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Post by SmugGull on Jun 25, 2019 23:46:36 GMT -5
Daisypaw deflated at Clearleaf's gritted teeth, but she didn't remain that way for long. She waved her tail happily and padded down to the shore.
Skyfur came up next to her, shooting a nasty look at Clearleaf that Daisypaw missed completely. "Congratulations," he purred, licking her ear. "You're an apprentice of FloodClan, now!"
Daisypaw beamed, bouncing on her toes until she neared the edge of the river. "What if I can't make it?" she whispered. "I mean... I didn't get as much practice as the other apprentices. The river was too low."
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 25, 2019 23:48:36 GMT -5
"You'll do great still!" It was Blizzardpaw who spoke, coming up behind the new apprentice with a smile plastered to their face. "Just never stop kicking, always move, or else to current might drag you down. It's a bit scary but you'll be fine!" Fallowpaw, who was standing behind the other apprentice, nodded in agreement.
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 25, 2019 23:51:11 GMT -5
Wolfclaw winced at the slight bungling of the ceremony. When Algaestar dismissed the clan, the big grey she-cat rose to her feet and wove through the crowd to fall into step besides Mudsplash. "Clearleaf?" she meowed, keeping her voice low and neutral (although she couldn't stop the amusement). "Not saying he doesn't deserve it, but last I checked that kit hadn't murdered anyone." That was about the only offense that could justify sticking anyone with Clearleaf for any amount of time. "Still," she amended, not wanting to sound like she was challenging Algaestar's wisdom, "it'll be... interesting."
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 25, 2019 23:52:49 GMT -5
Daisypaw nodded determinedly at Blizzardpaw's advice. "Never stop kicking," she repeated. She remembered that lesson at least. "I won't!" She couldn't suppress a shiver at the thought of the river's strong current sweeping her away from FloodClan's camp into the far reaches of the wilderness, beyond even Silverpelt's sight.
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 25, 2019 23:53:37 GMT -5
Clearrain watched Wolfclaw leave sadly. "It's no use... I know she doesn't like me." She spoke the words aloud, though she thought she had said it inside her head. Noticing she hadn't only thought it the she-cat glanced around, now hoping no one had heard her.
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:01:20 GMT -5
Wolfclaw snorted at the idea. Skyfur was no great shakes as a fighter - but then again, neither was Clearleaf, and Skyfur loved his daughter dearly. "Clearleaf doesn't love anything but his reflection," she muttered, sharing an amused glance with Mudsplash as she glanced towards the river bank. "Can't help but worry it'll come back to bite Daisypaw in the tail, though."
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:07:39 GMT -5
Daisypaw yelped as Clearleaf grabbed her by the scruff and dragged her into the river. She kicked obediently, gagging and spluttering as water flooded her mouth and nose. She resurfaced with a wheeze, hacking up what felt like a hairball made of sand before righting herself. Just keep kicking, just keep kicking - oh, front paws too, right - She craned her head up out of the water, the muscles in her neck already starting to ache from the effort.
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:09:13 GMT -5
A purr rumbled in Wolfclaw's throat. "I'll take that wager," she meowed. She swiveled an ear towards the river bank, heard no screaming, and dismissed it. "Well, now that the ceremony's over, would you like me to take a border patrol out? I thought I smelled something odd the other day, wanted to give it a second look."
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 26, 2019 0:09:53 GMT -5
Anyone hear Clearrain. If not then she's open to rp))
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Non-binary
☾ѕησσzє☽
no im not okay, I suck at a game I play 8 hours a day
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Post by ☾ѕησσzє☽ on Jun 26, 2019 0:14:31 GMT -5
{I don't think any of my cats could be in the vicinity to.}
Clearleaf kept his eyes on her, not letting them leave. She could do this, she had to do this. Don't embarrass him even more. He really didn't want to drag a half sodden apprentice to the shore because they couldn't swim their first time out of camp. He glanced to the side, wondering when he should jump in. This clearly wasn't the time to, she wasn't dying just yet....maybe in a moment or if she went under he'd go after her. He did, however, take another pawstep forward. Just a tiny one, so he'd be closer to her. He wouldn't let his apprentice die on the first day either, that'd be even worse. Or...no it'd be worse.
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:27:07 GMT -5
Daisypaw's eyes started to water as the splashing from her forepaws sent droplets of river water into her eyes. "Ow," she mumbled, then spat as she immediately got water in her mouth. Clearleaf's advice rang in her ears again - keep your mouth closed. She sealed her muzzle firmly shut and kicked out harder. She had to be almost -
She was not almost there. In fact, it felt like she had barely left the shore, although when she stretched there was no ground beneath her paws. The other side was definitely a little close now - noticeably so, but not...that much closer. It was kind of depressing, actually, to be that not-close to the other side.
The muscles in her neck ached horribly, and her shoulders were starting to burn. She paddled more fiercely with her forepaws to make up for it, until she was panting for air. The other side was - that had to be almost halfway, right? Probably? The current was really strong here, so about halfway would make sense -
Her legs felt like they were on fire, and every stroke saw her muzzle splashed by waves. She tried to paddle harder, but she just couldn't make her legs move any faster. Her muzzle dipped below the water again and she came up spluttering. Even the tips of her ears were soaked - how did the other apprentices manage this?
