Sharing bonds

[Estelle]

It had been some time since they last spoke. She hadn’t laid her eyes on Miss Grandmama and shared a personal few words since gaining the status of warrior and enforcer, not counting the enforcer meeting. And truthfully, she missed her. Sleepysunrise was well accustomed to missing her mama for lengthy periods on end, much as it broke her heart, though it was minutely different with her grandmother; spending time training at the feline’s side, observing and analysing her every move and tactic, having spent time sharing a den with whom she admired as much – she wanted to see her Miss Grandmama again.

And now, too, something seemed to be changing about Miss Grandmama. She had been growing visibly rounder (not that she would say as much, Sleepysunrise seemed to be blind to the cause), and her mood appeared awfully sour. Perhaps it was the time she had spent with Bleedingpaw and Birdpaw rubbing off on her, but a part of her wanted to see her grandmother in a better mood… However better it could get. And much like with mama, you gained little of her time if you didn’t seek her out first. So, that is what Sleepysunrise opted to do today.

She had walked on quiet paws to the den Miss Grandmama called her home, peering into the dimly lit light, rather certain her grandmother was inside based on the few wayward sounds she thought to hear from inside – but no seeming meeting going on.
“Miss Grandmama. May I enter?”
She spoke, awaiting her necessary permission before ducking her head and entering the den, greeting Dawnstar with a light nod as she stood to face her. She knew Miss Grandmama ought to not appreciate any dilly dallying, and yet Sleepysunrise was left with a stark lack a words.

“...How have you been?”
She began, first and foremost, reminiscent of the manners she held to such importance. Asking how she was doing; watching her grandmother with a trained eye, noting the evident changes in her appearance and lingering on her own words for a few moments.
“I wanted… To see you. I missed you.”
The very words surprised Sleepysunrise coming from her own mouth, not expecting such honesty in the wake of her… Unceremonious passing out upon gaining her name, a memory that still left a bitter taste.

“I thought… If you had time. We could play that game.”
The memory replayed in her mind, wanting to play her first game with Miss Grandmama, the leader having indulged the idea when she was a kit – would she still now?
“Nightshiver told me of one. One cat hides, the other seeks them; by scent only.”
Perhaps that would be a decent change of pace; a practice for her own tracking skills all the while enjoying time with Miss Grandmama, lest should the leader prefer a different activity – Sleepysunrise, by all means, was not difficult in that regard.


[ @Undertaker - Couldn't quite figure it out between a private or public thread, but considering my track record, I figured this would be less difficult for me to accidentally lose ]

[Undertaker]

@Estelle - Sleepysunrise [You're like me, I fail at keeping track of public threads worse than private and I'm not great at the latter to begin with. ]
She was a bit restless today but didn't feel like going out and being bugged by her clanmates, and hunting was out of the options considering her belly. She could go on a walk, but every time she did that she always ran into those outsiders either wanting to join or wasting her time. So today she spent time messing with the few trinkets in her den. Dawnstar has debated this for a while, but she should return to the old camp and collect at least the bones in her old den.

She had a nice collection of those and was not accustomed to having such a large den so bare. Her prior thoughts were disturbed by the voice outside of the lichen-covered entrance. Dawnstar's found that all her grandkids had different ways of calling her. Sleepysunrise was usually the longest and seemingly most respectful.

"Enter, granddaughter," Dawnstar replied turning away from the wall she had been facing. It's been a while since she's spent time with this one. Considering how much they spent during her apprenticeship, it was difficult to ignore how the new rank and responsibility drew them apart. But Dawnstar got used to having an empty den after a time.

The she-cat's usual irritability was ever present even in front of Sleepysunrise, among the few she-cats who served as the pride of Dawnstar's family, but it was mute immensely. Her tattered ears flickered at the mundane question, she'd probably never get used to that.

