sensitive topics Digital dancing, wow this is fun! ♫ Collapse

[Bugpaw !]

*+:｡.｡ Bugpaw was young, boundless in energy and powerful in heart- she didn't mind the strain growing in her muscles or the heaviness mounting behind her eyelids when everything she did and wanted to do remained too important to ignore. She'd find time for everything, because she had to. One day at a time, she was determined to spend each second to their fullest!

But man, she really wished she could have a break...just for today.

The breaks between patrols, sparring and hunting were growing shorter and sparser. Perhaps this was a punishment for all her little digs against the other apprentices. It didn't feel great to be a troublemaker, as she was sure that - good intentions aside - her mamma would be disappointed. Still, she didn't think it was fair to keep being called up again and again to spar when most of the other apprentices got to have a respite between competitions.

Today was brutal.
The heat suffocated the air from her lungs and dried to sweat that struggled to cool her brow and paws. It was all she could think about -
Bugpaw winced as a paw struck her ear, the weight of the blow enough to send her rolling.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you would dodge!" The voice rings in her ears, but the sound is oddly...fuzzy? Trying to blink the stars out of her eyes only yields black spots in their stead. That's not great. She squeezes her eyes shut and takes a deep breath to ease her nerves, before returning the smile to her maw. She waves a paw reassuringly, her shoulder aches for her efforts and yet her paw still moves slower than she intends, but her voice is no less chipper "Don't worry, it didn't hurt!" Which isn't a lie, it really didn't, no worse than any other cuff around the ear. That's why it's rather odd that her head still feels like a bird's nest that fell off its branch - a bundle of twigs and leaves strewn about, messy and broken, too heavy to pick back up.

"Skyclaw, can - may I please get some water?" Bugpaw sighs, hating the need to ask but not foolish enough to ignore the way she can't quite keep herself steady. When she looks up, her "leader's" eyes are like two blazing suns - all heat and no warmth. His mouth is moving, but she can't quite hear it, left paralyzed by that molten fire. He sounds so far away...and yet his eyes are so blisteringly close...

She blinks, and suddenly, she's back on the floor, paws high in the air in the dumb position of one knocked free of their senses. More sounds that she recognizes as apologies are flying through the air, but all she can think about is how hot everything feels. Today's a scorcher, it seems.

Suddenly, pressure builds on her scruff as she's yanked back to her feet. "Th-thanks" she purrs, but her voice is heavy on her tongue, the words made of tree sap instead of breezes and bird song. "Bird songs, like the nest!" she comments cheerily, only to realize the words make little sense to either herself or the cats looking over her. They seem worried. Oh no! She can't have that! "It'kay! M' fine jus' need a beak g'it? like..like break...guess..um... eggs a-and the twigs too"

The words slur, they sound funny but she can't find the strength to laugh. Bugpaw's sight is filled with sunlit eyes and tortoiseshell shadows - it hurts. The world tilts. A falling nest she thinks dizzily, "Where's th'bird..?" but she can't remember his name, not while she's too busy bracing for the inevitable shatter of branches and leaves.

Luckily, Bugpaw's eyes have since rolled to the back of her head, so when she finally hits the ground, she's already long gone.

*+:｡.｡ Updated 3/22/24

• //tl;Dr Bugpaw collapsed from exhaustion during a spar!
  
  Feel free to be the apprentice that she was sparring with at the time! <3
  
  
• 
  
  
  GENERAL:
  ♫ Bugpaw
  ♫ DFAB— She/Her
  ♫ 6 moons — Ages
  ♫ Daughter to Flamewhisker and Flycatcher
  ♫ Sibling to Falconheart, Stormfeather, Lilykit, Butterflykit, Scorchedpaw, Squirrelpaw, Sunpaw
  ♫ Thunderclan — apprentice
  ♫ Apprenticed to Falconheart
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ♫Physically easy | mentally easy
  ♫ Attack in bold pink
  injuries: None currently

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[shroudedpaw]

Everything must be completely normal. Utterly ordinary. Shroudedpaw must not fight the siege; he must search for answers, and stall until he's found them. Thusly, while his mind swarms with thoughts and clues and desperation, he appears as any normal apprentice: perhaps too unfazed by Skyclaw's takeover.

That brings him to today, any other ordinary day. He's training with some apprentices, honing his skills, but truthfully - his mind is elsewhere. He thinks of the stars, of the sun and moon, and of the omen of his litter's birth. He is.. admittedly, a little too distracted, for he doesn't notice his friend's wavering and struggling until it's too late.

Shroudedpaw tunes back into the world only to catch the tail end of her nonsensical muttering, and then he hears a dull thump that reminds him of Howlingstar. In an instant, he ducks under a swipe from his sparring partner and instead diverts his path to disengage entirely, running straight for Bugpaw who lies motionless on the ground below. " Bugpaw! " he exclaims, shocked, perhaps some of the most emotion he's ever mustered in a single word.

