More Meetings?? Why not more naps?

Stormwatcher had been training with Stonepaw for awhile now and was getting more used to his routine.... (that doesnt mean he liked his morning routine but he was at least getting more used to it)

Having an apprentice was a very two sided blade. One one paw, he hated the responsibility, his whole thing was trying to do as little as possible to keep himself fed and in the clan.

But on the other paw even he couldnt deny that Stonepaw was learning lots and had already shown promise of having lots of natural talent in both hunting and in fighting. As much as he usually kept to the mindset of caring only about himself and trying not to form any other attachments that would only end in upset ness and tragedy. (Like what happened to his family.) He felt weirded out by slowly realizing that he cared a small amount for his apprentice. It was weird and not at all comfortable really.

Surely he was just imagining things and that is how he left it to himself. Besides! she was always pestering for spars and hunts and never let him get a moments rest!


One morning a warrior (some npc) told him that Wolf wanted to talk to him about his apprentice.


Stormwatcher groaned internally but tried to keep a smile on to his warrior co-worker clanmate.

"Oh great! I cant wait to see her then...

ohhh foxdung! ... what have I done... or not done now?? he hissed internally.

He tried to think back to his schedule... had he missed a patrol somehow?? Hmm he didn't think so but it was entirely possible.

Even though Wolf was always perfectly nice to him and even defened his decision to walk away from the fight with Blackbear, he always got all jittery when talking to the higher ups of the clan (maybe it was because he spent most of his apprentiship and young warrior life hiding from them to dodge patrols and tasks).

He walked slowly over to the deputies makeshift den while they were at Fourtrees.

"uhh Wolf? You wanted to see me? he called to her while waiting outside looking around a bit.

He wondered what she would say... Would she want to reassign Stonepaw to somebody else? That had happened to him alot when he was an apprentice, he was bounced around from one mentor to the next mostly cause they all complained that the big clumsy tom couldn't fight and was too lazy to try much in his training. Then the next mentor would come along eager to try and train him because they all thought he should be a great fighter and make themselves look good by what they were able to teach him. This had occured until finally he had been given his warrior name without even doing alot of the reqs for such (most of the clan at the time had probably given up and just put a rubber stamp on his graduation). No moonstone? That was fine by him, he didnt need the dead walking around in his dreams, it would be way to painful anyways if it was one of his siblings that he had to see.

He was torn a bit... reassignment of Stonepaw would mean alot off his task list and that would be SOO nice... but as stated earlier he did kinda like it somewhat in a very weird way that he was not at all used to. Perhaps it was for the best if that was what this was all about, he didnt wanna form anything closer than what he already somewhat had, friendships only led to pain afterall.

Wolfblossom had been watching the progression of the apprentices from a distance, and now that many of them were well into training, she had decided to check in with their mentors to see how they were doing. She'd sent a warrior to find Stormwatcher for her, offering the tom a bright, cheery smile in greeting when he approached. "Hey, Stormwatcher," She chirped, "No, you're not in trouble, don't give me that look." She had noted the expression on his face, trying not to laugh. He would have been a lazybones if she'd let him, she knew... And that was exactly why Wolfblossom had given the tom an apprentice. Stormwatcher had been training his apprentice and being more active within the clan as she wanted him to, but now it was time to hear his thoughts on it rather than just watch from afar. "How do you think Stonepaw's training has been progressing? Be honest with me."

She greeted him warmly and even joked a little at his thoughts that he was in trouble.

Every time he had meetings with her, he was pleasantly surprised by her attitude of being friendly. Perhaps he had been wrong about what this was all about?


The tom who tried very hard to remain emotionless listened as she spoke.

His only tell was a very slight flicker of his eye when she mentioned Stonepaw. Wolf was not going to reassign her was she?

The tom hated having to get up so early and go on extra training things, but at the same time he had grown to not hate it as much as he did to start with... he liked watching her progress, getting to see the first piece of prey she had caught had made him so inwardly happy even if he had not shown anything outwardly at the time.

