Sigh
New Warrior
159 Posts
EST; he/him; mid-twenties
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Post by Sigh on Nov 24, 2022 14:37:03 GMT
minnowpaw "Hey, only I get to call Heronpaw stupid."Minnowpaw clamped her mouth shut belatedly, berating herself internally, Not the time. She tried to think, to figure out the best way to handle the situation without further antagonizing either of her fellow apprentices—not that she'd made a great start so far. Her first instinct was to call for Shellspots, or Flare, in this case, but neither were in the immediate vicinity. She turned her helpless gaze to Spiderpaw before realizing that he was in the exact same awkward position as she was. A new thought rose in her mind: What would Shellspots do?"Sorry, Lilypaw. Why don't you head back to camp and get your nose cleaned up? We'll catch up." She then turned to Heronpaw. "And you don't have to be rude just because you're embarrassed. Anyway, you can't call her a kittypet and an unknown hostile in the same breath, mousebrain." She tried to level him with a sarcastic glare, but her bravado was starting to run short at this point, so she wasn't too confident in her success on that particular front. Being authoritative is hard, she thought, wondering how Shellspots seemed to do it with so much ease. Maybe it came with age? Ugh, more waiting. The more time Minnowpaw had to mull over Heronpaw's words, the less embarrassed he seemed and the more concerned. Sure, he was berating Lilypaw with fairly liberal severity, but he seemed more upset with himself for having attacked her, almost. She wasn't sure if he was aware of it himself. Regardless, Minnowpaw was in no hurry to show him too much sympathy with Lilypaw still nearby. As it was, she doubted Lilypaw would be willing to go back to camp without telling Flare her side of the story. Better to seem like an ally to Lilypaw in this moment so that she could talk through everything with Heronpaw in private. It felt a little slimy to her, but also familiar; wasn't this how Shellspots had diffused any number of disputes between her and her brother? Surely if she was following in her mother's footsteps, it was alright. |
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Post by Kaeldra on Nov 29, 2022 3:10:44 GMT
Lilypaw || she/her || 11 moons
At this point Lilypaw’s eyes were stinging more than her battered nose or her torn ear. Her chest burned with anger as Heronpaw went on and on, and she couldn't stop her own vitriol from rushing out.
“Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” Lilypaw spat sarcastically, back arching. “If I was blinded there’d be nothing left to do but ship the poor kittypet back off to her twolegs, unable to ever be a warrior, but I guess you’re stuck with me a while longer!” Her tail lashed viciously.
Then Minnowpaw spoke up, and Lilypaw braced herself for more scolding.
Wait… did she just apologize?
While it wasn’t Minnowpaw she wanted an apology from, the unexpected empathy brought her up short. A part of her wanted to wail, Don’t be nice to me! I’m not done being angry yet! but even she knew that would be acting too much like a kit. So she just huffed, shooting a conflicted, thankful-yet-irritated glance at the silver she-cat before turning and padding away, trying to regain a bit of her momentum.
“Whatever. Let’s just go.”
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Spiderpaw || Tom || 11 moons
Spiderpaw winced as Heronpaw rounded on Lilypaw, listing out all the ways their little altercation could have ended even worse. It was clear the tom was panicking, but his way of expressing it was just riling up the fiery she-cat even more. She was taking it as an accusation — which, Spiderpaw supposed it kind of was — rather than acquiescing to the fact that maybe she could have made better choices.
The ginger tom shared a sympathetic glance with Minnowpaw. She seemed to be asking, What do I do? but before he could jump in with any helpful remarks, she straightened, her eyes sharpening with determination.
Spiderpaw watched, impressed, as Minnowpaw successfully doused a bit of Lilypaw’s rage and attempted to rein in her brother. It was admirable, really. To remain so level-headed in a heated moment, involving family no less... As Lilypaw harrumphed off in the general direction of where Flare ought to be waiting — it was dangerously close to sunhigh now — the striped tom padded over to Minnowpaw and gently bumped her shoulder with his.
“Nice job,” he said, quirking a small smile at her. “Crisis averted.”
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Riley
Head of Advertising
349 Posts
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Post by Riley on Jan 2, 2023 2:06:56 GMT
Ice formed in his veins until every part of him was cold. Did Lilypaw think he WANTED to blind her? Did she think that lowly of him that he would be capable of that? Heronpaw wasn't fast enough to deny it though, Minnowpaw smoothing things over. At least temporarily, as he doubted from Lilypaw's angry stomping everything was hunky dory. Without a word he followed after her toward Flare.
