private LOST IN YOUR GRAVITY [ ✦ ] skypaw

[DIPPERFROST]

A patrol had been kind enough to agree to let her tag along. She can sense that she is the odd one out though. They all had their own apprentices to attend to, their own social groups that she wants no part of. They do their best to quiz her along the way but they are basic questions, things she has learned with her mentor eons ago. She is able to answer quickly and soon the other cats on her patrol realize they do not know where she is at in her training, and without an official reassignment they do not want to infringe on Shellsong's training. Eventually, they decide to leave Dipperpaw alone which is just fine for her. She trails behind, kicking rocks as she does. Finally, the group stops and starts to split up, all off to go hunting individually. "I'm going further down the river, towards Sunningrocks" she tells whoever was in earshot. A wave of a tail is indication enough that she has been heard and given permission.

Sunningrocks was not too far off. Though she could not go to the rocks themselves, she could still fish near them. ThunderClan did not own the river, after all. She makes her way through the reeds, pushing her way through until she is out in the open, standing on the rivers edge. She peers down into the water as it laps at her paws and for a moment she sees herself looking back up at her. Her features are pulled into the usual expression, nothingness, but her eyes look sadder than usual. She misses Shellsong she realizes, and she wishes Jaypaw was here. Her sister always had a certain way of cheering her up.

Instead of fishing, like she should be, her gaze flits upwards, away from that sad reflection of herself and into the trees opposite of her. ThunderClan. When she thinks of their neighbors she does not think of violence and hatred like some of her clanmates now do. She instead thinks of black and chocolate colored fur, of amber eyes. A small part of her wonders if he is the reason she had decided to hunt here, the hope of seeing him again guiding her paws. But that would be silly right?

// @skypaw
​

 

[skyclaw]

"I won't be long," Skypaw says to his mentor, asking for a moment alone by the Sunningrocks. Howlingstar will never be too far, he knows, but even just a few moments to mourn his former mentor... that will be enough. His paws uncomfortably tred the grassy-sand terrain that surrounds the rocks, and though outwardly he looks solemn and put together, inside he's dying. Perhaps not for Scaleclaw, though he misses the tom deeply - but out of fear that it'll happen again. Fortunately or otherwise, Skypaw is the sort to confront his fears. He would be of no use, should RiverClan try to reclaim the stones, if he's merely afraid of being near them.

He inhales deeply, eyes falling closed for a few moments. With an exhale, he opens them again, and just out of his periphery, he sees sleek silver-grey fur. Skypaw tilts his head to better seek out the RiverClanner, dutifully fishing in the river that she has rightful claim to. He feels almost exactly the same as he did at the gathering prior - a hiccup of hope and curiosity drowned with self directed frustration and distaste. Yet his paws pull him closer to the river's edge, just out of reach of Howlingstar's ears.

"Hey," he calls, though he keeps his tone low. Admittedly Skypaw doesn't like how he's treating this like a secret - Howlingstar would be grateful that he doesnt detest all other Clans after all. All the same, though, it felt like he shouldn't have approached her at all. "Dipperpaw, right?" he continues, stilling just far enough from the lapping waves. "We met at the last gathering, I think."​

 

[DIPPERFROST]

And then just like that her wish is granted. The overgrowth on the other side parts and she feels her whole body stiffen, ready to run. ThunderClan patrols were not always the most friendly and she had no desire to exchange quips or harsh words over a battle she was not even present for. If she were being honest, she didn't care that ThunderClan held sunningrocks. They had no use for it in her mind, the river would provide as it always did and there were better spots to sun oneself. She wants to say that her body relaxes when it is the cat she had been just thinking of appears but that is not all the way true. Some tension leaves her shoulders but she cannot help but feel some sort of twist in her chest.

He remembered her.

He calls out to her, calls her by name. "We did." she says simply because it's true. Her first friend from another clan. Just a friend should not make her feel this guilty but she tells herself it means nothing, she is just overthinking, overreacting. Plenty of cats had friends from another clan and were still loyal to their own first and foremost. "Skypaw right? Like the clan or like the big stretch of blue above us?" he had never said.

​

OOC NOTES . ✦ . CHARACTER INFO

• ooc : — ​
• 
  

  

  
  

  ➵ she / her
  ➵ riverclan apprentice
  ➵ single
  ➵ bisexual
  ➵ a tall, long legged blue tabby and white she cat with a plumed tail and blue eyes, the left one containing a burst of yellow
  ➵ toyhouse [ ✦ ]
  ​

 

[skyclaw]

She regards him with curiosity, edged still by their rivaling Clans but lead nonetheless headfirst into a conversation with him. And he likes it. Her downturned eyes twinkle even from a distance, and though the question she pitches is not one of his favorites, he entertains it nonetheless. "Let's say the sky above," the tom says, suggesting that there may be other reasons behind his name. In truth, the fact that she doesn't know right away is... freeing. Finally, someone who won't immediately know his family history, or assume his father's identity.

"What is a dipper, by the way?" he decides to ask, allowing his curiosity to guide him, too. "Is it a sort of fish? I've... not had any fish. Not exactly ThunderClan expertise to scoop them up," he shrugs nonchalantly.​

 

[DIPPERFROST]

'Like the sky above' he answers and she nods her head "Your pelt reminds me of sunshine on a cloudy day. It's fitting." it is not meant as a mere compliment, she never says anything she believes to be untrue, after all but she does offer a smile as she says it. She likes cloudy days, it brings rain which means the fish would be out in droves and she likes the feeling of water running cool fingers through her fur There is nothing better than coming back home to camp after a rainy day, of grooming the droplets out of silky fur then tucking into a fish that she has caught. It is the best feeling in the world. But as she looks at the tom across from her she realizes that it is likely that he has never experienced or enjoyed that feeling and she cannot explain why but it makes her a little bit sad.

"It's a bird" she says plainly and in her mind, the image of it appears. a little gray and white winged creature, but so much bravery in that tiny little body. "They dive for fish, my parents liked their 'spirit' and named me after them" Skypaw's mother must have liked the sky, or she had a similar thought as Dipperpaw where she had taken one look at that black and orange pelt and was reminded of the same thing she was.

A voice calling makes her ears flick, it is distant but she can just barely make it out, someone in the trees is yelling his name, beckoning him. She wants to pretend that she cannot hear it but to do so would be disingenuous and she does not want him to get in trouble. So, despite every instinct that tells her not to, she nods in the direction of the sound "I think someone is looking for you" his mentor, probably. This meeting was short, too short for her taste but perhaps they would see each other at the gathering, or with any luck at the border again. That would be nice she thinks.

​