we're gonna need a bigger boat [twitchpaw]

[QUILLSTRIKE]

I FEEL LIKE AN ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN​

---

The Sandy Hollow was a place that Quill was slowly becoming more familiar with. At first he had ventured to the place only when Sharpeyes required of it, not interested in having to listen to some warrior drone on about 'his technique and what could be improved'. The chimera tabby had little interest in the words of cats he didn't know or respect, and despite the length of time he'd been in Skyclan, there were few cats he'd spent enough time with the earn either from him.

Lately though, the tom had been seeking the training grounds out on his own accord. He was growing, his body changing, and he found that it was no longer as familiar to him as it once was. Proportionally he felt off, like his paws were too big and his legs too long, and it was making him clumsy enough to faceplant in the middle of camp while doing something as simple as kicking a rock around. Annoyed by this sudden lack of control over his body, he'd begun training on a more a regular basis in an attempt to familiarize himself with this new form he was taking.

Besides, if he didn't maintain his muscle mass -or preferably gain even more- he was going to start looking lanky and weak. And while Quill didn't consider himself vain necessarily, he also didn't need a reason to look any weirder than he already did with his patchy coat and mismatched eyes. At least this way he could keep beating the shit out of the cats that pissed him off.

Oddly, he thought, there didn't seem to be too many of those in Skyclan. The chimera hadn't gotten into a single fight during his time there, something he was only now realizing and being weirded out by. Quill had always been a scrapper back in twoleg place. While the majority of the cats there were idiots, the one thing he could always assure himself of was that he could get a good fight in with someone if he got bored enough, something that tended to happen more often than you'd think reasonable.

As he made his way into the sandy hollow that day, he was surprised to see that nobody else was currently using it. Maybe the cooler weather was starting to scare cats off? Oh well. He prefered it when it was just him anyways- adults were annoying, and so were most of the apprentices, and kits, and elders. You get the point.
​

---

skyclan - male - 8 months - bisexual - homoromantic - single - very tall tabby tomcat with broad shoulders

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

Again, birds escaped him- could he truly say escape, though, when he had never held them in the first place? Frustration bubbled up within him, a thrashing serpent, constricting his gut and his ribs- oh, it made him want to spit up his breakfast! For all the shame in his heart he found he could not show his face in camp; so, splitting from the hunting patrol on the way home he had headed to the sandy hollow at a time he hoped it would be unpopulated. But as usual misfortune found him, for standing just in the place he had hoped to collect himself was a figure- and who, who could it be? He found for a moment he didn't care who, and was all but ready to tell them to leave-

Ah. Quillpaw, though. He was- or had been, at least- confused about whether he liked Quillpaw or not, but he had found recently that he was beginning to lean a little more toward the former. Thus, no accusation of spot-stealing fled from his maw, nor did he deem the situation one that was ignorable.

"Here on your- your own?" A stutter caught the bend of his neck, left in a sudden involuntary motion. Padding toward the other, he lingered for a moment. Quillpaw was getting taller- noticeably so, and a little clumsier too, but... surely, surely he was missing a trick. And maybe getting the input of another- just maybe- there would be a way to achieve it, finally. He'd catch a bird, he'd hand it over- they'd say they were proud, and he'd be able to see it in their smiles- see something, anything.​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[QUILLSTRIKE]

I FEEL LIKE AN ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN​

---

There was a similar moment of consideration on Quills part when he noticed Twitchpaw entering the sandy hollow. He'd been looking forward to training alone, but it wasn't like Twitchpaw was going to start trying to order him around like a warrior, and even if they did Quill didn't have to listen to them.

"Yeah. It's easier to practice without a mentor breathing down my neck." he explained, and while Sharpeye was definitely not the worst mentor around, Quill had never taken to authority well regardless of what kind it was. He could thank his parents for that defiant streak. Plus, he felt as if he'd been backtracking in his progress thanks to how awkward he felt in his own body, and the last thing he wanted was to hear a warrior telling him he wasn't working at it hard enough when in reality he had been and was just being thrown off by his own growth spurts.

