Smile, Sunshine [Suneyes]

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

I am a fat, lazy, horrible, slob. Mintpaw watched superciliously as the pitter-patter of paws stepped inward and out. A hundred apprentices must have had passed her, and already it was sun-high. The snow was melting, new-leaf was here, blah, blah, blah. She wasn't interested in the least, but she was jealous. These apprentices had something to do, while Ms. Lazy over here had nothing. With a groan she rolled onto her belly. Stretching nonchalantly she let her paws prod the side of the nursery, not caring if thorns caught her pads.

A sudden thought buzzed her mind, snapping her head to attention she sought out the familiar tabby pelt. It was unknown to her if the deputy was busy, but it didn't matter. If Suneyes didn't have the time, she'd have to make some. Mintpaw wanted something to do; NOW. A quick sliver of a chance presented itself. There she was chatting to some irrelevant tom, he had a bright orange pelt. Who was he? Shadowtalon? Who cares, not me.

Indignantly she skipped cheerfully towards her mentor, a sly smirk slipped beneath her sunny exposure. How innocent. Eyebrows raised she fluttered her eyelashes, "Suneyes, I'm in need of some training." With a grunt her eyes hardened, "I'm sure you can talk to him later, I'm more important."

Suneyes had been having a very lovely morning. The patrols were sent out, the sun was shining, she was finally able to talk to Shadowtalon. But she should have known it wouldn't have lasted long. She and Shadowtalon had been having a very nice talk about their kits when the she-cat skipped up beside them. Suneyes had all but forgotten about her apprentice. The queen was still trying to balance out life with it. It shouldn't have been a surprise with Mintpaw's cool behavior toward Shadowtalon. The queen huffed in her head. Why! she probably wasn't even sure who this tom was.

Throwing an apologetic look at her mate, Suneyes turned to Mintpaw. "Well, I think the first thing you need to learn is respect for your fellow warriors, Mintpaw." sighing she turned and began to pad out of camp. "Well, come on then, we'll see if you can find some dry moss for the elders. I'm sure Stormsong would greatly appreciate it."

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Treat others how you wanted to be treated; Mintpaw was sure as hell, that she wouldn't give a mouse-dung if someone interrupted her conversation. Sure she'd be a bit peeved, but she'd get over it. Mintpaw wasn't one to hold a grudge, firstly because she found them too tiring and pointless; second grudges were stupid. Why sit and do nothing when you could easily fix the problem. So when Suneyes told her to get some respect Mintpaw casually responded with a smile,
"Oh, I have respect Suneyes. I surely do, perhaps you don't?" With an inquiring glance Mintpaw pretty much begged for a thrashing.

"Stormsong recently became an elder, he was also deputy--" Mintpaw began her mini seminar, "I think he doesn't yet want to prove he's old and useless. So it'd benefit his image much more if he went and got his own moss." Another small smile graced her face, Mintpaw's white and ginger fur shimmered in the sun. It was nearly past sun-high. Another interesting dilemma entered her mind; why would anyone want dry moss, when they could have comfy rabbit fur? Her eyes detached themselves away from Suneye's smoldering complexion, instead they latched onto a flimsy rabbit corpse. It's belly was bloated from death; it's eyes hollow and blank. Like they aren't blank when it's alive.

Without consulting her mentor she dashed toward the prey, abducting the critter from it's grave she carried it over to Suneyes. "Strange, I know." she breathed between pants. Swallowing an icy pocket of air she continued,
"What if we use rabbit fur to line nests instead of moss? It'd last longer, plus it's tons more comfy?" Mintpaw could already imagine her mentor's lashing words, thought it was expected; for only moments before the apprentice had been insulting her mentor. Of course Suneyes was going to be angry, but perhaps it'd slip for such an intelligent idea. Let's cross our fingers.

Her apprentice was practically begging for a punishment! Not only was she being disrespectful to a great warrior who had done his service to the Clan, and now it was their turn to return all the seasons of work he had done. She was disrespecting her mentor and her deputy! With a clenched mouth, Suneyes took a deep breath. This was turning out to be a very bad end to what was a very good day.

"Well, perhaps you should remember it is our pleasure and duty to serve the ones who have protected out clan for as long, or even longer, as Stormsong has. We don't do it because he is old, we do it because we are grateful for all he has done for us."

It was just as she finished the little return lecture that Mintpaw dashed off! What is that mouse-brained she-cat up too! But when the apprentice returned with the carcass of a rabbit and her little idea Suneyes was shocked, surprised, and rattled. But then she smirked "Good luck getting the fur off without getting skin with it, I'm so sure Stormsong would like that. And keep it all together, I'm sure the other clan mates wouldn't like fur up their nose and in there mouths."

