[lone]

Originally Posted by PeaFlower

The light ginger she-cat didn't pick up on the other feline's tone, and even if she had she would have blamed it on whatever was bothering Thunderclan's Medicine cat. Instead she beamed, thrilled that she got a few words out of her. That was some progress.

She resisted the temptation to tell Caliapaw that she already knew she was taking a break, though that was made easier by the fact her interlocutor spoke again.

“Training ?" The apprentice said, tipping her head to the side. "Oh, my mentor's not here yet. I'm usually free around this time. Funny, uh ? We both have breaks at the same time !” Goldenpaw meowed while she flicked her tail around, getting a bit closer to the other she-cat.

“Plus I still have a lot of time before becoming a warrior ! And I have learned some cool stuff already ! I bet I could already take on a fox.” She said proudly, trying to stand up to make herself look regal, though she ended up looking a bit stupid, with her untamed long fur sticking up in odd directions.

She was so caught up in her boasting that she almost didn't catch what the other cat said next. One word stuck with her. Alone ? That couldn't be right.

Goldenpaw suddenly had a realization. Maybe that's what was bothering Caliapaw ! She was feeling lonely ! After all, she never saw her hanging out with a lot of cats, and her mentor was gone … and she was about to go to the forest on her own, with no one else to talk to.

Not on my watch. The young she-cat thought. She had to find a way to convince her friend-to-be to let her tag along. She tried to think of something, anything … ha !

“Why don't you let me come with ?! I bet you could use some extra muscles !” She chirped with a happy grin, once again getting closer, if that was even possible. “And I could watch your back, in case some Windclanners attacked ! Like an escort !” She almost crouched down, trying to make herself smaller, in hopes Caliapaw would accept. They'd be spending some time together, and the Medicine cat wouldn't be alone for once. It was a win-win situation in Goldenpaw's eyes.

"Taking on a fox is about the dumbest thing you could do right now." The medicine cat mewed, loud enough for Goldenpaw to hear, yet her voice sounded like a low mutter - Caliapaw was annoyed enough that she probably would have clawed the apprentice had she continued. The next words Goldenpaw spoke made the apprentice unsheathe her claws and her eyes widened in irritation. "No. Way." She spoke, her voice calm, but strained with keeping it that way. She needed to play the bigger part. It was very unlike her to be a pushover, not that she had ever had to be - she had been out of the spotlight for most of the time, now that she was a medicine cat, she needed to force herself to step up and teach this apprentice that she was being stupid.

"I'm not going to let you come with me, because that would be putting you in danger if WindClanners attacked. Besides, I'm one hundred percent certain that your mentor wouldn't want you doing this. You can't stay on break for that long," The medicine cat argued. She was trying to come up with every valid reason for the well-meaning, yet irritating younger apprentice to stay behind. She was about a moon or two older then Goldenpaw, and had had warrior training before - not enough of it to fend off a larger attacker, but enough to be able to momentarily do something so that she could escape. Besides, the apprentice would be more of a hindrance then a help. If she could just talk to Goldenpaw's mentor, or her mother, maybe somebody would be able to stop this apprentice from pushing her buttons so much.

Although she doubted it. It seemed to just be in the other cat's nature to want to be around Caliapaw, to be like her, to know all about her. While that was flattering, it most certainly was not her idea of the ideal partner. She would have to keep that in mind sometime in the future, when having an apprentice would be expected. "Besides, I think it would be better to be alone." She remarked after a moment, hoping that final remark would be what pushed the apprentice to finally agree that it would be better for the both of them if Caliapaw went out on her own to collect herbs and Goldenpaw stayed here, waiting for her break to be over and then going back to train with her mentor.

Originally Posted by Mauve

@Lonestar23

Feeling a rather small, soft bundle of fur stumble into her foreleg, Emberwing blinked and turned her head, her pale green gaze focusing on the arrival of Brightkit. Near them a tiny ball of moss sat, battered and starting to fall apart, and it wasn't long until the warrior realized that this kit must've been locked into a pretty intense game of chase. A purr rumbled in her belly, and the ginger feline turned to that she was facing more towards the tiny calico kitten. She wasn't one to get angry easily - unless someone threatened her Clan - so she smiled down fondly at Brightkit.

"Why hello there Brightkit!" she purred, using one of her free paws to smooth down some of the fur that had fluffed itself up on Brightkit's head. "My name is Emberwing. It's nice to meet you." She studied the younger kit and noticed quickly how her eye was glazed over. Poor thing, she thought with a sting of sympathy. Brightkit appeared to be nearing her six moons, and for a moment Emberwing wondered how her warrior training would go. With the battle coming up, would she be left in the dust while all the other apprentices with two working eyes were trained? She surely hoped that wouldn't be the case; with Brightkit's spirit, Emberwing was sure she would make an excellent ThunderClan warrior.

Turning her attention back to the present, Emberwing glanced at the moss ball, using her tail to bat it back over to them. "I see you've caught your first prey!" she mewed, amusement lighting up her gaze as she looked from the ball of moss to Brightkit. "Have you no one to play with?" Surely the young she-kit had friends in the nursery? It wasn't too often that kits stumbled out into the clearing for their games - after all, if Emberwing were still small enough she'd much rather be in the warm serenity of the den rather than trudging through the cold leaf-bare snow in search of scraps of prey in a desolate forest.

"Emberwing? That's a pretty name! It suits you, too, cause you're really pretty!" Even though Emberwing's outline was blurry, and it was hard to see her, what Brightkit could see certainly looked pretty, and a cat with a name like Emberwing was bound to be absolutely gorgeous! For her, pretty cats got pretty names, mean cats had mean-sounding names, and nice cats had nice sounding names. She had always thought her name suited her as well, although her Mother hadn't named her to fit her personality. Sometimes she wondered if her Mom had secretly known what she was going to be like, and named her accordingly, though that would be impossible.

"Oh no, I have friends to play with! They're just busy, you know, making other friends and stuff! Some of them are older so they've got training to do, or they have to hunt or something, but sometimes they'll come into the nursery and tell me stories when they aren't busy! Isn't that cool?" Brightkit asked, talking at top speed, her blue eye twinkling happily the whole time. Anytime she spoke of her friends, it made her quite a bit happier then she normally would be. With friends like them, she didn't feel like she would ever have true bullies again! Oh sure, sometimes there was the occasional mean cat who would make cruel remarks on her sight, or something else about her, but she brushed those aside as lonely remarks made by the cats who didn't really have friends.

So of course they needed to tease her, because that was the only way they knew how to ask her to be friends! It all made sense to the calico, but of course, lots of things made sense to her that just wouldn't to any other cat. "What about you? Don't you have friends to play with too? Or hunt or patrol with or whatever it is you do? Because if you don't, I will ABSOLUTELY be your friend! And if you do I'll STILL be your friend!" The she cat chirped happily, watching Emberwing with her good eye gleaming in a friendly manner. She had never been the best at holding back, and didn't seem to get the fact that she could scare someone off by acting the way that she did. After all, who could possibly be scared of someone who just wanted to be friends?