The spar pracice they had when she almost beat him made him very proud of her as well, as exhausting as it was.

The lazy part of him was hoping he would get her taken away, reassigned to someone else,

but there was a growing part of him that wanted just the opposite, to keep her and to see her though all the way to a full warrior. He had never felt this much inner conflict on how to answer something,

usually answers were simple, figure out whatever best interested Storm and do that.

BUT NOW, it was more complex and a real pain to be honest.

As much as he had tried to distance himself from forming anything new in terms of relations it had and he begrudgingly knew he felt a bond of friendship towards his apprentice. One he knew from experience would only end in pain.

He glanced back to Wolf trying to figure out what to say to that, if he said it was going well he would maybe get to keep training her... ugh but that meant more early mornings and icky patrols.

If he said it was going bad then Storm and her would probably get reassigned and he wouldnt get to see her anymore or see her progressions on her way to being a warrior... but more time for sleep and no more icky gross early mornings of spars and nonsense like that.

He flicked his tail annoyed at himself for having to actually think about this... even a moon ago the answer would have been to try and ditch the apprentice as fast as possible, how had he let this happen? Let himself get all attatched to an apprentice?? It made him frustrated and almost sick that he had allowed such a thing to occur.


He finally gave an answer:

"erm... she is honestly doing really good" he responded.

"She picked up hunting super quickly and in our practice spar she held her own well enough.

He looked down at his paws breifly

IDIOT!!! now you are gonna have to keep training her and be stuck with all these extra tasks, dont you remember your plans for going for an early retirment and as little work as possible to get by?? What are you doing?? his inner voice asked him


He did his best to put that part of him aside "I want to keep training her. Really I do he said once and for all.

"Wolf? ... Please dont reassign her. If Stonepaw still wants to be my apprentice, I still want to have her He couldnt belive he had just said that. Himself from a moon ago would have smacked his current self for doing that, but it felt correct now

"dont you dare tell her I said that though he said narrowing eyes. It was bad enough that he felt something for stonepaw, it would be even worse if the apprentice found out he actually gave a mouse about her. Relationships of any kind never went well for Stormwatcher, part of why he had become this way in the first place, the last thing he needed was Stonepaw trying to activly form more than what he currently had with her.

Wolfblossom watched the warrior's reaction to her words, fluffy tail wrapped neatly around white paws as she sat. Surprise, a hint of worry, though she'd grown accustomed to that from Stormwatcher. He had good things to say about Stonepaw's training, and Wolfblossom nodded as he spoke, listening quietly.

And there it was, almost a plea. Stormwatcher hadn't been the most willing of mentors at the start, but it seemed that had changed. Or perhaps he just didn't want an apprentice to go through the strange turmoil his own training had taken. "I've been keeping an eye out, and it seems we agree on that. Stonepaw's training is progressing nicely, Stormwatcher. You've done well." She tried her best to smooth over that worry. Reassignment? The idea was almost enough to win a small snort of laughter from the deputy. "I don't think you'll be training her for much longer... I believe she's ready to go to the moonstone with Plumleaf, and a warrior ceremony should follow that quickly, barring some sort of trouble." She wished these ceremonies could be held in Skyclan's own camp, wished the apprentices being trained now had any true recollection of Skyclan territory, but despite the circumstances they all seemed to be doing well.

And then she did laugh at his next words, whiskers twitching. "Ha! You do care." Triumphant, she continued, "You don't have to hide it, you know. Caring about your apprentice isn't some terrible thing. It makes your ties to your clanmates stronger. But your secret is safe with me... For the moment." She added, unable to resist teasing the warrior just a bit. "Unless Stonepaw asks. I don't think she will though, she's smart enough to figure that out for herself."

Stormwatcher's ears laid back defensivly. "I do NOT" he meowed back almsot defensivly feeling his pelt get all hot with embarrassment that someone would even suggest he cared, but knew that wolf had him here.

He sighed a little as she teased a bit about all this. Yeah yeah ok ok so maybe he did care a little about Stonepaw but she was getting too excited over this... she just loved tormenting him huh??