Lets see how much patience this silly apprentice has.

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

The gauntly apprentice presented her mentor with a sly smirk, her teeth glinted in the new-leaf sun. "Your perfectly correct Suneyes, Stormsong has done much for our clan." she meowed sourly. Raising her eyebrows she muttered, "So I'm sure he can handle doing one more thing." Flicking her tail she set off on her perilous task. She was more than sure she could easily skin this rabbit with hardly any difficulties. The rabbit taunted her; it's fur seemed absolutely determined to stick to it's flesh. Clenching her teeth she dug her claws into it's side, when she pulled back only blood dripped from her claws. Stubborn, isn't it.

Snorting she laid down, her fur billowing beneath her. Concentrating on the rabbit she was hardly aware of her mentor's smoldering gaze. Ha! I'll prove her! This is a grand idea. Nuzzling the rabbit onto it's back she began ripping off the fur on it's belly. But Suneyes was right, with each tear strings of flesh came with it. Not only did the flesh stick to the fur like glue, but blood drenched the rest of the rabbit's pelt as it hung from her jaws. Spitting out the chunks of fur and meat she stared crossly down at her paws. Now I'm going to look like an idiot.

"Suneyes, why don't we go and hunt or something instead?" she meowed in defeat, her tail drooping. She should've just shut her trap and let her mind wonder. Every time she had a brilliant idea it had to back-fire. When was she going to get her lucky break-through? Apparently not today. The bounce had vanished from her step, only the dragging of her tail echoed each lope.

Suneyes fought back a smile as she watched her apprentice fail at the task she had taken on. It might just help rid Mintpaw of her cheekiness to fail at something with another cat watching. Especially when that cat was a warrior and the deputy of the clan. At least Suneyes hoped it would. But this training was going to take some time. And she wasn't talking about the physical training, but the mental training. Mintpaw had to have even a shred of respect for her fellow clan mates if she hoped to be a great warrior. From the looks of it, Mintpaw was a long way off from having that shred of respect she needed.

Finally Mintpaw realized she had failed at it. The embarrassment sent an inward smile to Suneyes. Perhaps this would make the training a bit easier. When Mintpaw requested to go hunting instead Suneyes shook her head. "Nope, we can do that another day. Right now we're heading over to our patch of woods and getting some moss for Stormsong. And when I say we I mean you" Without waiting for her apprentice to reply Suneyes dashed off toward the ThunderClan boarder.

If Mintpaw behaved perhaps Suneyes would show her a few other thinks while at the ThunderClan boarder. Scent practice, teach her a little about ThunderClan's ways, all that fun lovely stuff that sometime in the future could save their clan. Finally Suneyes made it to the woods and slowed down. "Now, Mintpaw, go find yourself a nice, dry, patch of moss to collect for the elders!"

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

Mintpaw groaned, "That's not fair. No one else has to do this. So why do I?!" Narrowed eyes pierced the sunny green-leaf day. I don't want to waste it finding moss! Sure perhaps this was a tad bit better than lazily lounging in camp but it's still a pain in the rump! With a grunt she followed her mentor. I'm going to get her back for this. As they trekked over the moorland Mintpaw kept herself occupied with the many scents that surrounded her. Since kittenhood she has remained dependent on her nose. She had been abandoned at two moons in Windclan territory. It had taken a week or so for her to be found. To keep herself alive she had to use her nose. Perhaps this was the only thing her good for nothing mother had taught her. Hope your rotting in The Dark Forest, Mom.

Swiveling her ears toward the river she listened to it gurgle and pop. A slight grin slipped leisurely across her face. Water. The only memory of her father had been of water. She missed her father greatly. Where is he? He wasn't the one who had wanted her gone he was kind, gentle, and funny. He always made her laugh. Then he vanished. This water reminded her of his smile, his warmth. This smile died the instant she remembered where she was and why.

Suneyes spoke.

Mintpaw spoke back, sourly "Why don't you find the moss." With a grimace she trudged past her mentor and began scanning the trees. The large, tall oaks intimidated her. How can Thunderclan cats live like this! Never seeing the sun, always being sheltered. This was making her pelt itch. The moss clung to the tree. Raking her claws against the bark she watched as it fluttered to the ground. Rake, rake, rake. With much vented anger she tore the bark to pieces, leaving straggly uneven moss before her. Grabbing it with her jaws she tried to ignore the ucky earth flavored taste.

