Meeting Your Hero [P]

[Fish]

Adderstrike
Determined ⋆ Loyal ⋆ Lawful Good ⋆ She/Her ⋆ Beefed Up T3
“One day I’ll be the greatest warrior of all the clans!”
@Neptune.

All the time that Adderstrike had been alive, she could remember one cat well above the others. Someone that she held dear to herself, without words she said these things to this cats. Now they were back again, back to talk to hear their voice back to be able to be with. It was only natural that at some point cats would drift apart but this would not be the fate for right now. Yet, how often did Adderstrike get to actually talk to this cat in particular... Honestly, how often did she even talk to others in the first place...?

A desire to change a pattern of behavior and to not lose someone close to her again, and this time by just not reaching out, Adderstrike made her way over to Larkstarwing. She rather eat crowfood than to have to accept that star wasn't in her name anymore.

Adderstrike bore gifts. She had a long snake in her jaws as she walked over to the older warrior before she sat down besides Larkstar. "Would you mind sharing this with me? I took on a bit too much than I could chew!" She giggled after having placed the snake down. Now thinking on it, did Larkstar even like snakes to eat? She knew some cats could be very picky on prey and snake seemed pretty far from the 'normal' to other cats. Adderstrike thought it was all silly though, it was food so eat it! Did it make her a hypocrit if she had a favorite food then—She was getting distracted by her own thoughts again, oh dear.

[Neptune.]

Larkwing
~<>~
24 moons || she/her || RiverClan Warrior || Kitty Softpaws, Mind Reader, Beefed Up T2
scarred, scrawny dilute tortoiseshell; green eyes

Isolation had become Lark’s friend in recent moons. Initially it wasn’t intentional, but after arriving back to camp and seeing how others looked at her and avoided her… and then learning of Rushwater’s disappearance, and then of Springburst’s, and then of Wingpaw’s… and then realizing suddenly upon making it to this new camp that Fishfreckle was nowhere to be seen… well, Lark hadn’t found it in herself to really approach anyone. Plus there was that dream of Bitterpaw… no. No she needed a distraction, she needed to do something productive so she wasn’t sitting here alone with her thoughts. Sitting with her thoughts would only make her more anxious, and the more anxious she was, the more the eyes would stare at her…

A distraction soon comes in the form of Adderpaw- er, Adderstrike, it would take a minute to get used to the new name, but it was well earned and suited the new warrior beautifully. Larkwing returns the smile offered to her, though she can’t help the paranoid thought that there might be some secret motive, she shakes her head to dismiss it. She shouldn’t be thinking like that. Not now.

”I’d love to share,” she smiles, voice a little subdued. Snake had never been her favorite, but food is food and RiverClan is in no position to be picky with their meals right now - even if Lark would prefer a nice chub or two. ”Have you been… well..?” She asks, trying to make conversation as they eat. Part of her expects the answer to be ‘no’, no one in RiverClan had been well for a good while, but maybe Adderstrike would surprise her.

[ @Fish ]

[Fish]

Adderstrike
Determined ⋆ Loyal ⋆ Lawful Good ⋆ She/Her ⋆ Beefed Up T3
“One day I’ll be the greatest warrior of all the clans!”
@Neptune.

Ulterior motives was something that didn't exist with Adderstrike. She was just to straight forward with such things. Nor did she expect anyone to ever think that she had them herself. All that she really could think right now was how happy she was that she was getting to sit with Larkstar and all her attention was on Adderstrike. Oh pinch her, she was dreaming. Idolization, what was that?

"Thanks, this was a little bit of a hassle to carry around and much more to kill." Adderstrike huffed as she sat down by Larkstar. Before she took a bite a question was allowed into the air. "Oh! Me? I've been quite alright if I do say so myself. I got to become a warrior!" She said as her eyes gleamed as brightly as the silverpelt, tail lashing with excitement. A lie she could not make. Adderstrike wanted to ask how Larkstar was doing but she could already tell how the other cat was feeling with merely a look. So she took a bite from the snake... Huh, it tasted much like birds. Was that because they ate bird, not wait then mice would taste of grass.

"Unless do you mean the whole moving to the mountains?" Adderstrike said as she tilted her head at Larkstar. Maybe that was what she meant. That needed a little bit of thinking if she was to be honest.

[Neptune.]

Larkwing
~<>~
24 moons || she/her || RiverClan Warrior || Kitty Softpaws, Mind Reader, Beefed Up T2
scarred, scrawny dilute tortoiseshell; green eyes

As the new warrior chats happily, Larkwing cannot help but smile. It's nice to see her so chipper despite circumstances. Lark used to be that way once, always eager to be in the thick of things, a smile on her face and some snarky comment or joke just hanging off the tip of her tongue. But life had changed her. Now she's skin and bone, now she holds her tongue and keeps her comments to herself, now she cannot find much to joke about anymore.

The weight of the world will do that to a cat, she supposes.

"I only meant in general," she answers with a shake of her head. She was curious, yes, but if Adderstrike didn't bring up their current situation on her own, then Lark would not press her for it. "I'm proud of you," the diluted tortoiseshell smiles, "you've done very well for yourself, I'm glad I got to see your ceremony." She would've loved to be the one to have named Adderstrike, but that was not how the cards had played out. Sometimes you just have to deal with the hand you've been dealt.

