[Fawn]

HAZEPAW

18 Moons || NightClan || Tom || Narcoleptic

The start of Hazepaw's day usually began with the soft nudging of either Brightfeather or Darkblaze to wake him, more often it was Darkblaze owing to Daypaw being his brother's apprentice, so he had more reason than most to enter the apprentices' den. However, with the recent introduction of goatweed into Hazepaw's life, it was Nettlefur who pulled him from his nest lately, where he would then scurry over to Featherpaw's den, eager to start the day off right with the addition of herbs that - believe it or not - seemed to be helping.

He was definitely falling asleep less, and Featherpaw was already discussing with Smokefur when they should increase the dosage, something he was more than fine with; would I stay awake for days if she gave me too much? His mind often wandered back to this question throughout the day, and it took considerable effort on the tortoiseshell tom's part not to rush over and tell Featherpaw to try it; staying awake for days wasn't healthy for any-cat, but with these recent strings of successes, Hazepaw was feeling good about himself again, and feeling good about the possibility of redeeming himself in the eyes of his Clanmates.

Even still, it wasn't as if he didn't still get tired; Featherpaw had warned him not to overdo it, so he had decided to go on only the Dawn Patrol today, and he would reserve the hunting to a minimum, planning to give his mind and body the rest it needed if he was going to make a full recovery from his difficult time in the mountains. A light summer's rain had come down shortly before sunhigh, and Hazepaw brought the fresh scent of it with him when he entered the apprentices' den; briefly blocking out what little light there was in this part of the cavern, Hazepaw made straight for his nest, a curious teal gaze trying to penetrate the darkness and see who else might be there. A familiar scent wafted into the should-be-warrior's nose. Daypaw! "Hello Daypaw, did you get caught in the drizzle earlier?" Identifying the white she-cat in the gloom, Hazepaw settled down on his nest of feathers and fresh moss, and began to groom the wetness out of his fur, content that he wasn't the only one here. Darkblaze and Brightfeather would still be out hunting, and so would Sunpulse and Moondance; Daypaw's presence was a welcomed surprise, maybe Darkblaze had sent her back to camp once the rain had gotten worse?

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Word Count: 409 Words
Tags: @lavender

[Deleted]

DAYPAW

.09 moons. she-cat. nightclan. apprentice.

        Daypaw was one of those early risers. As soon as the sun began its slow rise to the top of the horizon, spilling a creamy tinge and washing away the dark midnight blue tapestry of night, the sleek white apprentice could be found with crystal blue eyes fluttering open. More often than naught, it actually came in handy to find oneself always waking up at the break of dawn.

        It usually resulted in early training, which Daypaw wasn't entirely opposed to. She was what some might define as a 'morning feline'. Her sunny attitude extended even to the moment when she first woke up, a feat which most senior warriors couldn't boast about. But it was just in the little pale she-cat's nature to be as sweet as flower scent at all times.

        So it was only natural that when Hazepaw struck up a conversation with her, she halted her grooming and looked up at her fellow apprentice with a smile on her face, "Oh, hello there Hazepaw," She greeted him, "We almost got caught in the rain. Luckily Darkblaze ended training early when he saw those dark clouds in the sky." Her voice had a cheerful ring to it, as always, which couldn't be dampened even with the current showering just outside.

        As her pale blue eyes studied Hazepaw's form in the semidarkness, she presented a question that had multiple meanings to it, "So, how have you been doing?" It was an innocent question enough, although there was more of an underlying sort of worrying considering the herb that the tortie tom took.

thanks brooklyn

[Fawn]

HAZEPAW

18 Moons || NightClan || Tom || Narcoleptic

For once, Hazepaw did not feel sheepish in the presence of an apprentice; he was twice the age of Daypaw, but she treated him like she would any other cat, neither mocking him for how behind he was on his training or refusing to talk to him due to his narcolepsy. Warmed by the friendliness, Hazepaw's response was earnest and calm. "Darkblaze is always pretty good about taking care of others, I'm sure he wouldn't have let you get wet." His brother did seem to have a natural affinity for protecting and defending, it was no mistake to think that the black and white tom would extend his protective net to include Daypaw in there as well as Hazepaw and Brightfeather, their sister.

