Her claws slide from their sheaths while the massive feline digested the news. So he had gotten close to a Thundervermin. Her scowl grew into a grimace at the foolish assurance the apprentice sprouted. "I chose you as ShadowClan medicine cat because I thought you were loyal. Yet now I hear that you've strayed. Whether you were young or not means nothing to me, a true ShadowClan cat would never have allowed a squirrel to mean anything to them in the first place." Dawnstar hissed, suspicion emitting from her every word.


"If I had been made aware of this before, I would never have chosen you as Sleepysunrise's apprentice. I can't have disloyal mousebrains as my medicine cat, who knows when you'll have another lapse in judgement." Dawnstar needed complete and utter trust in those who were her medicine cats, even more so than her deputy. This was quite the troubling development.

"You'll remain as ShadowClan's medicine cat apprentice for now. However, know that I will be keeping a close eye on you. You give me even an inkling to suspect you, and you'll be replaced." The only reason Dawnstar kept Silentpaw was because she had Sleepysunrise and to give Silentpaw a chance to prove his words were more than just hot air and fanfare. Which was very unusual, perhaps due to some lingering guilt regarding Rookefire. She did not like how nonchalant he seemed with being disloyal to his clan, but it didn't seem like he was trying to lie. That could be just how he was.

Yet, what little trust she had in the young tom was gone. The second he gave her even the smallest reason to doubt him, he would be booted from the rank. "Dismissed." She ordered.

Oh, one of the grandbrats were back. Dawnstar dropped to the sandy flooring and lashed her fluffy tail. She turns to face the lichen-covered entrances and can only guess why Hazycry was here.

"Enter," She commands while returning to her nest. She sits down on her haunches in her comfortable bedding of fur and moss and licks at her sharpened claws, cleaning dirt from them. "What is it that you need to speak about?" She asked with a final lick to her left set of claws. She gave Hazycry a curious look while waiting to hear a response.

Huh, she thought he'd have a bigger fit about the whole withholding the truth. For some reason, she naturally believed that if you were willing to deceive or lie, that meant everything out of one's mouth to be a lie. But then again, Bleedingpaw hadn't spiraled down the paranoia hole as hard as Dawnstar had, hopefully, he never would. He only had Lark to attribute betrayal and distrust to. Dawnstar had lost count of how many cats had betrayed her.

It was more than she had toes, she knew that for sure. Still, she had thought getting his trust would have been more challenging. She wasn't going to complain about it. If she had his trust, it was hers now, no takebacks. She blinked slowly at his desperate pleas, she had already assured him she wasn't going to turn on him. She doesn't make light promises.

Dawnstar let him go through his emotions and talk while observing. He was lucky he had so many siblings. Dawnstar wondered if she'd be as messed up as she was if she had more siblings with her. What if it had been that weak little brother who had survived instead of her? She didn't dwell on the thought what ifs only brought her fleeting comfort. It was safer to live in the present and plan for the future.

"No, she'll never be allowed to return here. She made her choice when she walked away from us." Dawnstar answers. She had never thought about it like that, she always wondered why some of Lark's kits had been so distant and disliked her. Perhaps they always knew, but that was ludicrous, right? Maybe they had seen something in her that Dawnstar hadn't and kept their distance. It was hard to say.

"You and Sleepysunrise are terribly alike. I can't speak on behave of your other siblings, but I would think you can trust her love. She's the only one who's shown me she was betrayed like us." She wasn't going to promise that he could trust his sibling's affection, not after what hers did. She would like to believe in Sleepysunrise, not completely, but enough.

"Bleedingpaw, I won't betray you." She reassured with a soft growl. Look at her repeating herself... how annoying. The things she did for family. "Now go rest, you looked like you need some sleep." She got to her paws and dipped her head to butt against his flank lightly, a mild show of affection for the brute of a she-cat. This little talk had been draining, even if she didn't show it, too much emotion for someone who rarely used them.
[Okay, we can wrap this up here then.]

Yup, she was a weird one. A special kind of weird that is entirely her own. It was harder to notice when the entire litter was together when one of the parasites was distracting her. She might have to spend a little more one-on-one with Scorpionpaw.

"Oh, well I'd prefer if you all got your names that same time, but if you get your full name first, you can help the rest of your siblings earn theirs. Plus, bragging rights are always fun to have. Not to mention they have to listen to you until they earn the same rank as you." Dawnstar mused while leading the way out of her den.
[I can do the starter for their training, although if you get one up before me that works too.]

Dawnstar lifted her head and lazily glared at Hawkbite as he strolled into her den with a small hairball trapped between his teeth. Again?! Her left lip twitches as the start of a snarl bubbled within her chest and died out before it reached her maw. As of late, Dawnstar's found that she really didn't like kits, well, she wouldn't say she normally liked kits, she found them all tolerable, including her own, but these especially young ones really bugged her.

