The future's in your paws. Shape it well.Roleplay in a cat Clan of warriors. Based off the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Takes place in an AU before the cats in the books existed.
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Characters : Stormdance (S) Rainfrost (R) Sunpool (Su) Wrenpaw (W) Hawkmist (H) Clan/Rank : Riverclan, Tier 5 Warrior (S) Skyclan, Tier 3 Warrior (R) Riverclan, Tier 2 Warrior (Su) Riverclan, Apprentice (W) Shadowclan, Tier 2 Warrior (H) Number of posts : 1039 Gender : Transmasc, he/they Age : 23
Subject: Cinderpaw's Moonstone Journey Wed 8 Nov 2023 - 18:34
Wrenpaw
Highstones
It would be Wrenpaw’s first time escorting an apprentice to the Moonstone on her own. She’d been there plenty of times for the meetings between medicine cats, she knew the way well, and she wanted to take some of the load off of her mentor right now. She couldn’t do much about the overwhelming problems facing their clan right now, but she could at least do this much. She came quietly into the apprentices' den and gently nudged Cinderpaw. “Cinderpaw? Up and at’em. I’m gonna take you to Highstones today.”
Once Cinderpaw had awoken and stood outside with Wrenpaw, Wrenpaw passed her the bundle of travel herbs she’d prepared. “Here, eat these. They’ll help you get your strength for the journey.” She offered Cinderpaw a soft smile. She was exhausted and worn down from fatigue and hunger, but she wanted to at least try to seem upbeat. She had no idea how well she was succeeding. She ate her own herbs and, once Cinderpaw was ready to go, began the long journey.
Wrenpaw took the trip carefully, aware of both of their fatigue, and she kept a quiet murmur of conversation. Nothing Cinderpaw needed to really engage with if she didn’t feel up for it, but enough to try and help keep her fellow apprentice’s spirits up before such a big event. It was with relief when she saw highstones, and she gave Cinderpaw another encouraging smile as they approached the rocks. “Here we are. You ready?”
She didn't wake straight away, not like she normally would. She cracked her eyes open drearily, dull blue eyes fixing on the fluffed shape of Wrenpaw. Her lips moved but with no sound as she struggled to realise what was happening until she heard the word 'Highstones'. She was up like a shot, if a shot could be sluggish. She was unsteady on her paws at first but her excitement was unmistakeable; "Lets go!" She purred, taking one last glance behind her to the others in the apprentices den before following Wrenpaw out.
The herbs she swallowed with a tense face and a scrunched up nose. She commented that they were bitter and 'evil', but helpful nonetheless. She kept pace as best she could with Wrenpaw for the journey, answering conversation as best she could despite her random lapses into silence and quick glances around her. RiverClan territory was one thing and uneasy enough, but crossing territories unsettled her even more so. She attempted to make jokes as well as she could, most falling flat, but her smile stayed painted onto her face despite the tiredness in her eyes.
Her steps faltered the closer to Highstones they got, and eventually, her movements ground to a halt. Her eyes were mooned and worried, and only a flick of the ear indicated that she had heard Wrenpaw's question. She licked her lips and swallowed, and looking up to the bicolour cat, asked; "Are they scary? Will they like me? What if I say the wrong thing?"
Cinderpaw was as positive as one could be in their current circumstances, and Wrenpaw felt a surge of admiration for her fellow apprentice as they made their way along. Her eyes softened at Cinderpaw’s anxious questions. She settled down into a sitting position and flicked her tail reassuringly to Cinderpaw. “I think whether or not they’re scary has a lot to do with who you’re meeting with,” She thinks wryly of the prophecies of the last few moons, but kept her expression positive so as not to add to Cinderpaw's nerves, “But I doubt you’ll experience anything scary with them here.” She thought then with fondness to her experience meeting Cloverheart.
“I’m sure whoever you meet with they’ll like you plenty. You’re a likable cat, Cinderpaw.” Wrenpaw smiled. “You’ll be alright. I promise. Just hold your head high, keep your chin up, and remember that you got here through your own hard work. They’ll see you for the wonderful warrior you’re becoming.” With a final encouraging nudge of her tail, Wrenpaw said, “Take a deep breath. You’ve got this." She demonstrated her own deep breath, and gave Cinderpaw an encouraging nod and squinted her eyes warmly at her.
Cinderpaw took in Wrenpaw's words with a look of uncertainty, blended with calm. She nodded to each word and the tensity in her shoulders eased away until she was relaxed again in front of that stone of milky blue. "I hope you're right," She said quietly and offered Wrenpaw a small smile, and although she spoke of doubt, she didn't question what the other apprentice said in the slightest. She would be okay.
