learning the mazes [tunneling lesson] [p]

[furrensic]

NIGHTHAIL
she/her. 35 moons. long haired black and grey molly with lighter splotches; blue eyes; scarred
( purrks; the collector )

nighthail finds herself huddled up in her nest after her hunting session, paws folded underneath her. she's been thinking, recently. perhaps she thinks too much, honestly. however, the tunnels have haunted her mind for days. she knows tunnelers are a thing, she can't help but be curious to see what exactly are in those tunnels; where they lead to. her black and grey tail flickers. she needs to find a tunneler, that's what she needs to do. there's two that she knows of, a molly named dustbunny and a tom named crowtooth. she weighs her options.

the long haired feline rises from her nest. she's not warm, but she's not cold, so she'll deal with it. she scans the den, gaze bouncing from cat to cat until she finds dustbunny. "dustbunny," the warrior greets, a small dip of her head. her tone is painfully flat, and she just seems defensive, like she expects an attack. "I want to learn how to tunnel. can you teach me?" she questions.

[ @Moonraven ]

[Moonraven]

The dirtball known as Dustbunny was lying near the side of the warrior's den, watching the clan go about their daily lives. The leader tunneler has been mostly keeping to herself. The young kits she's been training with digging have been fun, but she's been feeling a little useless as of late. Of course, Dustbunny knew how to hunt, and fight, but compared to other warriors she was nothing to brag about.

Dustbunny's skills lay in the dirt, and since building the tunnels underneath the camp there hadn't been much work for her to do. It was hard to tunnel by your lonesome, so trying to build new tunneling systems was a no-go. Even though the former lead tunneler was back, Crowtooth, he seemed more interested in warrior work than tunneling. Although she hadn't talked to him in a bit so that might have just been her impression.

None of the other older cats have called on her for... Oh, hang on. The dark brown molly lifted her head as a black and gray molly showed up in front of her. Dustbunny didn't even get to greet Nighthail before she was asking about learning to tunnel. The blue-eyed she-cat perked up immediately at the thought of having something proper to do. All the tunneling lessons she gave to other cats always ended with them quitting before learning much, but Dustbunny didn't mind that so long as she got something to do that didn't feel aimless.

"Sure, I can teach you." The molly trilled as she got to her paws. "What exactly are you hoping to learn? You just wanna learn how to dig or..."
@furrensic

[furrensic]

NIGHTHAIL
she/her. 35 moons. long haired black and grey molly with lighter splotches; blue eyes; scarred
( purrks; the collector )

nighthail's demeanor seems to lighten up as dustbunny agrees to teach her. she quirks a brow in confusion. "yeah, I just want to learn how to dig." she says sarcastically, nodding her head, frowning. she almost seems disappointed? it's hard to say. her lips draw into a straight line a moment after. "no, actually I want to learn everything." she says says, an apologetic look hidden behind icy eyes. the molly seemed quite bored when the warrior padded over, considering she was just laying there. hopefully, that meant she'd be willing to teach the splotched feline everything there was to being a tunneler. which...honestly, she isn't even sure consists of. digging, obviously. I wonder what else, though.

"I don't know what everything is exactly..obviously." she admits, nose scrunching up momentarily. "it'd be useful, though...I guess." she shrugs, taking a step towards the opening of the den. she hopes that dustbunny isn't a cat who wants to be friends with everyone or something weird like that. friend. she feels uncomfortable. she shakes the thought away, since she doubts it'll happen. "does learning all of it take a long time to learn?"

[ @Moonraven ]

[Moonraven]

Dustbunny felt heat engulf her ears as Nighthail sarcastic response. Ah, of course, she wants to learn how to dig, featherbrain. The tunneler had to drape her tail over her back legs to keep her hindlegs from thumping nervously underneath her while the wave of embarrassment washed through her. It's just been a while since anyone wanted to learn something that Dustbunny acually likes to do.

Few like the dirt or the dark, and company was seldom with her. Dustbunny wasn't interested in making friends, far too self-conscious and awkward to anyway, the molly could do with a little bit of company here and there though. The prospect of ridding herself of boredom and having another cat just to share a few words with had her making a fool of herself, as always.

The apology hidden in the icy blues went unseen as the tunneler dropped her own softer blues to her paws to hide her embarrassment. "Uh... okay, um, I can teach you everything, I suppose. Nothing is useless when learning to tunnel." Dustbunny gave a sheepish smile as she lifted her head and got to her paws. Her large hindlegs trembled just slightly as she fought the nervous tick of tapping her hindlegs on the ground. No need to make things more uncomfortable than she already had.

