A Lonely Speckle in this large world

Speckledpaw was lonely, her mother was sick, petalpaw had left her without a goodbye, and her father was busy most often. She never knew being lonely felt this terrible. She hadn't had any training since her mother had gotten sick, since Spotlake is her mentor she's just waiting for the sickness to go away. She knows she should be out hunting, but shes not that experienced. " I hope mother gets better soon." Spekledpaw thought to herself.

Shes sitting in the apprentice den, wondering how the other clans are fretting, and if their clans are suffering from a sickness. She knows that there was a gathering not long ago, but she didn't go to it. Her fur was looking mangy and as if she hadn't moved or eaten in days. She had eaten just this sunrise, but she hadn't groomed herself in days.

Maplepaw walked into the apprentices' den. She sensed that her sister was not feeling the best.  "What's wrong?" She asked. She knew that she probably felt down because of their mother being sick
 because Maplepaw did too.

“Mom is sick, petalpaw is gone, and the clan is struggling. Everything is wrong.” she squeaked laying her head on her paws and looking at her sister.

"It'll be ok."  Maplepaw told her sister "I have a feeling that it is not Spotlake's time to die.  She has so much to live for."  Spotlake was a strong cat.


"Petalpaw lived such a short life.  I wish I had spent more time with her."  Maplepaw admitted, remembering Petalpaw's excitement toward life and her apprenticeship.  She felt a fresh wave of grief overcome her.  She tried not to let it show.  She had to stay strong, for her sister's sake.  "I'm glad that you're still here," she told Speckledpaw, "I'd be so lonely if you were gone too."  Maplepaw couldn't bear to imagine something like that happening to Speckledpaw.


"As for the Clan," Maplepaw said, taking a breath to steady herself from talking about her sister's death, "All Clans go through times of prospering and struggle.  We just need to stay strong and not show our weakness to the other Clans."  She secretly thought that it would be easier if the Clans could just get along, and if one was suffering, they were able to show it and the other Clans would help out.  They would be stronger together.  She never shared these thoughts, though.  She knew that this is the way that things should be.  Whatever the reason for having the different Clans, Maplepaw knew there was probably a reason.


"I'll always be there for you," Maplepaw vowed," no matter what happens."

Speckledpaw gets up and kicks her sisters ear “everything will be okay.” she purred nuzzling her sister.

Crowspirit padded over, a gentle smile on his face. “Hey, girls. I’m pretty sure Spotlake’s going to be fine. She’s in good paws with your great-aunt.” At least, that’s what he had to tell himself. What he had to hope. Losing Petalpaw and his grandfather had been enough, and he wasn’t about to let another family member go without a fight. The young warrior moved to sit beside his daughters, grooming Speckledpaw’s ear. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately. With this greencough going around, I’m one of the few healthy warriors left to hunt. Why don’t I bring you two along on my next trip, and we can hang out?”

Speckledpaw nodded and started to lick her mangy fur. “Alright..” she looked fearful, she had only hunted once, and that had been with her mother during training.

He laid just outside the apprentices den, paws tucked under his body, eyes closed, tail wrapped around him.He had been sulking around camp the past few sunrises, only going out on patrol a few times. His whole family had begun to fall apart. His older siblings were depressed about Petalpaw having gone to Starclan. Smallpaw himself was starting to be in a constant state of worry and distress due to the current state of well, everything. His mother was sick, and so many cats were dying. It was truly awful. He knew his family wasn't the only one mourning over the loss of a loved one, but for some reason his relatives seemed to be hit the worst.

He opened his eyes to the sound cat's voices, figuring another patrol may be gathering and getting ready to leave. Instead of seeing warriors gathered near the camp entrance, he saw his family crowding around his older sibling, Speckledpaw, on the other side of camp. He stretched his legs and quickly heaved himself up, knowing that he should find out what was happening. Horrid thoughts filled his mind as he padded over. What if Speckledpaw had caught Greencough. Or worse, Whitecough. These thoughts drove him to end up running over to the tiny crowd.

He approached, seeing something the scared him a bit. Speckledpaw looked absolutely horrible. Her fur was matted and she looked skinny. Then again, it was leaf-bare, so all cats looked a bit skinny. Smallpaw had arrived only to hear a part of the conversation that was going on. Crowspirit had just said something about a hunting patrol. Nervously butting in, he asked, "W-would it be okay i-if i went a-along?" He walked over next to Speckledpaw and started helping her groom her matted fur. He figured that he should start being a better brother to his siblings. He almost never talked to them, and he wanted to change that.

OOC: This is open, right?)))

(OOC: Yeah! Anyone can join, Small is a cutie, he’s welcome to join his father and sisters hunt to get the stress off their mind!)

(OOC: Want me to go create a hunting topic for Crow and the children? Also mobile, will edit later)

Crowspirit grinned, tail beginning to flick with eagerness, his initial somber attitude gone. “Of course you can, Smallpaw! It’ll be great hunting with you three, I bet we’ll bring home enough prey to feed the whole Clan!”

(OOC: I think that a separate hunting topic would be nice)

Having only hunted once, Maplepaw felt a little nervous, but she knew that if she needed help, her father was there to help.  "I wonder what we'll find." Maplepaw queried, "Leaf-bare has been so cold, and not a lot of prey is about."  

"But if there is any prey around, we'd better leave so we can catch it," Maplepaw commented.

Speckeldpaw nodded in agreement her fur clean now. " It'll be best to hunt now since its midday. "

Crowspirit nodded, chuckling. “Clever young cats. I’d expect so, you being my kits! Come on, let’s go!” With that, he took off towards the camp entrance, kitlike excitement hardly contained.

(OOC: https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t40804-dadspirit-takes-his-kids-on-a-field-trip-closed#461597)