His ear twitched at the voice behind him, Spiderpaw congratulating Minnowpaw on a job well done. And as if his current mood wasn't bad enough, he couldn't stop the flash of resentment. Heronpaw wasn't something to be handled, especially by his sister. Shouldn't she have taken his side? Or at least taken him more seriously? Because Lilypaw had been rash and immature and gotten hurt because of it but somehow it was HIS fault for reacting.
Heronpaw only jerked out of his brooding when he heard Flare ask loudly, "What happened?" Oh boy. Here we go.
Flare sat with his tail curled around his paws and watched two of his three siblings roughhouse, or as close to roughhousing as Melodypaw got. They'd gotten so big in no time at all, and were happier than he'd ever thought he'd see them. Not that they were unhappy before, but it was nice to know his family found as much joy being in the Clan as he had.
He heard pawsteps coming toward them, angry pawsteps, and at first he thought it was Heronpaw. Because nobody could angry stomp like he could. Except no, it was Lilypaw, and Lilypaw's ear was bleeding. Flare would never tell anybody, ESPECIALLY Lilypaw, but his first thought wasn't 'oh no what happened', it was 'oh crap Noctus is gonna kill me!'
Flare was on his paws in the next instant, scurrying up to fuss over the torn ear. "What happened?" he asked, louder than normal in his panic. |
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Sigh
New Warrior
159 Posts
EST; he/him; mid-twenties
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Post by Sigh on Jan 2, 2023 14:31:47 GMT
minnowpaw Hey, that's almost exactly what I said! Perhaps the pride was misplaced and ill-timed, but Minnowpaw couldn't help preening the slightest bit at the notion that she and Flare had reacted to Lilypaw and Heronpaw's tussle in the same way. And the praise from Spiderpaw! She was feeling very mature about the whole thing. She felt slightly less mature about the relief she felt at being a third-party, and then a bit of dread crept in at the realization that, between the two of them, she and Spiderpaw had only caught three pieces of prey. Uh oh."Lilypaw and Spiderpaw sort of attacked each other instead of the prey," she blurted out, hoping to offer an unbiased perspective and also maybe give some explanation for her own failed assessment. As soon as she said it, she had second thoughts. Was it immature to blame others for her own failure? Had she implicated Spiderpaw at all? No...but maybe they hadn't failed yet? "I mean, we just came in at the end, we were looking for our last piece of prey, but we can leave you all to it and go finish—" A quick glance at the sky quickly dashed that idea. Minnowpaw looked back towards Spiderpaw with an apologetic glance, then mumbled an apology to Flare, trying to make herself as small as possible. What would Shellspots do in this situation? she thought morosely. Minnowpaw racked her brain but could not come up with a single memory of Shellspots making a mistake. Am I supposed to be perfect? This is impossible! |
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Zesha
New Warrior
176 Posts
About Me
Hi, I'm Zesha!
> Ciswoman
> She/Her
> 30
> EST
> 11 Cats IRL
> Biromantic/demisexual
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Post by Zesha on Jan 4, 2023 16:40:06 GMT
galepaw • he/him • 11 moons • riverclan • bioGalepaw had been roughhousing with Melodypaw while they awaited the others to return, but the sound of angry, stomping paws stopped their playing cold. The orange tom glanced at his sister before leaping off her to see what was going on. A loud, “What happened?” sounded from the direction the paw steps had taken, and when Galepaw popped his head over he noticed Lilypaw with a torn ear and a battered nose. His jaw dropped. What in StarClan’s name had happened on the assessment? “Are you okay?” he asked as he pressed through the tall grass he had been hiding in to see what was happening. Then Minnowpaw showed up and started talking. “Spiderpaw? Are you sure? Spiderpaw doesn’t usually attack much more than leaves,” he said, wondering if Minnowpaw had gotten a name mixed up somewhere. Galepaw looked to Lilypaw at that moment to confirm or deny what Minnowpaw was saying.
(I think you got a name mixed up there, Sigh =P) ( Kaeldra , Riley ) |
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Post by Kaeldra on Jan 8, 2023 5:08:34 GMT
Spiderpaw || Tom || 11 moons
As the group of them trailed after Lilypaw, Spiderpaw wondered how Flare would handle this whole thing. Then he heard his brother exclaim loudly through the trees, and supposed Lilypaw had reached him. Heronpaw, Minnowpaw, and Spiderpaw were close behind, coming to stand in the clearing from before. Galepaw and Melodypaw sat off to the side, watching with wide eyes as Flare fretted over Lilypaw.
