private RED SKY AT MORNING, SAILOR TAKE WARNING — brackenpaw

[BLUEFROST]

The dawn comes bright, illuminating the charred landscape of WindClan’s moorland. Bluefrost is awake, rising with the sun; she spends an extra chunk of time to groom the residual mud clumps from her thick fur, and then she approaches the nest where Brackenpaw is curled. With a delicate paw, she prods her new apprentice in the ribs. “Time for your first day,” she murmurs in a low voice, careful not to awaken the rest of the Clan. “Eat and bathe yourself, then meet me at camp’s entrance. It will be a long day.” She has nothing else to say, so she gathers herself and goes to sit near the gorse-and-heather tunnel leading into their moorland.

Once Brackenpaw presents herself, Bluefrost will rise to her paws and give her a stiff nod. “We’ll first go to the Sunwarmed Pool,” she mews. “The territory will look quite… different, after the fire, and it won’t be easy for you to recognize scents with all the ash. That just means you will have to train twice as hard.” She turns to fix her young apprentice with a baleful green stare. “It will be up to you to memorize where these landmarks are, Brackenpaw.”

She charges forward, leaving gray debris in her wake for young Brackenpaw to follow.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: @Brackenpaw
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 16 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan warrior. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue and white she-cat with emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.
  
  

​

 

[Brackenpaw]

Adjusting to sleeping outside of the nursery was going to be a task that would take multiple nights, the bonus to it was that they still got to share a space with their friends. The realisation that she wouldn’t be seeing their faces around as often was bitter, there was still Ferretpaw though, at least someone else from this group would be within Brackenpaws company in the future. A part of her did hope that the meeting was a dream, that they’d wake up and still be back at the nursery. That quiet hope died rather quickly as she stirred awake thanks to a precise prod at her ribs. With a groan one eye opens to the nightmare that is the reality this is likely going to be their common routine. Bluefrost was not a welcomed sight right now and they really hope that the nasty look they gave her was enough to communicate that. “...Yeah sure, I’ll do that” they grumbled as she rose from her nest. Too tired to immediately bite back, Brackenpaw decided it was much more fitting to take her time eating and bathing in a more subtle approach to rebellion.

They do eventually arrive at the gorse-and-heather tunnel, hopefully later than she had expected them to be here. She planned on blaming this blunder on it being her first day and not the crafted slight that it was. With an accentuated yawn at Bluefrost’s mews about going to the Sunwarmed Pool first she stretched her untrained limbs. “Lucky me” the sarcasm was evident and the rolling of their eyes served to only drive their point home in case the tone hadn’t expressed the displeasure enough. It seemed like everything was out to get them, even the territory. Why did it not wait to burn until after she had understood the lay of the land and the scents. Frankly she would rather it not have burned at all but they were certain that was a common wish.

The apprentice tries to keep pace with Bluefrost, trailing close behind her. As much as Brackenpaw would rather not entertain a conversation to further their point of not being pleased with the situation she had realised overnight that this would also hinder them in the process. It was unlikely for Sunstar to assign them someone else and their issue would be the same with any other mentor, there was still time for their issue to be specifically this tunnel though. Better to make the best out of the situation, even if she planned to make the process just as irritating for their mentor as it was for them. “Do you have any advice on how to remember these landmarks?” The first thought would be a funny rhyme, maybe there was a phrase common amongst apprentices in an attempt to remember?

---

‎‎ ‎┌── Im just a dog ⸙ with no bite ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  ooc.
  
•  
• BIOGRAPHY
  ✩ they/she, tunneler apprentice of Windclan, 6 moons (ages on the 22nd)
  ⭃ a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
  ⭃ Speech, thoughts, attacking
  ⭃ easy to befriend kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  ⭃ All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
  

​

 

[BLUEFROST]

Brackenpaw’s olive-round eyes narrow in Bluefrost’s direction, and the gray warrior’s mouth sharpens into a stiff line. She spends more time than she’d wanted to waiting at the tunnel leading out of camp, and she levels her apprentice with a long, dissatisfied look before mewing, “You will be timely next time, or you will be picking ticks until your paw pads fall off.” She sweeps her tail over the curve of her paws to enunciate her sentence, then stands and makes her way out of the camp, Brackenpaw sulkily trotting behind her.

