take my hand and don't let go // intro

[.lavenderpaw.]

In the time following her appointment into apprenticeship, Lavenderpaw was just trying to adjust to everyday life as she would come to know it. The lilac tabby trotted across the camp with pine needles stuffed in her jaws. A new den meant a new nest, and being an apprentice meant that she was old enough to make her own nest. One mouthful at a time, Lavenderpaw trotted back and forth, filling her nest with an absurd amount of pine needles. She wan't trying to be obnoxious or rude, but she genuenly did not know the right amount of material to use when building a nest. At this point, she was just guessing and trying to make the most of her new found responsibilities (though minimal).

On what she finally deemed her last trip, Lavenderpaw made sure to stuff her jaw extra full, just to be safe. She trotted along happily, not really paying attention to where she was going or to the pine needles that cascaded down from her jaws in a trail behind her. Soon enough she found her self running straight in to one of her clanmates and plopping backwards on her rump. "Showwy" The lilac she-cat mumbled through the material in her mouth and bowed her head apologetically. She placed the needles on the ground in front of her paws and continued. "I was just trying to build my nest."​

[ PENNED BY CHURRO ]​

 

[Starlingheart]

Starlingpaw knew a thing or two about the transition from kithood to apprenticeship, although she had been tossed into her apprenticeship abruptly after her mothers death, with no one there to guide her or hold her paw. Sometimes she felt so utterly alone, especially with how distant her siblings had grown. Such a large family and yet they all seemed to be keeping their distance from one another. Their older brother was on the verge of something that Starlingpaw did not understand, going to other clans and demanding the exile of their medicine cats, snapping randomly at anyone and anything.

The sudden interruption from her musings startles her from her thoughts. A body bumps into her and her green eyes land on another apprentice, too many pine needles stuffed into her mouth. "It-i-i-it-it’s o-o-okay" she murmurs softly, her eyes following the pine needles as the other she cat sets them on the ground. All those were for her nest? "th-th-tha-tha-that i-i-is a lo-lot o-o-of p-p-p-pi-pine ne-nee-need-need-needles" she says, reaching out with one paw to gently brush the pile. ​

 

[GOOSEWOBBLE]

eagerness would fill his ears as he marched into camp, a pair of lizards hanging from his jaws. paws leading him in the direction of the fresh kill pile, goosewobble would wave his tail in greeting, parting his jaws to address the young apprentices. "building nests i see? how is it coming along girls?" standing aside to allow them room to move around, the warrior would chuckle softly while watching them race back and forth.
​

 

[MINKPAW]

To put it lightly, Minkpaw is shit at making nests. Or, anything that requires careful concentration and fine motor control skills. His paws are too... shaky, and he hates sitting still for so long, and he cannot focus when he has to be precise because he's too focused on not moving his paws erratically instead of actually making the nest.

So, yeah, he hates making nests. So goddamn much. Maybe everyone should just start sleeping on the ground! Or, just throw a bunch of soft shit onto the ground and flatten it with their weight. That's what Minkpaw does, and it works fine for him. Lavenderpaw, on the other paw, has a radically different approach. Minkpaw eyes her with a weird expression as she drowns her nest in pine needles, sticking his tongue out at the thought of trying to sleep with needles poking and prodding him. It'd be like sleeping with a porcupine!

"You... You sss-tripped all th-the pine tuh-treesss of th-their nee-eedlesss yet?" Minkpaw finally pipes up alongside Starlingpaw and Goosewobble. (Goosewobble is a weird name, and it makes him snort every time he sees the guy.) He grins, then, wrinkling his nose in mock disgust. His head jerks back, his eyes forcing themselves shut before he regains his previous false expression. "You... You mmade th-themm na-naked, didn't you?! Dumb, dumbassss!"​

 

[GHOSTPAW]

It's been... s'been... um, long, and... and he still wasn't super sure what apprentices were supposed to do. Ghostpaw feels the same, but now he's different, cause'.... he's Ghostpaw. Not... Ghost or kit - Ghostkit. He had a new name and... now he sleeps in here. It's not as warm as the nursery and there's more... fighting, but he's supposed to be here. And so is Lavenderpaw, and she's bringing lots of needle friends, too.

But Starling thinks it's too many. He doesn't... it - it's not that bad. And Mink thinks it's too many and Goosewobble thinks he's a girl. He's a boy, though... Or - or was he not talking to him? He was talking to nest-makers and he's not a nest-maker... but Starlingpaw wasn't making nests either. Who's the...the girls?

And - And Minkpaw is mad! Cause all the trees are naked now! "They can be... naked?" he asks, unblinking eyes widening by a fraction. He thought they... they had leaves forever... They didn't... They don't fall and regrow in winter... maybe that's why. They only have one set of leaves so they always gotta keep them, and Lavenderpaw just took them all! "Lavenderpaw noo, put them back..." he says, shaking his head.​

 

[.lavenderpaw.]

Lavenderpaw flicked her ears forward and swiped her tail across the ground happily. One of her biggest worries in coming in to apprentice-hood and moving in to the apprentice den was that her peers weren't going to accept her and that she would have no friends. So when Starlingpaw brushed off the other molly's accident without a fuss, Lavender was able to breath a sigh of relief. It didn't take long for more cats to gather around, namely Goosewobble. "Honestly, Starlingpaw, Goosewobble... I don't know what I'm doing... I just figured the more the merrier." The stutter in Starlingpaw's voice made the lilac tabby's ears flick uncomfortably, though she herself wasn't uncomfortable, it was just something she hadn't been around yet.

"Do you think you guys could..." In the middle of asking for help, another slew of broken up words made its way into the conversation and accused her of stealing all of the needles from the pine trees. "Did... DID I?!? I didn't mean too I swear! I can... I can..." Lavenderpaw began fussing with her paws trying to gather up all the pine needles at her feet. The young apprentice was easily tricked, and honestly she would jump into a tree and attempt to put each needle back in one by one. Her panic only grew when Ghostpaw jumped in. "I didn't mean to! I swear! I'll go take them back I promise!" She scooped the needles into her mouth. "Wigt nhow." She mumbled through the needles. ​

[ PENNED BY CHURRO ]​