#ferncurl

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“Working hard, Gladepaw?” Gladepaw turned around as Ferncurl padded toward her. She set the twigs she had been carrying down. “Or is it more like hardly working?” He chuckled. 

Gladepaw gestured at the twigs. “I’m helping Hazyblotch work on a second layer around the elders’ den,” she explained.

Ferncurl tilted his head. “Haven’t you just gotten back from hunting with Flasheye?”

Gladepaw shrugged. “It’s for the Clan.” 

She hated to admit it, even to herself, but jealousy had a constant fizzle on her skin. It wasn’t deep, not a thought that was front and centre and all she obsessed over. But it was enough to frustrate her. She wasn’t a bad apprentice, no, she was average. 

Nothing of note.

Flintpaw, however, was excelling. It seemed that every move they learned, he mastered before the training sessions were ever even over. 

Gladepaw was happy for him, she was! She just…Why wasn’t she as good? The only conclusion she could come to is that he was better than her, plain and simple. Working until her muscles ached and then some was her way of proving those thoughts wrong.

Ferncurl seemed to notice her shadowed expression. “Y’know,” he said casually, “it’s good to contribute to the Clan, but make sure you take some time to grow up. Working isn’t everything. Now’s the time for you to get out and explore!” He sighed. “I sorta miss those days, myself.” He brushed his tail over her ears. “Think about it.” Then he padded toward the fresh-kill pile.

Gladepaw watched him leave. Was he right? It had only been a moon since they started training…Maybe she was thinking too much. 

Picking up the twigs, she carried them to the elders den and set them beside where Hazyblotch and Snowfoot were pulling out dried leaves. Then, hesitating for a second, she turned and headed to the apprentices’ den.

The den was empty, save for Flintpaw, who was batting a pebble back and forth between his paws.

“What are you doing?”

Flintpaw didn’t take his eyes off of his game. “I found this really round pebble when Cloverspeck took me fishing,” he told her.

Gladepaw couldn’t contain the scoff. “You should have been paying attention.” She wasn’t sure why her tone was so mean, and instantly worried that she had upset her brother.

Flintpaw didn’t seem to notice. “We’re only apprentices once,” he explained, not really paying attention. “Gotta have fun, right?”

Annoyance dug at Gladepaw’s pelt like an irritating tick. She twisted back to the den entrance. “You play around, I’m going to help repair the elders’ den.”

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Flintpaw is the perfect apprentice, and though Gladepaw is close with her brother and is happy for his achievements, she can't help but feel bad, and wonders why she's not as good.

So she pushes herself hard, until Ferncurl, the other medicine cat besides her father and his apprentice, convinces her to take a break. Gladepaw goes to do so, but seeing Flintpaw--the perfect apprentice, playing after he wasn't even listening in training, resparks her frustration and she goes right back out to work.

PROMTS:

--Flintpaw plays with a pebble that he saw while distracted training, and basically tells Gladepaw YOLO.