"You training alone, too? Thought you and Daisyflight were close." he asked, a brow raising in curiosity. Surely they would want to train with his mentor and not alone?

Even though he'd arguably spent more time with Twitch than any of the other cats in the group, it wasn't as if the two knew anything about each other beyond the surface shit. And that was fine, because Quill didn't need to know anything more about them and vice versa- and yet, he remained curious. It was a feeling he wasn't used to, more familiar with a general sense of indifference or irritation. Then again he'd found himself more patient with Skyclan in general, so maybe the fact that they weren't all pissing him off had a lot to do with that.

Plus, they were the best bet he had at staying away from his dad.
​

---

skyclan - male - 8 months - bisexual - homoromantic - single - very tall tabby tomcat with broad shoulders

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

Well, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Quillpaw had never particularly struck him as someone who liked to frolic around with a teacher, being whimsically shown all the wonders of learning- in fact he'd always appeared rather self-sufficient, even in comparison to Twitchpaw himself. A shrug of understanding nudged Twitchpaw's shoulders, his vision wandering slightly. He could only expect a similar question- two apprentices at a training ground, both without a mentor, both having come here of their own accord was... odd.

Yep, there it was. The snow-splashed tom fidgeted slightly, eye contact flicking to-and-fro-and-everywhere. "We are," he choked out, almost aggressively defensive. An outburst lead him to clear his throat, and several spasms to seize his eyelids separately. It was- weird that he was out here, wasn't it? Something to be mocked for, fleeing from his mentor in vulnerability- but he supposed should anyone make fun of him it wouldn't be Quillpaw. For hypocrisy's sake and also that Quillpaw did not seem the type to pick on people in any genuine fashion.

But who was to say, really. He didn't- know Quillpaw, really. They'd talked, they'd talked a fair amount, but- he didn't know him. Twitchpaw in truth often felt as if he didn't know anyone. "I just- I kept embarrassing myself. Needed a moment away. I'm- just, I'm-" He got stuck on his words, the stutter twitching his neck again. "I can't catch birds."

Perhaps a tame admittance, but he burned with an inferno of embarrassment. ​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[QUILLSTRIKE]

I FEEL LIKE AN ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN​

---

There was patience as Twitch began to, well, twitch after snapping back a reply of we are, not born out of sympathy, but because that's how it simply was. Quill knew by now that the other tom had a tendency to work themselves up sometimes, and usually it only took a moment for whatever spasms or shakes overcame them.

"Me and Sharpeye aren't."he said with a shrug. It didn't bother him one way or another if Twitch and his were. He'd just been curious."I hardly even see the guy anymore."

He didn't sound particularly upset over that fact, though. Quill hadn't exactly been the easiest to work with and he'd kind of expected that Sharpeye would give up on him at some point. That seemed to be the standard for most things in the chimeras life and he didn't really find himself surprised by it anymore.

"I just- I kept embarrassing myself. Needed a moment away. I'm- just, I'm-"

His words seemed to fail him as another round of involuntary twitching began, but in the end they seemed to finally spit it out.

"I can't catch birds."

It caught him a little off guard, but only because it was such a normal thing for a kid their age to worry about. And for Twitch, that was weird. This was a cat that could create a problem out of thin air and obsess over it for hours, assigning meaning and intention to something as simple as an innocent glance in their direction or a few mumbled words not quite heard correctly.

"What's so special about birds?"he asked, not quite understanding. "It's not like the clans gonna disown you. I've seen you hunt other stuff, your still contributing."