“Lucky me,” they bite back after Bluefrost tells them what they’ll be doing for the day. The tunneler’s mouth twitches with revulsion. She would have been cuffed up one side of her head and down the other if she’d spoken to Sootstar in such a manner, but Brackenpaw is not her kit, thank StarClan—only her wayward, lazy-appearing apprentice. She broods as they near the edge of the Sunwarmed Pool, where Brackenpaw asks a genuine-seeming question, a request for an easier way to remember their territory’s landmarks.

The query gives Bluefrost pause. She had not been expecting this. “What would help you the most?” She blinks ash from her eyes, contemplating. “You will need to know the moors above you to know the tunnels beneath us. Perhaps…” Her brain thuds dully; she’d not inherited her mother’s cunning creativity, but her father’s stodgy, ill-achieved logic. “WindClan has the most diverse landmarks. We have water—the Sunwarmed Pool—and sky to look out upon from the Outlook Rock,[/outline]” she explains. “The Abandoned Badger Set leads under the earth, and… and the Horseplace is where the fire started.” Water, sky, fire, and earth. It wasn’t a silly phrase like Brackenpaw had perhaps been hoping for, but it was something Bluefrost found herself proud of.

She dips a paw into silken water, warmed by the sun. “Feel it. It’s always warm, even in leafbare,” she explains. “My mentor taught me that the sun warms the slate and keeps the stones warm enough to light the waters ablaze.” She touches her nose to the water, flinching at the memory that rushes into her face like blood-warm liquid. It’s tender, raw. She tries to push it away and concentrate on Brackenpaw now. “Where would you like to go next?" Perhaps giving the young feline a choice would result in less sassing.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 16 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan warrior. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue and white she-cat with emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.
  
  

​

 

[Brackenpaw]

“Dunno, is there a phrase that apprentices use or a rhyme or something?” They cock their head to the side, sharp and calculated rather than something natural. Truthfully there was doubt that Bluefrost could help with this but maybe she could be proven wrong in her doubts. They weren't too sure what the correlation between knowing the moors and knowing the tunnels but in theory that made sense. The tunnels had to have exits right? So it only made sense to know where exactly one was going to end up when leaving the tunnels and thrust into the moors.

For the first time since they opened their eyes today Brackenpaw listens to what their mentor has to say. Sunwarmed Pool was Water, of course it was. What kind of idiot did she think she was mentoring? Only when she explains that the Abandoned Badger Set was earth does the young calico understand what she's trying to do. “Water, Sky, Earth and Fire” they mumble to themself upon realising that their request for a phrase was met. She utters it a few times under her breath to better her attempts at committing this to memory.

It truly kills Brackenpaw to feel like this but they feel a blossoming of respect, there's a rare look of awe as she looks up from the ground she had been staring at while trying to remember this phrase and to look at Bluefrost. “Thanks.” They have to choke out the gratitude, speaking through gritted tiny teeth as she has to fight to let the pride down.

They turn their attention away from the fact her stomach churned after having to actually thank a warrior to instead focus on the Sunwarmed Pool. “Why do you need to know that?” it was a genuine question but Brackenpaw had to admit that it seemed a little dumb for Sootstar to teach something that they deemed to be so useless. However, they weren't idiotic enough to attach that part out loud.

They blink at their reflection in the water and mirror the blue and white she-cat's actions. Dipping a paw into the warm water and then pausing before also pressing their nose to it. She grimaces, hating the feeling of her nose being drenched “at least this water doesn't smell” she comments to herself unlike, deciding to not comment on the flinch from Bluefrost. Unlike RiverClan, that smelled awful, she mentally tacks that on and sticks out her tongue in disgust, like she could somehow still smell it out here.

Being given the choice on where to go next simultaneously throws Brackenpaw off her guard and give Bluefrost a sceptical glare. How was she supposed to know where anything is? Was this some kind of unfair test? “I want to see the Horseplace” is what they decide on saying, recalling her incessant questioning of Celandinepaw. They were convinced that it must smell, no matter what the apprentice had tried to tell them.

