The she-cat would never recover from this instant. Mentally. Her pelt prickled as his tail was laid over her spine, reminding her of when they first met—and of her I-O-U.
Oh dear.
She could act nonchalant! This was nothing. Forcibly smoothing her fur, she cleared her throat. "They're still quite young... But considering the clear absence of a disciplinarian... Well." There was a brief pause accompanied by silence before she copied his gesture, her tail lightly settling on his back too.
Her voice lowered to a mere whisper and she spoke, "I'm going to sound dense, but. Were you poking fun at me, or were you... Um. Serious just now?" Cedarstrike wasn't usually one to beat around any bush, but attention in this respect seemed to make her sheepish and unsure of herself.
Mountaintalon simply hummed in response to her initial words. There wasn't much to be said there that hadn't already been voiced. The rapscallions clearly needed a better minder.
With her question, however, he inclined his head and smiled. "I don't make a habit of making fun of cats I take a liking to, my dear. Yes, of course I'm being serious."
heavily scarred & skinny black tom with white speckles; cloudy light amber eyes. walks with a prominent limp & has protruding fangs that overlap his bottom lip.
content + interaction warning : this character frequently explores themes of mental health, complex trauma, and abuse
the silent ticked on, for a moment he thought he missed the sound of pawsteps fading away and was simply staring into nothingness until he heard it. a quiet shuffle, someone settling next to him.
wormbite attempted to hold out hope that perhaps the apprentice would simply stay in silence, simply trying to get a spot in the crowd. of course, this was vanished when the thunderclanner piped up with questions of all things. his expression kept blank, but he hunched down slightly — as if maybe if he was smaller, she would stop paying attention to him.
he gave a short nod in response, figuring there was no use in lying when riverclan had a rather distinct scent. he kept his gaze fixated to the ground, attempting to focus to hear if any of the leaders were speaking.
".. damp, yes. perhaps more.. mucky near where we fish, but even then the floor typically consists of sand or gravel. depends on the area. " he answered after a while, keeping his answers short and non-descriptive. the less a thunderclanner knew the better, but how .. soggy riverclan was wasn't particularly useful. besides, it was far from boggy. the streams and the rivers - ponds; lakes, they were all much more pleasant than such a word like boggy implied.
wormbite's ear twitched as fadingstar begun to speak. brief, but works. no one seemed to be complaining too much.
after a while, he finally prompted the apprentice, ".. shouldn't you go sit with your mentor?" wasn't that the typical standard? at least for younger apprentices. he was offering a way out.
★ ULTIMATE PREDATOR ★ JUST A SCRATCH ★ SHADOW FIEND ★ SURVIVAL INSTINCTS
Re: September Gathering
