Sweet (Honey) Beans [Closed]

There was a soft yawn from Honeypaw as she rolled onto her side, lazily staring down at her warped reflection in the river. She had thoughts about trying to hunt but...She spared a glance up at the sky, at the sun that was warming her lush, silky coat and she had second thoughts. No, it was a far better day to sunbathe. She stretched out her limbs, casting a wary eye toward the other side of the river. Normally Sunningrocks would be the ideal sunbathing spot for her Clan but...Honestly, she wanted a bit of alone time. To get her thoughts in order with all that was transpiring with RiverClan these days...And besides, the peace and quiet in general was ideal.

As usual, Beanpaw was being rather lazy with his hunting. Of course, he preferred the term "chill," but whatever worked best for his Clanmates was alright with him. He was slowly moseying along the side of the river, his long black fur tamed down into fluffy locks that stuck up in some places. His yellow eyes remained half-closed, lazily gazing around the territory. The river seemed to be rather calm today, so he wasn't very wary as he strolled along, occasionally brushing past a thicket of reeds or tall grass. His attention was, however, caught by the sight of another cat relaxing across the river, her bright yellow pelt standing out and catching his eye. He stood up a little straighter, a little hesitant after his situation with the ThunderClan apprentice a few sunrises ago."Hello?" He announced himself to the stranger, keeping his muscles tensed in the case that she decided to attack.

Her eyes had closed, letting the relaxing atmosphere sink in when a voice she didn't recognize spoke up. She jumped, flipping onto her belly as her eyes flashed open, quickly spotted the black and white apprentice that stood on the other bank of the river. She sat there, a little startled by how...Sudden he had appeared but cleared her throat. "Hello!" she called back, figuring he wasn't hostile - hoping he wasn't hostile, that is. She paused, trying to remember where extactly on the borders she had been relaxing next to. "You're...A SkyClan cat, right?" she noted, sparing a glance toward the towering trees behind him.

It seemed like an entire moon until the she-cat finally responded, and Beanpaw could breathe a sigh of relief. "Yes, I suppose I am." He chuckled light-heartedly, relaxing slightly as he realized that the she-cat wasn't likely to be much harm to him. "So, it's a nice day to lay out in the sun, I think. Why aren't you at the Sunningrocks?" He wondered out loud. RiverClan had such a wonderful place to relax and lay in the sun, so why was she napping here rather than there? He tilted his head slightly as he padded further up the bank, trying to listen to her response a little better over the rushing of the river.

Her eyes sparkled with wonder as he confirmed that he was SkyClan, a bit of exictement rising in her at her first meeting with a SkyClan cat! She had heard stories about all of the Clans and she was so curious to learn all about the lives of the other Clans...But then he questioned why she was here and not Sunningrocks. Her ears flickered back, her gaze dropping a bit. "Well...Everybody else is sure to be there," she admitted with a sigh, giving a soft shrug of her shoulders. "I just wanted some time to myself, to relax so I came over here...Not that I don't mind your presence!" she added quickly, her eyes snapping back to look up at the SkyClan cat. "Just...A lot is happening in RiverClan and I needed some space from all of that."

Flicking his ears a bit, Beanpaw nodded as the she-cat finished speaking. "I perfectly understand." Thinking back to all that had happened at the previous gathering, Beanpaw could hardly believe the amount of discourse in SkyClan at the moment. All his life, SkyClan had been peaceful and calm, but suddenly there had been an uproar, and he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it. On one paw, his own mentor had murdered an apprentice... But he had been forgiven by his Clan, hadn't he? And what business was it to the other Clans? Shaking his head a bit, he returned to the current conversation. "Your leader caused quite an uproar in my Clan... But I suppose he was doing the right thing, at least? I don't even know anymore..." His tail was flickering back and forth as he stared at his paws, contemplating just how much he should say. It couldn't hurt, could it? It wasn't like he was revealing all of SkyClan's weaknesses. "Thinking about all of it just gives me such a headache... Walking alongside the river helps me escape it all, so I understand what you're saying." He mewed quietly, trying to keep his mind off of it.

