when i grow up, i wanna be famous | apprentice thoughts

Shimmerkit.

incandescent
Apr 30, 2024
30
8
8

Shimmerkit is six moons old. This time next moon, she will be seven moons old and an apprentice, but for now, she still sleeps in the nursery, watched over by the queens, and her father. In moons to come, she'll wish she could go back to the simpler days of her youth, carefree and joyous. At the moment though, she grows restless, no longer satisfied with the games she frequently gets dragged into or organises herself.

That morning, she lies half in her nest and half out of it, pondering her upcoming apprenticeship. "I wonder who Lichenstar will name as my mentor," She mumbles more to herself, than any particular cat. Shimmerkit is certain the leader must have made a choice in her mind, or have ideas, but in that same being of thought, Shimmerkit also has her own ideas. "I hope it's someone nice like Troutsnout or Hazecloud...although Snakeblink might be interesting...not Lakemoon she scares me sometimes."
 
⸙͎。˚⋆ ⍋ ѧѦ ѧ⍋ ⸙͎。˚⋆

Valepaw makes a point to stop in the nursery to make sure Robinheart's kittens are doing okay... guilt gnaws at him like the teeth of that dog had never left his shoulder, saddling him with discomfort and uncertainty. He was supposed to be a brave protector, like his brother and still often fell short of defending those that needed it. Shimmerkit's idle musings catch his ear as he walks by, the fish in his mouth instantly abandoned at the suggestion that Hazecloud and nice might belong in the same sentence to some cats.

"Shouldn't you be worried about them being a good warrior..? Rather than 'nice' or... 'cool'," he prompts her with a furrow brow. Valepaw himself didn't particularly love Redpath's brash nature that erred on action over tactic but... it did mean something that she'd survived countless battles and spoke to his potential to inherit that skill.

"If I got to pick I'd want it to be like.... Willowroot or... Houndstride would be pretty good. They're old... and ya don't get to be old by being nice all the time..."
 

The blue striped she-kit, too, has wondered about who will mentor her. What will their first training session be like? Will they be strict? Lenient? Nice? Snippy? The idea of a mentor with high expectations frightens Twinklekit, what if she was unable to perform up to their expectations? What if she was a slow learner and they got irritated with her? What if they didn’t want to mentor her anymore?

Valepaw brings up the point of worrying more about them being a good warrior, but ”Aren’t all RiverClan warriors good?” Twinklekit had always thought so. She had never looked upon a RiverClan warrior and felt anything less than admiration.
  • » Twinklekit
    » RiverClan Kit
    » She/her . AFAB
    » A pretty blue lynx sepia with blue eyes
    » ”Speech”thoughtsattack
  • » A meager kitten, defeating her is no boastful feat.
    » Excels in hiding, running from danger.
    » Fights defensively to survive.
    » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing
 
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One day soon, all of this wound end. The games, the naps spent dozing against his aunts side surrounded by the press of tortoiseshell and white fur and the sounds of his cousins snoring in his ear. They would all move to the apprentices den where they would be expected to train every day and sleep in seperate nests. It would be bearable in his mind if they were all going at the same time, but Hazecloud's litter was one moon ahead of his own, Shimmerkit too. Soon they would stand before the clan and be renamed as -paws. They would all move to the apprentices den and they wouldn't have time for kit games anymore. They would forget about him.

And then there was the idea that he would be an apprentice too. The idea of it terrifies him. Like Twinklekit, Like Shimmerkit, he wonders who his mentor would be. Would they be someone nice, someone understanding, or would they try to push him past what he was capable of so that he looked like a failure to his whole clan, to his legacy name. "Lakemoon isn't scary" he says, though not unkindly. His mom could be kind of... intense sometimes so he does understand the sentiment but like... that was his mom! She's not scary to him. Valepaw brings up a good point to Graykit. What if he got stuck with a mentor who wasn't worth their weight in fish? Houndstride and Willowroot are good cats, ones he doesn't really know much but he nods along sagely to the older apprentices words all the same, wanting to fit in.

But then Twinklekit also has a good point. RiverClan warriors were all the best so there was no use in sitting around wondering who would mentor you right? He personally wanted nothing more than to be mentored by his own mother but... well.. his mother had an apprentice already and the thought of having to train beside that weirdo made a foul taste accumulate in his mouth so instead he says "I hope my mentor is Iciclefang! She's the coolest."
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    GRAYKIT RIVERCLAN KITTEN ; HE / HIM
    LILYBLOOM X LAKEMOON BROTHER TO SNOWKIT
    A plush coated kitten with a pelt marbled in varying shades of gray and white. He has dull green eyes and a tall stature. Most of his personality can be described as carefree though some also say that unmotivated is a more than apt term. His trust and love is easily won through praise but he will do little work to receive it.
    easy in battle + no formal training
 

once upon a time, not so distantly, shellpaw stood in shimmerkit’s paws — the same trembling, open excitement, musing out into the open in hopes someone would take interest enough to humor her whirling thoughts. it’s almost a replica, she thinks as she approaches, intention of visiting robinheart’s young before going to see the queen herself stuttering with lighthearted amusement. graykit and twinklekit chime in, weaving near where valepaw stands nearby, pondering the coolness or best warrior to match with the upcoming trainees. in those early days, she had wanted the best ; got it, she thinks, at a cost. she does not think of the hound, pointedly. she feels the beginnings of pinpricks at her paws, pads freezing with sudden, encompassing dread.. no, she did not think about it at all, nor the inevitability of it all again.

