-- edgeclan [1x1]

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Weaselpaw knew that the smart thing to do was sneak his way back into camp, but there was no way he was going to be able to pull that off in the current state that he was in. He hadn’t even been able to quietly make his way through the undergrowth back to camp, his body heavy, his paws clumsy, and his mind reeling with what he had stumbled upon during the night.

At first he had assumed he had stumbled upon a twoleg out in the dark, and while his initial response to seeing a twoleg should have been to run, something had pulled Weaselpaw in, like some invisible force that required his presence. Instead of running away the ginger and white tomcat had prowled closer. He had expected to come upon the twoleg soon as it had already appeared rather tall and close, but with each pawstep the apprentice had taken he realized the twoleg was only getting bigger, bigger, bigger, and...and hairer...and less and less normal.

It didn’t take Weaselpaw much longer to realize that what he had stumbled upon out in the woods had not been a twoleg, but rather some twoleg like beast. Fear of the unknown took ahold of him and he had spun off, running back toward camp as fast as his paws would take him, swearing to StarClan themselves that the creature’s gaze followed him well into his run.

Eventually his body had worn itself out, causing him to stumble and fall, rolling through a thicket of bramble and briars that had surely tore through his thick fur. As he stumbled back to camp he could feel the skin underneath his pelt burning, a sure sign that he was at least somewhat scraped up underneath.

He had no idea how he was going to explain this to the Clan. He had no idea how he was going to explain this to Pelicanthroat. Cold fear gripped tight into him at the thought of his father, the familiar disappointed glare of the brown and white tabby scorching into his very soul. Weaselpaw had never had a good relationship with his father, and while he knew why, it still didn’t help him feel any less unwanted or like he was a failure. He was trying to tell himself to not let Pelicanthroat’s harsh words and stares get to him, but no amount of pep talks seemed to work.

Bruised, beaten, and heavy, Weaselpaw finally stumbled his way into camp as the sun was rising, running head first into the warrior that was on guard.

He froze, noticing a brown and white pelt, and for a blood chilling second he thought it was his father, but the voice that questioned him was deeper than his father’s voice.

”Weaselpaw? Where have you been? You look a mess.” Whiteshark’s voice was a blessing beyond anything Weaselpaw could imagine right now. Hearing her voice and not Pelicanthroat’s was a miracle.

The young tom almost fell completely limp against the warrior as she pressed up against him for support. ”Come on, let’s get you to Pebblepool. We can worry about why you were out of camp later,” the molly mewed.

Dazed and tired, Weaselpaw was unable to speak even if he wanted to. He let Whiteshark guide him to the medicine cat den, stopping only when he felt the warrior give pause and call out, ”Pebblepool, Moonpaw? Got your first patient of the day.”

Usually going to the medicine cat den left Weaselpaw feeling nervous, like if he did one wrong thing then he would somehow mess everything up. He always worried that he was a nuisance to the medicine cat and her apprentice, and he was worried that he was just taking supplies that could be of more benefit to others. This wasn’t something new to him, though, he had always been like this. As a small, sicky kit, his time in the medicine cat den was rather frequent, and what with having no mother to look after him and his father practically wanting nothing to do with him, Pebblepool had been called in to watch over him a lot. The other queens at the time had cared for him, but they could only do so much when his body needed herbs more than milk.

There was also the fact that Moonpaw was more than likely in the den. Weaselpaw didn’t want to make a fool out of himself in front of her. He wanted to show that he was capable of doing what any other warrior apprentice could do, but deep down he knew he wasn’t any good at that. He tried, he really did, but he knew it was never enough. Moonpaw was the medicine cat apprentice and probably didn’t care about a warrior apprentice trying to prove himself, but he cared about that. He probably cared a bit too much.

Though right now he wasn’t able to feel all that anxious about going to the medicine cat den and Moonpaw being there. Weaselpaw was too tired, too dazed, to really think about anything beyond what he had spotted last night, and while the fear of the unknown still gripped him, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of tugging at his paws, like they wanted to take him back to that thing he had spotted.

Whiteshark’s voice broke his thoughts. ”Not sure, he came stumbling back into camp like a kit just learning to walk. He probably just needs sleep, but I’m no medicine cat,” Whiteshark replied with ease. Weaselpaw could feel the movement of her shrugging against him, and while he was thankful for her help, he had to admit that he did feel bad that she had to deal with him at such an early time in the morning. Whiteshark had always been more of the brash, hard-working cats of the Clan, and Weaselpaw was sure she would much rather spend her time doing warrior things instead of helping frantic apprentices like Weaselpaw himself.

