pafp you just want a photo ♕ strange presumptions

[braveheart : ̗̀➛]

☀ . ° ✦ "I don't really think of it like that so much, Batwing always told me my name was from the strength of ThunderClan." How a true ThunderClanner behaved, no matter how scared they were.

The two apprentices sat outside their den as the sun began to set over the horizon, the sky swallowed up in shades of purples blending into oranges and yellows. Bravepaw in particular was plucking feathers from a thrush's wing for another Clanmates nest, keeping himself busy while he had time. "What does Houndpaw mean? Did your mom and dad have a special lesson with it? Maybe they want you to be like... a really good tracker. Or grow up to get real big!" Like me!

Bravepaw now rivaled the size of Gentlestorm in his youthful fluff and muscle, hardly the fuzzy child he had appeared as for so long. "I think Hopekit was meant for something similar to me, too. Our uncle picked a really good name."

✧　°　.　✶　.　°　✧​

ooc Information

• ooc: — pls wait for @Houndpaw !
• 

  BRAVEPAW — HE/HIM ･ 10 MOONS ･ THUNDERCLAN & APPRENTICE ･ PENNED BY beatae!

  A Longhaired chocolate tabby with a white locket and deep blue eyes. Very thick coat that has started to grow into long, wispy curls. Developing into an awkward stage of kitten uglies as the rest of his body grows and changes. Severe scars from owl talons stretch across his shoulders and another that starts from his back down his left thigh.

​

 

[Houndshade]

YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE THE MAN​

✦

---

Sometimes they sit out by the apprentices den in a half hearted attempt of seeking solace, thinking that removing themself from the inside of the den was enough to separate them from conversation. Today was not one of these moments, she sat beside Bravepaw actually finding herself wanting to converse, maybe that was just because she found him pretty enjoyable to be around. She's not too sure what had sparked him the inspiration to discuss his name. The topic caused their body to ripple with an uncomfortable shudder, willing themself to not show the discomfort that they currently were experiencing. Golden eyes focus on the thrush that he was meticulously plucking feathers from. "That's pretty..." Abstract? Too metaphorical? She didn't really want to insult the choice Bravepaw's parents had made. "Strong? Big expectations for you then" A bitter revolution sits in the back of their throat, they swallow. "How do you feel about being named Bravepaw?" She sits up a little straighter, counting the amount of feathers that the tabby had plucked by now.

"I don't think they ever expected for me to grow up to be really big" She commented with a chuckle, they were perfectly fine with being an average height and held no desire to grow to reach heights that the other apprentice currently did. Did they want her to be a really good tracker? They were getting their wish if so, it was one of the few things that she didn't hate to do. "I was named with a special lesson though, I'm sure most parents here name their kits after something important" That being said she would love to meet parents who just named their kids after a random plant they saw or the first thing that popped into their mind. "My name means that I'm going to grow to be a great and noble warrior who will be a diligent guard for ThunderClan. So I guess it's kinda like how you were named Brave?" It's an ideal tenant of a thunderclanner is it not? To lay your life down for the clan, to work tirelessly to be a paragon of perfection, the unsleeping guard? When she spoke of it she can hear her mother whispering it to her in the quiet nights of nursery.

They weren't sure if they were meeting these expectations, truthfully she didn't seek out her parents around camp to try and see if they were meeting these expectations. In fact they worked so hard to do the opposite, to give the impression of a lazy dog who enjoyed laying in the sun rather than what they were supposed to be. It suited her just fine, it was nicer to be a disappointment in that regard, following the march of her own beat and having a relatively less stressful apprenticeship since she just... didn't care. "I'm not really a fan of it to be honest. Too much pressure, I don't think I'd want to change it though." They shrug, falling into contemplative silence as they wait for Bravepaw to lead the conversation again, and lead he does, seeming to effortlessly carry the conversation onwards. "Hopekit is a nice name, I think your uncle picked well" she wondered what the appeal was for being named for emotional virtues like this, if they ever had kits they don't think they'd wanna do that. ​

