Medicine Cat Apprentice Ceremony (all thunderclan)

[Snowstar]

A young, white she-cat sprang onto the Highrock, turning to face the clearing that was the home of her clan. Lifting her elegant head, the small leader yowled for ThunderClan to gather. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!"

She shifted her paws, sitting down with her tail wrapped neatly around her paws, and her blue eyes narrowing in all the cats that poured out of their dens. Snowstar gave a proud purr as she observed her clanmates. "We are here to turn Nearkit into an apprentice." she added

[Nearpaw]

Nearkit perked an ear. He closed his eyes and let out a long exhale. This was it. His apprenticeship ceremony. The little white tom could feel his heart beating at an unnaturally fast rate--unnatural because it was rare for him to ever feel excited. Or at least... He thought this feeling was excitement. Either that or fright.

Ew. Stage fright.

Shaking his head, the blind kit took a wary pawstep from the entrance of the nursery, his ears focused on the direction of Snowstar's voice.

Slowly... Slowly... The path was clear, and Nearkit wasn't tripping over any pebbles! Great! His ceremony was going perfec--

And his head smashed right into highrock.

"...Ow."

[Amberpaw]

Amberpaw took her place in the crowd, staying to the front so she could see. This was good for ThunderClan--two apprentice ceremonies in two days! We're lucky, she reminded herself. The other clans didn't have a lot of apprentices to mingle with at the last gathering, when she went without a permanent mentor.

Amberpaw blinked, her ears pressing back against her head as the kit rammed into Highrock. Poor guy, she thought, keeping her big mouth shut.

[Nearpaw]

Nearkit felt a bit woozy from the impact, but tried to keep a dignified poise. It took him a while to get back his balance, but he managed. Clearing his throat, he mewed, "Uh... I meant to do that."

And now another problem! How in Starclan's name was he going to get up the highrock? Well, judging from its name, it's got to be pretty, well, high. Nearkit looked up, much in vain, really. He couldn't see anything besides blurry splotches of colour.

Randomly jump. That is the only solution. No way was he gonna let a warrior carry him up there! Better do it before they try to.

Nearkit flattened himself low to the ground, and launched himself on where he thought the rock must be. He almost made it--but stopped just short of the top. His claws scraped against the rock for a grip, hindpaws pushing his body upwards, grunting.

Holy Starclan... This was getting more embarrassing by the second!

[Leopardfang]

Leopardfang was sitting at the base of the Highrock as her leader's voice rang through the camp. Her ears flicked against the sound waves. For a small cat, she sure is loud. She thought as she stifled a low purr of amusement. She gazed over the crowd, seeing her young apprentice among the clan. Dipping her head in greeting, she smiled.

[Oakpelt]

Oakpelt sat near the Highrock’s base, white-tipped tail curled neatly around his paws. Despite the young medicine cat’s calm appearance, he was anything but on the inside. Indeed, thoughts were buzzing around in his brain like a swarm of angry bees—try as he might, he couldn’t quell them. In all truth, the light brown tabby tom wasn’t sure if he was ready for an apprentice. He had only been a ‘full’ medicine cat for four moons, after his mentor had gone to hunt with StarClan. Cloudwhisker had been a great medicine cat—a great Clanmate, a great mentor, a great friend. Oakpelt certainly didn’t doubt what he had been taught, or his mentor’s way of teaching it. Not at all. But he wasn’t quite sure how he could guide a young tom down his chosen path. After all, being a medicine cat was more than just herbs. And Nearpaw was blind…

He gave his chest fur a few hasty licks, green eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Of course, he had heard stories of medicine cats and warriors who were…different. He tried to keep an open mind. Just because Nearpaw was blind didn’t mean that he was useless. It would be challenging—though he would just have to do the best that he could. After all, if Nearpaw felt called to be a medicine cat apprentice, Oakpelt couldn’t stop him.
StarClan, grant me the wisdom to know what to do…

[Nearpaw]

With one more push, Nearkit managed to settle himself to a sit. "Brahaha! Made it! Sorry about the delay, Miss Snowstar." He mewed... To the wind. He was facing in the wrong direction.

Nearkit was secretly exhilirated, his perked up ears betraying his calm facade. How could he not be? He had a chance to prove himself useful to the clan. Sure, it might take a longer time to learn because of his disability, but no matter. Better than being a young elder!

