this is why.

[hades.]

Originally Posted by starry

Palepaw - ShadowClan Apprentice

Yes!! A tiny sparkle of glee was evident in the calico's eyes when Yellowpaw finally gave in. Now it was time for the "grand reveal". She kept her maw shut and listened intently as her denmate spoke. She certainly wasn't missing out on any of these details!! The start of his tale was just annoying and showed his grumpiness, but then it got more interesting. Something to do with ThunderClan. Her ears pricked and she curiously tipped her head. Her views of ThunderClan were pretty basic - they were annoying squirrels sometimes but she didn't have much to do with them. So Yellowpaw had a conversation with Fallingpaw, then ran into his mentor, Silverlark and Vulturefang...

Ooh, Yellow did not like Vulturefang too much either! They were now two with that opinion. Of course she would not make that obvious, she didn't want to get in trouble with Vulture, or heck, even the grand queen of them all. Dawnstar. Sometimes the large leader was scary. Yellowpaw's former mentor had been called Drippingpelt... Palepaw had no idea who that was, but she would continue to pay attention nonetheless. If Yellow, out of all cats, found someone awesome that meant something. She briefly wondered why Yellowpaw looked away for a second but then dismissed the thought. That was not important.

Hm, they'd went to battle with ThunderClan? That was exciting. Palepaw nodded along, her attention span suddenly much longer than usual. "The reward is a dead opponent" made her shudder slightly, but that was a normal Yellowpaw thing she supposed... Now the exciting part of the story was coming! There was this kit like cat who couldn't handle Wildtwist, and Drippingpelt protected them. Yellowpaw's former mentor was injured and Chubkit could not help soon enough... then Elmshadow refused to help as well... Oh gosh.

Palepaw stared at the tall tom with wide aquamarine eyes. That was... bad. Really bad. She couldn't imagine how Yellow must feel. The betrayal, the guilt, and everything. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. For some reason, she suddenly felt the need to keep her voice low. "Actually.. you probably don't want my pity... Did Drippingpelt... um... die?" Okay, that was bad. Very very bad. Why had she even asked that?! Too late to take back the words now..

[ @hades. ]

Well, she listened. Yellowpaw'd give her that. The response, however, was kind of- no, very stupid. t took willpower not to bat at Palepaw due to the pure idiocy in that statement. Did she even know who he was? "You're right, I don't want your pity, stupid." He rolled his eyes. At least she cared about it, unlike the cats who would brush it off as attention-hogging.

"Well, GEE, I wonder if she died. I just can't figure out if my own former mentor died. I WONDER." Yellowpaw made a stupid face and looked Palepaw directly in the eyes. That sentence further fitted 'stupid.' Unending stupid. She couldn't say anything more stupid.

"Yes, idiot, she's dead. I've literally seen her in a dream. I don't really know what she's doing now, though. Now I have to put up with Vulturedropping." Not for much longer, though. He was pretty far in his training. Pretty sure all that was left was the assessment. Thank starclan.

So, now what to do. Anything he did was probably be interrupted by Palepaw saying something. Maybe he'd just go back to camp. Eh, what's the point in that? He came out to hunt.

[starry]

. Palepaw .
mostly white gray and cream calico she-cat with short fur and blue eyes
she/her . shadowclan apprentice . 7 moons

---

Of course he didn’t want her pity, that’s why she mentioned that! Palepaw rolled her eyes. He did not have to call her stupid immediately, she was just trying to be nice and understanding. Why was his shell so damn hard to crack? She’d managed to get his “secret” out of him but he was still being as grumpy as ever. Was the topic so painful for him that he couldn’t drop his annoying attitude? She eyed him carefully, aquamarine hues trying to meet his pale yellow ones. Maybe then, she would be able to detect some kind of hurt, some kind of sign that he was sad and that was the reason for his madness.

What was that supposed to mean?! She didn’t ask because he couldn’t figure out if his mentor died, she asked because she wanted to know. Palepaw furrowed her brows at him and her tail twitched in an exasperated way. Was it so hard to just be nice and understanding with other cats? Explain his story in a calm way, and maybe he would actually get help? “I know you know if she died, I wanted to ask because I don’t,” she murmured under her breath. Once the words left her mouth she realized he was probably only saying such things to mock her. Make her feel even more stupid, because she was an idiot... Maybe he was just putting her in her place? Damn it, she was messing everything up! Her eyes were wide as she stared at the tom in front of her. Suddenly the thoughts came back, the fact that she was incompetent, she was super stupid for following him, she’d always be an idiot to everyone except maybe Batflight...