" Bugpaw, can you hear me? What's wrong with her? " the boy demands sharply as he crouches down at her side, pressing his nose to her cheek. Shroudedpaw is relieved to discover that she's still breathing, but it is short lived and quickly replaced by concern-fueled fury. Silver eyes snap to the apprentice she was sparring with, and he feels wild knowing that his closest friend in this world had fallen due to the carelessness of another. " What did you do? "

His words are tart and scared as he then nudges his head underneath her, attempting to pull her onto his back - but he is barely strong enough to roll her onto her other side. " Help me! " he demands again to the nearest cat. Please, Bugpaw, be okay..

SHROUDEDPAW ( he/him )​

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( ooc ) text

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[SUNPAW]

He likes sparring with his sister, it reminds him of their time as kits, not too far in the past. He aims a well-timed blow towards her, and instead of her stepping back as he hoped, his paw smacks her right against her head. He apologizes, and she says its okay, that it didnt hurt… She slumps once, and Sunpaw walks over to help her up. "Bug, are you okay? are you sure it didn’t hurt?" his voice is full of worry.

She starts spewing… nonsense, so unlike her, and then… She collapses in front of him and his voice rises to a scream because something is terribly wrong: "BUGPAW!"

Shroudedpaw is faster than Sunpaw is, and acts like hes her brother, not Sunpaw. All of the sudden he feels too small, scrutinized by his fellow apprentice. Theres a hazy memory of Meadowkit and him fighting, of him unsheathing claws, of her saying she’ll tell. His stomach does flips and turns. He’s going to throw up. Stars, did he just kill her!? He hadn't even hit her that hard! Oh my Stars, Oh my Stars, Oh my Stars- Shroudedpaw barks something. It sends Sunpaw over the edge, clipped with panic and anger and confusion and sorrow and grief and worry and… "Are you accusing me of hurting her on purpose?!" he snarls viciously at Shroudedpaw, but tears drip down his cheeks. Stars, he’s so scared, he wants his mom, he wants… He… He wants… He swallows hard. He wants his dad.

I want my dad, I want my dad, I want my dad, I want my dad. He does not know why all of the sudden he aches for someone he has never known. He does not know why he wants to bury his face in to an unfamiliar pelt. He doesn’t know why he wants to run to his parents right now.

And yet, most of all, he wants to envelop his sister and sob in to her, repeat sorry to the point where it wouldn’t sound real.

Help me, Shroudedpaw demands. He surges forth to help- not to get her on his back, but to prop her up. He’s not quite sure if both of them together could even haul her upwards; right now, she’s dead weight and.. Well, he’s not even sure shes alive at this point.

He begins to whisper something like a mantra, "I’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry."

𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝙱𝙴𝙴𝙽 𝚃𝙾 𝙹𝙰𝙸𝙻 ✧ ☾ ☀ ☽ ✧ 𝙲𝙰𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝙸 𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝙶𝙴𝚃 𝙲𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃

• posted on mobile; edited for fancypost
• 
  ✶ sunkit ₊⋆ ☀︎ sunpaw
  ✶ amab ₊⋆ ☀︎ he/him ₊⋆ ☀︎ 7 moons
  ✶ apprentice of thunderclan ₊⋆ ☀︎ mentored by ivytwist
  ✶ red tabby with heterochromia & low white ₊⋆ ☀︎ short, but fluffy
  ✶ "speech, ee5d6c" ₊⋆ ☀︎ thoughts
  ✶ smells like oak & leaves ₊⋆ ☀︎ thunderclan staple
  ✶ chibi by pin ₊⋆ ☀︎ penned by chuff

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[skyclaw]

During his apprenticeship, Scaleclaw was adamant on his teachings. Although his mentor was laid back to a degree, he was never to slip up, and failure was rarely in the question. Howlingstar was kinder, more forgiving - and she sprouted a tom capable of overpowering her in the end. Too forgiving, he'd call it should he be asked. Mentors should be stern, less than friends to their apprentices. Failure can cross the line between survival and death. And it seems that Howlingstar fostered her softer teachings into her crowd, as many of the lessons he's stood in on are petal soft and dainty.

Bugpaw isn't pushed enough. None of them are. To feed the hungry mouths they have, the apprentices they harbor should be hunting twice a day, perfecting their skills. To protect their borders, they should be sturdy, capable and sound. And yet when he exercises his own strength, his own capability - the first drops like a fly.

He chose her out of petty insult. Falconheart no longer looks at him, and though they tripped in their friendship before, it hurts more now. He feels a sense of retribution watching the apprentices crowd around an unconscious Bugpaw. He feels no remorse for her ailment, though he grows tired of the apologies and shouting soon enough.

"She's just too tired," Skyclaw laments, his tail lashing. He stands, as if the effort is a nuisance in itself, and offers his shoulders to the apprentices. "Heave her up, now. And one of you go and tell Gentlestorm that we're on our way." His voice harbors no warmth or worry, just monotonous annoyance that he must bear witness to this at all.​