As soon as Whiteshark’s weight was no longer holding him up, Weaselpaw’s body gave way to the tiredness chewing at his muscles. He fell straight down onto the ground, landing with a puff of air escaping his lungs, but was otherwise unfazed from the fall. He simply lay there, still and silent for a long moment until finally he was able to catch his breath. The ginger and white tabby was sure he looked a mess, and he was sure he looked more than pathetic in his current state. At this rate he was never going to be all that impressive to Moonpaw. If anything he’d probably just end up being a nuisance to her.

That thought left a hollow feeling in his chest, and as much as he tried to ignore it, he just couldn’t. He wanted to impress the molly, wanted her to think of him as maybe more than just some other ‘paw in the Clan that she got to see every so often out in camp. He doubted that would ever happen, though. There was nothing particularly special about him.

Shame burned at the tips of his ears, and he was unable to bring his amber gaze up to look at Moonpaw even as he addressed her question to the best of his ability. ”I just...I needed to get away for a bit,” he mumbled, feeling his fur prickle uneasily. She’s gonna think you’re an idiot, his thoughts hissed through his brain, making him want to curl up and just vanish into thin air. That’s probably what most of the Clan wanted him to do anyway - if anything, he was sure Pelicanthroat would enjoy the random disappearance of his sole surviving kit.

He should probably tell Moonpaw about why exactly he had been outside of camp, but a twinge of worry held his tongue and forbade him from saying anything. What if she thought he was weird, or just making something up to get attention? The last thing Weaselpaw wanted to do was make Moonpaw think he was weird, or worse, not even worth her time. He was sure he was already not worth the molly’s time, but he didn’t want to be even more of a thorn in her side.

Weaselpaw sighed. He just wasn’t good at these kinds of things. Maybe it was why he kept finding himself straying out of camp to be alone. He knew he couldn’t impress his father, there was no point in him even trying to do that anymore. There was always Sagewatcher, who, while not the queen that had kitted him, was the queen that had raised him, and while he loved her and was more than grateful to her, he always had felt bad that she had to take him on. Sagewatcher had kits of her own blood to nurture, she shouldn’t have given her time to a kit like him. It wasn’t like he was even going to amount to anything, and he was sure that, eventually, Sagewatcher would look at him and realize that she too was disappointed in Weaselpaw.

That was likely going to happen with Moonpaw as well. Though they hadn’t been able to interact much now that they had graduated to ‘paws, Weaselpaw still enjoyed her presence. The dilute calico probably thought the opposite about him and would rather the ginger and white tom to stay out of her fur. At some point she would tell him that outright, and once she did he would leave her alone, but until that time came he wanted to try his best to at least get her attention.

Eventually, the tabby tom found his voice. Softly, he murmured, ”I...I think I’ll be fine without poppy seeds. Maybe. I...I, uh, I don’t know…” He trailed off, voice rather deflated in defeat and embarrassment as he shuffled his paws against the ground and lowered his eyes down to watch the movement. ”I’m sure I can fall asleep on my own. Don’t wanna waste herbs, ya know? … Should...should I go back to my nest?” Weaselpaw mustered up just enough courage to look up at Moonpaw, wondering what her response would be. She probably wanted him to leave, so Weaselpaw was sure she’d tell him to go back to his own den. He wouldn’t be surprised if that was her answer, so at least the disappointment he was sure to feel from that wouldn’t ache too much.

Weaselpaw had known her answer even before she had said it. He was already getting to his paws, struggling for just a moment to regain balance. He could feel his paws swaying underneath him, his legs feeling more like stalks of reed grass than actual flesh and bone, but the apprentices’ den wasn’t that too far off. He could make it. Probably make it just in time to collapse right into his nest and sleep the day away. Hopefully Lightflame didn’t plan on any training today.

The tomcat was about to speak and apologize for wasting Moonpaw’s time when she suddenly snapped out a sharp “would you go away”. As any cat would he was sure it was directed toward him. His fur puffed out and his ears flattened against his head while his tail tucked itself between his hind legs. He knew he had wasted Moonpaw’s time, but he hadn’t realized he had wasted her time to the point she had grown angry. Weaselpaw took a tentative step back. ”...I’m...so-” He stopped his words when the dilute calico spoke up again, making a comment on how there had been an annoying fly rather than her snapping at him. Weaselpaw wasn’t so sure how much he believed that - he hadn’t noticed a single fly in the den - but he wasn’t about to question Moonpaw when she was already in a seemingly bad mood.