Wolf even said he was doing a good job? He blinked a little surprised but he guessed that he had been trying alot more than he ever had in the past.

It makes your ties to your clanmates stronger.

yeah... thats what Im afraid of he thought a little pesimistically.

But he shoved those thoughts aside for now. This was a good day/meeting. He had actually gotten a good job from a higher up and that was something he didnt think was even possible prior to right now. He was gonna take this as a win for now.

she's smart enough to figure that out for herself

He nodded, yeah she was pretty smart too.

"Yeah she is ready to become a warrior he agreed... but he wished he got more time to train with her.. but you wouldn't catch him dead saying that.


"Any idea what her warrior name might be?"
he asked with a raised eyebrow. Usually it was a secret between the leader and deputy but no harm in asking he figured, besides if anyone was to not know the subtilties of clan traditions it would be storm.



He considered asking one more thing of her but was on the edge if he really wanted to ask it or not... Welp full send it was. Without having any more time to consider, he blurted out the request.

"erm... if you are putting me on more patrols until Crookedpaw gets back could I at least get them with Stone when she is a warrior?... ok fine, she was right he did care a bit about his appretnice, but if he had to work it would at least be somewaht more bearable with someone he could tolerate he figured

At his protesting, Wolfblossom lost it completely, laughter bubbling up before she could stop herself. "You're a terrible liar, Stormwatcher. I think I should assign you another apprentice, since you're enjoying training this much!" She wouldn't overburden any warrior with multiple apprentices at once unless it was absolutely necessary, of course, but it was still fun to poke at him just a bit.

"I'm not sure what Birdstar's thoughts are, honestly. I know she watches over training too, I expect the discussion will crop up once Stonepaw has undertaken her moonstone journey." She replied. "It seems like Stonepaw is loyal and dedicated, perhaps her name will reflect that. It would be a shame to only name her for her appearance, though her pelt is striking." Stone- had been an apt name, just as Mist- had been for her sister.

At his last question, Wolfblossom nodded. "I do tend to put mentors on patrol with their former apprentices. Work with each other during training long enough, and then they work just as well with each other on patrols, usually. Of course, I want our clanmates to do well with each other regardless of being someone's apprentice or not, but some familiarity helps smooth the transition into warriorhood. We'll see where you wind up." She would make no promises, but in all honesty it was likely to happen anyways just because of how Wolfblossom planned her patrols. The mentor and apprentice relationship didn't necessarily end the moment an apprentice became a warrior, after all.

Stormwatcher's pelt bristled as she laughed and poked more fun at him. He fumed a bit rolling his eyes and shaking his head... she was having way too much fun with this at his expense. Just cause he showed some amount of caring for one cat... give them a pawstep and they want the whole mile.

He listened to the rest of her comments and gave a little nod. Stars she just loved poking at him didnt she?

"*sigh* this meeting is so over" he meowed back also joking a little but hoping he was right as well, this had been a good meeting but there was a problem, mainly his nest was over there and he was over here.


"no more apprentices... Ive done my fair share he reasoned

I cant get attatched to too many... It hurts bad enough losing one you care about... and on Stars I will not lose Stone

He got up and stretched with a yawn. Unless she needed him for anything else he was gonna go take a nap... and then actually go do his hunting that he also had left too... Dang... wolf wasnt kidding about getting him into gear more was she? This was exhausting and so not fun at all but he knew what she was doing was good for the clan.

Wolf was somehow able to just make things run, weather getting Bird's stubborn tail into the med den or getting his lazy tail moving on things when the clan needed it...

He respected that about her... but stars he could do with less fun being poked at him as he groaned internally.

"Oh alright. I'll get out of your fur now." Wolfblossom mewed, "I didn't intend to keep you here longer than necessary, anyways. And what I wanted to talk about has been discussed." She added. She'd been glad of the results of that discussion too.

"Honestly though... You probably won't get another apprentice right away. Not when there's other warriors who haven't had one yet either." Stonepaw and Mistpaw would be among those ranks sooner rather than later, she hoped.