𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕆𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕤

𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 (𝙽𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗)

"Hurry up Violetpaw!! Don't keep Oakfur and Ratscar waiting!" Needletail hissed cuffing her apprentice's ears. The black and white apprentice let out a sigh, nodded, and made her way to the dens in the clearing. Rain scoffed and watched Needletail smirk and pad over to him.
"See! Even easier than Sleekwhisker!" She laughed. She sat down next to the gray tom and roughly shoved him with her shoulder. Rain let out a short chuckle and glanced towards the clearing. Violetpaw was now checking Oakfur for ticks while Ratscar was going on about patrols and chores in "his times" The apprentice appeared to be calm and would let out a couple of laughs but by her twitching tail and neck fur on end she seemed to be holding in her anger. Needletail let out another laugh but cut it off in embarrassment and looked at the tom. Rain looked towards his paws and blushed.
"... Anyw--"

"How's your eye by the way?!" Needletail interrupted them. Rain sighed and turned a different direction. "Puddleshine says I'm fine- my blindness is permanent though." He growled, placing a paw on his left eye. Darktail's going to pay for what he did." He hissed. He looked down and clawed at the soft dirt. "I know what Darktail did was wrong- but maybe he's just desperate. We all are." Needletail mewed quietly. From the corner of his eye Rain saw Needletail glance back towards the clearing. The she-cat let out a sigh. "We need more territory!" He mumbled. "If we're to become successful and claim more land we need strong leaders who won't count the amount of prey we hunt and claim." Needletail nodded.

Rain stiffened and fixed his posture. "And besides- I- I think I could do a good job as leader! I could looked out for you, the kin and that apprentice of y--"
He was interrupted by Needletail resting her head on his shoulder. The rouge froze and scoffed. "What is it now?"

"Nothing! I'm just tired. Glad to know you care for that furball, I'm surprised Ratscar hasn't clawed her ears off yet."

Rain nodded and licked Needletail's head. From the background they could hear some angry retorts but aside from that the camp was calm. Mostly everyone was out hunting or sleeping. He twitched an ear and watched Violetpaw pad across the camp, spit out a tick, and angrily wipe her muzzle with her forepaw. Oakfur and Ratscar's laughs in the background.
That poor apprentice

They glanced back at Needletail who still had her head on their shoulder, eyes closed.

"Hey Needletail?? When do you think Rav--"

He was interrupted by the start of a snore. He let out a long sigh and Needletail shot up.
"Hahah!! I'm so sorry!" The she-cat laughed mockingly. "I'm just tired."

He frowned.

"What!!? Being a mentor's hard you know?"

"You attempted fishing, failed, tried hunting, failed, and Violetpaw only caught a pitiful shrew!"

"I know- Those clan cats hog everything." Needletail yawned. Rain nodded and stretched while Needletail shook her fluffy coat. "You should get some rest." The tom murmured. "Darktail wants to cover more ground tomorrow, Spikefur was telling me about it."

"Alright, Wanna share a nest?" Needletail whispered.

"Of course!!" He mewed. Needletail smiled and began to pad across the camp, Rain following shortly behind her. They entered the warriors den, only to see Violetpaw laying down in Needletail's nest, eyes watery as Puddleshine sat by her.
Needletail immediately left Rain's side and ran over to her nest. "What happened!!?" She demanded. The medicine cat looked away. "Violetpaw was having a talk with Zelda and well-- Sleekwhisker shoved her aside and Violetpaw took a mistep right on a thorn. I tried the best I could to stop the bleeding but I'm just checking for any early signs of infection."

Needletail nodded and sat next to Violetpaw and reached for her paw. Violetpaw raised it a bit but winced and set it down. Rain watched and clenched his teeth.
This thing really is weak. He scoffed. Puddleshine, as if noticing, walked over to him and politely dipped his head. "D-Do you mind fetching Violetpaw something to eat? If she's not that hungry she can just share it with Needletail."

"Of course." He growled. He left the den and headed towards the prey pile. Unfortunately Zelda and Loki were already scavenging through it.
"Hey Kittypets! What are you doing?" He called. Zelda looked at him and embarrassingly looked down. "Loki was just trying to see if there were better mice- everything here is kind of torn or--"

"It's prey, you should be grateful for it." He growled. Loki prodded Zelda with his forepaw and Zelda gazed down. "Yes Rain." Loki picked up a fat mouse and ran off with it, Zelda right behind him. The rogue sighed and picked up the scawniest mouse in the pile and looked around. He smiled and walked back to the warriors den. Once he stepped back in Needletail was at the entrance. She gazed up at them and then at the mouse in his jaws.
"I thought I saw a squirrel in the pile just earlier..?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! I was saving it for us." Rain purred, dropping the mouse. Needletail scoffed and shoved passed him, not making eye contact. Her attitude had completely changed. He turned around in shock to see her making her way to the prey pile. He hissed and sunk his claws into the small mouse.
It's just prey He thought, frowning.

"Raine? What are you doing?" Violetpaw asked him. Rain swung his head around. He completely forgot the she-cat was there in the first place and glared a her. "Nothing. You shouldn't even be in here." He muttered. The apprentice struggled to sit up but eventually managed. "Is that for me!?" She squeaked.

Course it is Mangepelt

"Uh.. Yeahh.. It is." He ended up saying. He picked up the bleeding mouse and threw it to her rudely. Violetpaw rested on her paws and began to eat it. Moments later Needletail walked in, saw Violetpaw eating the mouse and went to take it from her.
"Don't eat that- here take this." She dropped the squirrel she fetched and picked up the mouse. She padded over to Rain and dropped it. "Why don't you go give this to Sleekwhisker?" She hissed. Rain scowled in disbelief and picked it up. "Sure thing." Needletail nodded and went back to sit next to Violetpaw. He took one last glance only to see Needletail gently licking Violetpaw's injured paw and grumbling something about Sleekwhisker that he assumed wasn't nice. The two hadn't been getting along these last couple of weeks and now he could he see why.

He left the den with only one thought.

I.. really don't like that apprentice..

Side Note for those who are wondering
𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚓𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚅𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚙𝚊𝚠 𝚍𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚅𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚙𝚊𝚠 𝚏𝚘𝚛 "𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙽𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢" 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝚂𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚔𝚢. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚊 𝚌𝚞𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚏𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙰𝚄.