camp WHAT I AM [ ❀ ] RTA, WORRYING

[Springshine]

A delayed warrior naming. The disappointment in Orangestar's features when she had failed her assessment last moon had been palpable. Later, when she was alone, Springpaw had let the tears free, let them blaze trails down her cheeks as her heart twisted in shame. Now, the time for another assessment was upon her, and Springpaw could not bring herself to be excited. "What if I fail again?" she mutters to herself as she paws at the flower laid out before her, it's petals scattered around as she plucks at them one by one a soft "Pass, fail" leaving her lips after every petal is plucked.

If she failed this time, would Orangestar cast her out, deem her unworthy of becoming a warrior in SkyClan and tell her to instead seek a softer life as a kittypet? Her lower lip warbles at the thought. It didn't matter how badly she wanted it, she couldn't hit hard enough, dodge fast enough. She was a decent enough hunter, at least, able to keep herself alive if the situation was dire enough, but by no means could she claim to be the best. Unless the competition involved who could cry the most in any given day and then and only then would she come out on top.

She doesn't mean to be a crybaby, really, but she thinks of her mother, her father, those tortoiseshell and black pelts walking from the camp that last time... Would they be disappointed in her if they could see her now? The thought of her mothers golden eyes turning cold with disappointment, the idea of her father turning to face away from her, it's enough to make her eyes water again.

( ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ ) my heart I surrender

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  SPRINGPAW SKYCLAN APPRENTICE ; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO PUMPKINPAW
  

  A small she-cat with fluffy black and white fur and bright blue eyes

  ✦ Easy in battle + has little to no formal battle training
  

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[Chickbloom]

Stress is something Chickbloom knows well. He's thankful that it's lessened a little since becoming a warrior; the fear of getting kicked back to the twolegplace gone ever since he abandoned his kittypet name, but that didn't mean every day was carefree. Disappointment had replaced exile as the worry keeping him awake, and the coward worked every day to stop it from becoming a reality.

As such, Chickbloom was the absolute last cat qualified to help with anxiety - the epitome of a pot calling the kettle black - but the boy still felt a pang of sympathy when amber eyes spotted Springpaw squirming in her own fur. Yolk-splashed paws propelled him forwards, the Scottish Fold putting aside his own fears for the moment to try and assist with someone else's.

He couldn't say 'it'll be okay' or 'everything will work out' - Starclan knows how many sleepless nights were spent stressing over his assessment with Silversmoke - but struggle he went through in his first few moons in the wild made Chickbloom well-acquainted with the incredible kindness of Skyclan. "You m-might fail-" The whelp warbled as he approached, sitting next to springpaw. "-B-But if you do, that's…y'know, t-that's okay. N-No one will be mad, and we'll…we'll a-all be here to help you." That was Chickbloom's style of help; he couldn't pretend the worst-case scenario didn't exist, but he could make the possibility less scary.​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

Her initiation into full warriorhood had been considerably more convoluted than the average joiner's—or even apprentice's. She'd entered the Clan not as a warrior - elect but as an expectant queen, and spent the better part of her first months here as a resident of the holly - bush den. She had been concerned not with hunting, fighting, and passing an assessment in time, but with rearing her three kits and settling into life in her new home. By the time she'd gotten around to shadowing Blazestar upon their graduation, it'd not been a formal assessment that silently admitted her into their ranks, but the various trials the Journey had had to offer. If she's honest, she'd not given much thought to her kits' assessments when the time had come—grappling with larger issues, she'd assumed they would pass, and pass they had.

In light of Primrose's impending one, however, she finds herself considerably more concerned with the issue. Then again, it'd be hard not to find her mind pivoting towards the topic when Springpaw's face bore not the dewy excitement of a waiting apprentice, but a teary shame that immediately invited sympathy. Chickbloom's quick to provide it, and Doeblaze arrives amidst his comfort, lone eye blinking with a momentary helplessness in the face of the emotional younger cat. Not only is it a problem she's tacitly unfamiliar with, but being a certain degree removed from immediate feeling had its own plethora of problems to accompany those it solved.

" Yeah, Chickbloom's right, " she chimes in unhelpfully, and then immediately cringes. Stars above, if this is how cats feel after failing an assessment, she's glad she never really had one ( for she surely would have )—although it elicits no small measure of concern about her shadow's upcoming one. " The assessment's just meant to make sure you're ready. It's to ensure you'll be safe out there on your own, " she advises the dark - pelted apprentice, blinking in what she prays is a comforting manner—it's harder to calculate language through the eyes with only one, after all. " Failing it isn't the end of the world. It just means you'll need to do a little more work before your next one. "

" And that's assuming you even fail, " she adds hastily. " I bet you'll pass. "

OOC : —

✦

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[EMBERFALL]

”I don't think you'll fail,” she would respond towards her friend as she glances at the fallen petals. It was okay to fail as long as you sought to improve your mistakes and do better the next time. Mistakes happened and dreading over the first failure would only make the success harder to achieve. Her tufted tail flicks to the side as she glances at Chickbloom and listens to his words of comfort towards the black and white apprentice before Doeblaze joins in with agreement. Failure was a concept that she wasn't too familiar with as she pushed herself to the limits of normal bounds.

Emberpaw picks up a flower and gently places it behind Springpaw's ear before speaking up. ”I'll help you prepare for the assessment, if you wish.” The cinnamon smoke would offer with a flick of her tangerine gaze towards Springpaw. Ember thinks that although she wouldn't go easy on her den-mate, training together would provide moral support and help with the assessment. Her gaze moves towards Doeblaze at her added words and she nods along with the former lead warrior's words, ”You'll pass with flying colors as long as you tell yourself that you will.”

She knows that Springpaw put the effort into preparing for her assessment and she would surely pass. Hopefully, she would be joined by the older apprentice with this coming moon's meeting when they're bestowed their warrior names. ”We're always going to be here for you.” Ember reassures as she settles onto her haunches and allows her long tail to grace around her forepaws.
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[BLOOMFUR]

❀ her own assessment looms above crochet’s head, it poked and prodded at her brain like birds, and she shook it away every time. she knew she’d pass, it didn’t matter she only knew of clans just two moons ago, duskpool is training her well. each day is an improvement, staying positive will reward you, so on. if anything, she was itching to get out of the apprentice’s den and into the spacious one they reserved for warriors.

springpaw’s face is so sunken it almost touches the ground. mutters of the girl’s failed assessment passed quick, and she heard the gossip with a frown. now, she nods in agreement to her clanmate’s stuttering, yet comforting words of encouragement. they were right! she thinks, from what she could understand, the assessments were fairly straightforward.

"yeah! we’re all here for you. it’s not like you can fail it twice." she adds on, unaware of how she came across. it is difficult to think of something when you don’t know the cat well. "you’ll pass it… and you’ll do great!" nailed it.

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