its all [FUN]&games.;(dawnie)

[Roxie !]

Lesson of the day: boredom drives one to do crazy things. Though Jitterpaw supposed with her life experiences, she should've known this by now. Ah well, no one ever said she was a quick learner. She was curious, and had to see and experience everything for herself before she'd believe it...sometimes multiple times. It was a source of exasperation for many older warriors of the Clan, but it wasn't as if Jitterpaw cared...much. She didn't find trouble, trouble found her! And so what if she let it? Those warriors back at camp, they needed to lighten up a little. Hmph.

So what had brought the young RiverClan apprentice out here on this icy winter's day? It was simple. The river had frozen over at last. It seemed to worry many of her clanmates; they didn't like the fish supply being cut off. True, it made things harder, but it intrigued Jitterpaw. This would be her first leaf-bare, after all, as she'd been born in late new-leaf. She simply delighted in the snow, and hadn't yet missed a chance to play in it every time it fell. Snowflakes clung to her firey red pelt, which wasn't exactly subtle against the whiteness of the snow. So she wouldn't be the stealthiest apprentice that winter. Jitterpaw was a bit too hard-headed to rely on stealth anyway.

She supposed she should be hunting, in fact, she knew she should be hunting. But she'd caught a bird awhile back, and a squirrel, too. The Clan wasn't on the brink of starvation, was it? Jitterpaw always said that those who didn't make time to play in their daily routines would never enjoy life to its fullest. Given, she was an eight-moon-old apprentice, and her wisdom was a bit limited, but try telling her that. Besides, the river was frozen! It needed to be investigated! Right? Right? "If I were leader," She mused to herself, her light brown eyes narrowing playfully. "I'd send patrols out every day to check on the frozen river. I bet Badgerstar does! I bet it's top secret, and only the bravest warriors get the job. Yeah..." She was teasing herself now, and she grinned with the knowledge of it.

At this point, Jitterpaw had been surveying the frosted waters for awhile now, and was begininng to grow restless. She decided to see how far this condition extended. Trotting merrily down the shore, she directed her gaze ahead. And she hadn't been walking long when something caught her attention: this scent, those willows...this was Stepping Stones! But the rocks were now completely underwater! The river must have flooded before it had frozen, for now only dark shadows under the ice were visible where the stones used to be. Intrigued by this, Jitterpaw padded closer, her head tilted in a dog-like fashion of curiosity. It was like this was a whole different place now!

She reached the water's edge, and bent low to sniff it, but a noise distracted her. Her paw had pushed a small pebble out onto the ice, and now it rolled forward a few mouse-whiskers before stopping. Jitterpaw blinked once, before letting out a bit of a giggle. This could be interesting! The ice's surface was so smooth...why not exploit it? She leaped forward lightly, bent, and nudged the pebble again. It skidded sharply across the ice, veering off in an unsuspected direction. "Hey!" She hissed at it. "Get back here!" The way the young she-cat was chasing after it, you'd have thought it was the most valuable possession she owned. Her stubbornness was coming into play here, no doubt. But what was the harm, it was fun, after all.

The game went on for a few minutes before sure enough, the apprentice lost her footing. She skidded sideways, tail lashing wildly in an attempt to find her balance; but in vain. She fell with a soft smack on the ice, whiskers twitching in amusement at herself as she attempted to scowl. She didn't even know where the rock had gotten off to. So much for that.

[le Dawnz]

While the realization that Jitterpaw was a hopeless case had come long ago, predicting the apprentice's next move was beyond impossible. The fiery young she-cat was a dead ringer for a spastic opposite of her quiet, yet anything but timid, sister, Honeypaw. Jitterpaw's coat glowed in contrast against the soft white drifts of snow, blazing as if fire scorched her body with it's rapid tongue. The apprentice's sister, Honeypaw, however, had a downy golden coat. And as she made her way toward the river, following the she-cat's tracks until they stopped at the ice-covered shores, Honeypaw picked her paws up delicately, taking her time reaching her destination.

A cold chill had swept over the camp that morning. Rumors had floated through the warriors that the river had frozen over. It reached elder and apprentice ears before it had the leader's. Worry was spreading through the cats of RiverClan. They feared a possible invasion from ThunderClan, but Honeypaw knew better. The Clans had been awfully peaceful the past few moons, and ThunderClan had certainly been quietest. Beside, they were in no shape to attack RiverClan, which now thrived. Honeypaw had overheard Rosebloom speaking with Badgerstar about ThunderClan's troubles. Though she'd only caught the last part of the conversation, it was Honeypaw's understanding that ThunderClan didn't even have a leader. The she-cat couldn't help but wonder what was coming over cats these days. If anything should happen to the leader, it was the deputy's job to take their place. But it appeared as though ThunderClan didn't have a deputy, either. Shame.

