[Random Melody]

Originally Posted by Constellation

''Na na, you don't scare me, Sorrelbutt,'' Lynxkit snarled back. Maybe back in the nursery she used to bully him around, but not this time. What brother should be scared of their sister anyway? Their littermate? Their younger sister by a couple moments afterwards? That was like - like - LIKE Hunterfang being afraid of Breezeflower. It was absolutely ridiculous! All Lynxpaw felt was that Sorrelpaw had a mood swings. Annoying ones, irritating ones, aggravating ones, really anything that was considered 'bad emotions'. And, Lynxpaw was glad to be the one that caused them to up-rise. When Lynxpaw spoke his question, he didn't see any harm in it. His other two siblings weren't saying a thing. If a cat looked like fox-dung, why not tell them? Wasn't honesty the best policy? Or, had he missed something.

The young tom wiggled his whiskers, shooting a glare towards Hunterfang until it melted into an exasperated look, and he turned his head away. He didn't like upsetting Hunterfang, and it was evident in his demeanor. ''Sorry.'' The toyger tom muttered without bringing his head up. His ears drooped down at the sudden scolding that Hunterfang said to him. Lynxpaw went about his day finding little things to impress his mentor. Even if they were meaningless things, harmless things, annoying things - he was that type of apprentice. Lynxpaw could simply dig a hole in the ground, and want to show it off to Hunterfang. Or, he could find a sharpened stick and want to present to Hunterfang for a simple praise. The admiration, really. Lynxpaw was clearly devoted to his mentor and half-brother, that it was tough on him whenever Hunterfang needed to correct him. Little did Lynxpaw learn, it was simply out of protection.

Springwind thought he heard screaming in his ear. From a molly. That painful screech. Almost like music. Not the delicate kind you bob your head to, but that heavy metal. That heavy rock screaming at your core. Springwind wanted to throw his head back and shout at the skies, but when he looked up, they were a blue. A pretty, pretty, sparkling blue. It was beautiful. Why wasn't it raining. Springwind snapped his hues at Sorrelpaw as she spoke, her tone displaying indignation. ''Because I said so,'' He told her, firmly. There were still hurt in his eyes, but he tried hard to mask the pain by giving her a grim expression. ''It'll do you some good to practice on a fellow clan mate, anyway.'' He flicked his tail. ''If you don't wanna tag along, you can clean the elders of ticks. Or, sort the rotten prey from the fresh ones at the kill pile - your choice.'' His voice hardened by a minor. If she didn't want to part take in this lesson, Springwind would leave her to do chores. He was too sullen to teach her anything. His moves would be inaccurately, sloppy, and slow. They wouldn't look right. If he wanted to teach Sorrelpaw the right way...he needed to feel better. But, when was that going to be?

''He's not nosy,'' Springwind says. Yes, Lynxpaw was. Lynxpaw was very nosy. ''He just has heightened curiosity.'' The older tom rolled his shoulders. He knew this wasn't true, but seeing the downcast look of the toyger male made Springwind heart melt even more than it had. Right now, his heart was simply shattered in place, and now it was melting until it became a puddle. The sun would shine - oh, the sun was her eyes - and it would evaporate into nothingness, like his very being. Springwind saw Lynxpaw nod his head at Hunterfang, agreeing that they could have a lesson together, so Springwind bowed his own head and turned towards the training moors. ''We'll have a little battle practice between the two of you. I want to see what Sorrelpaw...'' Pause. Sigh. Starclan, he didn't feel like doing anything today. If he did, he wanted to drop dead. ''...could perfect. At least, precisely.'' Maybe, Hunterfang wanted to see his own apprentice show off his moves. Springwind was sure a little bit of fascination would be thrown Lynxpaw's way when he impressed Hunterfang out on the fields.

Sorrelpaw let out a low, dark growl at her brother, but didn't say anything else, tail lashing side to side. Stupid world. Stupid Clan. Stupid brother. Stupid mentor. Stupid, stupid, stupid world... Oh, she absolutely hated everything. Especially today. Today was one of those days. And those days were worse than her usual days. The toyger grumbled, her ears flicking and flattening when Springwind began to scold her, and she started to hiss a response. But looking up at him, the growl died in her throat for some reason. He didn't seem to be putting much fight into it. His voice was dull. Like he didn't really mean what he said. Sorrelpaw's eyes narrowed, contemplating this for a while. "Fine," She finally hissed, but her voice wasn't as aggressive as she would have liked. Instead she sounded somewhat passive. "Fine, let's get the stupid training over with. I'm going to kick your worthless little tail, Lynxy boy," She whirled around to her brother, smirking when she saw Lynxpaw's crestfallen expression from Hunterfang's scolding. Ooh, ouch, that had to hurt. She thought, eyes trailing up to Hunterfang.

Hunterfang hadn't meant to sound harsh. He knew he should scold his apprentice sometimes, scolding was good, but the fallen expression on his younger half-brother's face made him want to take it back instantly. "It's okay, Lynxpaw," He assured, brushing his tail lightly across Lynxpaw's back. "Just be a little more careful with what you say, kiddo." He sighed, his gaze flickering toward Springwind now. He really wanted to get his former mentor alone so they could hopefully discuss what was wrong with him, but that probably would be impossible since they'd have two apprentices trailing after them. Maybe once Sorrelpaw and Lynxpaw were distracted with training... The black and white Tom rolled his brown eyes when Springwind said that Lynxpaw just had a "heightened curiosity", a soft scoff escaping him. "I'll say," He mused, looking down at his brother, but his expression gave away his affection. He nodded when Springwind said they'd have the apprentices do a battle practice, and flicked an ear when Sorrelpaw declared she was going to kick Lynxpaw's tail. We'll see about that, He couldn't help but think, giving his sister a skeptical look. Sorrelpaw always rubbed him the wrong way. Shaking his head, he brought his gaze back to Springwind. "Alright, then,"