WindClan: Life Before 2023's Fire

[Puddle~]

@gs29513

Ooh? An apprentice?! Great! Puddlesplash had been wondering when he’d get the chance to train one. Looks like that time had finally come. First, scooting out of the way to give Seedpaw some room, the russet and black tom settled back down in front of Deadpaw once he was out of the way. Now for introductions. He’d gone through three different mentors as an apprentice, so surely he’d heard the whole little introduction spiel enough times that he could repeat it without a problem. ”Hey there, Deadpaw! Nice to meet you.” A smile formed on his face, trying to put the new apprentice at ease. She seemed a little... hesitant to speak to him. “No need to be nervous. I promise I won’t judge!” He paused for a few heartbeats, giving her a chance to say something else if she wanted. “How would you like to head out and start training right after this meeting? We can do battle or hunting or whatever you want!”

[marshy]

Sparrowskip jumped when Snailswirl addressed him. "Oh uh sorry, we're just passing through. I think.." Was he passing through or was he going the complete wrong direction? Who knows.. Sparrowskip figured he'd just ask the Windclanner if they knew where this Starcave place was. "Do you know where a place called Starcave is? Me and Snakepaw are the new RiverClan medicine cats and we're suppose to be there for this medicine cat meetup but I have no idea where we're going. Do you have any idea where it might be?" @Rani @elysian

[Rani]

Snakepaw, on edge as he was had seen the other cat approach but not kicked up a fuss. For a presumably windclan cat this golden white other seemed awfully familiar.... The scent too Snakepaw was sure he'd smelled something like it in the medicine cats den when they first moved in. So while he partially moved to cover the much more even tempered Sparrowskip he was calm and responded to the question at roughly the same time as his mentor, words slightly overlapping. "As is obvious, we're lost." but fell silent to let the older tom explain fully.
@:Grimmlin: @elysian

[Shade.]

@Siren Bliss
@Cobra

Hedgekit nodded and was about to agree but saw no point in doing so as Antlerkit out-talked her, nudged her and began stuffing herself. The dark calico silently bent down and took big but slow bites from the prey, chewing calmly.

[Estelle]

Hailpaw calmly kept on watching the rest of the meeting, unable to keep herself from giggling a little at Lionpaw's excitement. She surely seemed like a pawful.. But not necessarily with bad intentions, the apprentice presumed. Hopefully she'd stay quiet in the morning though, or Hailpaw might have a fit. The silver molly glanced at the other newly made apprentices, then flickered her ear as a certain Seedpaw was called up. She glanced at her too for a short moment, trying to see who it exactly was again. The other was probably getting her warrior ceremony, which was good. Hailpaw herself was getting close actually, she'd soon be able to join her brother but.. Had she done enough?

[dionysus]

[ @Arie ]

Rushingmoor snorted and plopped down beside the apprentice, nudging him lightly in a subtle show of affection. He had no idea who Meltingfly was and had to sift through the cats receiving apprentices to try to compare names. Losing interest in that task, Rushingmoor glanced over at the younger Tom beside him, gauging his appearance and noticing he seemed a bit taller. For some reason this realization shot a string of nerves through his heart. Growth meant change but Rushingmoor liked everything the way it was- he didn’t want anything to change!

“Speaking of apprentices, you look like you’re getting bigger, Stag. Won’t be long before you’re Stagbeetle or Stagcliffjumper.”

[pidgeon]

@Bread

"They're coming!" Coyotepaw howled in fear as she started running back in the direction of camp. She was gonna get eaten for sure!! She had to be fast. But as she was running, she ran smack into one isolated bird that had strayed away from the flock. Letting out a scared yowl as the creature hissed at her, (hissed! like a cat! What in the Stars??) she realized there was only one option. Fight for her life.

She threw herself at the bird with claws unsheathed, yowling as it bit and pecked at her. It had such a long, skinny neck...a weak spot! Perfect. Now she just had to get to it. The bird battered her with its wings, making her squeak in pain, but she perservered and kept on the offensive. She didn't know any real fighting moves, so she was mostly just wing-ing it. Using only her instincts, she launched herself head first at the goose and clamped her jaws around its narrow throat. It thrashed and beat at her with sharp feet and wings, scuffing up the apprentice pretty rough, but Coyotepaw wouldn't let go. She was gonna save Snailspark from this thing! Eventually, it stopped struggling and fell limp.

"I did it! I did it! I saved the day!" She yowled triumphantly, mouth still full of feathers. She grabbed the now-dead bird by it's long neck and started running, moreso limping, again. It was bigger than she was, but she wasn't about to leave her catch behind. This could feed all the queens in the nursery! "Okay, now let's get out of here!"

