Drowning mind. {open}

[Moony]

An older light and dark gray apprentice sat in the clearing, staring at the ground with her good eye. She has hardly eaten and talked. Thoughts were flooding her mind, drowning it. Thoughts of her parents, Ashpaw, training, Keeva, Icepup, and the way Yellowstar was looking at her oddly. She felt like he wanted her to be a warrior already, she was barely 10 moons! Moonpaw had at least one moon of training, at least.

'Sightings of Keeva has been rare for us lately, but I don't know about the other packs. What if she's just waiting for us to let our guard down, or to steal another pup? Or maybe she is making her renegade stronger,' Moonpaw mused in her head. She scratched the ground with a claw, and traced her paw print. 'When I do find her, she will pay for killing my family!' Moonpaw snorted and kicked dirt over her paw print.

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

Echohowl was just returning with a wad of herbs in her mouth when she noticed Moonpaw. "Hey what's wrong?", she asked, setting her herbs down.

[Moony]

"Things just aren't the way they were, aren't they, Echohowl?" Moonpaw looked up, and fized her broken gaze on her's. The apprentice let out a small sigh, and closed her eyes. "Shadowpack is falling apart. Pups are being stolen, fights are breaking out between us, and my faith in our leader is slipping away. He does nothing. I want a leader who believes in justice, and follows the warrior code fully. Not one that thinks only of himself, believes in violence, or what he thinks is right for the pack, when it really isn't. I have gossiping, but it's true," she murmured quietly. Moonpaw opened her eyes and hung her head. "I doubt I have the makings of a leader, if I was one," she mumbled to herself.

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

Echohowl narrowed her eyes in thought. "That's true; we are falling apart. But we need to keep faith in Starpack. Nowadays, wolves are making all the wrong choices, freely breaking the code. If we can just hold on to what we believe in, we can be strong. I know Yellowstar isn't the leader we fully expected, but I have faith in Whiterain. She's under a lot of stress, but she hasn't broken faith yet; she's a good example of believing in herself, and I think she'll be a great leader.", Echohowl said, choosing her words carefully.

[Moony]

Moonpaw nodded in agreement. "As do I. Whiterain is the wolf to pull us out of the dark times, before it swallows the whole forest whole. I have faith in her, but she needs to put more faith in us, in the apprentices, younger warriors, and even the elder warriors," she agreed, choosing words carefully. Moonpaw laid down, just talking made her exhasuted. She had hardly any energy left, but she used the rest of it to talk to her friend. "I feel like I need....a........naaapp," she trailed off, as she closed her eyes. Her breathing was rough and fast.

Ashpaw padded over. "Hey Moonpaw, hey Echohowl!" he woofed. Then he saw Moonpaw's breathing. "Echohowl, is she okay? She hasn't eaten in suns, and was wanting to talk to you. I guess she did."

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

Echohowl gave Moonpaw poppy seeds and turned to Ashpaw. "She's really stressed and weak. If you can convince her to eat something, I'd appreciate it. She needs to get her strength up. I think I'll move her to my den until she feels better.", Echohowl sighed, casting Moonpaw a concerned look. She ignored the tingling feeling in her stomach. Ashpaw always made her feel that way.

[Moony]

Ashpaw nodded. "Echohowl!" he called after her. "Thanks for everything, again. You are a really special friend to me, I'm glad I got to know you," he woofed truthfully. He licked her ear in a friendly manner, then padded off to Moonpaw.

"Moonpaw, it's Ashpaw. If you can hear me, could you eat some moose with me?" he coaxed. She blinked open her eyes a slowly, and met Ashpaw's yellow gaze. "I'm not really hungry. I just want to rest, but some deer sounds good," she woofed. Ashpaw sighed, there was no deer in the pile. "I'll go hunting. I'll be back soon. Venomfang! Could you watch her for me?" he asked as he ran off. Venomfang nodded and sat beside Moonpaw.

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

Echohowl almost bent down to lick Ashpaw's ear, but stopped. Instead, she flicked Ashpaw's shoulder in a friendly way and smiled half-heartedly. "Me too.", and watched him go. Her smile faded as Venomfang came over. She had sparred with him the other day. She pushed the memory aside and tried to be friendly. She wanted to say, 'Hey Venonpaw', but thought that might work up his nerve. The she-wolf acknowledged him with a flick of her ear and she dipped her head. "Venomfang.", she said, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

[Moony]

"Echohowl," he bowed his head as well and woofed in a monotone.

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

There was silence for a few uneasy moments before Echohowl spoke again. "You know, I think we got off on the foot.", she said quietly, trying her best not to bring up the subject.

[Moony]

Venomfang sighed and nodded his head. "I believe we did," he woofed again, monotone. "He sttod up and bellowed,"Hello there. I am Venomfang." He gave a friendly wink towards Echohowl.

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

Echohowl couldn't help but smile. "I'm Echohowl. Pleased to meet you.", she giggled.

[Moony]

Venomfang laughed a little as well. "Nice pleasure to meet you."

Ashpaw came in with some deer and placed it in front of Moonpaw. She sniffed it, the took a little bite out of it.

[»|¢yηdєя|«]

nom nom nom

[Rosestar]

Snakepup padded up to the apprentices, giving Venomfang a weird look as he passed. he sat down and looked at Moonpaw. "hey, what's wrong with her?"