​

---

skyclan - male - 8 months - bisexual - homoromantic - single - very tall tabby tomcat with broad shoulders

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

Me and Sharpeye aren't. A deadpan admittance, it seemed a sad thing to admit so flatly. How boring and unfulfilling were his lessons if he didn't get on well with his mentor? "Oh. Sorry." Words muttered, he failed to make eye contact, mismatched eyes slipping to a spot on the ground. Nothing but grass and dirt to see, but it was less awkward than looking at Quillpaw. And why oh why was it awkward? He wanted to curse the twist in his gut, punch right through and send it soaring past the atmosphere- what had he to be awkward about!? It wasn't his fault Quillpaw didn't like his mentor!

They sat in silence for a few moments, until Quillpaw asked another question- Twitchpaw's attention flickered to meet his for a split second, before falling away once again. He was always asking questions- flat, factual, like in interrogator. What did he want to know? Why was he trying to find out- why was he bothering? "Well, yeah, but-" A twitch. A sigh. He gritted his teeth, kinked tail flicking in annoyance.

"It's all my parents ever want. They say 'get us lunch'," he pitched his voice to mocking-mimic them, "But when I bring them something that isn't a bird Dad always says that 'bird's more of a lunch food' or something stupid like that, and then they just make me get them one someone else caught off the pile." A sigh crackled in his throat, his words almost having failed over each other in his frustration. Still, there it was- that truth he'd wanted so badly. And now he would probably laugh at him and go and tell everyone or something- whatever. On the off-chance he didn't... "I just..." He trailed off, shutting his trap tight, teeth fitting fastened in an iron-grip. He- needed to shut up. ​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[QUILLSTRIKE]

I FEEL LIKE AN ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN​

---

To be entirely honest, not even Quill had an answer for Twitches mental musing of 'why?'. He'd been born with one parent who'd hated him and another that was only reminded of the mistake they'd made whenever they looked at him, and so he'd spent as much time away from them as possible, had let them play house with his sister and be the perfect little family they wanted to be- without him. It hadn't left him a happy kid, and he'd spent the majority of his time with other unhappy kids, none of whom had a healthy coping mechnism to their name and none of which Quill had gone out of his way to take an interest in. None of them were so much 'friends' as they were a collect force, a pack of mistreated animals with noting but frustration and pain and no outlet aside from each other and the city around them. Fights were common-place, drama was waiting around every corner, and it had just been so damn loud all the time with pointless bullshit that Quillcouldn't care less about. You'd have thought that somewhere in there he would have found a kindred spirit to latch onto, but no. He'd hated them all.

And so it was just as confusing to Quill that he didn't feel that same animosity toward the Skyclanners.

At first he'd been wary of them, sure, keeping to his old habits of leaving them alone and only interacting when a cat had enough balls to come to him first, but after the first few weeks he came to realize that he was waiting for something to happen. Only, nothing was happening. The apprentices were all friends, the warriors worked together instead of in competition with one another, there were no 'accidents' with the kits. Everything was strangely, unexpectedly, unnervingly normal, and it was new to him, this healthy enviroment. He was less on edge, talking to others more, and had only wanted to claw the face off one cat (Crimsonbite) since joining. Sure, he still didn't like or trust half the adults in the clan, but not even he could deny that this place was doing something to him.

As for what his interest in Twitch was? No clue.

"It's all my parents ever want. They say 'get us lunch, but when I bring them something that isn't a bird Dad always says that 'bird's more of a lunch food' or something stupid like that, and then they just make me get them one someone else caught off the pile."

"Sounds like they should catch their own fucking food." he huffed, expression darkened somewhat by a scowl. Some people were so damn ungrateful, and maybe the sentiment was hitting a bit too close to home, but it annoyed him the same way seeing Crimsonbite scream at Butterflypaw had.

And maybe it was just his genius detective skills, but Quill had a feeling Twitch wouldn't be all that pleased to hear his parents called ungrateful scumbags, so he bit his tongue and prepared to say nothing more on it.

It was annoying hard to ignore though when Twitch was standing there, looking dejected and hesitant in the wake of his admittence.