Spiderpaw’s head turned sharply at Minnowpaw’s blurted explanation. What? He hadn’t done anything! It was her mousebrained brother that had torn Lilypaw’s ear, not him. Not that it was exactly Heronpaw’s fault, but he didn’t want to get involved in the whole accident when he’d simply been a spectator. Before he could reply, Galepaw piped up in his defense.
Thank you, he thought, sending his brother a grateful glance.
“I didn’t!” He confirmed, shaking his head vigorously. “It was Heronpaw! Minnowpaw and I were catching a squirrel when we heard them arguing and—” His blood ran cold as he realized they had only managed to catch three pieces of prey between them, and their time was basically up. Then he shook it off, sure Flare would understand there had been extenuating circumstances.
He didn’t pick up his abandoned sentence, and instead turned to look at Lilypaw. The seal point she-cat said nothing, staring at the ground angrily. Thanks for backing me up, Spiderpaw thought sarcastically.
Then there was a crashing through the brush, and Bluepaw exploded into the clearing, breaking the tense silence. She carried a mouse in her jaws, tail dangling wildly, and as she skidded to a stop she dropped it at her paws.
“I got it! I got my two pieces! I just have to go back and get the other... one...” The apprentice trailed off as she took in the rest of them sitting around somberly, her sister with a torn ear and bloody nose. In an echo of the rest of them, she added, “What happened?”
ulla
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Riley
Head of Advertising
349 Posts
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Post by Riley on Jan 8, 2023 6:21:02 GMT
Heronpaw stewed silently, waiting for somebody to speak up, but jerked his head up and around when Minnowpaw said Spiderpaw instead of his name. Maybe she wasn't as impartial as he'd thought and this was her attempt to make things right? Or keep him out of trouble? He gave a half-grin to Minnowpaw in gratefulness, but stepped up as the other two 'paws spoke up in Spiderpaw's defense. "They're right. It was me."
He looked directly at Spiderpaw next. "Don't take that personally. You were probably just the last name in her mind and that's what her mouth decided to say." He flashed a teasing grin to his sister then, a privilege few got to see. "After all, she IS a minnow brain. It was probably an accident."
Serious once again, he squared up and faced Flare, whose brow was furrowed. "Exactly like this was. An accident. I was hunting prey and Lilypaw decided to hunt me instead. She pounced on me while I was concentrating-" on relaxing, but he wasn't about to say that, "-and I caught my claws on her while defending myself. It was an accident that wouldn't have occurred if she'd taken this assessment seriously." He snorted and shook his head, glaring at nobody in particular. "Said she was practicing her hunting crouch."
- - -
Well. At least he was honest. Flare hadn't THOUGHT it was Spiderpaw, but Spiderpaw wasn't immune to getting caught up in the moment either. Hopefully that wouldn't come back to bite either of them, Spiderpaw OR Minnowpaw. Flare stared at Heronpaw with narrowed eyes before swinging his stern gaze back up to Lilypaw. "Lilypaw. Is this true?" He ignored Heronpaw's grumble of, "We just said it was."
He startled loudly at the trample of pawsteps, and then suddenly Bluepaw was there, excited and so bright. That brightness faded as she took in the tension, and she tentatively asked what was happening. Flare hesitated, not sure what to say, when Melodypaw stepped up. "Come on, let's go collect everybody's prey and I'll tell you." She waved her tail at everybody in the clearing. "We'll follow the scents you all left behind and pick up the fresh-kill we find."
Flare nodded at her, thankful for her proactiveness. But should he be? What if Lilypaw thought she was being isolated? What if she got defensive? Should he have kept Bluepaw here so Lilypaw would have at least one cat in her corner? But too late, the shrubbery already swallowed up the two she-cats as they left. Only then did Flare return to Lilypaw. "Calmly talk me through what happened, Lilypaw." he meowed gently.
