[lone]

Originally Posted by goose

The feeling was more than mutual,
and Milkweed was more than ready to assure Amberflame of that fact. Snorting softly at her self-motivating spiel, the bicoloured molly shook her head. There was so much... wrong about what the molly was saying. It was idealistic, it was naïve, it was everything that mildly annoyed Milkweed.

But she supposed it couldn't be helped. Some cats were just stuck in her ways, and she wouldn't let whatever prejudiced monologue play out in Amberflame's head without some surprises. If her previous assumptions were anything to go off of, Amberflame was probably going off what little evidence she had to assume that Milkweed was not of full Thunderclan heratige,
and the molly had guessed correctly, but no matter. Letting out a slightly jarred huff, she gathered her limbs from the untidy sprawl that they were previously in and stood up, exaggerating the action as to express her hesitance.

"Are you happy, now?" An irritable rumble made itself known amongst the whistle of the winds, and Milkweed dragged her claws through the dirt.
"Now I'm up, don't you have any other patronizing monologues on how I can do anything if I try?"

It would be a bit of an overstatement to say that Milkweed was actually angry at this stuck-up she-cat, but really she just wanted to be... left alone. Allowed to settle. Maybe weave some feathers into her nest, if she was feeling a little spicy. But now she had to-- against her will, even-- make herself get up and deal with... that. With the resigned expression of someone spurred into working harder, she looked Amberflame up and down again, still shivering nonetheless.

Had Amberflame been anyone else, she might have let the matter go right then. She might have allowed Milkweed's attitude to slide past, and walked away, satisfied that she had gotten yet another clanmate up on their lazy paws. But instead of being satisfied, her eyes narrowed and her tail began to lash in a way that clearly meant 'trouble' for the bicolored feline. "I'm pretty sure words of encouragement are wasted on your kind." The she cat scoffed, tilting her head in a way that she hoped would be condescending for the other cat. She knew the type - warriors whose hearts just weren't with their Clan. Amberflame prided herself on her hard work and dedication to her Clan, so to see a warrior just brushing it off... she wasn't going to lie. It stung a lot.

And it reflected badly on the Clan that Amberflame's family had loved so dearly, and that she loved even more. "Now then, don't you have something you could be doing? Or do you care to stand here and tell me my words are patronizing?" The she cat asked, her voice entering that almost - but not quite - mocking tone. She was quite irritated with Milkweed at the moment, wishing that she could get rid of the she cat. She wasn't one to back down first, however... she would wait until the she cat wished to leave. Her tail twitched angrily, and her eyes flashed as she watched the other cat. It would appear she was hardly "hitting it off" with the other cat. Whoever was under the impression that the Clan cats got along well together with cats from their own Clan was sadly mistaken. They couldn't be more wrong.

Amberflame felt bad for the cat who would end up as Milkweed's apprentice. What a sad young cat they would be, indeed. She could see them ending up just like their mentor, lazy and sitting around on a day when they could be doing something for their Clan. Amberflame's beliefs were, to say the least, strict. Not many cats followed them as closely as she did. She had wanted this for so long that she was determined to keep it as best she could. Even if that meant becoming unpopular with her clanmates. Thank goodness Milkweed wasn't in a position of power at the moment - right?

Originally Posted by SpiralWhirl

Snowpaw's ears lowered a little, knowing his mistake. He honestly didn't think he spoke too loud but it must have been that. As she got off him, he was staring directly at the spider or trying to. He shake his head, embarrassed. He looked up again, looking at Caliapaw. "I knew that, how could I have known it wasn't poisonous?" He realized how harsh he sounded, quickly adding. "Thanks though, I don't know how long I could stay still before it was gone. " Snowpaw said, licking his chest. Obviously he had tried to cover up his somewhat fear of spiders, he smiled warmly at his sister. "How it been?" He had said. Of course, he wouldn't push her to tell him everything that been happening. He pawed at the fallen leaf that had finally fall off his head, he shook the dirt out of his pelt before sitting down. His gaze followed when she glance around, Snowpaw was prepared if someone gave them a weird look to return it. What's so strange of siblings messing around? He was relieved that no one had gave them a weird look yet, he didn't want his sister to walk away because of it.

The blonde and white cat rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly at her brother's cover-up. She knew he was afraid of spiders - it wasn't the weirdest fear, or the most uncommon, but it made for quite the show when he did get scared. At his question, she sighed and seemed to melt a little bit, like she quite disliked the question. "It's been tiring," The medicine cat answered truthfully. What she didn't tell him was how scary it had been as well, and how emotionally exhausting - it wasn't just tiring, it was really, truly, completely exhausting. It took whatever she had and smashed it to bits. "And it's been - interesting, I guess." Worrying. Sleep-depriving. Makes it hard for me to come out here because I don't want attention. Caliapaw was not a cat who tried to be in the middle of things. She tried to stay out of them. She might be in the wrong job for that, but she hadn't chosen it for the attention - or the type of power that it gave her. She was here because she had loved the idea, and she had stayed in it because while Wheatfur was alive, she had loved it. He had given her a new type of understanding about how it worked. She wanted to raise awareness about how hard it was, and she would, just as soon as she could settle into the job better. "I guess it's just kind of different without Wheatfur here." She missed the tom, more then she ever admitted out loud. Soon she would go with Alabasterpaw and Starpaw and perhaps she could talk about their memories of the tom. She missed him, and she wanted his memory to be put at rest with her. She hadn't even seen him in her dreams yet, and that was another reason she missed him so much. It was stupid to think that maybe, just maybe, I would see... I mean, I would get to... Her thoughts trailed off and she curled her tail around her paws as a shield-type thing, glancing over at Snowpaw as she did so.

