private the friend // mouseflight

[cottonsprig]

The stars shine above them, and Cotton braces herself against the mottled tom's side. It's uncharacteristically cold that night, but she's insistent on relearning tunneling techniques that she's forgotten. They stand before the mouth of the cavern, a short tunnel meant for an apprentice's first outing, and she looks towards Mouseflight after a stagnant moment.

“Do you get scared still?” she asks, an ear turning back. “We… haven't talked about the cave-in at all. You're back on your paws but…” Her tail brushes his side, a sign of care and worry between two long time friends. “I don't know. I'm worried about you,” and yet she still selfishly asked for his help in finding her paws underground again. Cottonsprig mentally scolds herself for not finding Scorchstreak or any other experienced tunneler to help her first.

“We don't have to do this,” she says eventually, being the first to take a step back from the cave. “I can find someone else, it's no worry.”

@Mouseflight ​

 

[Mouseflight]

If Cottonsprig asks for Mouseflight to do something he does it without hesitance, if she were to ask him to run alongside the gorge as it was crumbling behind him he would do so, for the tunneler trusted her without question. They had been friends for what felt like three lifetimes, so it would come as no surprise that when she asked him to take her to the tunnels, to teach the now medicine cat about the tunnels once more, he had agreed without hesitance, a simple "yeah okay" leaving his maw before they head out. Now with the smoke-hued feline braced against his side he falters at the entrance of a tunnel that was meant to be simple, so simple in fact that it was meant for apprentices who had never felt the darkness that came with the caves before.

It was safe, he knew this, so why was he hesitant to move forward?

She speaks and ears flick towards her, eyes soon to follow as she asks her question. Do you get scared still? "Sometimes." The truth feels thick as he speaks it out, hard to continue on with it once it's out. It's acrid and he doesn't like it, so instead he pushes it away. "There's not really much to talk about it," A pause, "It happens, I was... lucky, I guess, it's something that we know could happen but so many times it kills but I got out... I'm fine." He was lying, he had to. If he admit that in truth he was not fine, that after two times of being stuck in the darkness with thoughts of nothing but death he was certainly not fine but there were few that knew of the first time, so few that he couldn't even remember if those outside the cats that had been stuck as well knew of it. He had pushed that feeling down and gone back into the tunnels and he would do the same now.

She speaks again and takes a step back, and a soft frown pulls on Mouseflight's maw before he shakes his head. "No, it's fine. It's just a small tunnel, one that I'd even trust a younger apprentice in alone if need-be... it's one of the ones we keep maintenance on the most after all." Close to the camp, close to help if it was needed, and though he'd never actually send an apprentice down into a tunnel alone - even one as small as this one - he would like to keep that sentiment. So he'd move forward, tail waving as he'd offer a reassuring smile to the other as paws moved with faux confidence into the tunnel. "Come on, we can make it a shorter lesson if it'd make you feel better?" It's said lightly, something that sounds in jest, but he hopes that she takes the opportunity to grab at the lifeline he's cast for himself, though she would hear no complaints from him if she were to not.

⋆｡°✩ threw my voice into the dark

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  ⋆ mousekit - mousepaw - mouseflight
  ⋆ amab - he/him - 20 moons
  ⋆ bisexual - open to relationship
  ⋆ tunneler of windclan
  ⋆ attack - speech - thought
  ⋆ penned by tikki

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[cottonsprig]

Cottonsprig does not consider herself with control over any soul other than herself. The mere idea - to wave a paw and conduct another's wants and needs - makes her feel sick in some ways. It... makes her feel like her mother, as if she's a part of some destiny-bound cycle, where she too will be trapped under the sun's claws. She detests the mere idea and thankfully, she doesn't try to think of it much. Mouseflight is just a good friend to her, eager to keep her paws keen and her mind sharp.

Still, they idle and she asks her questions gently. Sometimes, he says, and he's very sure about it. His tone errs on flippant, but in a way that doesn't comfort Cottonsprig. She doesn't think that earning her name has made her all knowing whatsoever, but she does think that she knows Mouseflight well enough to know where he's lying. Maybe now he's simply trying to convince himself of a different reality where what he had gone through was not traumatizing. It was run of the mill danger, that anyone could've escaped. He's just... lucky, as he puts it.

Cottonsprig tries to abandon the mission for his sake but he reinforces himself. His will is strong, comparing her efforts to that of an apprentice (something she is not ashamed to think is possibly true.) Safety is secure for them, be it by chance, by virtue, or by some other third thing. Her tail twitches as he makes the step forward again, a smile held out in her direction. And then - a tangible frail spot. A suggestion that for her sake, it'll be a quick lesson. Her own smile finds her face, but she doesn't point out the obvious in his suggestion. Let him be a hero, she thinks, falling back in line with him. Let him control something.

"I think that'd be nice," she purrs, drawing her tongue briefly over his cheek as she does. She wants to be a source of comfort for the tom, and can only hope that he seeks exactly that with her. Her tail twitches again, and he looks down the cavern. "Alright... first step, scent to make sure nothing is hiding right away?" She asks, hoping to make this lesson simple for him.​