Tiny Sparrows (closed)

Sitting near the camp entrance with his long tail curled around his stubby white paws, Tinystar waited for Sparrowpaw. A chilly Leafbare breeze ruffled his short pelt as the sun just barely began to rise up into the sky, and the small leader let out a yawn. With Tigerleaf swamped with other warrior duties, he decided to help the she-cat out in assessing her apprentice, plus, he wanted to personally see how she was doing. Numerous reports of her supposedly lashing out when encountering other clan cats had made it to his ears, which raised a red flag. Not the mention the fact that upon her return from her moonstone journey, neither her nor Mintwhisker looked very satisfied from the trip and the medicine cat seemed worse for wear, which he couldn't help but wonder if that was Sparrowpaw's doing... The last thing he wanted to do was seem paranoid about the young cat's progress, but he had to know the truth and decided that he would confront her about it later in the morning.

Sparrowpaw woke with a chill in her bones as she stumbled out of the apprentice's den. Her thin frame easily slipping past the other apprentices despite the obvious size difference between them. Her green eyes caught sight of the fresh-kill pile, but as she padded up to it her nose wrinkled. Stomach twisting uncomfortably as she looked at the bird at the top of it. A crow. Her father's greatest fear. Even in death, he seemed to preside over her life like a plague as she padded away from the pile with nothing and started towards where Mistyrain was assigning patrols.

Her gaze turned to Tinystar when she heard his name paired with hers for an assessment. Her tail twitched warily as she padded towards him. His tiny pale body made her feel looming. It was awkward for all of two seconds... until she realised she could easily outrun him. This was purely a courtesy, and she huffed as she padded past him.
"So where's my assessment going to be?" She meowed sharply when she had passed him. Her tail flicking with suppressed irritation. "Can you keep up?"

Standing up when he spotted Sparrowpaw trodding towards him, his small jaws opened to say good morning, though he quickly shut them when the she-cat walked passed him. Ears flat, the small leader was taken aback by her second remark. Under regular circumstances, he would've shrugged off a comment of such tone, but coming from her, it pierced through his pelt a bit sharper than it probably should've. That was exactly something Sedgestrike would've said. Part of him wondered why she seemed to be in such a fowl mood this morning, but he shook the thought away. Today was about assessing her training skills and there was no time to dwell on the past, no matter how much she resembled her father, in one way or another. Even though he would address a concern of his to her later, they still needed to stay focused. If she wanted to have an attitude towards him, that was her choice, but he certainly wouldn't let that get in the way of his plans for the morning.

"Where do you think?" Tinystar purred as if to be smug as he trotted past her and out of the camp entrance, his head and tail held high. "You're a real pain in the tail for doubting me, Sparrowpaw," he purred over his shoulder, being honest as he pushed away her narrow-minded comment and made his way into the lightly frosted, woodland territory. Of course he could keep up for, Silverpelt's sake. How could he have possibly become even a warrior if he was too slow? He was obviously small, even smaller than some apprentices, but the lack of faith in his clanmates would never cease to baffle him, though he understood where they were coming from. Finding himself slightly annoyed, he stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath, taking a moment to reorganize his thoughts.

Turning around with a playful gleam in his eyes, he met Sparrowpaw's dull gaze. "Try and keep up," he hissed jokingly, obviously mocking her comment. If she was going to make jabs at him like that, then what was stopping him from doing the same? He wasn't being rude, per say, but simply giving her a taste of her own foulness, but in a lighthearted manor, of course. Taking off without a warning, the smaller than apprentice sized leader scampered off as fast as he could, weaving around trees and shrub. Spotting a thick enough trunk ahead, the white and grey tom leaped as high into the air as he could and landed squarely on the hunk of brittle wood. Shimmying up the bole of the tree as fast as he could, his sharp claws digging into the bark, Tinystar made it to a branch just big enough to support a regular sized cat's weight. Breathing heavily, he looked down to Sparrowpaw, who was close behind. "Who's slow now?" he huffed, a smile on his muzzle and tail lashing back and fort. Oh how exhilarating it felt to run through the forest like a free spirited apprentice again.

