...The Sky is Much Clearer (closed)

Wide green eyes shiny, Sneezingpaw practically hopped out of the apprentice den. "Menacepaw! Get up! Moms said we're gonna go learning to swim!" She chirped, punctuated by a sneeze. The big, white spotted (or was she black spotted?) Apprentice trotted to the edge of camp, a goofy grin on her maw.

"What'cha think the waters gonna be like? Eeeh, I hope it's not sl--achoo!--imey!" Sneezingpaw mewed, laughing as she all but pranced alongside her sister. "Do'ya think we'll see our birdie friend?"

Honeytongue sat at the entrance of the camp, turning to see Sneezingpaw padding from the apprentice's den, only to pause to call back towards Mountianpaw - or...Well, 'Menacepaw' as the two loved to refer to her as. The warrior paled a little, having never figured out a polite way to explain to them that the word 'menace' wasn't a good thing. But...She didn't want to make them sad and she suppose if they didn't refer to anybody else with that...

She sighed. It was going to get them into trouble one day, wasn't it? "Come on you two!" she meowed, perking up a little as she glanced at the her two apprentices. It had been strange to get two at once but she wasn't all that surprise in hindsight - the two were about attached at the tail. She doubted they would be able to focus if they were on their own, having her take care of both of her adopted children's training made things slightly easier. She had to admit thought, she wasn't that excited to teach them how to swim. She had a feeling it was going to be a pawful with these two...

Mountainpaw rolled over onto her stomach, waking from her nap as soon as Sneezingpaw spoke. Swimming?? That sounded almost as good as flying! She jumped to her feet and bounded out of the apprentice den alongside her sister, sending dust flying with each heavy step. "Oh, I bet it's gonna be all floaty! I heard that water makes you float. Like a leaf! Leaves float!" She caught up to Honeytongue, ecstatic grin on her face. "Momma! Hello! Are you gonna teach us to swim? Are you gonna teach us to fish?" Her voice was high and hopeful.

She galloped up ahead and skidded to a halt at RiverClan's exit, hopping from foot to foot like a puppy waiting at the door. "Karenpaw! Come on, before the water dries up!" Of course, they weren't going anywhere without Honeytongue's guidance, but Mountainpaw was simply too excited to go at any sort of reasonable pace.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'!" Sneezingpaw chirped in reply, blowing raspberries at Mountainpaw. "I'm so happy Mister Hoo Hoo made us your Appren-- achoo!--tices, mom!" The molly beamed, bouncing up and down. "Oooohh, floating sounds fun!"

Pounce trotting ahead, Sneezingpaw wriggled through a clump of reeds, sneezing four twice repetitively. Sniffling, she flashed Mountainpaw a cheeky grin, tongue poking out. "Catch me if ya can!" she yowled, charging.

Unfortunately, she didn't account for her clumsiness, and about a foxlength from the river's edge, she tripped over a pebble, her height and weight propelling her forward— far enough to tip her into the river. "WOOOAAAAAHHH!" With a SPLASH! Sneezingpaw flopped into the river, gasping as she kicked hard, adjusting surprisingly quickly. With the fur on her large ears slicked down, she looked almost like Dennisbro. "Mom! Mom! Lookie, lookie! I'm'ma fishy!!" The black and white speckled molly squealed, her head (and the brief flash of paws) not looking nearly as big now that her fur was slicked down.

"Yes, we are going over swimming today," Honeytongue purred, glancing at her two adopted kits. "I need to make sure you two can both handle yourselves in the water." Her purr cut off as Mountianpaw referred to Sneezingpaw as 'Karenpaw.' Another one of their nicknames for each other...Only she didn't actually know what a 'karen' was...But, well, if she could only assume that due to Meancepaw being Mountianpaw's nickname, 'karen' had to be a bad word as well. She could only hope they would grow out of it but...She had doubts with how quickly they were to give nicknames to others.

She shook her head, glancing over at Sneezingpaw as she spoke up. "And I'm happy to be both of your mentors. Now-" she had started to speak, to warn of them approaching the river but the words died on her tongue as Sneezingpaw shouted out a challenge to Mountianpaw and darted forward...And managed to trip and roll right into the river. Honeytongue's fur stood on edge as she raced after her water-logged apprentice - fearful that Sneezingpaw, not being a natural born RiverClan cat, would have trouble treading water without a lesson first but to her relief, Sneezingpaw seemed unconcerned as she squealed out in joy. "That's...Wonderful, dear," Honeytongue purred - slightly force as she tried to recover from the surge of energy that had flooded her at the thought of her daughter being in danger. "But, we should take this slowly. Please climb out for a second, I need to see if your fur is repelling or logging water."