Build Something New - Finchpaw

[Foxstrike]

[[ Finchwhisper - Sorry this took so long! I had a lot more to do than I originally thought, haha. ]]

Foxpaw didn't spend too much time in the apprentice's den, honestly. Other than sleeping, which he'd try to do outside anyway, if he could get away from it, the only purpose it served was socialization with others of his own age, which he wasn't particularly interested in. It wasn't like he avoided it, because really, he didn't, and attempted conversation with anyone who approached him, but most who did were rather...absent minded, or carefree, or just boring. His half brother, Pantherpaw, and a few others he had spoken to, had regrettably fallen into those categories.

There were a few, however, who hadn't. Hornetpaw, being one, and the only cat he reluctantly called a friend, and the other being Finchpaw. To this day, he rather admired the way she spoke, her mannerisms, her thought process. She seemed to take in the world similar to the way he did- silently, from afar, learning mostly from others indirectly and discreetly. She wasn't blind, and he knew that, but she observed with the same sort of focus he had when listening to others. It seemed that he had made some sort of impression on her, too, since she had congratulated him on his apprenticeship at his ceremony, and that had seemed like a somewhat out of character trait from what he had formerly thought. Perhaps she, too, could end up being a friend? Maybe not in the same way as Hornetpaw, but if there was a closer bond he could form with Finchpaw, Foxpaw wouldn't be opposed in the slightest. He felt like he could learn from her, or at least have a few interesting conversations with her.

It was rather convenient that the cat in question walked into the den at that moment. Foxpaw was able to recognize her pawsteps, though she had grown, and her scent. His head lifted from his former position of faking sleep, ears turning in her direction. He had obviously noticed her. "Finchpaw," he stated calmly, likely catching her attention, if he hadn't already by perking up so quickly. He heaved himself to his paws, padding closer to her and following her wherever she might have wandered. "It's...nice to meet you again."

[Finchwhisper]

(No problem! I certainly understand, haha. ;D I'm sorry for the late reply too.)

Finchpaw slowly walked into the apprentice's den, her posture rather slumped, for she was rather tired, but didn't let the weakness show as she straightened upon entering the shared den. There were bits of needle-point leaves and other bits of plant scraps clinging to her fur, and clumps of moss were clutched in her jaws. She looked around for a routine visual inspection of the area, her sharp gaze overlooking the area for any change, or any disturbance at all. She felt a bit of possessiveness about the den almost, or at least the small system she had organized and things she did in the shadows for the benefit of it and the denmates. She had succeeded in making a sort of attachment to the group of her rank as a whole, and kept doing duties in the shadows, unnoticed, and didn't really care to be noticed or acknowledged for it.

 She was one of the oldest in the den now, and she was aware of it, so it gave her the feeling have a bit more knowledge, and the right to do tasks around the den. During her inspection, she noticed a figure in one of the nests start visibly, and peered closer curiously. She blinked when she realized it was Foxpaw, and a bit of a pleasant feeling entered her, at least relief. Foxpaw was one of the most decent and fascinating member of the apprentice's den, she knew this already, for any of the other seemingly decent ones had vanished from what she recalled and was familiar with so far. She was aware of all the apprentices, though hadn't exactly familiarized herself with some too much yet.

She nodded in the other apprentice's direction, and before going over to address him, went over to a pile of more fresh moss near the wall, and dropped the moss that she had fetched there before grabbing some of the older appearing moss with her teeth, and padded over to the corner where her nest was, surrounded by older moss and plants remains. It was what she called her observing corner, something she had in the nursery when young, and had made one now, for privacy and observing reasons in the rather crowded place. Finchpaw then turned back towards Foxpaw, and stepped towards him, though stayed nearer the wall. For now it felt comfortable to converse with the younger apprentice a bit, though she didn't favor it so much, with Foxpaw during their last time of conversing, it had been... not so unpleasant or bothering.

