i swear i mean well [o, pranks]

❀ curious eyes would search owlpaw's face as the young girl drew near. "something to show me?" she echoed, glancing around to see what her sister would possibly have to show her. all the young apprentice would find was an inconspicuous pile of reeds- oh.

suddenly, she was slipping, and her paws flailed wildly and hopelessly to catch some sort of grip as the reeds slipped from under her paws, only leaving slick and unforgiving mud that would come to coat the girl's pale fur as she landed face-up in a puddle. gaze, softened with confusion and daze, met the sky, and the apprentice was left wondering what had happened for a moment.

carefully, she'd rise to her paws -- not without slipping around first -- to look at owlpaw once more. "be careful... i-it's slippery," her voice was colored with gentle humor as a lopsided grin formed on her maw. absolutely filthy.

she shook out her pelt, spraying mud and water everywhere, leaving her with fur spiked by dirt and wet, something akin to a weird hedgehog. the weight of her uncomfortably damp pelt registered as comical to her, and she couldn't help but to giggle despite herself. "rootlegs would die if he saw me right now!" she chirped in amusement, happily, and maybe she was kind of glad to be dirty for once after moons of following rootlegs' painfully meticulous cleaning routine.

// oh goodness owlpaw is so cute

—DONT KNOW IF I CAN PLAY THIS PART MUCH LONGER

Having just finished ordering the rocks at the mouth of the medicine cat's den in order of their size, Rootlegs believed he would have some time to check up on some cats on the clans but as he headed towards the nursery mud flew across the air. It hit him directly in the center of his flank, staining his recently groomed chocolate pelt. At first, the tom screwed up his usually kind face at his now tainted fur and hurried to clean it but then he glanced up in the direction of where it had come from. "Finchpaw!" he roared at his apprentice with an expression of disgust and disappointment in his eyes. However, that look was swiftly replaced with shock at the sight of the medicine cat apprentice. He stalked angrily over to the two apprentices, his glare fixated on the smaller she-cat of the two "Finchpaw you are a mess... and look what you've done. What have I said about keeping clean? Yes, I know I care about hygiene a lot but you know it is important in case someone is wounded you need to be clean or it will cause even worse affects. Right now it is more important than ever because you can't even bathe in the river." during his lecture his anger tone had changed into a more worried one as he became unsure of how they were going to solve the issue of her being messy. That didn't mean he wasn't angry anymore. He turned to his apprentice's sister and shook his head at Owlpaw, "once you've helped me find a way to clean your sister, you are both going to help me clean the apprentice den. I can see it from here and it's appalling."

❀ at her sister's laughter, finchpaw would fake a scowl at the girl. it was just a trick! of course it was. she couldn't be mad though. how could she? it was funny, and now her back was gonna be all caked with mud. "owlpaw, you-" she began, only to be cut off by the angry yowl of her mentor.

fur bristling in alarm, she quickly turned to see his towering form stomping towards her. ears flattened, tail tucked, and she began to lower herself to the ground as he scolded her. it was difficult to listen to his words over the deafening drum of her own heart pounding in her ears. "o-okay," she would reply, unable to say much of anything else, too busy swallowing a bitter fear. the man's anger reminded her of that belonging to another, and despite knowing that rootlegs would never hurt her, her body had difficulty telling the difference.

her gaze would flicker to the dark figure of her friend as the fearless child stood up against her mentor, against her punishment, and his anger. she was grateful for her defiance, but she didn't want owlpaw to get in trouble either.

—DONT KNOW IF I CAN PLAY THIS PART MUCH LONGER

Seemingly out of no where, Rootlegs heard another cat address his behavior towards his apprentice. Turning to see Nightfall, Rootlegs shook his head unimpressed at the apprentice's contribution. "Nightfall," he begun with a stern voice. His pale green glare followed the pitch-black apprentice until she was on front of his own. "It is not your place to talk. There is a time and a place for everything and as you clearly don't understand the severity of the situation of an unhygienic medic, I advise you to address a manner like this in your own time. Do I seem like an unreasonable tom to you? If you had a problem you could of easily brought it up with me at a better time, as I am sure Finch will do but she knows that now is not the time." He finished his words and then turned to his apprentices' sister, the one who caused the problem in the first place and the unimpressed expression faded to that of a neutral one. In this case, he didn't mind Owlpaw raising her voice as she was part of what happened and so he listened carefully to what she had said. "Firstly Owlpaw, you should care I'm the medicine cat. Not because it makes me better than you because it doesn't but it does mean when you're injured I'm the one who will look after you, who looks after the clan. Like I have done the past few moons. Secondly, she can talk to me herself, she knows that. We have never had a problem and I don't see this being one... It is important she understands how serious it is that a little mud is now on her paws because say she's treating an open wound emergency and a little mud is still on her paws because she cannot bathe in the river." The tom felt no need to finish his sentence as he felt like it was self explanatory. Instead, he turned his gaze to that of Finchpaw waiting for a response from her. A part of Rootlegs was proud of the apprentices for standing up for things they believed where wrong but at the same time he couldn't believe how impulsive they were.

