Creekflow what if you were named Creekflow too? No one would have an interesting life! She added.
- @Redtalon. -

[-Ash-]

Ebonypaw laid down in his nest in the apprentices' den. His long tail curled over his nose, and his thick black pelt kept him warm in the chilly breeze. His bright blue eyes scanned the area. @Sklee