this is the road to RUIN ✦ apprentices only

[Skunkpaw]

Skunkpaw stared hard at the river, keeping his distance as he always had with a frown on his face and a scoff in his tone as he turned away from it, great plume of a black tail curling up behind him in a mimicry of an actual skunk before stomping away back into the territory to the temporary camp. He had come out here to try and overcome his fear of the water, but quickly decided against it upon seeing the rush of the current. Something about it felt unnatural, upsetting. He couldn’t wrap his head around cats willingly throwing themselves to such an untameable force. The black and white tom had been born in RiverClan, yet he felt so out of place here and unsure of himself. Constantly wondering if he belonged when he was too afraid of the water to even accept the river of their very name. No part of him really cared to learn, he remembered seeing other kits in the nursery being coached and coddled by the river's edge, something his mother had not done once as the other queens did, too often she was off doing something or another outside of it and left him and his sibling to another queen's watchful eye. For whatever reason, the other cats there had not exactly been friendly though they had not been unkind either. It had crossed him as a muted tolerance if anything.
Sablepaw had overheard, at one point, cats insisting they go back. Go back to ShadowClan, a place they had never been before but a place their parents and Fogthief had fled from supposedly. The explainations were mixed, he wasn't sure what to believe and he didn't really care.
Skunkpaw only cared about the now, the current, the present. The past meant nothing to him because it wasn't his. He was river born, after all. That had to mean something. Sucking in a breath he turned back to the water with a sigh, dejected.
"How do I even start..."

---

[Ooc]
Skunkpaw is a drypaw and can't swim!
​

 

[frogpaw]

Frogpaw knew what it was like to be....odd. Not as odd as Skunkpaw and his siblings, at least– were he to have grown up without his paws kissing the water, and with the weight of a clan's idle judgement on his shoulders. Frogpaw is wary of the family, of course, but he knows some others do not stop there. He can't help but feel sorry more than anything else. Boneripple was not meant to for RiverClan, and her litter suffers because of it. Seeing the dark apprentice here now, of course that is only reinforced. With his head ducked low ad curled ears twitching, he approaches not the apprentice, but the water. Extra-broad paws splash into the current. A few small steps, with powerful legs holding his place against the current.

"Just touch it," he offers from his spot, voice lacking judgment. "It won't get any better if you just stare at it." Foggy eyes squint with gentle amusement.

˗ˏˋ〚  OOC NOTES REFERENCE INFORMATION 〛´ˎ˗

• ooc: —
• 
• FROGPAW. APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN. EIGHT MONTHS OLD
  —— npc x npc, has several npc siblings. mentored by snakeblink.
  —— loyal to riverclan, but somewhat uncertain of his place there.
  —— unknown sexuality. single, not actively looking or interested.
  
  a lanky, slender black smoke with low white and soft blue eyes. his ears are gently curled, and each paw has at least one extra toe, making them seem broader and larger than a typical cat's.
• "speech"

​

 

[FERNGILL]

Fernpaw, too, had often felt a little out of place. Up until recently he'd still felt like a kitten in size and ability, but- since his growth spurt the dreams he'd had of being a true hero of RiverClan, a name passed down through generations, were seeming attainable once again. His size had caught up to the rest of the apprentices (though he still stood a little smaller than most)... ability was still on the table, though. Still, if one miracle could happen...?

Swimming had always been his strong suit, no matter how far behind he faltered. It had always seemed like instinct to him- like the water was an extension of his body, something he could make his way through like it was slightly-thicker air- so the drypaws and the apprentices who looked to the river with fear in their eyes had always been a mystery to him. He wasn't gonna shun them for it, though- more than anyone he understood the pain of feeling completely unable to get something right. "Mhm," he agreed with Frogpaw, giving an enthusiastic nod. "You've just gotta get used to it!" ​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[ashpaw!]

