Keep your eyes open {Wasppaw's Medicine cat Ceremony}

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    ❀--- Wasppaw of Skyclan ---❀
    text "speech"

    Wasppaw had been scared, admittedly, to see his grandfather again. The idea of seeing him with stars in his fur made him worry that...well, everything would all just become too real. True to his fears, when his grandfather appeared out of the crowd, Wasppaw felt a wave of grief wash over. Watching as his grandfather approached to give Poppystar her lives, Wasppaw reflected, for what felt like the hundredth - no, thousandth - time since Tatteredstar's passing, that he would no longer again feel his grandfather's soft pelt. Or smell his scent inside the leader's den. Or see him, strong and proud, protect his clan ever again...
    But he also couldn't help but smile through that sadness, because here his grandfather was. No more blood, no more scars, no more stress on his weathered face. He would be at peace, at last, in Starclan, no longer having to feel homesick, or long for his mate who now shared the same ground as he. Wasppaw knew he'd feel sad that his grandfather was gone for the rest of his life...but he was also happy for him.
    They'd see each other again, he knew it.

    Wiping at his stinging eyes, Wasppaw watched as Tatteredstar pulled away from Poppystar, making room for the next cats to approach and give her the last lives before concluding her initiation into leadership. Wasppaw's smile only grew with the warmth in his chest as his grandfather whispered his affections to Wasppaw. "I love you too," he mouthed back, before turning his eyes back to the ceremony, suddenly filled with more confidence and peace.

    It didn't long for the ceremony to finish. In a chanting of Poppystar's new names, the starry cats stepped back, and the ground seemed to vibrate with their pride for the new leader. Wasppaw closed his eyes, expecting to wake up from the dream soon...Unbeknownst to him of his grandfather's surprise.


    poppyblossom //decided to separate Wasp's ceremony so as to keep poppy's more on her - also so I dont confuse everyone else ;v; hope you dont mind my friend <3
    jackdaw!  


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    Admittedly, Tatteredstar didn't want to be dead. That wasn't to say that he wasn't enjoying it, because he was, but he'd give his right paw for just a few more moons in SkyClan. A few more moons with Wasppaw. A few more moons in which he could not just watch his kits grow, but be there for them. (He'd thought that he had a second chance with Foxdancer, that he could be a father, but fate seemed to conspire against him.) A few more moons so that he could say goodbye. Instead, he was dead, in StarClan. His body no longer ached: he could run and run without his wounded leg screaming out in agony. He felt strong, healthy, as he'd been in his prime. And all the faces that he'd missed! He was with Sedgeclaw again, and Snowbloom, and the cats he'd looked up to as a RiverClan kit. And yet...

    Still, his dear little Wasppaw was a medicine cat apprentice. He'd be a medicine cat soon. Tatteredstar would be able to speak to him, and even when he could not, he'd watch over him. Tatteredstar wouldn't physically walk besides his grandson, but he'd be there for him every step of the way.

    Right now, Wasppaw would be expecting to wake up. He'd be expecting a trip back to SkyClan with Poppystar. He'd be expecting more long moons trying to heal his clanmates, and begging the other medicine cats to teach him what they knew. For the most part, Wasppaw would be getting what he expected. The key difference was not that he would wake up as Wasppaw, but as a fully medicine cat.

    Tatteredstar had never expected to say the words of the medicine cat ceremony. That was the exclusive domain of medicine cats, not leaders, but this was a special situation. SkyClan had no medicine cat. Certainly, the spirit of one of the group's former healers could promote Wasppaw, but in this case, that wasn't to be. In this case, he had the chance to give his grandson one last gift.

    He stepped toward the medicine cat apprentice's cream colored figure and affectionately murmured, "Wasppaw, it's not time to head back yet." That ought to grab his attention. Wasp would be in for a surprise, but before he could ask about the delay, Tatteredstar had a few questions of his own. "How are you? How are you holding up?"

    When the airy breathlessness of Starclan's domain didn't fade with wakefulness, Wasppaw opened his eyes in confusion. He was still here. Looking around, Wasppaw wondered what could have been missed - Poppystar had her nine lives, the ceremony had been concluded...what else was there? Turning his eyes back to the gathered ancestors, his eyes looked questioningly at his grandfather. He blinked, but was pleasantly surprised when Tatteredstar began to approach him. At the darker tabby's words, Wasppaw tilted his head slightly to the side, but he kept his mouth shut from asking 'why not ?' especially when his grandfather followed that comment with his own question.
    Wasppaw's smile grew warmer, touched that Tatteredstar would take the time to ask him that. "I've been better," he said, both jokingly and honestly. Suddenly, though, he felt his throat constrict as a fresh wave of grief nearly rocked him off his paws. He wanted so badly to run into his grandfather's chest, to hold on hard enough that he was forced to come back to the living world with him. He wanted to tell Tatteredstar so much how much he missed him, and how it hrut every single day when he woke up to find him not by his side.
    "I miss you," he said with a wobbly smile, lifting a paw to rub away the sting in his eyes. Wasppaw was never well-in-tuned enough with his emotions to manage something like crying. Even when his mother died, his siblings disappeared, and he felt like he was going to be squashed under the weight of all his burdens, not a tear had been shed. Possibly a side-effect, if there ever was one, from constantly trying to bottle everything up.
    But here, in the presence of the tom who had been like a second father to him, he felt his eyes water.

    But he didn't want to worry his grandfather, so he took a deep breath and focused on the good things. "Skyclan has been a bit shaken up by...by your leaving, but they're getting stronger. Everyone is happy...and Bearkit, Sedgekit and Bloomkit are getting so big, too," he said with a smile, forgetting momentarily that there might be a reason besides catching up that Tatteredstar had for not letting Poppystar and Wasppaw wake up. "You've helped Skyclan through the worst, and everyone will always be greatful, grandpa,"