---

✦
I THINK, THEREFORE, I AM​

 

[THISTLEPAW]

From a small distance away, his bared teeth reaching desperately for a splinter of wood between his toes (yet held back by the thick fur between them, and the narrow passage even as he spreads them as far as they possibly could), Thistlepaw makes his displeasure well-known. A huff of noise, then his paw dropped and gaze lifted to narrow intense amber eyes at the pair. "You two are ridiculous." To think that names were something special; a story to be told. Was that why his mom had named him Thistlekit? To be a prickling thorn, a pain, something unpalatable? He tears his gaze away from the two before his insecurity can really shine through, closing them off to the side. That splinter-ruined paw flexes tight, then wide open, then curls tight again in the dirt.

Bravepaw and Houndpaw, the guardians of ThunderClan. The best warriors they'll ever see! And Hopekit, of course, their shining future. And somewhere off to the side: Thistlepaw. Prickly, out of place, and without meaning to carry him through life. It seems he would have to choose it himself. "Names aren't going to guide you through life. You don't get to be something just because your family said so." Would the pair see through his defenses and anger? Right to the root of his issue: your love makes me feel unloved to my core. Whether he wants to be seen or not is a question that wars within him. He doesn't know. He's not sure he will ever decide. "There's no pressure. You make that up in your own head."

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 🙴 𝗕𝐎𝐍𝐄  ╱ 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑰𝑻 𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑻𝑯 𝑰𝑻? ＜06.02＞ ⸙

• OOC. i am. so sorry he's like this.
• 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐖. HE - HIM. YOUNG APPRENTICE OF THUNDERCLAN. ————— the son of an ex-kittypet has spent most of his life confined to the medicine den. bad circumstances and worse healing left him in a limbo between life and death which he only just escaped. he feels he must prove himself a great warrior so his clanmates will see him as anything more than a weak kittypet.  ╱ PENNED BY REVELATIONS
  
  
  
  a prickly-furred chocolate and slate cat with amber eyes. finally growing into his frame with moons of hard work and steady enough food, thistlepaw has taken a blocky, bulky shape with broad shoulders and densely muscled hindlimbs. his fur remains a tough-edged cloak, but now carries a well-groomed sheen despite how unruly it is.

• "speech"

​

 

[LIGHTNINGKIT]

LIGHTNINGKIT . of . THUNDERCLAN

2 moons old (born 07.08.24) / lh silver tabby with green eyes / feminine pronouns
raccoonstripe xx nightbird / little sister to bayingkit, twilightkit, tigerkit, & stormkit

She doesn't normally pay much attention to apprentices. She doesn't have much reason to, because they're usually busy and Lightningkit spends most of her time in the company of other kits and her parents. Today, though, she's quite bored, but she doesn't want to wrestle with anyone— she rarely does, because she'll probably lose, or if she wins they might get a little upset, and both of those things sound so, so tiring. And it turns out that the apprentices are talking about something sort of interesting, and it reminds Lightningkit that she should ask her parents why they chose her name.

It's probably for a better reason than sounding strong. Lightningkit thinks that sounds kind of dull, actually, and her nose wrinkles as Houndpaw explains they were named purely to be a good ThunderClanner when she's older. What if that doesn't happen? Will she have to change her name? Her thoughtful frown deepens when Thistlepaw throws his opinion into the mix, and she bristles, even if she's not quite sure why. Maybe it's because he's doubting what a family can do.

"If my mommy or daddy say I'm special, I am. They're never wrong," she interrupts, although they've never actually said that. But if they did, then it would be true. She squints at Houndpaw and Bravepaw, and tilts her sharp chin up to partly concede Thistlepaw's point, adding, "But maybe not everyone's mommies and daddies are right. Do you have to change your name if they're wrong?"
​

​

 

[Houndshade]

YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE THE MAN​

✦

---

Houndpaw doesn’t aim to hide the fact that she rolls her eyes at Thistlepaws remark, she didn’t really get why he was so bothered by this. They presumed that he must be insecure about something, maybe he didn’t like being called Thistlepaw. Not that she really knew why that would be the case, if one tried it’s easy enough to find a positive in most names and in her opinion Thistle is not one of the few that would be difficult to do so. “We’re not saying that we’re going to actually be what our families say we are” he managed to find a sore topic of her own, insecurities clashing in a vicious war. “It’s just what we were named for, the pressure comes in trying to meet those expectations.” She shrugs, a scowl aimed at the apprentice fading into something of neutrality as they realise that underneath that prickly exterior he made sense. “So yeah, I guess we do make that up in our own heads” she concedes with a laugh, bittersweet with the realisation that he was right.