---

‎‎ ‎┌── Im just a dog ⸙ with no bite ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  ooc.
  
•  
• BIOGRAPHY
  ✩ they/she, tunneler apprentice of Windclan, 7 moons (ages on the 22nd)
  ⭃ a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
  ⭃ Speech, thoughts, attacking
  ⭃ NPC x NPC, mentored by Bluefrost
  ⭃ easy to befriend other kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  ⭃ All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
  

​

 

[BLUEFROST]

Brackenpaw begins to mumble Bluefrost’s phrase under their breath, and the small gray warrior almost smiles, pleased. Almost. She even manages to get a reluctant, “Thanks,” from Brackenpaw. She faintly wonders if there is progress to be made after all. Bluefrost blinks at the calico’s next question—Why do you need to know that? She swallows, contemplative. “I… I believe I asked her,” she murmurs. “No knowledge is useless, Brackenpaw, even if it seems like it is. Everything can be used.” She brushes her tail against the earth, then pulls away from the water.

“Right. This water isn’t full of fish, like RiverClan’s. That is where their stench comes from,” Bluefrost mews, disdain clear in her voice. “And you have not smelled ShadowClan’s waters yet, but they are even fouler. They do not run like the river; they sit and collect algae and other creatures and turn green.” She shudders at the memory of taking refuge in ShadowClan territory, shudders as she recalls the slime under her paws.

Brackenpaw tells her they want to see the Horseplace next, and Bluefrost nods. “Fine. Keep up, then.” Much like her own mother had done moons ago, Bluefrost takes off without warning, spurning ash-churned earth up into plumes with her paws. The young warrior does not slow down for her new apprentice to catch her breath—she pummels the moorland underfoot, until the two of them can see the sunlit outline of the Horseplace in the distance.

She crests a smoky-scented hill, her breath catching in her throat. “This is the Horseplace. Loners without loyalties live inside it,” she explains, her voice flat. “They grow fat off Twoleg scraps and mice, but they don’t fancy themselves kittypets. In my opinion, they are no better.” She turns to regard Brackenpaw before continuing: “And yes, there are Twolegs and strange animals like horses all around the place. It’s nowhere for a WindClan cat to be unless you are on a mission.” She pauses, then adds, “A mission Sunstar has put you on.”

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 16 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan warrior. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue and white she-cat with emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.
  
  

​

 

[Brackenpaw]

“What would you use that knowledge for?” She counters back, they weren't letting it go anytime soon their young brain becoming fascinated in the concept of something so frivolous. They gag at the thought of something being somehow worse than RiverClan's stench. They hope she never has to go to ShadowClan territory, how disgusting. “Ew, does that mean that Shadowclanners turn green if they drink the water?” The correlation seemed obvious in her mind and as such their question was completely serious.

They're still trying to figure out if shadowclanners are green underneath their fur when Bluefrost takes off. They stare bewildered at the fact that she didn't seem to be indicating to slow down anytime soon. Once the shock has subsided they have to run to catch up to Bluefrost, trailing behind her as they try to not be left behind. Some not pleasant insults were being crafted in their mind when they get the chance to give the tunneler a piece of her mind.

“Hey! You can't just run off without warning m-” They growl as they catch up but words die in their throat when they see the sunlit shillouette of the Horseplace. “Huh” they mutter to themself, seemingly impressed by the sight. It did smell, she notes to herself reluctantly that her mother was right about that much at least. An ear flicks towards Bluefrost's direction, indicating that they were listening despite the fact that her gaze was fixated on the Horseplace.

They nod at her judgements towards the loners that occupied the space, finding themself wondering if Celandinepaw's family were in there now. “If you had to pick, do you hate kittypets or loners more?” They weren't sure if using such evocative language like 'hate' was frowned upon or not, they didn't particularly care if it was either. The question didn't have a purpose, no more than Brackenpaw trying to fish out more information about the cat they were stuck with for the foreseeable future. They find themself wondering about what the inside of it looks like, Bluefrosts words diminish those thoughts very quickly though. The mention of Sunstar causes her to roll her eyes on instinct.

---

‎‎ ‎┌── Im just a dog ⸙ with no bite ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  ooc.
  
