Posts by Zephyrbee ?!

Buddingpaw stared warily down at the cat whom returned the nervous look perfectly. Neither of them had broken eye contact for what felt like hours as Buddingpaw willed himself to make the first move. The other feline looked like he was about to be sick at the idea. Neither of them, judging by their stiff shoulders and wide eyes, didnt want to even be so close to the water. Which was a funny thought, since the other cat was inside the water looking up. Buddingpaw assumed his reflection wanted to get out just as much as he would if he was in their(his?) place.
Another moment of staring, another moment of figitting, and finally Buddingpaw groaned and sat back. Placing his white paws over his eyes, the young male sighed in frustration as his ebony tail swung back and forth impatiently.
He was seven moons old, healthy, relatively smart but certainly always willing to learn - a loyal Riverclan apprentice.
So why, dear Starclan watching in the heavens above, was HE SO SCARED OF WATER?!
Looking back at his watery reflection, Buddy frowned at it's expression of miserable defeat. "Its just a bunch of tiny drops of water," he tried to reassure it, "the body naturally floats, so its not like im going to fall right to the bottom!" taking a step forward, closer to the rippling blue-grey liquid, he ignored his reflection's look of terror as he puffed out his chest, "I can do this!" He sucked in a breath, then another, and took another step forward -
And let out a yelp of horror as the cold tongue of the stream touched his paw. "I CANT DO THIS I CANT DO THIS -" He squealed, tumbling backwards before promptly tripping over his scrambling ivory paws. He tumbled head-over-heels until he was caught by a bramble bush.
Thorns digging through his short white pelt, holding him upsidedown like a schoolyard bully searching for chage, Buddingpaw sighed. He gazed at the water, which glittered mockingly at him.
"maybe tomorrow..."

The apprentice wriggled in the bush, trying to disentangle his short fur from the scratching briar as best he could but seemed only to manage to twist a bit to the side - and possibly furthering the amount of scratches on his back. With a light sniffle, the tom prepared himself for this new way of life - the first cat to die in a bush - when the sound of pausteps and a sympathetic voice made him flinch. Glancing up as the silver-blue warrior, Rainwatcher approached, Buddingpaw hung his head (if that was even possible when currently upside-down) in shame, "I kn-know..." he whimpered, pitiful as the older tom righted him and pulled him from the bush. Wincing as he rolled his sore shoulders, the male glanced over at the water and twitched his black tail sadly, "B-but its so cold and s-slippery - I could trip and crack my head o-or the water could d-drag me down and away or..." he stammered, shaking slightly at the paranoid thoughts.
Ever since he was a child, Buddy had never took a liking to water. Always over-thinking things, Buddingpaw often frightened himself over every little thing, but nothing held more secret dangers than the rushing river that trademarked his clan. I mean, who knew what kind of dangers water held! If you couldn't see your paws, you couldn't see the danger beneath them! Plus there was hypothermia! That there was only one of a hundred ways the liquid death could take you! He shivered, rubbing at his cold paw which had touched the colder water.
He lowered his ears further, feeling the tips burn along with his cheeks as the medicine cat laughed at him. Nothing he didn't deserve, seeing as he was a pitiful drypaw. Shuffling said paws, the apprentice sighed lightly at her advice, "I-I dunno..." he mumbled, already thinking of the hundred and one ways he could get hurt in just ankle-deep water. Just being IN water was a cause for great alarm! As previously mentioned, there was the chance of slipping, which would lead to falling into the water, floundering about would then ensue which would attract predators like a pike maybe and then they'd tear you apart while you drowned being carried downstream and no one would ever find your mangled corpse!
How was he the only one who thought about those very possible dangers?!

Face turning bright scarlet beneath his ivory cheeks as Shalas and Heatherpounce looked unsympathetically down at him, the apprentice lowered his head further. He didn't much like being surrounded by everyone like this. Their judgmental staring was draining! which promptly made his far-too-speedy mind bring up the dangers of being the center of a group of cats. Communal diseases, the very low chance of him surviving if they decided to attack - or more likely push him into the water, death by humiliation too probobly.
Rubbing his head nervously, the kid finally groaned soundlessly and got to his feet, "o-oh alright I'll try...again..." he said in a squeaky whimper as he inched back towards the water. He looked into the water, over his shoulder at his clan-mates, then back at the liquid death and sobbed internally. He thought then, as he reached a paw tentatively into the water, another peril of being in a crowd.

Peer pressure.