Once again he tried to make his exit, but was frozen when Moonpaw asked if there was anything else. His eyes went round like two moons. Anything else? What did she mean by that? He...he could probably tell her about everything last night, but he was too nervous, too scared. Weaselpaw was afraid of the reaction she would give him. So instead of being truthful he shook his head. ”No...no...I don’t think so.” The words tasted bitter on his tongue, but the fear was overriding the guilt of not being open and honest to Moonpaw.

She was pressing for more. She knew something was up.

Weaselpaw struggled with what to do. There were two divided parts of him, one that wanted to tell Moonpaw what he had saw last night and the other part telling him that he needed to keep quiet to not come off as insane to the molly he wanted to impress. They were in a conflict with one another, both parts screaming at one another, telling the other to back off and let Weaselpaw do one or the other. It seemed like keeping quiet and playing dumb was winning, but just when he was about to take another step toward the exit the other option got just enough traction to spark a single amount of confidence long enough to give Weaselpaw the words he had been holding back for so long.

Taking a deep breath, he took this moment and asked, "Can...can I tell you not...not here?" He glanced around the den, clearly worried that some other cat or Pebblepool herself would come into the den right as he was trying to explain everything to Moonpaw, and he didn't want that. It already took him enough time to muster up the courage to even begin explaining to Moonpaw what had happened, he didn't have it in him to explain to two cats right now.

For some reason he really didn’t think Moonpaw would go along with him wanting to leave the den. He had assumed she would have just told him to suck it up and tell her where they were already. He was relieved to see that that wasn’t the truth here, and that she actually was willing to go somewhere outside for him to explain everything he had witnessed last night. Moonpaw being so willing to do this for him brought a current of warmth through his body that settled into the pit of his chest. It was nice knowing that he could count on the molly.

Though, the downside to this was now Moonpaw expected Weaselpaw to come up with a place for them to go, and he had no idea where to take her or how far she would even be willing to go for all this. Weaselpaw didn’t handle decisions very well, but he supposed he needed to learn how to do better with that if he ever wanted to get somewhere in life.

Tentatively the ginger and white tabby pushed himself up to his paws, needing a moment to steady himself. He felt his limbs sway, letting him know he still needed to rest soon. ”I’m...not entirely sure,” he mewed sheepishly, glancing at the other apprentice with uncertainty in his gaze as he stood there, all the while attempting to not fall over and make an even bigger fool of himself in front of Moonpaw.

Weaselpaw wasn’t even aware he was holding his breath in anticipation until a deep, hollow ache formed in his chest. He quickly parted his jaws to take in a deep breath, lungs welcoming the oxygen with glee by getting rid of the pain inside. That didn't stop the butterflies that flapped their wings around frantically in his stomach. He was anxious, almost afraid even, that Moonpaw was going to be angry at him for not having a place in mind that they could go to. It was only right for him to make the decision on where they went since he had been the one to suggest leaving camp, but Weaselpaw just wasn’t sure where to go and where Moonpaw would even be willing to travel to.

To him the silence felt like an eternity. It lingered between the two of them like a tense storm gathering its strength, the thick clouds rolling in from across the sea and turning the world dark. The tension blanketed over his fur, making his entire being feel weighed down, a thick, boggy feeling encasing him. It forced a sense of sickness to rise up in his throat, as if he were about to hack up any remains of a meal he had eaten in the past day, but luckily no such action occurred. Weaselpaw was able to sit there in silence, albeit an awkward one.

Then, finally, the silence was broken. Moonpaw’s voice washed over him like an ocean wave, and he managed to bring his head upward to look at the leader’s daughter with nervous eyes. ”You...you know a place?” Weaselpaw asked hopefully. ”A cave?” The cliffs outside of camp were bound to be full of caves, and Weaselpaw was sure there wouldn’t be any other cats in the caves, or at least in the one Moonpaw was thinking of.

Before giving an answer he looked around to make sure they were still the only cats inside the den and that no other cat was walking in. Once he decided the cost was clear he looked back to Moonpaw and, with a firm voice for once in his life, mewed, ”Let’s go to the cave.”

If any other cat wanted to take Weaselpaw down into a cave he more than likely would have declined their offer in as polite a manner as his awkward self could manage. Caves had an interesting aura about them, but they also were intimidating and frightening. What if something happened and he got stuck down there forever? Would there be any ferocious beasts down in the cave, something like what he had discovered just last night? The creature from last night didn’t feel harmful to him, but it also hadn’t noticed him as far as he knew. It could have been a whole different story if the creature had realized he was there.

