- Oct 12, 2022
- 61
- 9
- 8
( ♬ ) Being an apprentice is tiring, Aspenpaw has come to learn. Well worth it, of course, but getting up early and spending all day doing some sort of typically labor-intensive work is certainly draining, and she's found that sleep has come much easier, than it had as a kit, at least up until as of late. While she's still getting up just as early and putting in her best effort, ever since the rogues have joined she's has been having a bit of trouble falling asleep some nights. It's not the rogues themselves; sure, she doesn't exactly trust them, even if they have been loyal so far, but they haven't been the ones disturbing her sleep. No, what's been keeping her up at night stems from when the rogues were recruited - the battle between Sootstar and Gin, specifically. The fight itself hadn't fazed her for too terribly long, but the aftermath had stuck with her, clinging to her like a shadow. The image of Sootstar, completely still and covered in blood, dead, has been plaguing her, especially when she lays down at night to sleep. Her leader had just been so still, even if it had only been for a minute or less, and then Gin's body afterwards, which had never moved again, had been disturbing to see. Cats die, she knows, but death isn't something she had experienced before then, certainly not in such a violent manner, and frankly the whole display still made Aspenpaw's skin crawl. She couldn't help but think of Periwinklepaw, fainting in the middle of camp - he had been still, too, though not as deathly still as Sootstar and Gin had been.
Shifting around in her nest, Aspenpaw huffs out a quiet sigh. All these thoughts of unease, things so unlike her, were keeping her mind awake, and consequently she finds herself once again unable to fall asleep at a reasonable time. Usually, she just tries to wait it out, sleep eventually claiming her, but tonight she's feeling a bit more restless, almost antsy to get up and do something rather than sit around hoping she'll eventually fall asleep. Very carefully she climbs to her paws, trying not to disturb any of the other apprentices around her, and heads away from their nests, towards the opposite end of camp. There's not really much to do this late at night; even though the hawks had been much less of a threat as of late, she's still not quite willing to leave camp on her own, especially not at night when there likely won't be anyone else out there to help if she really does get into trouble. Settling far enough away that Aspenpaw's satisfied she won't disturb anyone else, she cranes her neck up to look at the stars, drinking in the light of the moon. There were so many up there, far too many to count...are any of them Starclan warriors, she wonders? She's always grown up hearing about Starclan, about how Windclan is much closer connected to them than any of the other clans, but it had all seemed so far away until she had watched Sootstar quite literally rise from the dead, a feat that could only have been accomplished by some sort of divine intervention. Even if Starclan cats aren't actually in the stars, perhaps they're still looking down on her now. The thought is comforting, that she might have someone watching over her, and Aspenpaw hopes that they're watching over everyone else, too. Mostly, she hopes that they'll protect her loved ones, so she'll never have to watch them fall to the ground, covered in blood and deathly still.
( WE'RE ALL JUST SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING ☾ )Shifting around in her nest, Aspenpaw huffs out a quiet sigh. All these thoughts of unease, things so unlike her, were keeping her mind awake, and consequently she finds herself once again unable to fall asleep at a reasonable time. Usually, she just tries to wait it out, sleep eventually claiming her, but tonight she's feeling a bit more restless, almost antsy to get up and do something rather than sit around hoping she'll eventually fall asleep. Very carefully she climbs to her paws, trying not to disturb any of the other apprentices around her, and heads away from their nests, towards the opposite end of camp. There's not really much to do this late at night; even though the hawks had been much less of a threat as of late, she's still not quite willing to leave camp on her own, especially not at night when there likely won't be anyone else out there to help if she really does get into trouble. Settling far enough away that Aspenpaw's satisfied she won't disturb anyone else, she cranes her neck up to look at the stars, drinking in the light of the moon. There were so many up there, far too many to count...are any of them Starclan warriors, she wonders? She's always grown up hearing about Starclan, about how Windclan is much closer connected to them than any of the other clans, but it had all seemed so far away until she had watched Sootstar quite literally rise from the dead, a feat that could only have been accomplished by some sort of divine intervention. Even if Starclan cats aren't actually in the stars, perhaps they're still looking down on her now. The thought is comforting, that she might have someone watching over her, and Aspenpaw hopes that they're watching over everyone else, too. Mostly, she hopes that they'll protect her loved ones, so she'll never have to watch them fall to the ground, covered in blood and deathly still.
