Written by clippy

Oleanderpaw just finished his training with Coalpelt, it sure was tiring for the poor apprentice, after all training was everyday and he had to attend, otherwise Coalpelt would bite his tail off. 

Oleanderpaw was simply heading towards the apprentices' den, planning on resting right in their comfy nest, and maybe share some prey with any apprentice there, it might be a good idea to get to know more cats, they didn't want to be lonely! 

About to step into the den, "Oleanderpaw!!" a yowl was suddenly heard, turning around, Oleanderpaw stared, his purple eyes shining as he found Acidflick, waving a paw as a sign to come over and so, Oleanderpaw didn't waste time running over to his brother. 

"Acidflick!" Oleanderpaw responded, sitting down as he waited for his brother to speak, Acidflick cleared his throat, looking around them before speaking again, "Come with me," Acidflick stands back up. 

"Sure! But um we have to be back here in a bit, I promised Spiderpaw that I'm going to hangout with her and Fennelpaw," Oleanderpaw explained as they stood up, mimicking the older cat's movements, "Eh, you'd prefer spending time with some mousebrains rather than have a cool hangout with me!?" Acidflick looked somewhat offended. 

"Wh- what no! Acidflick you're like my second favorite cat of all time!" Oleanderpaw tried excusing, voice lowering at the word 'second', "And who has first place then!?" the tom raised an eyebrow at Oleanderpaw. 

".. Hemlockwhisker?" Oleanderpaw tilted his head as he answered. 

"Stars, just hurry up." Acidflick sighs in disappointment before running off. 

Oleanderpaw nodded, chasing after his older brother a bit too slow, Oleanderpaw knew it was kind of rude to just leave Spiderpaw waiting for him; especially after what happened with Coalpelt and how he still didn't apologize, he really should apologize soon- Spiderpaw is a nice shecat after all! She's pretty and talks smartly, well sometime, she's just not good at warrior duties he assumes. 

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After what felt like moons of tracking Acidflick's paw prints, Oleanderpaw finally approached at the spot- in the dense forest, where multiple abandoned looking dens were, this place looked a bit creepy, though he recognized the place as where those rogues were staying. 

Finding Acidflick checking out one of the dens was clearly a surprise, "Acidflick- what are we doing here? Flarestar got injured by those rogues and they live here- it isn't safe to stay here and if anycat found out, they'll probably report us to the deputy!" Oleanderpaw was clearly worried. 

"Calm down! We're not little kits anymore you know," Acidflick paused, tugging at a bunch of cobwebs, the medicine cats regularly used those for wounds; Acidflick deeply remembers that, as well as remembering the cause of his first deep wounds, it was an encounter with a fox when he was an apprentice, he was sneaking out when all of a sudden that fox charged at him, he desperately wanted, needed, to forget that memory, it stung deeper than any of those scorpion rogues could ever. 

"And that's exactly why we're here! Since you're the strongest apprentice and as you know I'm the strongest warrior, we should be able to catch one of those rogues and tear 'em to pieces! Then they'll know not to mess with our clan!" Acidflick continued. 

"But that's still dangerous Acidflick.. We could've suggested a border patrol or something to ambush the rogues and when I say suggest, I mean to the deputy or even Flarestar, not coming here by ou-" Oleanderpaw couldn't even continue as Acidflick snarled. 

"That isn't important! How would the clan appreciate us if all we did was sit around and talk, to be respected, you have to take risks!" Acidflick complained as he stepped deeper into that den, leaving Oleanderpaw to be outside.

Oleanderpaw took a deep breath, "Why can't he just listen-" they looked down at their paws before processing to follow the tabby inside. 

And well, this den looked like it was supposed to be a nursery, newly applied moss nest, a bunch of prey stacked, and feathers surrounding the area, "Look! They even change the moss from our trees! And hunt our prey!" Acidflick howled. 

".. It looks like a nursery, maybe they have a pregnant shecat? Maybe they have kits to keep here?" Oleanderpaw shrugged his shoulders, before their eyes quickly widened at the sight of Acidflick just snatching the prey. 

