[Fate Admin]

Warmth was on the way. Already the air was warmer… still chilly by normal newleaf standards, but warmer than it had been since leaf-bare’s onset. Ravenstar sat in the weak sunlight near the entrance to camp, lazily grooming herself, muttering to herself in her mind for the millionth time how much she hated her long fur. It was good defense during battle though… more often than not her opponent’s claws would get tangled in her fur and pull out great clumps, but barely touch her skin beneath. It sure was a pain in the tail to take care of though.

A brown kit came charging out of the entrance, tripping over… something… in the process and flying forward to bury his face in the snow. Ravenstar leapt to her paws to see if he was alright, but a queen was quick out of the entrance after him, all but tackling him and dragging him back inside the safety of camp. She watched them go and finally shook her head. Oak-kit… the kit she and Blackwolf had saved, though how he had gotten himself nearly sucked up by a sinkhole Ravenstar had no idea. Everyone had though he and his littermates dead, but all of them had been found and returned to NightClan. Ashkit had been found by LightningClan and Thornkit by RainClan. Ravenstar was even more bewildered about how the kits had gotten into other Clan’s territories. Something wasn’t right about the whole situation.

She sat back down, looking up at the boulder ledge as she thought. Those three HAD to be six moons by now. They were getting too large and rambunctious for the nursery, that was for sure. All the queens had taken to caring for them equally, but none of them had really adopted the trio… she wondered if she should speak to any of them about a ceremony or just call it. Her ears twitched and finally she leapt up onto the boulder ledge and raised her tail, “Let all cats who can walk on their own four paws gather beneath the boulder ledge for a Clan meeting!”

Oak-kit barreled back out, skidding to a halt, but losing his footing and falling onto his side. Ravenstar’s ear twitched in slight amusement, as Oak-kit hopped quickly to his paws and looked around for his siblings, seemingly unphased by his fall. Silverfox sauntered out sometime after him, flicking her tail lightly over the kit’s ear as she passed, causing Oak-kit to stare bewilderedly after her as she chose a nice spot to watch the proceedings from, a spot far away from where her sister now sat, glaring daggers at her.

[Fawn]

THORN ! _{of NightClan}

Thornkit winced as he saw his brother make a helter-skelter-dash out of the nursery, the buff colored tom having already been outside when Ravenstar had called the meeting. "Oi, Oak-kit - slow down, wouldya? It's not a race, because if it was that little stumble would've earned you last place!" He mewed, both chastising and showing his concern at the same time. Reaching over, he gave his brother's shoulder an affectionate nudge, a lot warmer with his own family than he was with everyone else in the Clan. The friendly flick of the ear from Silverfox had not gone unnoticed, and he gave her a petulant stare with his bright golden-orange gaze, as though if he looked hard enough he might uncover just what the she-cat had meant by that gesture.
It's probably nothing.

Why worry about that when something very big could be happening here any second? It was their apprentice ceremony, wasn't it? Thornkit scarcely dared to breathe, he was so excited. Well, excited, but not quite in the way a kit traditionally was. He wasn't excited to make that advancement into young-adulthood and leave the soft life of a kitten behind, he was excited to finally learn the skills he would need to look after himself and his siblings. He would live up to his role as protector, as conqueror of all that threatened the safety and well-being of Ashkit and Oak-kit. Though Thornkit knew by now that he couldn't keep an eye on them all the time, perhaps it was better that they would be getting some space from each other, as too much together time had been driving him slightly batty.

Who would they get for mentors though? Fully alert, the fluffy young tom glanced throughout the entirety of the assembled cats, silently trying to size them up with his limited knowledge and latest info from the rumor mill to go on.
Well, at long as none of them got Ratfur, they should be just fine.

[Fate Admin]

Oak-kit turned to regard his brother at his concerned chastisement, but simply laughed in response, “I just didn’t want to miss anything! Quaildapple kept saying how we ought to be apprenticed soon, do you think that’s it? Or maybe some apprentice is getting their warrior name! Who do you think-” He was cut off, however, as Ravenstar began speaking once more and he closed his mouth with a light clack of his teeth. He stifled a whimper as pain flared in his mouth and he realized he’d bitten his tongue. He opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out, going cross-eyed as he tried to see if he was bleeding, “Ahhw….”

