Work And Play [OPEN]

[Shadow Da Smiffster]

The morning air blew softly into the warriors den, rousing the light sleeping she-cat known as the wild one of the clan; the rebellious, unique, and kindhearted Ashpelt. It was a well known fact that her sleep was nearly always shaky, especially in the early morning, and she would often roll around unconsciously. Because of this, the warriors sharing the den with her made her move towards the front, away from their sleeping bodies.

Pfft, and probably also to let my huge body take the bulk of the wind in the mornings. Burr, is it cold, the she-cat thought as she picked herself off her den. She walked out groggily, shaking her thick pelt and sending a wave of fur onto the floor. A purr of amusement rose from her chest as she noticed this, "Spring is certainly in action then," she chuckled. "Though these other mousebrains are lucky they don't have the fur of a lynx."

Ashpelt made her way towards the center of camp, looking around the clearing for any other signs of life....

"What a surprise," she sighed. Not even the deputy was out yet, which Ashpelt found odd. Usually the deputy and leader were awake at the crack of dawn, planning the patrols. "Hm... well, maybe I'll do some organizing this morning," she she-cat mewed to herself as she stretched her back out. It was reasonable, she thought, as Ashpelt was a senior warrior, and more experienced then the average cat around the camp these days. Or, at least she thought so. However, the youngsters had potential, she'd give them that much. "Give ol' Nightstar and Polarice a break. Now, which unlucky souls get to come with me this morning?"

And of course, just as she finished her sentence, the first unlucky soul came out of the warriors den. "Jadeclaw!" she yowled. A young tom, not expecting someone to be up at this hour, nearly jumped out of his fur before giving Ashpelt a meaningful glare.

"What?" he muttered. "And be quiet, you'll wake up the whole clan."

"Come on patrol with me," she responded, not even acknowledging the second part of his sentence. "I'm going to organize a bit and give our leader and deputy a break. Now then, turn your tail around and go get a few more warriors to come along with us. And hurry it up. I'm itching to get out of camp already!"

Groaning, the youngster turned back around and padded into the warriors den....

[Acez]

I am outside
And I've been waiting for the sun

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There in that moment, she was finally going to catch her prey. A bird, perhaps robin. Greypaw didn't have a hunger for birds, too much feathers, but someone would appreciate the meal. She inched closer, tail wavering above the grass before she paused, enjoying the moment. When the robin turned and squawked, with a very familiar voice. Give ol' Nightstar and Polarice a break. Greypaw sat up immediately, ears pinned to the back of her head eyes narrowed in suspicion. The apprentice didn't know what to say, or if she should say anything at all when the bird continued with a flap of his feathers. The bird launched itself into the air, with a cat-like yowl that curdled Greypaw's blood. Jadeclaw! Greypaw realized that her catch was going and in hopes of snagging the robin she leaped, claws stretched. Missed. She hissed as she landed on the floor, before she started to scream as the floor gave out beneath her, tumbling down and down and down..

A gasp, a choking gasp as Greypaw awoke. She shivered, before smacking her lips, turning an eye to the sky. It was incredibly early, even for Greypaw who had to be dragged out of bed after both the dawn border and hunting patrol had already left and sometimes returned. She turned back to the others in the den, seeing no-one was awake. She narrowed her eyes and her fur fluffed out in annoyance. Greypaw was after all, Frostfang's daughter, and she had inheritated the stormy temper of his.

She hissed softly as she approached the cat who had gotten up at this hour, her pale eyes in slits. You..have any idea.. how early it is? She hissed through clenched teeth. Any time before dawn caused Greypaw's brain to stutter, causing her words to come out slower, but she found that it was adding to the effect of her anger. She looked around, seeing herself and Ashpelt, which meant Polarice and Nightstar were still sound asleep, lucky. She sighed before she counted down backwards in her head, Ten, nine, eight, seven, six. Five, four, three, two, one. Her anger was gone, but that didn't mean she wasn't annoyed.

She sat down, shoulders hunched. Bird-brain. She muttered under her breath, not really caring if the warrior heard her or not. It wasn't like her father or the other cats were around to hear her. She couldn't wait to be an elder. That way she could sleep, eat and soak up the sun while apprentices did the hunting and cleaned her den out, and she didn't have to anything. But no, she was stuck being an apprentice.

[Ashie]

Small footfalls could be heard, coming from inside the nursery as three kits played around with each other. They came stumbling out of the nursery entrance, not a care as to how noisy they are. It didn't even seem to be that the three even noticed that no one in particular was awake, besides a couple of the older cats. Nothing could have made them think of any other thing, but they knew of little trouble at the moment, just wanting to have a bit of fun.