Ashpaw's at Fernpaw's side, not close with either Frogpaw or Skunkpaw but happy to get to know them better. In passing she whispers to Fern, "it's still weird that you're normal sized," brushing up against him briefly, cheeky grin on her ginger tabby features. Like Ash, he's average-small, not teeny-tiny anymore. Excepting the scarred fur under her cheek, and the fish-like bulge of his eyes, they kind of almost look the same now.

To Skunkpaw she says confidently, "Yeah. Don't worry. I think everyone's scared of it at first..." Ashpaw wasn't quite riverborn, though she'd been very very young when her mother brought her here, following Cicada from the marsh — she has the vaguest memories of those first nervous splashes behind the nursery, adjusting to the water. Hmm. She's actually not sure how true it is that everyone's scared at first. Because she does also remember sneaking out of camp at three moons old and full-body flinging herself into the river. (It might be a miracle she lived to reach apprenticehood.)

She latches onto Frogpaw's suggestion. "Mhm, just touch it — Frogpaw's right — c'mon," and then she's in the water, too, venturing into the shallows, shivering excitedly as it rushes around her legs and between her toes.

She steps a little further out, leaving a space between her and Frogpaw and the shore. A Skunkpaw-sized space. "I promise nothing bad'll happen," she says, giving the little guy a soft smile. "Fernpaw would save you, anyway. Have you seen him swim? He's the best at it. You've got nothing to worry about."

She shifts, bouncing on her paws, restless energy ... Ashpaw always loved the water because it was fun. Can they make it fun, then, for Skunkpaw?

"Umm ... how about we play a game?" she suggests. To Skunkpaw she assures, "You can stay on land. Don't worry. We can play — uh — "

What can they play? A water game that's still fun if someone's shorebound. Something that won't push the kid but will give him the chance to start to like the water. Cats-and-minnows won't work. Or jumping competitions, or racing. Pebble diving is not ideal either. Um, um, um —

"Oh! I know! I used to play this as a kid — it's like moss-ball, but you try to make the balls land in the water. And the cats in the water try to swat them back before they land." She turns to Fernpaw, a nursery-mate, he must have joined them once or twice, right — ? "Do you remember that one?"
​

—— " i found gold in the wreckage "

✦ ooc ✦ character information ✦ recent events

• i promise you have no idea how long i sat here trying to come up with a water game that would work
  
  
• - 9 month old orange tabby with green eyes
  - apprenticed to lead warrior willowroot
  - crushing hard on iciclepaw
  - happy-go-lucky, mischievous, hardworking
  - very friendly, but defensive of riverclan!
  - got real fucked up as a kid so if she seems like she was fucked up as a kid, that's why
  - "speech"
• - KICKED FOX ASS
  - she is on a JOURNEY
  

​

 

[Thrushpaw]

The brown and white she-cat had followed behind the others, too unsure of herself to say anything. She had only recently been made an apprentice and she did not know them and they were much older than her. She who had been brought into this world, quiet and uncrying, only four moons ago. In her mind she knew that she would go ignored, she was just a kid, they were bigger but curiosity had drawn her forward.
They won't want to be bothered, I should go back. She thought to herself but she pushed on as they came to a stop beside the water.
She'd never been swimming and shared a similar expression to the hesitant tom who had wondered how to start.

"I've never been in the water before." The molly would exhale, her voice hardly above a hiss as she didn't intend to even speak. Sometimes her words seemed to be in the habit of slipping out before she could catch herself.

At the suggestion of entering the body of water before them, a small look of fear crossed her features. Stoat hadn't taught her that yet, if they asked her in then she would surely sink.
She liked playing mossball though and truth be told she was just plain lonely. These expectations she placed upon herself weren't fair and for now she was going to be stubborn and reject them.
"I think-" She stopped herself and dipped a single white forepaw into the water. It was chilly but her pelt was thick, she was certainly river born but from whom she did not know.
"I think this is a good place to start." The words left her at last and she swished the water with her paw, watching it muddy and blur her reflection.