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:33:06 GMT -5
Wolfclaw blinked. Well, she hadn't been expecting that. "Sure," she meowed. "That sounds...reasonable," she meowed, not really sure what else to do with that. It wasn't like warriors didn't go hunting of their own accord anyway. "I caught the scent on the far edge of the Meadow, not far from the forest. Didn't smell like rogues, but maybe they've got some new members we don't know about." She padded towards the river, keeping a fair distance away from the place where Daisypaw would be taking her first swim - it wouldn't do to interfere with that - and slipped into the water.
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Non-binary
☾ѕησσzє☽
no im not okay, I suck at a game I play 8 hours a day
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Post by ☾ѕησσzє☽ on Jun 26, 2019 0:33:34 GMT -5
Clearleaf groaned out loud and jumped into the water, feeling the familiar tug of the water as he pushed through it to her. He grabbed her by the scruff, pulling her head above the water. Goodness, how much did this she-cat weigh? Did her father feed her ten times a day with no exercise? Her grunted with the effort as the current pushed him to the side, he fought against it and began to make his way back to the clan's camp shore. He could do this, despite the weight now tugging him now. This apprentice now owes me a lot, so much. I don't want to hear a peep from her when I make her do elder duties or something like that. He felt the ground beneath him and dragged them both to shore, tossing her ahead of him so she could be further away from the water.
"You're welcome..." He gasped, spitting out a bit of water. He looked around to the cats still watching and lifted his head up proudly, he had saved her! He had done it...all by himself.
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 26, 2019 0:36:03 GMT -5
Blizzardpaw and Fallowpaw both shot glares at Clearleaf as they moved to Daisypaw and moved her away from the tom before Fallowpaw spoke up. "Why did you do that? This is an important time for any apprentice! She was doing fine and you just went in and grabbed her. Now she has to start over again and its hard enough doing it once when you're small like us."
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 26, 2019 0:43:32 GMT -5
"Actually, she's not an official apprentice unless she makes the swim. You should know that but your ego is to big." Fallowpaw couldn;t help his words, he knew this wouldn't go well. "Anyways, come on Daisypaw, lets get you dry and warmed up." Blizzardpaw nodded and nudged the she-cat.
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 26, 2019 0:50:25 GMT -5
Fallowpaw looked around desperately. Surely someone could tell this was wrong. First he stopped the apprentice when she was in no danger at all, and now he's about to throw her back in when she was just stopped from doing what all apprentices need to do. He gazed around desperately at everyone, Blizzardpaw staying by Daisypaw's side.
(Why do I have a feeling Clearleaf is going to be liked by us, but disliked by our characters. Lol)
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:56:28 GMT -5
(because he is lol)
Skyfur rushed to Daisypaw's side as soon as her feet were on dry land. She sank to the ground, shivering and refusing to make eye contact as he ushered her away from the riverbank and began grooming her fur. He was content to ignore Clearleaf - at least he'd had the decency to pull her out, diving in before Skyfur had a chance to react - until he made the remark about seashells.
"Seashells?" Skyfur spat, wheeling on the older warrior. "Do you think that's what we've been doing?" He shouldered Clearleaf aside as he pulled Daisypaw to his feet. "Don't you touch her," he hissed. "You've done enough damage."
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 0:56:38 GMT -5
Daisypaw cut her eyes between Skyfur and Clearleaf - her father and her mentor, inches away from falling to blows. She knew, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, that she couldn't cross the river. But she'd had her ceremony! They couldn't take that away from her. "I -" she meowed, trying to answer Clearleaf before her father cut across her. She fell silent, staring at her paws and trying not to cry. What kind of FloodClan cat was she if she couldn't cross the river?
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Post by Jekyll on Jun 26, 2019 0:58:32 GMT -5
Blizzardpaw and Fallowpaw saw the sadness on Daisypaw's face and inched closer to her, gesturing for her to follow them as they then turned and rushed toward the apprentice's den, knowing the best thing for Daisypaw would be to get away from the fighting. They only hoped she would follow.
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Non-binary
☾ѕησσzє☽
no im not okay, I suck at a game I play 8 hours a day
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Post by ☾ѕησσzє☽ on Jun 26, 2019 1:00:30 GMT -5
Clearleaf rolled his eyes at Skyfur. "She's crossing the river, alive. Like a true Floodclan apprentice should. The apprentice is right, she needs to cross it one way or another so you need to let me do this Skyfur. Have a little trust. Why would I save her from drowning just to drown her again?" He asked, narrowing his eyes into slits. He looked to Daisypaw. "You, come here, now. You want to be a true Floodclan apprentice like the rest around here right? I can make you one, we can cross that river, together. I don't think it says anything against me helping you across that river so come on, let's go Daisypaw we are burning daylight."
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Post by SmugGull on Jun 26, 2019 1:00:45 GMT -5
"Hey!" Wolfclaw protested, a purr rumbling in her throat as she pulled herself out of the water behind Mudsplash, stretching luxuriously in the sun. Nothing, in Wolfclaw's opinion, felt quite as good as sunlight on wet fur. Especially with a breeze like today's. "We can't all slip through the water like a fish," she meowed, whiskers twitching as she gave the air around them a perfunctory taste. There was prey nearby, but that wasn't the important part.
"This way," she meowed, setting off towards Starfalls and the Meadow beyond it.
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