private Nice & keen [Snailpaw]

[Badgermoon]

It was a snowy evening in WindClan, and Badgermoon was huddled beneath the wall of gorse which lined their camp, ears flattened against his head. He liked the snow - it was pretty, for sure, and he liked the clean look and smell it spread over everything - but it made prey even harder to find, the tiny, icy flakes nipped at his paw pads, and the weight of the accumulating snow on his fur made him feel heavy and slow. Thus when it snowed he much preferred to be under at least a little bit of cover, which was exactly what he was doing now, peering into the sparkling dusk with thoughtful yellow eyes. The day's patrols were complete, he had split a piece of prey with someone earlier, he had no apprentice, close friends, mate, or kits to seek out for company...now what? Was there nothing for him to do but...sit and watch the snow swirl by?

@SNAILPAW​

 

[SNAILSTRIDE]

Boredom had claimed the apprentice quickly that night. They had struggled to stay awake during the day, the combination of cold and sleepiness causing them to retreat to a seldom-used fox den, but now that the sky had turned an autumn hue, they wanted nothing more than to hop around and play. The other apprentices did not feel the same way, their duties had caused them to retreat early to slumber - thankfully, Snailpaw was not deterred. Their tardiness would catch up to them one day, already he'd heard Firepaw call him lazy, it was doubtless that others would follow suit the more they showed their face around camp. As long as they were there to keep spirits high though, they were sure a bit of insubordination could be tolerated. It wasn't like he wanted to be known as the clan slacker, it was just difficult doing his duties and through his eyes, it was better to never try than to fail and disappoint someone.

White specks clung to the ends of his slate fur like fleas, and having given up on shaking away the remnants of winter from his pelt, he moved through the camp with a spring in his step. They noticed Badgermoon sitting in solitude under some cover, and their blue eyes lit up in recognition. They liked the tuxedo tom, he was laidback and overall good company, and a jealous little part of him wished that Badgermoon was his mentor. Would it make a difference to Snailpaw's work ethic? Probably not, but it would be fun! They moved closer to the warrior, acknowledging his solitude with a head tilt and a frown, before hopping closer, faster than a spring hare. Their paws slid along the snow and slush as they skidded to a halt by Badgermoon's side, a goofy grin stretching across their white maw as they looked up expectantly at the tom. "Oh, hey!". They pondered back to events of the past few days, the rigorous training apprentices had received and the reminders of the warriors' authority they'd received, and hesitated for a moment. They were at a weird age, old enough to know better than to demand entertainment, young enough to not be able to make much for themselves without being fretted over. They shuffled their paws in thought and bit the bullet - Badgermoon was nice enough, Snailpaw sincerely doubted they would admonish him for being bored.

"You look lonelier than a bunny in a tree, what gives? Where are your friends?"

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[Badgermoon]

Badgermoon was hardly a stern-and-serious type, at least not without cause; his general motto in life was to try to take important things seriously without taking himself too seriously, as in his opinion that just produced a bad attitude. And wasn't life difficult enough without moping your way through it, throwing out nasty remarks all the while? No, much better to take it easy and give others the benefit of the doubt, he thought, even if it meant ignoring some of his more intense impulses at times. Perhaps especially if it meant doing that. Besides, he had his own goofy streak, even if it didn't get much use nowadays. Therefore, when he spotted the ungainly, buoyant approach of Snailpaw, he cracked a smile before the whorl-pelted apprentice had even spoken.

"Hi, Snailpaw." the warrior laughed a little, eyes sparkling. Lonelier than a bunny in a tree? Yeah, he supposed he was - where were his friends? "I don't really have friends, I suppose. I guess I need to try making some." it was a bit sad to say out loud, Badgermoon realized with a start; why didn't he have friends? Sure, he was busy, but they were all busy. Was that really a good enough excuse? "What about you, eh? Don't you have someone to hang out with, or are you taking pity on poor ol' Badgermoon?" he said it in a cheerful enough tone that - he hoped - clearly expressed that he wasn't actually sad or in need of pity.​

 

[SNAILSTRIDE]

"You? Don't have friends?" Their blue eyes widened in surprise, surely that couldn't be true! They'd thought that most nice, well-adjusted cats found friends one way or another - heck, even apprentices like Firepaw seemed to find friends. It was a mystery the tabby wanted to get to the bottom of, he opened his maw to begin his interrogation when different words came out instead. "Well I'm your friend! And don't take that so lightly because I'm everyone's friend, like, everyone else is a mouse-level friend, you're like... a squirrel-level!". Squirrel-level was certainly an upgrade, but it was no rabbit-level friend - Snailpaw decided that they could work on that. Their ears swiveled in different directions as Badgermoon asked them about their own solitude, a nervous laugh escaping the older apprentice. They were friendly with most WindClanners, even the ones they didn't really like, but they weren't close with any of them either. There were plenty of surface-level niceties from the others, but he didn't know how reliable they would be if he truly needed help. He knew some of them called him lazy, others called him a slow moor-runner, they were insults that stuck no matter how much he pretended they didn't.

