Honeybite lifts their gaze at the sounds of Clanmates passing them by, though did not disturb where they lay to bother trying to greet them. Their next breath came out as a rumble, ears twitching this way and that as more cats left their dens to greet the rising sun, and scamper off to their duties.....
It was rather unlikely, actually, that many of them would be leaving to complete tasks. Dawnstar had said as much at the last clan meeting, and the shadow queen was no liar. Didn't need to be.
The cream patched russet tabby could see it in the fact that lately there have been fewer and fewer spots to lay around for a good sunbathing.
Speaking of.... They turned and growled at a Clanmate that had plopped almost atop of them to steal the warmth.
They received a spat back, and instead of fighting over who was allowed to spend the rest of the day being lazy, they picked themself up, and made sure their back paw kicked a few flecks of dirt in the other warriors face before scampering off, tail lashing.
Well, relaxing was out of the question if this was how their own Clanmates were going to treat them. Besides, hadn't they just judged the others for not completing their duties?
Sighing, they let their eyes slide across the clearing, looking for anything to give them an idea how they should be productive today. Hmmm.... Surely, there were dens needing to be cleaned, buuut.... There were plenty of apprentices that could be called to do such tasks.
They'd long finished being the one that cleaned the dens.
Their lips peeled over their teeth at remembering their time as an apprentice, being treated as a beast of burden when the Clan was short on paws, and they always were... No, they would not be cleaning dens today.
Instead, they looked for any number of the newly named apprentices. Surely, if warriors weren't completing patrols, they weren't training the cats they'd been assigned to teach the ways of the Clan.
To their knowledge, the dearest Enforcer Commander had been taking the brunt of these duties upon himself, and was perhaps the only reason they'd recently had any warriors named
Several of them seemed to still be in camp, neglected as they had suspected.
Carefully, they gauged each apprentice. Many of them were too rowdy, or looked ready to claw the first cat that so much as looked at them. They were not in a mood to deal with children in their emo phases, so they continued looking.
Then, Sleepypaw came into view.
Hmmm, perhaps. They knew little about her other than she was Larkfire's (they were not calling her a name as demeaning as Lostspark) daughter, her first litter before she'd very briefly become mates with Darkfall.
They sat for a bit, contemplating. She was just named, and therefore had no previous knowledge. However, surely she would not train with just anyone who offered.
Anyone who was kin of both Dawnstar and the Medicine Cat would have standards for where their training came from. She would be more likely to want unique training, fit for the kin of High Ranks.
Sighing, they stood and slowly approached the apprentice, formulating how they would broah the topic of teaching climbing.
"Morning's blessings upon you, Sleepypaw." They tilted their head in a silent greeting to accompany their words.
"Camp is rather crowded today, it seems. Could I perhaps sit with you? The last cat that sat by me nearly squashed me beneath them."
A silly idea, if Honeybite wasn't such a small cat. Built like a sparrow, lithe and limber, and perfectly squishable, as they almost discovered mere minutes ago.
[ @
Estelle ]
Honeyed Words and Sleeping Dogs
