hakuna matata [closed]

Swallowing the final morsels of the scrawny mouse, Elmcloud leaned back onto his haunches with a soft burp. Adjusting to the limited portions commonly associated with Leafbare had been quite an accomplishment for the voracious tom, but he was making due- even if he felt like he was simply going to waste away some days. Lifting his cold-numbed paw up to his mouth to scrub at his face to free it of any remaining traces of his previous meal, the lazy young Warrior watched his bustling Clanmates hurry about the snow-drenched camp, but as usual, he made no move to join them.

He knew that he ought to be training Blossompaw- but truth be told, he had no idea where the young she-cat had gone off to after her ceremony. Elmcloud could often see Rippedsky and Crowstar's disapproving gazes for every day that they didn't spot him training his Apprentice, but he simply shrugged off the older tom's stares. Whenever Blossompaw was ready for training, she would come to him! Flopping onto his back with a heavy thud that sent a wave of snow into the air, Elmcloud allowed his eyes to drift shut as he basked in the weak sunlight of the Leafbare day, doing his best to ignore the fierce rumbling within his belly as he slowly began to doze off.

Blossompaw was bored. She knew nothing so she wasn't on any patrols. She clambered out of the Apprentices' Den, sitting outside it to scan the camp for Elmcloud. She heard a thunk and glanced in that direction to see a big puff of snow. She stood up, confused. She scooped a pawful of snow into her paw, flinging it into the air. Huh. It really is quite fluffy. For snow, anyway. She breathed out, watching it appear as smoke and dissipate into the air. She looked back over at where the giant poof of snow had been. There laid Elmcloud, dozing. She marched over to him. "There you are, Elmcloud!
Why haven't you taught me anything yet? All I've done so far is talk to my siblings, the elders, and take a peek into the Medicine Cat's Den!" She huffed, angrily pawing him. She was sure not to hurt him, though.

Sleep bleary eyes drifting shut, Elmcloud titled his head back further in hopes of allowing more of the chilly sunlight to fall upon his face- and hopefully warming it up more as well. Whiskers twitching softly, the young tom continued to sprawl about lazily, without much care as to the irritated glances his Clanmates threw his way. However, just as he was about to drift off into a deep sleep, a shrill voice and a paw jabbing at him completely crushed away the soothing tendrils of sleep that had enveloped him just moments prior. One eye slipped open to gaze at the irritated figure of Blossompaw, who towered above him, his molten amber eye mimicking the younger she-cat's irritation. " 'S cause it's too cold to train," Elmcloud yawned widely, exposing a mouthful of sharp teeth, "Why would you willingly want to go out in the cold and snow?"

Blossompaw gawked. "Um, hel-LO! You're my MENTOR. You're supposed to teach me these things! I can't hunt for my Clan if we go hungry, and what if someone attacked? I can't fight!
Because of that, we could LOSE. Somecats could DIE if another Clan attacked us, and a few could end up being YOUR FAULT. Because you didn't teach me. Or our clan could starve, or I could stay an apprentice forever and die without becoming a warrior, or maybe you'd just get in trouble. Crowstar can change my mentor to someone who's RESPONSIBLE, you know." She just hoped she was convincing enough. Sure, she might be overreacting a bit, but that was just for persuasive tactics.

The young tom twisted slightly, his head falling against the soft, undisturbed snow as he gazed at the ruffled apprentice before him. Elmcloud's eyes held their usual perpetual state of rather condescending amusement, his whiskers twitching slightly as a gust of snow lightly dusted them once more. Crowstar certainly knew what he was doing whenever he paired them together, didn't he? "But what good with it do for any cat if I take you out in the territory, only for you to get sick?" He refuted, his tone still relaxed and unbothered as he spoke to Blossompaw, "Leafbare is a hard season- even the strongest of cats can get taken down by the smallest of illnesses. We need to do as much as we can to protect what little herbs we have." Rolling onto his side completely, and sending up a small puff of snow in the process, Elmcloud gave Blossompaw another amused glance.

"But if you're that concerned about our apparent imminent destruction, I'm sure we can figure out a training exercise to do in camp." Elmcloud pointed out once more, displaying his snow-white teeth in another wide yawn.

Blossompaw huffed. "You know, there are only a few battle exercises we can do in camp!
We can't hunt in camp, other than cat tails, and I've hunted plenty of those. If you don't want to be responsible like I will be when I'm a warrior, and like everyone else's mentors, I can ask Crowstar for a new mentor."

