High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

**taillow** · #**18881** July 28th, 2022, 11:50 AM

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Cinderstar
As her Clanmates gathered around beneath the Thunderwillow, Cinderstar observed them with a thoughtful look. There were a few things outside of the regular ceremonies and traditions that had to get done today, so the silver bengal was hoping that cats would be on their best behavior. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case.

Eyes were quickly stolen by a commotion below between her mate and two apprentices. She watched it for a moment, knowing that Nectarflame could more than handle herself - but that sometimes her neutral tone could come off as prickly to those who were not used to it or her. She was a little disappointed in Flamepaw, she had to admit - Cinderstar had done her best to make sure the apprentices knew that they should also be the ones taking training into their own paws, but on the other paw she could understand the frustration with mentors constantly going missing, which was what appeared to happen with Rushfire.

At least Ashpaw seemed to be reacting logically; Flamepaw was.... not. That surprised her - she'd had high hopes for when she had named the new apprentice, but this was a side she had not been expecting. It reminded her of a certain other dark furred apprentice... except that they didn't seem to proactive with their training as this young she-cat had been. For all the fiery words the former apprentice had spoken, she had at least had the gall to back up what she said by rigorous training day in and day out.

And then Darkpetal had to join in, and that was when Cinderstar knew that she had to step in to say something. If she didn't have this situation to deal with, she might have sent Bumblebreak directly to Sundust's den about her leg (yes, she had noticed and yes, she would be talking to the stubborn she-cat after about it).

"Flamepaw." Her call came out firm as she eyed the troublemaking apprentice. "Come sit beneath the Thunderwillow please." Breaking the trio up seemed like the best course of action - she would have to speak to the young she-cat after. Disappointment in both her and Darkpetal was an understatement, and although she had planned to give the apprentice a mentor this meeting she had another idea come to her.

"This is for all of the apprentices of the Clan. Yes, it is a warriors duty to mentor you, however training is a two way street. If you are not proactively seeking out opportunities and yearning to become a warrior like you yearn to breathe, then you will not become one. I will always advocate for our younger generation, for them to use their voices, but I will also stand behind the senior warriors of our Clan who know of the words they speak and the advice they give." Stars, if the current generation of apprentices only knew about the last generation - how hard and diligent they had worked to become warriors.

Hopefully at this point, Flamepaw had come to sit closer to the Thunderwillow away from the rest of the group. "Darkpetal," she then addressed the warrior who saw fit to throw insults like a kit, "You should know well enough by now that I do not tolerate petty insults to be flung around to Clanmates. While Nectarflame could have formulated her words better," a small glance towards her mate before it moved back to Darkpetal, "she speaks from a place of experience and knowledge. A lack of training, of proactiveness is what led ThunderClan to the hole we just dug ourselves out from. Evenn the smallest sight of it will not be tolerated, and will be corrected. If you can please have a seat near the back of the crowd, I would appreciate it."

She had hoped this meeting would go a lot more smoothly than this, but perhaps those hopes had been too high. Already there were going to be two cats she needed to speak with after the meeting - or hopefully, if Darkpetal listened, only one. Cinderstar gave a small nod of gratitude to Ashpaw, the only apprentice who actually seemed to understand what Nectarflame was saying and not react purely out of spite.

A flick of her bobbed tail and a lift of her chin demanded silence from the crowd, figuring now would be as best of time as any to start the meeting. "There are many things that I need to announce today, so I would appreciate your full attention while we get through them all." Hopefully that would come across as no more long winded conversations.

"Although this moon has seen a few cats' disappearances - which I ask every cat to keep an eye out for - it has also seen the return of some of our Clanmates. Daisyfur, Bluepaw, Softpaw, and Flamepaw-" she made sure to indicate which one since there were momentarily going to be two, and one was much older nearing fourteen or fifteen moons "-have all returned to us. Before I start on reassignments, there is a name change that will need to be done. Flamepaw-" once again, she indicated to the other she-cat in the back of the crowd "-from this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dandelionpaw." Hopefully she liked the name that Cinderstar had decided on as the silver bengal offered her a small smile.

She, along with the others, would need to be apprenticed once more. "They will also need to be reassigned to mentors to ensure their training is continued - however as I said, I expect you all to be proactive with seeking out your training." Her gaze swept the crowd. "Softpaw
[ @WinterMara ], I will be continuing your training. Bluepaw [ @~Fierce~ ], I trust that Featherskies [ @Wintermist ] will be able to get you the rest of the way to warriorhood. Dandelionpaw [ @Estelle ], to give you a refresher on your training will be Spiderleap
[ @cloudivity ]."

