Posts by .DAWN.

Walking through some of the gorse that grew scattered across the territory, confusion was what she found herself experiencing all of a sudden. Blinking, she flexed her nostrils as she inhaled. The smell that hit her was one that didn't welcome any warmth into her, instead shooting fear through her as if she'd been struck by lightning.

"BloodClan!" She howled as loud as she could, though she hadn't quite seen the warriors yet. She hoped another WindClanner was near - she didn't want to be dealing with a group of their enemies on her own. Especially not after her last, foolish, interaction with them.

"Hi Stripedpaw," mewed another apprentice - Dawnpaw - as she walked up to him. Covered in the scent of mouse it was obvious she had just come from her morning meal. "How are you?" She hadn't seen him around much, though she assumed that was in part to her own anti-social behaviour.

"Oh." Nowhere near as grandoise as she had imagined she found herself feeling let down. She had expected training under a deputy to be far more exciting. "We haven't done too much training yet. I hit my head almost a moon ago and Otterbrook ordered that I not partake in any sort of... anything, really." Ears lowered the apprentice glowered at the grass, watching the slight movement with the winds. "It's been kind of boring so far. Like being a big kit."

The moment Gravelstorm had brought her attention to Dawnpaw, the apprentice shrunk herself as small as she could. Ears pressed against her skull, the safe words spoken by the warrior felt like claws. Piercing, ripping at her insides - she was quick to realize it was the guilt she felt for her cowardice rearing its head once more. Gravelstorm would be more than disappointed.

"I wasn't there," whispered the bicolor, eyes low. She hadn't admitted to anyone yet - hadn't told anyone that she, an apprentice, had cowered off far away from the flames rather than attempt to save her Clanmates. She was nothing like Stonestar, the brave leader who'd risked her life, nothing like her mentor who had fought to keep them safe. She was weak. She was a coward.

And she knew it, too.

She was not trained to fight. Unprepared, near incapable - but similar to Otterbrook she would not be idle while her Clanmates fought. As the two began their fight with Spear, she too joined in and took a dive for the BloodClanners hind legs. If all worked well the feline would at least lose her balance.

"You should eat something." Dawnpaw's voice came in a monotone statement, her eyes narrowed at the medicine cat. A part of her felt sympathy for the tom - he'd had a lot of hard work to put forward in the past few days. Yet if he was slacking in his own self-care he was being nothing more than a fool. There was no excuse for him to not take a step back, take a bite of a mouse, and continue with his job. "Seriously."

"StarClan won't let us die," she murmured, tail flicking. "There's enough for you to split something with Honeypaw, Otterbrook." She shook her head, frustration washing over her. "You're useless if you're not at least somewhat healthy."

Dawnpaw was losing hope fast. After discovering the malnourished form of Otterbrook - alive, thank the stars - she knew that something had to be done. WindClan's territory had suffered a great loss when the flames swept through. Prey had been scarce before and with the destruction the prey had scattered, leaving the land near empty. So the apprentice walked and, finding herself on ShadowClan land with a racing heart, began to hunt.

Her ear still caused her trouble; with the lack of hearing she relied on touch and sight when it came to hunting. Feeling the movement of a thumping rabbit in the ground, seeing the tail of a squirrel as it disappeared into a bush - she could faintly make out the sounds of rustling in the gorse.

Whiskers twitched, eyes shifted and paws scuffled against the dirt as she made her way across the territory. Her ears were low, her head ducked as she tried to search out prey of any sort. It was her luck that, after a few minutes without discovery, she stumbled across the path of a small mouse. It was a quick kill, the way her jaws latched around its body and its spine snapped between her gnashing teeth - painless, even if the mouse knew only fear toward its final moments.

It's not much, but it's something.

First approached by a kind apprentice, the girl looked up from her catch with hesitance. She wanted to run yet her paws had become cement, pressed hard against the earth. Mistpaw was much less kind and with her unsheathed claws and bristling fur appeared ready for a fight. Dawnpaw stayed close to the ground, resting her gaze on the hostile feline.