Not wanting to get off on that train of thought, Weaselpaw derailed where his mind was going to focus on Moonpaw. They were lucky in that no other cat tried to stop them from leaving camp, or even realized that they were heading outside without a warrior to back them up in case something happened. Perhaps the camp had been empty due to Shadowcaster already having sent out the patrols for the morning, leaving only a few warriors in the camp going about other tasks for themselves.

The journey to the cave wasn’t a long one, and if anything it was a lot closer to camp than Weaselpaw had expected. But maybe he should have expected that, he didn’t suspect that Moonpaw had a lot of time to go too far from camp what with being the medicine cat apprentice and all. Though Weaselpaw could be wrong - after all, it seemed like she had enough time to discover a whole cave herself that no other cat seemed to know about, and if they did they kept awfully quiet about it. He could only wonder why that was.

For a brief moment nervousness crept up on him like a stalking predator, and at first Weaselpaw didn’t think he would be able to step inside the cave alongside the other apprentice, but he mustered up enough courage to manage it, and it wasn’t long before he was glad he had done so.

Faint light bathed Weaselpaw’s pelt. He looked around with wide eyes, the breath catching in his throat as he stood there, awed, at the sight of the crystals that illuminated the cave. ”Whoah…” Now he was starting to realize why other cats didn’t say anything about this cave if they knew it even existed - they wanted to keep all this beauty to themselves, and Weaselpaw couldn’t blame them.

Taking in the sights of the cave had Weaselpaw almost forgetting the reason why they had come here in the first place. The tomcat could have very easily stood there all day, in awe, staring at his current surroundings had Moonpaw remained silent.

He startled at the molly’s voice, ginger and white fur bristling along his spine and his tail fluffing out to twice its usual size. He turned to look at the dilute calico, eyes wide, reflecting the fright from her voice even as he tried to calm himself down. ”Um,” he started, unsure of what exactly she had asked at first. It took a moment for the inquiry to register in his brain, and once it finally did he looked down at his paws as they shuffled along the ground. ”Well, uh…” Weaselpaw knew he couldn’t avoid the question or try to make it seem like he didn’t really have anything to tell Moonpaw, not after dragging her all the way out of camp. ”Just… I just… There was…there was something last night…” He trailed off again, this time no other words following and instead he fell into silence, eyes still looking down at his paws.

That was a question Weaselpaw had no idea how to answer. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had spotted out there in the woods. It had looked large, tall too. From what he had been able to make out it was quite furry, yet it looked way too much like a twoleg for it to be that hairy, right? Then again, the ginger and white tom hadn’t seen that many twolegs in his life before, or really any if he was being honest. He only knew about them from the gossip he heard from warriors or elders, and from what they talked about twolegs didn’t often come into EdgeClan territory. He knew they were two-legged creatures that were mostly furless with different colored pelts covering most of their body, but beyond that he had no idea what they looked like, let alone enough for him to be able to identify one in the middle of the night from far away.

Weaselpaw shuffled his paws across the ground. ”I’m...I’m not sure what I saw,” he replied truthfully, unable to meet the molly’s gaze for fear that she’d realize she had wasted her time with him. ”It was dark, and I was far away from it, and...and I was scared…” That wasn’t a lot to go on, but what else could he say? He only had so much to tell Moonpaw, so maybe going off away from camp for this little of information had been a stupid idea after all.

Was she not mad at him yet? Or at the very least annoyed? Weaselpaw was so sure that the molly would have been annoyed with him at this point, yet it seemed like she felt no such emotion. Perhaps being patient was just part of her medicine cat training, or perhaps that just had to come naturally when working under Pebblepool. Not that Weaselpaw had any grievances toward the medicine cat, he just knew she could be a bit...odd in her practice, but she got the job done and that was what mattered in the end.

The next words that came from Moonpaw had Weaselpaw surprised. He jolted upright, looking at the pale calico with wide, rounded eyes. ”You’d want...you’d want to track it? Tonight?” He questioned, voice pitched higher in surprise all the while being hushed, as if he were trying to tell a secret without any other cats hearing. ”I…” He was about to say he wasn’t so sure if that idea was a good one, but as he sat there and thought about it he realized that a part of him still wanted to know what that creature was he saw last night, and Moonpaw being there with him would ease his nerves if even just a little.

After a few seconds of silence Weaselpaw finally gave a slow nod. ”That...that could work…”