This Is Why (Closed Skirmish)

Graypaw strolled along the territory behind the rest of the patrol, her usual nerves heightened by the fact that Rippedsky, the deputy, was leading it. She'd only ever seen the tom from a distance, and she felt anxious just being around him. What if he was judging her? What if she wasn't worthy to be in SkyClan, and got kicked out? The fears were probably irrational, of course, but they kept nagging at her just the same. She tagged along with Swiftpaw and Blazingpaw, dreading the moment when she would inevitably be asked to hunt. She was... bad at it, to say the least. The first time she'd tried to climb a tree and catch a bird, she'd barely jumped up a few mouse-lengths, and then had fallen flat on her face in the snow. Hopefully, the instincts everyone said she should have, would have been born with as a pure-blood SkyClan cat, would kick in- and finally, she'd soar in the air along with her Clanmates. But when she thought of leaping in the air and climbing trees, it just felt wrong. She knew she should have wanted it, but she'd rather be running and playing chase with the other apprentices. Not that any of them were at all interested in the same things she was. Her wishes she kept to herself. Either way, she walked through SkyClan territory with the deputy, a warrior and two other apprentices, afraid that a cat she had been taught to respect would see how incompetent she was.

Rippedsky stood at the head of the patrol, quickly picking his way through the snow. Short fur was not the best for this season. But, they had to get things done. Since he had begun recovering, the deputy longed to be out of camp as much as he could handle. Those moons cooped up inside the medicine cat's den had been less than pleasant. But, that was all over now. They had things to focus on in the moment. His tail flicked in a silent signal for the rest of the patrol to carry on. Given the lack of prey, they had to check every inch of the territory just in case there was something around. After some time he raised his nose to test the air. There was the scent of thrush nearby. A soft smile curled up the edge of his lips. At least there was something out here today.

The black and white tom fell back to match pace with Graypaw. He had spent little time with the apprentice but wanted to check up on her progress. His head lowered to meow softly into her ear, to avoid startling the prey, "Let's see what you can do." Blue eyes sparkling as he glanced at the future warrior, he encouraged her to give it a try. Rippedsky signaled for the rest of the patrol to halt near the border while they waited for her to go after the bird.

Mallowbrook took any opportunity when it came to patrols. She like being out of camp as it built up her confidence. She felt that she could accomplish many things as a warrior despite being blind. She was also kind of excited following behind the deputy, who had been gravely ill for a long period of time. "Seeing" him up and running patrols gave her a boost of life. When Rippedsky told them to halt, she stopped and listened to what was happening. She did wish she could see but that never stopped her from finding out what was going on.

Blazingpaw was walking behind the deputy and Mallowbrook, a skip in his step. He was happy finally getting out of camp after three long days of getting stuck with clan chores. When Rippedsky told them to stop, he curiously cocked his head to one side. Why were they stopping?

Swiftpaw bounced along with the rest of the patrol, his long fur wild and untamed. He had decided that waiting until after his patrols to groom his fur would be better, seeing as it quickly got caught in the branches of trees and the few bushes he found himself getting into. Just like any other apprentice, he was excited to be patrolling with the deputy. Of course, he'd rather not be on a patrol at all. He'd rather be in camp in his nest where he could rest. His training had been tough, and he worked extra hard to impress Crowstar. His attention was taken when Rippedsky told the patrol to stop. He stopped in his tracks, paying close attention to Rippedsky in case something was going on. His ears were perked and he was listening closely, wondering what was going to happen.

As the deputy leaned down low to whisper into her ear, Graypaw almost darted away in fright. She was already so jumpy, it was a wonder she hadn't cleared the tallest tree in the forest yet, and she was more on edge than the precipice of a cliff. The words Rippedsky spoke did nothing to lessen her anxiety. It was an obvious request- more a command, honestly, coming from a deputy- for her to try and catch the bird on a low branch nearby. Any normal SkyClan cat would have found it easy- just a few quick leaps, and the thrush would never see what hit it. Of course, Graypaw was no normal SkyClan cat, as much as she wished she was. But there was no way that she would refuse a deputy's request, not to mention that was the point of patrols. If she ever wanted to be a warrior, despite her subpar skills, she'd have to practice twice as hard. She had already been an apprentice for what seemed like forever, and she wanted to serve her Clan in the best way possible. Despite her apparent oddities, Graypaw was loyal to her Clan, through and through.