Acidflick managed to hold three out of five pieces of prey right into his jaws, he was a flexible cat after all, before throwing the rodents over to his younger sibling to hold, and then picking up the two last rodents, "You take them back to the clan, they look freshly hunted, and I'll search around for more prey and anything important- later I'll take the nests as well!" Acidflick announced to the younger cat, struggling a bit with the prey. 

"But we can't just steal prey from them?" Oleanderpaw was confused, looking at the amount of prey being thrown at him to take, "They stole from us first, we're just taking it back." Acidflick argued, taking another look around the den. 

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Spiderpaw was waiting in front of the apprentices' den, Oleanderpaw was supposed to be here, and well that scrawny feline wasn't showing up, "What's taking them so long?" Spiderpaw muttered over to the pale orange tom next to her. 

".. Why do you include Oleanderpaw in most activities or hangouts? Especially after what he and Coalpelt said to you?" Fennelpaw annoyed looking, asked, a hint of spite lurking around in his voice, he wasn't that close to Oleanderpaw, just small talk here and there, never much. 

"Because he's a new apprentice, he doesn't know many cats, and I'm not vengeful, after all he's truly a nice apprentice trying to just have fun and enjoy his apprenticehood, why should I treat him any differently?" Spiderpaw pointed out, ears rubbing against each other as she wasn't sure anymore of Oleanderpaw's presence in the camp. 

".. Okay as you wish," Fennelpaw tried to shake his annoyance off as he spoke, "Maybe he got put on a patrol or his mentor wanted him to do something, let's just go?" 

"Fennelpaw, can we wait just for a few minutes?" the black shecat pleaded for a second. 

Fennelpaw sighs, "Sure, just a minute." 

"Anyway," Fennelpaw changes the subject from Oleanderpaw, "Did you also forgive Coalpelt? I mean he's your kin, your father." trying to be specified and not offending Spiderpaw immediately was a bit of a difficulty as the tom chose out his words carefully. 

"I don't want to forgive him, he called me a Frog-face, and Bee-brain, like I'm an ugly and insane cat.." Spiderpaw sunk even lower, she didn't expect Coalpelt to be brought up, especially as they were just talking about Oleanderpaw and not.. that warrior. 

"Well you don't have to, and to be honest," Fennelpaw swallows his spit for a moment before talking, "I think you're really pretty, just have to work a bit more on your training.. I could ask Cinderstone if it's okay to have you as my practice partner, you're good at hunting, all you need is to learn how to battle." the red tabby smiled. 

Spiderpaw looks up, "Really?" she seems a bit confused, was the pale tom just trying to cheer her up or serious about what he said, "I mean, Haytoe doesn't mind extra training for me if Cinderstone is fine with us training together," Spiderpaw looks back at her paws, "I really don't want to trouble you at all, Fennelpaw." 

"You're not going to trouble me!" Fennelpaw says, as if that would cause the end of Starclan, "You're really important to me Spiderpaw and this is the least I could do for you, you've always been there for us! And I think I should at least be there for us! And I think I should at least be there for you-" the tom suddenly silenced himself, feeling as he embarrassed himself with this much talk, he usually was more on the quiet side and him almost screaming this out in the middle of camp wasn't going to look the best for him.

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Oleanderpaw finally reached the camp, half of the prey being inside his mouth while the other half was placed on his back, that was why it was so difficult to move around, he didn't want any single piece of prey to fall off. 

Tossing the prey into the pile. 

He suddenly got pushed off, almost muzzle planting into the ground as he whipped around angrily, only to be faced with a pale, familiar red tom, "Where did you get all that from." Fennelpaw looked him up and down. 

"What's with the push?" Oleanderpaw asks, backing away from the older tom. 

"You deserve it, you made me and Spiderpaw wait forever, and you never came." Fennelpaw rolled his eyes, "Don't you realize how upset you made Spiderpaw!? You always do that, you always keep ruining her day!" 

Oleanderpaw looked confused and surprised at those sharp words, he thought he had a very chill relationship with Fennelpaw, but it turned out to be the opposite of that? "I didn't mean to make her wait! Or make you guys wait!" trying to defend himself, Oleanderpaw desperately spoke, he didn't want to gain any enemies at the moment. 

