I don't smile for a camera | lightpaw

Lightpaw...

Shadepaw was out hunting by himself. He had already caught a pretty decent amount of prey, so he knew that he was meant to be satisfied, but instead, he found himself growing increasingly angry. He was a great hunter - so why he had been demoted back to his apprentice position after being promoted to be a warrior? It infuriated him that Flamestar couldn't see how ready he was, though deep down, he wondered whether perhaps he wasn't even ready.

Bending down, the shorthaired tom dug out a small hole, dropping his most recent catch, a large raven, into the hole and then covering it over. He would come back for it later, along with the rest of his catches. Shadepaw then continued to walk, focusing less on hunting but rather thinking about everything else. My father's disappearance, Lionpaw's disappearance... It seemed as though the young male had more and more on his mind with every passing day.

Out of the corner of his eye, the ebony furred apprentice spotted the light ginger shape of Lightpaw in the distance. He had never really spoken to the other apprentice before, but perhaps now was a good time to do so - he did need a distraction after all. And so, the small tom approached Lightpaw, coming up from behind her.

It was then that he noticed a large black creature scrambling about on the molly's shoulder. A spider. Shadepaw had no bad feelings towards spiders - he thought that they were rather cool, actually. But he knew that not everybody liked them, and so the young cat watched, a smirk on his face as he waited for Lightpaw to notice and freak out.

As he watched, Shadepaw realised that perhaps hanging around and waiting would become boring, so he decided he would go and 'rescue' her from the spider instead. At the very least, hopefully he would earn Lightpaw's approval by doing so. From the little that he had seen of her, she seemed to be quite an easily impressed cat.

Coming closer to Lightpaw, he reached out to her, brushing the spider off of her shoulder, his expression calm. Shadepaw was an incredibly cowardly cat, but he was only scared of things that were actually dangerous, not stupid spiders. "There was a spider on your shoulder." He explained casually, the smirk not leaving his face as he realised the spider was now scurrying around close to Lightpaw's feet, wondering whether she would notice.

"that's just what gangsters do."

Great StarClan, this was hilarious. Shadepaw watched as Lightpaw leaped comically into the air, screeching her head off as she retreated, terrified, into the ferns. He didn't understand how many cat could be scared of spiders of all things - he actually found them pretty cool. Whatever. He slammed a paw down on the spider, trapping it under his paw. Applying as much pressure as he could, he waited for a few seconds before raising his paw again, finding the spider's crumpled body underneath.

The small apprentice turned around, facing Lightpaw, still smirking. "It's dead," he informed her, nodding towards the pitiful remains of the spider. "You can come out now, scaredy cat."

Lightpaw had better be grateful. Shadepaw had considered just letting the spider stay on the ginger she cat's shoulder for his own personal entertainment, but he had been nice enough to help her out. He watched Lightpaw expectantly, his green gaze occasionally flickering towards the spider's lifeless body. Poor thing. If only cats didn't hate its kind so much. Shadepaw didn't feel sympathy for the spider - it was just a stupid spider after all, but he just didn't understand what Lightpaw was making a big deal about. It was hardly going to kill her.

"that's just what gangsters do."

She still wasn't coming out? Lightpaw sure was entertaining. Shadepaw, his eyes twinkling with amusement, headed over to the ginger she cat, crouching down so that he was on her level. "Y'know, there are probably lots of bugs hiding in those ferns," the young male let out a deep purr, which sounded rather unusual coming out of such a small cat. He then looked to the left of Lightpaw slightly, stating, "I can see some sort of bug to the left of you. I've never even seen one like that before, but it looks really creepy. You'd better come out before it gets you." He was lying, of course, though at the very least, it would hopefully result in an amusing reaction from Lightpaw, and with any luck, she would come out of the ferns to escape the non-existent bug.

"that's just what gangsters do."

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//sorry for late reply!

Great StarClan, this cat was ridiculous, though incredibly entertaining. For a few moments, Shadepaw just watched her curl up into a ball, a tearful mess. Pathetic - he had never seen a cat so freaked out by a couple of bugs before. I had better go and try to help her, to be her 'hero' or something.

