[ti]Open[/ti]Dawn of a New Day

[Fireflake]

Mantispaw stood triumphantly almost in the middle of camp, trying to catch her breath. She had spent all of her free time the previous day building a mound of snow. Now it was far more solid and the young she-cat added a bit more height before pouncing up on top of it. The light of the rising sun shone in her yellow eyes and reflected in a golden effect aided by her positive expression.

"Good morning!" she called to the camp. So it might get her in trouble with any light sleepers. So what? It was a new day, a new moon, and a new opportunity to make friends and help the clan. The she-cat decided there wasn't much her fellow apprentices could do about her waking them, so she hopped down and stuck her head in the den. "Morning, everyone! I'm doing a new bet thing," she announced. "Who wants to do it with me?"

Without waiting for any sort of response, she clambered back onto her mound and filled her chest with air, waiting to make a speech she'd run over in her mind all night.

[ServalSkye]

Fireflake
OOC: have my big mood Cinderleaf

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Cinderleaf had been doing nothing but sleeping all day. Doing work and whatnot was not her thing today, and she would be cranky if she was woken up, and being woken up was exactly what just happened now. The Khao Manee woke up and looked around, and noticed the source of the voice was Mantispaw, that bubbly tabby apprentice. Rolling her eyes, the warrior got up and strode over to the mound, narrowing her eyes. "What are you doing waking everyone up?" Cinderleaf asked, her bicolored eyes squinting at the apprentice. "You look like you're preparing for some kind of speech. Excuse me if I'm incorrect, but I only think the leader and deputy does that." She backed away and sat down, yawning lazily.

"And what kind of...bet thing?" Cinderleaf then asked.

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[Fireflake]

Mantispaw bounced on the balls of her paws as she saw Cinderleaf approach. She'd never had the chance to speak to the warrior before, since the other cat had left the apprentice den the same moon she got in. Now was a new opportunity and she didn't seem to care that the older she-cat's demeanor was less than excited. "Do you see Brackenstar or Eveningblaze anywhere?" she challenged, leaning forward. The challenge had worked better before the two had returned from the Twolegplace but still rang true while they slept out of sight. "Anyway, they only talk on the rock, and I'm Eveningblaze's daughter so that gives me half-rights to make speeches."

It was probably more that she was Ruststripe's daughter, resident troublemaker in her own apprentice moons, that gave Mantispaw the idea that she could do this. Before anyone had time to call her out on it, she cleared her throat, stood up, and moved onto the speech she'd been practicing in her head all night. "As for the the bet, it's a way to celebrate and keep making MothClan better! New things are happening all the time. It's a new day in a new moon, and even though Newleaf is still ages away that doesn't mean we can't start new traditions. This is a challenge-- that's what I'm calling them, challenges-- to make a bet with yourself."

The she-cat stood up and drew another deep breath in as she puffed her chest out. "You bet yourself that you can do something this moon, or this season, or until this time next season. Say it out loud and I'll see if you win the bet or not. Who wants to try first?"
She looked around and her perked ears slipped a bit at the lack of other cats around. Never mind. She could repeat the speech if anyone asked, and she'd be spreading the challenge for the rest of the day at least.

[ServalSkye]

// CINDERLEAF //
// MothClan Warrior | Khao Manee | 14 moons | She-cat //

Fireflake

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Cinderleaf narrowed her eyes more at Mantispaw as she asked if Cinderleaf had seen Eveningblaze or Brackenstar anywhere. "No." Came the warrior's blunt reply. She let out a snort of contempt after Mantispaw said that because she was Eveningblaze's daughter, she had half-rights to make speeches. "Did he even tell you that?" Cinderleaf then challenged, sneering. "Look, kid. You're just an apprentice, so you're young. You're going to think you can do anything for a bit. Unless you actually have half-rights to make speeches." 

When Mantispaw then went on with her speech, Cinderleaf, who was obviously disinterested, didn't listen to a single word the apprentice spoke, but she pretended to. Cinderleaf only picked up on a bit of it, but she mainly ignored the rest of it. Of course Cinderleaf could do something, as simple as maybe trying to find a bit to hunt. She honestly thought Mantispaw was mouse-brained in her opinion. Cinderleaf could make an even better challenge. "How about you challenge yourself?" She asked in a sassy manner. "You're an apprentice still, as well. Maybe participate too?" Cinderleaf didn't care if she was getting on Mantispaw's nerves.

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[Fireflake]

Mantispaw went on through Cinderleaf's protests for the benefit of any others listening but mostly for herself. The speech wrapped her up and insulated her. When she had nothing else to say, she had to face the warrior quietly. She swallowed hard and slumped slightly. Deciding after a moment to hide the actions in a bigger one, she leaned down and cleared her throat directly on eye level with the older cat. So her snow lump had been a good idea.

"I am participating," she replied. She had hoped her tone would be level like her father's and Brackenstar's, but there was an edge to it that gave away her annoyance. The apprentice stood up tall again and raised her voice to call out hopefully, "I just thought I'd give someone else the chance to go before me, since I'll usually be the first doing my challenges from now on."
Her yellow gaze flicked back to the white she-cat. "Why don't you go first, Cinderleaf? You know you can still improve your skills now that you've become a warrior, right?"

