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pricklepaw
ShadowClan
Posts: 6
Rank: apprentice
Age: 11
Gender: tom
Mate: mudpaw
Crush: mudpaw
Played By: crescendo
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Post by pricklepaw on Jun 28, 2015 22:21:26 GMT -5
pricklepaw
i got soul but i'm not a soldier - you know you gotta help me out !
Pricklepaw was out hunting--which was maybe not what a cat expected a young apprentice who had just lost his mentor to be out doing. Maybe there ought to have been something, a time for grieving or sitting close to the tomcat's side, but the unbearable atmosphere at camp had driven him out of it. Had the young cat's paws prickling and itching to do just about anything but sit around like a useless lump of fur all day. Yeah, there were exceptions and it wasn't like prey was hard to find on a nice day like this, but he hated it. He hated having to look other cats in the eyes when they stared at him with a sort of sympathy that just made his pelt itch with a feeling of heavy guilt.
Because, if Pricklepaw was going to be honest, he wasn't all that sad that his mentor had died.
You really are awful you know that? Pricklepaw thought with a crawling wave of despair. He tried to push it aside, but the thoughts rose unhindered. As if his mental swipe at them was about as effective as eating cobwebs for a headache might be. Every cat is pitying you, you lost your mentor, and how are you reacting? You're relieved. How selfish of you.
Pricklepaw paused briefly, ears angling and mouth dropping open to try and pick out the sound or scent of prey in the forest around him. Sharp pine-scent practically clung to his mouth, but he'd been growing up in ShadowClan all his life. If he wasn't used to it by now then he'd be an utterly hopeless case. Pricklepaw didn't really feel like he was the strongest apprentice (despite the constant battle training he'd been put through) but he was a good hunter.
You couldn't impress him, his thoughts pressed on as he dropped into a hunter's crouch and inched forward. There was a blackbird pecking at the grasses just a little bit away, and he tried to shut the thoughts out. Focus on the task at hand, for StarClan's sake. You were never good enough for him, and now you're happy to be out of his shadow.
The apprentice sprang and knew already that he was going to be short. The bird took off a tail-length in front of him, and he spat with irritation, "Mouse-brain!"
"Great, I lost it," the apprentice winced as the bird let out a loud alarm call--warning anything with ears that there was a predator out and about. He glared balefully up at the retreating tail feathers, feeling personally attacked and spited by the stupid bird. Even though he knew the thing couldn't understand him, he raised his voice in an annoyed yowl, "Oh shut up already!"
By then the bird had already made its retreat, and he was left breathing heavily and feeling a sharp stab of failure in his chest. Lost his mentor and the ability to do anything decent for his Clan all in one day. Great StarClan, maybe he was more miserable about this whole thing than he thought. For all the wrong reasons though. The black tom thought with a shudder, pressing his black nose into his chest fur and closing his eyes tight. He just needed a minute, just a little minute and he'd pull himself together. No need to bother anyone about this. I probably deserve to be alone anyway right now, if not sitting next to my mentor like a good apprentice. Ugh.
notes: yay first post woop c:
wc: 584
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cherrystorm
ShadowClan
Posts: 5
Rank: warrior
Age: 36 moons
Gender: demiboy
Mate: spiderstep
Played By: pumpkin
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Post by cherrystorm on Jun 28, 2015 23:56:18 GMT -5
it had been kindly suggested to cherrystorm that he was perhaps getting slightly stir crazy. a case of nursery fever, as it were. cherrystorm had responded that the other cat was truly, truly outrageous as he rearranged his nest for the third time that day. of course, later, as his kits frolicked among the camp, he reflected that it was maybe a little bit true. just a little, because there was no way he could be afflicted by a curse with a stupid name like nursery fever.
he was loathe to leave his kits alone for more than a hour at a time. it wasn't that he didn't trust his other clanmates - except he kind of didn't - but more that he didn't think they were up to his standards on grooming. he just knew he would come back to three little balls of dirt and the thought haunted him even as he quietly slipped out of the camp and headed towards the shaded pines. his ears folded against his head. well, he thought, he could always groom them when he came home?
no, that didn't comfort him.
he should go back right now. how could he ever trust his precious kits and their cleanliness to his clanmates? to spiderstep? spiderstep was probably teaching them all about poor hygiene right now -
huh, there was a cat yelling at birds. pricklepaw from the sound of his voice. pricklepaw had recently lost his mentor, if cherrystorm remembered correctly. cherrystorm didn't usually involve himself in the business of his clanmates, but this was a situation that struck close to home - even though they had lost their respective mentors in dissimilar ways and badgerfang liked to hang around close enough to be an unpleasant reminder of cherrystorm's mistakes.
well, cherrystorm was always up for yelling at birds.
he approached the direction of the voice, careful to make sure his pawsteps were loud enough to be heard. no apprentice liked to be sneaked up on.