"Lemme see your technique." he said after a moment of silence, the words not so much a question as a subtle command. He might not approve of Twitches parents acting like that, but maybe he could at least help shut them up about it so that the other apprentice wasn't left feeling like it was their fault.

​

---

skyclan - male - 8 months - bisexual - homoromantic - single - very tall tabby tomcat with broad shoulders

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

A short exhalation of amusement left Twitchpaw at Quillpaw's initial verdict- a sentiment he could absolutely agree with, and would aloud if they weren't- well, his own parents. That was sacred ground, wasn't it? Or something like that. Shouldn't disrespect those who gave you life, that sort of thing- they always spouted rhetoric like that as well. That he should be grateful for them- that he did all these favours in repayment to them for all the good they'd done for him. It was only fair, really. Only fair- he shouldn't laugh...

Oh- and he was surprised! How he hated his fickle emotions, that he should be surprised- it was infuriating, for shouldn't he be glad that Quillpaw wanted to help him? That the other apprentice wasn't gonna just leave him to rot? God, he was... staring again, stun widening his eyes to tennis-balls. But, but... this'd probably be good, wouldn't it? Despite the unbeknownst lack of understanding between them regarding the why of it all, Twitchpaw still wondered... what was the use to Quillpaw? Why would he ever try to help- there was no way it would benefit him...

"Alright," he murmured after a long stretch of seconds, lowering himself into a hunting crouch. With a kinked tail, balancing was a little bit harder... perhaps that difficulty would be obvious. "Don't be mean, just..." A sigh interrupted his words, snapped his jaw shut. He didn't think Quillpaw would be mean, really, but there was always that worry. He could laugh, tell everyone- he'd be an apprentice forever, doomed as Twitchpaw, he'd...​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[QUILLSTRIKE]

I FEEL LIKE AN ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN​

---

Quill was far from an expert on anything, but he knew he was at least adequate in most fields. To many it was impressive that he'd learned to hunt and fight at such a young age, but the truth was that his independence had been born soley out of self-preservation. When asking about food got you screamed at and chased out of the house, you learned to catch your own food. When your mere presence was enough to incite a fistfight, you learned to defend yourself- and, in Quills case, occasionally take that anger out on other people you could win against.

Luckily for Twitch, Quill had grown up in twoleg place, where the most common prey to catch had been rats, squirrels, and birds, so there was a possability the chimera might be able to help them.

For a moment, the tabby thought he might be ignored, and if that was the case then fine- it was no sweat off his back if Twitch turned down his offer to help. There was another long stretch of silence between them, a quiet that Quill found he didn't mind despite the strangeness lingering in the air between them. They were treading new ground here, toeing the line and testing weather it was okay to step past it. Things like 'personal interest' and 'quality time' weren't really built into the vague social norms they'd built with one another. They didn't seek each others company outside of the unplanned interactions they often found themselves in, didn't help one another or share their personal lives. Twitches training was Daisyflights responsability, and they both knew there was no real reason for Quill to be helping them when their mentor -or any other adult in the clan- would have been far better suited to it.

And yet, here they were.

"Alright."

He sounded uncertain even to Quill, but still humored him, sinking low into a crouch.

"Don't be mean, just..."

"I won't." he replied, voice even in its reasurrance. Quill could be a sarcastic asshole with a dark sense of humor, but he was seldom cruel just for the sake of being such. The closest weapon he had to creulty was his anger, and he had yet to truly lose his temper with the Skyclanners- though Crimsonbite had definitely gotten close.

Taking a moment to observe Twitches stance, he noted -with some amusement- that this was far from the first time he'd actually observed the other cat. Quills eyes were often drawn to the other tom, though he couldn't really say why. They were just always moving; fidgetting, twitching, jumping at sudden noises. The other cats were predictable, boring in the bad way. Twitch was at least interesting to watch.

"Okay. And how do you go in for the kill usually?" he asked, mismatched eyes shifting to meet with green flecked gold. "Pretend there's a bird there and catch it." he said, gesturing to the empty ground before them.

