A new apprentice (o)

[Deleted]

(I'm gonna change her name once I'm on the computer.)
Sorrelkit walked into the den and looked around for an empty nest. She sniffed around on and deemed it safe before laying down. Another cat approached her and she stood up. I-I'm sorry, is this your nest?"

[Dustcloud]

Dustpaw, tired from a day of wandering in the TreeClan territory, stumbled into the apprentice's den. He hadn't been paying too much attention to where I was going until a voice sounded directly in front of him. His eyes widened when he realized that he must've approached another apprentice without noticing. By the sound of it, they were probably new apprentice as well.

"A-Ah, no, sorry," Dustpaw mewed, flicking his ears apologetically at the other apprentice, "I just didn't see you there," he blinked his cloudy-green eyes, wondering if the other apprentice had picked up on his blindness or not. He always felt awkward talking aloud about it, but thankfully most cats could recognize the symptoms on their own.

"You're one of the new apprentices, right?" the older tom piped up, trying to start a conversation. He recently resolved to try and be less shy around others, and try and make more friends.

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw nodded, head still down. "Yeah, I'm Sorrelpaw.D-don't worry about not seeing me... No one ever notices me." she said, the last part with her voice lowered. "Not usually unless they are looking for me anyway." she added shyly, her tail flicking to her side. Her ears folded back and she looked into the apprentices cloudy eyes for the first time. She blindly shook her head. She rarely to never looked directly at another cat for long without her vision going all blurry.

[Dustcloud]

"Aw, don't take it personally," Dustpaw mewed, padding over and settling down in the nest next to the other apprentice, "I have a hard time noticing most cats." He would have liked to press his tail comfortingly against her shoulder for a few moments, but, knowing that it more likely that he would clumsily smack her in the face, he settled for giving the other apprentice a gentle smile.

"Oh, and I'm Dustpaw, by the way," the blind-tom introduced, almost forgetting too, "what's your name?"

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw tilted her head slightly. "I already told you. I'm Sorrelpaw." she muttered, her mind on a past coment from Dustpaw about rarely noticing people. She shrugged and decided not to ask. She didn't know what other cats did. She, infact, noticed cats way to fast. She glanced up quickly and then ducked her head back down shyly. "I'd bet your better at conversing with others than I am anyway." she added quickly.

[Dustcloud]

Dustpaw flushed red under his pale coat, and wondered for a moment if the she-cat would be able to see. "O-Oh dear C-CloudClan, sorry," he sputtered, "I must've let my nerves get the best of me--I've never been the greatest at talking to others," the blush under his coat had yet to die down, but opted to just power through it and hope Sorrelpaw didn't notice.

"I doubt I am. I mean, two minutes into this conversation and I've already goofed up?" he chuckled a bit under his breath, "that isn't really the sign of a master conversationalist."

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw wasn't paying much attention to Dustpaw's physical appearance, but was listening. "Please. I ussuall just at direct conversation away from me. That's how I avoid being 100% 'socially inappropriate.'" she said, really looking at the grey cat for the first time. Those eyes... There was a possibility that Dustpaw was blind. She decided rather not to take the extra words of asking.

[Dustcloud]

Dustpaw tipped his head to the side. "That sounds a bit... lonely," the pale apprentice mewed softly, wondering if the she-cat had any close friends. He didn't have any himself and he knew it was probably because he was so shy around others most of the time, "not to be rude, I mean," he added quickly, just to make sure she knew he meant well, "I tend to let other people lead conversations myself, but don't you ever want to talk about yourself?"

Dustpaw knew that it harder said than done, but he also knew that it wasn't all that healthy to keep everything bottled up.

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw shook her head wildly, her eyes widening. "No. When I do I just end up stuttering and end up embarrassing myself in someway. I rather just let them talk and listen in. she giggle softly, "That way they embarrass themselves koren thanI embarrass myself." It would seem cruel to her, but they were allowed to just not talk at all. And they never seemed to really end up embarrassed.

[Dustcloud]

Dustpaw smiled brightly when he heard the she-cat giggle, glad he hadn't made things awkward. He was also having a good time talking to Sorrelpaw, it had been awhile since he had a conversation that lasted this long--usually he would shy away from talking for prolonged periods of time, preferring the loneliness to the nearly inevitable awkwardness that he usually brought to conversations.

"I get that," the apprentice meowed, "but, I mean, you're talking about yourself now, right? And I don't think your embarrassing yourself. Actually, I rather like learning more about you."

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw thought for a moment, not even noticing how much she had said about herself. "I'm more talking about my theories and how I talk in conversation. Not really about myself. The only thing I've really said about myself is that my name is Sorrepaw." she said thoughtfully, more to herself, after a long pause. "I haven't learned much about you either. What do you like to do?"

[Dustcloud]

"Ah, well, I guess so," Dustpaw mewed sheepishly. He still liked learning about Sorrelpaw though. The pale brown apprentice blinked thoughtfully when the she-cat asked him what he liked to do.

"Nothing all that interesting, I guess. It's hard to get around on my own, so most of the time I end up spending my days in the camp. I've managed to sneak out a few times though! I love wandering around the territory, everything smells so fresh and alive out there," he smiled softly before it was replaced by a shy grin, "although, the first time I snuck out I got lost. I was just a new apprentice then though, I know the territory a lot better now," he chuckled softly, remembering stumbling blindly around until he had found a patrol route to camp out at until he got found.

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw smiled. 'I'd bet it would be confusing out there.' she thought to herself. "I usually, at least as a kit, I don't know about now that I'm an apprentice, but i used to just stay in the nursery and observe other cats and see how they usually interact." she muttered. "Who's your mentor? I have Hornetstripe."

[Dustcloud]

Dustpaw smiled softly, "That sounds nice, I actually used to do that too sometimes. Well, I guess it was more like eavesdropping--but I guess that's just my own way of watching others. Sensitive ears, y'know," he gave his ears a flick for emphasis.

"Hornetstripe? She sounds familiar..." the pale brown apprentice tipped his head to the side, thinking that his mother might've mentioned her to him once, "Beechroot is my mentor. I haven't seen him for awhile though. Not that it matters, I guess. I'll probably be getting my warrior ceremony very soon," Dustpaw tried to sound calm and collected while saying that, but a twinge of excitement was still audible in his voice.

[Deleted]

Sorrelpaw nodded. "I believe I might have overheard someone saying something about a beachroot, but I've never met her." she said. After a pause she continued. "Technically It's not evesdropping you know." she said. "At least not in my opinion. I call it sitting there while others talk about things and having something to pay attention to." she added with a smile after Dustpaw was completely done speaking. "I also call it learning new vocabulary."