Originally Posted by Mystical

Quietpaw was not a cat who liked to be interrupted, even in thought, but even if she had not interrupted his thought it would not have changed the cold way he regarded her. Vixenkit was a kit he had meant two moons back, meaning he was still in kithood. He had actually been quite thrilled to have made a new "friend". He had been happy, and had actually began to look differently at all the other kits in the nursery. They were future friends to him. That was until he was told what her actual name was. Her name was not Oriolekit [Oriole was her sister's prefix.], it was Vixenkit. Which meant one thing. She had lied.

Quietpaw was a sweet cat, he didn't like to think that cats did terrible things, but he knew of his father, and everything his horrid family did. He knew of the way they treated cats who were different than them, and how all the she-cats stayed in the nursery all day. Simply boring. They were evil manipulating fools. And quite honestly Quietpaw wanted nothing to do with his family whatsoever. He didn't care what they said about their ways being right, he didn't care how his mother wanted to redeem herself to her kits, he just knew that despite the love he felt towards his family, even his parents, he had to hate them for the way they were. They had wronged him, his siblings, and in his fathers case everyone else. They should have mean nothing to him and Quietpaw knew that, but something made him love them in some way. It may have been the fact they were the only family he had ever had, or something impossible to explain. But whatever it was it made him want to deny the fact that some cats were just plain old bad. That some cats lied, and some cats used cats. That some cats killed, and some cats sought revenge. Some cats ignored their kits, and many other things so terrible Quietpaw would not even think them. Vixenkit was great compared to them, but that didn't change the fact that she had lied to him, about her own name.

He turned to face her with a cute yet rude look in his eyes. He tried his best to be nice and polite and kind towards every cat he ran into, but if Vixenkit wanted to get on his good side she was going to have to do something to prove she was worthy of it. For the one moon that he had known her true name he had told himself that if he ever ran into her [which he had not wanted to do] he would make her tell the truth. Vixenkit was no match for him, though he would never dream of hurting her. That was not his plan. His plan was to get her to tell him the truth. But he would do it trying his best to be kind and understand her, no matter how much he knew that he would fail. "I'm doing well, thank you, and it's Quietpaw." He started, for he did not believe in starting conversations negatively. "How are you, Oriolekit, or should I say Vixenkit?"

How stunned the she cat was only showed for an instant, her mouth working to try to find the words, before she masked this true surprise under fake surprise. Under a fake mask, she instantly became more confident. "Vixenkit? I think you're mixed up, Quietpaw. Vixenkit is my sister's name. I'm Oriolekit - don't you remember?" Whoever had told Quietpaw her real name was going to pay for this. She would see to it that they never got the chance to say her name again. She would ruin their social lives, tease them mercilessly, run them down under a back-breaking load of accusations. Some would be true, some false. Either way, when it came to things like this, Vixenkit was a cat to be feared. She had never had a true friend in her life. She had never experienced heartbreak in her life. She simply had been born to a Mother who surrounded her with things like this, and so she had grown up in a way that would make her believe it was normal to act this way.

However, from the way Quietpaw looked, he wasn't too pleased that she had lied about her identity before, when they had met. How to get his trust back? That was a mystery the she cat was still working on solving. Right now she was completely tongue-tied, trying to worm her way out of something that she should have never gotten caught in. She should have been free from things like this! She should've been able to easily worm her way out of something like this, except she was at a loss for words when it came to an excuse. "Congratulations on the apprenticeship, by the way. It's quite the accomplishment, becoming an apprentice, isn't it? And - you know, who's your mentor? I don't believe I was present at your ceremony." This wasn't a lie - Vixenkit had watched from a distance, and had missed a great deal of it altogether, so she was pretty sure that she was free to say that. Besides, Quietpaw would have no way of knowing whether it was a lie or not.

She was a born liar, this was something that she was quite skilled at and, sadly, prided herself on being skilled at. It was almost like she felt she had been born to lie. Vixenkit was quite certain that lying was one of the only things she would ever be good at. Right now, she wasn't good at making friends when she was being herself. Hiding behind the mask of posing as her sibling Oriolekit, it was perfect. Of course, Vixenkit was pretty sure her masquerade would have to end when her apprentice ceremony commenced. She would be known as Vixenpaw then, and having never heard Oriolekit's name (nobody ever would hear that name at an apprentice ceremony, because Oriolekit had disappeared leaving behind a distraught Beetlekit and an indifferent Vixenkit) she would never be able to masquerade as Oriolepaw.

Perhaps there was a new name she could make up for herself, but it would take some convincing and it would be hard. At least she wouldn't go under her real name. The name that she didn't want to go under. She could change it, but then she still wouldn't be someone else. That would become her real name and everyone would know it. What a shame Vixenkit couldn't just... become Oriolekit. They would never approve of that, but since they were gone, it really didn't matter. Did it?