NOTE: Breezepaw's eyes are now blue and amber as opposed to green and amber.
NOTE 2: I changed Bramblepelt's name to Bramblestripe in the updated allegiances because I'm inconsistent and don't like Bramblepelt anymore.
NOTE 3: Cookies to Emberflame and VinejayVinewings for guessing the cat correctly! It is Willowbreeze from Crookedstar's Promise!
Emberflame (1): Ding ding ding! Willowbreeze it is! Honestly, she's my favorite character. She has such an interesting plotline, something I wish the latest books would have. Her name is beautiful, and her relationship with Crookedstar is perfect. Plus, she's just a kind, funny, amazing cat and did NOT deserve to die. Thanks for the ankle info. I found that really interesting! (2) Sure. I'm developing some more rogues and kittypets for the later story and I'd be glad to accept it! (3) Sparkface is a she-cat. I accidentally made her a tom in the allegiances and I gotta go fix that.
twinkle . exe (chapter 3) Thank you!
VinejayVinewings: Thanks so much! You are correct!
"Hi, Willowpaw!"
Willowpaw woke with a start. Rosepaw's pretty cream-furred face, complete with little pink nose, was hovering above her. Her almond-shaped amber eyes gleamed with excitement, her tufted ears, free of kit down unlike the rest of them, were pricked, and her whiskers stuck straight out. The sun was bright, and the rest of the den was empty. Oh no! Today's our first hunting day! Have I overslept?
She leapt to her paws in a panic (at the disco) and raced outside. The clan was bustling with energy. Sparkface assigned patrols. The elders lay outstretched on the broad slab of rock near the rockpile, soaking up the early sun rays. Bramblestripe and Sorrelstar shared tongues by the fresh-kill pile. The apprentices were scatteered around. Breezepaw was by the fresh-kill pile, chowing down on a chaffinch. Hawkpaw was chatting to Dusklight, who kept trying to edge away. Sunpaw waited patiently next to the rockpile. She spun around at a soft mew behind her. Rosepaw stood there, looking mildly concerned.
"Willowpaw, what are you doing? Your fur is so messy! Why are you in such a rush?"
Willowpaw sighed. "Why is it so late? I should've been woken up ages ago!"
"Today's our hunting lesson. Since it's just one thing today, it's shorter and we're starting later." Rosepaw looked slightly impatient, her jaw clenched and whiskers twitching. Despite her calm, proper outer demeanor, she was quick-tempered, and a bit sassy. Willowpaw thought it was funny how much she and Breezepaw bounced off each other, their short-tempered personalities clashing.
Willowpaw rolled her eyes inwardly at herself. She should have known that! Now she looked stupid in front of her Clan-mates. She sighed and headed to get some breakfast, sitting down next to her brother. The black tom had polished off his chaffinch, and was now working on his pelt with long, soft strokes. He looked calm and content, a change from his usual grumpiness. His blue and amber eyes were half-closed, and his whiskers relaxed. His fur was shorter and sleeker than hers, yet thick enough to keep him warm in the cold. While she envied its ability to be easily cleanable and its more practical length that wouldn't snag on brambles, she certainly wasn't jealous of his glossy, raven-black fur. He practically roasted in greenleaf!
She sat down, grabbing a small mouse- she wanted to save room for eating later. She had overeaten before, and it wasn't fun. Despite her small size, she had a big appetite, and the mouse was scrawny and felt like nothing in her belly. She tried to convince herself that she shouldn't eat, but the other part of her said that you work better on a full belly, so she chose a shrew. It settled better in her stomach, more satisfying.
She had just begun to work on her pelt when a bitter, cold breeze blew through, ruffling her light greenleaf coat and chilling her to the bone. A few browning leaves scattered the ground.
"Leaf-bare is coming, and it seems like a cold one," murmured Bramblestripe.
"We're not even in the tenth moon yet, and it's getting colder by the day!" Oakwing chimed in.
"It was such a warm leaf-bare last year, and the snow had melted by the third moon!" complained thick-furred Foxtail, who was fixed with a glare by his sister, Briarfur.
"We don't all have your luxurious coat, Foxy," she grumbled.
Willowpaw sighed for the third time that morning. She was born just after the last of the snow had gone, when it was already warm out. Her coat never had to thicken, and it didn't seem like it would soon. She didn't look forward to the cold season.
"Alright, paws, gather round here!" yowled Sparkface from where she stood. Willowpaw and Breezepaw stood up and headed over to where the eight other cats stood.
"Okay. Hunting starts today! We're all heading out to learn the basics, and splitting into new partners today! After we go over basics together, we split up. Sunpaw and Breezepaw will work together, Rosepaw and Willowpaw-"
"Yay!" Rosepaw whispered in her ear. Willowpaw smiled.
"And Hawkpaw will work with me," mewed Nightstorm sternly, giving the tabby apprentice a sharp look. Hawkpaw looked guiltily at his paws.
