everybody wants to rule the world .open

[cloudpaw ★]

it was a hot day in late greenleaf, probably the last of its kind. the sun was losing strength and the leaves would begin their various descents downward any day now. this was cloudpaw's first leaf fall, 9 moons after he had plunged into a world as pale as his pelt and then seen newleaf come and go, yielding to the abundant season they faced now. if only it could be summer forever. cloudpaw had heard the elders tell that there would be new tempestclan kits in the winter, the most unfortunate season to give birth. yet he and his brother, wolfpaw, had managed to survive, against the odds. he hoped the same would be true for these new kits, whoever they would belong to.

the pallid apprentice trotted alongside a line of bramble bushes, making little effort to be silent. he wasn't out to hunt, just exploring and hoping no one bothersome would come along and scold him for ignoring his duties. he wanted to enjoy the heat of the season, knowing full well the chill that would fall upon them soon. the snow was fun to play in, but it wasn't worth the sick kits, queens, and elders, stricken with greencough. 

cloudpaw paused for a moment to inspect the berries growing on a spiky tendril of the bramble bushes, wondering if he could eat them. he knew better than to try yew berries or holly berries, but nothing had ever really been said to him about bramble berries.

[Quicksilver]

It was the warmth of greenleaf pulled Quicksilver from his nest that morning. A lot of time had passed since then and he now found himself slinking through the forest, his eyes narrowed on a small mouse. As he stalked through the underbrush, his charcoal Bengal fur rippled with golden dappled light and shimmered on his muscular shoulders. He knew full well as he approached the mouse that there would not be such plump mice in winter, and felt a shiver down his spine as he thought of the cold winter to come. Just as he was about to launch after the mouse, it picked up the sound of a cat trampling through the forest, taking no mind to be silent. 

He leapt up and scrambled towards the mouse desperately, but found himself clawing at dirt, the mouse long down it's hole.

He let out an annoyed hiss and turned to glare at whoever had chased off his prey, only to find a small apprentice inspecting bramble berries, which only enraged him more.

"Cloudpaw!" He snarled, the fur along his usually smooth spine bristled as he padded over to the apprentice. He flashed his white teeth as he spoke, eager to show the apprentice just how annoyed he was, "Hasn't your mentor taught you how to walk quietly?!"

[cloudpaw ★]

the flame-point tom glanced away from the berries as he heard his name roared in an over-exaggerated show of hostility and dominance. perking his ears up, cloudpaw's big blue eyes took in the warrior, quicksilver, and he returned the bengal tom's glare. the older male's posturing was over evident and he had trouble keeping the fur flat on his back and a growl of annoyance in his throat. he hadn't meant to make so much noise in his trek through the forest; it was just that he was larger than most all of the other sleeker, more graceful apprentices, and he hadn't yet mastered the way to distribute all of that weight. 

"yes," he snapped shortly, giving his fluffy cream tail a lash. "i'm just not very good at it yet." he eyed the warrior's bulky frame, one similarly uncharacteristic of tempestclan, and suspected that the rude tom had had his share of ungraceful moments. "like you're as quiet as a shrew when you walk," cloudpaw meowed with a roll of his sky blue eyes. 

[Quicksilver]

Quicksilver's whiskers twitched as he listened to the snarky apprentice talk back to him.
"You're not a kit in the nursery, and I'm not your mother! I will not take backtalk from a kit who's barely left the nursery." He growled and forced himself calm.
"I could easily have you on morning patrols and tick duty for the next moon for disrespecting a senior warrior." Quicksilver hissed through clenched teeth. His dark amber eyes scanned Cloudpaw through slits as he resisted thinking about slashing at the ignorant apprentice's face.
"For now though, you'll make up for the lost prey by hunting until dusk." He meowed, his eyes intense on the apprentice as if daring him to disobey him.
"And who's your mentor? I'd like to have a word with them."

[Wolfpaw ☆]

The tom cat ear prickled as he heard other cats. He was going to continue on his path, but paused as he heard Cloudpaw. He let out a grunt as he heard another warrior growl at his borthsr. He felt his fur briskle. He pushed his way towards the warrior, Quicksilver and his brother Cloudpaw. It was clear to see that the two brother pelts were different. Wolfpaw having various shades of grey and black with long fur, while Cloudpaw was white with a burnt out face. 


His multi colored glazd glared at the warrior as he stood beside his brother. His one seeing eye forced on the warrior. "As if you have that power," Wolfpaw said dryly. "You are not leader, deputy, or his mentor therefore you have no power over him." Wolfpaw said with a flicker of her tail. He smirked at the warrior. "As for him being a kit, you must be blind he is too big to be a kit..." he spoke slowly as if he was talking to a kit.