"Well you did make us wait, and for what? To go hunt unnecessary prey, we have tons of prey and it's not even leafbare!" Fennelpaw pulled a squirrel with a paw towards himself, grabbing it from the tail and rising it wih the same paw, "This looks filled with," the tom paused as he shook the squirrel up and down. 

Just for some random seeds to fall down into the ground.. Oh it wasn't so random, poppy seeds, "Something, planning on pranking? Well it's not so funny when a senior eats it and sleeps through half of their duties." Fennelpaw threw the squirrel at Oleanderpaw. 

"I didn't know, Fennelpaw.." Oleanderpaw was embarrassed, he never realized that this squirrel was even stuffed with something in the beginning, "You're being rude, I had to go with Acidflick because.. Because he wanted to show me something." 

"What did he show? I bet three mice that it was their mother's grave!" and ouch, that stung deeply, Fennelpaw looked taken aback, like sure he was going to be rude- but not remark something so disrespectful about a dead cat. 

".. You two get off his tail, won't you?" Lakegaze says as she walks over to the freshkill pile, using her muzzle to move around prey as she searched for the perfect meal, too many rodents were cramped and well the shecat was craving some reptiles instead. 

"Lakegaze- I wasn't being serious y'know, wouldn't want to waste time on apprentices!!!" Scorchgaze tried salvaging the situation in Lakegaze's eyes, "Satire.. Just that, having silly fun with those cool toms!" he added, puffing his fur out in front of the shecat. 

Lakegaze clearly wasn't listening or even paying attention to the situation, managing to dig out a lizard, she just started padding away before throwing one last sentence, "Joking about serious things isn't cool, Scorchgaze."

Scorchgaze's face got red, as he looked at Oleanderpaw, "You little foxdung, I can't believe you made Lakegaze think I'm careless and unfunny!" the longhaired tom whispers to the purple-eyed feline, "You'll regret it.." Scorchgaze says as he trots off. 

"Not another cat getting mad at me-" Oleanderpaw almost forgot that Fennelpaw was here, from the awkward and long lasting silence, he was even surprised to still find the pale cat standing near him looking ready to continue. 

"Just so you know, this crowfood isn't helpful at all and no cat is going to eat it, there's better and fresher looking prey than what you've caught." Fennelpaw was very obviously trying to offend Oleanderpaw now. 

"What are you mad about- other than making you wait." Oleanderpaw stepped forward, getting his face closer to Fennelpaw, as if trying to look dangerous or scary to the other apprentice, usually Acidflick did that and well, he was attempting to look as dangerous as Acidflick was when doing this. 

"The quickening rivers drama, you watched as Spiderpaw was getting insulted to death, to where even dark forest cats would pity her, and you stayed silent, like a mouseheart, coward." Fennelpaw mewed at Oleanderpaw, pushing them back to keep some space between the two, "Mouseheart." Fennelpaw repeated. 

".." Oleanderpaw just kept their silence, paws slightly shaking, they didn't mean to make Spiderpaw that upset, after all Spiderpaw seemed pretty fine with it after a few night falls passed so they thought everything was good. 

"I'd rather listen to the elders' complaining than have somecat like you as my clanmate, even worse denmate." 

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Flarestar was laying in a somewhat wet moss nest, muscles hurting with every movement she made, "Strawberrymane.." the orange she yelled, eyes opening to look around for the strangely coloured tomcat, who didn't seem to be anywhere in the den. 

Lightingwing quickly approached, some more poppy seeds in her jaws that were being held by a bunch of cobwebs, "Let's put you back to sleep!" the taller shecat muttered as she sloppily dropped the cobweb off her maw, before then nudging the seeds in front of the leader's paws, "Here!" Lightingwing smiled. 

"I don't want to sleep again- anyways where's Strawberrymane? I've noticed his absence more than five times this moon when the herb storage is full and there's sick cats, we can't have our more experienced medicine cat out." Flarestar tried ignoring her pain as she was more curious about her older medicine cat. 

"Oh well, he likes hanging out with Acidflick or something." Lightingwing nervously says, looking around as she, now, forcefully presses the seeds into Flarestar's paws,"You need to rest, trust me- I don't know how to treat scorpion stings and Strawberrymane knows how, so I think we gotta be patient with this!"

