Medicine Cat Meeting [8/3 - 8/6]

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Littlepaw sat outside of the Medicine Cats' Den waiting for Bluestream. What was taking her so long? Didn't she know how excited he was? It was his first Medicine Cat Meeting! Of course, the whole "lets lay down and talk to dead cats" was complete rubbish. Still, Littlepaw was looking forward to meeting the other medicine cats and their apprentices properly.

Littlepaw stood from where he sat and began to pace. What if they didn't like him? What if they made fun of him for not believing in StarClan? What was he supposed to do while they "received messages"?Was he supposed to just take a nap? Or would eh and Bluestream talk together quietly? He wondered what the MoonGlade looked like. It must be beautiful, he thought to himself.

Littlepaw poked his head inside of the den and meowed, "Are we nearly ready to go, Bluestream?"

[roscoe]

"Are we nearly ready to go, Bluestream?"

The sound of her young apprentice's voice yanked Bluestream from her chore of sorting the herbs into neat piles. Her long tail twitched lightly and she let out a purr at Littlepaw's anxiousness. It was no surprise that the young tom was exited for her first meeting as an official medicine cat apprentice. Wide eyes glanced over the piles she had worked on, dubbing them suitable for the time being.

Her muzzle poked out of the den, sniffing at the air before the rest of her pulled from the thick bush. It was already getting a little late and they did have a long way to go. It probably would have been better if they left a little earlier -- but she was busy. "Yes Littlepaw," she said kindly. "We can get going now, I will meet you by the entrance."

Turning away from the brown and white tom Bluestream padded toward her leader's den, raising her voice only slightly to catch Gingerstar's attention. "We are leaving now, Gingerstar. Littlepaw and I will be back tomorrow."

Without waiting for her leader's response, the PineClan medicine cat turned away, her dainty paws carrying her to the exit of the PineClan camp where hopefully her apprentice would be waiting for her. She made a mental note to explain to Littlepaw how the night would work before the met with any other medicine cats. She wouldn't want the young cat to feel unprepared.

May luck be on their side tonight, she thought.

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"Yes Littlepaw. We can get going now, I will meet you by the entrance." Littlepaw nodded excitedly and bounded over to his designated waiting spot. How exciting! They were about to start their journey to the MoonGlade!

Littlepaw hoped that the other apprentices would like him. What had their names been? Bluestream had mentioned them before this... Ah yes, their names were Finchpaw and Bluepaw. Littlepaw hoped that it wouldn't be weird talking to Bluepaw, seeing as his mentor's name started with Blue- as well.

What silly things to be worrying about, Littlepaw, he thought to himself. He stood up as Bluestream approached him. They were finally leaving! Littlepaw was about to burst with excitement. He hoped that his mentor wouldn't think that he was acting like a mere kit, it was just that all of this was so exciting!

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Brightnose waited for Finchpaw as he went to gulp a vole before the journey. She'd eaten a sparrow earlier and was impatient for her apprentice to finish. She tried to interest herself in the chirping of the birds overhead, but it was no use. Her thoughts kept returning ot the first-ever medicine cat gathering they were going to have. She'd met the other medicine cats before, but never had it been only them and their apprentices all traveling to the MoonGlade, the sacred place where they would share tongues with StarClan. So far, Brightnose had only had one dream from StarClan; in which a cat named Elkstar had appeared ot her and identified himself as the former leader of ForestClan, which the founders of the Clans had originally split from. He congratulated Brightnose on being a medicine cat, and reported that FogClan was currently in no severe danger. The experience, though fairly ordinary, had excited Brightnose. She wondered if she would see Elkstar again at the MoonGlade. Lost in thought, she nearly forgot about her apprentice.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw had been forced to run all the way back to camp, mostly because his father chased him there. Well, it definitely felt that way, with Rowanheart bumping him along with a gruff growl every time he tried to slow down his pace or glance back to look at Frostpaw (which was a sin, oh yes, to gaze upon her devilish face). Finchpaw figured it was Rowanheart's way to let his anger out until he could properly rant and rave later on. Only this time, Finchpaw was going to try to get a word in himself.

He stumbled back into camp with his father barreling from behind. His heart racing, all he wanted right now was to settle down with a nice piece of prey and talk with someone-- Frostpaw, his brother,... or Frostpaw. But he spotted Brightnose and from the look on her face, he didn't have time for that.

"Here's your apprentice, Brightnose," Rowanheart said to the lovely medicine cat, motioning to Finchpaw. "And you can have mine as well. Owlstar and I want Frostpaw to accompany you to the meeting tonight. I hope she doesn't give you too much trouble, though I know she'll try."

Rowanheart dipped his head before taking his leave.

Finchpaw looked up at his mentor and, like always, felt unworthy. Brightnose was always a wonderful example of how a medicine cat should be, but Finchpaw always feared that she would find out one day that he really wasn't "chosen" like everyone believed. That he didn't recieve any dreams. That, tonight, when everyone else was dreaming of Starclan, he would be awake, staring at the stars above him.

"Sorry I'm late," he meowed quietly.