[Quicksilver]

Quicksilver flicked his ear at the young apprentice as he padded over and snorted.
"I've been alive for almost four seasons- I have my warrior name, and deserve your respect." He scoffed with an annoyed glare at the grey tom, "And frankly, you can dislike it all you want but in the end I am your senior and while not your mentor I do hold a position that can get both of you in trouble for some time for disrespecting your seniors. Now unless you two would like to run back to your mother, I think it would be best for both of you to get hunting."
He turned back to give Cloudpaw one last sharp glare before scoffing with a shake of his head and padding off towards camp, eager to find punishment for the two apprentices. He would not let these kits speak to him like that.

[cloudpaw ★]

cloudpaw tuned out the warrior. obviously he was delusional if he thought there would be any punishment for disobeying a senior warrior that wasn't even his mentor. "what a stupid warrior you are, at that," cloudpaw snarled with hatred in his narrowed blue eyes. as his brother, wolfpaw, padded up beside him, he felt himself relax and was grateful for the dark tom standing at his side. wolfpaw was his only littermate, and after their other siblings had been lost, he felt an even greater desire to be protective of the tom. but he knew that wolfpaw would always have his back, too.

he fluffed up his white fur, choosing not to inform quicksilver that he had been out of the nursery for three moons already. obviously the aggressive tom wasn't done with his stupid condescending attitude and posturing, so he decided to let him continue. it wasn't like he was really listening anyway.

"you don't, actually. so good luck with that." cloudpaw retorted, knowing that his threats held no stock. he doubted that dreamstar or pinewhisker would ever punish an apprentice simply for not bowing down to a rude, arrogant senior warrior. that wasn't how tempestclan operated. he looked at wolfpaw as the silver tom padded away, and grinned. "hey, thanks." the burly white tom-cat rolled his eyes and mewed in a mocking tone, "well, we'd better get to hunting then! or else we'll be punished!" he snorted. "that idiot must have been dropped on his head in one of his four seasons." the tom was really full of himself if he thought he could just go ordering other cats around when he held no authority over them.

[Wolfpaw ☆]

Wolfpaw smirked at his brother as Quicksilver walked away. "Ohhh Mr. FOUR season has to walk away from two apprentices.  I don't respect those who don't respect me or my brother!" Wolfpaw growled at the warrior.


Then, he had a smug smirk on his face. "No problem, furball," Wolfpaw smiled. "I am not going to hunt cause that stiff told us to. If he wants me to hunt he can go to Pinewhisker or Dreamstar, everyone knows I don't listen to Longshadow well anyways." He smiled widely at his brother. There was no doubt that this tom was protective of Cloudpaw.

[cloudpaw ★]

the fluffy white apprentice laughed at his brother's remark. he had never been sure whether it had been by nature or circumstance that the two had come to be so cynical and harsh to others, but he figured it had a little to do with both. they'd had to fight for their places in the world, quite literally, and they weren't going to stop now. he imagined it was harder for wolfpaw, with having only one eye that worked, but he seemed to manage. neither of them were going to be labeled weaklings. 

he nodded. cloudpaw would have liked to hunt, but now simply out of principle he couldn't, or he would be "obeying" the warrior's "orders". what a mouse-brained sop. he gave wolfpaw a friendly nudge, being very careful to not push too hard. as he'd grown larger and more unsteady on his paws, he'd also become less aware of his own strength at times. he didn't want to damage his brother. "gee, i hope dreamstar doesn't make us go on dawn patrol," he mewed jokingly, his voice showing that he knew there was little to no chance of the leader punishing them. "let's go find some thorns to put in quicksilver's nest," cloudpaw added mischievously, glancing around to make sure the bengal wasn't within hearing distance. 

[Wolfpaw ☆]

It amused the tom as he too pondered why they were rude. Could it be to be abandoned by there father mere days after losing there siblings? Or because there mother coddled them too close and learned no social skills? Or purely because life was difficult and a challenge in the wild. Maybe all three. For whatever reason he had his brother and a best friend, that was all that mattered to the tom.


Wolfpaw smiled wildly at Cloudpaw,  "Sounds like an absolutely the best idea I've heard today, Cloudpaw! We could even get Ivypaw to probably slip them in, when she changes the warrior bedding so it looks like a complete accident, cause I don't know about you, but I will not apologize to that stiff so called four season warrior!"