The apprentice wondered if that meant that RiverClan would use this knowledge to their advantage. Then she thought better of it. They had too many ties with ThunderClan. It seemed as though the Warrior Code no longer applied to the cats of the forest anymore. It made Honeypaw sick. As she reached the banks of the River, she stopped and watched her sister swat and pounce at a small pebble that had dislodged itself from it's frozen prison. Sitting at the edge of the ice, Honeypaw curled her tail over her cold paws and waited for Jitterpaw to release the final round of her pent up energy. Leaf-bare had made her exceptionally hyper.

At the end of the she-cat's little pebble-tossing game, she came down with a thud on the thick ice. Honeypaw guessed that it would be frozen for quite some time if it was strong enough to withstand Jitterpaw's clumsy antics. Using her tail, she flicked a bit of loose snow from beside her at her sister, letting her presense be known before speaking so that Jitterpaw wouldn't scare herself into the leaf-bare. "I finally know what's wrong with you. You lack common sense." she teased blankly.

[Roxie !]

/When snow was sent flying her way, the RiverClan apprentice gave a tiny squeal of surprise, and managed to do a sort of flop over on the icy so that she was facing the direction of the shore now. It was a comical sight, and if a cat knew what a seal looked like, you might compare Jitterpaw to one now. Her autumn-brown gaze searched the shorelines quickly. While they had once looked like a sandy sort of beach, they now looked rather arctic, with snow overflowing and seeping onto the ice. Being an elegant golden color, her sister's pelt was a little more subtle against the snow than Jitterpaw's, but all the same it didn't take her long to spot Honeypaw watching her calmly from the shore. Jitterpaw's ear twitched in amusement. Had her sister been here all along? Typical for her to be sitting along the shorelines while Jitterpaw played clumsily on the ice. Though they were related, the two were as different as night and day, and yet they usually managed to get along well.

Jitterpaw began to attempt to stand up, shakily at first. She lifted one fore-paw, then the next, but as soon as she moved her back paws it all came crashing down. Literally. Her front paws slipped forward, and she was down on the ice again. She snorted in frustration, but by no means gave up. It took a few more disastrous tries before she finally succeeded on getting to her feet. Jitterpaw pretended to scowl slightly, knowing that Honeypaw was probably finding this all very amusing. It wasn't this she commented on however, as she made her way carefully over to her sister and gave her pelt a quick shake, sending the snow that had landed there previously flying in the other apprentice's direction. Her own form of payback. Of course, some of the snow somehow managed to find its way forward as well, so that the spray of it caused her to narrow her eyes and sneeze several times.

"Honeypaw!" She spat in mock-anger, her eyes narrowing playfully as they met the golden-pelted she-cat's gaze. "You could have killed me!" Of course, this was ridiculous, but Jitterpaw tended to have a somewhat random personality that abandoned all laws of reality. One got used to it. Her fiery fur fluffed out, she stepped off of the ice carefully and half-circled around Honeypaw with her head lowered as if she meant to attack her. By the time she reached her sister's other side, however, all pretense of seriousness was dropped entirely, and she brushed against the other apprentice in greeting. She then stood still, tail flicking back and forth idly.

"I don't lack it," Jitterpaw informed her sister with a twitch of her whiskers. "I just choose to ignore it." She purred loudly as an afterthought, as if this were something to be proud of. Pfft, who needed 'common sense' anyhow? That being said, Jitterpaw sat down next to her, back straightened, staring straight ahead with a tail curled tightly around her paws. Ears erect, chin raised, and not so much as a whisker twitched. She was mocking her sister's serious stance, and perhaps exaggerating it a bit. But then, Jitterpaw tended to exaggerate everything. And knowing her...erm...energetic disposition, she probably wouldn't be able to hold the pose for long. Place your bets now.

She allowed a moment of silence to pass in this position, trying to keep any hint of amusement from showing. "Well I say, this is remarkably entertaining." She commented sarcastically, making sure to use bigger words than she ever would, imitating the older warriors and their seriousness now. To give her credit, Jitterpaw still wasn't showing any signs of amusement at this point. "Now, no more of your shenanigans, young apprentice. You know perfectly well that under normal circumstances, I am most definately the most refined, unhumorous, austere feline in this entire organization." Jitterpaw sniffed quietly and turned to meet Honeypaw's gaze with narrowed eyes.

"It's just this dratted hyperborean weather, I'm afraid........" Jitterpaw paused dramatically before continuing. "It gives me energy!"

At this point, she simply lost it. Entirely. Her 'serious' stance was abandoned, and she sprang up onto her hind legs because of the sheer momentum of her laughter, threatening to fall backward at one point before landing on the ground again, still giggling to herself. "Gosh, I crack myself up! But that was killing me. I mean, how to warriors do it?! Do they never play? At all? Some life! I mean, it's not as if I wouldn't hunt or defend my Clan, I just wouldn't be so completely up tight about it. You know?...No, don't answer that. Anywaaay, how've you been?" Yes, incase you hadn't noticed, Jitterpaw liked to talk. Alot.