Elmcloud's gaze was dubious at best, one brow cocking up as he continued to listen to the apprentice speak. "And who said anything about battle moves?" He responded, his ear twitching as he spoke, "There's hardly any room for such practice and we don't need to be getting under any cat's paws." The tom lifted his head up more fully, his attentive gaze scanning the barren undergrowth that lined SkyClan's camp, clearly searching for something. Rolling forwards and onto his belly, the tall tom pushed himself to his paws with a nearly silent puff of effort. Padding towards a brittle fern bush, Elmcloud reached out with a nimble paw to gently break away a half-dead branch from plant.

Padding back towards Blossompaw, he deposited the branch several tail-lengths away from the young she-cat. Lifting his head and gazing at the apprentice with an apathetic gaze, "Hunting is more important at times like this anyways- you can fight battles if your entire Clan has starved." Sitting down beside the slumped over branch and neatly wrapping his tail around his paws, Elmcloud fluffed out his fur before speaking once more, "We're going to practice your stalking and leaping techniques. So that way once you are ready to go out hunting, you'll catch more than the other apprentices."

Blossompaw sighed. "You should put more work into being convincing because I'm not even close to being convinced. I'm guessing you didn't even want to be a mentor, did you? But fine,
I'll do the SAME THING that I've been doing since I was a kit and do little hunting moves on tails, leaves, and butterflies." She said, allowing all of her irritation let out in her voice. She wanted to go and get taught actual things, and Elmcloud was just lazy. "I'll ask Crowstar later to change my mentor to someone who'll actually teach me something." Blossompaw was a kind and hadn't lost her temper so far in her life, but Elmcloud was definitely going to change that. Nothing made her angrier than irresponsibility, and if Crowstar didn't acknowledge Elmcloud's problem when she told him, Blossompaw was going to get seriously mad.

The leader was actually close by, talking with some of the other warriors. They had finished their talk when the leader over heard the changing mentors situation. The black fluffy leader padded over to the pair. "Whats this about wanting to change mentors?" The leader asked, his voice remaining a monotone. He still treated Elmcloud like one of his kits even though he wasn't, he believed in his not so much son. He felt the warrior would excel one day.

Elmcloud listened to Blossompaw's angered words with the same neutral expression on his face, his head tilting slightly as he let the younger speak without interruption. Shifting his paws in the painfully cold snow, his ear merely twitched as the apprentice continued on with her lack of compliance. However, before he could try another futile attempt at speaking, he noticed Crowstar's approach, something that made his whiskers twitch.

At his adoptive father's words, Elmcloud gave him a slight shrug in response. "Blossompaw wishes to change mentors because apparently she thinks I'm incapable of training her- although I did give her a training exercise like she wished, but according to her it's not enough." He explained with a wry tone, hardly able to find offense in the constant onslaught of insults that Blossompaw had tried to swamp him with. "I'm sure that Blossompaw has more to say though; the usual about how apparently I'm a terrible Warrior and she's already too skilled for basic hunting techniques." Elmcloud prompted, giving Blossompaw an inquisitive glance, a sneaking suspicion of what the young she-cat would say gathering in his belly.

Blossompaw was fuming on the inside. "I never said I'm too skilled, and I don't care a whisker about catching more than the other apprentices! You're perfectly good as a warrior, but you just don't seem to want to leave camp. I just want to do something that's not what I've been doing for my whole life!" She was less than a hairs-width from absolute rage unleashed.

Crowstar let out a sigh. He had faith in Elmcloud, but he did need to take his apprentice out every once and a while. "Blossompaw I'm sure you can wait a few more days to go out of camp. Besides the weather isn't good, we don't need you racing out there only to come back with a cold. Trust your mentor he has more experience than you do." The leader looked over to his adopted son. "Make sure you take her out when the weather gets better okay?" He told the warrior. "For now Blossompaw basic hunting training will have to do." The leader said. "Anything else?"

ooc) sorry I didn't get a notification about posts in this topic! D:


"If you have anymore suggestions about a more interesting training exercise, I'd be willing to you hear you out." Elmcloud mewed after a heartbeats reprieve, his head titling ever so slightly in a curious manner, while his ears twitched sharply as his gaze flitted back and forth between Blossompaw and Crowstar, waiting for either of them to speak of their own suggestions. "Perhaps something more interesting and experience-building for the sake of Blossompaw." He rumbled, his tail tip twitching briefly as he spoke to the two cats who stood before him.