Flowerpaw blinked open her eyes to the sunlight peeking through the den entrance, her fur bushing as she stretched the sleep out of her limbs with a silent yawn escaping her maw before she wearily crept across the den. Everything was silent and the nests were empty, but the scents of her den mates were still fresh… probably left just recently and she had missed them. As she kept her head down low, the tips of her ears grazed the bush and into the camp.
Crouching low to the ground she watched as the large shape of Wolftooth passed by, the inner circle warrior paying her no mind as he nearly treaded on her whiskers. Once the warrior was out of her way, Flowerpaw crept out and dashed across the clearing to the outer circle warriors' corner. Fernback had his tail turned to her, but immediately looked behind him as she approached. The pale gray tom moved slightly to face her head on, as the calico she-cat slowed down to a small trot before stopping before him. "Good morning to you, but remember that training begins at sunrise." The tom meowed, as Flowerpaw shrunk back a little.
"Sorry Fernback… it's a little hard to adapt to."
The pale gray tom's whiskers twitched in amusement. "So I noticed, fortunately for you the morning is still fresh… Sunnylight has kindly offered to help us train, their own apprentice Graypaw has been slowing down recently and could use the practice fighting another cat." He murmured, looking over his shoulder at the golden cat who dipped their head. Flowerpaw mirrored the action as a gesture of respect, her eyes looking over at her mentor who nodded in approval.
"It would be great to teach you along with Fernback, and to get Dirtfur off my back about not doing my job right." Sunnylight meowed with a cheerful tone, looking over at the slender dark brown tabby she-cat. Dirtfur just grunted in indifference in response to the cat's comment, as she got up on her paws and headed across the clearing grumbling under her breath. Fernback smiled as he looked back at Flowerpaw and flicked his tail.
Flowerpaw nodded in response before heading over towards where the slender gray tom sat with his head in the bushes, as she arrived beside the tom she nudged his side and he nearly jumped out of his fur. Backing up as he sat down with his eyes looking down at his paws a cluster of little flowers in his white mouth as he avoided her gaze. "Uhm… hi." Murmured the tom uncomfortably, dropping what he had down at his paws and covering them with his tail.
Flowerpaw narrowed her gaze as she spotted a long scar across his nose, blood still dripping down from the open wound as the tom tried to hide it from sight. Flowerpaw sat down with her head hunched over her shoulders, as the pale gray tom sat there shifting uncomfortable. "What happened there?" she inquired, her eyes following one droplet fall to the ground. Graypaw shifted to the side as he shrugged in response.
"Sharppaw had a terrible time sleeping last night, decided to take one of his horrible dreams out on me." The tom answered, wiping his paw across his muzzle. From out of the corner of her eye Flowerpaw could see the solid gray tom moving away, her tail flicking as the inner circle apprentice joined Jaggedpaw on the far side of the camp just in sight of their position. As Flowerpaw turned back to the other apprentice he struggled to hide his findings under his hindquarters before acting like nothing happened.
"There you are, Palepaw already left but asked for me to give you her regards." Littlepaw's meow drew the calico she-cat's gaze to behind her, as the long haired tabby tom dropped a piece of prey down at his paws. Settling down and giving her a smile before turning back to his meal. "Last night's patrol was a mess I tell you, can't believe we were expected to go around in the dark… most of the time I couldn't even tell where we were going at all." He licked a paw and cleaned the top of his head.
Flowerpaw turned back to the pale gray tom that was easing himself up down as he looked down at his paw. Just at that time the tom's sister, Archedpaw, joined her brother and sat down silently across from the others. The black she-cat bushed out her fur as she settled in with a mouse in her jaws, as her eyes wandered over to Flowerpaw who kept her underbelly pressed to the grass. She could smell the oncoming scent of…
"Hey, who said you can lie around and do nothing? Get up useless! You have a duty to attend to in this clan, and it is not to be a waste to us all!" the loud rumble of Sharppaw and a cuff around her ears let the calico she-cat know of the solid gray tom's presence behind her. As she turned around to face the inner circle apprentice who was smirking before scampering off towards his mentor, Flowerpaw felt her fur bush but just brushed it off and turned away from the tom. Littlepaw looked at her from over his prey, but didn't say anything.
Flowerpaw roe up onto her paws as she looked over at Fernback who was facing Russetbristle. The Russet red she-cat murmured something to the calico she-cat's mentor, before walking off with her pelt bushing and leaving the pale gray tom looking down at his paws. Flowerpaw rose up and trotted over to his side as he recomposed himself and turned to face her, his muzzle parting to a kind smile as he raised his head up. "Are we ready, Sunnylight just finished up his meal and was about to go get their apprentice." He murmured.
Flowerpaw nodded slowly as she watched the golden cat move past them towards the apprentices' corner, the dark gray apprentice perked up his ears before looking down at his paws and nodded. Sunnylight nudged the tom's shoulder before they led the tom towards him; Flowerpaw gave a kind smile before turning towards Fernback who was getting up onto his paws now. As he nodded to the golden cat before they turned towards the camp entrance.
Flowerpaw pushed her head through the entrance, with her eyes averted to the ground as a meow caught them off. "Where are you going, I do not have a schedule for the departure yet!" what certainly had to be Tigerscratch from behind them, as Flowerpaw turned to see the dark tabby approach their side. Her amber eyes glowing through the shade cast from the sunlight, claws unsheathed as she stepped around the apprentices to the two warriors.
"I talked it over with Stormstar, I thought that…"
"Stormstar has not spoken to me yet, hold here and do not move a muscle!" Tigerscratch growled before turning around and heading straight to the narrow roots under the leader's perch, as Flowerpaw found herself settling down as Fernback mumbled something to himself out of earshot, and Sunnylight nodded in what seemed to be agreement. As Flowerpaw was about to open her mouth it was quickly shut as Tigerscratch returned to their side.
"Story checks out, don't stay out too long… your parole on the basis of showing the apprentice around is over." Tigerscratch growled as her tail flicked back and forth behind her before turning around and leaving the four cats to their own decisions. Flowerpaw looked back to see the dark gray tom emerge from his den as Tigerscratch arrived at his side, and the two shared tongues for a moment before the two disappeared from sight as the den disappeared.
Fernback led the way out as he kept his head low to the ground, his back turned towards the other three as Sunnylight fell back to the apprentices' side. The cat flicked their tail as Flowerpaw looked over her shoulder at the tom, Graypaw kept his head hunched over as Flowerpaw saw him avoid the gaze of any of the cats in the patrol. The calico she-cat narrowed her gaze as her tail grazed the tips of the nettles covering the grounds below the paws of all four cats.
As Flowerpaw looked forward the pines creaked above her ear tips, as she looked up there was a large winged creature flying overhead. Before it disappeared over the tree tops and out of sight without warning, and there was no trace of the creature as far as the apprentice could look. As she fluffed out her fur she made a mental note of it, but the two warriors had caught up and were too busy discussing something with each other as they neared the muddy hollow. Flowerpaw brushed the idea off as she thought that her mentor would already know of it.