Now that I think about it, Hawkpaw didn't come and help with the nests... But what could he have been doing? she wondered.
"Let's go, she-cats!" mewed Spiderstep cheerfully. Rosepaw, Willowpaw and Shadeleaf exited the camp, followed by the others, while Sparkface quickly took the lead. She led them to the mossy hollow, where everyone sat.
"Listen up and watch carefully," ordered the ginger-faced deputy. "The basic hunting crouch looks like this." She demonstrated, bending low on her paws and touching her belly- it looked a little swollen, Willowpaw noticed. Was she sick? - to the ground, her tail straight out and still. It twitched slightly as she began to pad forward, whiskers fanned out and nose twitching. She stalked across the hollow, and suddenly pounced, springing off her back paws in a silent leap and landing just in front of a shocked Breezepaw, who leaped a tail-length in the air and bushed out his fur. Rosepaw giggled.
"That's how you startle your prey," mewed Sparkface, shaking out her fur. "Now split up," she added.
Willowpaw followed her group, quietly chatting with Rosepaw.
"Wasn't it hilarious when she did that to Breezepaw?" the cream apprentice giggled, an odd look in her eyes. Willowpaw nodded, adding a forced laugh. Her mind was on other things. What was the deal with Breezepaw? Why had he snuck out of camp? What was he doing, acting weird lately? He went from bristly and defensive to relaxed and content to absentminded and distracted. It was like he was another cat sometimes!
She shook herself out of her thoughts when Shadeleaf ordered them to stop. Willowpaw saw an unusually thick tree trunk somewhere near them, and realized they were near the Star Maple. Beside that, it looked like a boring piece of forest. A rotting log lay a couple fox-lengths away. Browning bracken and leaves spotted the ground, but the trees still retained most of their green.
"Willowpaw, Rosepaw. You saw Sparkface's hunting crouch. I want you to imitate it."
Willowpaw crouched low on her paws, wincing at the stiff and uncomfortable position. Her tail twitched as she tried to hold it still like Sparkface had. Next to her, Rosepaw crouched like an awkward duck, her tail end high in the air, face and chest pressed to the dirt. She looked painfully unaware of her mistake, until Spiderstep came over to correct her stance, gently encouraging her to even out her unbalanced position. Shadeleaf gave her some advice, too:
"Willowpaw, you can ease off your back legs a little. You're flat as a mouse on the Thunderpath." The gray tabby chuckled. Willowpaw stood up a little bit, putting less pressure on her hind legs, and found that it was much more comfortable.
"Now spread your front paws a bit more, and relax your tail a bit. Trying to hold it stick-straight will just bother you. Let it sweep back and forth a little, but it can't touch the ground. Do you know why?" her mentor asked. As Willowpaw made the adjustments to her crouch, she thought hard. "Because... because the prey will feel it?" she answered hesitantly.
Shadeleaf looked pleased. "That's right. Rosepaw, did you catch that?"
"Yeah," the cream she-cat responded, a slight strain in her tone.
"Good. Now, Willowpaw, try stalking a circle around that tree."
Willowpaw padded around the maple tree as quietly as she could. At first walking in the low position felt awkward, but the farther she went, the more natural it felt. She wasn't perfect- she still had heavier paws than the more experienced cats, she still stepped on dry leaves and swished her tail despite her efforts. But when she returned to her mentor, she felt proud.
"Good, Willowpaw!" Shadeleaf mewed, pleased. "Tell me what you think you need to work on."
"Well... My paws are really loud," she began.
"Yes. You have a light frame with broad paws, and while they might not come to your advantage stalking, you'll have an easy time catching your prey, not to mention climbing trees and keeping your balance in general. Plus, you have a big advantage in fighting with your strong, flexible paws and long claws."
"And I stepped on a bunch of loud things, too," Willowpaw added, only half paying attention to her mentor's praise.
"I noticed that. You have keen senses, Willowpaw. Put them to use. Do your whiskers sense ferns? Avoid them. Hear the beginning of a crackle underfoot? Ease off your paws. In general, watch where you're stepping, but don't lose your prey," Shadeleaf instructed.
Willowpaw nodded and crouched low again, slipping more easily now into the hunting crouch. As she stalked quietly around the tree, she set down her feet lightly, making sure to keep all four paws balanced, and paid attention to her senses, watching her paws and avoiding making noise, feeling the touch of her sensitive whiskers against the browning ferns, and listening for the sound of her own pawsteps. She let her tail relax, but kept it off the ground still. Around her, the other cats had gone silent, and she became aware of a slight feeling behind her. Her tail twitched. She heard a slight noise, and slowly turned around to find Rosepaw staring guiltily at her, her amber eyes wide and whiskers pricked. Willowpaw smiled.
"You almost had me," she mewed.
The two she-cat apprentices continued their training for a little while longer. Rosepaw had a steely determination in her eyes, and her pawsteps were softer than a feather thanks to her intense focus. Willowpaw made a note of how she set her delicate paws down, toe first and then gently easing down on the base of her paw. She tried to imitate that as they practiced.
