Well. It was quick, but it wasn't disastrous. Whatever feelings he might have about meeting with his mentor, Mosquitopaw quickly gets to work on trying not to dwell on them. Thinking too hard about stuff doesn't seem to ever be productive, and he figures he should probably start trying to learn that lesson and move on instead of allowing it take him another dozen pawfuls of awkward word-fumbling to wise up. See, it's so easy to know that, but executing it...
Hey, wait, no. This counts as dwelling. He dwelled. Darn.
Okay, okay, this is stupid. Here:
-Mudslide gave you the plan and she's got other stuff to do so you don't have to stand here waiting for something to happen
-Nothing bad has happened so quit acting like you're in trouble or somethin'
-Your friends are apprentices, now, too
Mosquitopaw wrenches himself out of his own tired nonsense by focusing on his buddies, instead. It's easier and easier to not go getting sidetracked by his own thoughts when he can point them at his friends, instead. He is so excited for them! Shadepaw will probably impress her mentor right away, being as sneaky as she is. Wormpaw will get to go outside of camp safely and officially, now. Wildpaw will finally have her friends from the nursery sharing the same den with her, again, so hopefully she'll feel less lonely. And...and of course, it's also a happy day for the other apprentices in the lineup, too—Ashpaw, Palepaw, Wisppaw—, though he's not sure of any specifics for those three. It's a good thing he'll have plenty of time to ask.
So...so hm. He can see Shadepaw a ways away, coolly conversing with her mentor. Better not interrupt. And Wormpaw...is also talking to its mentor. Okay. That's okay! Mosquitopaw's mired in this long awkward pause, craning his narrow face this way and that to try and find some place he can put himself away, some cat he can ease in next to without it being an interruption of some kind. He doesn't want to leave just yet, even though the meeting's been adjourned, because that most certainly means spending more time along, thinking.
Wildpaw!
Copper eyes lock tightly to a familiar ginger coat. She's someone he knows, someone he's fond of, and she isn't currently preoccupied with some other conversation so she's perfect for the time being. Mosquitopaw skitters over, settling near her and speaking in a soft rush:
"Wildpaw! Hello! I did it, I'm a 'paw! I-I'm gonna make sure I getcha something when I go out, okay? First thing." He hasn't forgotten promising a gift to her in return for the cool feather. Soon, he'll be able to deliver. "Couldja show me which nest is yours? L—, uh, later? I wanna make mine close to it okay?" Mosquitopaw hasn't been able to shake her admission that her nest felt lonely, that once, and he's also...alright, truth be told he has this dorky little hope of getting all the cats he knows to arrange their nests close together. It just seems—nice. Like sharing with littermates.
She didn't need pity. She needed to get her head straight. Mudslide blinked her blue eyes at her apprentice before cooly lifting up her head and wrapping her tail around her paws once more. Her apprentice had noticed her panic, her anxiety, it made her want to melt into nothing. The tall she-cat just nodded her head in response, large ears catching on sunlight. As much as she appreciated the assurance, she couldn't trust it. Anycat could be malicious, anycat kind. Mudslide couldn't grow another soft spot for a cat, that'd only be setting her up for something that nearly broke her the first time it happened.
Mosquitopaw seemed to be a fine cat. He wasn't loud or brash (which was great) and maybe even a bit jumpy himself. Like Roachflare. Mudslide found herself relaxing her shoulders as false hope welled inside her. No. No. Just train the kid, make him a warrior, then pray that Dawnstar didn't acknowledge her as a living part of the clan for anything else.
The warrior wondered what she should do now. Did she have to sit with Mosquitopaw? Try and strike conversation with him? Both options were just as bad as trotting back to Rookfire. She had heard what he'd said, or tried to say at least. He wanted to know more about her and Mudslide wasn't about to give him an inch. She didn't know him, he didn't know her. Perhaps he was just being friendly, but Mudslide needed to be insignificant and unnoticeable. Rookfire couldn't know too much about her. Though, if she wanted to refrain from getting herself on a list of suspicious cats, spilling some watered down information about herself would probably save her tail from further unwanted attention.
"Soon," Mudslide murmured, making a mental list of the requirements for a Shadowclan warrior. "Sunrise." She elaborated, feeling it would be best if things began ripe and early despite her obvious lack of sleep. Gosh, she really needed to sleep.
Once the she-cat weaved her way back to Rookfire, (the sick and longing feeling came back and Mudslide nearly beelined away from him entirely) she abruptly answered his question about her time in Shadowclan, her voice as hollow and low as ever. "Didn't," she mewed, her gaze far from his. "Loner." She didn't grow up in Shadowclan, she grew up in a broken family. Then she stumbled onto Shadowclan in search of the river that bordered Riverclan, but the marshes had obviously messed her up.
wow so mudslide was really going to make rookfire carry this entire conversation but at least weirdly named apprentice had showed up to bug mudslide but he decided to ignore them apart from glaring down once in a while, just for funsies. rook wasnt genuinely the kind of person to go around scaring apprentices, but a portion of healthy respect was good, and whilst he couldnt use his size to make his very own red carpet in a battle at the moment, having apprentices fear him was probably alright as well. maybe was rookfire really wanted was to be admired, to be someone others looked at and saw something worth being and not just a means to an end, a tool, or the history that still clung to him.
anyway, mudslide was still more interesting than the apprentice stuttering whatever, next to them, there had been some noise that sounded more interesting than whatever mosquitopaw was saying so rookfire had turned his head to inspect what was going on in an almost owlish manner, more so listening than watching due to the lack of actual vision he had in that eye. until the warrior finally responded, making rookfire refocuss and effectively reshuffling what he thought of her. loner huh. he had been convinced she was born and raised shadowclan but honestly now that he thought about it for more than a second, it was awfully unlikely to be living in shadowclan your whole life, have no family and barely (one) friends. "same, been a while since i was out there though" rookfire shrugged, expertly ignoring the time he spent between riverclan and shadowclan, lingering near the border yet very much in the outskirts. he was curious how much time mudslide had spent beyond the borders though, how recently the warrior had found her way to shadowclan and why. the why was always intriguing. his own story, driven by emotion and betrayal (with direct conflict with a leader for stars sake), was hardly the norm so he didnt expect any high entertainment here, but anything was something..
[ does this make sense? i do not know. ]
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"i wish things were different, but it werent us who changed."
Re: ShadowClan Grimpeak
