private star glittered breaths // mouseflight

[cottonsprig]

Cottonpaw has nightmares. She has shared them with her sister before - not the details, but the idea - however no one else has been privy to her unfortunate mindscape. She figures with time, they will pass. She will be free from the clutches of her trauma, and her mind palace will be more than just a reminder of her short comings. Tonight, however - is not a night she is granted freedom.

Her claws grasp feverishly at the moss of her nest as she stirs awake, the venom green eyes of her mother pressing into the back of her skull. Her body is fatigued and wills her to sleep more, but she cannot. Not with the former leader staring at her from the shadows, not with her nightmare so freshly imprinted against her eyes. Her chest hammers and she stands - a piece of her wants to wake Wolfsong, but she knows her mentor needs the rest more than he needs to coddle his apprentice. And so, she departs from her den, tail swishing low behind her.

She dozes in the open starlight for a few moments, watching the sky with half lidded, tired eyes. Her ears twitch with the sound of stirring, and she lazily looks towards the warriors and apprentices huddled in the middle of camp. She imagines its a shift change - one cat trading a night of sleep for guarding their gorse wall. Instead, she spies the impossibly tall ears of her friend drawn back as Mouseflight yawns. Her body shifts before she can have a coherent thought, and she tiptoes around sleeping cats to join him in the throng.

"Hey," she whispers, a partial smile on her face. "I can't sleep - do you mind taking me for a walk?" Just a short one, she thinks. He'd protect her, she knows, and surely when they return she'll be right as rain to sleep the rest of the night.​

 

[Mouseflight]

After many recent events the tunneler found himself sleeping lightly at night, the sound of other clanmates stirring awake often caused him to do the same, even if it was only for a few brief moments of looking up towards the stars and drifting back to sleep. It wasn't uncommon for him to wake up and simply stay awake after a few times, opting to get an early start in the day whenever possible due to the likelihood of prey sleeping in their dens making it easier to hunt when needed - and StarClan knew they needed it now. He had woken up twice through the night, eyes flicking up to the stars to see if he could see the pink and orange hues of the sun rising once more before head had moved back down to paws before falling asleep once more, though on the third time as he went to look up at the stars a yawn pushed through him and just as jaws snapped shut he found the familiar grey pelt of Cottonpaw in front of him.

She asks him to take her on a walk and in his sleep-addled brain it takes a moment for the tri-colored feline to respond, though once the question had processed he would silently nod his head before standing up and carefully moving his way through those sleeping around him. When he's through he moves to the entrance to the camp, waiting for a moment for Cottonpaw to follow before they stepped out into the open air of the recovering moor together before throat would clear. "Is there anywhere specific you want to go?" A simple question, asked with a yawn quickly shut off before eyes would flick to the other. The last time they had walked like this had been before the journey to the mountains, when she was freshly made Wolfsong's apprentice and he a warrior, back when there had been no questions on faith or leadership.

⋆｡°✩ threw my voice into the dark

•  
• 
  ⋆ mousekit - mousepaw - mouseflight
  ⋆ ftm - he/him - 16 moons
  ⋆ bisexual - open to relationship
  ⋆ tunneler of windclan
  ⋆ attack - speech - thought
  ⋆ penned by tikki

​

​

 

[cottonsprig]

A sleepy smile fits perfectly into her expression as he nods. He plucks his body from the crowd and carefully picks his way out - and she dutifully follows the mottled tom, step for step. Cottonpaw briefly shares her pelt out, attempting to welcome the nighttime chill to her skin to keep her awake just for minutes longer. She can still see Sootstar's gaze, but it wanes in favor of Mouseflight's much kinder one.

"Hmm?" she hums at his question, taking up his shoulder casually and beginning their walk. "Oh, I hadn't thought that far..." she continues, and she takes the seconds that stretch between her words to look around. Even in starlight, their burnt moorland is disappointing to look upon. A thought spurs in her mind's eye, "What about the sunwarmed pool? You... it's not too far of a walk, is it?" She worries about dragging the hardworking tunneler out for too long, slowing her pace before they go too out of the way and waiting for him to speak.​

 

[Mouseflight]

A rare smile cracks onto Mouseflight's maw as the other mentions she hadn't thought that far, amusement clearly flicking in his gaze as she took a moment to think of where to go. When the sunwarmed pool is chosen he'd allow his paws to move forward slightly before shaking his head as they walked, a response to her question of whether it was too far of a walk. "I think it'll be fine, good place to rest before walking back if wanted anyway." He'd offer as they moved away from the camp, ears pricked as they moved through the now low-covered moors. It was odd, walking to a place he should know like the back of his own paw only to realize it's unrecognizable. If he were any younger he was sure that he'd have trouble navigating, but despite the landscape looking different he knew the way - he'd walked the moors for over a full cycle of seasons, he was sure he could do it with his eyes closed by now.

