[spade]

Originally Posted by Wildwhisker

Skysplash felt her pelt grow hot with embarrassment. "It's not my fault, we-" Her voice cut off suddenly. She cleared her thought, trying to sound dignified like a senior warrior, and continued. "I try to, but nothing lines up. When he wants to train, I have to go on patrol. When I want to train, he is napping, talking with cats he knows, or exploring the territory."

As Skysplash explained what had been happening, Kestrelstar felt himself frowning. So what it sounded like was that he had taken the kid in, and all he was doing was lounging around and not taking it seriously. And... what was that? Exploring the territory - without a mentor?

"You're fine, Skysplash," the leader began, giving her a nod to state he recognized that she started off a bit flustered. A frustrated sigh slipped out from a tense jaw, tail tip twitching irritably. "Thank you for letting me know. Don't worry about this - at the next meeting I'll be assigning you one of the kits who are ready for a mentor. You're a valuable warrior." It was getting... easier to compliment his Clanmates. With a nod, the gray tabby gestured to the entrance of his den. "You're dismissed."

Originally Posted by Mr.Cheese

~STORMPELT & DEWFUR~

The two warriors headed in dipping their heads in greeting Stormpelt meowed "Greetings Kestrelstar I come to Speak to you about Ivypaw. " he meowed. Dewfur gave him an engaging look. "He wanted to say that he thinks Ivypaw would be better off as me as her mentor than him." She quickly fished up for him. The two warriors give each other a look than looking back at Kestrelsatr with questioning looks. Stormpelt thought I hope she will be a good mentor To Ivypaw. Dewfur licked her chest a little. Wondering If she made the right decision.
@spade

Ivypaw? Kestrelstar faintly recalled the apprentice, though he hadn't seen her around all that much. Taking a moment to study both warriors, he let a sigh slip between gritted teeth. It was a little.. frustrating to realize he had placed too high expectations on one of his warriors.

"Alright, if that's what you think. From now on, Dewfur you'll be Ivypaw's mentor - don't let this stall her training, please." Yellow eyes moved from Dewfur to Stormpelt. "I can't say I'm not disappointed. The reason I gave you another apprentice was because you showed me promise as a dedicated warrior to RiverClan..." There wasn't much else left to say, so Kestrelstar sat down and gave a dismissive flick of his ear. "You're both dismissed."

Originally Posted by implimm

Kestrelstar could kiss her ass.

Or demote her.

Or, he would be sensible!!!! Yeah. Sensible!

Plumstorm took a very brief break between Snakeheart's den and this one, to cough and sneeze and maybe cry a little bit (who's to judge?) but her respite couldn't be long. Kestrelstar was MIA and she didn't want to risk taking too long. So, she hauled her last five cattails in to his den with urgency.

The warrior didn't marvel at being in the leader's den. There was no awed looks, no weird "i'm gonna sit here and pretend to be leader" some cats might have done. She'd been here before, when Lionstorm dwelled within. She knew what it was like, and had no desire to play make believe.

She knew what Hell was like after first experiencing the cattail before, in the medicine den. She knew what to expect.

That didn't mean it was easier.

Chomping down was like signing her own death warrant all over again, but she had to keep on going. She had to be strong.

Their lives were on the line!

And soon, Kestrelstar's den looked like the same dreamscape Hell that Snakeheart's dwelling had turned into. Except this was worst because the den was a little smaller and less.... big... Yeah, Plumstorm. That's right. Smaller, less big.

After all five cattails are again exhausted, she hops through the cloudy wall of fuzz and makes her escape, sneezing on the way to freedom.

The day had been rather uneventful, dawdling on with really nothing of too urgent matters. Not much had been heard at the border with ShadowClan, and for a moment Kestrelstar allowed himself to relax. Slipping back into camp after a solo hunting patrol, he dropped his catch of two trout onto the prey pile, nodding at a few warriors nearby as he did so. It wasn't much, and they weren't the biggest, but perhaps an apprentice might find them to be a nice, big meal.

Weak sunlight poured down into camp, though a shiver still passed through his thick tabby fur. Eyelids hung lazily down over yellow eyes, though exhaustion didn't appear to haunt Kestrelstar as it usually did. Up early, out and about, hunting... staying productive had actually woken him up instead of putting him to sleep. Who knew?

Though now, as sunhigh fell behind and the air got chillier, the leader figured he had earned a nice, quick nap. Just enough to provide more pep in his step for a night walk throughout the territory, of which he had recently become quite fond of.

Jaws parted in a yawn as white paws carried him towards the outcropping underneath the Streamstone, slipping into the entrance and letting his shoulders relax as the dim lighting of the cave swallowed him. It was rather peaceful in here, quiet, and -

Fuzzy. And touching him.

Instintively Kestrelstar leapt backwards, fur fluffed out and claws extended to swipe at whatever had grazed him. But... it wasn't a cat. It was a... "Cattail...?" Puzzled and confused the leader peered around his den, mouth moving from a thin line to all the way agape. His den - it was covered. From ceiling to floor and all the sides were bunches of cattail fluff.

Who... who had done this?

His first thought was an apprentice, trying to prank him, though his mind was drawing blanks. Petuniapaw wouldn't - she much preferred flowers and the crowns they made like her late aunt had. None of Blizzardsky's other kits remained in camp as far as Kestrelstar knew.

It couldn't have been another warrior... could it?

The thought at first made him scowl. Then, something changed. The corners of his lips twitched upwards, whiskers following suit. Tail tip flopped back and forth on the ground, and soon his shoulders joined in. Before long, what started as a quite chuckle burst into a full on laugh. The sound, awkward coming from a cat everyone thought to be the worlds biggest grump, reverberated off the walls until it filled his den just as much as the cattail fluff.

Stars, Kestrelstar couldn't recall the last time he had truly laughed. It felt... nice. The cattail fluff was a lot to clean up, so for now the leader just made a path to his nest, deciding to weave some of the surrounding puffy particles into parts of his nest. At least whoever had done this had done him a favor - his nest was now a bit softer as he settled into it. "What an absolute mess..." he purred, yellow eyes shimmering with kit-like joy.

With one last smile, the leader rested his head onto his paws - and a small layer of fluff - and closed his eyes, drifting off into a rather peaceful sleep...