Streampaw's Moonstone Journey

Spiderquill stretched and yawned, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he got out of his nest. He quickly ran his tongue over his thin pelt, wanting to look at least somewhat presentable for the day ahead. when his ashy black fur stopped looking like a hedgehog's backside, he emerged from the medicine den with two bundles of herbs and made a beeline for the apprentices' den. This was becoming a habit, since he certainly felt less nervous than he had with Applefang's journey. His amber eyes scanned the den, stopping when he spotted a slender silver she-cat. "Psst, Streampaw, are you ready?" As usual, he spoke in a low whisper to avoid waking the other apprentices.

Streampaw shot out of her nest, blue-gray pelt unkempt and messy, with bits of moss stuck in various spots. Her long tail was lifted up slightly, to avoid brushing against some other apprentice’s pelt. “Yup. Ready.” She whispered, padding out of the den. “Those are the herbs right?” Streampaw sniffed them, and licked them up. She almost spat the revolting taste of her mouth, but swallowed quickly. Gasping, she twitched her nose in disgust. “That was...very bitter. Ok now, ready to go, Spiderquill.”

Spiderquill smiled and chuckled at Streampaw's reaction to the herbs. He'd gotten quite used to them, so it was easy to forget how disgusting they tasted at first. He ate his ration of herbs quickly, a minute twitch of his nose the only sign that he disliked the taste. "Yeah, they are pretty gross at first. Alright, follow me. Let me know if you need to slow down at any point, the journey is long and you should save your energy." With that, he headed for the entrance with Streampaw in tow.

After what seemed like moons of walking, the duo finally reached Mothermouth. After leading Streampaw through the pitch-black tunnel, Spiderquill finally reached the Moonstone itself. He turned to the young silver she-cat with a soft smile. "Here we are! Whenever you're ready, just press your nose against the Moonstone and you'll visit StarClan. I'll be waiting here for you when you wake up."

Streampaw practically dragged herself to the Moonstone. The journey was tiring and long, because she had never travelled to Highstones before. The Moonstone emitted a soft light, almost as if it was inviting her. Hesitating slightly, Streampaw touched her nose to the glowing stone. Immediately, her vision went black and she crumpled to the floor, asleep.

Mottledspark was waiting on the starry riverbank where Streampaw woke up, his dark, ruffled tortoiseshell fur sprinkled with glimmering starlight and his hazel eyes glinting with a fire. He meowed in his gravelly voice, "Welcome to StarClan, Streampaw." He watched for her to rise to hew paws before dipping his head slightly. "I'm Mottledspark. I was a warrior for Jaystar, leader before Ivystar." He raised his head to meet her gaze again, ears perking. "Hopefully this is th' longest journey you'll ever need to make, eh?"

Streampaw stared up at the starry warrior. “You were...Mottledstar? The former leader? Wow!” She gazed up at him. I’m meeting a former leader of RiverClan! Streampaw thought, giddy with excitement. “It seems like you were a great leader.” Streampaw commented honestly.

Mottledspark tilted his head slightly, then laughed and shook his head. "Nah, kit, that would'a been nice at some point, but I never made it there. I'm Mottledspark," he corrected, still chuckling. "Maybe I would'a been a good leader. I was a pretty good warrior, I think. I suppose you wanna be a good warrior, too?"

Streampaw nodded excitedly. “Yes, I want to help my Clan! I want to be both a good hunter and a fighter.” She stated. Especially since I joined Morningpaw’s rebellion and there is a very great chance that we will have to fight the Righteous Few. Streampaw thought gravely. “I need to learn way more though...back when I was just made an apprentice...a fox attacked me...” Streampaw shivered, her spine tickling uncomfortably. “I was bit on the spine and nearly died... I wasn’t a good warrior.”

Mottledspark nodded along, not surprised by Streampaw's enthusiastic answer. Of course; every apprentice wanted to be a good warrior. Well, most every apprentice, he thought, his mind flickering briefly to Minkpaw, born in RiverClan, now Minkstream of ThunderClan. Mottledspark was mildly surprised when she said she needed to learn more, though, and explained how she'd been attacked by a fox when she was just apprenticed. Mottledspark scowled and stated, "Foxes're no-good apprentice-breakers. They've hurt more cats'n I could tell. It's impossible to be a good warrior when you're first startin' out, though." The stars on his face shifted, and suddenly there was a criss-cross pattern of scars all across his face, just narrowly missing his eyes. He said, "I got attacked by a raccoon on one o' my first times outta camp. I was nearly blinded; I thought I'd never get to be a warrior."

Streampaw flinched slightly as the stars across his face shifted into scars. “Whoever invented foxes and all the other predators should’ve been very evil indeed...” She muttered darkly, long tail swishing behind her. “I was wondering...who doesn’t want to be a great warrior?” Streampaw asked, curious. She had never met an apprentice who didn’t want to be one.

Mottledspark nodded, letting out a short spit of agreement to Streampaw's fervent curse. "Agreed," he stated. Even in the stars he sometimes wished he could find the raccoon that'd scarred him and take its pelt right off its back. He was immediately drawn back to the present as Streampaw asked a peculiar question. Mottledspark snorted and answered, "Oh, more cats than ya'd think. It could be for all kinds'a reasons. Some cats just don't like their mentors, or some don't like their leaders. Some hate the warrior code itself and think it's not worth all this trainin' and self-discipline for." He sat, curling his white-tipped bushy tail around himself. "Other cats... cats who were outsiders once - kittypets n' loners, half-Clan cats, exiles... Well, they had a lot o' reasons. Some just aren't sure where their loyalties lie. Others just don't know how to be loyal at all." He was grateful that it seemed, at least, that his former apprentice had decided at last who we was meant to be.

Streampaw understood their choices. “I guess sometimes, you leave your Clan for love or something else.” Hesitating, she held her emerald green gaze towards Mottledspark’s. “So...do you know about the plague? What do you think about the...Righteous Few?” She spat the words “Righteous Few” as if they were a piece of bad prey.

Mottledspark nodded, and he stated, "Can't say I really agree with Clan-hoppin', but I've seen it a few time m'self." The apprentice's green gaze sought his then, and he looked at her curiously as she asked hesitantly if he was aware of the plague and the Righteous Few. Mottledspark scowled, and the scars on his face faded back into starry fur once more. He growled, "They're a buncha dishonorable cowards. They've got stars in their brains an' forgot the warrior code an' what it means." He asked, "Is your family sick at all?"

“No...we’re pure RiverClan. My mother and father both. I’m safe but some others aren’t...” Streampaw stated. “I want to help them, but I’m no medicine cat.” Streampaw said. “I hunted, I fetched water, but that’s all I can do.”

OOC: Streampaw has NPC parents.

ooc; I saw in your mini-profile, but I thought it might be good for Mottledspark to ask <3 ^^

ic;

Mottledspark nodded gravely. "It can be disheartenin' to be able to fight all the foxes in th' world an' not be able to fight the sicknesses our Clanmates get," the warrior agreed. His face turned dark as he thought of Sootcloud, the love of his life who had been struck with a shaking sickness from which he was never able to fully recover. Mottledspark would've fought the whole Dark Forest for Sootcloud, but instead he'd left camp to let him die. He'd never be able to take that back. Mottledspark continued to the apprentice, "All we can do is what we're trained t' do, though, Streampaw, and have faith that th' medicine cats'll do what they can. An' you... you can focus harder on fighting. Ya might need it before this whole thing's over." His tail twitched knowingly.