[Snowstar]

Snowstar gazed down at the kit and purred. Sympathy clouded over her clear blue eyes, and she felt a pang of sadness for the blind kit. She didn't want to baby him so he got defensive and upset, but she wished more than anything she could help him. "Nearkit, you've reached the age of six moons, and now you're ready to be an apprentice. Oakpelt tells me you've chosen the path of becoming a medicine cat, so from now on you'll be known as Nearpaw. Oakpelt will mentor you to the best of his abilities." the young she-cat mewed loudly to the clan, her head elegantly lifted as she proudly held the ceremony for another cat.[/size]

[Nearpaw]

Nearpaw blinked slowly, a smile curling along--and oh, what an adorable smile it was! At once, the usually sour young tom's facial features morphed to something almost angelic and innocent. Dipping his head (still to the air because no one bothered to tell him he wasn't facing in the right direction), he mewed, "Thank you, Miss Snowstar. I will not let you or Oakpelt down."

He paused. The smile vanished. "Now how do I get down from here?" He mewed quietly, almost as if to himself.

[Oakpelt]

As Snowstar officially named the cloud-like cat Nearpaw, Oakpelt sprang into action. After all, he had to welcome his apprentice—and traditionally, the mentor joined the Clan leader and apprentice on the Highrock when they were called. So, the light brown tabby bounded up the Highrock, his movements swift and sure. Within a few heartbeats, he was standing atop the great rock. The breath caught in his throat—he felt as if he could see forever! His Clanmates seemed to be little more than specks of color… Briefly, he wondered if StarClan’s view from Silverpelt was anything like this. Then the medicine cat turned his leaf-green gaze to Nearpaw, padded forward a couple of steps, and briefly touched his nose to the young tom’s.

“I’m sure you won’t, Nearpaw,” he meowed earnestly. His ears pricked forward after a second; his apprentice’s next words were quiet, but Oakpelt at least got the gist of them. Hmm. This could be a little tricky… Nearpaw had made it up the Highrock well enough on his own, but getting down was a little more difficult, even for a cat with full vision. But he didn’t want to hurt the white tom’s pride… Nearpaw wasn’t some helpless kit. Oakpelt tilted his head slightly, green eyes narrowed in thought.
“Hmm. Would it help you if I went down first, Nearpaw?” the medicine cat continued, voice low, so that only the cats on the Highrock could hear. “I could tell you where good pawholds are…”

[Nearpaw]

Nearpaw froze when he felt something brush against his nose--it was brief, sure, but it was nonetheless...

Nevermind that. Nearpaw shook his head. It was just Oakpelt. His new mentor. Maybe it was custom for mentors to touch their new apprentices on the nose? He didn't know, he never actually saw the ceremony in action, he could only pick up the voices. Oh well.

"Would it help you if I went down first, Nearpaw?"

Nearpaw bit back a nasty response. His first instinct was to decline harshly, of course, but this was his mentor... And doing that would just start them off the wrong paw.

After a moment of silence, the blank faced apprentice mewed,"Sure."

[Oakpelt]

"All right," Oakpelt meowed, ears flattening slightly at the blank expression that crossed his apprentice's face. 'His apprentice'... Would he ever get used to that? The tabby tom shook his head briefly, as if in an attempt to clear it. Nearpaw was on the path of a medicine cat now. He couldn't change that, and there was surely no sense in worrying. Whatever was meant to come would come, right? He just had to focus on teaching and helping however he could. In fact, it was like climbing the Highrock--you had to go one pawstep at a time.

The tom slowly descended the great rock, trying to track every pawstep he took in an effort to hopefully aid Nearpaw. Perhaps his apprentice didn't need the help--honestly, Oakpelt wasn't sure. But even if Nearpaw didn't need the help, was it such a bad thing to know how to do something? Finally, he was on the ground, among his Clanmates once again, ready to meow to his apprentice just in case. For a heartbeat, the medicine cat's green gaze narrowed. The half-moon was coming soon. He and Nearpaw would have to travel to the Moonstone, to hold the ceremony in front of StarClan and the other Clans...

[Nearpaw]

Nearpaw's ears were fixed on the soft pawsteps of his mentor, the sound getting softer and softer with each passing heartbeat. Then, it stopped. Oakpelt must've reached the bottom.

Nearpaw took a few steps forward--big mistake. He teetered over the edge, paw fondling for a thing that was not there, and in an eyeblink, he crashed down from highrock, landing chest first, his puffed out tail and hindquarters high in the air.

Nearpaw let out a squeak. "Okay. That one hurt."