A NEW DAWN :: OPEN

[Kiki]

~Scarletstar~ Cold leaf-fall air filtered down through the dense canopy of the swamp. The ground was packed hard with frost and the seasonal trees were starting to drop their leaves. Deep in a burrow underneath the great log, Scarletstar slumbered. Her nose twitched slightly and she blinked her heavy eyes open. Her eyes, colored like a winter sky, rolled around the den in confusion. She wasn’t use to this position of leadership just yet, and she still woke up in the mornings wondering where she was. She rose to her paws, stretching out the stiffness of her cold bones. On silent paws she emerged from her den and into the Westclan camp. The leaf-fall season did not suit the swamp well, whatever life use to team around them was now in preparations for leaf-bare. “Leaf-bare,”[ she thought sullenly, “We should start preparing too.” But first there was other business to attend to. Gathering her thoughts she climbed to the top of the great log where she gave her announcements. “Let all cats old enough to gather their own prey gather here!” she called into the chilly air. It was time for a warrior ceremony. [atrb=border,0, true][atrb=width,330,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=black]

[Durango]

[bg=2B2821][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=width,400,true] viperpaw Viperpaw peered out of the apprentice's den. Could it be that it was finally time for her warrior ceremony? She could feel excitement all through her fur. She could only hope that the mentor that she hated, Willowleaf, would not say anything about her misbehavior. Viperpaw had only attacked because she was provoked by the prejudice of the warrior. Scarletstar probably knew what it was like to have cats against her just because she used to be a rogue. Viperpaw was the daughter of the former rogue deputy of the Clan, and some cat from NorthClan whose name she did not know. She walked forward, sitting beneath the great log and looking up at the leader. Please let this be my warrior ceremony as well, she thought. She wanted to be made a warrior along with her sisters.

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[glitter]

Lain out in front of the small apprentices eyes, were piles of herbs. His pale green eyes gazed upon them intently, blinking only when necessary. Borage ... cat nip ... marigold ... cats tail ... names running through his head, jumbling up and making his tail flick in frustration. Crimsonpaw had been at it all morning, trying to remember all the names to each of the herbs that his mentor, Ravenspirit, had taught him. Crimsonpaw stood still as a stone, the only sign of him being alive was the random lash of his tail as he mentally cursed himself for being so dense.

"Let all cats old enough to gather their own prey gather here!"

The sudden call from Scarletstar made the poor young apprentice nearly jump out of his pelt. Within his small chest, his heart was racing a mile a minute and he shook his head to get reorientated to everything. Huffing, he took one last look to the herbs and turned away, closing his eyes and taking a deep long breath in. A small smile touched his maw as he seen the outlines of herbs painted onto his eyelids. With another breath in, he proceeded out into the camp to see what Scarletstar was babbling about.

The brightness of the day was not surprising to the tom cat, in fact it lifted his mood. Standing still for a moment, as he waited for his eyes to adjust, the medicine cat apprentice did a quick once over of what he could see of the camp. Scarletstar was perched upon her great log, and looked somewhat content on the cold day that was upon them.

Bored with looking at her, Crimsonpaw turned his attention elsewhere and his eyes fell upon a she-cat emerging from the apprentice den. Viperpaw, if he recalled correctly. Realization flooded him and his ear flicked in dismissal. He didn't particularly want to watch a warrior ceremony, but he figured it was his duty, seeing as he was Ravenflight's apprentice and all. With a huge exaggerated sigh, Crimsonpaw took his place amongst the Clan.

[Toadie]

Fleetpaw could feel her fur tingling with anticipation. She knew that this was going to be her ceremony. She spied her sister, Viperpaw, out of the corner of her eye. She didn't know if Viperpaw was going to have the same chance to be a warrior. She had been in trouble so many times, and gotten others into an equal amount of trouble. Fleetpaw knew she was even lucky to be alive with such dangerous company around.

She looked up at Scarletstar, waiting for the announcement to be made. She saw her mentor, Cloudstorm, nearby as well. The silver and white she-cat had a proud look on her face, which in turn made Fleetpaw swell with pride.