They were so useless at this age, they didn't have much of a personality, so rather bland, and they needed to be fed constantly. They couldn't speak up for themselves, and they were all around more of a burden than anything else. A pain in the tail. Even though she knew every cat started off this way, those blessed with being born into ShadowClan were spared Dawnstar's scorn as she already considered them hers and a part of the clan.

This shift in her mindset might also have something to do with the last two mewling hairballs under two moons that she allowed into the clan. The one disappeared, and Fishpaw, Fishkit at the time, got Nightshiver mauled and nearly killed herself. Dawnstar was usually not so biased when it came to outsiders, not nearly as much as she had been when younger, but the only useful outsiders were the ones who were full-grown and could carry out their duties. Those too young to understand what they've been given seemed to take it for granted.

Plus, she had yet to have any ShadowClan born kit cause as much trouble escaping camp as Fishpaw had. She should have tossed Fishpaw out after she nearly got ShadowClan's only forever queen killed.

"No, he's too young to appreciate the honor of being given a home in ShadowClan, and I find those in need of weaning are a waste of space and time." She huffed after a long pensive silence.

"I don't care what you want to do with him, but I don't want him in the clan. Take him to the twolegs, toss him in the outskirts, put him out of his misery, whatever, but make sure he's out of my territory. Do not bring me another suckling or I'll be forced to test your loyalty to ShadowClan." She warned with a grimace that showed just a little too much teeth.

Oooookay? Why does this keep happening? Dawnstar blinks her eyes slowly as her grandkit tells her that she can see now. She might have had a bigger reaction if Lark hadn't done it first. She loved an explanation on how that worked, however, she doubted she'd ever get it. So was simply going to fly with it for now.

"Well, I appreciate you sharing that with me. And don't worry, unless I see some point in sharing, I won't speak of it." There was merit in your enemy believing you were weaker than you were, and sometimes your allies as well. Was it strange that Dawnstar couldn't recall the death of one of her apprentices? Unless she got a report for it, she often assumed said cat had run off. She couldn't recall anyone telling her about Hawkpaw dying.

Well, that was irksome. She was going to have to ask around the clan about that. Someone's head would fly if she found herself as the only one not informed about a dead apprentice. Her tail slapped crossly on the smooth floor at the thought.

"Tuftedtusk again, he must really not be doing anything at all." Dawnstar didn't usually pick up on how her Enforcers were doing, it'd mean little if she was the one criticizing them instead of the cats who wanted to challenge them.

"Hmm, well, you have been working hard. I can't say you've made much of a name for yourself either, but I can see you're trying, which is better than sulking." Or whatever Tuftedtusk wasn't doing. She didn't understand Hawkbite's attachment to the tom, especially when the cats were saying otherwise about him.

"Why not? I'll approve your challenge. Go speak to Hawkbite, tell him that unless he can come to me with a genuine reason for keeping Tuftedtusk other than him being consistent, a duel is to be held. If Tuftedtusk wants the rank so badly, he can defend it."

Uh-huh, so it seemed like Dovekit was nothing more than a friendly... hallucination for a lonely kitten. So, currently, nothing to worry about, so Dawnstar would let Mushroomkit do as she pleased until it became a problem.

Back to Pinekit...who was trying to lie to her and doing a terrible job at it. The first lie might have been believable if the second wasn't a total load of dung. She doubted the kit understood how StarClan worked and didn't work, but the nonsense coming out of his mouth wasn't it. There was also the fact that, as far as she was aware, no one was in contact with the stars since the collapse of the cave. Or she assumed that as much. Plus, StarClan may be petty as hell, but to tell a kit to attack another kit over...nothing seemed a bit extreme. The Dark forest...possibly, but she felt like that would be an often-occurring event if they were messing with kits and quite low of them.

Mushroomkit piped up, repeating what she had already told the leader earlier, which made more sense than Pinekit's nonsense. Throwing in Sleepysunrise was a smart move for the young kit. She could bring the medicine cat in here, but why bother? There weren't any thorns in the nursery, it was a burrow under wildflowers.

"Wow, you actually tried to lie to me not once but twice. Has no one told you how much I hate liars? It breaks any sense of trust I had in you. If you can lie to me know you'll lie to me later." Dawnstar sighed and got to her huge paws. It was absurd to lie to a cat as seasoned and paranoid as she. Why even try it? At least make it believable.

"Mushroomkit, you and Dovekit are free to go. Whether or not Pinekit remains after our talk remains to be seen, but if he stays in the clan and continues to harm you in anyway after this chat, inform me and I'll deal with it." She told the other kit without removing her glare from Pinekit.

"Pinekit, you're getting one last chance to tell me the truth and nothing but the truth otherwise I'll banish you from ShadowClan. I've tried to be patience and understanding with you, but you're testing my tolerance right now." If it weren't a kit she would have already tossed him out of the clan and into the outskirts or twolegplace. Motherhood has helped increased her paitences for kits stupidity, but only by a little.

What was wrong with her? Dawnstar's tail tip coiled and uncoiled itself while watching Sleepysunrise with open curiosity. Her granddaughter didn't emote much, if at all. She's been like that since she was a kit. Granted, that didn't mean she didn't have emotions. One simply had to learn how to read her.

