rise oh children [RC apprentice ceremony]

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Bearkit and Maplekit eagerly approached the boulder, their young strong muscles propelling them forwards. He could see their excitement, the waves of shock and anticipation. He watched them, a fondness in his stomach. Emotion rose in his throat, in his eyes. And for a moment, he believed his own desperate façade of hope and strength. "Bearkit and Maplekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed." He looked at each of the eagerly awaiting little kittens in turn.

"Bearkit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Bearpaw. Your mentor will be Foxface. I hope he will pass down all he knows on to you." He moved on, his gaze flicking to the next of the two siblings. "Maplekit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Maplepaw. Your mentor will be Sharpfrost. I hope she will pass down all she knows on to you."

His breath caught slightly at Bearpaw's name. His eyes flashed to the little tom, a silent message of pride and perhaps affection. But his gaze flashed away just as quickly. It flitted to each of his chosen mentors, gathered before him. "Sharpfrost and Foxface, you are ready to take on apprentices. You received excellent training from your mentors gone before you, and you have shown yourselves to be wise and strong." He couldn't help it. His gaze fell on Bearpaw, held his bright little eyes with his own. He continued speaking. But in a sense, it was as if no one existed but him, but him and this tiny token of joy, of hope. "The four of you represent a new generation of Riverclan, a new time of strength, a time of change, and a time of growth. We are proud to call you our own." He bunched his muscles, leaping down from the Tallrock. He approached each newly named apprentice. He turned to each of them, laying his muzzle upon their heads. He waited for the chant, the cheers he knew would arise from his waiting clan. A hope sprang in him, a desire to live and survive.

WORD COUNT: 372
TAGGED: tikker ♪ ♫/maplepaw, skyy and her socks/bearpaw, ame/foxface and @hawkpaw/sharpfrost
NOTES: sorry this is so short!

Ashenfang’s day had been spent on an endless patrol, hoping to escape from the endless nagging that was his sisters’ voice. Incessantly she badgered him spend more time with Spiderleg, to talk to the younger tom, teach him something of value. Ashenfang had almost had enough of it though. He was tired of her badgering, and tired of Spiderleg’s expectant looks. Didn’t they understand? There was nothing he could do, there was nothing Starclan could do, there was nothing anyone could do to make his brother a true warrior. He couldn’t fish, he couldn’t hunt, hell with that leg it was a miracle he was even able to put weight on it enough to balance himself on all fours.

The tom sighed around a mouthful of trout, his whiskers twitching on one side like a nervous tick of his displeasure. The smoke pointed warrior didn’t want to think of this, not when he had spent so much time and energy avoiding the useless thoughts. Nagging was as necessary to his sister as breathing which meant she wasn’t going to stop any time soon, and Spiderleg needed a hope – something to live for. This certainly wasn’t the best one he could have picked, but any aspiration was an aspiration and maybe it would be enough to keep up his spirits and label him a useful member of the clan yet. ’Heh.. Maybe if he sticks around long enough, Peachpaw might just need an apprentice of her own.’ The dusky tom thought with some amusement, picturing his brother hobbling around with bundles of herbs hanging from his jaws. Strangely, something about the image seemed to fit, and Ashenfang decided to hold onto it for a little while longer. Just a little while… He just wanted to imagine his brother happy…

Again a disgruntled sigh passed around the fresh kill in Ashenfang’s jaws sending a plume of fish smell upward into his nostrils. His mouth watered and he increased his pace to make it to camp before he ruined the decent trophies with his own saliva. His paws had just crossed into camp when he noticed with surreal slowness how cleared out everything appeared. There weren’t cats near the fresh kill pile, and the queens weren’t all out in front of the nursery with newly born kits playing in the sun. It seemed odd that-

”Bearkit and maplekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed.” Ashenfang’s heart stopped at the sound of Magpiestar’s voice and he did a quick one-eighty. He should have been paying better attention, should have been thinking of the days, should have been doing anything other than finding reasons to be outside of camp. Now, he hardly had time to slink to the back of the gathering, and try to place his fresh kill down as nonchalantly as possible – no, of course he didn’t just show up, he’d been there the whole time – before Magpiestar could get through naming the new ‘paws to their mentors.

Bearkit would go to Foxface, and Maplekit to Sharpfrost. Something trilled in the usually quite reserved warrior, a sharp spear of something like…pride? He caught a glimpse of Sharpfrost’s pale fur glistening like gold as the sunlight flashed upon her for a brief second and reflected its color upon her bleached coat. ’Sharpfrost…’ He thought of the day by the river, her appearance from the woods, and the way everything about her had made him think of her sister. Why was it now that Hazelstream was the farthest thing from his mind?

”-time of strength, a time of change, and a time of growth. We are proud to call you our own.” Ashenfang almost had to physically shake himself from his pensive bearing, amber touched jades glancing around fitfully as cats took up the ritualistic chant on all sides of him. One last time Ashenfang’s gaze turned upon Sharpfrost before she was swallowed by the crowd along with her apprentice. Glancing down at his catch – he could come back for the fish later – he moved forward with his fellows, repeating the chant of the new apprentices’ names. ”Bearpaw! Maplepaw!” His graveled voice remained low but steady, he held no doubts that these two would make good apprentices. Riverclan could use some new blood.

tagged | kinda stares at (@hawkpaw ) sharpfrost
notes | totally coming in late here >.< my bad, forgot this was going on!
words | 724