Home of Our Own [p]

[Adaline]

Mudclaw

Brightpaw had already found a nice hole in the ground, out in the territory away from others. It was an old burrow, den-type thing made by some other animal, long ago. She'd already dragged her nest out there, yes through the snow. But now, she wanted to tell Mudpaw about it.

Which was the sole reason she was in the apprentice's den at all, whispering softly into his ear. "Mudpaw...! C'mon." It wasn't light yet, but it was after midnight. She risked a look at her snoozing siblings. She was waking him up this early so she could avoid her siblings. She was extremely dedicated to her new 'minimal contact to any cats I share blood with' policy. 

[Mudclaw]

mudpaw was sleeping soundly in the apprentice's den, his nest having been made in some random spot in the den, it wasn't really like he cared about who he was sleeping near at that point. suddenly, mudpaw jumped, his tired green eyes widening at the sound of whispering in his ear. the young apprentice snapped his head in the direction of the voice, getting ready to yell before he realised that it was brightpaw... he should've recognised her voice.

he smiled softly at her, yawning loudly as he nodded, "i'm coming," he lifted himself from the warm nest, which was now covered with a few white strands of fur. "where are we going?" he asked, looking out the 'door' of the den. it was still dark out.

[Adaline]

Brightpaw felt a little bad for startling her friend. But Mudpaw seemed fine overall.... Even if he did seem about to scream, he did restrain himself. She supposed it was because it probably finally registered it was her as opposed to some... Random cat. 

He yawned loudly and she looked carefully at her siblings, who were quite frankly sleeping like logs. Which, was admittedly better for her. All the better to avoid them. She turned and leapt over the other sleeping cats to the den's entrance. "C'mon. Remember how we talked about having a private den in the territory? I found a perfect place. I'll tell you more when we get there." Then paused. Then added hesitantly, "If... You still want to come?" She asked, not entirely sure how secure their friendship was.

[Mudclaw]

mudpaw stayed silent as he also stepped carefully over the other sleeping cats in the den, trying not to step on or wake any of them. wouldn't want to be caught leaving at this time. he exited the den and then turned to brightpaw to reply, "yeah, course i still want to come," he smiled, waving his tail gently, "i was just confused when you woke me up... where is it?" he asked, looking over to the camp exit.

[Adaline]

Brightpaw perked back up instantly at Mudpaw's reassurance and smile. She began walking to the camp exit, gesturing with her tail for Mudpaw to follow after her. "It's out in the territory, I picked a spot I figured not many other cats would go to. C'mon, don't want to risk anyone whose slightly awake or just pretending to sleep to overhear." She whispered, having already made it to the camp exit, waiting for Mudpaw to follow her. She was... Admittedly mildly paranoid about her plans for some peace being trampled by someone.

[Mudclaw]

mudpaw let out a small yawn as he followed brightpaw towards the exit, smiling. he couldn't wait to leave camp again, especially to see the place that she had found. "okay, okay," he whispered, eyes wide as he looked around the camp before speeding up to run out of the exit, beginning to talk a little louder now that the risk of waking anyone up was reduced, flicking an ear to show brightpaw she could start leading the way. "so how's apprenticehood been anyway?" he asked, trying to start up conversation so that they wouldn't walk in silence, "i've not seen you around much..."

[Adaline]

Brightpaw began to start leading the way into the territory, heading in the direction of the Rockclan border. As the two apprentices left camp, Mudpaw began to speak up, since there was a lesser chance of them being overheard. Cats generally didn't come out at night, which the light brown tabby used to her advantage daily. She blinked. "Oh, it's been fine. Eveningwhisper is nice, and she's a good mentor." She mewed then her ears folded back, wearing a troubled expression on her face as she lead the way. "Well... I've been trying to avoid my family, see... I already moved my nest out of the apprentice's den but... There's also the chance I can run into them at camp. So... I've been making a habit of staying out in the territory all day, and only dropping into camp during the night." She admitted. 

[Mudclaw]

mudpaw nodded silently, ears pricked up lightly- half so that he could listen to her, and half to make sure there weren't any night predators about. he purred a little, at least brightpaw had gotten a mentor she liked... he would've been rather angry, actually, if she hadn't.

he furrowed his brow at brightpaw's now troubled expression, tail hanging low as he knew that meant something bad. his eyes widened noticeably when brightpaw began to say that she had moved her nest out of the apprentice's den and even out of camp. he flattened his ears slightly as he replied, "you moved away?" he asked, continuing rather quickly, "why didn't you tell me? have you been out there alone? i would've brought my nest with me if you told me."

[Adaline]

Brightpaw heard the purr from Mudpaw and she was... Happy that it seemed to be that he cared if she was... Content at least. Maybe he cared about her happiness too. She wasn't too sure... She was hesitant to label him as anything even in her head.

Then his eyes widened. Brightpaw shuffled her paws, desperately trying to find the right words to explain herself. She... She didn't want to ruin their friendship. She was more than a little bit insecure, having Mudpaw be, in her eyes, the only cat she both cared about and that actually liked her. "Erm, yeah... I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I mean, I just.... I only moved my nest there in the morning." She explained, as they came upon it. She cleared her throat awkwardly, and gestured to it. They were a bit close to the Rockclan border, but it was still very much on Fireclan territory.

