private HOLY FOOL ( aspen )

[spiritpaw]

The days are getting colder and colder and it only makes Spirit more and more angry! Despite her fluffy fur and how warm it may appear to be, it is anything but warm. Her fur is velveteen and does not help with insulating, stupid fur she’d constantly grumble. And now with the snow falling? It makes it even worse!

Theres a huff that leaves her mouth as she trudges through the blanket of white that had begun to pile on to the moor grass, ears pinned back upon her head as she constantly has to shake her pelt out. Its only as she opens her mouth to loudly complain to the hunting party that she scents a rabbit. Oh, shes never caught one of those before! Hunting is not her strong-suit but if she can catch a rabbit in (what was it called, leaf-bare? mother just called it winter) winter then maybe she’d be praised and her name would be sung to the heavens above!

Giddy, she begins her sprint as a brown pelted streak flies across the moor. Shes catching up and shes almost there and all she has to do is jump- but apparently theres another apprentice that had been on the rabbits trail as well and she had just the exact same idea. Spirit crashes in to Aspen with all the air leaving her lungs, pain searing her brain as their heads conked together. "Fuck!" she swears loudly, crouching with her head in her paws. God dammit that hurt! "Fuck- sorry, didn’t see you." she echoes the words she had heard so many times from her Mother, cracking open an eye and peering at the other apprentice who was probably just as in pain as she was.

Stars, she really needed to pay more attention to her surroundings.

// @ASPENPAW​

"speech"​

 

[ASPENPAW_]

( ♬ ) At first, the snow had entranced Aspenpaw with the way the flakes fell from the sky, spit out seemingly much more delicate than raindrops, but it hadn't been long before she had realized just how cold it was. While it looks nice raining down, there's nothing nice about the way it freezes her paws, sticking around on the ground as if it's always meant to be there. As she stalks across the moor it clings to her belly fur in wet clumps, and the apprentice fears she'll never be warm again. Not for the first time, she wonders why leaf-bare is even a thing in the first place; after all, it's not like any of the prey or even the plants liked it, either. To Aspenpaw, it just seems like the cold weather was invented specifically to inconvenience everyone. Despite her growing dislike of the snow covering the moors, she's not going to let it stop her from her training, and after a painstaking search she's finally caught the scent of rabbit hidden underneath the fresh scent of the cold.

She stalks forward, trying to ignore the sensation of the snow against her soft underbelly, and for a moment Aspenpaw's especially thankful that at least her mostly gray pelt blends in fairly well with the snow and some of the dying plant life. Centering herself, she quickly runs through everything she's learned about chasing down rabbits, especially what she's messed up on before, and then, unknowingly in sync with Spiritpaw, she leaps forward, tearing through the snow after the rabbit. Trying not be too overconfident like last time, she's completely focused on every little signal the rabbit gives, determined not to miss any micro movements that might give away it's intentions to veer away. Perhaps too focused, Aspenpaw doesn't notice Spiritpaw as she, too, leaps forward, both slamming into what is decidedly not the rabbit. Their heads collide with a solid thunk and for a moment her vision is completely white, only the snow-covered moors registering, and she wonders if this is what Starclan is like, this bright, searing white.

She's brought back to reality by Spiritpaw's voice, cursing in pain, and ever so slowly it starts to register exactly what had happened. They must have both been chasing the rabbit, both too focused on the hunt to notice the other, and - "Are you okay? I, uh, didn't see you, either," she's blurting out, wincing in pain. Laying sprawled out in the snow, head lifted just enough to see Spiritpaw, she finds that she's not all that inclined to get back up just yet, not after that hit. Still feeling a bit scatterbrained, the loss of the rabbit doesn't even cross her mind; rather, her brow furrows over something else her friend had said, sending a fresh pulse of pain through her head. Once it's subsided, Aspenpaw tries again. "I've never heard anyone say 'fuck' before - is it like mouse-dung?" There's probably a dozen other things she could have said, something more relevant perhaps, but alas, she'd gotten fixated on this strange new word, uttered seemingly in the context of a phrase she's more familiar with.​

( WE'RE ALL JUST SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING ☾ )

 

[spiritpaw]

Shit, man, that hurt, gosh, her vision slowly stops blurring finally. She blinks a couple more times, sighing in relief as the pain ebbs to just a throb. Aspen talks and she kind of startles herself, fur on her tail spiking. She asks if shes fine and uh, shoot, is she fine? Spirit taps the part where they collided, gingerly bringing her paw back down and nodding as she realizes there is no blood. "Yup! I'm fine now!" she chirps, nodding once more. She thinks about the rabbit and suddenly theres a deep frown on her face as her ears pin. "Sucks about the rabbit, though." she muses to herself.

And then Aspen asks what fuck means. Haha, fuck if she knew! "I dunno, but the word is funny!" she blinks in response before she smiles again. "Sometimes the grown-ups use it, so obviously its gotta make me look cool! They also say Shit, I think! When they're mad." another blank blink. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, I think it's pretty funny sounding." she erupts in to immature giggles before she sits upright, the cold seeping through her fur nearly forgotten. "Do YOU know any cool words?" she grins, staring at her best friend before she sneezes.

"Also, I hate the cold!" she'd complain loudly, rubbing at her nose to get rid of the feeling of a snowflake falling on it. "And the snow."​

"speech"​