Birds weren't all that hard to sneak up on- not unless you were dealing ith a group of them, in which case more eyes meant a more likely alarm call that sent the flock skyward. The real trick to catching a bird was how you went about trying to catch them. You could just pounce at the ground like you would for a squirrel or mouse because the bird wouldn't be on the ground when you jumped for it.

​

---

skyclan - male - 8 months - bisexual - homoromantic - single - very tall tabby tomcat with broad shoulders

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

I won't, he said, and why should Twitchpaw believe him? And yet no protest fled from his maw, fastened teeth clamping down harder but not parting for an insult. No, he held himself despite the magma-flare beneath his skin at the feeling of being looked at, examined- scritinised. Oh, what was he thinking! He was no fan of criticism when it came from the throat of his own mentor, let alone a fellow apprentice who he barely knew, not even well enough to just ask for help-

Surprisingly, though- and why it was surprising Twitchpaw could not say, not could he pinpoint why it would not have been- Quillpaw offered full attention, full intention. A question prompting further demonstration reached out, and Twitchpaw turned an incredulous gaze of amber-flecked olive to the other- but again, again, found no need to argue. How could he help with no basis? It was- logical, really, though Twitchpaw found himself often unused to logic. His parents didn't have it- enough about them, though.

"Uh- right." And with that he took his pounce, toward the invisible target as if it was a bird- but therein lay his problem. A stationary bird was what he envisioned, where he always aimed, ever took off guard by their flightiness. At the ground he pounced, but the issue clicked not in the mahogany-striped tom's mind. He rose to his full height (which was not particularly tall, especially in comparison to his companion) and turned his ever-tense attention back to the chimera. "It was shit, wasn't it? You don't even have to say it."

Pessimism was an everlasting trap. ​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[QUILLSTRIKE]

I FEEL LIKE AN ASTRONAUT IN THE OCEAN​

---

As he watched Twitch pounce for their imaginary bird -the aim entirely wrong, mind you- he wondered how many times the shorter tom had been sent to hunt like this only to fail when their paws closed on empty air. Quill was no stranger to failure; he'd had to teach himself more than was probably fair for a kid his age to be burdened with, and he was familiar with just how quickly constnatly losing could not only get on your nerves, but destroy your confidence as well. He could understand Daisyflight not teaching Twitch better because she didn't know this as a problem he was having, but their parents? Surely after coming home with the 'wrong prey' every day, they'd realized their son needed some help?

"It's not shit, your just not aiming right." Which was mostly the truth. Titch was a little off-balance in their leap, something that could probably be attributed to their kinked tail- but other than that the only issue Quill could spot was the fact that they were aiming for the ground instead of for where the bird would actually be.

"Your jumping at the ground like the birds don't have wings." he explained as he lowered himself into a steady crouch. "You've gotta keep your eyes on the prize. Follow through."

Like Twitch had, Quill envisioned an imaginary bird pecking at the ground a few feet in front of him, then pounced. But there were some obvious differences between the mahogany cat and the chimera. When Quill pounced, he didn't just bring his paws down on the ground. Instead they flashed out high, claws curling not into the ground beneath him, but the air in front of him, before slamming down hard to pin his invisible quarry.

"Like that." he said as he straightened up to look at the other. "Sometimes if they're distracted enough you'll get lucky and can pounce a bird the way you do a mouse or shrew, but most of the time you wanna sort of claw the air in whatever direction their trying to fly off from."

It wasn't really Twitches fault for not knowing the difference. Most prey a cat ended up chasing was running on the ground in front of them, so it made sense that after building that habit of jumping for the ground that Twitch would try to apply it to a bird, too. But birds were tricky. They went up instead of forward, and you had to sort of swipe them out of the air before they got too far.

"We can go practice if you want. There's always birds in the forest." he offered.

​

---

skyclan - male - 8 months - bisexual - homoromantic - single - very tall tabby tomcat with broad shoulders