I must confess that I feel like a M O N S T E R.;;

[finpaw]

With a heavy sigh, the two-toned eyelids of a certain cat opened. The eyes, both of them, were revealed as amber in their color, a deep shade, one that held many secrets and questions. Grunting softly, the cat heaved itself to roll over in its nest, facing the entrance of the Apprentice's Den. Daylight poured in, and she squinted her eyes against the glare of light.

This certain mammal soon enough realized that it had slept in late - again. It was in a feline''s nature, however, to sleep long and be lazy. Why couldn't anyone else understand that? Oh well, the cat told itself, [/i]best be getting up now. Never know how mad Stormclaw would be.

As it heaved itself to its dainty white paws, it was obvious by its figure that this certain feline was a female. A young one at that - six moons, in fact - but still. She happened to go by the name of Littlepaw, because of her petite size. Grunting, she made her way out. She didn't like other cats much.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Being an apprentice who always tried to prove herself, and to impress the older and high ranking cats as much as possible, Brightpaw always woke up early. After all, she needed to appear responsible and hardworking, or she wouldn't stand out. Some of the other apprentices didn't seem to care and slept in as much as they wanted, or slacked off, and Brightpaw was determined not to come off as one of them. The more she impressed the older cats, the sooner she would be made a warrior. That was her motivation for everything she did. She had spent the better part of the morning sitting outside the apprentices' den, grooming and waiting for her mentor to wake up. Then some other cats started to wake up, although she didn't spot Fogpatch, and Brightpaw began to wonder if she should get a head start on chores for the day.

She was just about to get up to go search for her mentor herself when another cat exited the apprentices' den. It was Littlepaw, a young apprentice who Brightpaw remembered hadn't been born in ShadowClan. Strange, that was, but there were several other cats in the Clan who weren't Clan-bred either. Many disliked the non-pureblooded cats accepted into the Clan, and Brightpaw didn't outright hate them as long as they proved themselves, but she didn't particularly like them either.

Flicking her tail in a friendly manner at Littlepaw, Brightpaw greeted her happily. "Good morning, Littlepaw. Do you have any plans for the day? I haven't seen Stormclaw yet...."

[finpaw]

Littlepaw's ears twitched as she caught wind of the second voice. She knew it faintly, and as she spun around, sure enough, there was Brightpaw. The she-cat inwardly groaned; the perky little bookworm in cat form was always up too early.

Good morning, Littlepaw. The tortoiseshell only nodded faintly in a return greeting, tail swishing. Do you have any plans for the day? I haven't seen Stormclaw yet... Littlepaw blinked her amber eyes. How could Brightpaw have memorized the other apprentice's mentors? It was hard enough for her to remember her own. [/i]Over-achiever. Duh.[/i] She snorted inwardly, trotting towards the Fresh Kill Pile. Mmm, food.

The tri-colored female searched the pile until she found a decent-sized raven. Biting past the feathers, she reached the meat that she found so delectable. Ravens were her favorite fresh kill.

[Kitty]

Light shone in on the gray warrior, who was at the moment sleeping lightly in the warriors den. The warmth from it warmed his fur and dragged him slowly to wakefulness, and after a moment of relishing the feel of it on his pelt he sat and stretched. After a quick grooming he was ready to go for the day, and pushed his way outside.

The first thing Stormclaw noticed when he arrived in the main camp was the apprentices outside the apprentice den. He was immediately filled with an angry unhappiness at the prospect of training his own apprentice. His loner apprentice. His unClanborn apprentice. Why had Specklestar given him someone like that to train? He didn't deserve it; he figured that if he'd ever earned the honor of training an apprentice that he would have at least been worthy of a Clanborn one.

Apparently not.

Speaking of his apprentice, there she was now. He considered avoiding her. But if he didn't suffer through training someone like her Specklestar would never grace him with another apprentice again. Besides, if she had to learn the ways of the Clan cats, it was best she learned it from a good warrior like himself.

Stormclaw made his reluctant way over to the fresh-kill pile, pulled out a frog, and swallowed it quickly. Upon completing this task he rose to his paws. "Come on." he said gruffly to the she-cat. "We're going training."

A lone tortoiseshell she-cat had been observing the entrance to the apprentice den from several fox-lengths away. Ever since a certain black menace had become an apprentice, she had made an effort to get up extra early and flee the no-longer-safety of the den for the warriors in training. The first cat to emerge was Littlepaw; the calico paused outside the den for a moment and Brightpaw emerged behind her. She spoke for a moment and Littlepaw stalked off without answering.

Dapplepaw remained in place for a moment longer, then shrugged and rose to her paws. Not all the cats in the den were bad. Some of them were actually nice. Brightpaw wasn't so bad; she was actually a bit fun to be around. Plus they'd practically grown up together; Dapplepaw was only a moon older than the ginger she-cat. She padded over to the apprentice and meowed a greeting.

"Good morning, Brightpaw," she mewed, dipping her head in a friendly manner. "Do you have any plans for training today? I haven't seen Fogpatch yet this morning. Maybe Cedarfur will let us train together or something. I haven't had a training session with another apprentice in a while." The tortoiseshell settled softly onto the ground, wrapping her tail neatly around her paws. Dapplepaw didn't want to force herself on Brightpaw; she was just trying to make conversation.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Well, that was unusual. Brightpaw hadn't known Littlepaw to be so unfriendly. She hadn't even replied anything and just walked away! Of course she didn't know the other she-cat well since she was a newer apprentice and hadn't been born in ShadowClan in the first place. But honestly, it seemed rather rude to just ignore another cat like that. She may not be a warrior or other high ranking cat, but it was still inconsiderate. Brightpaw was above making a big show of things, but she did not hide her irritation as she narrowed her eyes at the calico.