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Sigh
New Warrior
159 Posts
EST; he/him; mid-twenties
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Post by Sigh on Jan 12, 2023 1:01:09 GMT
minnowpaw Minnowpaw blinked as the chaos unfolded around her. What did I say? What did Spiderpaw do? As her companion for the day came to his own defense, Minnowpaw recalled exactly what she had said and shrank into herself. As if I hadn't messed up enough, today! she thought, despairingly. A crash heralded the sudden arrival of Bluepaw, whose repetition of the question on everyone's mind made Minnowpaw wince. Here we go again. Better let someone else explain this time. Luckily her brother stepped up to give his side of the story, but the smile he sent her way made her feel even worse. Sure, she had wanted to talk to him privately to make up for her earlier impartiality, but not like this. As she heard him apologize to Spiderpaw on her behalf, she was nearly overwhelmed by the need to simply run away from the whole mess. Instead, she muttered a weak "Lay off, Heronpaw," and turned towards Spiderpaw beseechingly. "I am so, so sorry," she whispered to him, feelingly. "I don't know what happened, I didn't mean to say your name, I—" She choked herself off with an embarrassed hiccup. "I'll tell them I only caught one piece of prey and that you got two, or that all three were yours even—" Okay, maybe taking it a bit far, Minnowpaw, she chided herself, and abruptly stopped talking. She hazarded a look back at the rest of the apprentices and Flare, hoping that both Melodypaw and Bluepaw's departure and Flare's questioning would cover up her attempts at apologies and amends from everyone but Spiderpaw himself; already it seemed unlikely that she would ever live this down. |
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Post by Kaeldra on Jan 16, 2023 5:05:31 GMT
Lilypaw || she/her || 11 moons
Lilypaw stared hard at the ground, willing it to open up and swallow her whole. She didn’t reply to Flare’s question, instead letting Heronpaw’s grumble do the talking for her. Then her sister crashed through the undergrowth, and she perked up at the thought of having at least one cat here that was definitely on her side, but Bluepaw was quickly sent away with Melodypaw to collect the prey everyone had left behind in their excitement. She was alone again.
There was a long moment of silence between her and her mentor, though she could hear the other apprentices murmuring amongst themselves. She wondered if they were talking about her. Saying how she wasn’t fit to be a Clan cat after all. Now that Heronpaw had admitted to injuring her, throwing him under the bus would just seem petty on her part.
“I tried to catch prey, I really did,” she began, deciding to start with the beginning. “But then Bluepaw went to hunt on her own, and I couldn’t catch anything by myself.” Scuffing her paws in the earth, she refused to meet Flare’s gaze. “I... got bored, and then I saw Heronpaw laying there, and I thought he’d be good to practice my stalking on. So then I pounced, and... he did this.”
Lilypaw tilted her head, indicating her sliced ear. Then she fell silent, waiting for the scolding to start.
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Spiderpaw || Tom || 11 moons
Spiderpaw relaxed with relief that he wasn’t being used as some kind of scapegoat for Heronpaw. As he watched Bluepaw disappear back the way she had come, this time with his sister in tow, Minnowpaw began whispering fervent apologies.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he assured her, leaning to meet her eyes. While he had admired her maturity in dealing with the initial fallout, he suddenly remembered that she was younger than him as he took in her frazzled state. “It’s been stressful for all of us. There’s bound to be the slip of a tongue here or there. You caught your prey fair and square, you keep it.” He smiled gently.
Spiderpaw was starting to understand just how much pressure Minnowpaw was under, trying to be Shellspots’ perfect kit. While he was a bit put out that he hadn’t gotten his two pieces of prey and completed his assessment, he knew he wouldn’t get the same disappointed look from Flare that Minnowpaw would from her mother.
Plus, he thought with a smirk, I can always blame Lilypaw for the distraction.
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Riley
Head of Advertising
349 Posts
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Post by Riley on Jan 30, 2023 0:08:10 GMT
The more he heard about the incident, the more distressed Flare became. Internally, of course, because he couldn't let the apprentices know just how bad this was. Especially at Lilypaw's admission of getting bored. If Shellspots heard that...
He stepped closer to the apprentice to examine her ear, watching as a droplet of blood beaded before falling. It was still bleeding, even if only sluggishly. He gusted a heavy sigh and stood back, looking up to the sky for patience from the ancestors to deal with what he had to do now. "Okay. Sorry guys, assessment postponed for another day. We need to get something on that."
And just like the thought. "What?!"
---
Heronpaw gripped the ground with his claws, incensed. "She messes up so we get punished? How is that fair?" he demanded, glaring hotly. Because it WASN'T. He couldn't say he really cared, but he knew Minnowpaw did, because she cared about what Shellspots cared about, and while he didn't really care much about what SHELLSPOTS cared about, he did care about Minnowpaw, and he knew she'd be crushed!
This was all Lilypaw's fault, and he made sure she knew about it by switching his glare from Flare to Lilypaw. He hoped she felt his glare in her fur.