There was one other cat that needed a new mentor, and her eyes flickered down to where Flamepaw hopefully was sitting. "Flamepaw [ @SpiritedWarrior ], your mentor has also gone missing. Though in light of what has happened at this meeting I will not be assigning you a mentor. Instead, I want you to be proactive in seeking out training sessions. Prove to me that you truly do want to be a warrior, and perhaps we can see about getting you an official mentor at the next meeting." She let her gaze linger on the apprentice for a moment or two longer, hoping she would heed her words and remain there for the rest of the meeting.

After a beat, she lifted her gaze to observe the rest of her Clan, waiting for the newly assigned duos to meet before moving on with the meeting.

[ this meeting will be done a little differently - i will be spacing out posts to be once every 2-3 days to ensure that the announcement of cinderstar stepping down will occur when jayvines is here to have sparrow react, if you were wondering why they're not once per day like usual ]

**poppy** · #**18882** July 28th, 2022, 11:59 AM

// @zenosaurus @Morning!

Cloudyflight was slightly late, so she hurried to the clearing as fast as her missing leg would allow her. Doing her best not to stumble and fall as she hopped through camp, she quickly found her calico mate in the crowd, talking to a child. In a fairly good mood today, she hurried over and sat beside her love, gazing over at them in warm greeting. "Hey you." She said softly, apologetic for being late. Then she offered a slightly anxious, shy smile at Brightkit. "How are you?"

**SpiritedWarrior** · #**18883** July 28th, 2022, 12:20 PM

Although Flamepaw was still angry and trying her best to reason with what Nectarflame had said in her head, she couldn't help but growl slightly. At least, until Cinderstar had called her up to sit in front of the Thunderwillow. Flamepaw hunched her shoulders in embarrassment and stalked over, away from Ashpaw and Darkpetal, not even bothering to cast the warrior and her friend a glance. Her ears were pinned now not out of frustration, but out of disappointment in herself. I was just trying to stick up for myself! she wanted to yowl that out to the whole of ThunderClan but knew it would only worsen whatever punishment Cinderstar had in mind. The words the bengal leader spoke next rang in the older apprentice's head. For all apprentices? Training's a two-way deal? Flamepaw silently huffed, now seeing what Cinderstar and Nectarflame meant. Still trying to relax herself, Flamepaw blocked out the next words Cinderstar spoke, but twitched her ear in the direction of her leader to at least attempt to pay attention. There's another Flamepaw? Oh, nope, not anymore... they're becoming Dandelionpaw.

Oh, great, Flamepaw wasn't getting a mentor this meeting like she expected! Though, Flamepaw wasn't entirely mad anymore. She knew Cinderstar would do something about her disobedience, as shown when she had told Flamepaw (back then, Flamekit) to stay in the nursery for seven sunrises. And now, I'll become a warrior late! Who knows how old I'll be by then! she closed her eyes then reopened them, as well as opening her mouth to acknowledge her punishment.

"I will, Cinderstar," she promised. She wants me to prove I'll be able to be proactive in finding my own training. I will. Looking toward the crowd, Flamepaw found Ashpaw and Darkpetal, so she mouthed, 'Sorry.' to the both of them. After all, if it wasn't for her, Darkpetal would probably not even be mentioned and separated from Ashpaw during the meeting.

-------------------------------

Mapleleaf sat in silence and listened as Cinderstar butted into a rather hot-headed apprentice's rather hostile discussion with Nectarflame. Ashpaw, of course, had a lot more common sense than his fellow apprentice, but the same couldn't be said for his mentor. It seemed like Cinderstar saw it fit to separate the trouble-making trio and continue on, even going as far as to deny the hot-headed apprentice a mentor to help Flamepaw onto the path of a warrior. The calico, although not necessarily agreeing with Cinderstar's actions because Flamepaw could get worse, understood and didn't say anything. She wanted to take the apprentice's training in her own paws, but Flamepaw was to seek out training herself. Mapleleaf agreed with that part. If the apprentice wanted to be a warrior as bad as she seemed, then she would find a way to train. If StarClan wants me to train her, they will guide Flamepaw's paws to me. I won't go to her myself. Mapleleaf nodded slightly, firmly stating her decision in her head.

**Wingnettle** · #**18884** July 28th, 2022, 12:31 PM

Ashpaw emerged from his thoughts when Flamepaw was called forward by Cinderstar. Her friend had a disappointed look in her face, but she was clearly determined in not showing it. He knew she had really accepted Cinderstar's decision, and he felt a bit sorry for her. Flamepaw might have reacted a bit too soon, but Nectarflame had touched on a sensitive topic for her. I think she deserved a mentor anyway, but I'll be happy to train together if she'll want.
@SpiritedWarrior

**Doom** · #**18885** July 28th, 2022, 12:35 PM

CROWPAW | THEY/HIM
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

They needed to borrow them for their…mama? Crowpaw didn't have a mama, so understanding why a kit would bring their mother petals was far beyond their comprehension. Was it another weird Clan-tradition they didn’t know about yet? Well, even if it was, the kit should’ve at least asked if it was okay to borrow them!