"hey." he greeted the dark apprentice. the tiny warrior ran a paw over his ears, one yellow eye focused on the disgruntled cat. a part of him wanted to be nice, wanted to show the empathy that he felt to the younger cat. but he didn't know how to peel himself back like that, didn't know how to show something soft and kind to a cat that wasn't his kit or his mate.
"be glad the little piece of foxdung got away. it'd probably taste like crowfood anyway." he scoffed, flicking a paw dismissively.
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pricklepaw
ShadowClan
Posts: 6
Rank: apprentice
Age: 11
Gender: tom
Mate: mudpaw
Crush: mudpaw
Played By: crescendo
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Post by pricklepaw on Jun 29, 2015 2:32:39 GMT -5
pricklepaw
i got soul but i'm not a soldier - you know you gotta help me out !
Heavy pawsteps elicited a small groan from the tiny apprentice. Pricklepaw squeezed his eyes even tighter, and even curled his tail tightly around his paws. Of course another cat would be around to witness his ridiculous flub. It was bad enough when a cat messed up at something he was normally pretty good at, but he to get caught in the act was downright humiliating. He could feel his fur heating up at the thought. Mentally, he urged the other cat on. Just leave me alone, please just leave me alone I don't feel like talking to anyone right now.
Ooof course not, the apprentice cracked his eyes open and twitched his ears at the cat's greeting. Cherrystorm--didn't he have kits or something? Did StarClan literally just pluck the warrior out of camp just to make sure Pricklepaw was feeling more embarrassed than usual? The black tom cast a glance upward, half expecting to see his mentor snickering at him from the branches of the tree, starry-pelt and all. Granted, he'd never seen his mentor crack any kind of humorous expression. Let alone laugh.
Still, he could envision the tomcat doing something this spiteful to him. If only because he always seemed a little more irritated than necessary when he found Pricklepaw hunting. Usually followed with an irritated cuff upside the head and a disgruntled, "I told you! You're fine with hunting, but you're too weak. We have to make you stronger!"
Funny thing about physical strength, there were limitations to it. There was only so much Pricklepaw could do, after all. The cat twitched his tail, feeling suddenly nervous that his mentor was still going to come and scold him even from silverpelt. Especially if StarClan can read minds. Woops, I was just admitting how relieved I was that you were gone, sorry about that.
"Hey," Pricklepaw meowed, wincing at how guarded he sounded. Jeez, couldn't he lighten up even just a little bit? Still the apprentice found himself stiffening slightly, and he still had his head bowed but he made sure to angle his ears toward the older cat. Hey, he was a grump and would probably have preferred to be alone at the moment, but Cherrystorm was older than him.
In that respect he deserved to at least a little of his attention. Besides, it wasn't like he was doing anything wrong by approaching Pricklepaw. If anything, it was probably something kind of... nice. Ugh, he didn't deserve nice though.
"Be glad the little piece of foxdung got away. It'd probably taste like crowfood anyway." Cherrystorm meowed. Pricklepaw's ears twitched, and he found himself snorting in amused laughter, casting a look in the direction of where the bird went.
"Maybe," Pricklepaw admitted grudgingly, he uncurled his tail from his paws. "But it could have kept it's mouth--er beak shut about it. I bet it's laughing about me to all of its bird friends. 'Did you see that stupid apprentice? He was a whole fox-leap away!'"
The cat let out an irritated snort, as if he could hear the bird gossiping about him. "You're right though, better out of a cat's belly. Probably would make someone sick."
Pricklepaw paused, peering at Cherrystorm nervously. "Why're you out of camp? I mean not that you can't be, but you're not here to make me go back are you?" He felt a crawling nervousness. Should he have grieved longer after all?
notes: be nice pricklepaw
wc: 557
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cherrystorm
ShadowClan
Posts: 5
Rank: warrior
Age: 36 moons
Gender: demiboy
Mate: spiderstep
Played By: pumpkin
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Post by cherrystorm on Jun 30, 2015 19:55:15 GMT -5
there was something terribly familiar to be found in the little black tom before cherrystorm. yellow eyes roamed over the black form of the younger cat as if searching for the answer to a riddle that had haunted cherrystorm for many moons - one that had once manifested in his own paws and fangs. his face pulled back into a tight grimace as the guarded voice of the apprentice reached his ears - he supposed he deserved that. not just for sneaking up on the younger cat but for how he had behaved when he was an apprentice himself. it was strange how little things reminded him of those awful moons now.
a grieving apprentice. how ironic.