He blinked fervently at Badger's flippant 'pity' comment, and finally shook his head. "I'm something of a night-kitty! It's so hard to keep my eyes open during the day but at dusk, I just wanna mess around! The others... they don't really want to do that though, so I guess what I'm trying to say is - I don't really have any friends either? Not like, dusk friends, at least." They rambled on, never losing the peppiness in their tone despite the grimmer subject nature. With StarClan watching and enough blind optimism, things would always work out in the end, even if they were painful at the moment. Snailpaw fell back on his haunches, then instantly shot up again as an idea reached their head. "Saaaaaaay...." They spun their head around suspiciously, as if about to reveal a clan-altering secret. When the coast was clear, they revealed what was on their mind. "Why don't we find another dusk-friend together? It's so cold and miserable here at the moment, if I were a warrior, I'd love it if a pair of like-minded individuals ran around and threw snow on me to try and cheer me up!"

They paused, considering their plan. "Ok, maybe I wouldn't, but we should do something for someone anyways."



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[Badgermoon]

A squirrel-level friend? That really made no sense whatsoever, he had to say, but something about it made him feel warm inside. It was nice to know that Snailpaw thought of him as a friend, perhaps even a closer friend than your average cat. Is that what squirrel-level meant? Maybe it just meant that he was squirrel-brained instead of mouse-brained, and it was a slightly less harsh insult. Or maybe he was overthinking something that a nice, albeit strange, kid had said to him. It was sweet, Badgermoon decided, no matter what it really meant, and he attempted to gently bat the marbled tabby's ear. "Thanks, Snailpaw. I'm glad I'm your friend. You'll be my first official friend, how about that?"

The young cat's long explanation for why they were alone also didn't make a ton of sense to him, but he nodded slowly, yellow eyes focused on Snailpaw's face. It was important that whoever he was talking with felt listened to, and to be fair he really was listening - he had a sneaking suspicion that he'd get quite lost if he didn't pay close attention to what was being said. "Y'know, I like doing things at dusk, too. And I know what you mean...sometimes I just want to take a nice snooze in the noonhigh sunshine!" alas, duty so often necessitated the exact opposite of such behavior; but he could still dream.

Snailpaw's grand proposal, delivered after a long pause in which the black-and-white tom developed an intense sense of trepidation, almost literally reeked of mischief, and he felt his eyebrows raise at the prospect. Throwing snow on someone? That just felt like asking for a good talking-to. Then again ... Badgermoon glanced around at the fading light, the weary faces, the fluffy heaps of snow, then looked back at the eager blue eyes in front of him. "...fine, but you're picking our target." he said with a chuckle, pushing himself to his large paws and lashing his dark tail. "Lead the way, kid." This is such a bad idea, but I can't say no to their little face...​

 

[SNAILSTRIDE]

"Oh boy oh boy, really? Your first official friend?!" Their eyes lit up like fire in a forest, hope hanging off of every syllable that Snailpaw spoke. They figured it must have been a big moment for Badgermoon to have a friend, but Snailpaw felt their own heart flutter with happiness too with a validation they seldom got from others they'd tried to befriend. Badgermoon was perhaps Snailpaw's first official friend, even with their tier-list.Their ear flicked at the gentle batting, but it did not stop the saccharine joy that seeped into the older apprentice's tone. "I'm honoured! Thank you! You're the best, we'll get you some other friends too, I promise on... on..." They looked around the camp quickly, and when they could not see a suitable item to swear on, lifted a paw to bat at their whiskers. "I promise on my whiskers!". Dozens of different topics entered Snailpaw's head now that the tuxedo tom had confirmed their friendship, everything from what rumours they'd heard to the newest news about prey stocks. When the other began to speak of something unrelated, they closed their mouth, listening to every word. It was nice, in a way, to hear that even Badgermoon got drowsy sometimes.

They weren't sure what caused their own sleepiness, sometimes, they couldn't help but fall asleep where they stood! Snailpaw had heard it described as many things: laziness, having an elder's soul in an apprentice's body, some sort of sickness. They realised they hadn't visited the medicine cat about it, but there would be time for that later - now, there was a snow-throwing adventure to go on. Snailpaw nodded their head rapidly, mewing an affirmative "Deal!" When Badgermoon set the conditions. "So, I'm something of a... senior snow-thrower! I've done it a lot during my life!" An exaggeration for someone who was only nine moons old and one moon into their first leafbare, but they wanted to set the scene and let Badger in on their thought process. "You want to find someone who's nice enough to not be upset by the joke, but serious enough to give you a funny reaction at the time! Preferably not someone too old or too young, or someone who's injured or sick, we don't want to kill anybody!". Snailpaw tilted their head momentarily. "Yeah, we don't want to kill anybody!" They repeated as if confirming it to themselves. No one deserved to die.

"So we gotta find someone like..." They lowered their voice, sneaking a glance towards the center of the camp. He blinked incredulously at the felines sharing tongues and retreated to the warmth of the burrows. Adamant, Snailpaw did not give up. After several more seconds, they noticed a late patrol dispersing through the camp entrance, their ears standing up when they found their target. "That pale cat there with the brown face and tail. I dunno his name but he has just the right look. One of us distracts him while the other one pelts him with snow! Which one do you wanna do?" They looked up towards their newest friend.



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