Burning with Ambitions [Open, Patrol Topic]

Several sunsets. That was how long it had been since he had received his apprentice name. In that time, the imposing, young calico found himself growing slightly restless. His paws itched for something to do. Scorchstar, his given mentor, had been busy each passing night with one of the many leadership duties that had come along with the leadership title. Lichenmask in his life had possessed only the title of a warrior, given to him by Riverclan's leadership. The stars that had supposedly chosen him to lead the clans into a new era gifted him with other things, ones not conventional to the forests leaders. In this way, Scorchstar seemed insignificant. But there were qualities the leader possessed that made him... different, in a good way. He was wary in his trust of any cat, and even more careful in reserving his hesitations to inward speculation. It was harder to be critical when clouded up with personal attachments. Allowing himself to build relationships within Shadowclan had made the process easier but he still managed to analyze each of them individually. His brain constantly demanded he mull over even the most minuscule of details.

This dusk, the tom considered who he would be on patrol with. The knowledge he would be going out was given in the form of an order. Doing a variety of tasks to fulfill his future job as a warrior was necessary. Even before he had been with Shadowclan, even with the exiles of all clans, he had longed to be a warrior like his father. To exude confidence and be able to defend and care for the cats that looked to him for guidance. Burntpaw found himself more and more determined to channel that desire into the clan in which he now resided. Under some grand delusion that could have only come from being his father's son, Burntpaw could see a future where despite the cold season and supposed starvation, Shadowclan stood stronger than any clan before. His own picture had begun to transform into something different from Lichenmask's, slowly taking shape in its own way. While he was not yet entirely set on what he believed, the calico's vision was only just beginning to take shape. But for now, it would start with one patrol at a time, doing the duties he was set to do in order to be a great warrior.

When another cat finally joined him, he abandoned any additional thoughts and considered the thing at paw, "Are you on the dusk patrol?" He meowed smoothly, inquiring of ther other cat.

Mapleshine was restles, the events of last moons still fresh in her mind and the death of her only living sister leaving her disgusted.
it was a good thing she died Shadowclan does not need fox-hearted traitors and even dough she tried to soot herself with these thoughts the death of her sister still stung. Besides just an unloyal sister she also had to deal with the death's of two brothers of her, Aspenpaw and Stonepaw exiled together with Brushgaze. Why does it still bother you? They were exiles traitors to Shadowclan and their family!.
Sighing deeply she walked towards the exit of camp wondering with who she was assigned to patrol with, when she saw the cat she flinched Burntpaw the son of her sister and her nephew.
Truth to be told she did her best avoiding any of her nephews and niches as much as she could not wanting to look at the kits that should have never been born.

That was the thing that might just hurt the most, she had always hoped that one of her many sisters would have kits. She had thought she would love them being able to see young kits grow and realize you shared blood, being so happy for your sister that she would have a success in life with bringing kits and happiness to the clan. And there Brushgaze was shattering all of her dreams of getting a happy family by getting kits from a Riverclan cat, Lichenmask of all cats!
No, she had decided she would not see these kits as anything but a mistake. And she would make sure they knew that to.

"yes I am, good to see that atleast one of your bloodline makes an effort of doing things for the clan"

His intense green stare met Mapleshine. This immediately caused him to want to tense up but the apprentice merely clenched his teeth slightly and gave no outward notion of his frustrations. Like every other cat of Shadowclan, this warrior was one of his clan and would be treated as such, not as an enemy, even if she seemed intent on seeing him in such a manner. From what he had learned, several of their kin lived on within Shadowclan. It had been Brushgaze's birth clan after all. While a pawful had defected to the exiles and followed Lichenmask, few remained here. Mapleshine was one of those few. Meaning the pair of them were kin. If she had any sort of skill in taming her disdain, the warrior had not once shown that. But it was likely intentional. After all, in her eyes, he and his siblings were nothing more than the unholy offspring of a traitor and a murder, only further condemned by their clans of origin.

His whiskers twitched in his own amusement as he remembered the fact that the very cat who had come to condemn the clans for their loose care for the code and fleeting clan loyalty had fallen into his own disregard for the law of Starclan. It was this, among many other reasons, that had not only made him begun to question his father but began to plant seeds of hatred for his parentage. Burntpaw had once been lost without the guidance of his father but over his time in Shadowclan had begun to think for himself and develop his own thoughts outside those that had been impressed upon him. He looked at everything with an objective, critical eye, giving little merit to nothing beyond his own whiskers. After a moment of the internal churning of his own thoughts, the calico apprentice finally nodded to the cat that was to accompany him on the patrol. Seeing her as kin was not necessary unless she too acknowledged that fact.