"Exhausted and testy, so the usual. I'm assuming you've been well?" She replied with a soft sigh. It was a chore not to snap at Sleepysunrise for no reason. Still, she was doing her best. She noticed her former apprentice's long stare and cocked her head slightly to the right. It took her a few seconds for Dawnstar to figure Sleepysunrise probably had no idea the leader was pregnant. If Dawnstar did not pick up on the slight change in pregnant cats' scents she'd be uncertain too.

The next exchange left her weirdly pleased. She had never heard in her life that someone missed her. It left her unexpectedly warm inside, which she assumed had to do with obtaining some resemblance to an actual family, the one thing Dawnstar selfishly coveted, even if she wasn't the best at reciprocating her feelings in words. She did get up to butt her head against Sleepysunrise's cheek.

"A game," She questioned after drawing back. It took a little searching in her memory to draw up that promise made some moons back. Dawnstar wasn't sure if she'd be up to playing with Sleepysunrise for too long. She often found herself getting winded faster than normal, which she was certain had to do with the freeloaders in her stomach eating up all her energy.

"Sure, I play at least one round with you. You'll have to do the hiding, I'll seek." Dawnstar told her. As she could barely hunt due to the extra weight, she figured her stealth had taken a blow due to her round belly too. The untrained cats she could get past, but most ShadowClan and their night vision would spot or hear her too easily.

[Estelle]

[ @Undertaker - Here it is !! Did not plan on taking so long to reply, but between my laptop hanging on by a (somewhat literal) thread and uni, have had to give training the priority ahah ]


Testy, exhausted. Those were the words Miss Grandmama used, and Sleepysunrise couldn't help but wonder if something had happened. Even if it was the usual - and she did not fool herself by thinking her grandmother had eternal patience - she never consider the leader particularly testy either, even less exhausted. Unless... It had to do with her current, well, roundness, for lack of better words? It seemed odd to think that the roundness of ones belly could contribute to ones exhaustion, and the feline ought to think that something was amiss if that was the case. Mayhaps she should ask Mossfreckle or Grousepaw for information, if either knew anything on the matter, at least Mossfreckle likely would. Grousepaw was still learning.

''I have.''
A thankful nod to a question she had also not often been asked, or had the chance to ask. An exchange perhaps unusual for both of them, Sleepysunrise did not do well on small talk and hardly saw the point in doing so, aside from ensuring that those who mattered were trained and well. And so it seemed, despite her grandmother's testy mood, Sleepysunrise couldn't help the light upturning of her maw's edges when feeling what she considered an affectionate bump of the head - one she lightly dared return, should Miss Grandmama allow as much. It was a source of that odd, warm feeling. One she often had in her youth whenever she and mama had a sliver of time together or when Miss Grandmama allowed her to reside within her den, a stark contrast to the usual distance she felt even within her own home. But she could hardly consider it odd when her closest family seemed afflicted by a similar distance, with the exception of Bleedingpaw and Birdpaw.

And a similar warm feeling was experienced when Miss Grandmama agreed to the game she proposed. Almost... Glee, albeit largely subdued, but getting to spend such time with those she cared for was like silent approval of the path she had been walking and brought such a feeling of... Happiness. Letting her Grandmother move ahead and walking to fall into step beside her, just a pace behind out of respect, Sleepysunrise found the most opportune place to indulge in this game the very territory ShadowClan called their own.
''Thank you.''
She found herself saying, a recall to the manners she held in such high regard and seemingly the one element that allowed her to function in a society of others, slowing her pace to a halt when a calmer patch of territory spread out beneath their paws.

