Pheasantpaw's Warrior Ceremony

Minkstar leapt to the top of the rock for another warrior ceremony, opening his maw and calling the summons. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the High Rock for a Clan meeting!"

Pheasantpaw carried her bird over to the Highrock, sitting amongst the crowd. She probably would have stayed over by the fresh-kill pile but there was a chance it was her ceremony, which in that case she would want to be there.

As soon as she'd appeared, Minkstar continued, "Pheasantpaw, it's time for your warrior ceremony. If you agree to go through with it, step forward now."

When she'd done so, he smiled and let the traditional words come from his maw, forcing himself to focus on them, to stay away from... from anything else. Traditional words. Probably what they needed more right now. "I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. She has trained.... er, hard, to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in turn." Turning to the apprentice in question, feeling vaguely... flat, and hoping no one else thought sticking to the words like this was as off as he did, he went on, "Pheasantpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, to defend and protect your Clanmates, even at the cost of your life?"

Her eyes brightened just the slightest bit. She stepped up with a blank expression, but you could tell in her behavior she was at least a bit excited. This better not be like Prickletail's ceremony. No messing around. Looking up at her leader with an expecting look, she flicked her tail at the sentence that didn't quite stick to the script. Whatever, she trained well enough to be here, right? "I do," the molly said with a promising tone. It was more of a "why not?" but a promise nonetheless.

Prickletail had been hovering in the background, wondering what was happening… but as his favorite sister stepped forwards, he gave the ceremony his full attention. Pheasant deserved it, certainly far more than… his other sister, who was still alive because of him- diving straight into a badger, by the- the tom focused on the present. This was Pheasant’s ceremony, and she certainly deserved it.

Though it was nice that he was a warrior before her.

He made a show of smiling, trying to force the feeling of pride to materialize in his chest. A vague flicker, a quiet ache - don't pay any attention, continue on. "Then by the powers of StarClan I grant you your warrior name. Pheasantpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Pheasantpounce. We honour your honesty and loyalty, and welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."

Cheers. Congratulations. He called out with them, leaping down from the rock, before fading away from the scene, paws tracing a well-trodden path.