[pidgeon]

Originally Posted by Rainquail

Beepaw nodded and climbed atop Weaselskip's back, being careful not to scratch up her back, but when she wobbled, her little claws went out to grip the Warrior's back.
"Sorry," she whispered, trying once again to stand.
Hey, she had been right.... it wasn't so bad from up here.
She settled into a spot comfortably, hoping a sudden jerk wouldn't end up with Weaselskip's back being hurt.
Oh, a bug contest?
"Sure. Maybe I'll get used to the rocks after a while....."


@punkscape

@Arie

"You mean we don't flip them over?" Coyotepaw asked quizzically. But that was what she'd always done! Were there...even better ways to look for bugs?? She supposed that not turning the rocks over would make collecting cobwebs easier. And she guessed that they should be helping their clan by doing that. So...she'd play along.

"Okay, I'll look real carefully then," she nodded affirmingly to Weaselskip, turning her attention to the rocks to look in all the cracks. It wasn't long before she'd found a pawfull of cobwebs, but no big bugs yet. Just little ones that she wasn't really interested in. But then...

Something moved! "I found something! I found something!" She yowled, bouncing up and down. It looked like the tail of some creature she'd never seen before. Without thinking, she leaned down and grabbed the tail in her jaws, and yanked out the biggest snake she'd ever seen! Which wasn't saying much, as she'd never really seen a snake before, but it looked huge!
"Snake! Snake!" She barked, stomping on it repeatedly with her big paws, until...it stopped moving! "I...think I got it?"

[vellichor]

// open

Bushpaw
________

The dark brown cat had been sitting in the shadows of the apprentices' den. Pale yellow eyes were focused on Twilightstar and Twilightstar only, waiting expectantly for his name. His mentor. The cat who could potentially become like family to him, or another lazy ass to up and leave because they didn't like him. Who knew?

And yet... he didn't even hear his name. His attentive posture was slipping as fear and loneliness took hold. Had Twilightstar forgotten him? Was he doomed to just exist in the Clan, nowhere to go? He knew he barely survived on his own before. This was just... a slap in the face.

Ouch.

[plum]

Eldersky nods to what her companion was saying. A pleasant smile still on her lips, she sighs a little sigh. "Yeaaah," the she-cat mews.
"I feel that! But you must be doing great, since Twilightstar hasn't stepped in. I admire you!"
Saying this, the soft gray tabby truly beams at Yewbark. What she said was no lie or stretch of truth, she genuinely admired her denmate's maturity over her own. Maybe they didn't know one another so well- Eldersky probably made a few incorrect assumptions by now- But, the emotion was there. Her grin recedes into a gentle smile, though, and she relaxes to listen to the rest of the meeting.

"We're not all deputies, though," she whispers. "She needs to appoint one! We can't all know what to do- I sure don't."
She'd said what she felt like saying on the matter, and it seemed like Twilightstar was satisfied with the scolding as well. Because they'd moved on to some kits who were ready to become apprentices. Eldersky watches them happily, her tail tip twitching about. She liked kits. As an apprentice, she liked to play with them when she had the chance to. And even now, the tabby felt inclined to share the same take. It wasn't that she wanted her own- Heeeeeell no. That was out of the question! But the lil fuzzbuckets were great in every other way. A little smile rests on her face as she watches them proudly receive their names. How cute.

And then she hears hers.

Twilightstar was addressing her. Speaking to her. Giving one of the new apprentices to HER. Eldersky stares blankly at their leader, then slowly drops her gaze to Lionpaw. "I gotta go," the tabby utters to Yewbark as she stands slowly and pads over to say hello to her very own new apprentice, almost dazed.
As she steps up to Lionpaw, she feels the happiness course through her veins like blood. Her eyes had become round, almost starry as she regards the little feisty thing before her, shouting about becoming deputy, becoming a warrior in a single moon. She was perfect. So perfect! "AAaaaAAaAAh."
Eldersky hadn't meant to say that, in her head she'd actually said "Hello, Lionpaw," but things often never go perfectly.

"AAaAAh Lionpaw!" There! She got the name! Grinning happily, and purring about as loud as possible for a cat, maybe, she dips her head and touches noses with the new apprentice.
"Thanks, Twilightstar!" The warrior manages to squeak out before nudging Lionpaw to move. "C'mon! I have to show you to my friend!" Hopefully Yewbark would like her!
[ @wnder, @Mumble, @Moonraven ]