Spitting the tangly mess at Suneyes's paws she grumbled, "That better be enough."

Mintpaw's attitude was apparently not going to improve any time soon. "That's not true, Mintpaw, all apprentices have the job of getting moss for the elders and nursery. You should be thankful you have others to share the job with." It didn't take long for the forest to loom before them, and even less time for them to be under the out-reached branches. The cool air and shade from the sun sent Suneyes' pelt crawling. How any cat could live in a forest like this was beyond her. She was just glad WindClan didn't use it all that often.

When they made it to a tree with moss, Suneyes held back her anger. Why Mintpaw had to act like this, the deputy was flabbergasted. Wasn't mint suppose to be cool and calming? If only Mintpaw had been named for that reason. It was just Suneyes' luck that Mintpaw was the exact opposite. The she-cat felt her claws dig into the earth as Mintpaw shredded the moss. This was not how the queen had wanted her day to go.

"No. That will not do. You can use that torn up, bark filled moss for your own bedding. Until you get clean, and un-shredded, moss for the elders we will not be going back to camp." Suneyes sighed a little and shook her head. "And I hoped to teach you some things about ThunderClan when we were done here."

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

"I'll put this in your bedding if you don't shut up." Mintpaw grumbled angrily under her breath. Couldn't this she-cat be happy with what she got? It was a mere miracle that Suneyes was even able to drag Mintpaw this far out of camp. So using straggly moss should have been good enough. With an enraged snort she stomped back to that stupid tree and tried to find a good patch of moss. Unfortunately she had already murdered what was left of the moss; so now she was stuck with the task of finding another, dependable tree. "This bites." she muttered as she scanned the horizon, in search of another tree. At last another tree caught her eye. It was tall, lots of roots, and on the north side grew lots of moss. A relieved smile covered her muzzle for a few seconds before she was reminded of why she had smiled. More work, huzzah.

With her eyes permanently glued to the top of her head she stood gaping beneath the tree. It was tall. Too tall. Her short, stubby legs could hardly hold her tall enough to reach the moss. "Stupid genetics." she hissed. Her mother, stupid mother had been unreasonably short. "Thanks again, Mom." she growled. If only she had inherited her father's long, lanky legs. Then perhaps she could run faster, or you know--reach the moss. With a grunt she reared up onto her hind legs. Even then she was a tad bit short. Eyes narrowed in determination she hooked her claws into the bark and hauled herself up.

This was the first time she had ever climbed a tree. Sure she was feline, but Windclan cat's had no need. They weren't into chasing squirrels through the branches; so what was the point? Tree-climbing wasn't taught and wasn't necessary. But as the ground loomed dangerously beneath her she kind of wished they did teach it. Gulping she scurried a bit higher until her pads touched the cool, soft moss. But now she was much too high up. Gulping once more she glanced down. "Bad idea." she squeaked.

Without realizing it the apprentice had climbed up much too far. The ground seemed so far away. Panicking she raced up higher, suddenly she was at a split. One limb went left, the other went straight up. Nervously she clambered onto the left limb. It trembled under her weight. "Great Starclan." Clinging as tight as she could she tried to figure out how to get down. But her legs wouldn't move; she was stuck.

"Suneyes!" she wailed, "I don't know how to get down!"

Suneyes didn't say anything in reply to Mintpaw's smart comment. Somehow someway Suneyes was going to have to teach that apprentice to hold her tongue and show respect. But of course, she'd been saying that ever since the training started, hadn't she? As Mintpaw reluctantly sulked off to do the chore, the WindClan deputy began of thinking on how she would handle her apprentice's attitude.

Perhaps I could talk to Stormsong for ideas. I'm sure he's at least had some second hand experience in dealing with rude apprentices... The queen was so caught up that she wasn't paying attention to Mintpaw. Perhaps I can gather some other apprentices and mentors have a a big training session. It'd be a good thing to teach them all the importances of team work. Suneyes never noticed Mintpaw making her way up the tree. That was until she heard her apprentice's cry for help.

The warrior raced over to where she had last saw Mintpaw. Instead of being safely on the ground though, she was up high in a tree. "Mouse-brain! What were you thinking?" Suneyes hissed in frustration. Taking a deep breath and collecting her cool she looked back up to asses her apprentice's situation. Yup. She was stuck. Stuck high in a blasted tree. Stupid Mintpaw, couldn't you have picked a smaller tree?