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

her mothers name twinges her heart ( for her siblings, too, who would soon find their way to river rock alongside shimmerkit ) but she approaches with a gentle bump of greeting at twinklekit's flank, ears craning to listen. lakemoon isnt scary, graykit says, and shellpaw hums a simple, " yeah, hazecloud says, um — that lakemoon is just like that. " because she forgets, in the moment, that the steely warrior had sired him and his sister. she remembers lilybloom, remembers iciclefang as their caretaker, but lakemoon was an enigma ; faraway, a dynamic so vastly different than her own, reed - thin tangle of misery wrought by her mate's sudden death. i want iciclefang to be my mentor! she's the coolest! she wonders, dazily, how it must be to think not of death in rhythm. repetition.

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

regardless, a wise want, by valepaw's standards.. a shuddering breath befalls her, thick tail coming to wrap around mismatched paws, bleary eyes flitting downward on a pondering nod, " .. iciclefang is old. " good choice.

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  • SHELLPAW 𓆉 SHE / HER. SEVEN MOONS OLD, APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN, MENTORED BY LICHENTAIL ; SMELLS LIKE SALT & RIVER BLOOMS. HAZECLOUD xx LICHENTAIL, NIECE TO SMOKESTAR. PENNED BY ANTLERS ----------------- ° ❀ ⋆
    frail alabaster molly with lilac striping and watery amber eyes.
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    she is pallid ; platinum splotched with ribbons of dovey lilac curls, wisped ends like memories of a distant shore and plush enough to conceal the juts of malnutrition beneath. tufted elderdown fur conceals a body worn fragile by tumultuous youth, too thin in some places and round with baby fat in others. her face is short - muzzled, framed half mast by eyes coined rheumy, rosen amber. the anemic cold pink - purple at tender paws and nose tell a lifetime of sickness, further made obvious by the feathering weakness in half - whispered tones.
    CHRONICALLY ILL ; prone to wheezing, nose at a constant drip from longterm illness - induced nasal polyps. not contagious.

 
The distant chattering of the kits caught the almost recovered she-cat, standing a little distance away. They make talk of who they believe their next mentors would be and there is statement that revolve between nicest and wanting the best, a tired chambray gaze shifting towards Shimmerkit. I hope it's someone nice like Troutsnout... The words of the young girl make her ear twitch and a distant pang in her heart but it's quickly overcome by the soon to be apprenticed children chattering about others along with Valepaw. A ivory paw lightly taps the ground as she listens to the children and young apprentices, yawning softly.

It would be no doubt that Lichenstar would pair the kits up with an warrior that best fit their needs, and she ponders momentarily if she will be given an apprentice this moon. How old was she again? Troutsnout thinks as she tries to remember how old she was as the points connect her birthday was a few nights ago, and a chambray gaze blinks in surprise. Had she already turned seventeen moons? It was understandable as why she didn't receive an apprentice last moon due to the lack of graduating kittens, but this moon would have a decent.

A long frame stretches as a faint pain in her shoulders from her almost healed shoulder runs through her, giving herself a slight shake to remove the feeling of pain. ”Lichenstar will definitely pair you with a warrior that best matches you.” Troutsnout would state in a soft encouraging statement towards the children to not fret, as they would most likely be paired with a warrior they liked in some aspect.
 
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જ➶ Her maw twists a little and turns up as she hears the kits discussion about what mentors they will be getting when it came time for them to be apprentices. Her eyes glanced over them all as they go through names and she can't help but to frown in thought. "I'm not sharing my mentor. You guys can have anyone else you want." Honestly she is not trying to be mean she just wants Willowroot's undivided attention. Sure she is nearing warriorhood herself but that means she needs every ounce of training and learning she can get. Plus she hopes to make Willowroot proud of her. Yet she also knows that it isn't up to her if her mentor gets a second apprentice or not. They can pair her with anyone and leave it at that. A small frown pulls across her muzzle but she doesn't say anything for a long moment before she shakes her head.

"There is also Foxtail and Mosspool, right? Maybe one of them would be good." If she remembers Foxtail has an apprentice but what about Moss? She doesn't know but she hopes that Lichenstar can do something well besides letting kittypets infiltrate their clan and bring them an unnecessary weakness.
 

In fleecen youth, Algaekit hardly had the time to worry of how later moons would find her, as though her garden still bloomed little beyond vernal skin. Perhaps she would worry once he hit the ripe age of three moons old, but for now, she reveled upon the swaddles of such simple pleasure. All she had been concerned about was playing fun games and finding cool things. The kitten waddled up to the rather boisterous crowd, keen ears catching upon warriors' names exchanged between tongues, her head tilted like a sprig budding slight from the ground. Mentors and apprentices... Those were grown-up problems, he surmised. Freckled feline stared with sunlit yellows, of which had just molted from fragile shell of blue, as she looked at those taller than her without a single blink. "Mmm... I want... Mama for mentor. Or Will- Will-ow-root." He gave the cats around her a resplendent smile, like a callow thing dogged in its own naivete - too bright and too hearty to have ever been blemished before. Those would be great choices, he figured.

  • OOC:
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  • —— ALGAEKIT / He/She / 2 Moons
    —— Kitten of Riverclan / Sibling to Redkit and Rivuletkit / Mentored by N/A
    —— A wiry, wild-furred blue tortoiseshell with high white and freckle-like spotting. Brilliant yellow eyes, like twin molten suns.
    —— Chaotic, obsessive and strange, Algaekit is a weirdly refreshing character to encounter amongst the sea of her dutiful kin. Beset by nature and her patterns, he is quick to connect the dots even when no such connection truly exists. Somewhat easy to befriend, provided that one can handle his bluntness and honesty at times.
    —— Penned by Tempest. Contact on Discord (naruk4mi) for plots and threads.