"Will you still be here when I... come back? Wake up?" She wasn't quite sure what the proper terminology for that would be, and she felt a bit silly for even asking it. Wrenpaw wouldn't abandon her, that'd be stupid. Still... The idea of waking up alone frightened her. She shook her head then and said; "Nevermind! I know you will. And I-- I need to do this before I... talk myself out of it."
With a huff and a sharp spin on her heels she stepped over toward the Moonstone, its reflection and light painting her eyes a brighter shade of azure. She knelt down, took a breath that mimicked the one Wrenpaw had done, and tipped her nose to its surface...
"Hello, Cinderpaw!" The voice that greeted the young apprentice upon waking by the side of the starlit river was warm and cheerful, the fluffy gray tabby it belonged to relaxed and smiling. "My name's Birdsong, I was a warrior of Riverclan, back when Perchstar was still a new deputy... That makes me sound old, doesn't it? I'm not... Wasn't, I suppose. Really!" She had watched this one's journey to the moonstone, and the fear that Birdsong could feel radiating off of her reminded Birdsong of a younger version of herself. "You have nothing to fear here - I know, that's easier said than felt, isn't it? Especially when times are tough." She continued, settling onto her haunches as she regarded the apprentice with soft green eyes.
Cinderpaw felt the breeze change first. Warmer, moister. Then the light changed and she felt almost... Weightless. She blinked her eyes open slowly, the warm and happy voice of another meeting her ears, and almost lost her footing when she saw the landscape around her. Ethereal, spectral. But not at all what she had expected-- She had expected a mirror image of home and this was nothing but.
"Birdsong," She repeated at first, dumbfounded."H-..Hello..."
What was she meant to say? She swallowed back against the nerves bubbling in her throat, her front paw suspended off of the ground and her ears trying to figure out if they wanted to be back or forward. Afraid or attentive. "I'm sorry," She said then, flicking her eyes to the ground to compose herself and then back up to the starry form before her. "Uhm... I don't know what to say. Or do. I- I didn't think this far ahead, I couldn't- If I did I..." 'Probably wouldn't have come.' Was what she wanted to say, but she didn't even want to admit that line of thinking.
"No, no-- Sorry..." Ask a question, any question at all. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again to get her thoughts in order. Larkpaw did this before her, and so did Rookpaw. They were just fine. Every warrior did it before her, too. Everyone did it. She was okay. "What was RiverClan like then?" It felt silly asking, but it was something. The first thing she could get herself to say. "Was it much different from now-- Famine and drought aside?"
The apprentice stammered and stumbled over a reply to her, seeming more lost in this starry landscape than Birdsong had been. She understood, remembering her own fears and doubts, remembering the uncertainty she had felt upon meeting her ancestors for the first time.
"It's alright to not know what to say." Birdsong mewed gently, "Even clan leaders or Starclanners don't know what to say sometimes, that's a part of life for all of us. I'm not here to judge you for it, nor should anyone else."
Birdsong smiled softly at Cinderpaw's question, "Riverclan was chaotic. I joined as they were undergoing a transition in leadership, just before the start of leafbare, as their former leader had been found drowned. It was a difficult change for a lot of cats, I think, change often is. I think Jaystar's one redeeming quality was choosing Perchfall to be his deputy, if I'm being honest. They were... wary of me, former Skyclanner, bearing the kits of one of their warriors." Her heart ached at the thought of Turtlefur and their kits, of Otterdance's daughter who still walked in the clan today. "Still, they were accepting of me, as short as my time wound up being. It was a chaotic time for sure, but different from this breed of chaos the forest faces now." She added, "The river was so beautiful, even in the cold... I wish it were not in its' current state. Birds and squirrels were a lot easier for me to catch rather than fish, but I never lived through such famine that you are facing now. But this too, will pass, even if it doesn't seem like it."
Cinderpaw took in Birdsongs words without quarter. She listened intently, her tense body beginning to relax the more she listened. There was that word again. 'Change.' The very same thing that she had told Rookpaw not to fear. The very same thing she had whittled down to being just like a nest too small. The same thing that she had said was not a foolish fear, and yet she felt ever the fool for being afraid of it.
