[♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟]

New-leaf 2: Frost covers the ground in the morning, but melts by the midday sun, making a surprisingly warm and beautiful day despite the damp and sometimes muddy earth.

when you grow up your heart dies

BrAmBlEPaW

nightclan she-cat 12 moons

After such a long and unforgiving Leaf-bare, the signs of Newleaf were finally beginning to peek through the frost. Bramblepaw was absolutely ecstatic that the good weather was returning with a vengeance. The underground cavern where NightClan made their home had the luxury of being warmer during those winter months, but it was still intensely satisfying to see the frost melting away from the camp entrance. Ghostshadow was planted firmly outside the camp entrance as a guard, his pure white pelt glowing in the moonlight. It was such an unusually warm and temperate night that Bramblepaw was absolutely livid that she hadn't been chosen to go on any hunting patrols.

She trotted up the short slope that led to the cave opening, her tail in the air. Ghostshadow's amber eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. "Where do you think you're going?" He meowed, his voice gruff and somewhat grumpy. He'd dealt with her antics often enough now to be sick and tired of her games. "I'm not a kit anymore, you know." Bramblepaw retorted, her eyes playfully defiant. "I don't need babysitting." Bramblepaw was beginning to file out into the sleek form of an adult NightClan cat. Her body still had the gangling awkwardness of a feline not quite grown into her pelt yet, but she was proud of the lean, powerful look she was beginning to develop. Her confidence had tripled, too. She felt as if she could take anyone on, and with that she had begun to grow increasingly cheeky to the older warriors in camp. Her own father, Thistleheart, had nearly given her a cuff on the head only a few days before for her growing cockiness.

Ghostshadow was not impressed by her show of confidence. "You're still an apprentice, and I'm not letting you wander around the territory on your own. Get back inside." He waved his tail dismissively. Wow. It's hard to believe he's Greywolf's brother. Bramblepaw thought rather sulkily. It's like he's never had a whiff of fun his entire life!

As she made her way down the short slope back into the underground camp, she spotted a dark shape moving through the darkness. She recognised the yellow glow of her uncle Shadowchaser's eyes in the gloom. Grinning brightly, the splotched she-cat trotted towards him. "Have you got anything that could knock Ghostshadow out, by any chance?" She asked secretively, gesturing to the pale white outline of the tom against the night. There was a joking glint in her wide golden eyes that said she had no intention of really trying to drug her mentor's brother. But of course, if she was, she never would have told Shadowchaser in the first place. Out of all the things she had learned over her apprenticeship, how to not get caught took centre-stage.

Fawn 465 Notes