After the majority of the Clan had gathered, including all the cats that would be participating in the ceremony, Ravenstar began, “Oak-kit, Thornkit, and Ashkit… step forward,” she looked curiously at Oak-kit as he was making a very strange face, but twitched her ears dismissively as he closed his mouth and stepped forward, tail waving behind him excitedly. She waited as his brother and sister did the same and all eyes turned to the soon to be apprentices, “All three of you have reached the age of six moons and is time for you to be apprenticed. Thornkit, from this day until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Thornpaw.” She paused and sought out her deputy among the crowd, “Roughthroat, you will be Thornpaw’s mentor. May your moons of experience be passed on to your new apprentice.”

She waited for the two to touch noses as was customary and for them to move back amongst the others so that she might move on, “Oak-kit, from this day until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Oakpaw.” Oakpaw’s fur fluffed out with barely contained enthusiasm as he received his new name and Ravenstar settled her gaze upon his chosen mentor, hoping all would go well, “Ratfur, you will be Oakpaw’s mentor.” Ratfur might not have been a skilled warrior in his own right, but just because he could not perform certain tasks well didn’t mean he could not guide Oakpaw into doing well at them. If he could train Oakpaw well, who had become known around camp for his clumsiness, then he would prove to many of his doubtful Clanmates that he was not as… well… useless, as they thought he was. She sincerely hoped he would do well, because she was taking a risk for his sake and putting Oakpaw’s future as a warrior on the line for it.

The newly named Oakpaw looked around for his new mentor. Unlike Thornpaw, Oakpaw did not pay much attention to rumors and such and honestly knew very little about Ratfur, other than the fact that a lot of the warriors insulted him a lot when he wasn’t listening and just weren’t very nice about him at all. Oakpaw, in his infinite innocence and naivety, thought nothing but the best of his new mentor and could not wait to meet him properly.

[Deleted]

Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right

R O U G H T H R O A T;;
The storm gray tomcat had just gotten through with giving instructions to a small hunting patrol when the sounds of his leader calling the clan to the meeting grounds drew his attention and the swiveling of his broad head. Roughthoat, ears perked, padded over to the meeting ground and held the gaze of Ravenstar strictly. The deputy could not deny that he was curious as to what this meeting was about. Being NightClan's deputy, he had always thought that he would at least hear about any upcoming clan meetings and be able to give some kind of say in them. Roughthroat was somewhat surprised in Ravenstar's rash actions, but shrugged such thoughts off. He trusted her judgment as much as he had in warriorship and youth. She was very much independent from him. If Ravenstar wanted his advice, he would provide it. But if not, the senior tom would feel no pain.

Spying on the little forms of two NightClan kits, a smile formed on his face. The tom could connect the dots as well as any other cat. Settling on his haunches, the deputy waited respectfully for the commencement of the ceremony and spent his idle time wondering who would be appointed mentors of these two kits. Roughthroat did admit that he did not spend too much time around the two kits or the nursery in general. He did not know much about the kittens' personalities; only of their confounded and sad background. The dark gray tom pitied them a little.


Roughthroat's pointed ears pricked forward when the ceremony began and was definitely startled to learn that he was appointed the mentor of Thornpaw. Rising to his paws, the large tom padded to touch noses with the buff colored tom, a small smile playing on his maw. The deputy had not had an apprentice in awhile and was very pleased with this new appointment. He knew that he would make the most out of his time with the apprentice. I'll do anything for my clan. 

[Fawn]

THORNPAW ! _{of NightClan}

“Roughthroat, you will be Thornpaw’s mentor. May your moons of experience be passed on to your new apprentice.”

Roughthroat was his mentor!
For the first time in a long time, Thornpaw found himself grinning. Spinning around and lurching forward to touch noses with his new mentor, his orange eyes gleamed with an intelligent, proud aura, a weight seeming to slide off his shoulders now that he had been paired with someone so competant. If HE can't make me into a warrior, then besides Ravenstar, I don't know who can. Fully satisfied with the pairing, the buff colored tom, tufted ears swiveling, took his place beside Roughthroat and watched Oak-kit become Oakpaw, expression pleasant, up until he heard who Ravenstar had assigned to his little brother.
"What?!" He blurted in complete surprise, the end of his fluffy tail seeming to poof further to show his disbelieve, as if it wasn't enough to see it written all over his fair features. Ratfur? Ravenstar gave him RATFUR? Glancing from the highest authority to his brother, then back to Ravenstar, then over to Ratfur, Thornpaw could only gawk in stupefied silence, unable to comprehend how their 'wise and powerful' leader could make such an awful decision.