"Foxpaw."She spoke in reply to the greeting in her usual monotone, but nodded in acknowledgement of his next statement. "You too." She at first felt awkward about what to say next, it wasn't as if she really was comfortable with traditional conversation, though she had the usual statements in mind. She tilted her head to one side, and asked. "Settling in lately?" It had been a bit of time since Foxpaw had been made an apprentice, she knew that. It was almost a shame that they hadn't been able to talk yet, but it was understandable, and she didn't really care to focus on that. It was strange of her to ask of another one's condition, but she actually felt a slight curiosity about this, and want to know, though it was an unfamiliar instinct.

[Foxstrike]

Foxpaw only recognized the scents of various plants on Finchpaw's pelt after she had made some sort of small gesture at him and continued to what he assumed was her own nest. The smell of moss seemed to be the most notable of the various scraps of plant on her pelt, and he decided that she was probably planning on reinforcing her nest soon. He was somewhat glad that she had put that off to do later, and instead of dismissing him to go about her business, she approached him again. The tom was quick to sit up properly, blank gaze following Finchpaw as though he was able to see her. Foxpaw wasn't surprised by her monotone voice- that was her way of speech, as speaking in a more complex way was his own.

He was almost hyper-aware of the pause in between her words. He debated speaking to interrupt the somewhat awkward silence, but neither of them were the most comfortable with conversation, and he was silently thankful that she had managed to speak up first. Foxpaw almost found it out of character for Finchpaw to ask about his wellbeing, but he dismissed it. She could easily just be having a change of heart, or maybe she was just being polite. It didn't really matter, did it?

"Yes- well enough, I suppose," Foxpaw answered, almost smirking. "The apprentices seem to be even louder than the kits, though. Always talking." Making small-talk in this manner was not something he was so accustomed to doing, but he knew how to, from listening to others, and sometimes, with a select few, taking part in it himself. The conversation thus far was much less tense and more casual than his last talk with Finchpaw had been, and he was almost glad about that. He didn't see any reason to cease casual discussion with her unless she started seeming uncomfortable or they got bored with it, so he continued. "And you? You've grown- are you closer to becoming a warrior? How has your training been going?"

[Finchwhisper]

Finchpaw tilted her head in a satisfied way when he said a response to her question, feeling a bit glad to know this, though otherwise wasn't exactly sure why she had asked that, since she usually found such casual and strange conversation unnecessary and annoying. It felt a bit shaming, but she ignored those feelings for now. "Okay, good." She then tried to find a way to dismiss that topic, and soon did when he mentioned how loud the apprentices were. "Ye, more annoying as they more older. Too crowded too, but least possible to observe a bit." She didn't really list a bunch of complaints that she had about the place, and how it was very unsatisfactory as well as much too uncomfortable and strange, but she had begun to get used to it anyway.

It had been her living quarters for so long, she was beginning to settle into a comfortable routine again with the assurance of learning and observing consistently despite the annoyances, which made her more relaxed and easy going almost. She was not necessarily more pleasant, but was at least not so tense anymore when engaging in conversation, though still felt the usual subdued feelings of neutral blankness, or annoyance. She was surprised when he asked about her. and so many too. "Ah.. I guess." She hadn't really notice that she had grown, though she felt she had when it came to the maturing and learning process, and how she was becoming one of the eldest in the den. She didn't so much care to pay attention to physical growth unless it came to advantages in a situation.

"As time goes, yes. But I not think about that change. It be unsettling. And... I probably not worthy soon. It going decent, though, I learning enough." Finchpaw thought about his training process, and her eyes narrowed a bit at the thought of his mentor, since she had met that particular cat before, and had not really approved. "How your learning procedure go? And... mentor? I met that one, observe few times. She...decent?" She was paying much attention to this answer, since it wouldn't do for Foxpaw to learn improperly or not proficiently enough, she knew this, so felt the need to be a bit attentive about this, before standing back and letting the procedure continue no matter what she thought anyway, since it wasn't really her place to say anything about it, she supposed.

