Lynxkit's Apprentice Ceremony

Pale grey skies met the barren branches of the ThunderClan camp beneath the harsh light of mid day. A large dark brown tom padded out from the lichen coverings of the leader's den after conferring with Leopardstar. It was time for his adopted kits to face the world as apprentices. A frightening prospect, he understood... but a needed one. It was a bad time of year to be a kit, prey was scarce and even though they had been hunting well so far, he couldn't gauruntee how long that luck would last as he leapt to the top of High-rock.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath High-rock for a clan meeting!" He yowled, catching the attention of many cats. His gaze however was on the young kits that Leopardstar had brought back one day. The young bob tailed kit made him smile as he waited for all the cats to gather.

Lynxkit scrambled forward, his fur a wild mess (as usual). His brilliant eyes shone out of his scruffy pelt, wide with excitement as cats gathered around him. He didn't know their names, but he recognized some of their faces and greeted them with wide grins. These cats had hunted for him, entertained him, and loved him.
He was always careful to be polite and friendly to every cat he met, of course. He knew that he did something that made his mother hate him, and he was determined to never do whatever it was he did ever again. Everything about Thunderclan was big, new, and exciting. He didn't want to lose it.
"I wonder what this one's gonna be about!" He squeaked, tapping his front paws against the frozen earth impatiently.

"Lynxkit, step forward." Marshstorm called upon the wild-furred kit with a calm smile. The kit's curious question answered promptly, perhaps a little too literally as he curled his tail around his forepaws for warmth. He waited for the kit to process that he'd been called forward before continuing with the ceremony's usual words.

"Lynxkit, you have reached the age of six moons. It is now time for you to become an apprentice. From this day on, until you recieve your warrior name, you will be known as Lynxpaw." He resumed, his gaze turned to his own apprentice. One who already had three apprentices to his name, yet seemed to be handling things very well. A tug of guilt made him wonder if perhaps this wasn't being too hard on him... but at the same time, he trusted Beartooth to tell him if he was too overwhelmed. "Beartooth will be your mentor. His bravery and honesty will help to shape you into a fine warrior. " He concluded, before he leapt down from High-rock.

"Lynxkit? That's me!" The wild-furred tom glanced around as if to clarify that the dark tom was speaking to him before scrambling awkwardly to the base of the large rock in the center of camp. He was going to be an apprentice!
Excitement flowed through the little tom's body, sending his heart into a furious pounding rhythm. His short tail twitched back and forth feverishly as he stared up at the dark tom above him.  "You will be known as Lynxpaw. "Okay!" He squeaked, a wide grin nearly splitting his little head in two. Lynxpaw, Lynxpaw. Hopefully he wouldn't forget- how embarrassing would that be? The dark-furred apprentice's brow furrowed for a moment as he considered this predicament. He'd have to ask Leopardstar to remind him.
Leopardstar. Another pleasant jolt of surprise and happiness spread through the tom as he remembered the golden tom. His father. How amazing was it to have one of those?

Suddenly, the chanting of the crowd brought him back to earth. Lynxpaw, Lynxpaw, Lynxpaw. He quickly grinned again, looking around as he was swarmed with cats. They were celebrating him! How wonderful was that?
Lynxpaw looked around for his mentor. In all the excitement, he completely forgot what his name was. What did it start with? Bear... no... Fairtooth? The little bob-tailed tom sat down, scanning the crowd for a familiar face. He didn't know anyone named Fairtooth or anything similar (although to be fair he was able to count all of the cats he knew by name on his front paw). Leopardstar, his siblings, and Marsh... Marshstorm?
The newly-named apprentice shook himself. That doesn't matter right now. He was on his way.

Suddenly, a faint voice reached his large, tufted ears. "Another one, Beartooth? You must be doing something right. I can't believe Marshstorm gave you four apprentices." "Beartooth!" That was it! "Beartooth, where are you? I'm ready to train now!"

His head was lowered in disinterest as the ceremony commenced. Beartooth should have been happy to watch another apprentice named but in his current state nothing seemed to spark his interest nor pull him out of the cold depths of his own thoughts that had come to the forefront of his mind. Never did he think that this would mean another apprentice for him. With three cats already at his paws, eager for training into warriorhood, the tabby was overwhelmed. In a distant way. There was a pressure on him to raise those three into fine warriors and yet he had barely managed to find time for training between forcing himself into patrols while dealing with the healing of his own self-inflicted scars. With his shoulders slumped forward as he was lost in his own mind-numbed state without thinking of much of anything, the warrior's green eyes were fixed on the camp floor.

As Marshstorm called out his name, Beartooth slowly looked upwards and fixed his former mentor with an unintentionally pleading stare. It mostly came across in the form of a dull, tired gaze. But, regardless, he hauled himself slowly onto his paws with that inherent sense of duty that had driven him since a young kit. Even now, pushed back to the recesses of his thoughts, it still managed to find its way into his actions. Normally, the excitement of the young apprentice would have proven infectious and caused some sort of reflection on his mentor's maw, but there was no fanged grin today. Instead, he padded over slowly and merely flicked an ear, "Training starts tomorrow, Lynxpaw. Rest for now."