"don't be a mousebrain." cherrystorm scoffed, pressing a dainty paw against his chest. he looked up at the tree tops with narrowed eyes. "birds don't have friends." his fluffy tail swatted against the ground once, twice, three times before curling around his paws and hiding them from view. "so your reputation is safe. only me and the birdbrain know, and it's not telling anyone." he ran his paw over his face, making sure his face was nice and clean.
he wasn't going to tell the apprentice that he could trust him, because only an idiot did that. he'd show him by keeping his mouth shut.
he wrinkled his muzzle. "ugh. the last thing i need is vomit in the camp. i'm not cleaning that up." who was he kidding? he would clean up the barf. he would clean up the crowfood. he would clean everything up because he was a good warrior and he cleaned up after his clanmates as if they were all naughty kits and he was their parent. "you almost poisoned the clan with that little piece of mousedung, you should be ashamed." He said. He almost sounded serious - except for the way his whiskers twitched with restrained laughter.
the question made him twitch a little. he hunched over, looking somewhat embarrassed. "no reason. who wants to know? it certainly isn't because i have nursery fever." he straightened and gave the apprentice a Look. "no. why would i make you go back? starclan knows i sneaked out all the time as an apprentice." his tail twitched thoughtfully.
"though it isn't safe for you to be out on your own, i guess. you could get eaten by a fox... or get dirty." he hesitated. "let's crush two birds with one stone. how about i show you some neat places and if we get caught, i'll say i took you out of the camp."
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pricklepaw
ShadowClan
Posts: 6
Rank: apprentice
Age: 11
Gender: tom
Mate: mudpaw
Crush: mudpaw
Played By: crescendo
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Post by pricklepaw on Jul 1, 2015 18:50:22 GMT -5
pricklepaw
i got soul but i'm not a soldier - you know you gotta help me out !
Pricklepaw's ears perked slightly, and he snorted loudly at Cherrystorm's words. The tom cast a glance into the branches of the trees--he'd seen birds flying around together, but Cherrystorm was probably right. It wasn't like they thought or talked to one another like cats did or something. They were probably too stupid to understand what friends were. The black tom found himself snickering despite the day, and flicked his tail back and forth, "True, I know I'd be driven crazy if I had to listen to that chirping all day. Hard to make friends when you're annoying."
The cat's words were dry, but he was feeling a little better for the statement nevertheless. Cherrystorm mentioning that the bird wasn't going to tell anyone at camp only made him feel all the better--he had a feeling he didn't need to worry about Cherrystorm saying anything either. The warrior would hardly have anything to gain by embarrassing him after all, and he felt himself relax and had to bite back a purr.
In fact, Pricklepaw had to lift one paw to cover his muzzle to keep from laughing at the warrior's scolding. He hadn't really talked personally to Cherrystorm much, but he thought that he liked the warrior a lot. Or at least, appreciated his humor and approach. Pricklepaw himself tended to be headstrong and irritable outwardly, it felt strangely like he was talking to the first cat that might understand that that wasn't the way it was deep down.
"Nursery fever?" Pricklepaw pricked his ears, trying to keep the amusement out of his meow was near impossible, and the word "fever" trembled slightly with a restrained laugh. He cleared his throat, wrapping his black tail around his paws and adopting a very serious expression. "Of course not, that sounds absurd. Though personally if I was stuck in the nursery all day I'd be clawing my own fur out. Not the life for me, thank you very much."
He was relieved that Cherrystorm wasn't here to haul him back to camp for any kind of grieving period. To be honest, sitting around and doing nothing in honor of the dead made him feel uncomfortable anyway. Even if it had been his brother that had been killed, Pricklepaw thought he would rather walk out under the forest that they'd both grown up in than sit like a lump in camp. It only added to his clear relief that the warrior was even suggesting to give him a reason to be out
Pricklepaw, admittedly, hadn't been wanting strongly for company, but Cherrystorm wasn't a bad cat to have around. Hadn't he decided he might rather like the warrior anyway? "You know some neat places?"
The black cat wasn't exactly a brand new warrior, but he believed his senior immediately. After all, Cherrystorm had been around longer than he had. The cat twitched his ears, before standing up and stretching carefully, "Yeah sure. I wouldn't want to end up getting eaten, or dirty," there was a twitch in his whiskers that suggested amusement. "I don't want to get in trouble either, so it's a good idea."
"Besides, it's better than sulking out here and scaring off birds," Pricklepaw added, trying to tone down his genuine relief. Didn't he have some kind of prickly reputation to uphold? "Lead the way Cherrystorm."
notes: I'm so fond of Cherrystorm aaah
wc: 557
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