[p] it's not like i haven't been here before, i've been here before

[seeingstars]

Wormpaw • He / It • 7+ Moons
3 / 100 Posts

Wormpaw padded into camp silently, a fat mouse and a squirrel dangled from his jaw. He dropped them on the fresh-kill pile, his pale gaze locked onto the pile. He’d been working himself ragged ever since he’d been made an apprentice to try and distract himself from the anxiety constantly clawing in the back of his mind.

Just before his apprentice ceremony, he’d been caught sneaking out of camp. On this trip, he’d met a Thunderclan apprentice named Vinepaw. They’d talked for a bit and that was when Wolfhive, Mistlewhisker, and Lostspark showed up. The interaction lasted maybe 20 seconds before he was ushered back to camp. Since then it’d been silence.

The Shadowclan apprentice’s brows furrowed as he continued thinking. Why haven't I heard anything yet? Why was I made an apprentice? Was she just going to kill me? What is going on? The thoughts made him nauseous. Wormpaw’s tail tip twitched anxiously behind it as continued staring blankly at the pile of prey in front of himself.

The thought of running away briefly crossed his mind... but he couldn't, well maybe... maybe he'd ask Wildpaw and Mosquitopaw to run away with him, they could all share a den and take care of each other-

What the hell am I thinking? I can't leave, this is my home. This is their home, it'd be rude of me to ask that. He sucked a sharp breath in through his teeth before exhaling softly. Calm down, I'm fine... I think I'm fine... I hope i'm fine... his thoughts raced.


{ Mosquitopaw / @nyme }

[nyme]

TIMID TWITCH IN YOUR WIDE EYES

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✧ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

MOSQUITOPAW . 6 MOONS . HE/HIM . SHADOWCLAN

Shadowclan doesn't have any elders.

This vexes Mosquitopaw.

If part of his new reaponsibilities is to look after elders and there are no elders then what is he supposed to look after? Senior warriors? That seems demeaning to everyone involved...the queens in the nursery? He's not opposed to it, but he just left the nursery and the last thing he really wants to do is go right back to hanging around in there. Plus, little kits are scary, and they always move faster than he expects...what if he steps on one?!

So, Mosquitopaw spends his freetime in the first few days of his apprenticeship cleaning out the empty elder's den. If nothing else, he can make sure no bugs have gotten in and no debris has built up so that nobody has to tidy up last minute by the time they finally do have an elder to sleep there. He cleans and cleans, and he tries not to wonder if the lack of elders is because nobody in Shadowclan ever lives long enough to grow comfortably old, and then he cleans some more. It's on one of these last trips ferrying old moss and tattered leaves out of the den that—oh! Wormpaw! Delight cues a little gasp-and-grin combo that would be endearing if it hadn't caused Mosquitopaw to inadvertantly drop old bedding on himself. Euck!

"Wormpaw! Uh, h-hold up," Mosquitopaw sucks his teeth, gathering up his mess and zipping past the spotted apprentice to to away with it all before he's back, puffing a little bit. "Hah, that's nice, I like it. Wormpaw. Uh, so!! So, what have um, what have you b-been up to? Is your mentor nice? Are you...are you okay?" He pauses, blinking hard at Wormpaw. Now that he's really looking at it, the other cat seems...hrm. Mosquitopaw sits, leaning back and looking closely at Wormpw for a quiet moment before he remembers:

"Oh! And, hi. Hello."

@seeingstars ; WORMPAW