"I am a Shadowclan apprentice, Mapleshine. It is my duty to serve the clan in whichever my leader sees fit." The words slid easily from his tongue, and any spite was buried deep within the back of his throat, never to be given any merit. He would not meet her poisonous tone with one of his own, Burntpaw sought to tame his maw, unlike the riotous brother of his that would likely only give more credit to claims such as their aunt's. He held her gaze for a moment before turning to the clan entrance as the internal processing continued. Everything seemed peaceful in the frozen marshes, a tone vastly different from the frigid tensions between kin. Burntpaw was largely unaffected by the ice of her words or any other treatment she had decided to bestow on him due to the circumstances of his birth. There was a brief hope that some other cat would join their patrol, if not just for the sake of companionship, but he could have cared less either way.

There was a flicker of a memory that seemed to worm its way into the back of his skull. It caused his head to snap back to Mapleshine. Something about her gaze was curiously familiar. As unsurprising as the notion was, it still struck a chord within him. Eventually, it came to him. He stared into a gaze that mirrored Aspenpaw's. Even the faintest of his kithood memories had stayed with him over the moons. Unnerved ever so slightly, his whiskers twitched with a mild discomfort. Even in the late tom's rather unhinged state, something not unlike Slatepaw's, Burntpaw had fond memories of learning to fight with the former Shadowclan apprentice. Finally, he let out a breath and muttered largely to himself, "I can't fix what my past kin has done, what our kin has done. I can worry about my own actions. And I can assure you, my dedication rests solely with kin and clan."

Frog despised her mentor, Asterspark. The tom was always so grumpy, lazy, and disinterested. Half the time he just sent her off to do busy work of cleaning the elder's den or the nursery or checking the elders for ticks and fleas, and the rest of the time it seemed he just let her loose to go figure things out on her own. If not for my own natural skills, I'd never become a warrior, the sleek gray she-cat thought angrily. I still might not if he talks badly of me to Scorchstar. The apprentice lay in the apprentice's den, curled up against the cold. Since the first snowfall Asterspark had been even more useless than ever. She'd enjoyed lazing about the first couple days, but now she was bored.

Frog heard voices outside, and after several moments of listening to the stern tones she considered her options. Everyone's been too busy to even notice I haven't left camp, she thought. I could just keep staying here, but... Well, I'm bored. Her curiosity piqued, the ShadowClan apprentice exited the den into camp and padded towards the two cats who were talking in terse, even tones to each other. She picked up a few words of Burntpaw's mumbling, but she opted to ignore it. "I'm coming, too," Frog informed them decidedly. "Asterspark still hasn't shown me how to hunt in the snow, so I have to figure it out myself, I guess."

“I am a Shadowclan apprentice, Mapleshine. It is my duty to serve the clan in whichever my leader sees fit.” the calm tone of the apprentice came to a surprise to Mapleshine. She had expected some sort of equally toxic reaction from the apprentice after her comment but it appeared the apprentice was able to keep his cool.
You have to give him some credit for that.
In all honesty she did not know anything of the kits of Brushgaze besides the fact that they where the kits of lichenmask and that Scorchestar was okay with letting them in. She had not really made an effort to get to know them either she had just assumed that they would leave the clans, unloyal as their bloodline was.
It seemed like she had made the wrong assumption for this kit atleast. 
"I can't fix what my past kin has done, what our kin has done. I can worry about my own actions. And I can assure you, my dedication rests solely with kin and clan."
These words caused Mapleshine to look at Burntpaw her eyes widened by the words of the apprentice.
She stared at him for a while, thinking about the words of the apprentice. Maybe she was wrong maybe the kit had some redeemable quality’s after all.
Her eyes locked on him as she silently nodded, she made sure that her expression did’t change while doing so. She looked at the apprentice with a bit more warmth in her eyes.
" I am coming to"
A new voice made her turn around to see who the newcomer was, Frogpaw the apprentice of the ever lazy Asterspark she she almost fell pity for the she-cat being the apprentice of that lazy bone-bag.
"Asterspark still hasn't shown me how to hunt in the snow, so I have to figure it out myself, I guess."
This made her tail flicker, was that pathetic excuse for a mentor even trying to train his apprentice? If the apprentice did not have any hunting lessons yet then Asterspark was even worse of a mentor then she originally thought he was. She made a mental note to confront the tom about it later but decided to let it go for now, if he wasn't going to train the apprentice then by star clan she would just do it for him!
She let out a deep sigh " alright Frogpaw I will show you to do the hunting crouch if you want to, you have to learn it eventually anyway and its not like you will learn it from your mentor. Now lets go I don't think more will be joining us anytime soon"
She walked trough the camp entrance and saw the white territory unfold before her. She looked back at the two apprentices to make sure they where following and noted the odd sight of Burntpaw's calico fur in the all white world a small smile came unconsciously on her face realizing that she must have looked like that once upon a time. She quickly shook it of and walked deeper into the territory braving the snow.