[Bloodpaw]

Bloodpaw came into the camp. He knew that it was time for the three infamous half-rogue sisters of the Clan to get their warrior names. He hadn't seen Briarpaw around, but she was the one whom he was excited for. She was the only friend that he had in the entire Clan, and ever since his mentor had gone missing, he only relied on her more.

"Good luck!" he whispered to all of the apprentices as they were going up to get their names. He knew the day would come eventually when he would also get his name. He had to get a new mentor first, though he was having a hard time giving up on Velvetmoon. He thought that maybe, just maybe, she was out there somewhere still.

Velvetmoon had been like a mother to Bloodpaw, and she had trained him very well in many ways. It would be difficult for him to get over her loss if he ever came to accept it. In the meantime, he stuck to never giving up hope that eventually she was going to come back, even though she had practically vanished from the camp and hadn't been heard from in a long time.

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[Kiki]

~Scarletstar~ Scarletstar looked around the camp as her clanmates began to gather. She could see the young medicine cat apprentice, Crimsonpaw, looking utterly bored by medicine den. Scarletstar could also see Bloodpaw looking around excitedly. Then of course there were the sisters: Viperpaw, Fleetpaw, and.... well it seemed Briarpaw wasn’t here yet. “Come to think of it I haven’t seen Briarpaw in quite some time.” she thought, making a mental note. She would wait as long as she deemed appropriate for the apprentice to show, then she would just start the ceremony without her. Scarletstar was trying to figure out how to kill some time, since no warriors had entered the clearing so far to except the sisters after their ceremony. “Such a lazy clan...” she thought, “I hope winter won’t be a hassle.” She sighed, watching as the cold air turned her breath into a tiny cloud. Leafbare was definitely upon them. Scarletstar looked down at Fleetpaw and Viperpaw and felt a twinge of sympathy. She knew what it was like to be hated for something you couldn’t control. Her cold hard expression softened just a little. “I hope they make good warriors” [atrb=border,0, true][atrb=width,330,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=black]

[ember]

Brackenwind slipped into the camp, having heard about the fact that warriors were being made. Let's see how much our rogue leader messes this ceremony up, he thought as his lip curled. She doesn't know enough to know how we do things around here. He shrugged and walked up, looking at the apprentices who were standing nearby. All of them looked very excited, even the ones who weren't going to get their names.

His tail lashed back and forth. The mottled tom looked up at Scarletstar, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

[Kiki]

~Scarletstar~ Scarletstar felt that she had waited long enough. She looked once more to see if Briarpaw would appear, but was disappointed. Standing up to address the clan, she began the ceremony. "May Viperpaw and Fleetpaw please step forward." her voice rang out in the cold crisp air. When the two apprentices were ready she continued. "I, Scarletstar, leader of Westclan, call upon the warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn." she recited the words told to her by Ravenspirit, words that had been diligently rehearsed to eliminate errors. "Fleetpaw and Viperpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" She paused and look seriously down at the two apprentices, and waited for their replys. [atrb=border,0, true][atrb=width,330,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=black]

[Durango]

[bg=2B2821][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=width,400,true] viperpaw As the small amount of cats crawled into the camp, Viperpaw stepped forward. For a moment she doubted. Will StarClan accept me? I'm half-rogue. Will they accept a half-rogue through a ceremony done by an outsider? They had accepted Scarletstar, though. She shook her head. Her doubts couldn't get in the way of her goal. She had fought so long to become a warrior. "I do," she meowed. She turned her gaze to her sister, Fleetpaw. She wondered what happened to Briarpaw. She had been missing for a little while. With a lump in her throat, she hoped that nothing terrible had happened to her. Well... she's going to be upset when she gets back and finds out she's missed her ceremony, she thought, trying to lighten her mood.

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[Toadie]

Fleetpaw felt bad for going through with the ceremony when Briarpaw wasn't around, but there was no turning back now. She couldn't just say that she didn't accept, this was her chance to become a warrior. She took a deep breath. "I do," she meowed. Her eyes sparkled. She looked up at the sky, hoping that StarClan was there to watch over her.