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

Brightnose hid a smile as she replied. "No matter. Our journey is longest, so the others won't mind if we're a bit late." She couldn't help noticing that Finchpaw had tried to look at his father's apprentice as he was rushed along. Frostpaw was indeed a good-looking cat, though Brightnose remembered she had no love for StarClan or medicine cats. She sighed. This could be difficult. Brightnose herself definitely believed in StarClan, but didn't think it should be forced upon a cat to believe in them. She hated Rowanheart's treatment of his son, when Finchpaw tried his hardest all the time. Shaking her head, she figured she'd just have to try her best to deal with the two apprentices. Beginning to pad swiftly westward, she gestured with her tail for Finchpaw and Frostpaw to follow.

[Rolo]

Frostpaw had almost snarled at Rowanheart when he had spoken so arrogantly, having found him and Finchpaw together in the forest. His delusion and sheer dominating nature made him want to draw her claws down her face. He was the only cat that made her feel violent in the slightest. What right did he have to boss Finchpaw around, to tell him that he couldn't speak to her? It made her blood boil.

Yet, even worse, he had organised for her to go to this medicine cat meeting. What did he think would come out of that? He had probably deluded himself into thinking Starclan was going to speak to her, or that she'd be awed so much by the 'pretty moonglade' that she'd become a blind little kit with no sense of logic. Even worse, he seemed to have forgotten that she hated medicine cats. He should have known by now that he was against the practice of herbs, and that it should be by your own willpower and strength that you live. How could Rowanheart be so mousebrained to forget that?

Frostpaw felt a large urge to run away from Rowanheart... yet, she realised, there was some upsides to this too. If she went there and remained skeptical about Starclan, Rowanheart may get the message that there was no point in trying to get her to believe. Besides, she wanted to stay with Finchpaw. She wanted to make sure his father couldn't get to him, he had vowed to help her and it was only logical to do the same thing back.

Frostpaw curbed her anger as she was introduced to Brightnose, not in the least bothered by Rowanheart's vain introduction for her. She'd do what he didn't expect and be well behaved... at least until the medicine cats showed signs of insanity.

Frostpaw wiped her face of emotion, hiding her annoyance with ease. Her face held the clear emotionless, cold look she usually carried. It hid every inch of her emotion, giving her an air of indifference when she nodded slightly to Brightnose. She then briefly shot Finchpaw a grin of amusement, to show how funny she found the situation, before becoming blank again.

Even if this was not what she wanted to do, she realised it could be somewhat amusing. Now she could see how deeply the Starclan illusion went.

[Whiskers]

With the flick of Brightnose's tail, the journey started. Finchpaw followed his mentor shyly, as he always was around her. After three moons, they should have been closer than this, yet Finchpaw hardly ever even uttered a word to Brightnose, and if he did, it was to ask a question about herbs. Tonight would not change things though, as he was more out of his element that ever before. Finchpaw simply loathed these meetings. While he enjoyed seeing Bluepaw, the excitable apprentice, the talks they had were mostly about Starclan.

He vaguely remembered his first trip to the moonglade. Finchpaw had been barely an apprentice then and he had been so scared of... everything. Scared of his mentor, of the other mentors, but mostly of walking in the dreams of Starclan. Only half of him believed at that point, and the half that did believe thought Starclan was a bunch of selfish cats who misued their power. He didn't want to dream with them.

And then he didn't and so the half of him that did think they were real vanished.

This time, however, it might be different. Since Frostpaw didn't believe, she would see the blackness and then he'd have a companion to sit around with while he waited for the others to wake up. Unless she did, for some reason, dream of Starclan though the very idea made him chuckle out loud. Frostpaw was the last cat to fall victim to the charade. He knew that.

His quiet chuckle was the only sound he made and it only succeeded in making the tension tighter and more pronounced than ever. Oh yes, this was going to be one looooong journey.

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

Brightnose could feel the tension as well as the ground beneath her feet. Her mind was wroking furiously in what to say that might break the tension. Finchpaw was scared of her, Frostpaw hated her. She chanced a comment. "Rowanheart's been pretty tough on you, Frostpaw. I can speak with him if he's being too rough." She dipped her head politely, hoping Frostpaw would regognize the veiled meaning behind her words" That she hated Rowanheart nearly as much as Frostpaw did herself.

[Rolo]

Frostpaw looked up at Brightnose mutely. Such an odd thing for the medicine cat to say, surely she had heard of how amazingly 'bad' she hearing the chatter about the clan. She wasn't sure what to reply, however she knew from the beginning that she wasn't going to let Brightnose fight her battles. She could hear the pity in her words, it was as if the she-cat didn't think she could take care of herself.

"I'm quite fine, thankyou." She said bluntly, "I can assure you that, though Rowanheart is tough, I am tougher. Besides, I don't care what he says and does anyway."

She was struck again with irritation. She didn't want to be here, around cats who spent their lives working towards being one with Starclan and choosing who should live and die. Brightnose was a cat she would probably never get on with, purely because she lived emotionally and because of her role in the clan.

Yes, she could do without her help.