Written in the Stars

Snailpaw tensed at the sudden attention, whipping her head around. Her muzzle curled into a smirk at Tigertuft's challenge- of course she could do that! She hooked another pebble into her paw, eyeing the branch-covered entryway of the den. The warrior's next words gave her pause, however. That was... sure a raise in the stakes. She'd only been an apprentice for a short time and she already knew that gathering the mouse bile Frostbite needed for the elders was the absolute worst.

Even so, Snailpaw couldn't back down now. Her pride depended on it! "Alright, you're on! Just let me practice my form," she chirped and stretched out her paw, flexing the claws out of their sheaths. Her ears twitched, swiveling around as more pawsteps approached- "If you call it, you toss it."

Recognizing the voice of Cedarsong, she blinked a silent greeting to them before she turned back to Tigertuft. The apprentice puffed up smugly with a wiggle of her tail. "That's right!" Snailpaw nudged a stone towards the older cat with her paw with a bold look- though her look softened with gratitude as she glanced back at Cedarsong.

Here goes nothing, she thought, sending a prayer to StarClan to save her from tortuously long minutes of collecting bile. Taking a deep breath, Snailpaw loosened her shoulders and took the pebble back into her paw. She adjusted her angle as she squared up with the den's shaded entrance. A little more to the right, and.... whip! She let the stone go flying. It struck the earth, skipped a fox-length, and... skid to a halt just barely in the bramble frame. Snailpaw gulped, scrambling for a recovery.

"Uh- uh, y-you have to try it too, still! And if we both miss, we have to add another stake and go again!" Snailpaw's words tumbled out of her muzzle faster than she could think. You fool! She scolded herself. What if Tigertuft was secretly some kind of pebble-tossing champion!? She looked at the pebble by the brown tabby's paws and gulped.