Flarestar groans, shaking her head,"I don't wanna-"

"I'm the leader, and I've been here all day long, and my clan is suffering from those rogues! I should be out and planning with Sootwhisker about how to deal with them, not taking poppy seeds every heartbeat that passes." 

"Flarestar- I'm sorry okay, I just don't want to deal with something I have zero knowledge about!!!" Lightingwing complained. 

"Not very professional I see," Flarestar's mood quickly switched up as she bursted out laughing at Lightingwing's words and the attempts at avoiding her, though she was clearly still thinking about Strawberrymane. 

"Hey! You don't even know what yarrow is for!" Lightingwing rolls her eyes playfully as she nuzzles Flarestar, "Oh then what's it for?" Flarestar raised an eyebrow up, expecting a quick answer from the active medicine cat. 

"It could be used to apply on poisoned wounds and cracked paw pads! And makes cats vomit!" Lightingwing answers after a long thinking, "Yep that's right, I think Strawberrymane did use that herb on my wound." 

"Of course he would-"

Strawberrymane slowly came into the den, a patch of flowers stuck in his mane, daisies, roses and tulips all around him, "Oh looks like Flarestar is awake," the longhaired tom comments as he approaches the leader. 

"Indeed, I am awake." Flarestar nodded her head, before her eyes sharply narrowed at the tom's fresh accessories, "And who gave you this?" she plucked out a daisy, "Oh, Acidflick had picked those out and since I was nearby, he decided to give it as a gift." Strawberrymane carefully said as if it was a risky situation. 

"So, you're using something that could be used as a herb- Daisy when turned into a paste can heal any joint pain." Flarestar tried guessing, looking at Lightingwing for confirmation, and Lightingwing shared a small smile before somewhat correcting the wording of Flarestar's answer, "Eases the pain of aching joints, such as back pain."

"Oh- sorry my leader." awkwardly the skilled medicine cat apologised.

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Oleanderpaw found themselves snuggled right into Hemlockwhisker's fur, as the pure white shekitty licked their fur, soothing them down after all of the foxdung they went through, this moon was a tiring one after all who would expect to get insulted multiple times and by different cats. 

"Worst of all they are my clanmates which means I have to see them everyday!" Oleanderpaw rolled around, showcasing their disappointment with trying to be peaceful, this was their first moon being an apprentice and definitely their kithood were much much better. 

Hemlockwhisker didn't seem that affected by all of the ranting and venting, instead she seemed more focused on Mellowblood who decided to accompany her, as she noticed the accessory-wearing tom becoming closer to her after she took care of Oleanderpaw. 

"Well they're wrong, you're not that mousebrained and yes you should've apologised right away instead of making them wait for you, I expected better." Mellowblood tipped his hat with a paw as he spoke, rare words coming out of him. 

And of course, Oleanderpaw didn't expect those words to come from his father, "I said I'm sorry afterwards!!" he pointed out. 

"Afterwards." Mellowblood sighed as he picked on that little word, giving him the complete sign that his son is in the wrong in that little apprentices argument, he usually didn't care about those stuff thought this moon was a bit different as he wanted to be more involved in his kin's life. 

"But I still apologised to them! Fennelpaw was still so rude about it and you're not gonna talk about him?" Oleanderpaw whined. 

"He was being confrontational, I don't see anything wrong with that." Mellowblood chuckles, eyes flying away from his son and instead landing on a set of old moss laying in the warriors' den, "Since you're free now, go get fresh moss and change the beddings, and then go to sleep, you'll have to train tomorrow." 

"What- Hemlockwhisker please tell Mellowblood that I shouldn't be changing grown cats' beddings! I already change my own bedding so why don't they!" Oleanderpaw looked at the mute shecat who replied with a shake of her head. 

"Even you!" Oleanderpaw jumped out of Hemlockwhisker's fur as the shecat begun grooming her own fur, wow he did feel so betrayed over this simple thing, the two cats knew about his bad day and still expected him to swap beddings and head to training the day after this, which he expected to be off because well, today was bad enough.