@Tea at midd@Shurikai“Something that’ll wake you up, hm?” Snowpaw’s ears pricked at the idea, and her claws kneaded the ground in anticipation. Gentle by nature, fighting was not Snowpaw’s forte. It did not mean, however, that the young she-cat disdained practice, and she looked forward to visiting the Sandy Hollow. Tabbyfur seemed to anticipate her answer, and dashed out ahead of her apprentice; on a glance back, all she managed to spot was Tabbyfur’s striped tail slithering away.
Something else had caught the sable and white she-cat’s attention. Small, wiry, and sometimes awkward, Warmpaw had never spited Snowpaw in any way. However, the young tom often seemed out of it, and interactions with his peers had not always gone smoothly. Still, in what conversations they’d had, he had always treated Snowpaw with kindness and respect, and while her fellow apprentices may have thought otherwise, his struggling attempts at humor, to Snowpaw, seemed sweet and effortful.
Sparing a last glance back at the entrance, where she knew her mentor was already thundering away, she turned and yowled “Warmpaw!”
He was with his mentor, Mallownose, no doubt discussing herbs or something else that Snowpaw would find infinitely boring. Snowpaw was running out of time; while she could most certainly find her way to the hollow on her own, Tabbyfur would scold her for lagging behind.
Hoping the young tom had turned to look at her, she flicked her ear and purred a loud and friendly, “Hello!”
Then, turning tail quickly, she dashed out of the camp and rushed after Tabbyfur, her smaller paws sinking into the prints left behind by her mentor.
By the time she had caught up to Tabbyfur, she was out of breathe and strained. She had used every ounce of muscle to catch up to her quick paced, full grown mentor, and the effort had given her a good beating.
“What are we going to be practicing today?” She asked eagerly, hoping that Tabbyfur wouldn’t mention her lagging behind.
@ChronoBovino“Old sparrow!” Sandfire exclaimed, with affection rather than malice. Stonepaw was a good young tom, and an intelligent and friendly apprentice. He showed no aversion to carrying out his apprentice duties, and even treated the elders with respect. His close bond with his sister also reminded Sandfire of her bond with Bravefeather, and made her appreciate her apprentice’s nature even more.
“Would you like to go hunting down by the Great Sycamore?”
As she waited for Stonepaw’s response, she turned to Bravefeather.
“What say you get Shadowpaw, and we all go together?”
@ShurikaiBravefeather flicked his tail. His apprentice had sprawled himself out in the middle of the camp, no doubt looking for something to do or someone to harass. Shadowpaw could be…difficult, at times, and Bravefeather had often wondered why Hawkstar hadn’t given him to another cat with a higher mettle, like Stormstrike or Flareheart. But, looking at his sister now, he knew the right thing to do would be to give his apprentice some activity.
“I’ll go get him now.” Sandfire purred her approval, and Bravefeather bounded towards the young calico tom.
“Shadowpaw,” he meowed, boxing the tom gently and affectionately on the ear (hard to deal with he may be, but it didn’t stop Bravefeather from having affection for his apprentice), “Would you like to hunting with me, Sandfire, and Stonepaw?”