Squaring her shoulders determinedly, and trying not to scramble away in terror at the embarrassment she knew was sure to come, the gray tabby she-cat walked quietly up to the tall tree, staring up at the innocent bird that sat there. If he knew the trouble he was causing, Graypaw thought with a spark of ironic amusement, he'd probably start laughing at me. She tried to crouch as Moonlight had attempted teaching her, gathering the power in her hind legs and positioning herself in a way that she could jump towards the branch. She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until she let it out in an explosive exhale. "Here goes." Though she knew what would inevitably happen, a bubble of hope appeared in her heart. Maybe, just maybe, this would be the time that her pure SkyClan blood finally kicked in, and she soared through the air just like the rest of them. And it would feel wonderful, and freeing, and she'd finally be accepted.... But even as she formed the image in her mind, others appeared to counteract it- images from her dreams, of windswept plains and open moors and a dark bengal tom's familiar, smiling face. The little bit of determination she'd had evaporated immediately as she jumped, knees bending in a most un-SkyClan-like way. This one actually propelled her farther up than she'd been expecting, but she wasn't propelling herself through the air like she'd wanted. Graypaw let out a squeak of dismay as she crashed into the branch she'd tried to land atop, scaring away the bird and hitting herself on the head as she careened towards the ground, lean legs flailing wildly. With a decidedly un-triumphant thump, the failure of an apprentice landed on the dirt below, face-first as usual, splayed out like a piece of crowfood.

With a tiny whimper of pain, Graypaw got up into a sitting position, a mark of dirt on her forehead as if even StarClan wanted to point her out- "look at this loser." The thrush, who had fluttered away in an alarmed cloud of feathers when she'd jumped towards it, returned to its branch, obviously certain there was no danger. It was hard to keep her bright, usually happy blue eyes free of the stinging tears that threatened to fill them as she stood up, shaking the dirt- but not the chagrin- out of her fur. Her ears pricked up as she forced them not to droop, staring down at the grass almost challengingly, as if daring it to laugh at her incompetency as well. "StarClan," she mewed despairingly, voice breaking, "why am I such a mess?"

OOC: Enter ThunderClan!

Flickerpaw had been on a border patrol and couldn't help but snicker. She couldn't hold it back. "Hey guys, look! It's a Skyclan cat who can't jump! Even I would have better aim than that!" She sneered. She knew very well that just because of an insult, Skyclan might attack her... on her own land, which would make them trespassers.

Birdflight had stopped mid-walk when she heard Flickerpaw talk about a Skyclan cat. What? A Skyclan patrol was marking as well? This couldn't end good. She quickly walked over to the apprentice and soon saw the other patrol. She bit her lip. The Skyclanners surely heard what Flickerpaw said. She looked back at Dustcloud, trying to figure out what to do.

The black and white deputy watched with interest. He was surprised to see her hesitate for so long but said nothing. However, watching he leap and fall short, he could not help notice how her hindlegs were built more like his than the other Skyclan cats. As she crashed to the ground, Rippedsky rushed to her side. If she wasn't able to hunt like the rest of the clan, why didn't he know? The tom internally berated himself for letting this slip through his paws. His whole intent was to make sure that apprentices were being trained up properly. Moonlight was a good mentor. So what was wrong? Silently, he made a mental note to look into helping her train later. If he could manage living and hunting among the trees, with the pure Windclan blood flowing through his veins, there was no doubt he could help a Skyclan born cat. They would work on it later.

He opened his maw to say something to Graypaw, searching for the right words to comfort her, but a sneer reached his ears first. Along with that came the overwhelming scent of Thunderclan. A patrol. Blue eyes snapped up to meet the one speaking. It was clear the she-cat was an apprentice. Immediately, his defensive nature rose up. No one was allowed to harm his clan by any means. Making sure to still stay positioned between the patrol and Graypaw, the deputy stood straight up and padded up to the border to stand across from Flickerpaw, "Has Blizzardstar not taught you to hold your tongue? I highly doubt that you could manage a leap that could impress any Skyclan cat. Might I suggest thinking before you speak?" His glare was a cold, blue flame as he looked down at the apprentice. In the moment, Graypaw reminded him of Mumblepaw, and that only made things worse. While neither were the best or the bravest, they were still good cats and deserved to be treated as such.

The deputy's still stone look remained as he turned to address the warriors of the patrol, "We are not mousebrained enough to fight over the exchange of a few words, but I will not allow your apprentice to speak to my clanmates that way." In that moment, he seemed so much larger than he was. Rippedsky stood, eyes ablaze, all four legs planted firmly to the ground as he faced the entire patrol. It seemed as if he was ready and willing to take on every cat himself if it came to it. Any trace of his usually upbeat and kind nature disappeared instantaneously. As he waited for a response, his eyes narrowed slightly at the warriors.