❀ she winced at the sharp edge of owlpaw's tone as the girl snapped at the medicine cat. she didn't want this. didn't want to be able to taste the venom as it was spat back and forth between the two. unconsciously, finchpaw would lower herself closer and closer to the ground until her chest and stomach pressed against the warmth and steadiness of the earth underneath her. oh, how she longed to be swallowed by it, taken far away from here, this conversation, the disappointment, the anger.

how did this happen? ears pinned, small body pressed to the ground, eyes distant. she wished her body would carry her away, wished her paws would work, wished she wasn't so upset by the tone of a voice, the snap of words. her back, damp mud starting to try and cake to her fur, felt cold. and heavy. she longed for the safety of hawkpaw or gladefall. even nightgaze or ravensong with their pelts of midnight, engulfing her in motherly cloaks, warm darkness, the protection of naivety.

eventually her ears would pick up a silence, and her mind would come back to the present. blue eyes once full of humor were now drained and tired. oh, starclan, how one could age in the matter of minutes. her gaze would fall on the expectant face of rootlegs as he wordlessly demanded a response from her. slowly, she would rise to her paws against the will of her mind, against the gentleness of the earth calling her back, begging her to stay down, remain low. she'd find her voice after a heartbeat too many, and she'd speak gently, delicately, "i will get cleaned up, and i will clean the apprentice's den." soft eyes flickered to her sister, seething with rage and vengeance. then she'd look to nightfall, a young girl who spoke her mind without regret. finchpaw longed for when they had that in common. finchpaw longed for when she too was never once paralyzed by fear -- of the future, from the past. finally, warm azures would settle on rootlegs once more. "sorry, rootlegs."

—DONT KNOW IF I CAN PLAY THIS PART MUCH LONGER

Rootlegs nodded his head in content. It was interesting to him how the other apprentices believed that he couldn't see Finchpaw's reaction but she couldn't be shielded her whole life and if this was going to make her cower, she would struggle being a medicine cat. Even when you're trying to do good there are cats who yell at you whether if its a parent who wants you to heal their child's injury or an apprentice who is too stubborn to admit they're sick. Before she and the other's left, the tom lowered his head to the level of Finchpaw's and meowed in a softer tone, "its better to make the mistakes now than when it matters. We'll talk after cleaning okay?" With a short smile to the shook girl, he raised his head once more and glanced around at all the apprentices that offered to help the others clean the apprentice den. "I wish it didn't take me scolding an apprentice for you all to finally clean your den. Either way, if what Owlpaw says is true and Finch is not at fault because she set up a joke then Finch you don't need to help them clean after you are washed yourself. With that he then turned to her sister and continued "I will like to supervise your idea since you have a tendency to play jokes on others." In reality, the tom wanted to know her method so he could clean himself too! His OCD was something he had struggled with a long time and the speck of dirt on his pelt was going to frustrate him...

At this point, Rootlegs had eased up a bit and although the speck of mud on his fur was eating away at him, the tom had grounded himself and found the stability he usually relied on. He nodded along to the apprentices suggested before flicking his tail to lead them out of camp. "Nice idea Owl," he purred back to the molly before making his own contribution "I don't think it will be too hard to find a clean pool of water by Sunningrocks. Since it will be on stone rather than the earth its bound to be cleaning." It was obvious that finding a way to get himself clean was something that brought happiness to the tom and so he happily headed towards Sunningrocks. As he padded along, he couldn't help notice the cloud that hung over his apprentices head... He grown very fond of Finchpaw as a medicine cat apprentice and as family. After all, the medicine cat force was practically a family and to see one of them sad would hurt the tom greatly. He never really thought about how intimidating it may be for a smaller she-cat to be scolded at by a much taller cat but there was clearly some effect. "Finch," he called the Siamese's name, "do you think I'm a little too tough on you?" he asked her, hoping the honest relationship Rootlegs believed the two had was true.