[Foxstrike]

[[ I know Finch is a warrior now, so if you want to end this thread and make a new one or just leave it, let me know! ]]

Foxpaw nodded in agreement to her comments of apprentices. The den was usually much too loud, indeed. He could hardly sleep with all their snoring, but she did bring up a good point about them- it was easier to listen to conversation when there were so many, and they were mostly obsessed with other things so they didn't notice him faking sleep. "Hm- yes. They are good for that, at least." And the occasional interesting conversation, but Foxpaw had not really spoken to many yet. He spent most of his time in the clan territories. He had none left to speak to many others when he was too focused on exploring and memorizing the large area. Without sight, Foxpaw knew that his ability to read areas would be different, and he had to make up for any skills he might be behind in on his own time, by himself.

Foxpaw was more aware of her somewhat fractured speech pattern now, since both of them had grown. Perhaps that was another disadvantage of not speaking to others very much- she articulated her thoughts well enough for him to understand, but he was somewhat concerned that others would think she was less able-minded because of her odd wording. He secretly disagreed about her being unworthy- surely a cat like her would be a valuable asset to the clan, even if she kept to the side. Finchpaw was intelligent, and CloudClan knew that they needed more thoughtful cats, as opposed to reckless ones.

He was touched by her questions relating to his own progress, though he made no show of it. Her tone was still set in it's usual monotone, but Foxpaw wanted to believe he'd heard her speak with a bit more...concern or really, any emotion in general. He could have been making that up, easily, but it was still a thought that secretly made him feel slightly more warm on the inside. "Well enough, so far," Foxpaw shrugged. "She seems alright- I can't tell all that much about her." Lynxheart hadn't treated him like a weakling, though, at least, not so far, and that alone put her at least a little bit in his favor. After that he paused for a bit, wondering how to continue the conversation, since he rather liked speaking to Finchpaw, which was a rarity, and he didn't want to part ways yet. "What of...Arrowstrike is your mentor, correct? What's he like?" Foxpaw was partially curious to know what the deputy was like, though he felt that he was more interested in Finchpaw's opinion of him, rather than gaining actual knowledge.

[Finchwhisper]

(Well, we can make a new thread if you would like, but I would fine to continue this one too. <3 I see Fox is close to being made a warrior, though! We could make a new thread then, maybe. c: )

Finchpaw couldn't help but nod in agreement with Foxpaw's statement about how at least they were good for observing purposes, which was very true to her, as her small corner in the apprentice's den made up with moss and other bits of dead plants was rather successful in a way so that she could observe other apprentices freely, often not being noticed too much. "Ye, though some disturbing, don't care about learning. But many of those 'round in every rank, I guess." Finchpaw hated the idea of other apprentices that did not have the desire to learn in any way, and instead cared about other shallow things that she couldn't understand or comprehend. It always had disturbed her that there were cats like that, even though her way of learning was unique, and her own comfortable way for sure.

She then listened attentively to Foxpaw's response about his mentor, for she was very much interested in that. When he didn't seem to have much of an opinion about her, she stiffened a bit, for even though it was a bit of a positive side that it wasn't negative, it didn't see that this mentor didn't have much of a positive teaching impact, either. "I see." Finchpaw spoke slowly, still not so fond of the idea of this mentor, but chose to not say any direct words of doubt or disapproval, just a neutral comment. "What matters how well she teaches you, 'm suppose." She meowed in a monotone, sometimes not saying words completely, and did that slightly for laziness reasons, but also because she didn't care too much to form her words so correctly.

Maybe she would care enough someday about speaking habits to perfect them like other cats some day, but right now, she hardly did. The older apprentice perked up a bit at the mention of her mentor, both of surprise that he had been mentioned, and the queerness of the fact that the deputy had been mentioned in reference to her at all. She felt herself unworthy of it, though that all tied back to her confusion of the deputy taking her as his apprentice in the first place. "Arrowstrike is..." She concentrated not trying to find words to describe her mentor, though.

It was.. difficult, for while she was aware and quite attentive to descriptive words, her feelings about her mentor were more private, queer subconscious security feelings that were not yet firmly in mind or of her acknowledgement. "Good mentor. Teaches me well, it honor to be his apprentice." Finchpaw said in an almost awkward way, though still neutrally, and objectively. It was true that he taught her well so far, and with much information, so she had come to become quite comfortable with their training sessions together, and not to mind her mentor so much at all.