The camp is busy today. The warmth has brought everyone out, has filled ThunderClan with chatter. Toadpaw idly listens as he completes his chore for the day - cleaning the elder's den.
"...and then, Cinderfrost tried to kill Finchcatcher!" A squeaky voice finds itself clearer than the rest as he steps out of the den, the name of ThunderClan's former medicine cat piercing to Toadpaw's ears. It's a name he'd only learned in his time in the oak forest, but a cat he'd known before his arrival. His mother, Salamander. ThunderClan weaves all sorts of tales about her, stories of exile that leave the brown tabby confused about the warmth of the blue fur he once curled into.
He doesn't understand. His mother had been loving, had been caring. Or, at least, with memories waning of his time as a loner, that's the image he carries of her. Why, oh why, did ThunderClan say different? The apprentice stands, padding over to the voice's source.
"Is... Is that true?" Toadpaw asks the story's teller. A younger apprentice, Branchpaw, is the source of this tale she spews to a crowd of kits. And she nods her head quickly, patchworked head turning to point out the flame-furred warrior at the center of her story.
"Why wouldn't it be?" she asks, "Where do you think he got all those scars? He's a SkyClanner, and Cinderfrost hated SkyClanners! So she tried to kill him! And she almost did, but Emberstar saved him! That's what my mom told me." The apprentice's mother, a ThunderClanner for far longer than Toadpaw can ever claim to be. She would know, wouldn't she?
But, it doesn't sound like his mother. It doesn't. Ears flatten, his heart sinking. Is this... Is this what he's destined to be? A murderer, like the oak-forest claims his mother to be? Embarrassment fills him - how can he be a good ThunderClanner, when his mother was nothing but?
"That's... That's really scary," he finally says, gaze pulled away from the scarred warrior on the other side of camp. How could she do such a thing? Finchcatcher was a little odd, sure, but Toadpaw doesn't think he deserved what hatred his mother carried for him. Just because he was a SkyClanner? It... It didn't make sense. "I'm glad Finchcatcher's okay, though."
With all the scars the warrior carries, it must have been quite the attack. Toadpaw can't picture Salamander attacking him, but, maybe he can picture Cinderfrost doing so. Perhaps this is why ThunderClan had exiled her.
"...and then, Cinderfrost tried to kill Finchcatcher!" A squeaky voice finds itself clearer than the rest as he steps out of the den, the name of ThunderClan's former medicine cat piercing to Toadpaw's ears. It's a name he'd only learned in his time in the oak forest, but a cat he'd known before his arrival. His mother, Salamander. ThunderClan weaves all sorts of tales about her, stories of exile that leave the brown tabby confused about the warmth of the blue fur he once curled into.
He doesn't understand. His mother had been loving, had been caring. Or, at least, with memories waning of his time as a loner, that's the image he carries of her. Why, oh why, did ThunderClan say different? The apprentice stands, padding over to the voice's source.
"Is... Is that true?" Toadpaw asks the story's teller. A younger apprentice, Branchpaw, is the source of this tale she spews to a crowd of kits. And she nods her head quickly, patchworked head turning to point out the flame-furred warrior at the center of her story.
"Why wouldn't it be?" she asks, "Where do you think he got all those scars? He's a SkyClanner, and Cinderfrost hated SkyClanners! So she tried to kill him! And she almost did, but Emberstar saved him! That's what my mom told me." The apprentice's mother, a ThunderClanner for far longer than Toadpaw can ever claim to be. She would know, wouldn't she?
But, it doesn't sound like his mother. It doesn't. Ears flatten, his heart sinking. Is this... Is this what he's destined to be? A murderer, like the oak-forest claims his mother to be? Embarrassment fills him - how can he be a good ThunderClanner, when his mother was nothing but?
"That's... That's really scary," he finally says, gaze pulled away from the scarred warrior on the other side of camp. How could she do such a thing? Finchcatcher was a little odd, sure, but Toadpaw doesn't think he deserved what hatred his mother carried for him. Just because he was a SkyClanner? It... It didn't make sense. "I'm glad Finchcatcher's okay, though."
With all the scars the warrior carries, it must have been quite the attack. Toadpaw can't picture Salamander attacking him, but, maybe he can picture Cinderfrost doing so. Perhaps this is why ThunderClan had exiled her.
// PROMPT: while completing his morning chores, toadpaw overhears clanmates gossiping about his mother, cinderfrost. he only knew of her as his caretaker, but since being brought to thunderclan he's likely learned the story of cinderfrost's exile. what do these whispers of her make him feel? embarrassment? anger? sorrow?