She saw Viperpaw, and she seemed very tense but excited about her ceremony. She knew that the tough she-cat took all the teasing about her half-Clan heritage the worst. Fleetpaw could tolerate it, but Viperpaw despised every word the cats said to her regarding it. Please guide her to be a sensible warrior, Fleetpaw thought silently to StarClan.

[Venom]

Leafclaw watched the apprentices get their warrior names. She scoffed a little bit. When she was an apprentice, she had teased these cats for being half-Clan. Now they were warriors, in a Clan led by a rogue leader. Times were changing, and she resented that fact.

Still, she put her Clan first, and she would not uprise or remark about it. She somewhat felt proud that these cats were able to overcome an obstacle such as being half rogue. It was truly something to rise up from a dishonorable birth.

She stared, waiting to cheer their names when they were announced.

[Kiki]

~Scarletstar~ Scarletstar looked down as the two apprentices, soon to be warriors, accepted their vows. Though she looked serious, she was smiling on the inside. “Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names. Viperpaw, from this moment you will be known as Viperstrike. StarClan honors your determination to prove your worth as a clan cat and courage in the face of danger, and we welcome you as a full warrior of WestClan.” She paused and smiled ever-so-slightly, then turned to Fleetpaw. “Fleetpaw, from this moment you will be known as Fleetfoot. StarClan honors your enthusiasm around the camp and your strong will to do what’s right, and we welcome you as a full warrior of WestClan.” She leapt down off of the great log and padded over to the two new warriors. She rested her muzzle on each of their heads in turn and turned to the other gathered cats. “Let us welcome these two new warriors. Viperstrike! Fleetfoot! Viperstrike! Fleetfoot! Viperstrike! Fleetfoot!” But as Scarletstar chanted she felt a twinge of doubt. Doubt because she knew that these to warriors had not been accepted by StarClan. She remembered how shocked she had been when she discovered that the rumors were true, that StarClan was gone. Even now she was living without her nine lives, a fact only Ravenspirit knew. But she knew she mustn’t worry the clan now, though they would find out eventually. [atrb=border,0, true][atrb=width,330,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][bg=black]

[Bloodpaw]

OOC: Just to let everyone know, I'm playing Thrushwing now because Bella Marie decided she wasn't active enough to play a deputy character.

Thrushwing's white and orange pelt showed up in the camp a little later than she had intended. She had known there was going to be a warrior ceremony that day, but it had taken her a little longer than she thought to pull things together in time to arrive there. Her new life as a deputy was something she'd always imagined, and she loved the fact that she could take charge and command other cats.

Her feminist tenets were another thing she could let shine in her new job. WestClan was now a Clan run by three she-cats. It was Scarletstar, herself, and the medicine cat, Ravenspirit. Three strong, hearty she-cats who had raised themselves above the influence of toms and into a realm of leadership. She now saw two more strong she-cats getting their names. This was a rise of something great.

"Viperstrike! Fleetfoot!" she called out. She wondered where their sister, Briarpaw, had been. She would just have to have a separate ceremony. "Viperstrike! Fleetfoot!"

[Durango]

[bg=2B2821][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=width,400,true] viperstrike The newly named warrior stood proudly before her Clan, looking defiant at all of those who had bullied her before, turning her into the tough and somewhat morally corrupt feline she was today. There was a glint in her amber eyes. As a true warrior, she would never stop proving herself to her clanmates. Maybe one day she could even be leader if she tried her hardest. She grinned. Under her breath, she murmured, "I proved them all wrong. My mentor, those bratty apprentices, and everyone else. I proved them that I, daughter of former deputy Damage, am as strong and capable a clan warrior as any other cat." Though she didn't have even a bit of WestClan blood in her, she was now a warrior of the Clan.

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[Toadie]

Fleetfoot was filled with pride as the other cats called out her name. She was somewhat upset that Briarpaw hadn't shown up for her ceremony, but there would always be time for another one some other day. She looked over to Viperstrike and noticed a certain dark glint in her sister's eyes. Sometimes Fleetfoot worried about what kind of path Viperstrike would take in her life. It seemed to be a dark one.

"We'll have to go to the Standing Stones now," she meowed to Viperstrike. "We'd better get a move on sometime soon."