The dark and silver she-cat watched as Tinystar passed her with his retort. His tiny body scrabbling up the tree as quick as a squirrel. His final retort was met with an unusual sight. The SkyClan mollies paws stayed firmly on the ground. Instead, she padded forwards on the ground. The canopy of the trees held shadows for her, too much of her family had been lost to the hungering ground that waited for a mis-step. She swallowed uneasily as she looked at Tinystar above her, not so long ago he had fallen as well.

It was only by StarClan's grace he stood back up. Had he been a warrior, he would have been among the stars instead. Her ears flattened at the reminder as she trudged along in the snow. Her mind whirled with the dark memories. Being up there, in the ancient canopy reminded her too much of her father's shadow for her comfort. Though she'd seen the evidence of him being in StarClan... it was hard to shake the tom he'd been in life.

Not that she could have climbed anyways. Her body was still malnourished and weaker than most SkyClan cats. She would have barely been able to keep herself going on a run, let alone an assessment. Finally, she looked back up at Tinystar once more.
"I don't climb." She confirmed with a flick of her tail. "It's too dangerous..."

Looking down at Sparrowpaw, who paced around the base of a tree, it was obvious that the apprentice was stuck in a dilemma and only did her next words explain such a prediction. She didn't climb? Of course, any cat could hunt on the ground, but SkyClanners were known for hunting in the trees and he wondered where he fear from being above the ground came from. He'd seen the dangers of falling, from his big brother's death and then his own, but even so, he had to will to push past such fears and move onward, which was apparently a skill in which Sparrowpaw lacked.

Gaze softening, the small leader stayed where he was up his branch. "Sparrowpaw..." he began gently. "Don't get too cocky, for life will always find a way to humble you," he pointed out. Her current unknowing state was completely different than her crude one just moments before, which made her sudden lack of confidence even more obvious than if she'd kept her muzzle shut earlier.

"Now, get up here. I won't have a member of my clan be afraid of climbing. It runs through our veins; it's who we are," he mewed proudly, his chin tilted up, though his light blue eyes didn’t leave Sparrowpaw’s scrawny, silver form. "I'm not where I am because of luck, mind you. I am where I'm at because I took risks others weren't willing to take, one of which being that I continued to climb trees, even after I lost a life from doing so. The world rewards risk-takers. It always has and always will. Sparrowpaw, if you want your warrior name, you must take a risk. Not for me, but for yourself," Tinystar finished, meeting her hesitant gaze. He didn't give two rat's tails if she agreed with what he said or not, or even if she respected him. In order to be successful in life, she needed to overcome such a fright and face it head on, and he wouldn't rest until he saw that she did.

"Well falling seems to run in mine." She replied sharply under her breath. His words rose her ire as he talked down at her. As though he was her mentor... he had done nothing for her training, and suddenly he thought he was allowed to coach her? She growled under her breath, green eyes glaring at Tinystar in a way all too akin to her father as she shuffled around on the forest floor for several minutes. Each moment wasted made her colder, and the unfortunate situation of never becoming a warrior after all this time was upsetting.

Finally, she took the chance. She launched herself up a tree and scrabbled harshly against the bark. Each pawstep made her flinch as bark dug into paws tender from their lack of climbing as she slowly made her way up. By the time she was at Tinystar's level, she was panting hard. Her heart pounding in her chest as the ground looked so far away. She shook her head and closed her eyes before looking straight. If she looked down, she might change her mind as she warily stepped along the branch and made a weak leap that left her falling a tiny bit short. Fortunately, her claws dug into the weaker part of the branch, and she was able to save herself from falling.

Watching as she scrambled up the tree to join him, her assessment wasn't going to well so far, and any other warrior would've immediately failed her, but he decided to give her a little grace, purely out of his own curiosity to see what else she may or may not have been able to accomplish. Unfortunately, with the rest of the assessment being in the trees, he didn't see the rest of the morning going very well.

