tunnels by the rosebush laughing ☼ brackenpaw

[.dawnpaw]

❝ WHERE THE BIRDS WAIT ✧°.☀ ————————————
Creatures with no vision are designed for the dark, and Dawnpaw is no exception. The apprentice was born blind. He had no concept of light. It seemed almost perfect to be born in a clan where cats who thrived in the dark were lauded and given a very important role. When he was apprenticed and given the role of tunneler, it just felt right. There was no doubt his place in the clan, and no doubt from his clanmates that he was important. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to be born blind in another clan. How would you fish if you couldn't see the slick bodies swimming underneath the waves? How could you jump to the trees if you couldn't see the branch above? He shook sometimes thinking about how useless he would be in another clan. Would they even care for him like WindClan did? Or would they toss him aside for his incompleteness?

No. He couldn't think about that. It was no use thinking about it. He was in WindClan and he was needed for his expertise. Without vision, he could hear the slightest tremor of earth or shuffle of mole. He could feel his way through the tunnels better than any sighted cat. He had almost memorized the gate of each of his clanmates. Almost. Almost wasn't good enough. It was why he sat still in camp listening with a great focus to match footsteps, smells, voices, laughs to each owner. It was getting easier the more he interacted with his clanmates. That was... hard for him.

Every time a clanmate other than Duskpaw greeted him, Dawnpaw started shaking and his tongue felt thick in his mouth. He liked to listen and "watch", but actually speaking to his clan and denmates was hard. He left that for his brother, who always seemed to have an easy time talking to others. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at that, but not enough to actually despise the darker tom. He could never hate Duskpaw. He was all he had.

The only time Dawnpaw felt comfortable without his brother was in the tunnels. He was a small tom and easily fit in their dusty squeeze. He wasn't due to grow anymore than his small stature, so he was blessed with a life of navigating the tunnels for his clan. When Brackenpaw suggested a hunting patrol in the tunnels, it took a decent bit of courage to choke out a quiet "sure". Duskpaw would be so proud. The pale apprentice pushed through the tunnels, claws digging into dirt and stone. Brackenpaw was ahead of him, their earthy scent - typical for the tunnelers - wafting as she moved ahead. He wasn't too familiar with his denmate. All he knew was what Duskpaw had told him from rumors he had picked up. Maybe he could get some more information for him during this hunt.

Lost in thought, Dawnpaw didn't even realize how close to Brackenpaw he had gotten. His head had collided with the other apprentice's backside. "Hey," he grunted at the feeling. He never liked bumping into things, especially in the tunnels. He was supposed to be the expert here. "Why'd you stop?" He hadn't heard anything, but maybe he was so distracted thinking about getting information that he had missed something.

[penned by muddly - ☀]

———————————— ☀.°✧ AND THE TALL GRASSES WAVE ❞ ​

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[Brackenpaw]

There’s a quiet curiosity towards Duskpaw and Dawnpaw, they were close enough in age that there had been overlap in the nursery. By all accounts there’s a feeling of obligation to be close in some regards since they were denmates once, yet nothing has ever been done to quell it. Instead she’s grown up thinking the pair odd, perhaps it was because she was and well still is rather solitary but she found it weird that the brothers seemed attached at the hip. They guess there has to be some level of reliance on one another, considering the fact that Dawnpaw is blind, they just find that they can’t really relate to that dependability is all.

There’s a want there though, as that curiosity swells. She wants to get to know the quiet brother and they find that their shared experience as tunnelers would bring some kind of comradery, it was between the tunnels or just striking up conversation and he never seemed like the conversationalist outside of the company of Duskpaw. If something of interest came up in the tunnels then she’d take advantage of that but while they don’t enjoy the idea of working to know a clanmate it was a nicer alternative. It’s dusty and stale, only within the confines of camp so there wasn’t anything pungent wafting from either ShadowClan or RiverClan. Instead it was rather stale, stale was safe for the most part so they could live with it.


The sound of earth brushing caused her steps to falter, it didn’t sound like the tunnel was crumbling or anything like that but it instilled a wave of fear. Ears twitch as her mind swims, trying to figure out through half listened lectures from Scorchstreak if this was something to be overly concerned about. The feeling of Dawnpaw colliding against her is enough to convince her to move again, even if it was just a stumble forward. “I was just making sure the tunnel wasn’t going to collapse or something” she muttered with a shrug, not wanting to admit that they were a little paranoid over every natural sound in the dark depths carrying a sinister meaning.

Stumbled steps turned into a natural gait, tail brushing against the wall in search of anything out of place. “So did you always want to be a tunneler apprentice?” She finds herself asking softly. Vocals carry far in the echoes of the tunnels so unless something really irked them they tried to not let their voice carry too far, trying to salvage some kind of stealth they guess. "Are you liking it?" They find themself adding, wanting to get to know the tunneler apprentice better, that was the goal after all.

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‎‎ ‎┌── Im just a dog ⸙ with no bite ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

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  ooc.
  
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• Brackenpaw
  ✩ they/she, tunneler apprentice of Windclan, 11 moons (ages on the 22nd)
  ⭃ a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
  ⭃ Speech, thoughts, attacking
  ⭃ NPC x NPC, mentored by Scorchstreak | Formally mentored by Bluefrost
  ⭃ easy to befriend other kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  ⭃ All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
  

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