“Look, I don’t know if this is a normal thing in ThunderClan to just take other cats’ belongings, but I know its not nice to take things without permission! Why does your mom need the petals anyway? And why can’t you just go pick your own? My petals are special!” Crowpaw argued, still trying their best to block the little kit’s path. They cringed as they watched Vixenkit struggle to keep their precious petals in their gross little mouth. “Just spit them out already! You’re gonna ruin them!”

// @Estelle \\

**Doom** · #**18886** July 28th, 2022, 12:44 PM

CROWPAW | THEY/HIM
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

“Mhm!” Crowpaw nodded. “Raven was really sick, so I had to save them by bringing them here! And now we live here. It all happened so fast.” Now that they thought about it, it had been a whole moon since they arrived…wow. Time flew by pretty quickly here in the ThunderClan! It was so great how they were able to do so much in one day now!

They settled back down again, crouching to look once more at their beautiful collection. “You must’ve been here a long time to collect all of this! How long did it take you to get a collection at this size? And how do you find the time for it? All I have right now are petals, but I got those awhile ago. I’m always so busy with training that I forget to collect things!”

// @Jayvines \\

**puppeteer** · #**18887** July 28th, 2022, 01:15 PM

Spiderleap widened his eyes in surprise. He was barely a warrior himself and now had an apprentice! "Thank you, Cinderstar. I'll do my best to refresh Dandelionpaw." He dipped his head to his leader, feeling quite happy about this event. He couldn't wait to tell his mate how excited he was!

**Jayvines** · #**18888** July 28th, 2022, 01:21 PM

~ Mistheart ~

Raven was really sick?... Oh, they must mean the littermate that arrived with them.

"Well I'm uh... I'm glad you've settled in well. Has your littermate gotten better?" she gently probed. She didn't want to ruin the mood, but hopefully Sundust and Rosepaw had a handle on things. "I was--well I was born here actually. Most of my collection has been things I've uh... stowed away over time."

With a careful paw, she nudged out a couple of shiny pebbles from the pile.

"Me and my brother had hunted for these when we were still kittens to try and impress our mother. Oh, and this feather-" she hooked a speckled brown feather from the side. "-was from my first climbing lesson. I found an abandoned owl nest up in the tree I scaled."

It was always made Mistheart nostalgic, in a bittersweet sort of way, when they thoroughly went through the physical memories they had accumulated throughout the past few moons. Perhaps Crowpaw also used their collection to store memories, no matter how small.

[ @lumina ]

***longfire*** · #**18889** July 28th, 2022, 01:26 PM

thunderblaze flattened his ear as felt irritated his brothers gone and now thunderclan has other problems now,

[open]

**Morning!** · #**18890** July 28th, 2022, 02:08 PM

@poppy. @zenosaurus

While the spotted warrior she had found seemed a little surprised by Brightkit's sudden appearance, they didn't seem to mind her being there, and the dull brown kit sat down, shooting Brightpath another smile at the warrior's concern about her not being able to see. "Don't worry, as beautiful as Cinderstar's fur is, I am really more interested in what she has to tell us." She knew Brightpath had meant, but as Cinderstar started to speak, the kit could hear it fine, so there was no problem with that.

Something seemed to have happened among the apprentices, something that Brightkit had missed, but the speech Cinderstar gave about it made her green eyes widen somewhat as thoughts about her own future. God, she wondered who her mentor would be, would they be a good one? Oh she was sure they would, Brightkit would have faith in them, but she couldn't help but think about what it all would be like. Other than that a few cats seemed to have returned to Thunderclan, Daisyfur, Bluepaw, Softpaw, and... Brightkit's smiling face turned into one of adoration at the last name. Dandilionpaw?! That is SUCH a pretty name, oh my god!

Right after the reassignments were done, another cat seemed to join Brightpath and Brightkit, and the kit turned to glance in the direction of the voice. It was the second time during a very short time that this happened, but once more Brightkit's green eyes widened. Flllluuffffffyyyy... She was pretty sure their name was Cloudy... leap? Cloudypounce? Cloudyflight! There it was! "Hello, Cloudyflight!" Her eyes gleamed with her signature might smile, but they were slowly dragged to Cloudyflight's leg, or where it should have been. "Oh, what happened with that." She glanced between that and Cloudyflight's face, a somewhat worried and sympathetic look in her green eyes. That... must have been painful.