The Apprentice Life

A soft yawn came from the curled up form of Badgerpaw as he grabbed his tail and attempted to move into a tighter ball. A few moments pasted before the apprentice opened up his eyes and glared at the sun that loomed high above him. He let out a small moan, rolling onto his back as he stretched out. How did anybody sleep like this? WindClan cats were known for sleeping under the moonlight, but it made it hard to nap after the sun rose...Oh how he kinda missed the walls of the nursery. His gaze flickered toward what was the 'apprentice den.' The small tunnel was really just a place for them to hide out when the weather got bad, but he guessed if he couldn't stand the sunlight, he could rest in there....

"Having trouble napping?" A voice spoke up, causing Badgerpaw to roll over and lifted his head to find his father standing not far from him. Twistedfoot grinned at his son as he twitched his whiskers, letting out a small laugh. "Don't worry, Badgerpaw; it's always a bit hard trying to get use to sleeping out doors. But it is a bright, wonderful day. You should be out exploring the moor, not napping."

Badgerpaw snorted as he pulled himself to his paws, stretching out each of his legs one after each other. He flickered his tail at his father as he jumped down from the rock he had been sleeping on, blinking the sleep from his eyes. "Hey, I see you napping a whole lot. Maybe it just runs in the family!" The apprentice said with a yawn.

The grey and white warrior let out a small laugh as he pulled his paws under him. His green eyes sparkled as he gave a brisk nod. "Maybe it does! I do recall my father doing a lot of it also."

Lavenderheart, letting out a sigh as she felt the blazing sun hit her fur. She wasn't too big on sleeping outside, let alone rainy days. Preferring nice, gentle, cloudy days, the blue she-cat sighed, sort of wishing to be back in the nursery's walls. While it was great that she could finally hunt again, it may take awhile to get used to it. Glancing over, she saw Twistedfoot with their son, Badgerpaw, who didn't seem to enjoy the risen sun's light. Stifling a small laugh, the warrior headed over to her mate, hearing him say the last bit about napping too much. Her eyes blinked softly, twitching her whiskers, mewing, "I don't think that should be a good thing to run in the family though. Badgerpaw, when you have kits, make sure that they don't wind up sleeping too much like you and your father! There needs to be apprentices to go catch rabbits for the clan." While it sounded like she was being serious, a glint of humor appeared in her eyes, meaning she was just joking around.

Ravenpaw, wishing she could perk up her ears just a teensy bit, nearly let out a sigh, but held it in. Turning her glance over to where she heard her parents and Badgerpaw, her usual eyes had the hostile, yet mesmerizing effect once again, though her stance was fairly relaxed instead of giving a cold interpretation. Padding over to her kin, she nodded a greeting.

"Hello Ravenpaw, how's training going for you?" her mother mewed in reply to the small black she-cat's bow. Waving her tail a bit, she noticed that her daughter often seemed to look so hostile and tense now, never seeming relaxed until now. The thought lingered for a bit, making Lavenderheart wonder why Ravenpaw was like that. Was it the intense training she was receiving from Shadeheart? If that was so, perhaps she could ask the medicine cat to take it a little easier for her. Now that she thought about it, Ravenpaw was always a bit cold and hostile. She might need to talk to her later about that.

"But napping is fun," Twistedfoot whined with a small frown, but it was easy to see the amusement in his eyes as he turned his gaze to his loving mate. His ears perked up when he saw Ravenpaw, giving the she-cat a large grin...Before noticing the coldness that her eyes held. It made his smile fade a bit, replaced with a bit of worry. He had always noted that Ravenpaw seemed to be a bit...Cold...When...No, wait, she always seemed a bit cold, and no cat should go around every day being cold and hostile. Of course she seemed a bit more relax than normal...

Badgerpaw let out a small laugh, shrugging. "I'll do my best, Lavanderheart," he said with a flicker of his tail, his gaze turning to his sister as she came padding up. He hopped off the rock, strolling up to her with a big grin. "Hey, Ravenpaw!" he said cheerily as he sat down next to her, gently licking one of his paws and bushing it over his ear. "How has training been? We haven't seen each other a whole lot..." he said, his voice drifted off a bit. Having his other siblings being apprentices with him was great of course, but for some reason, he thought of Ravenpaw as his favorite sibling and with her being a medicine cat apprentice; their path didn't cross all that much. "We should really hang out more. It kinda sucks not talking to you like every day..."

Noises were coming from the clearing, breaking in and disturbing Eaglepaw's sleep. Unlike some of the other apprentices, he slept in the den instead of under the stars. It wasn't that he hated the weather, or didn't want to be close to his ancestors, but since he was a new apprentice, he was able to sleep in the den with his siblings, and he rather enjoyed being close to them. Not that he'd admit that to them, of course, but he felt better when their fur was close enough to touch his. It made him feel secure to be so near his family.

