pafp what I should've said // apprentice duties

[✧ Siltcloud.]

MY IGNORANCE HAS STRUCK AGAIN​

siltpaw | 06 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf​

---

Thoughts of the boy she'd met the other day linger in her mind. He had seemed nice enough - granites sudden dislike and abrupt interruption only driving her curiosity further. After all, her brother hated bonejaw and yet siltpaw found her not only tolerable but a pleasant cat to be around. It was all just a misunderstanding after all. Perhaps it was the same with brookpaw. Stuck on repair duty, fixing up the dens against the bitter cold of leafbare, she glances at the other as she works. She doesn't know what to say, never does. How does one go about making friends? It all seems so easy for the other apprentices. A quiet sigh slips past her lips when she still cannot find the words, and the dust hued tabby turns back to her task, soft mud-stained paws working to ease the brambles into a sturdier barrier.

// @brookpaw.

 

[brookpaw.]

He couldn't figure out for the life of him why Granitepaw seemed to dislike him so much. Had he said something wrong? Teased him maybe? The only time Granitepaw regarded him with any sense of camaraderie was when he needed backup against those ThunderClan apprentices at the gathering. It was frustrating, but nothing he couldn't tolerate. Besides, there were plenty of other apprentices to get along with.

Siltpaw, for example, seemed like she didn't hate him on sight. A good start! She worked silently next to him now, assigned to repair the brambles with fumbling paws just like he had been. He didn't mind except for a few paw pad pricks here and there, as long as it seemed like something Betonyfrost would appreciate him for. Brookpaw lapped at a sore paw, swiping away a dot of red from cramming a bramble branch back into the weaving a bit too forcefully. Oblivious to Siltpaw's inner struggle, he started to speak without prompting. "The other day, I saw a frog eating a smaller frog while out hunting," he began with a morbid tone creeping into his voice, sharp teeth curving into a crooked smile at the other apprentice. "It was kinda gross. I didn't catch it, but if I did, d'ya think it'd be two meals in one? Or just one really big frog?"​

 

[loampelt]

---

Someone more considerate might have offered to help, or even quietly joined in the task. Loam doesn't, nor does the thought to do so cross her mind. Instead she lays near enough to idlily bat at the loose brambles collected to reinforce camp's wall. She's supposed to be doing something right about now, a command to be somewhere specific that has gone murky in her mind. If Thymefoot so terribly wanted Loam to train, he should have reminded Loam where exactly she was supposed to be earlier, and walked with her so she could find the way.

"Tuh-t--" Loam's nose wrinkles in distaste, "Double frogs. That's muh-my guess."​

---

tags ∘ shadowclan apprentice ∘ solid black with hazel eyes ∘ curled front foot ∘ 6 moons​

 

[✧ Siltcloud.]

MY IGNORANCE HAS STRUCK AGAIN​

siltpaw | 06 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf​

---

Thankfully for all involved, it is brookpaw that makes the first move. Visibly relaxing, green gaze hovers around the toms shoulders as she listens, head tipping to the side consideringly. Another familiar voice joins in the conversation and green gaze meets haze for a brief moment before fliting away nervously once more. "I think.... it'd just be one," she says consideringly, words drawled out slow and thoughtful, "...it's not like you could get the first frog back out," At least, she didn't think you could. Unless maybe you cut it up? It seemed like to much work.

 

[LlLACPAW]

Across the way, Lilacpaw is quietly observing the scene with seeds of envy. She's hesitant to join in, once again wondering if her mere presence would screw everything up before her body makes the decision for her. She walks over, mouth opening faster than her mind can stop it.

"I think it'd be a damn fat frog regardless, thats for sure."

Oh gosh she really needs to learn how to control herself. Now she's half inserted herself in a conversation she's not sure she was invited to. 'Loam wasn't either. Surely its fine if I join in? Brookpaw doesn't mind me that much but I haven't spoken all that often with Siltpaw and Loam.' Lilac paints a smile on her face even though her brain is smoking out of her ears trying to make sure that she isn't breaking some unknown rule or unseen boundary. ​

 

[brookpaw.]