•  
• BIOGRAPHY
  ✩ they/she, tunneler apprentice of Windclan, 7 moons (ages on the 22nd)
  ⭃ a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
  ⭃ Speech, thoughts, attacking
  ⭃ NPC x NPC, mentored by Bluefrost
  ⭃ easy to befriend other kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  ⭃ All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
  

​

 

[BLUEFROST]

Brackenpaw is like a hunting dog on a fox's trail—she does not relent, countering Bluefrost's answer with, "What would you use that knowledge for?" The question irks her, and she shows it with a passive wrinkle of her nose. "To be more knowledgable about the territory StarClan has blessed us with," she mews, hoping it will shut her apprentice up on the subject for the time being. The white-splashed tortoiseshell is noisy and nosy and contrarian, that's for certain.

She can hardly contain her smirk at Brackenpaw's innocence. "Their flesh might be greenish under their stinking fur," she acquiesces. "But who knows if it is from the water they drink or from the crowfood they consume. Their scent is like rot." She sniffs, though she gives little to no time for Brackenpaw to ponder this further; her paws are swift, and she is on the move.

Brackenpaw catches up to her on weary paws, and though the calico's lips burst with protests, Bluefrost pays them no mind. She can tell her apprentice is fascinated by the sprawling Horseplace. "If you had to pick, do you hate kittypets or loners more?" Bluefrost tilts her head to the side, frowning in thought. Her mother's answer is easy—kittypets, without a doubt—but she has to ponder for a moment. "Kittypets are disgusting, lazy creatures, to be sure, but they are no threat to us. They cannot hunt, and their fighting skills are so bad even you could best them." She inclines her head, giving her pale chest fur a wily lick. "Loners, though, threaten our claim to our territory, our prey. They live without a code of honor, without loyalties to any cat." She curls her lip; it just slightly mars her lovely features. "Kittypets are to be pitied, whereas loners are to be avoided at all costs."

After a heartbeat, she turns back to Brackenpaw, pleased her apprentice has asked such an important question. "I'll take you to the borders, now. We shall see ShadowClan first."

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 16 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan warrior. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue and white she-cat with emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.
  
  

​

 

[Brackenpaw]

Brackenpaw’s eyes widened at the indulgence in her theories that shadowclanners may have green flesh. She wondered how much trouble she could get into if she tried to ask one of them if they were green. If anything they imagined based on this reply Bluefrost would let them and sick their incessant questions on some shadowclanner that she didn’t like. The idea that the cause may be from the food instead caused their head to perk up, before they could ponder the idea though she had left, much to Brackenpaw’s annoyance.

They were still thinking about what Bluefrost may have meant regarding the diet that the cats of shadowclan have when they reached the Horseplace. She looked away from the structure only for a moment to look over at their mentor. Maw pressed into a thin line as they bobbed her head in a nod, large ears flicking intermittently as she listened to her reasoning. The calico turns her head back to the Horseplace, trying to commit it to memory. Musing over her assessment over kitteypets vs loners as she listened, it seemed justified .

“Kittypets are to be pitied and loners are to be avoided, got it.” They repeat with a nod, narrowing their eyes at the structure in front of them as they try to commit it to memory. “Have you met many loners?” They imagined that she must have, Bluefrost seems to have a lot of experience as a warrior so that must mean that she have some stories in her time. The apprentice's head perked up once again, despite her attempts at trying to keep a neutral expression there was a glint of excitement in her eyes. “ShadowClan? The green one? Sounds cool I guess. They're not gonna get their rot smell on us are they?” she asked with a smirk, something akin to a playful lilt to her tone. As playful as Brackenpaw was willing to be around her right now, which in itself was a surprise to them given how the day had started.

---

‎‎ ‎┌── Im just a dog ⸙ with no bite ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  ooc.
  
•  
• BIOGRAPHY
  ✩ they/she, tunneler apprentice of Windclan, 7 moons (ages on the 22nd)
  ⭃ a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
  ⭃ Speech, thoughts, attacking
  ⭃ NPC x NPC, mentored by Bluefrost
  ⭃ easy to befriend other kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  ⭃ All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
  

​