Vulturefang’s nickname made her chuckle a little. Palepaw didn’t quite like him either so she understood. Poor Yellowpaw, he had that cat as a mentor! She supposed she could try to lighten the mood a little by joking about their patrol... If she recalled correctly, Yellow had been on it as well. “Remember that hunting patrol we did? Vulture..fang..dropping left me on my own, while I didn’t know how to hunt, even though I asked him! Good luck with him as your mentor,” she mewed with a flick of her tail. Hopefully that wouldn’t make Yellowpaw even more aggresive. Maybe asking him why he’d come here in the first place would also help put the sour mood past them? “So... why did you come here anyways? Just to clear your head or did you have a plan?”

---

[ @hades. ]

[hades.]

Originally Posted by starry

. Palepaw .
mostly white gray and cream calico she-cat with short fur and blue eyes
she/her . shadowclan apprentice . 7 moons

---

Of course he didn’t want her pity, that’s why she mentioned that! Palepaw rolled her eyes. He did not have to call her stupid immediately, she was just trying to be nice and understanding. Why was his shell so damn hard to crack? She’d managed to get his “secret” out of him but he was still being as grumpy as ever. Was the topic so painful for him that he couldn’t drop his annoying attitude? She eyed him carefully, aquamarine hues trying to meet his pale yellow ones. Maybe then, she would be able to detect some kind of hurt, some kind of sign that he was sad and that was the reason for his madness.

What was that supposed to mean?! She didn’t ask because he couldn’t figure out if his mentor died, she asked because she wanted to know. Palepaw furrowed her brows at him and her tail twitched in an exasperated way. Was it so hard to just be nice and understanding with other cats? Explain his story in a calm way, and maybe he would actually get help? “I know you know if she died, I wanted to ask because I don’t,” she murmured under her breath. Once the words left her mouth she realized he was probably only saying such things to mock her. Make her feel even more stupid, because she was an idiot... Maybe he was just putting her in her place? Damn it, she was messing everything up! Her eyes were wide as she stared at the tom in front of her. Suddenly the thoughts came back, the fact that she was incompetent, she was super stupid for following him, she’d always be an idiot to everyone except maybe Batflight...

Vulturefang’s nickname made her chuckle a little. Palepaw didn’t quite like him either so she understood. Poor Yellowpaw, he had that cat as a mentor! She supposed she could try to lighten the mood a little by joking about their patrol... If she recalled correctly, Yellow had been on it as well. “Remember that hunting patrol we did? Vulture..fang..dropping left me on my own, while I didn’t know how to hunt, even though I asked him! Good luck with him as your mentor,” she mewed with a flick of her tail. Hopefully that wouldn’t make Yellowpaw even more aggresive. Maybe asking him why he’d come here in the first place would also help put the sour mood past them? “So... why did you come here anyways? Just to clear your head or did you have a plan?”

---

[ @hades. ]

Yellowpaw stared at Palepaw with a blank mask as she eyed the sleek tom. He wasn't sure about reacting with aggression or not, but he decided she hadn't pissed him off by looking at him. Beneath the sheet of nothing, A spark had been lit. His anger towards Thunderclan was renewed and enhanced. The spark had never died, but over time without telling the tale, to himself or another, it had faded.

Palepaw seemed to be pretty annoyed. This wasn't a reasonable response to him, but it was a hint that she actually could be annoyed. Maybe this would lead to her realizing how annoying she was to Yellowpaw.

Nobody was supposed to know the whole story. No one except the reincarnation of Drippingpelt, if she existed. Only one other cat knew the story and they were pretty much a squirrel with no ability to talk for themself and do anything correctly. That was everyone who knew except for Palepaw, who would hopefully forget.

How did Palepaw not process that Dripping was dead? :catface: would definitely be part of this post if it wasn't for Yellowpaw's roleplayer. "How "does 'too late' not signify that Drippingpelt died, by the way? Were you listening?" He questioned.

What was Palepaw chuckling about? Yellowpaw didn't actually care, but he was a bit curious. Not curious enough to ask, though.

"Oh yeah, that patrol. Worst one in my life." He hoped she could figure out all the reasons why. "Oh my god, though, Vulturedropping is the worst." Yellowpaw was slightly annoyed by the shift of mood in the conversation, but also it was an opportunity to rant.

"I'm incredibly lucky I wasn't really taught by him that much. I might not have made it otherwise. He's a freaking torture device." He meowed. He was speaking his mind and nothing else. Which essentially meant bias galore.

Why he left the apprentice den... he resisted a shudder. The last part was sadistic; suffocating was the worst fate to befall someone. Not even thunder- no, thunderclan still deserved it actually, but that meant it was worse than the worst. Trapped in wait for death, surrounded on all sides by heavy substances, and the worst part was not being able to fight back.

"Couldn't sleep. I'm going back now," he answered simply, turning back.