Multiple answers to his conundrum of a question. Double frog, one frog ― Lilacpaw's sudden answer earned a barking laugh from Brookpaw, giggles erupting from his wheezy chest. Not for long, as he swiftly silenced himself, though a toothy smirk remained on his snout. He paused in his work, paws distracted by the necessity to gesture. The apprentice sat upright, akin to a groundhog or some other scurrying rodent, as he surveyed the she-cats around him for any reaction. "I wish I caught it," he admitted, "It got eaten whole. So I say it'd be a double frog. Just layered." Brookpaw fell down onto all fours again, back turned to the bramble barrier for now. It was reinforced enough, in his opinion, at least in this one area.

Without skipping a beat, he dragged the conversation in a completely different direction; he liked having the control to change topics on a whim, all the attention on him, shifting everyone to a lighthearted mood. His voice dropped to a whisper, as though they might share gossip and prod each other with nosy questions like bored queens in a nursery. "What about your guys' mentors? Are they any good?" Mine sure isn't. Brookpaw bit his tongue, his grin faltering ever so slightly. No, he was supposed to be entertaining, not dragging down the atmosphere to match all the sullen adults around them.​

 

[Poppypaw ★]

"IMAGINE EATING TWO FROGS AT THE SAME TIME! Couldn't be me! Or maybe it could be me-in unrelated news I'm not allowed near the freshkill pile anymore this moon! HI EVERYONE! HOW'S IT GOING?!"
An apprentice gathering and NO ONE invited her?! Whose fault was this? Who did she have to kill for this crime? Brookpaw? PROBABLY BROOKPAW. Wait til she got him alone, she was going to stuff rocks in his mouth and make him chew them! It was probably not Siltpaw or Loampaw because she liked them and surely they could do no wrong as her sense of judgement was perfect in every way. Lilacpaw was a cat she didn't interact with much so she made a point to trot her way over into the group whether she was welcome or not and take a seat next to the other apprentice with her usual bright smile in greeting before rolling her eyes at Brookpaw as if every word out of his mouth was just the most banal nonsense. Toms were so boring, she wondered why she bothered letting them live.
"Mentors?! I'm on MENTOR NUMBER TWO! OLD FLASHFUR RETIRED-PUT HIM OUT I DID! WEAK OLD MAN, he couldn't keep up with THIS! Frostbite's okay! HE'S KINDA BORING BUT HE ISN'T MEAN!" She snorted a laugh, wheezing and turned to each of them in turn, "Flickerfire seems like a fun mentor but man she's SO LOUD!" Poppypaw was one to talk, "AND BROOKPAW GOT BETONYFROST-HA! LOSER!"
​

 

[✧ Siltcloud.]

MY IGNORANCE HAS STRUCK AGAIN​

siltpaw | 06 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf​

---

There is a lot of things siltpaw wants to say in response to that question - are their mentors any good . Yes. No. Maybe. the answers roll through her with a wave of choking uncertainty, throat closing up as she swallows heavily. Flickerfire is many things, but a good mentor-? Most of what she has learned was from her previous mentor, or was through trial and error. Lots and lots of error. Moons of missed hunts flash before her eyes, of whispered words, or scathing and snide remarks thrown at her. Isn't a mentor supposed to teach? she often thinks. But flickerfire must be doing something right, because she'd gotten there eventually. And it had been helpful, she thinks - but only sometimes - to learn by observing others. By simply fading into the background

Doesn't help her much now though - she still can't win a spar, probably couldn't even beat a kit in a fight.

And then poppypaw comes crashing in, and a smile twitches on her lips. She doesn't think she'll ever grow tired of the others antics - if not because of the humor she finds in it, or her genuine like for the other girl, then at least for the simple fact that it's much easier to breath when the attention of those around her is on the other and not herself. "mmm.... she's not very good at explaining things," she says softly, finally, thoughtfully - as though worried her mentor might overhear. Or perhaps that just her normal manner of speaking. Doesn't make the words any less true.