The small black tom nudged the other apprentice before crouching down to her level, hissing to her, "Relax, okay? They aren't going to hurt you, they're just bugs," he added, a playful grin forming on his face, "It's pretty cute how you're so scared." The young male rested his tail on Lightpaw's shoulder, watching her with bright green eyes, resisting the urge to burst out laughing from how utterly stupid she looked.

As he continued to watch Lightpaw, he took note of how tiny she was. She was probably even smaller than him, and Shadepaw had to admit, that pleased him. He had always been quite insecure about his small height, though he had held on to the hope that he would shoot up in height at some point during his apprenticeship. Considering that he had less than two moons left until he was a warrior, that was seeming less and less likely, which disappointed Shadepaw a lot. He knew that when most cats thought of handsome, they thought of a tall, muscular tom with perfect fur and a gorgeous smile. That... wasn't Shadepaw. He was small, bearing scars, and despite being physically strong, wasn't very muscular. But hey, he could hardly feel embarrassed about that around Lightpaw - she was tiny.

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//she's SO cuteeee

The grin on Shadepaw's face only grew wider upon seeing Lightpaw's reaction. Great StarClan, she's giving me those starstruck eyes just for saving her from a little creepy crawlie? This can't get any funnier! Although, despite Shadepaw being greatly amused by the entire situation, he had to admit that it was rather flattering to hear from Lightpaw that he had 'saved' her. Deep down, Shadepaw had quite low self esteem, and honestly, he would take any compliment that he could get - anything to boost his ego, after all.

"No problem," the obsidian furred apprentice answered, eyes gleaming as he continued to watch Lightpaw. "Come on," he gave his new admirer a nudge. "Get up - we should go hunting together."

It's for the best that I have some company, even if it comes in the form of a random she cat that I barely know. Shadepaw knew that right now, the last thing he needed was to be by himself. He would start thinking about his dad, about Lionpaw, about how they were both probably dead. He didn't want to think about that. He couldn't think about that - it made him feel sick. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed Lightpaw, or anybody for that matter with him right now. Besides, Lightpaw certainly seemed to like him after him rescuing her, so Shadepaw probably had a pleasant or at least amusing conversation in store if he was to hang out with her.

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This day was getting better and better, as it seemed that Shadepaw now had a follower of sorts. He didn't have any sort of attachment to Lightpaw yet - he couldn't care less about her, but deep down, he knew that soon, things would change. Once Shadepaw formed a bond with a cat, he became very strongly attached to them, willing to put his life on the line in a heartbeat for their sake.

"So," he looked back around at the ginger molly as he walked, amused as he took note of the way she trotted, her tail in the air. It seemed that she liked him already, which honestly surprised Shadepaw. He didn't think he was a very likeable cat, but somehow, he had ended up with a decent large group of friends - a group of friends that he would do absolutely anything for. "You haven't been training for long, have you? How's it going?" He was pretty sure that Lightpaw was a newer apprentice - at least, he hoped that he was right. Shadepaw was trying to work on being more observant as that seemed to be one of his few weaknesses. He was physically very strong, but his intelligence was about average. Shadepaw was trying to pay more attention to his surroundings in an attempt to become smarter, and he hoped that that was working.

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It seemed, to Shadepaw's relief, he had been correct about how long Lightpaw had been training for. His ears pricked at the mention of battle training - his favourite type of training. Shadepaw loved battle training - provided that claws were sheathed. One of Shadepaw's darkest secrets was that he was terrified of actual violence, that he was terrified of actually getting hurt. Of course, Shadepaw didn't need to tell anyone that - he wouldn't. He still remembered coming back to the camp sobbing, back when he had been just a kitten, after a rogue had nearly killed him, leaving him with permanent scars. He didn't want to look that weak ever again.

Snapping out of his thoughts, the small ebony apprentice gave Lightpaw a nod, brushing his tail against her shoulder. "Battle training is pretty great - we should practice together sometime." While Shadepaw hated fighting, it was also simultaneously what he was best at. He doubted that Lightpaw was the sort of cat to get her claws out while sparring - heck, he could hardly imagine the tiny cat unsheathing her claws even in the midst of a violent battle, so yeah, sparring with her probably wouldn't be scary for him.