[Rai]

 Mudkit | M | MothClan

His mother was dozing still, a heavy sleeper in her own right and not the sort to wake over the sound of a young voice ringing out across the camp, but Mudkit was much more sensitive to sound and while he hadn't made out the words it was clear someone was speaking quite a lot. It was enough to rouse him from the soft fold of his mother's tail and with long dancing steps he bounded out of the nursery to find the source of the sound. The kitten paused, stretched a leg out behind himself and his paws out before him, the languid movements the only lingering sign that he'd just woken as seconds after he was toddling along across the camp to the first sign of cats he could see. It looked like-oh, he was bad with names-an apprentice he'd seen before a lot talking to Cinderface? Cindertail?
'Cinderleaf.' That was it, yup, he'd seen her before plenty. The warriors were very good about keeping the nursery queens fed though most of them never lingered to play.
Mudkit only caught the tail end of whatever it was the apprentice was saying but it was enough to peek his interest, "Challenge? Are you playing a game? Can I play too? I'm good at challenges!" The faint animosity between the two she-cats was lost to him entirely and he happily stumbled up to stand next to Cinderleaf, dancing from paw to paw with excitement.

[Fireflake]

Mantispaw stared at Cinderleaf, her eyes locking onto the warrior that seemed to have an issue with her. Small pawsteps pattered toward them but she was too sucked into her feud to break away now. Maybe she would have frozen in that spot and stayed forever, becoming a MothClan legend as the moons went by, if not for the voice calling her back to reality. Suddenly she remembered the reason she was standing out there in the first place.

A clanmate's chipper, high-energy voice restored her former excitement, pushing her annoyance at Cinderleaf into the fold of things less important that making new friends. "Mudkit!" she greeted. The apprentice jumped down and put herself between the kit and Cinderleaf so that she could completely ignore the older cat while talking to the younger one. She cleared her throat and stood up tall.

"We are playing a game, sort of! It's called a challenge. It's a way for MothClan cats to keep getting better and celebrate how awesome we already are."
She paused and threw a glance over her shoulder. "Some of us, anyway."
She looked back to Mudkit. "It's a new day in a new moon today, and it'll be forever until there are new plants growing, but that doesn't mean new traditions and fun cats can't grow, right?"

Mantispaw lifted a paw and momentarily touched Mudkit's head as she spoke about fun cats growing. "That's why I'm starting this challenge thing, and this moon's challenge is to challenge yourself. Like, I'm challenging myself to make a challenge every moon until this time comes around again."
She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Mudkit. "And I think Cinderleaf is challenging herself to be a total downer all the time."
The apprentice drew back and stared at the kit with bright yellow eyes. "Why don't you challenge yourself next?"

[ServalSkye]

Fireflake, Rai

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Cinderleaf was distracted when she noticed a kit appear, a rather energetic one. "Wow, another mouse-brain to join the party." She muttered. The Khao Manee just looked around as Mantispaw and Mudkit talked, but when Mantispaw mentioned her, Cinderleaf hissed and placed a paw on the apprentice's head, lightly pushing it down in the snow without wanting to harm Mantispaw, despite wanting to.

"Hey! You better watch it." Cinderleaf warned, before looking at Mudkit. "What are you doing here? You want to join in on these stupid challenges? They seem easy, wouldn't call them a challenge."

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[Rai]

 Mudkit | M | MothClan

He scrunched his face slightly as the apprentice greeted him, trying to draw her name from his memory because-at one point-his mother HAD told him the names of everyone in the camp as they happened by the nursery but he had been distracted by the clouds above them being drawn out into long strings from the sharp winds.

After a moment he broke into a smile, whiskers twitching, "Mantispaw!" The kitten greeted back with equal enthusiasm for recalling the name and equal enthusiasm for being included in this little gathering she had called for. His mismatched eyes darted to Cinderleaf briefly as the apprentice stepped between them but his interest quickly shifted back to Mantispaw as she began to speak and his eyes gradually widened at her words until he was all but leaning forward on his front paws alone with his hindlegs balanced lightly off the ground as he tilted before settling back upright before he lost his balance entirely and went face first into the snow.

The paw on his head brought him back to focus and he turned his gaze once more to Cinderleaf at the whispered remark, teeth flashing in amusement though he managed to refrain from making further comments to avoid the older cats ire. 
Mudkit opened his mouth to enthusiastically declare his intent to challenge himself into becoming a wolverine but his proclamation was cut off by Cinderleaf's angry voice lashing out; his ears fell flat as she turned on Mantispaw with a swift paw to the head before turning to him with an annoyed tone he'd heard used plenty by his own mother. A tone he rarely listened to from Fallowtail as is so it hardly shook him to any degree from anyone else.

What was he doing here? What?
"I live here! In the nursery! And I guess they are easy cause you really are doing a good job at being a downer like Mantispaw said! " Mudkit's short fur bristled out unhappily, small tail lifted into a curl at his back like a snake rising to strike. What he lacked in size and skill he made up for in being willing to stupidly throw himself into the fray against a grown warrior rather than slink back to the nursery like his mother would rather him be doing.

[Fireflake]

Mantispaw flattened her ears as her nose dipped into the snow. She had just finished wiping the wet powder away and opened her mouth to speak when Mudkit did instead. Her ears pricked again. She shot him a look of admiration for his comment. A crouch and a tail-waggle later, she was back on top of her snow mound, looking out on her divided crowd of two.

"Well, you're the one making the challenge this time, so if it's too easy that's not my fault," she stated simply, shooting Cinderleaf a mischievous look as she straightened up once again. Sure, the warrior had a higher place in the clan, but she didn't have a snow mound. "Mudkit! I bet you can come up with a good challenge for yourself. Why don't you show Cinderleaf how it's done?"