This was probably all so strange for Lightningkit though, being so young that there’s probably no pressure at all just yet. “If your parents say you’re special then you are, to them at least and that’s what matters the most” they weren’t aware that such things hadn’t actually been said before and she didn’t really care enough to try and fact check it. Houndpaw may be bitter at times but she wasn’t really interested in ruining her perception of family values or whatever. “You don’t have to change your name if you don’t want to, if you don’t end up fitting what your parents named you for then you can give yourself a new reasoning. I think I’m named Houndpaw because when I snore it sounds like a dog's growl- or so I’m told” there's a teasing lilt to her tone that indicated that they were just messing with the kit. With a smile she gestures for Lightningkit to come over then pauses before doing the same for Thistlepaw. “Well you both may as well come over and tell us the reasoning behind your names, or what you think you were named for” ​

---

✦
I THINK, THEREFORE, I AM​

 

[braveheart : ̗̀➛]

☀ . ° ✦ Bravepaw shifted, a little awkwardly at Houndpaw's question, but not so ill-prepared to respond as he may have once been. A foolish child sprung by the fantasies of heroics and grand sacrifices had left him lost for many moons once meant to face the realities of warriorhood. But now he was a far more seasoned cat in these woods, continuing the path meant for him, that he was sure of.

Another apprentice, Thistlepaw doesn't seem to understand the context of the conversation, however. That tended to happen when butting into things, but Bravepaw is kind, and ready to further explain when Houndpaw already beats him to it.

"I'm really just talking about my parents, Thistlepaw. It's not really, um, well it's just not any deeper than that." He shrugged with an easy smile, leaning into the mane of his fur as he looked to Lightningkit. "Yeah! Sometimes your name can just mean something really special to them, and because you're special to your parents it's all tied in together." He thought of his brothers, named for their late family fondly. In a way they all continued their memory, keeping them alive through each other.

"Yeah! Did they ever share why, with you two?"

✧　°　.　✶　.　°　✧​

ooc Information

• ooc: —
• 

  BRAVEPAW — HE/HIM ･ 11 MOONS ･ THUNDERCLAN & APPRENTICE ･ PENNED BY beatae!

  A Longhaired chocolate tabby with a white locket and deep blue eyes. Very thick coat that has started to grow into long, wispy curls. Developing into an awkward stage of kitten uglies as the rest of his body grows and changes. Severe scars from owl talons stretch across his shoulders and another that starts from his back down his left thigh.

​

 

[Softsight]

Softpaw had wondered about names before: why she was named the way she was by her fathers, why her sister and her were given such different names when sometimes litters were given matching names, what her name might become in the future. But the last time she'd given it such intense thought as she was giving it now was when she'd been a kit, just four moons old, ready to become an apprentice. Bravepaw and Houndpaw are discussing the topic at the entrance to the apprentices' den, and Thistlepaw and Lightningkit seemed to have gotten wrapped up in the conversation as well.

"I believe that sometimes names can shape a cat," Softpaw interjected as she came up to the small group, offering Lightningkit a small, kind smile. "I'm sure my fathers have a special reason for naming me 'Soft', but I've also grown into the name just the same. I don't speak very loud, after all." She hummed, and considered the question posed by the kitten.

"It would be a bit disrespectful to your parents to change your name simply because you think it doesn't fit. Of course, there's always extraneous cases."

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• !
  

• 

• SOFTPAW ✩ apprentice of thunderclan, nine moons
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.
  

​