Did she not like Oakpaw? Did Oakpaw do something to deserve this? Ratfur and Oakpaw had nothing in common! Ratfur was a warrior who had about as many success stories as a toothless badger had teeth! Glancing to Roughthroat, Thornpaw held on to a sliver of hope that the deputy of NightClan might be able to talk some sense into Ravenstar, but when the older warrior held his tongue, Thornpaw's hope deflated like a balloon, and he was left wracking his brains for ways to make a terrible situation a little less terrible.
I can invite Oakpaw out to train with me and Roughthroat, or I can just teach him whatever Roughthroat teaches me...

He resisted the urge to groan aloud, looking stone-faced.

This was going to be a very tough next couple of moons.

[Phoenix]

Ceremonies had always been his least favorite part of clan life for a myriad of reasons - part of which was due to the knowledge that a handful of new apprentices would show him up again - and the look of polite boredom was as close to enthusiastic as he could bring himself. It wasn't as if every warrior leapt up and down at the sign of a ceremony either; the only cats who did those were the ones around whom the ceremony focused and any over-excited kit who had yet to learn just how dull the events really were. And so, it was with the air of one marching to the gallows that Ratfur settled himself beside Blackwolf, like the obedient little minion he was expected to be, and prepared to suffer through another one of these torture sessions. But never had he thought that he would hear his name leaving Ravenstar's mouth.

He did not have to work hard to fake the astonishment that spread across his features, completely replacing his somewhat bored expression. He did not know what to think, and the gears in his quick mind spun for a moment without any results. What was Ravenstar thinking? Was she thinking? Green-yellow eyes, wide with shock, snapped up to find the NightClan leader as their owner hesitated to rise to his paws. Was this some kind of cruel joke? Why would he, of all cats, be assigned an apprentice? So NightClan could laugh at him when he failed and the little beast had to be reassigned to a new, infinitely more confident cat? It was uncharacteristically selfish of their leader, to use an innocent cat like that for her own personal amusement. Composing his features into an expression more befitting of a newly named mentor, skilled or not, the tom forced himself to his paws, hunching slightly under the weight of all the gazes.

An exclamation caught his attention as he made the trek from the back of the group to the front, and he turned his head, finding his new apprentice's brother staring at him, aghast. Real confidence booster. Thanks. Even if he knew the truth of the stories, he did not appreciate a mere kit taking after Blackwolf so early on in life. Barely keeping his lip from curling upward in the start of a sneer, the warrior switched his attention to the newest apprentice -- what was his name? Oakpaw? -- whose features did not hold any sign of disgust. Great. Not only was he given an apprentice, but he was given an unintelligent one who did not interact enough to even understand the numerous rumors that no doubt spread about his many failures. Lowering his head, he touched noses with the younger cat, something like pity in his eyes.

[Fate Admin]

Oakpaw raised his tail in silent greeting as his mentor finally approached him. He glanced briefly and questioningly at Thornpaw as he heard the disbelief in his brother’s voice, unsure what that was all about, but then his mentor was standing in front of him and he could hardly keep still long enough to touch noses properly with him, as excited as he was. His first thought of the skinny tom before him was that he looked like he needed to eat more. Perhaps after he learned to hunt he would catch some prey for his mentor too! He couldn’t wait for his first training session and was about to open his mouth to ask about it when Ravenstar’s voice sounded again and he skittered back, plopping abruptly down onto his hind quarters as his hind legs entangled themselves and tripped him up. His sister had to be given a mentor yet, he remembered, and kept his mouth closed for the time being, though he kept glancing up at his mentor expectantly.

Ravenstar finally named Ashpaw and assigned her a mentor. She stood atop the Boulder Ledge for a few moments more as the Clan called the new apprentices’ names and then leapt down, signaling an end to the meeting.

Oakpaw bounced back to his paws immediately, “What do we do first? Can we go hunting? Can I catch my first prey today?” His tail fluffed out in excitement at the very thought. His first prey… what would it be? The brown apprentice danced from one paw to the next, unable to stay still, wanting to just race out of camp and explore. Somehow, he managed to wait for his mentor’s instructions.