They walk for a moment in silence as he listened to make sure there were no enemies or predators nearing them as paws moved forward, tail waving idly behind him. "Last time we walked like this you had just become a medicine cat apprentice," He'd idly speak, mirroring his thoughts as they had began to walk earlier, "Do you still miss the tunnels, or have you grown used to your plants?" It was light, a teasing tone as he spoke. He was curious though, how his friend was getting along with the teachings of Wolfsong, with the lengthened time in apprenticeship while all her friends and family had gained their own warrior names.

⋆｡°✩ threw my voice into the dark

•  
• 
  ⋆ mousekit - mousepaw - mouseflight
  ⋆ ftm - he/him - 16 moons
  ⋆ bisexual - open to relationship
  ⋆ tunneler of windclan
  ⋆ attack - speech - thought
  ⋆ penned by tikki

​

​

 

[cottonsprig]

Cottonpaw rumbles a purr in her chest as the mottled tom agrees to their destination. The silence between them is welcome, oddly enough for the talkative she-cat, for she's allowed to wonder freely without sounding innately insane. For she wonders how Mouseflight feels about her - they're friends, clearly, as he would not have agreed to a nighttime stroll with her if he hadn't cared about her in the slightest. But surely he feels slighted somehow due to when they fled, and she stayed. In truth Cottonpaw feels that her mistakes will forever follow her and does not fault the many who hold their grudges - she just doesn't know if Mouseflight is one of them.

She glances back towards him when he speaks, breaking the comfortable quiet that had brewed in the interim. He recalls the last time they aimlessly walked - him, a fresh warrior, and her so obviously taking advantage of his newfound freedom. The circumstances, if she was honest, she could not remember. However recalling the event at all brings a smile to her face. "I don't miss following your tail, if that's what you're asking," she laughs, bumping her shoulder against his before settling comfortably back into their shared gait, "Sometimes I thought you'd get stuck in some of those spaces..." a continued jest, though she doesn't continue so quickly, wondering if her lack of faith is what caused StarClan to lead her away.

"And I like smelling like marigold and honey, rather than mud, thank you," she chirps finally. Cottonpaw scents the air for a moment, but the foliage has not grown back significantly enough to make a difference in the air. "... do you miss me down there?" she asks, and she doesn't look back towards him.​

 

[Mouseflight]

A small breath of amused air leaves his nostrils at her first remark, eyes watching the other as she bumps into him and then moves away, following his pawsteps once more before she speaks of him getting stuck and he'd shake his head. "You don't have to worry about that, I'll be able to find my way out if something happened but I won't let anything happen." He was a good tunneler, it was known across the clan that he was one of the good ones, but everyone - himself included - also knew that there was no guarantee nothing would happen, no matter how hard you tried. He couldn't help but try to ease Cottonpaw's worries though, simultaneously silently thanking StarClan that Cottonpaw would never have to worry about a tunnel collapsing on top of her, would never have to worry about being trapped in the dark slowly losing air.

She mentions liking smelling like marigold and honey instead of mud and though Mouseflight himself wouldn't really care for his own pelt to smell of such sweet things he couldn't help but think about how it fit Cottonpaw now, more than it had in the beginning at least. She'd grown to accept her position - to like it even - and despite her past and her lineage she had changed into something more than just her mother, more than Sootstar's daughter. She asks if he misses her down there and it takes a second to answer, and by the time he does they've reached the water of the sunwarmed pool and maw would open. "Sometimes I do, but it feels more... right for you to be above them now, helping Wolfsong and learning to be able to take his spot one day. I don't know anything about plants really, don't know anything at all about healing either but I do know that you're doing a good job at it all." Even if Cottonpaw didn't think so, he knew it to be true. She'd have everything all figured out whether or not she believed it herself.

⋆｡°✩ threw my voice into the dark

•  
• 
  ⋆ mousekit - mousepaw - mouseflight
  ⋆ ftm - he/him - 16 moons
  ⋆ bisexual - open to relationship
  ⋆ tunneler of windclan
  ⋆ attack - speech - thought
  ⋆ penned by tikki

​

​

 

[cottonsprig]

But I won't let anything happen, he says, and her gaze falls to him for a moment. It's a promise, she thinks, but one that she's scared to make. The world around them can be so terribly cruel that Cottonpaw feels some things need to be left unsaid, lest fate be given ideas. Her lips part, and the urge to hush him holds tight to her frame before releasing all the same. He's just being kind... there's no issue in returning the favor. "I trust you," she says, quietly, simply. Nothing more needs to be said, after all.

She perks up at the sight of the sunwarned pool, though fatigue still wears at her paws. She steps into the waters first, slow despite her usual apt to rush in and splash. With moonlight gracing them, the waters have cooled considerably, but she isn't too bothered by it. She wades aimlessly, pawing at the water plants and mindlessly trying to gather what it may be. Nothing important, she's sure, but curiosity isn't quick to abandon her.

Mouseflight speaks, and blue eyes lift to behold tired green ones, and she smiles. Her tail twitches, hovering above the water's tension, "Aww, Mouseflight," she purrs, "You're making my ears warm!" Her paw then flicks, suddenly, to splash some water towards the tricolor tom. There's no immediate thank you for his compliment, instead the teasing play that she instigates him into.​