Dustbunny kneaded her tail over her back as she led them behind the warriors' den. "So you've been in the tunnels before, right? Used to the darkness and inclosed space?" Dustbunny asked as she made her way towards the tunnel that led underneath the camp.

"Learning depends on the cat and the commitment. It took me less time to learn how to be a tunneler than it did for me to learn how to be a warrior. No two cats are alike nor is the how they take to training." She meowed, lowering her body as she slid into the tunnel behind the den. The darkness that greeted her felt like an old friend. Down here she didn't feel so alienated from the clan.

This tunnel was connected to the main one that led out of camp, she had to widen all of the tunnels that were originally dug out by the clan to ensure that every cat of all sizes could fit in them without hassle. So there was no need to worry about bumping into walls immediately. She could easily walk side by side with Nighthail, so she waited for the molly to join her before she continued.

@furrensic

[furrensic]

NIGHTHAIL
she/her. 35 moons. long haired black and grey molly with lighter splotches; blue eyes; scarred
( purrks; the collector )

nighthail can't help but feel a bit guilty when she notices dustbunny's embarrassment. she really needs to work on her talking skills. no wonder she doesn't have a lot of friends. "thanks." she says in a low voice, following the molly out of the warrior den and behind it. her ears twitches in acknowledgement to the tunneler's question, yet she doesn't actually bother to answer until a few seconds pass.

"uh," she sighs, "no. not really." there's a short pause before she continues. "I mean, I've been in the dark before. that's about it." a few instances come to mind, mostly when she was younger and hadn't joined the clans yet. she watches dustbunny slip into the tunnel with ease. "I suppose." she murmurs in response, crouching down to peer into the tunnel. she slips inside, eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden darkness at first.

to the warrior's surprise, the tunnels aren't as cramped as she thought they'd be. her nose tickles a bit at the dirt and dust all around, blinking when her eyes finally adjust. she wonders if dustbunny did all this digging herself, yet she refrains from asking.

[ @Moonraven ]

[Moonraven]

Dustbunny looked over her shoulder, making Nighthail's silhouette as she entered the tunnel behind her. She was a bit surprised that the molly had never been in the tunnels before, but some cats could go their entire lives without bothering to explore the dark depths.

"It'll take your eyes a bit to adjust to the darkness, you shouldn't have much trouble moving in these tunnels, they don't wind around, are built larger, and all move in a mostly straight direction," Dustbunny told her.

"It is very quiet down here, between the silence, the darkness, and the enclosed space some cats tend to find the tunnels suffocating and often give into panic. Do tell me if you feel overly uncomfortable, or antsy, or if anxiety builds up. We can take breaks and head out periodically." The lead tunneler meowed while slowly moving further down the tunnel. The darkness was so thick down here that it seemed to lapped at Dustbunny's fur like water, something she enjoyed.

"So you'll want to use your whiskers when walking around, these tunnels you don't have to worry about as much, but it's very very easy to run into walls. Until your eyes get more accustomed to peering through the darkness, your whiskers can guide you brushing along the wall before your head runs into it. Don't lurch or jerk when using your whiskers to feel for walls or you might crash into the opposite wall. You'll learn to move your head a tad when your whiskers tingle the more you're down here."Dustbunny explained.

"You'll want to keep along the wall when you walk for now, otherwise, it can feel very disorienting and scary moving. I always felt like I was getting swallowed by nothingness if I didn't have something solid to ground me. If you take to tunneling, soon enough you won't need your whiskers to tell where the walls are."
@furrensic

[furrensic]

NIGHTHAIL
she/her. 35 moons. long haired black and grey molly with lighter splotches; blue eyes; scarred
( purrks; the collector )

nighthail quirks a brow. "couldn't tell." she quips in response to dustbunny saying it was quiet. she sticks close to the wall of the tunnel, eyes still not fully adjusted. it's still extremely difficult to see. "I'll be fine." she assures. or, at least she hopes. she's prone to outbursts but only ever for a reason..usually because of another cat. dustbunny didn't seem too bad though, so far. she should be fine.

she cautiously pads forward, careful of each step. dustbunny did say that the tunnels moved in a straight direction for the most part, but she still wasn't sure if there were any pebbles she could trip on or anything. better to be safe than sorry. she can barely make out the tunnelers silhouette in front of her, deciding to use that as her guide.

use my whiskers? well, that made it a bit easier. it was a bit uncomfortable, the whole experience, but nothing she couldn't deal with. getting swallowed by nothingness, that was a good way to put it. nighthail continues to slowly inch forward, using her whiskers to help guide her, though she stumbles a bit. "not too hard so far."

