The beginning of a slow metamorphosis [open]

OOC: This topic uses the fluid time nature of WCC and has been approved to do so, if you join it do your best to not reference other topics to keep the timeline somewhat intact XD. ... (that being said, referencing the deputy ceremony or the river-clan run in from "Getaway" is obviously perfectly fine as they happened before this and they are the reason for his grounding obviously so they can be referenced) In some ways this is kind of a solo but I want to keep it open for others to interact cause I always like open topics. The entirety of this topic spans a moon worth of time so the changes that Softpaw undergoes do not happen overnight, the moon is the time of (punishment more on that word choice later) that stoatstar assigned him to not leave camp.  Also, the elder is an npc... I wanted so badly to give him a name but I knew that npc characters are meant to be pretty shallow at best so I tried to keep it pretty vauge as to who he was so that is the reason he gets no name :( , but he was needed to nudge Softpaw in the right direction as im sure you will soon see. ... wow very long ooc sorry about that and away we go...

IC:


Softpaw awoke in the apprentice den. He sighed full of regret and despair... today was his first day in confinement to the clan camp.  His reckless actions recently with the deputy ceremony and even more recently with the run in with the riverclan deputy border dispute he had landed himself in a lot of trouble with Stoatstar who had placed him to camp grounding for one moon. He sighed knowing he would not be able to go out hunting or training at all and would be stuck here in camp for a long time... a whole moon! it hardly seemed fair but he had learned slowly not to argue... he would just have to keep his head down and do this.
He wanted so badly to go out and gather food for the clan... how was he supposed to help thunderclan like this??
Sighing unenthused he got to his paws and walked out of the apprentice den.  Hmm what had Stoatstar even said? ... Oh right. General cleanup and keeping an eye on the kits and elders and when there was down time between all that he could work on the wall defences that lined the camp... hmm... right now he failed to see how that would move the clan ahead as much as if he were out hunting ect.... sure they were good things to do but ... like really?? they needed food. He swiped at the ground in anger, it was directed at himself for landing himself in such a bad position.
He went about his tasks generally unenthused and with little effort put into it this lasted the entirety of the week.  The kits begged him to play as he worked on cleaning the nursery, he declined every time as politely as he could not wanting his tasks to take any longer than they already did.

The second week went about the same as the first, he was unhappy and it showed very clearly in his motivation and how he carried himself, he did all his tasks but there was no joy in it and he was frustrated with it, his clan was hungry and he could be out there helping but no he had to make stupid decisions and now he was locked up with no way to help. He felt so down on himself and the feeling of self guilt burdened him greatly.
Every time a patrol went out to hunt or patrol the borders Softpaw watched them leave with such longing to be able to join them. He fumed angerly at himself that he was stuck here instead. Between his tasks he found himself staring at the camp exit wishing so much he could rejoin his clan in long hunts or even a walk around the forest. By this time, Softpaw had become so numb, he hated feeling so trapped to the confinements of camp, the walls that held him in felt like a prison.  He longed for the days when he could roam the forest freely and do something "meaningful" for camp. His tasks were so repetitive and he found himself sinking into a trap of utter broadness with them. Every day felt to be the same, wake up, clean out the nursery, clean out the elders den and get them new bedding, pick ticks off the elders, listen to the long long sidewinding stories of the elders, then work on weaving together wall brambles to keep unwanted visitors out... a very dry and repetitive task that often left him with sore pads as the brambles sometimes poked him as he tried to work with them over and over and over again the days dragged by...


This continued until one day when checking in on the elders, an elder who was usually asleep for his visits was awake this time and the old cat started a conversation with Softpaw that would change how he viewed things at large and in general for the rest of Softpaw's life....

The elder started off by thanking Softpaw for what he was doing, The hot headed apprentice gave a snort to this "yeah lot of good im doing for the clan... I'm a total mousebrain for getting myself into this position ... I just want to help thunderclan but every time I do I seem to screw it all up! Now im stuck in here doing useless tasks" he hissed in annoyance at himself, alot of this anxst had come from the long days spent cooped up in camp with no where else to go and the constant desire to have something more.

The elder gave him a side glance and chuckled "Oh you are for sure a mousebrain... just not in the way you think" he cuffed Softpaw's ears the way an old relative might if trying to talk some sense into a child.  "Do you really think that what you have been doing this past moon has not helped the clan?" he asked softpaw as he flicked his tail around pointing to the nursery, the elders den and the camp wall.  "I have never seen the nursery so clean before when I visit those kits they look and seem much happier" he started.
"It has done a lot to take the burden off the queens who live there and they appreciate your work Softpaw."
"And the camp wall, not bad for a youngster I suppose he gave a wink at this teasing Softpaw a little.  Softpaw who took himself far too seriously rolled his eyes at this remark but the elder did succeed in getting a slight grin out of the apprentice.  "And I may be biased but taking care of the clan elders is not so useless I might argue." he finally added on... "Softpaw... there is more than one way to serve your clan and that does not have to always be just in fighting or gathering food... what you are doing here, now is still helping. So stop pitying yourself sit up straight and take some pride in what you are doing" he snapped.

Softpaw shot up straight at the new tone in his voice and thought about his words for a long while as he continued pulling fleas and other little parasites off the old cats pelt. He had not seen it like this before, he wondered if Stoatstar was truly punishing him or if he wanted Softpaw to learn something like this... perhaps neither and Softpaw was just actually going insane locked up in here... hmm probably the latter he thought to himself jokingly.