Their tumbling antics soon took them close to the center of camp, coming to a slow stop as on grey kit came up on top of the other two, seemingly victorious over them. A smile seemed to cross her face, though the only seemingly odd reason was that she seemed to always be the one on top. The other two didn't seem to mind it, though they did give her a bit of a glare because of what came about.

"You two are easy to beat, even if you gang up on me like that!"

Stonekit stumbled off the her brothers, flicking her tail as she looked about the camp. All seemed quiet and peaceful, with no other cat around, till she caught sight of something. That something, though, was one of the older cats, Ashpelt maybe. The she-cat didn't seem to have noticed her yet, so she came up behind and pounced on the older cats tail, wanting to have a little fun. Glacierkit and Palekit came up behind, one curious and the other a bit uncertain about what Stonekit was going to do. The one thing they didn't notice was the two ice blue eyes staring at them from the shadows of the warriors den.

The white tom stepped out of the Warriors Den, with a bit of a hard stare at the three kits that were out of the Nursery. The bustling about of the three of them had soon reached him and it was then that he had gotten up because of the kits. Polarice looked up and nodded to Ashpelt with a bit of a nod, but soon turned back to the kits.

"I hope you three aren't causing any trouble. Its still early and not everyone wants to be woken up by kits playing around."

The three soon turned around, surprised at the fact that they had been sneaked up on from behind, unsure of what to say.

Polarice
Stonekit
Glacierkit
Palekit

[Shadow Da Smiffster]

Ashpelt snickered as Jadeclaw stumbled into the Warriors den, clearly exhausted from a lack of sleep. Hey, it was his own fault. He was the one that wanted to overachieve! Besides, he was young. He could certainly handle it. The half lynx she-cat purred in amusement as she sat down and curled her tail around her legs. Off to the side, the kittens started to rumble about.

It was always like them to be up early and ready to romp. Ashpelt was like that too, she recalled, always domineering over her brother and sister. A nostalgic gaze washed over her optics as she re-experienced those days in her mind... however, it was all cut short when her apprentice, Greypaw, came trudging out of the den.

"You have any idea how early it is?"

Ashpelt snickered, "Indeed I do, but take note that I didn't come and wake you up for dawn patrol. You did that yourself! Still, I'm impressed. I'll keep note of it for our training. Greypaw... early riser." Of course, the last part was pure sarcasm, but that was Ashpelt. Always critical in a joking way... however, she had an ego as well, and when Greypaw called her a bird-brain, her purring stopped.

"Excuse me, brat?" she nearly hissed. "I don't think you have the authority to talk to your mentor that way. Don't make me tell you to clean the elder's den later when I wanted to do battle training...."

But before Greypaw could respond, Polarice came padding out of the Warriors den. Shoot! Ashpelt was supposed to be giving him a break! Did Jadeclaw wake him up? Mouse-brain! Thankfully, when Ashpelt saw him go and hush the kittens, she knew what the initial problem was, and when she met eyes with the Deputy, she smiled, "Morning Polarice. I was going to lead a patrol to let you have a break, but since you are up would you like to join us? So far its me and my apprentice, Greypaw... and my former apprentice, Jadeclaw. I could use a change of faces!"

((OOC: anyone joining late, just have Jadeclaw rouse your cat in the next post.))

[Acez]

And with my wide eyes
I have seen worlds that don't belong.

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Her eyes had flickered shut, as her body craved more sleep. She herself was ready to drop to her paws and sleep at this very moment. Half of her was ready to as well, head drooping slightly like a wilted flower. But another part of her knew that if she even she dropped to the ground Ashpelt would be over her like maggots on crowfood. She forced her eyes shut once more as soft sounds entered the scene, followed by a small voice.

Kits. She rolled her eyes, straightening herself. If she ever had them, she would drag them back into bed herself. Kits should never be up this early, she knew she never was when she was younger. Kits should sleep while they had the chance.

Greypaw flickered her ears, opening an eye before narrowing it. Bah, sarcasm followed by a quick temper. She exhaled through her mouth, whiskers twitching. It wasn't possible that a cat had stayed an apprentice forever, but she was stuck with Ashpelt until the warrior she-cat agreed with Nightstar that she had completed her training. Until then, Ashpelt was right, she didn't have the authority to talk to her mentor that way, but when did authority ever stop Greypaw? Whatever Word under her breath which were quickly squished by the appearence of the deputy, Polarice.

She squinted in his direction, because now she had to be on a better behauviour because of him. She snorted as Ashpelt spoke. Greypaw never really volunteered for anything, she was dragged along for the ride and if she refused, more sparks would fly. She sighed, letting her back curve upwards as she reached forwards in a stretch. What a drag.