When the sun reached its apex in the sky, Shadeleaf ordered them to stop.
"I think you two are doing pretty darn good for your first day," she mewed. "Spiderstep and I think you're ready to move on to the actual hunting."
Willowpaw let out a cheer that was quickly stifled by a fluffy tail. "You don't wanna scare all the prey away, do you?" Rosepaw teased, though her eyes sparked with the same excitement.
The foursome walked more quietly through the forest, ears and nose wary of any prey-scent. Rosepaw's tail shot up suddenly.
"I smell a mouse!" she whispered excitedly.
Spiderstep nodded. The dark tabby flicked her tail towards some leaves at the roots of a tree. Willowpaw saw a small, bald tail flick in and out of the leaves, and a small nose poked up a moment after. All four cats froze until it went back to snuffling in the dirt. Spiderstep motioned for Rosepaw to catch it.
A fierce emotion in her eyes, Rosepaw dropped low into a slightly lopsided crouch and began to stalk across the forest floor. The mouse continued to scuffle.
Rosepaw was only a few tail-lengths away from the mouse when suddenly, the breeze abruptly shifted downwind, blowing their scent to the mouse. It sat up, squeaked in alarm, and scurried away. Determined, Rosepaw hared after it, winding through trees and pouncing a moment too late, just as the mouse scurried into a hole.
Rosepaw groaned. She hung her head and padded back to the group, disappointment and shame evident in her honey-colored eyes, which never hid much. As she reached them, Willowpaw noticed she flinched away from Spiderstep, as if expecting a scolding, but Spiderstep's yellow-green eyes held only pride. Head tilted to the side, Rosepaw looked up at the lanky tabby, confused.
"Nice job, Rosepaw. You would'a had it if it weren't for that cross breeze," Willowpaw murmured to her friend, who didn't seem to react much, before stepping back to let mentor and apprentice conversate.
"You aren't mad at me?" Rosepaw was asking Spiderstep.
"Of course not, Rosepaw. You expect too much of yourself. Your stalking was practically perfect, and you were so silent! I know many cats who wouldn't have been able to get that far. You would have even had the catch, but the breeze shifted, and you did a great job chasing it too!"
"Really?" She looked surprised.
The dark tabby purred. "Really."
Shadeleaf cut in. "It's getting late, and I'm sure you two are hungry," she mewed. "Let's go back and you can rest for a little before our next lesson."
"Sounds good," Willowpaw murmured, suddenly exhausted. The adrenaline and excitement of the hunt had worn off, and she found herself wanting to lay down and sleep.
Rosepaw grinned, the same tired look in her drooping tail and heavy-lidded eyes. "I know."
The group headed back to camp in a tired silence. At one point, Shadeleaf smelled a nest of voles, and the two older cats demonstrated their stalking by creeping up on the nest, scaring out the mother vole and killing it, then burrowing into the small hole and dragging out the babies. There were eight babies, nearly full grown, with plenty of meat on their bones. Shadeleaf took the large vole and a baby, Spiderstep three babies, and Rosepaw and Willowpaw two each.
Back at camp, they found Breezepaw sulking in a small corner of the camp, between a couple of bramble bushes. His ears perked briefly, then drooped as the she-cats headed for the fresh-kill pile. Willowpaw was too tired to care about his odd behavior.
They dropped off the baby voles they carried, brought prey to the elders and Moonheart, plus a baby vole for her kits, then returned to finally have a meal. Rosepaw settled with a thrush, methodically tearing out feathers and gnawing the scrawny meat off the wingbones before moving on to another part of the bird. Deciding she wanted some feathers for her nest, Willowpaw chose a bird. She briefly debated between a fat chaffinch and a fluffy sparrow, and chose the smaller bird, employing the same feather-gathering method as Rosepaw. Still hungry after she finished, she took the smallest of the baby voles, and it was enough to fill her belly.
She got up to have a quick nap before "the next lesson." She hadn't known there was something else. As she left, Sunpaw arrived from their den and sat down to share tongues with his sister. Willowpaw scattered her feathers over her nest, tucking the softest down where the moss was less soft.
Despite her tiredness, it took her a while to sleep. Thoughts flickered through her head, though she was too tired to focus on one. What is the next lesson? Why is Breezepaw acting so weird? Have I pleased Shadeleaf so far?
Eventually, the thoughts became too much for her exhausted mind, and she slipped into a light sleep.
For those of you who expect a big, dramatic surprise for their next lesson, I'm afraid you might be disappointed.
Q: Why do you think Breezepaw's all weirdo?
A: Why would I tell you?
Accepting random OC names, just prefixes. Something a little more unusual? I'm willing to go with non-canon, as long as it makes sense and they would know about it. No Amethystkit or Oceanfur, etc, please. I need them for future other Clan kits, but I have all TC kits planned.
~Stormy~