Dawnstar was drawn out of her muse to give her granddaughter's ear a light lick as she pressed her head against her chest. As she stepped back and left to depart, Dawnstar watched her with a bit of concern. She grunts and offers a "Be safe," in dismissal. Dawnstar wasn't going to worry about it too much, maybe she was just having a weird day.

Pinekit stared as Dawnstar told Mushroomkit to leave or whatever. He didn't care didn't care. She was useless, irrelevant, pointless, similar words. Nobody needed to care about her. But why did everyone hate him?? They didn't have to. He was doing a good job trying to fend off the strange cats from the clan. So what was wrong with HIM? He was the most loyal cat in the clan to ever exist ever! Did he try too hard? Were people sad that they weren't as good as him? He wondered. Maybe Dawnstar was waiting for Mushroomkit to leave to praise him, tell him that she thought he was being good? Unlikely, not with how this was going. But he was still hopeful, because he knew he was the best one of the pair. Not a tormentor, why would he be one of those? The creature glared too, watching as Dawnstar spoke again, feeding on the words Pinekit heard, watching, waiting, like a trap waiting to close at the right moment. It looked with disgust at the kits. At Pinekit for his weakness, his inability to have killed her. At Mushroomkit for being who she was, that cat who everyone loved. Nobody would ever care for Pinekit. Nobody could. Being cool didn't mean anyone liked you.

And then he realises his entire plan was stumbling, stumbling. Nonono, this wasn't meant to happen to him. How- No. Dawnstar shouldn't have been able to know that. This was ridiculous, he was absolutely terrified now, but he tried his best to cover it up with a confident smile. No he wasn't the one supposed to be kicked out of the clan, this wasn't meant to happen. He was the GOOD CAT, and if he was kicked out- he'd- he'd never ever get to be the coolest cat in ShadowClan. This was ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. This wasn't what he deserved. This was his home, he was born here!! Why? This wasn't fair, couldn't be, couldn't be. There was no way in StarClan that this could be happening. He never broke a rule. Okay maybe he did but nobody really actually said that yes you broke a rule. Okay maybe they did but NOBODY STOPPED HIM. Even that's a lie. Pinekit just kept lying to himself? How? Why? What was the point? He knew the truth, burying it with every other possibility wasn't going to stop it digging back out again.

So Pinekit sighed. A dissapointed one, one of giving up, one of regret. Not a lot of that last one, but only regret for himself. He didn't care, he was the one to do what he did. If anyone else cared, so what. The sigh was of... almost a hint of relief, only almost. He knew this was the worst he'd had yet, but he knew, he knew that this would be the worst he'd ever have. Because either he was getting out of ShadowClan for lying again and again or for what he did to Mushroomkit. He was going to lose here either way and he could swear there was no way out of this. He did have the courage to lie once, but he was in a trap of failure. Why everything had come together this way he'd never know, never understand. But at least he had tried. Liars weren't a part of the Clan to Dawnstar, so he'd have to... get these cats to shut up after they cried or something.

He couldn't tell if he was going to try to fight one last time, or maybe this was a trick, or something, anything, something new? Dawnstar had to be joking. But nothing came, this really was the end of the chaos, for now. Dawnstar had asked for the truth. Or else. Else else else. He didn't want that else to be true.

So with a quiet huff, he tried to mumble something. "I don't know, Dawnstar. I don't know why I'm doing-"

A flower and green eye glared at his own blue and green eyes as he tried to reply. He glared back, at the figure non-existent standing next to Dawnstar. Then, when turning back to face Dawnstar properly, the creature stood in the way. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all, but he just had to ignore it, ignore it, ignore it. If he did, it might go away. And he'd be able to just stay a kit forever, he guessed. That was the best be could get.

He knew he was just a liar that everyone hated, but wasn't everyone supposed to like him? Lying was supposed to show his coolness. The creature had moved.

"I don't know." he mewed again, why again?, this was getting him nowhere, "I thought that fighting was meant to make you stronger, so I suggested to... Mushroomkit, but not Dovekit, Dovekit isn't real, that we practiced fighting. But then she started crying, and I had hurt her. It wasn't entirely supposed to do that much to her. It was just a fight. We wanted to practice to be better apprentices. Then I thought that getting rid of the weird people was good for the clan."

He paused. Again. What. He was supposed to lie, supposed to LIE. What was he saying? This was the truth, this would get him in trouble, in trouble. "You HATE her, Pinekit." it growled. But why? Did he really? He didn't know. He didn't.

"Then I don't know. For the second time, at all... I don't. I- Yeah." he meowed awkwardly.

Now he decided had to apologise. Why was he like this? He was supposed to be part of ShadowClan, he realised, and fighting his Clanmates would get him nowhere. He looked towards the entrance to the den, maybe he could apologise if she was still there. Or would he just go back to this again? Maybe he had to avoid her for a bit. He was so unsure. He didn't want to never ever be an apprentice.