[ @Fish ]

[Fish]

Adderstrike
Determined ⋆ Loyal ⋆ Lawful Good ⋆ She/Her ⋆ Beefed Up T3
“One day I’ll be the greatest warrior of all the clans!”
@Neptune. prays adder doesnt break larks heart


A warm smile sat well on Adderstrike's face when she was complimented—And purring of course. Something she couldn't help when complimented. "I am glad you were there but I don't think that was a true naming ceremony..." She said as she looked around with true mischief in her green eyes. Then she spot her mark, A large rock! So she skipped over to it and waited under the rock, glancing over her shoulder with a lively grin and a happy sway to her tail.

"Would you be willing to finally give me my warrior name, Larkstar?" She did a little giggle. "Fading is fine n' all, but I always wanted to be made a warrior under you." Did Adderstrike really think about how this could be taken the wrong way? No. She just thought this would be a cute way for the both of them to bond after being apart from each other for such a long time. At least before she was going to talk about more heavy topics in her own mind. Eating could wait till this little ceremony was done.

[Neptune.]

Larkwing
~<>~
24 moons || she/her || RiverClan Warrior || Kitty Softpaws, Mind Reader, Beefed Up T2
scarred, scrawny dilute tortoiseshell; green eyes

While Adderstrike speaks, Lark feels her smile slowly starting to fade, the implications of the new warrior's words not lost on her, however unintentional they may have been. In fact, at the use of her old name, the name that should never have been hers to begin with, RiverClan's former leader feels her mental walls going up, and roots sprout from her feet to keep her in place. It's an entirely involuntary reaction, she couldn't have stopped it if she tried.

"That isn't my name," she mutters, all too aware of how she'd soured the mood, but she couldn't let Adderstrike continue on calling her that. She couldn't be caught doing something that might undermine Fadingstar's leadership in any way. Her footing back in her clan was already rocky at best, she wasn't going to do something to sabotage that, no matter how trivial. "It wasn't mine to bear in the first place - I should never have let the Clan call me that." Glancing down to her paws, Larkwing finds she cannot meet the Adderstrike's gaze, her eyes look too much like the ones boring into her at the corners of her vision.

"I'm sorry, Adderstrike, but I can't," green gaze looks up to meet green gaze, struggling not to look away again even as the eyes blink open in the clouds behind the tabby warrior. "I won't undermine Fadingstar and do this for you... I can't." She'd heard talk about what happened with Fogmuzzle, and her paranoia did not help her nervousness about keeping good standing lest a similar situation befall her.

[ @Fish ]

[Fish]

Adderstrike
Determined ⋆ Loyal ⋆ Lawful Good ⋆ She/Her ⋆ Beefed Up T3
“One day I’ll be the greatest warrior of all the clans!”
@Neptune.

All the winds in her sails got taken out simply by a few words. It would have been kinder if Larkstar just kicked her in the gut as hard as she could instead. With that being said, Adderstrike kept a soft smile on her face and sat down besides Larkstar. "Listen Lark you might be taking this a little bit... Well I don't know a softer way to say it so excuse me, but.. Too seriously." Adderstrike wasn't really sure what one could even say to make this be a softer blow than it might have been to the other shecat. She then laid on her back showing her belly to Larkstar as she slowly kicked at the air. "I was wanting to joke around with this, its nothing official or anything like that. Unless you think Fadingstar is THAT much of a stick in the mud that joke mock ceremonies are not allowed. Kits would be devastated for sure."

With that she flipped back over before giving her hero a little head bump on the shoulder. "Besides, it was your right to get the star to your name. You didn't kill anyone to get this name, and you were a deputy and the leader left their position. Thems how the rules go. So by all rights cats should have called you by the star name, despite how you might feel you did the job of the leader." She wasn't sure how good of a pick me up this would be but clearly Larkstar was hurting too much to want to joke around. Adderstrike would make it her duty as a friend to bring back joy into Larkstar's heart. A duty she would do until the stars burned out. Larkstar could not get rid of Adderstrike easily!

[Neptune.]

Larkwing
~<>~
24 moons || she/her || RiverClan Warrior || Kitty Softpaws, Mind Reader, Beefed Up T2
scarred, scrawny dilute tortoiseshell; green eyes

"Isn't this different, though?" Larkwing asks, shifting from paw to paw, ear flicking nervously as she glanced around to check there was no one listening. It might be a mock ceremony, something kits might do for fun - something she herself had done for a laugh as a kit - but there were... implications that maybe Adderstike didn't notice there. The play ceremonies had never been done by a cat who used to actually be the clan's leader, and call her paranoid, but Lark didn't have a very good feeling about this.

Still... this was Adderstrike, and Lark would be lying if she were to say she didn't regret not being the one to give her her name, so... perhaps it would be fine? It'll be okay, not everything she does comes with the risk of death... She would be ok. There would be no random lightning strikes bringing her down, no eagles deciding she looks delicious. Taking a deep breath, she calms her nerves and opens her eyes once more, still nervous, but determined to push through to make Adder happy.

"Alright then, Adderpaw," she says, willing the shake out of her voice and trying for a smile as she gets to her paws, wandering over to the little rock and stepping atop it. "It is my honor as a warrior of RiverClan to give you your warrior name. You have trained long and hard to learn the ways of an excellent RiverClan warrior, to learn the code, and to learn who you are. Do you promise to protect this clan with everything you have, even at the cost of your own life?" Perhaps the speech was a little more solemn than usual, but this was a private 'ceremony' so it was allowed to be.

[ @Fish ]