As he finished with the elders and the rest of the tasks for that day he lay awake in the apprentice den thinking about what the elder had said as he drifted of to sleep.  When he awoke for the next day the anger in him was a little less sharp his self dissapointment a little less as well as he poked his head out of the den stretching. He started off with the nursery routine, he cleaned but this time did not grime or moap about as he did so, he was more effecient in his work.  He even took the extra time to take extra bedding moss leftovers and squeezed them between cracks in the nursery walls and roof, any tiny cracks he could find were filled in this manner to keep the cold out and insulate the den. Stepping back it looked... nice he was for the first time in all his moon being grounded here... happy. He glanced around and upon seeing no one he even let out a little purr, he still saw himself as a stone faced warrior who would not want anyone thinking he was marveling over something such as this.  Thats when a soft chuckle sounded behind him... someone had indeed seen him "Not bad kid... not bad" the elder laughed a bit. "Come on ill help you out with the clan wall defense" he flicked his tail and Softpaw just gave a short nod in reply and followed him over to the part that was being redone/beefened up.

The two worked together putting brambly bushes up to protect against predator attacks or possibly in an unfortunate event even enemy clan attacks.  As they worked a sharp barb sliced Softpaw's paw pad slicing it clean open which caused quite a bit of pain.
Softpaw let out a slew of words that I will leave the reader to decide and will not repeat here but im sure you can guess the gist.
The elder cuffed Softpaw's ears again, "That temper of yours... you need to learn to control it before it controls you!" he snapped.
Softpaw swiped at the ground in anger and frustration "yeah... ok tell me something I dont know ... genious" he retorted. ... he closed his eyes already regretting that comment... why did he have such a hard time with this? he wondered to himself.
The elder sat besides him Softpaw... if you can be patient in one moment of anger, you can save yourself 10 days of sorrow." he told him "It seems to me that is how you got yourself into this ... lately I think you have been pretty sorrow-full. ... see if you can control that fire of yours a bit better, at least learn to direct it... otherwise its gonna control you" he got up walking away yawning to go take a nap leaving Softpaw to finish up. Softpaw sighed wiping his paw clean and continued the days work.


Softpaw awoke the next day the sun peaking though the apprentice den entrance.  He got to his paws quickly... this was his last day of the moon of punishment... he stopped and thought for a moment hmm perhaps it was not a punishment after all ... with this new mindset he restarted...
this was the last day of his moon long ... lesson. He padded out of the apprentice den he visited the nursery and played with the kittens that he had slowly gotten to know over the course of the moon, before he had seen this as childish and below him... now he saw things on a slightly deeper level, this allowed for a couple of things, Firstly it allowed the queens a break to rest and catch a quick nap as their kits were out of the nursery directly for once.  Secondly it allowed the kits to develop bonding time with him and each other and it helped them develop skills they could use later in life as well.  The kittens were shocked he finally agreed and were happy to all tackle and pile up ganging up on the apprentice who was soon tackled and pinned to the ground.  

If a version of himself from a moon ago were to see what he was doing, his past self would have smacked him and told him to grow up and get to work, but that past version of Softpaw was shallow and had much to learn... even the present version of Softpaw needed quite a bit of work and continued guidence from where he was...

He was still an angry cat with quite a large fire to control, it was just now a little more contained a little less off the cuff and furious.  If nothing else, he know knew the danger this fire possesed and the need to control it rather than it him.

Getting to his feet and excusing himself from the kittens playing, he walked to the fresh kill pile there was one last thing he wanted to do, over the past couple days he had noticed a large amount of birds being caught and he had been saving their feathers.  Stoatstar had told him his task was in general to maintain and improve the quality of camp life, so he was going to do just that, ... and now he was not even all that upset about it, his moon long lesson had taught him there was indeed more to helping the clan than just hunting or fighting... even if those were still his favorite for now.

Gathering the feathers he had previously and the new bird feathers from the pile, plucking them off, he went around to all the different dens in thunderclan and lined the nests with the soft feathers for his clanmates, the elders den was last. As he entered his friend stood greeting him.
"hmm so the moon is up ... guess I wont be seeing much more of you then eh?" he asked Softpaw tilting his head.

Softpaw chuckled a little "Well... yes the moon is up... but you can't get rid of me that easily" he winked joking back at him, for once he allowed a small unchecked purr before returning to his usual stone faced killer look of trying to represent a starlingflare type figure.
The elder grinned and nodded... "You ever talk to Stoatstar about things?" he asked tilting his head.
Softpaw shook his head "No... not on purpose, we have both just been super busy I suppose... but your right I guess I should... he desrves an appology... errr hmm maybe half an apology anyways" he winked at the elder jokingly, they had developed quite the game of teasing each other and a good realtional friendship had formed over their time spent together.  The two unlikeliest of friends sat togehter watching the sunset before going back to their respective dens for the night.

Having finished the moon, Softpaw was now free to go back to the greater part of thunderclan territory, but in some ways, in alot of ways, he felt freer on a deeper level far beyond what just the physical boundaries were no longer in place for him.  Still, all that being said he couldnt wait to get out and hunt something tomorrow.