SORRY FOR THE WAIT I FORGOT THIS WAS MY TURN |
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Sigh
New Warrior
159 Posts
EST; he/him; mid-twenties
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Post by Sigh on Feb 3, 2023 0:09:43 GMT
minnowpaw Minnowpaw nodded mutely along to Spiderpaw's assurances, mouth clamped shut in her determination to not say anything else stupid. As reassuring as her peer's smile was, she couldn't help but feel a lingering sense of doom. The feeling was not allayed by Flare's pronouncement. He's postponing the assessment?! She almost cried out but, for once, stopped herself at the last minute. Still, her ears flattened in misery and she dropped her gaze to the ground, everything in her stance limp and defeated. So much for catching my prey fair and square, she thought bitterly, If it doesn't even count for anything anyways.Minnowpaw's gaze was drawn back up at Heronpaw's rebuttal. Sometimes—most of the time, really—she found his hotheadedness frustrating, but for once she did appreciate his outburst; she had resolved herself not to indulge in one of her own, after all. She shared his anger, overpowered though her own feelings were by shame and embarrassment. This was closer to her brother than she had felt in a long time. She thought back to what she had said to him earlier. I called him a mousebrain and instead of retaliating he defends the assessment I know he doesn't care about. What a great sister I am. The thought was only a drop in the river of her shame, but she lowered her eyes back to the ground anyway, the gray cloud looming above her growing ever larger. |
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Zesha
New Warrior
176 Posts
About Me
Hi, I'm Zesha!
> Ciswoman
> She/Her
> 30
> EST
> 11 Cats IRL
> Biromantic/demisexual
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Post by Zesha on Feb 4, 2023 18:32:18 GMT
“Wait, what?” Galepaw’s ears shot up and he looked at Flare. But he had gotten all his prey! He had finished his assessment! Now it was just going to mean nothing?! He had to agree with Haronpaw’s outburst on this one; it wasn’t fair at all that those of them that had finished the assessment were being punished just because Lilypaw got hurt. “Come on, Flare! Some of us actually finished the assessment! Are you telling me that we’re all going to have to do it over?” he whined. Normally he’d be all for anything Flare said, but this just felt like a paw to the face. Ho could Flare just dismiss everything they’d done? Yes, Lilypaw needed some medical attention at the moment, but that shouldn’t mean they had to redo everything, only the cats that didn’t finish the assessment. Galepaw looked around helplessly, willing someone else to back him and Heronpaw up. Certainly they were right, that this assessment should still count. It sucked that Lilypaw got hurt, but it was kind of her own fault, he had to admit. She shouldn’t have decided to sneak up on Heronpaw. What would Shellspots say if she were here?
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Post by Kaeldra on Feb 8, 2023 19:31:43 GMT
Spiderpaw || Tom || 11 moons
Spiderpaw’s smile fell away immediately upon hearing Flare’s words.
What?
“What do you mean, postponed?” He stood again, anger flooding through his veins and into his paws. “It’s already basically sunhigh, and everyone’s caught their prey.” Except me, Spiderpaw added silently. Even if he was a bit embarrassed not to have met the goal — and he was the only one besides Lilypaw not to, he noticed with a grimace — it wasn’t fair to the other apprentices who had put their all into this assessment just to have it all thrown away because some cats couldn’t take things seriously.
“I told you guys it was a bad idea to let her come along,” the orange tabby added in a quieter grumble. He had wanted to leave the flippant she-cat in camp to clean out the dens like she was supposed to, but he’d been outvoted by his denmates. Look where that had gotten them. His tail lashed with agitation and he shot Lilypaw a glare.
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Lilypaw || she/her || 11 moons
Lilypaw blinked once, then twice.
Huh?
She lifted her gaze to Flare’s face, but he was looking out at the other apprentices now. There was a heartbeat or two of silence, before the clearing broke out in a chorus of protests. Lilypaw shrunk into her fur, feeling the sharp gazes of her denmates burning into her pelt.
Lilypaw wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this turn of events. She was glad to have Flare take her side, and her ear did really hurt. It would be nice to get back to camp and have Miku take care of the stinging. But at the same time, her stomach turned at the knowledge that everyone else was going to be even more upset with her now.
It’s not my fault. They don’t get it. she thought a bit numbly to herself. I didn’t want it to end up like this. Can’t they see that?
Saying nothing, she waited for Flare’s cue to begin the return trip to camp.
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