There was a moment of confusion that spread across Honeypaw's face, unsure of what he was speaking of. Uproar? Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what the other cat was speaking about...But she realized that he had to be speaking about Jaystar, not anything her father had done. Right, none of the other Clans knew about what had happened to Jaystar yet...But she still wasn't sure on what type of uproar Jaystar could have caused - she wasn't aware of her Clan causing any trouble. But...Her ear twitched, remembering murmurings of something about what Tinystar had done and unrest about that...But other than that...

"I'm...Sorry to hear about that," she said with a soft sigh, shaking her head. "I'm not super well-versed in what is happening in the other Clans - I only recently became an apprentice but...I'm sure...Jaystar only meant for the best," she said, although she wasn't sure herself. She hadn't known the leader all that well, after all she had only become an apprentice the day of his death. "There has been so much trouble lately...I only hope that things will settle down and give us all time to just...Breathe and figure things out." Death, disappearances...Plus whatever what was happening in SkyClan? Things seemed full of chaos but Honeypaw wasn't sure if all that was going on was normal. She had been so blind to things as a kit, what if all of this loss and trouble was what would just become everyday for her? She...Wasn't sure if she liked the thought of that.

Upon hearing that the she-cat had only recently become an apprentice, suddenly it made a little more sense to Beanpaw. "Oh, well... I suppose I could explain it..." The fluffy black and white apprentice wasn't very fond of Clan politics, but nonetheless he knew what was going on, especially considering that his mentor was the leader of SkyClan. "At the last Gathering, Finchstar revealed to the Clans that Tinystar killed an apprentice, Sparrowpaw, for whatever reason. Jaystar told us, in short, that if SkyClan didn't do something about this... then we were supporting the murder of an innocent apprentice." He gulped a little at the realization that he hadn't done anything about it, so that must mean that he was supporting a murderer, right?

He shook his head, sighing a little at the thought. "But going against Tinystar is breaking the code, doncha think? Because the leader's word is supposed to be law, or at least that's what I was taught." He flicked his ears as he contemplated the situation, still not really knowing what was best. "It's all super messy, and I really don't know what to do... I think eventually, someone will say something, or stand up to him, and when that happens... What am I supposed to do? He's my mentor and my leader, I don't wanna betray him..." Suddenly, Beanpaw realized he had been thinking out loud, and he wished he could take it all back in an instance. "Oh! I'm sorry!" He muttered, silently swearing to himself.
"Please don't feel like you've gotta respond to that, I'm so sorry..." He had only put more pressure on the she-cat, and she was just trying to relax... He felt horrible.

Honeypaw slowly sat up as the apprentice started to explain what was going on, her ears perking with interest at the whole situation. She...Understood his confusion, blinking as she realized the extent of the problem. That....Was certainly something. "Well, the leader's word is law," she mused back, her tail twitching as she put thought into it. "But so is killing another cat...Its a problem, to be sure." She sighed, shaking her head.

She felt bad for the apprentice - it felt like what RiverClan was going through was nothing compared to this. Tinystar, killing an apprentice and nobody was sure the reason? "I mean...I-I can't really speak for it but...I suppose it depends on Tinystar's reason for his action and if he feels like...He broke the code, I guess," she offered up, feeling uncertain. She tried to imagine if her father had done something like that, how would she feel? She frowned, her gaze shifting up toward the sky before she spoke up. "Tinystar must have had a reason for it. Surely...Talking about it, would be the best course of action," she decided.

Communication...Communication was key. Everybody had their reason for their actions, it was important to figure out why they did the things they did and find common ground... "I've heard so many stories of wars and I can't help how many started because we didn't talk things out..." she explained, curling her tail around her paws as she lowered her gaze to stare at the SkyClan apprentice. "Surely...Surely things could be solved without problems if cats just got the side of both stories."