Turning to her grandmother, she had paused briefly, before speaking;
''I'll... Go hide. As you said.''
She mew, awaiting a moment of acceptance and Miss Grandmama's readiness to begin the game before quietly slinking off, assuming this is how one begin a game. She had never played one, and hardly knew how a game was supposed to begin; perhaps it felt just a bit unusual, but it was her first time, and Sleepysunrise was most of all happy the leader had accepted to join her. Now, all she required to do, was find a suitable hiding place. She couldn't imagine Miss Grandmama being keen on going easy, and Sleepysunrise saw little reason to. She was a formidable warrior and leader, after all (even in her rounder state, which she had yet to discover the source of). And frankly, even during something as simple as hide and sniff, the younger one felt a certain pressure of not hiding in a spot so easy one would think her ability to hide is poor. She may not be able to walk the shadows as well as her mother yet, after all, there was much for her to improve on, but she was no longer a kit either.

With that in mind, the enforcer ensured her steps were quiet as they could be, slinking around the surrounding area firstly to create a mingled trail of scent, lightly brushing past some stray bushes and the bark of tall trees, hoping the leafy smell would rub off on her fur in an attempt to mingle her scent with that of her surroundings (in all truthfulness, she was not keen on rolling in mud for a game); before, finally, she found a densely covered tree whose bark she latched herself onto, pulling up and swiftly scaling the branches with hopeful silence to hide among its greenery, high up, and blend her fur into the shadows much like Mama had taught her, keeping the light out of her eyes.

[Undertaker]

@Estelle - Sleepysunrise
Dawnstar fought off a yawn while walking out of camp and into ShadowClan's territory. The round leader plopped down on the pine-covered floor as grandaughter slunk into the shadows to hide. Games were an oddity itself to her. She'd never played them and never desired to play them, but she was willing to try as she couldn't stand breaking a promise she made and she could use the distraction. Dawnstar tapped her claws on the ground, uncertain how long she was supposed to sit here and wait.

After quite some time had passed Dawnstar stood up and flickered her tail sharply to remove some of the stray pine needles that stuck to her long fur. So she was supposed to track down Sleepysunrise. Quite frankly she was having a difficult time deducing what the fun in that was. Dawnstar tracked down cats for almost a living these days, normally rogues and loners that crossed into her territory. But those guys didn't have actual training so maybe locating Sleepysunrise would be harder.

Her golden eyes dropped to the ground where the land was nearly clear of undergrowth. She saw tracks crisscrossed, claw marks of birds, paw prints of cats, and the faint indent of something large probably a fox if she was seeing right. She barely made out Sleepysunrise's paw prints, she must be stepping lightly. Swishing her tail behind her, Dawnstar parted her maw a tad and tasted the air.

The fox scent was stale, and she picked up the smell of passing patrols, but Sleepysunrise's scent was the freshest. Dawnstar started by following that. Her ears twitched and swerved at every little noise she picked up. A passing squirrel darting up a tree, a flock of birds taking flight overhead, even the slight wind rustling branches and dropping pine needles on her back. Dawnstar was usually rather attentive to her surroundings, but today it felt like she was on overdrive. She assumed it had something to do with the kits in her belly.

Dawnstar veered off track when Sleepysunrise's scent mingled with fresh greenery. The smell was attached to some trunks and bushes. It took her a bit of time to check how far it went. It seemed she only marked the surrounding area, it didn't go beyond the trees or bushes. She paused to have a small sneeze fit when her nose found some flowers it didn't appreciate.

This was more work than hunting down outsiders. This newfound challenge was entertaining her. She was stuck circling twice before her sense of smell started working again and she was on the trail once again. Her granddaughter hadn't exactly hidden her scent, if she wanted to hide it better she should work on rolling around in mud or some strong smell plants. By the time she found the tree where the scent trail ended, her paws were tingling and sore. The leader circled the tree base, maw parted to taste the air, and determined that she had wanted beyond the tree.

She tilted her head upwards and her amber orbs slowly scanned the tree top. Dawnstar walks around the tree roots without dropping her head, before finally spotting the dark silhouette of a cat among the branches. "There you are." She purred, amused. "I found you." She couldn't remember if Sleepysunrise had told her she could climb, regardless it amusemented her immensely.