"See, that wasn't so hard," the small tom purred, a smile on his muzzle once more. "Let's get going then," he added. Turning away from the apprentice, the little leader carefully placed his tiny paws in the center of the branch and began making his way across it at a decently steady pace. Reaching the end of it, he bunched up his haunches and lept across a small gap between his branch and another. Landing squarely onto the next, he waited a few moments for the wobbling to stop and once it did, he continued onward, not looking to see where Sparrowpaw was, though he assumed she was still back where he'd left her. "Well, we don't have all day," he chuckled over his shoulder and kept moving, knowing she's catch up sooner or later.

Sparrowpaw's tail lashed at the tiny tom's manner. To another cat, it might have seemed something to be proud of. Yet Sparrowpaw felt the words sink into her pelt like ticks. There was no belief that she couldn't climb. As the small white shape moved away to the next tree, she looked down below her at the drop. Muscles screaming from disuse as she manouvered around to a larger branch before making the leap. Her heart in her throat as she did so as a cold chill crept down her spine. As the force of the ground itself seemed to drag and pull at her pelt. Weariness in her bones, as she slipped after a few leaps. Claws sank deep into the frozen bark as she slid partway down.

"There. I climbed." She meowed dryly as she leapt down, wrenching her claws free from the bark in the process with a pained grunt. Her gaze up on the small leader above her as she took off at a run through the territory. "I can keep up just fine from here."

Of course, the universe didn't allow such a gratifying feeling from her joining him to last than more than a moment. As quick as she'd joined him up in the tree, she returned down to the forest floor, in a clumsy manor to be exact. Watching her take off from bellow, the small leader's pelt raised and his blood began to boil with annoyance, which was rare for even him, but her attitude was beyond him. While there was the possibility of something else going on with the apprentice, Tinystar doubted that was the case, seeing as though she was usually like this, which he was personally done dealing with.

Jumping through the branches after the apprentice bellow, he got to the point where he was running over her. Picking up the pace, he clawed his way down a tree, bark splitting under his small claws. Running towards the apprentice, he skidded to a halt in front of her, his tail fur fluffed out, and chest heaving. Standing as tall as possible, he locked gazes with the speckled grey apprentice. Of course, it was awkward having to look up to her, but he didn't care.

"Sparrowpaw, you're being a real pain in my tail," he began through barred teeth. "Only StarClan knows why you're being so stubborn about simple climbing, but quite frankly, I don't give a mousetail. If you want to be a warrior, you will get back up in that tree. I didn't say climb up to immediately jump down, I said climb up the tree to do your assessment," Tinystar added, his tone on the verge of a growl. He wasn't about to back down and if it came down to it, he'd stand blocking her path for as long as needed until she got over this obstinance that was holding her back. "I have better things to be doing than assessing such a... a... soft-paw, but I'm not going to let you get away with such disobedience," he hissed, his cold gaze not leaving her's.

"Oh, and what could you do that's worse?" Sparrowpaw hissed sharply at the tiny fluffed up leader. She didn't even try to stand tall, instead she glared at Tinystar. Her chest felt short on air, but she refused to breathe deeply and show off how winded the simple climb had made her. "I've accepted that I'll be an apprentice for the rest of my days. You hate me, and that's just fine. You're exactly like every other cat!" She padded forwards, her silver and black body shoved him slightly to the side. It was rough, and he had probably felt her ribs but she barely cared as she simply fluffed her fur and padded on.

"I can do my hunting safely on the ground, because despite what every SkyClan cat seems to think, we're not squirrels." She padded onwards, ignoring the guilt that pricked at her mind for talking to a leader that way. The heavy weight of her words felt like rocks in her stomach as she jumped over a fallen log with a large huff of effort. Her muscles already screamed for rest, yet she still kept padding onwards. Until she reached an area that seemed a good hunting spot, her gaze only looking up once and awhile, expecting to see the tiny white cat. Unless he had abandoned her assessment.

She wouldn't blame him. Instead, she scented the air. A slight hint of Shadowclan hit her nose and she frowned in confusion. It wasn't usually that strong. She padded towards it in silence, looking for anything unusual.

"Heya, kit."

The voice that hissed from behind Sparrowpaw belonged to a bluish-gray tom with differently-colored eyes who seemed to have appeared from absolutely nowhere. He wore a calm grin -- not a wide one, but small enough to display how laid back he was -- yet his blue and yellow eyes revealed his true emotions. He glared at the apprentice through narrowed eyes, which seemed to glint in the pale light that shone through the heavy blanket of clouds up above with irritation and aggression.