Then...She paused, something finally hitting her as she let out a soft laugh. "Look at us, debating what one should do in such a serious situation and we don't even know each others names! I'm Honeypaw."

Beanpaw merely nodded his head as the she-cat spoke, having already heard what she'd said from a few of his Clanmates. This issue, for him, at least, wasn't deciding what to do, because he was in no position to do such a thing. It was simply deciding what he would do once someone else spoke up and did something about it. "Yes, I suppose now it's just a waiting game, to see who will speak up about it first..." He trailed off, pushing around a tuft of grass with his paws.

The RiverClan apprentice laughing made him jump out of his pelt, for he didn't see what was so funny. But after she explained what had caused such an odd occurrence, he nodded, seeing what she'd be thinking. "I'm Beanpaw." The large apprentice figured it couldn't hurt to exchange names, and perhaps they would see each other at a gathering, or come across one another at the border again. Who knew what the future could bring, right?

Beanpaw, huh? She smiled softly, happy to finally know her companion's name...But now found herself speechless when it came to another topic to talk about. Was there really any good thing to talk about after such a serious talk like that? She frowned, gently poking at a nearby rock with her paw, rolling it around a bit as she struggled for anything to say. Then she paused, her gaze flickering up at Beanpaw.

"Say, you've been to a gathering, haven't you? Can you tell me about the other leaders?" she asked, her tail twitching with curiosity. She knew so little about the other leaders, about the other Clans to be honest. She knew she could always ask her own Clanmates about it...But the idea of getting an glimpse of what another Clan thought of the other three was too good to pass up. After all, they were bound to have their own loyalties when it came to agreement about the other Clans, there was always a chance of her own Clanmates being bias in some way...

"Oh, I suppose so..." Her murmurred, trying to summon up the feelings that he'd felt at the last gathering. He'd only ever been to one, so he knew he didn't have a solid idea of what the leaders were like... All of them weren't even there, to be fair. "Well, Scorchstar, the leader of ShadowClan, wasn't at the last gathering, I suppose he was sick or something... So his deputy, Thornbriar was sent in his place. She was... interesting. Fierce, I think." He added with a sigh. He'd watched her before she'd leaped onto the Great Rock, arguing with the cats of the forest. Shaking his head, he thought of WindClan's leader. The best thing he thought he could do was view him with a neutral front, since he had brought up all the past drama in SkyClan. "Finchstar is WindClan's leader, he's... He's cool, I guess." Shaking his head, he thought of how Finchstar had spoke Sparrowpaw's name. Disgusting.

"Oakstar is from ThunderClan, he's pretty old." Beanpaw chuckled, imagining the tabby tom upon the Great Rock. "He questioned Tinystar a bit, but it wasn't... it wasn't too bad." He shifted his paws a bit, realizing how biased he was. "I'm sorry I can't really give you a good answer, I've only been to one Gathering, and... and so much happened, you know, to my Clan. I'm sure what I said can't be fair." Hopefully the next Gathering would be more peaceful... They were supposed to be calm and pleasant, weren't they?

Honeypaw's whiskers twitched at the mention of Scorchstar, blinking in surprise. Right, she had forgotten that ShadowClan's leader was Scorchstar...Perhaps it was better that her father's name had been changed to Torrentstar, to avoid the confusion between the two leaders. She paused, wondering if there had ever been two warriors with the same name alive in the same moment...Before being pulled from her thoughts as Beanpaw continued to talk about the other leaders.

As he finished and apologized, she shook her head with a soft smile. "No, no, its fine! I was asking for your point of view on them," she explained. "I'm...I'm really hoping to be open minded on things, I think communication is important. Think about how much trouble could be avoided if cats just...Talked to each other!" she chirped, her tail swishing as she moved it to curl around her paws. "Everybody is going to have their own views on things, so I was just curious of what you thought about the other leaders cause...Well, its fair to feel that way after them questioning your leader like that!"