private o green world .. assessment

[lilacfur]

// @smogmaw @pipit !!

There wasn't much more that could be trained into a cat that already knew the basic fundamentals of survival. A display of how Pipit used his claws had proved a vital point of skill that Lilacfur would say matched her own. They were both a pair that could be easily underestimates due to their friendliness, unexpectedly strong and ferocious when needed. They had shared words of how they felt over Granitepelt's recent assault on their shared kin, how they wouldn't hesitate to return the favor and she is sure Pipit would make good on his word.

Hunting had been another that needed little refining. Being a rogue and surviving this long had to come from something, and those boys were not bony little things when they arrived at the border. Though their sharing customs in Clan life may have cost them some of that luxury, it is a comfort that none of them were truly starving. Perhaps in the arrival of newleaf they could make it a goal to catch a marsh rabbit together but until then, he seemed just as capable of pouncing on frogs and birds with no complaint.

But these trainings were not to focus on how savvy a grown cat could fight or hunt. She was meant to teach him the ways ShadowClan lived and breathed within the forest. How every warrior played their part in keeping the forest and the Clan alive day by day. Why they lived by the code and the importance StarClan played not just for their leaders sake of lives but for themselves. So she sat them before the Burnt Sycamore and tossed her nephew a pinecone to keep his paws busy, as this wouldn't be much a physical task.

"We'll be running your assessment today, a test to ensure you're ready to join me and your other kin to the warriors den." Lilacfur explained before looking to their deputy a few paces away. "Smogmaw will be overseeing it with me. Typically an assessment is always done with another warrior around so there is no bias from the mentor. So, as long as the assessment is a success, Chilledstar will grant you your warrior name." Smogmaw had been a deliberate decision by the rosette specifically. While normally she would avoid the slate tabby due to his inability to relax around any of her kin, he and Pipit clashed the most. Unfortunate for her nephew, he would have to learn that not all cats that deserved respect were always likable.

"Your assessment will determine how much you remember of our culture and code. So, Pipit, who made the very first law that all Clans agreed to follow, establishing the Warrior Code?" She repeated the molly's name over and over in her head, as if trying to supply the answer straight into Pipit's thoughts.​

[ i need the clouds to cover me ]​

 

[pipitclaw !!]

It was like this 'StarClan' was just kicking him in the nuts any chance they got (he thinks.. he's only heard his brothers complain of this phenomenon). First, Lilacfur wanted to drag Sobmaw along and then to tell him they weren't even going to spar? No hunting? Nothing. He didn't realize that Magpiepaw's dumb affliction had been taken so damn seriously.. he wasn't stupid!!!

If looks could kill, the glare he offers his auntie this morning is so sharp it might take out anyone in the nearby vicinity too if they stepped too close into view. His lips are tightly stretched into a frown, catching the tumbling pinecone that is tossed towards his feet with a stubborn indifference to it at first. He pushes it aside as if to prove a point; he's not a baby. Doesn't need to be treated like one either.

Golden eyes sear the ground like focused sunbeams under a piece of glass, he makes a brief acknowledgement of Smogmaw, begrudgingly. Great... because this guy was gonna be the epitome of unbiased towards the dark chimera.

"Can we just get this over with," he asks bitterly, quietly, like a child scolded rather than an adult being tested. He notes the small huff of air that leaves Lilacfur, probably annoyed by his sulking but he doesn't particularly care to soothe her feelings when no one bothers to spare his literally ever.

"Emberstar of ThunderClan," he answers dryly, lacking any sort of enthusiasm as normally defined by his personality. No excessive rambling about her other notable achievements, even though he knows them. If this was actually about his knowledge, she would've asked for more than some one-word answer... but it isn't. It's about making sure he's not 'empty between the ears' and he knows it.​

 

[smogstar]

Smogmaw's prerogative as clan deputy left a slender margin for personal sentiment. Duty overrode all else, reluctance notwithstanding, and it falls upon his shadow-kissed shoulders to steer the clan onward towards growth and prosperity.

Given this premise, he cannot sensibly take issue to the additions of Snipe, Hawk, and Pipit. Three able-bodied, combat-capable, adult-aged* additions. Logistically speaking it is advantageous by every metric—and even as their dedication is bound to family more so than the clan, Skunktail is ShadowClan, and ShadowClan will fight tooth and claw to defend and uphold its kinfolk.

The skeletal sycamore cast a writhing shadow where the three sat; gnarled, knotted branches writhed and jerked grotesque as mangled limbs. Its twisted canopy stole away the deputy's focus during the first steps of the procession, amber eyes shifting among the branches as Lilacfur's instruction forms a backdrop. He plans to revisit this exact spot when the time for evaluating Hawk arrives, though he'll be damned if the younger tom's assessment is given as some pop quiz; knowledge grants power, but prowess in the dark determines a warrior's merit here.

Pipit's early griping fails to illustrate the enthusiastic verve he should be striving for. Lips devolve into a protracted frown as Smogmaw catches the juvenile stink, rife with impatience and ingratitude. The tom listens dutifully nevertheless, nodding once when the correct answer is given, before supplying a gravelly "Mmhmm." His scowl dissipates as he contemplates the tale of ThunderClan's first leader. "Emberstar founded the first law of the Warrior Code, and no sooner afterwards was she the first cat to break it."

And to think she's up there in Silverpelt, twirling tails with the she-cat for whom she defied her birth-clan.

His tail flicks, and Lilacfur becomes subject to his waiting gaze. He is just a spectator, no permission is required from him to continue, though he gives a goading nod regardless. Pipit really wants to get this over with, after all, and who is Smogmaw and Lilacfur to keep him waiting?

// * Adult-aged in a physical sense. The jury's still out on whether or not their mentality fits that same threshold.​