[ @Moonraven ]

[Moonraven]

[Sorry for the delay, took a hiatus.]
Dustbunny's ears twitched as Nighthail spoke, her words were clipped, short, and sweet. It didn't seem like she was big on talking much, which was fine with Dustbunny so long as the molly made sure to ask or speak up if she was having trouble or had questions.

She heard the warrior stumble here and there, but she seemed to be doing better than most. As they reached the end of the tunnels that lead out into the territory, Dustbunny paused, just inside the tunnel allowing the light from the opening to shine in for Nighthail's sake more than hers.

"So you notice how this section of the tunnel is a bit narrower," She waved her tail towards the walls of the tunnel which proved to be a tighter squeeze than the rest of the widened tunnel.

"I haven't finished widening it. So you can help me with that." It was catching two birds in one pounce, Dustbunny got help with finishing the tunnel and Nighthail got to experience what it was like actually digging down here.

"So when it comes to digging, you'll want to scoop the dirt out, don't fling it everywhere. If you're working alone, which you really should never do when tunneling unless you're given permission, when you scoop the dirt out you want to make a nice pile beside you." Dustbunny demonstrated herself.

"But working in pairs you'll want one to dig out the soil and the other to focus on spreading the dirt along the tunnel as thin as possible. Some of the dirt might even need to be dragged right back up the tunnel." She explained, glancing at Nighthail to make sure the molly understood what she was saying.

"So if you wanna, you can try digging and I'll work on spreading the dirt. You might come across some stones while digging, you'll want to either press them into a crevice if you can find one or put them off to the side, somewhere nearby. Stones are good for shoring up the walls."

@furrensic

[furrensic]

NIGHTHAIL
she/her. 36 moons. long haired black and grey molly with lighter splotches; blue eyes; scarred
( purrks; the collector )

as they continue to travel further into the tunnels, nighthail finds herself getting the hang of it. though, she's still hoping for some sort of light source – just to make it easier on herself. she lets out a silent sigh as they reach the end of the current tunnel and light shines through an opening. she peers through the dim light as dustbunny speaks up.

"oh." she hums, seeming rather indifferent to the offer. she's not upset, though, which is good. a part of her looks forward to it. she's not sure which cat was dumb enough in the past to start flinging dirt everywhere, but she still gives a firm nod, watching the tunneler's demonstration. the job seemed easy as a concept, but she's sure it's much more difficult once you're actually doing it.

"fine with me." nighthail nods, padding over to the narrow tunnel beside the other molly. it can't be that hard.., she thinks before beginning to dig away at the dirt. she's a little awkward at first, having no true experience with...well, digging away at dirt - which causes her to fling a bit. "sorry." she quickly apologizes, scooping away at the dirt, this time not flinging it.

[ @Moonraven ]

[Moonraven]

Dustbunny smiled in the darkness at Nighthail's answer. She didn't sound overly thrilled with the idea of digging, but not unhappy with it either. Dustbunny was finding that the warrior seemed to be a bit on the blunt side, but it didn't seem like she meant any true harm with how she spoke. The indifference was a little hard for the lead tunneler to grasp, but she was glad that Nighthail wasn't overly intense. She'd take indifference to a temper.

She watches as Nighthail begins digging and immediately finds that it is a little harder than Dustbunny made it look. Scooping up dirt and digging in general was a strange action for most cats. Outside of digging holes to bury prey, it wasn't something that was done and cats could fling dirt wherever they wanted when digging holes for prey or burying clanmates. With the tunnels, one had to have more coordination with their paw work. It felt bizarre at first, but anything new felt a little odd at first.

Dustbunny wasn't bothered by the little bits of dirt that did manage to get flung. "That's alright, you're doing well." Dustbunny encouraged with a faint smile. She began reaching for the dirt that Nighthail freed up, pushing the loose soil around as a comfortable silence fell. Dustbunny was finding that Nighthail to be a bit slow when it came to digging. So when she had finished spreading the earth around that was dug up, she quietly began working on the other wall, pulling dirt from the tunnel wall and enlarging the space.

When she noticed enough dirt piled up near Nighthail, Dustbunny went back to spreading the dirt around. In no time at all, Dustbunny felt her paws clogged with grit and soil settle deep into her pelt. Used to be dirty, but she didn't worry about cleaning it out and continued packing the earth harder into the tunnel floor, waiting to see when Nighthail's paws finally grew tired.
@furrensic