"I just wanted to get some food. For our medicine cat." She knew she had no excuse for her actions - she knew what she'd done was wrong. Otterbrook, however, was starving and she would not sit idle while he died out of foolish pride, a casualty of war. She couldn't.

Surprise was what she found herself feeling at the kindness offered by the ShadowClan felines. Her paws felt lighter as she forced her body to lift off the ground, made herself appear more confident in the presence of the leader. Stonestar's name shot a sense of terror back through her - the leader would not be pleased for her actions, she would be angered that Dawnpaw had revealed a weakness in WindClan.

"Thank you," she breathed, "I'm sorry." Then, with those simple words, she waited for the leader to head toward their territory. I wonder what Gravelstorm is going to say?

Noticing Mistpaw's move toward the mouse the feline simply pushed the carcass toward her. Looking up at the apprentice, at the white leader, at the other apprentice, she realized the danger that she was facing. Trouble hadn't been her intention but it was what she had found. The mouse was no longer wanted and she was - oddly - somewhat grateful that Mistpaw didn't want her to have it.

Dawnpaw hovered in the background, watching with curious eyes. Her one good ear was angled toward the trio. Who is that?

She dragged herself across the border, glancing back at the white feline that trailed behind her. A leader who would want to speak to her leader. About her; about her foolish actions. She couldn't believe that she had been so mouse-brained. Stonestar, Gravelstorm - they'd both be quite outraged, she didn't doubt.

ooc. https://feralfront.com/index.php?topic=2430722.new#new

Nodding the apprentice began to make her way back to WindClan, wondering if the leader would agree to Curly's offer.

Stoic stood the girl as she watched the WindClanners approached with varying expressions - from anger to calm, masked fear, she saw it in their staring faces. Stonestar's voice felt like molasses, heavy and thick as she listened to the words she spoke. Eyeing Stripedpaw she found herself even more embarrassed and couldn't help but duck her head, glancing at Daisystar.

"I'm sorry, Stonestar." She wasn't sure what else to say or how to say it. Expressing her guilt would be hard. She thought of the fire and how she hadn't helped, found she expressed her apology in those words as well.

The wounds from her foolish invasion of BloodClan's territory stung, almost as if the guilt she felt wielded pain. Her eyes closed and she kept her head down, avoiding the gaze of her Clanmates. What a cowardly fool I.

"Cottonpaw, Stripedpaw," mewed the apprentice as she approached on hesitant paws. From a distance she had watched the events unfold, listened to the bickering, heard the frustrations. She had to step in - to do something. "Maybe you guys should come on a patrol with me?" Glancing at Ivystar, she hoped the leader would not grow full of outrage at the apprentices mouth.

Dawnpaw, however, had already set off with an idea in her mind before the tom began to explain his situation.

ooc. oxo heh oops

Dawnpaw saw it in Stonestar's eyes. The flash of anger - directed at her - followed by the fall, a descent into sadness as she overheard the rest of Daisystar's words. Admittance to the Clan and their current weakness, words mingled with pressing confusion. She did not want to speak, did not want to be sitting their under the judgmental gazes of her Clanmates.

"I know what I did was wrong," she murmured to an apprentice that was glowering at her. Her eyes lifted to Stripedpaw and she felt herself growing hot with dancing emotions of shame and anger. "I didn't want anyone to die. I was only going to get a few mice."

No matter how much she murmured, she knew her words were useless. She'd done wrong, this she knew - she had no excuse for her actions that would make them less so. All she could hope was that her punishment would not be one she couldn't bear.

Claws moved fast across her vision just mere centimeters from her hazel eyes. Head snapping back, the apprentice let out a voracious growl. Glancing at the fighting around her, the world seemed to grow heavy, air thick as honey.

"Why?" She asked the question so many times but the answer was never the same. "Are you doing this?"

ooc. she did it for more than just otterbrook nwn

"I," the apprentice began, stopping before she really began. Glancing at Windingpath, the only one who had pointed out her wounds, she found herself enveloped in fear once more. There would be no excuse if she were forced to admit her BloodClan trip. "I'm fine."