She had spoken to Perchstar about it. She had made light of it. And yet it clung to the back of her mind like a burr. She liked how she was now, and as much as she wanted to move forward, she was comfortable. She understood what was expected of her and could go into the next day knowing it should be similar to the last. Larkpaw would be a grump that spoke too brusquely for what he wanted to say, but she didn't mind. She'd say something and get that little catch in tone and then they'd understand what each other meant. And Rookpaw would be a rock as always, calm and quiet and someone easy to confide in and relax with when the day had been busy. And Perchstar would always offer her that gentle guidance that nudged her in the right direction, and be sometimes so blunt with things that it stunned her but made sense at the same time.
"How did you manage it?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "Leaving-- Leaving SkyClan, I mean. Going from apprentice to warrior seems... Worrying enough, but leaving your clan? Murkyriver did it. I don't know why she did it, or how. I don't think I could."
She pawed the astral ground below her as if to gather her thoughts again. So many possibilities; 'What if this happened?' 'What if that happened?' 'What if I could or couldn't do that again?'. Birdsong left her home for another, and by the sounds of it, had to leave that one again too soon. "You are brave," She commented.
"I left for a few reasons, but I'm going to explain the one I think is more important for your to hear. Skyclan was... A very different clan to what they are now. Their leadership pursued justice for a tom that had wronged the clan - and the entire forest - and forgot what they stood for in the process. I had never liked the sight of blood, much less fighting others. Still, I fought, to protect my clanmates, my siblings and apprentices, in the hopes of stopping a mass murderer who haunted the clan at every opportunity. We left our camp unguarded... And came back to carnage. Cats dead and maimed, elders, apprentices barely out of the nursery. My father among the grievously injured. On his deathbed, he told me that my mother was not who I thought she was, but rather the clan's medicine cat." Birdsong took a breath. "I had fought and spilled blood for cats who had lied to me my entire life. I'd hated the bloodshed and fighting, leaving was easier than I ever thought it could be. Now, joining Riverclan, to be with my own mate in a clan that wasn't exactly fond of where I had come from, and having to learn their ways? That was the hard part. I did it for Turtlefur, I'd do it again. I wanted to leave behind the mantle of Skyclan, I wanted to start my life with him. That conviction made it easier to get used to being in Riverclan, if I'm being honest. Our kits, well, I wanted them raised in a clan that was more peaceful, even if Riverclan had their own brand of chaos. I wasn't Riverclan born, but my kits were and I would make myself a part of the clan no matter how wary they were of me." Family and love had gotten her through a lot of things in life. Birdsong fell silent for a few moments, allowing Cinderpaw to think over her story. Being called brave was not something she had ever thought about in life, truthfully. Birdsong had always been cowardly, preferring to run rather than fight if she could get away with it. For Cinderpaw to recognize that in her but not herself... "You've faced the moonstone despite your fear, you've gone through life fearing the unknown but walking into it, day by day. Isn't that also bravery?" Birdsong asked gently, whiskers twitching.
Characters : [C]indersky, [W]olfpaw Clan/Rank : RiverClan, T3 Warrior| ShadowClan, Apprentice Number of posts : 363 Gender : They/She Age : 20
Subject: Re: Cinderpaw's Moonstone Journey Sat 18 Nov 2023 - 9:16
cinderpaw
apprentice | riverclan
The question stunned her. She looked back up at Birdsong with haste, the beginning of a protest starting and dying in her throat. How could that be bravery? She did it out of necessity. If she didn't, someone or the other would be dragging her out by the tail-- Or far worse, tossing her out and leaving her there. And that outcome was far more terrifying than the rest.
"I don't... Consider myself brave," She answered feebily. "I... I don't do it because I wake up and think that even though I'm scared, if I do it, I'll forget about it. I..." Her mind flashed briefly to her father. She was so alike to him and she could barely remember his face. He told her oft that he disliked arguments, disliked confrontation-- But day and night he would contest with her mother to give her something better. For her. Not for himself, as much as it whittled him down.
"I do it because I don't want to upset anyone," She said it slowly, as though making certain as she spoke that that was the correct reason. "I think if it were up to me, I would've stayed in the apprentices den as fresh as could be. But... Then that would upset Perchstar, because she had a useless apprentice. And when that goose first appeared... First with Perchstar, then with her, Lavenderpaw and Rookpaw... I wanted to become a rock. A tiny, overlooked pebble. But they were hurting. I did not want that. So I... moved. Sometimes I don't remember moving, but..."
As though something fell into place, she took a soft breath and whispered; 'Oh...'
"I say it out loud, and... It is similar to your story, isn't it? You did it for your family, and I do it for mine. Not family by blood, but still..." She mumbled. "And if I think you were brave, which you were, then why..? I do not see the bravery in myself."