Wildpaw failed to hold back her own laughter at the sight, pushing at her sister's shoulder. "Oh, I might actually believe that one." she meowed, the backhanded compliment was her specialty now from being around a certain sarcastic tom for a while. She glared at Rippedsky when he spoke up, looking him up and down with scrutiny. "Blizzardstar doesn't nothing but blather and I'd suggest looking around before you speak." The she-cat raised her head and looked at Graypaw. "Clearly, some of SkyClan's own cats can't manage to leap at all,
let alone impress an unborn kit." She noticed the way Rippedsky seemed to be guarding Graypaw and chuckled. "She can still hear us no matter how puffy you get."

Dustcloud ran to meet up with the rest of the patrol, carrying a scrawny mouse in her maw. All she saw was Rippedsky, the SkyClan deputy, and Flickerpaw facing him over the border. What was going on here? She dropped the prey to the ground, her mind reeling. She looked over at Birdflight, a confused expression adorning her face as she cocked her head. "M-Might I a-ask, R-R-Rippedsky, what in St-StarClan's name h-happened to m-my p-patrol? W-What happened? Fl-Flickerpaw, I sw-swear if you h-had anything t-to do with th-this..." She wasn't about to be rude to the deputy, but she truly wanted to know. "Can't I h-have a s-single p-p-patrol that d-doesn't go wr-wrong?" Her blue eyes stared directly into Rippedsky's, displaying slurred looks of depression, weariness, and anxiety all at the same time. Before she could get an answer, she heard Wildpaw chiming in. This made all emotions disappear at that moment except for anger. "W-Wildpaw! Blizzardstar i-is your l-leader! I expect y-you to tr-treat her w-with the s-same re-respect you would any St-St-StarClan cat! You are in n-no place to b-be talking to Sk-SkyClan like you kn-know anything about w-what goes on o-over th-there! W-Who do you thi-th-think you are, t-talking to a d-d-deputy like that?! The scarred warrior fumed. She looked back to Rippedsky, tired eyes looking up at him from across the border. "I...I'm so s-sorry, Rippedsky." What kind of warrior was she, couldn't even control her own patrol. She looked back to see the apprentice behind the large tom, a look of sincere apology directed her way.

Blazingpaw bit his lip in embarrassment when Greypaw didn't catch the bird. What was worse was that Thunderclan saw it happen. He looked away, angry that the enemy saw a Skyclan cat fail at jumping. He then stood tall like Rippedsky to try and intimidate the Thunderclan patrol. His fluffy coat made him seem much larger than he really was.

Flickerpaw whipped around. "Not me. I just commented on that Skyclan apprentice over there who can't even jump onto a branch! Not my fault Wildpaw's being rude to our leader." Silently, Flickerpaw didn;t like Blizzardstar either.

Graypaw hunched lower as the ThunderClan cats, who had apparently been watching the whole time, commented on her failure with snide remarks. She wished she could just disappear. She wished she could just be a normal cat, a normal SkyClan cat. How could she fail like that? Now SkyClan looked bad to their rivals. Moonlight was a wonderful mentor, it wasn't the silver tabby's fault. And it wasn't because she'd failed to listen- she paid the best attention she could, even when her mind wanted to wander away. However, now that Rippedsky knew what a horrible apprentice she was, would she get kicked out of the Clan? A horrible feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. Why would StarClan do this to her?...

As the deputy defended her- probably feeling pity as well as exasperation- the gray tabby forced herself to stand back up. Appearing weak would help nothing. As much as she wanted to go hide somewhere and cry her sorrows to StarClan, as much as they cared, she knew that this was her chance to salvage at least something from her horrific failure. She walked up to the black-and-white tom, dirt still on her face, legs sore, fur ruffled, eyes determined. She wouldn't let this turn into a fight. "Rippedsky- don't, please don't," she begged, bright blue eyes meeting his. "I don't want a fight. It doesn't matter if I'm a horrible apprentice, right? Just ignore them... They're not worth it..."

Mallowbrook assumed that Graypaw hadn't gotten the bird based on what the Thunderclan apprentice had said. She hissed and made her way next to Rippedsky. A clear frown on her face. How dare they make fun of Graypaw! The blind warrior stood her ground despite Graypaw not wanting trouble.