"I heard that there were adders near here somewhere, so I figured this'd be a nice place where cats wouldn't stumble upon it." She explained, trying to get the topic off. She didn't really want to tell him that she'd kind of slept out in the snowy prairie the first night as apprentice, even before her first training session.

[Mudclaw]

-sorry for lateness, kinda... homework, lack of muse and art has been distracting me-

mudpaw clenched his jaws to try and stop a yawn as he continued to follow brightpaw, glancing at her every few seconds just to make sure he was infact going in the correct direction and not wondering off alone. that wouldn't be good, especially when it was still dark out. he raised his brow at brightpaw when she replied to what he had said. he flattened his ears a little, looking forwards again before back at her and giving an apologetic look, realising that his fast speech may have made him appear angry.

mudpaw's eyes widened when he was informed of adders possibly being nearby... that was totally, one-hundred percent safe. he nodded anyway and grinned, waving his tail as he decided that he wasn't too bothered about them. he had always been one to seek danger anyways. "okay then," he said, "although it would be funny to see some loser get mauled."

[Adaline]

((Nah, it's cool man. I get it. Those things are pretty distracting.

Brightpaw didn't see Mudpaw's apologetic look. She'd been busy looking ahead, leading her friend to her secret den. Though, she did see his eyes widen at the mention of adders. He grinned though, so the tabby apprentice figured he approved of the idea. "Well... I wouldn't want someone to die... I think adders can kill a cat. I'm not too sure, though. No one really explained in depth." She paused for a moment. "... It'd be pretty funny to see a cat like some of my jerk siblings get scared by some adders, though." She conceded.

Strangely, she realized Mudpaw did have a somewhat sadistic streak. Lacking concern for others for the sake of entertainment. Somewhat like Almondpaw and Aloekit. The difference? He'd been nice to her. Somehow, it lead to Brightpaw being willing to look past those... Less than stellar qualities, though she didn't think of them as such.

She coughed. "Anyways... This is where it is. Where I sleep now. You can drop in whenever you like, we wanted it to be... Our secret... Right?"

[Mudclaw]

-ahh more excuses... but i originally wrote a reply to this a while ago and it was really good and it all got deleted and i just couldn't get that muse back for muddy-

mudpaw let out a small laugh at that, "i don't want someone to die... just the thought of someone getting beaten by something that doesn't even have any legs is hilarious if you ask me," he explained, before laughing louder, "although, i would probably sell a limb to see one of those two be attacked by a snake," he stated, swishing his long tail.

mudpaw decided to look at brightpaw for the rest of the walk rather than in front of him, so when he heard her say that they had arrived at their destination, he was more than surprised by the abandoned den before him. he had never seen something like that in the territory before, "it's awesome!" he exclaimed, taking another step further, "yeah, it's our secret, no-one else will ever find this place," he grinned, sitting down and wrapping his tail around himself.

-i'm guessing it's like an abandoned badger den or something but idk-

[Adaline]

((Don't worry, I get what you mean. Whenever I lose a post, I need a break to rid myself of my frustrations usually. 

Brightpaw snorted. "When you say it like that, it does sound pretty dumb... Heh." She lightly snickered. Plus, from what she could glean... Adders were pretty small. Maybe the size of a kit-ish, maybe smaller. A legless tiny creature taking down a cat? Double points if it's a jerk like Almondpaw or Aloekit. Triple points if it was both. It'd be even better if they screamed. Maybe they screamed like girls. Now that was a funny image.

She couldn't help the playful grin that adorned her face when Mudpaw proclaimed the secret den 'awesome.' She nodded excitedly. "Yeah. It's a great place to hide something you don't want anyone else to find, or if you just don't want to deal with someone." She added. Her ears lowered slightly. "I... Like collecting feathers. I wouldn't put it past my jerk siblings to mess them up just to see me upset...."

[Mudclaw]

mudpaw smiled widely at brightpaw's snicker. it was nice to know he made her laugh. it was nice to know she agreed.

mudpaw began to sniff around the den again, paws not staying on the ground for longer than a second at a time each. turning back towards brightpaw quickly when she began speaking, he nodded, "i will hide my deepest darkest secrets here," he said, mostly jokingly, "this is where i will hide the meaning of our existence.

the apprentice tilted his head when he was informed that brightpaw liked feathers. wow, you learn something new everyday, "if you like feathers, i can get you some," he offered, looking around again.

[Adaline]

Brightpaw was glad to see Mudpaw smile. He... Seemed to really enjoy her company. Honestly, that was all she really wanted at this point. Someone that she could spend time with, where no one was being hurt.

She watched curiously as Mudpaw started sniffing around, swiftly moving himself about, when he decided to speak up. She snorted. She could tell he was joking. "Pfft." She couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. It was just... What he said was so ridiculous. "I don't really know if that's really a tangible thing..." She said, a humorous lift to her voice, that she was honestly a little surprised to hear existed.

She blinked. "Oh. Well... If it isn't any trouble... I mean, I find them just floating around the territory somewhere. Makes me wonder why birds have feathers at all, if they keep falling off."