The voice of another apprentice brought her out of her musings and Brightpaw looked over to see Dapplepaw. This was better; Dapplepaw was friendly, if a bit quiet. "'Morning, Dapplepaw," she greeted back. "I'm waiting for Fogpatch, actually. I don't know what our plans are yet. Training together would be fun, though." She paused, glancing toward the warriors' den. "I'll ask when I see him. But he tends to sleep in..." Brightpaw adored her mentor, Fogpatch was fun and easy to train with. But if there was one thing she disliked about him, is that she always ended up waiting for him in the morning.

[/justify]

[finpaw]

The she-cat's tail waved unhappily as she noticed her mentor approach. He seemed to inhale his prey, and he was done before her. "I'm not finished yet," she grunted, continuing to eat. Hey, if she had to deal with him, then he could let her finish her food.

Ears catching a new voice, the apprentice turned her head to see an older apprentice. Dapplepaw, wasn't it? Oh well. It didn't matter, anyhow; she planned on leaving as soon as she could. Littlepaw had been born outside of ShadowClan, and was honestly surprised her parents had sent her here to be protected.

Her father, a bright ginger tom coming from a large family, all with the same fur color. Her mother was a bushy-furred brown tabby, always having used big words and seeming to be smarter than her father. She was young when she had been sent away, her parents leaving to go fight.

She looked back up at her mentor with amber eyes, shoving the bones into a small hole. "Let's go," she muttered blankly to Stormclaw, standing up impatiently.

[Mousy]

A rude awakening, everythingdamnit. That was just the last thing that the dusty-brown she-cat needed, and particularly... oh StarClan... That scent pricked her nose. Brightpaw.

Nononononono.

She was going to have to explain herself some time or other, and that wouldn't be pretty. Spitefully, she cursed Ice repeatedly, until she grew bored of it.

Great StarClan, she was moody and she hadn't even opened her eyes yet. Yes, she should probably do that some time or other; she wouldn't be able to train (damn the Gathering and its all-consumingness), but she should open her eyes. She liked to be able to see.

Well, she wouldn't be going anywhere until Brightpaw had gone, at least, so, she un-buried her face from her nest and opened her eyes.

Cats. It wasn't unusual, but there were a lot of cats around for this time of night: at a glance, she could see... well, sleeping apprentices, obviously, but also Brightpaw (oh joy of joys... not), Littlepaw (less worse, but Dustpaw still didn't like her), Dapplepaw (she wasn't so sure what she thought of her), Stormclaw (some random warrior) and her brother, who was asleep on the other side of the den. Sensible tom.

She suddenly noticed, though, that very very nests were near her own: in fact, she was pretty much alone. Sighing, she slunk across the den, which rung with the soft talking of some apprentices and the sleeping breaths of others.

She prodded at her brother with a paw, muttering,

"Give over, sleepyhead. I'want some nest too..." even though she knew he wouldn't be able to hear it.

Thank StarClan that Ice was asleep, though. He would have it over with in a matter of a heart-beat. A kill shot...

No, no that didn't bear thinking about. Not now.

She gently licked her sleeping brother's ear and curled up alongside him, hoping for him not to wake up.

He was warm, and she didn't want her source of warmth to move...

Why was it that he had so few dreams, and all the ones he had were so strange?

He was running. He knew that much; he was running.

In the blink of an eye, Dustpaw and two cats - one a tom, the splitting image of Dustpaw, and one a she-cat appeared alongside him.

Well, he was leading the way.

The four cats were trotting along a path, their paws tapping noiselessly on it. As he looked up, he saw that they were surrounded by trees. It felt like ThunderClan territory... but how could it be... it didn't carry their scent... Strange.

He looked over to one side, and saw that they were walking at the bottom of a hill, but also the top of a hill: on one side, a green, grassy hill towered over the four cats, but on the other side, there was a small twolegplace, with a towering structure in it. It was grey, and in a cross-like shape. What on earth was it.

He realized abruptly that the other three had run ahead, and, with a loud mewing sound, he ran ahead after them, and then hung back with the she cat, who dropped back to keep him company, looking at him with great interest, while Dustpaw and the tom glared at each other from either side of the other two cats.

So, who on earth were the other two.

He looked over the side, and saw the the Twolegplace had somehow transformed to something white an imposing, cut out of a hill.

Seriously, where in the name of StarClan were they?

They ran ahead, down steep steps, and in to the white cut out.

There was a cave like structure, and glowing eyes stared at them from all sides. Dustpaw and the tom were leading now, talking quietly to each other. Every so often the other she-cat cut in, but she was ignored.

The other she-cat was pure black, with pale-green eyes, as clear as grass. She was skinny, and her fur was long, only her eyes visible as not being black. Strange. She was very pretty, though, and no less, and Snowpaw felt as though he had... he had seem her somewhere... before.

She wasn't Eclipsepaw, that was for sure.

Eclipsepaw wouldn't be walking alongside him.

They seemed to be reaching the end of the path, when-

But then he woke up.

StarClan, that really sucked.

He looked beside him, to see Dustpaw curled up alongside him. He resting his chin on to of her head, closed his eyes, and fell right back in to his dream.

[/size][/justify][/blockquote]

[OoC:// I had a dream like that once.][/blockquote]