Stirring from his sleep, the young apprentice yawned and stepped out of the den, stretching out the weariness from his limbs. Noticing that two other apprentices - Badgerpaw and Ravenpaw - were out in the clearing, he decided to go over and say hello. Bounding across the camp, he skidded to a stop in front of them, inadvertently interrupting their conversation. "Hey you two!" he mewed cheerfully, a nice run across camp doing wonders in waking him up. His father had told him about his own apprentice days, about how he had tended to be by himself rather than around the other apprentices, and Eaglepaw wanted to give off a more social aura. They'd follow his leadership easier when - not if - he became Windclan's grand leader if he exuded confidence and social skills.

Berrypaw was woken up by the sound of his siblings and parents. He yawned and got up. He wasn't that tired but was mainly sleeping because of boredom. Sleeping outside was very different but exciting with the wind blowing through your fur. "Hey! How's everybody's training? I don't see you guys like... ever." he grinned. He did miss playing with them but training was fun.

The glint of humor in Lavenderheart's eyes shined a bit brighter now seeing that her mate was always in the mood for a bit of amusement. Seeing Eaglepaw come over, the she-cat rolled her eyes slightly, mewing, "No respect for your seniors, Eaglepaw?" It seemed that the warrior had gotten into joking around a bit more lately, though why she was like that, was a question. She just assumed that it was because she had been hanging around with her kits for the past moons and the blue she-cat had to amuse them somehow.

Noticing Berrypaw simply because of his unique pelt being so easy to detect, the former Queen licked her son's ear before giving her usual respectful yet gentle nod in greeting. "You, Berrypaw, are too energetic for your own good. I don't know how your siblings can deal with you sometimes!"

Ravenpaw simply nodded to the two older apprentices before she glanced to the side to hear slightly that Badgerpaw and Berrypaw were asking the same question: 'How's training for you?' Blinking a bit, her eyes seemed to suddenly become engulfed with no emotion, colder than usual, as if she was focusing too hard on something.

Glancing back to the medicine cat den, the secluded black she-cat turned her eyes back to her siblings before replying, "Fine... Learning..." As if she was ever going to answer in a full sentence, the small apprentice took a paw step back before starting to head back to her den without a final word.

Turning his head to see Lavenderheart give him a playful scolding, he ducked his head sheepishly. "Sorry Lavenderheart," he mewed softly, nodding to her and to Twistedfoot. However, his attention couldn't stick to just one place, and he quickly looked back only to see Ravenpaw heading back into the medicine cat's den. "Hey, where is she going?" He tipped his head in confusion and frowned. "What got under her fur?" With the entrance of Berrypaw, his attention was once again diverted, although he still felt a bit off-put by Ravenpaw's abrupt exit. "Hey Berrypaw! I haven't started my training yet, but I can't wait."

Berrypaw nodded. "Isn't it so exciting? Being apprentices!" he then noticed Ravenpaw walk away after giving thema short answer to his question. "Ravenpaw! Come back!" he yowled after her. He frowned. Why did Ravenpaw just walk away? Was she upset? It made him feel sad seeing other people sad.

Badgerpaw frowned as he watched his sister leave them, but turned his gaze to Eaglepaw as he waved his tail over at him. He glanced at the two apprentices, letting out a soft sigh. "I haven't started my training yet either, but I do have to say being an apprentice is pretty neat."

Twistedfoot also frowned as he watched Ravenpaw leave, shaking his head as he glanced at his mate. It was always a downer, seeing Ravenpaw being so distance like that. They would have to speak to her...Perhaps if the family ever did something together, it would help cheer Ravenpaw up. of course, his gaze turned to Badgerpaw when he heard his son hadn't started any training yet. "I have a feeling Raccoonstar hasn't been able to train you because you've been sleeping whenever she has time too," Twistedfoot teased, but he had a feeling that the real reason that Badgerpaw hadn't had any training yet was because as leader, Raccoonstar was busy most of the time. Hopefully Raccoonstar would get on that soon thought...

"Sleeping?" Eaglepaw mewed, playfully prodding Badgerpaw with an outstretched paw. "Looks like I'll become a warrior before you do then, huh?" Laughing softly, the brown-furred apprentice padded around his two fellow apprentices. "Let's do something!" he mewed excitedly, swishing his tail back and forth. "Bet I can beat you both to the other side of camp!" It was a childish competition, but Eaglepaw had grown bored just lounging around camp. He lived for more exciting things to occur.

Berrypaw jumped up, his pride (and ego) got the better of him. "No, I'm faster!" he said taking up the challenge as he sprinted away. He loved the feeling of wind in his fur.

Grinning broadly, Eaglepaw hauled tail after Berrypaw, leaving Badgerpaw behind as he quickly caught up and ran neck and neck with Berrypaw. The wind felt amazing running through his fur, and it didn't take him long to break ahead of his fellow apprentice. The edge of camp loomed ahead and he reached it a pawstep ahead, crossing the camp boundaries and skidding to a stop at the beginning of Windclan's hunting territory. Nearly falling over, he righted himself and looked back to Berrypaw, smiling triumphantly. "Well, it looks like I'm faster, huh?" He was out of breath from the run, his chest heaving with the effort of speaking, but the victory, however small, gave him a continued source of energy. I bet no apprentice is faster than me!

Berrypaw shrugged. he didn't think that being the fastest was the best skill to have. Maybe the strongest he thought. "Well, you caught me by suprise." he sniffed though he wasn't really offended or anything.