Sweet Dreams....

[pheonix]

Even for a Starclan cat like herself, Brackenpaw had trouble sleeping. But some may say 'She's dead, why does she have to sleep?' Well, she really DIDN'T need to, but she enjoyed to. It made her feel like she was alive once more. Like she was still down below, in the forest she cherished so much. Tossing and turning in her dreamless state of rest, Brackenpaw seemed flustered about something or other. But she had no dreams, so why was she so... scared?

Reality seemed to be playing a cruel trick on the poor Starclan apprentice. She always had feared that she would be forgotten by the Clan cats that lived where she had once lived, who walked where she once walked. If she could cry, she would. But she had resigned herself to her fate only days earlier. The fear that welled up in her heart was paralyzing, and each time she tried to sleep a little, this was the result.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

It was so boring here sometimes, with nothing to do. Even watching over your old Clan got dull if nothing exciting happened. Like naming ceremonies- those were fun to watch! But even at those times, when he watched excited, trembling young cats have their lives changed in only moments, he couldn't help but be envious. He would never be a part of that. He would be stuck forever with this boring, pitiful name.

Birchkit's mind wandered as he himself wandered in search of someone to entertain him. In all his moons spent in this 'Clan', he still didn't have any good friends. Where were all the cool people, anyway? Beechtail was probably talking with some other she-cat, but she wasn't all that fun either. Birchkit walked over StarClan's land, hoping he would encounter someone eventually.

It wasn't much longer until he came across a she-cat that appeared to just be laying on the ground. Sleeping, maybe? Birchkit giggled at the thought. From the look of her, he thought he recognized her. Her name was Brackenpaw. Lucky, he thought, she got to be an apprentice but not me. Keeping in good spirits, though, he decided to bother her. Maybe just for a little while. He crouched down in a playful way, his amber eyes already locking on Brackenpaw's form. Creeping closer, he tried to be quiet. He never had the training himself, but he had watched enough training sessions to think he knew what he was doing.

"Gotcha!" He finally yelled, jumping up and pouncing squarely on her. He made sure to keep his claws sheathed so he wouldn't anger her any more than he probably already had. Even if you couldn't die in StarClan, it still wasn't good to bleed.

[pheonix]

She was jolted awake by the strange new pressure that has tumbled onto her. Eyes blinking wide open, she gave off a squeal of surprise, and turned her head to stare at the kit sitting atop her. Did she know him? He was.... Birchkit, right? Maybe she was wrong, maybe she was right. She had no clue, and no intent on embarrassing herself in front of someone she would be stuck with for the rest of... who KNEW how long. "Yeah, yeah, you got me." She grumbled, and pushed him off as she sat up. She remembered when she was a kit, all that time ago... How she would chase her mothers tail as it swept from side to side. A tired sigh escaped from her, and she instantly regretted letting it slip through.

She was in Starclan, so why was she so... Unhappy? She was lucky to have not been sent to the Dark Forest for all her bad thoughts, as of late.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Birchkit almost giggled out loud when Brackenpaw yelped. He had sure surprised her! Within a quick moment he was pushed off of her, and Birchkit plopped on the ground. Though he was already in a sitting position where he was, he took a quick moment to straighten himself so that he sat upright. "Why so grumpy?" He asked, looking at her. He cocked his head slightly, curious. Even though he never really talked with her, it was still like him to seem concerned for others. It was harder to have fun if someone was unhappy. That distracted from his fun.

[pheonix]

"Grumpy?" She asked, in response to the kit's question. "I'm just a bit... disappointed. Not much to do here in Starclan, you know? And watching the cats in the forests struggle to survive when you KNOW what you can do to save them... It gets a little depressing. You're a kit, so I wouldn't expect you to understand." She hissed her last sentence, not even noticing that her bitterness was being taken out on the poor little kit.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Birchkit slumped to the ground until he was laying down, stretching his long legs out in front of him. "Oh, I know it's boring. I've been here longer than you have." He made his voice sound smart, knowledgable, and to the point. "That's why I've been looking for someone to hang out with. There's nothing interesting to do after a while." At Brackenpaw's last comment, he straightened his neck and looked at her defiantly. "I'm not a kit. My name may say so, but I refuse to be called one. I am older than you, after all." Birchkit ended with a rather mischevious grin, looking like a kit wanting to cause trouble.

[pheonix]

"Your body and your name have remained the same, and thus you ARE a kit." Brackenpaw meowed simply, ignoring the bait that the kit was obviously throwing at her. "Just as I am still an apprentice." She paused, seeming to reflect upon something or other. "We are all equal here in Starclan, and so we should act that way, too. There are Leaders, Deputies, medicine cats, Apprentices, Warriors, and kits. And since we are all equal, these ranks have been thrown away, with only our names and bodies to remain the same." She added, repeating what she had been told, time and time again. "But I still enjoy remembering the days when we were alive, and keeping those memories alive, too."

[Yoko]

[glow=orange,2,300]Dawnflower padded sullenly over the glowing grass. Crowstar was not doing well. He was lying around the rogue loft and not feeding himself properly. She wanted so badly to contact him, but his mind blocked her out with his disbelief. He'd lost faith in Starclan, and therefore in her as well. She knew that this should not depress her her. He'd been partly responsible for her death, that's what the other Starclan cats told her anyway.

Speaking of which, she could see them ahead. Well two of them anyway. Brackenpaw and Birchkit. She gave a tender smile as she approached her new clanmates but her eyes were sad and as she approached and heard their words her smile fell.

"Stop that, both of you. Brackenpaw, you are correct that we're all equal, but don't call him a kit if he doesn't want to be called a kit. It only serves to antogonize him."[/glow]

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

"Hmph," Birchkit huffed stubbornly. "I know we're supposed to be equal. But even if we are, then why am I stuck with this name and you with Brackenpaw?" He looked away, glancing off into the distance. "Not everyone acts the same. You know that grumpy old cat, Graystream? He thinks he's better than everyone else just 'cause he was a medicine cat." He twitched his tail as he thought of an idea. "If cats don't stop treating me like a kit, then I'm just going to change my name. Because it's not my fault if I never lived to get a warrior name."