Suneyes remembered the first time she had been in a tree. She had been stuck for a long time because she didn't know how to get down. It was a few hours later that instinct set in and she realized what she had to do to get down. Now if Mintpaw would believe it would work, that would be the hard part.

"Listen carefully, and trust me, Mintpaw. You're going to have to dig you're claws in deep and basically walk down the tree. It's easier said than done, remember that. Get as far down until you think you can jump. Or do it even simpler and risk breaking a bone and jump from where you are."

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

Oh so she insults me? Nice. Mintpaw embraced the swaggering branch with all of her might. "You told me to get some moss, so I did!" she retorted hotly. So this is what happens when I try to follow the rules. I'm not liking these results. "Do you regret telling me to do it now?!" she screamed, "Because it didn't seem like such a good idea from the start!" Mintpaw knew she was going to be killed once she got down. Disrespecting your mentor was one of the worst things an apprentice could do. But then again most apprentices weren't quite at Mintpaw's level of a maturity. She was way below the line, being mature doesn't even linger.

And for some reason Suneyes's was still trying to help her. Nice she-cat, too nice. Didn't Suneyes know that being nice only made you look weaker. Eh. The she-cat shrugged it off, maybe Suneyes just didn't want to look like a failure to the rest of the clan when she came back empty-pawed. Probably it.

Mintpaw scrunched up her brows at Suneyes's directions. "Are you out of your mind!" Her plan was completely absurd! Going down backwards? Wouldn't that make breaking her face off even more likely. At least if she went down frontwards she'd still be able to see. "That's idiotic! Backwards!?! I'd rather risk the jump!" Gulping she glanced downwards, the earth spun below her. It was so far down, could she even survive the jump? Well she had to try now; she just kind of, sort of made a big deal about it. "Darnit." she mumbled.

With a shaky breath she slowly balanced out onto her paws. The tree wiggled beneath her. "Oh my Starclan." she screeched. Within seconds she was toppling over the side of the branch. Legs scrambling through the air she tried to grab the branch. She was sucessful. Her front paw was able to latch on, but it was slowly slipping.

Oh isn't this lovely.

Here she was, a bad-mouthed, naughty apprentice hanging by a string over a snarling badger. This was going to be good.

What a wonderful situation to be in. Her apprentice was using her assignment as an excuse for being stuck in a tree. "Well, a smart cat gets the moss at the bottom of the tree, not the top!" Suneyes would really just rather leave her apprentice there to figure it out herself, after all that's how Suneyes had learned. She had spent half a day and half the night in a tree trying to get down. Her mentor had been fine and dandy just sitting at the bottom encase Suneyes had fallen and hurt herself. Or died.

"Fine, don't take my advice! I can stay here all day and night if it takes you that long to get down." Sitting down comfortably the deputy waited for Mintpaw to make her move. Apparently, that move was to jump. Stupid cat. She was putting the queen in a very sour mood. She would rather not go back to camp with a dead apprentice. She would be a very bad warrior to let her apprentice plummet to her death from a tree. "Well don't just hang there, unless you want to die!" Suneyes was up and ready to react "You know that advice I gave you I learned from experience! I'm not a mouse-brained warrior, it does work." ...With practice Suneyes had known how scared she had been climbing down the first time.

She had ended up with some scratches and bruises in the end, but it looked like Mintpaw in the state she was, was going to end up with something broken or worse. Suneyes sighed. "Do you want me to be nice and let you jump onto me so at least you don't die when you fall?" The she-cat really didn't want to do it. Mintpaw would end up with a feeling of success. I'll just have to make sure she doesn't go to any gatherings and takes care of the elders for a very long time.

MINTPAW
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

Hanging by one paw, she dared to look down. Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea! Her stomach twisted and convulsed. "I think I'm going to be sick." she mumbled. Holding back the vomit that came up with her fear; she slowly gathered the strength to latch her other paw up onto the branch. Feeling embarrassed she decided to finally take Suneyes's advice. She honestly didn't feel like dieing. Gulping she nervously meowed loud enough for her mentor to hear, "Um..what do I do first?"

Her paws were aching, and her back legs hurt from being suspended in mid air. It was almost impossible to reach the trunk now. She was practically on the far end of the branch. Narrowing her eyes she tried moving toward it, but it took a lot of strength. Which she lacked. Clenching her teeth she shifted a few inches down, the branch creaked under the weight. "Starclan." she hissed through her teeth. Another few inches. If she swung her mid-section her back paws could graze the bark; but if she were to let go she'd plummet to her death.

"Oh everything hurts!" she wailed. She regretted acting like such a brat to her mentor. If only she could have acted a bit nicer to everyone. The ground swayed beneath her. Everything was blurry, everything was sore. With a whimper she gave one last attempt to swing her legs up; it would be her last attempt.

Mintpaw's front paws slipped off the branch. The front half of her body swung backwards, resulting in a full back flip. Lashing her tail she tried to flip her body around so she could land swiftly on her paws; even if it'd result in busting her forearms. Success! Everything seemed to be running smoothly as she pelted through the air; another branch loomed dangerously beneath her. Screeching she tried to avoid it; her stomach smashed into the sturdy bark. Pain traveled through her torso, blood bubbled from her mouth. Everything was going black. Her back end slithered off the branch. She could feel herself plummeting through the earth again.

Her eyes closed, as the blood stained her soft, white fur.

ooc: Up to you if you want Suneyes to catch her, doesn't matter. I'm also hesitant on if she'll actually live. I'm probably going to say yes, but her rib cage is smashed in, and she has internal bleeding..Soo?? : /

ooc:// If she does live it would be a very big miracle by the looks of it. Not much help, am I? : P

bic://

Suneyes watched helplessly as her apprentice attempted to get back on the branch. Her heart was racing. What if she fell? What if she died? Suneyes wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it if she did. The branch creaked and Mintpaw slide closer over to the trunk of the tree. Suneyes could smell the fright coming off of Mintpaw. And then, she fell. The queen only had seconds to judge where her apprentice would land. She dived for the spot and tried to break the young cat's landing. Suneyes felt her legs cave beneath her and her eyes closed as they watered with pain.

She opened her eyes, temporarily blinded with her tears. She felt something wet on her back and smelled Mintpaw's blood. She gently slid out from under Mintpaw's limp body. "M-mintpaw, are you okay?" The deputy could tell she wasn't. Blood was splattered across her pelt. She nosed Mintpaw's side gently. Her breathing was labored. The queen was to scared to move her apprentice. Glancing around for any sign of help and seeing none Suneyes looked back down at Mintpaw. "Just hold on, Mintpaw. I'm going to go get Heatherflower."

With that Suneyes dashed off, praying that she would make it in time. Her long legs carried her across the moor land and with the added urgency of Mintpaw's condition, Suneyes was back in camp in minutes. She burst into camp "Heatherflower! Cloudpaw! Quick, Mintpaw fell from a tree!" The medicine cat was out of her den in an instant; her apprentice close behind with herbs and cob webs in tow. With Suneyes leading the way they were soon back to Mintpaw.

"Just hold on, Mintpaw."

Cloudpaw

[/color][/font]
Cloudpaw had just gotten back form an adventure out with Eaglepaw and was helping Heatherflower separate herbs while telling her what they did. He was actually getting pretty good at it, or so he thought.
"This is borage. You eat it to help get rid of fever. Nursing cats eat it to help make milk for kits. You should only use it when it's green. Never use dry borage."[/color] he mewed picking out a few dry leaves and tossing to the side so he could take them out later. "Cobwebs are placed over wounds to stop the bleeding and keep infection out. however if you happen to catch a spider in the process it's kind of gross. Comfrey is used to heal broken bones.[/color]
He pushed the small pile of comfery back into it's spot and grinned at Heatherflower. He was actually starting to get used to this. The herb names came naturally. It was what they were used for that was hard. He started to move on to poppy seeds,Marigold and Juniper when a scared yowl filled the camp. Suneyes, the deputy came running in.

"Heatherflower! Cloudpaw! Quick, Mintpaw fell from a tree!"

cloudpaw's eyes widened. Mintpaw was a very annoying she-cat at times but cloupdaw had gotten to know her while he was training. How the heck did she get in a tree? Well that was a stupid question. Soon heatherflower was making a list of what they need and cloudpaw was getting them out as fast as he could.
Cobwebs, Comfery, Poppy seed and thyme.
Cloudpaw quickly put them in a leaf and took off after Heatherflower. Soon they reached Mintpaw and the small apprentice's eyes widened. There were no gashes on her skin, but she was bleeding form her mouth. She was in pain. He quickly put the herbs down and moved over to help Heatherflower.
"suneyes, please move...we're gonna need room."[/color] he said quietly. He didn't want to be rude, but if they were treat a cat they wouldn't need another one standing over Mintpaw. He just hoped Suneyes would understand.[/center]

Show me the meaning of being lonely
Is this the feeling I need to walk with
Tell me why, I can’t be there where you are
There’s something missing in my heart.

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