As he continued to walk, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of prey, the shorthaired tom hummed loudly. "I've been training for a while - I'm ten moons old, now. My mentor is Pumpkinstrut, the deputy," he couldn't resist dropping that piece of information in, of course. He was incredibly pleased that his mentor was the Clan deputy, though more than that, he really really cared about Pumpkinstrut. It was impossible for Shadepaw not to. If he spent enough time with a cat, he inevitably ended up caring about them, even if he didn't especially want to. "She's a pretty great mentor," the young male allowed a genuine smile to grace his face, his body filling with warmth at the thought of his mentor, the cat who had taught him so very much over the past four moons. "How's Whiteheart as a mentor?" He didn't really know Whiteheart very well, so obviously, he didn't give a crap about him. But he knew that the best way to carry on a conversation was by asking questions - and he also knew that cats enjoyed talking about themselves, or about those close to them. This was the easiest way to carry on talking, which was what Shadepaw really needed right now.

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It didn't surprise Shadepaw that Lightpaw had nothing but good things to say about her mentor. Admittedly, he did seem like a decent guy, and of course Lightpaw would like him - she seemed to cling to any cat who was even slightly kind towards her, and as Whiteheart was her mentor and therefore one of the cats she spent the most time with, she was probably growing quite close to him by this point. It was sweet, Shadepaw supposed. "I don't really know him," the charcoal pelted apprentice admitted. "He seems okay, though. I mean, Flamestar probably didn't promote him to senior warrior for no reason." The short haired tom suddenly paused, his nose twitching as he picked up the scent of crow. Looking around, he spotted the large bird scuffling about near the roots of a tree. The small cat dropped into a crouch, slowly creeping towards the crow, his paws moving silently across the ground as he kept his tail low, making sure he didn't alert the bird to his presence. When he was close enough, Shadepaw leaped, landing squarely on the crow's back. The crow tried to fly away, but Shadepaw was faster, slamming his paws down on his target's wings before sinking his teeth deeply into the bird's neck, ending its life. He then turned around, unable to resist getting a glimpse of Lightpaw's reaction. He hoped that she was impressed.

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Of course, Lightpaw had reacted well. Shadepaw had to admit, he liked getting so many compliments. Maybe it was because he was insecure, maybe it was because he just liked compliments. "Thanks." The charcoal furred male's voice was muffled by the large crow in his jaws. Pawing at the ground, the young male dug out a small hole. He then dropped the crow inside and covered up the hole, making a mental note to come back for his catch later.

Out of the corner of his eye, he then spotted a mouse scampering through the undergrowth, its pink tail disappearing behind a cluster of bushes. Brushing his tail against Lightpaw's shoulder, he came and stood closer to the young molly. "A mouse just went behind those bushes. How about one of us stays on this side of the bushes and one of us goes to the other side, and we trap it?" He was curious as to how good of a hunter Lightpaw was. She hadn't been training as long as him, so he didn't expect her to be as good, but perhaps she would be decent thanks to her mentor, Whiteheart. Then again, he supposed that the skill of the apprentice didn't always match the skill of the mentor. Sometimes, apprentices chose not to give a crap about training and never learnt anything, and sometimes, mentors weren't the greatest at their jobs, and apprentices took initiative and ended up achieving more than their mentors in the long run. Shadepaw felt as though he and Pumpkinstrut were a good match. He certainly cared for and respected his mentor.

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Shadepaw caught Lightpaw's uncertain glance. It didn't surprise him that she was nervous. She seemed very insecure in general, and so of course she was uncomfortable showing off her skills, or perhaps lack of skills, in front of him. Honestly, if Lightpaw did turn out to be a mediocre hunter, it wouldn't bother him. It made sense. Not every cat could be good at everything. Of course, Shadepaw would rather they managed to catch this mouse together, but if they didn't, it was hardly going to be a concern to him for more than a few minutes. He had already caught a fair amount of prey before running into Lightpaw in the first place.

As the young molly began to stalk the mouse, Shadepaw slowly made his way around to the other side of the bushes. He could see the mouse standing in front of the bushes, unaware of the presence of either of the young cats yet. The small apprentice began to stalk it, keeping his body low to the ground, his bright eyes focused on his target. Once he got close enough, he was tempted to leap, but he resisted. He had told Lightpaw that he would do this with her, and so he would have to involve her somehow. "Get ready!" He hissed quietly, aware of the mouse tensing a little having heard his voice. The jet black tom then raced towards the mouse, driving it through the cluster of bushes and towards Lightpaw.