Asterspark took a few steps toward the molly, raising his eyebrows, apparently trying to intimidate her. "What's wrong, kit? Can't speak? Or has a cat caught your tongue? Heh, I love that one." His eyes glinted dangerously, and his grin twisted upward a little. "Sorry to be trespassing like this -- eh... okay, I lied, I'm not sorry -- but I was bored and decided I wanted to try and find someone to play with. How do you feel about playing a little game I like to call... Attack the Apprentice?" He unsheathed his claws and took another step forward.

Sparrowpaw turned at the voice. Her green eyes fell onto the grey shape of the enemy tom with a snarl. The scarred side of her face prominent as she lowered her head threateningly as he approached with a demeanour that seemed all too false and inviting. As he spoke, she knew she wasn't wrong as her claws dug into the ground. Black ears flattened against her skull as he taunted her. So even the other clans were doing it now. He must have been there when her father made a show of disgracing Medicine cats.

She could practically feel Tinystar in the trees nearby. The small white tom would be easily crushed by the weight of this tom, but this was her chance. A chance to show that she wasn't useless. She was a fighter, and she could rip apart the pelts of the best of them. All she had to do, was take down this arrogant piece of mousedung. Her growl was replaced with a steely expression as she thought about how her father would have fought. He taught her how, he trained her...

She couldn't just let it all go to waste now could she?

"Unfortunately you've caught me in a bit of a foul mood." Her tone was dark. Eyes glittering with malicious intent as she sprung forward in a fierce leap. Her paws pinned him to the ground roughly from the side.

Sparrowpaw used Leap and Hold on Asterspark. He is pinned for 1 turn

Sparrowpaw

20/20
70/80(-10)

Asterspark

39/45 (-6)
160/160

The member 'Cays' has done the following action : Dices roll

---

'Effect Dice' : 2

The wind was knocked right out of him when Sparrowpaw slammed into him to pin him down. He huffed and struggled to push the rather large apprentice off of her. He shut his eyes tightly to bear through the pain, then squinted an eye open to look at her, a mix between a grimace and a grin on his face. "Geez, you're pretty heavy for an apprentice. How long have ya been one anyway? Just can't seem t' graduate to warriorhood, can ya? Or do you just fatten yourself up on prey meant for your poor elders?"

Ears flat against his head, the two cats' eyes remained locked as Sparrowpaw snapped back at him. For a moment, he found it hard to look at her, seeing as though even with her scarred face, she still resembled hints of Sedgestrike, but even so, his stature didn't waver. While of course he was cautious about her, he didn't hate her and couldn't understand where she'd gotten such a notion. "I... I don't-" he began, but before he could finish, she ran off.

Relaxing his once tense muscles and lowering his head, Tinystar let out a sigh. 'StarClan, give me strength,' he prayed. While in the long run, chasing her down once more was most likely more work than it was worth, he wasn't about to back down. Lifting his muzzle and opening his jaw ever so slightly, he followed the apprentice's scent, but not long after he'd began, the sound of screeching caught his attention like a monster in the middle of the forest. What in Silverpelt's name... Picking up the pace, he followed the sounds of a fight, and skidding to a halt just a foxlength away from the scene, Tinystar arrived to see Sparrowpaw pinning down a cat who clearly wasn't from SkyClan.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the tiddly leader's usually petite voice boomed over the fighting cat's hisses and growls. Fur on end, he made his way towards the pair, his baby blue gaze practically burning through each of their bloodied pelts. With his emotions and thoughts already on edge from Sparrowpaw's stubbornness, he was in no mood for foolish antics such as some-cat trespassing on his territory. In all his life, he'd never been seen as one to get angry, if at all, but there came to a point where he had to use at least some amount of firm authority, or else he might've gone crazy.

"Why were you trespassing on our territory? Are you really such a mousefodder that you wish to become crowfood on our land?" he hissed, locking eyes with the cat who was under Sparrowpaw's weight. He didn't have the time or energy for kit's-play and wasn't about to let this cat get away scot-free.