I'm sure training's going well, thought the tortoiseshell tom as he licked the rain water off of his mottled, multicolored chest, contemplative and content to be quiet there in the apprentices' den when Daypaw, much to his surprise, asked how he was doing. A burst of pride swelled the should-be-warrior's chest, and it took some effort for him to dampen these elated feelings, not wanting to come off as egotistical or worse, ridiculous in front of her. "The goatweed has been helping—helping my condition, that is. I don't know if you knew about it or not..." Hazepaw's mouth made an expression caught between sheepishness and a grimace; he'd returned shortly after she'd been made an apprentice and assigned to his brother, Darkblaze, and with having had to recover from his ordeal in the mountains, they had seen very little of one another. In fact, their introduction by way of Darkblaze had only been a recent occurrence, and Hazepaw duly hoped this revelation wasn't going to scare her away or turn her against him.

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Word Count: 298 Words
Tags: @lavender

[Deleted]

DAYPAW

.09 moons. she-cat. nightclan. apprentice.

        So, the rumors were true. Daypaw had heard about the herb that Hazepaw was taking, but this was the first time the tortoiseshell tom had personally told her about it. She was glad that it was working so far, with no side effects showing. She was feeling optimistic for her friend. The young apprentice was well aware of the fact that Hazepaw was much older than a regular apprentice, and that he should have been made a warrior by now, just like his siblings had been. Hopefully this herb would be his saving grace.

        "I'm glad it's working so well," The ivory furred feline said sincerely, "If you keep it up, I'm sure you'll be a warrior in no time!" She chimed optimistically, her clear blue eyes shining.

        Daypaw had only recently been introduced to Hazepaw and so she gathered most of her information about the tortie tom from rumors and hearsay that floated around camp. A lot of the stuff that reached her fuzzy ears were negative, or had some sort of negative undertone to it. She had heard various things ranging from Hazepaw being a burden all the way to him being just plain lazy. As far as the little white she-cat could tell, Hazepaw was none of those things.

        Shifting slightly so that her small paws lay folded neatly in front of her, Daypaw studied the multicolored cat sharing the den with her. He certainly seemed more perky - although if that was because of the herb or not was unknown to her.

thanks brooklyn

[Fawn]

HAZEPAW

18 Moons || NightClan || Tom || Narcoleptic

Hazepaw felt warmth seep into his bones all over. Part of it was relief, and another part of it was surprise at just how benevolent and accepting Daypaw was being about all of this. No wonder she's Darkblaze's apprentice, he thought with no small amount of appreciation for the life lessons in compassion and acceptance his brother was passing on to his pupils. He would never train a cat to be rude or mean to others, especially not to their own Clanmates.

"Yeah," said Hazepaw blithely, wiping his face with a mottled paw to rub away any excess moisture. "Then all the strange dreams and the missed patrols can stop. I'll finally be able to stay awake through a ceremony." Though it was spoken in a cheerful tone, that had been a reoccurring nightmare of sorts, for him. To fall asleep during his own warrior ceremony would have been so severe an embarrassment, he was certain Ravenstar would revoke her decision to award him a warrior name and make him stay in the apprentices' den for another moon. It wasn't anything he could control, but this was NightClan. Pride was seconded only to purity of blood.

Hazepaw resisted the urge to wince as the scenario played out inside his head, of falling asleep right when Ravenstar asks the all important question "do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Because of the excitement, and how his condition reacted to excitement, there would be no chance of him getting through one of the most important days of his life without one little mishap. The worst part was that he likely wouldn't realize he'd fallen asleep for fifteen minutes, woken up and given a very late "I do!" before a Clan of cats who were sick and tired of waiting around for him.

Yep, a nightmare in the purest sense of the word.

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Word Count: 325 Words
Tags: @lavender