Instant Best Friends (closed for Shad)

Gingerpaw was worn out from the evening's training, but somehow was still full of energy. His first moon of training had been everything he had ever dreamed of. From hunting frogs to battling with Firepaw to training with Swiftclaw, he'd had the best time of his life. Even getting ticks off of Thrushstripe and Mottleclaw was amazing! The ginger tabby tom flopped himself onto the ground by the fresh-kill pile. He'd just finished battle training with Swiftclaw, the coolest mentor ever, and he'd be going on a patrol at moonhigh. But first, he needed lunch. As the orange and white tom dragged a fluffy squirrel towards him with a hooked claw, his emerald green eyes spotted a red apprentice sitting along in the shade of a large pine tree. Just yesterday, his mom Littlebrook had told him to go make some friends. Well, no time like the present! Grabbing the plump piece of prey in his jaws, the ShadowClan tom hoisted himself up on his tired legs and padded the fox-length over to where the other tom sat. He dropped the squirrel down and sat on his haunches by the apprentice. "Hey! Wanna share?"

Redpaw hadn't been doing much. His training had come to a sudden halt over the disappearance of his mentor. The young apprentice was actually very concerned, not because he couldn't train, but shouldn't he be out looking for Mousefang? Obviously he couldn't have gone far. But while he was deep in his thoughts, a bright orange bundle of fur appeared from nowhere, setting down a nice fat squirrel between them. Glancing at Gingerpaw, Redpaw looked at him curiously. He wanted to share? Redpaw wasn't even entirely sure who this apprentice was. It couldn't hurt to share, though. "Sure," he stated, his mood lightening slightly. "I'm Redpaw. Who are you?"

Gingerpaw's grin widened at the apprentice's response. "Redpaw, huh? That's a nice name!" Nudging the fresh-kill closer to the other tom, he waited for his new acquaintance to take a bite before doing so himself. Hadn't he heard Flamestrike mention a Redpaw to the medicine cat once? His tabby tail-tip flicked in interest. "I'm Gingerpaw, Flamestrike's kit. My mentor's Swiftclaw. Who's yours?" Curiosity shone in his emerald green eyes.

Once the two were settled, Redpaw took a moment to take a small bit out of the squirrel that Gingerpaw had offered. After a moment, the apprentice paused and thought first about Flamestrike. He was the warrior that brought he and his brother into Shadowclan, but since Barkkit was taken away, Flamestrike had barely noticed the apprentice. Even if there was no relation, Flamestrike held a certain place in Redpaw's mind, especially with the fight he put up over his brother, but there was nothing. Soon, though, his thoughts tread to Mousefang. Could he even be considered the absent warrior's apprentice? "I guess my mentor is Mousefang, but I don't know," he mewed finally, glancing over at Gingerpaw.

Gingerpaw's ears drooped a little at the warriors' name. "Mousefang.... He was one of those cats that disappeared, right? Him and Foxheart?" But he brightened again immediately. "Don't worry, I'm sure you can train with me and Swiftclaw sometime! He's the coolest!" His orange tabby tail gestured over to the black warrior near the medicine cat den, laughing and joking with Honeydrop and Rosefur. As his green eyes scanned the clearing, looking around at the members of ShadowClan going about their day, they caught upon a senior warrior with a red-brown pelt just like Redpaw's. "Is that Mudfoot? Your dad?" the apprentice wondered, gazing with awe at the older tom some distance away.

The tom perked up as Gingerpaw mentioned training with him and Swiftclaw. It sounded exciting to get some training done. "Training sounds fun!" he mewed after another bite out of the squirrel. Soon, however, Redpaw was taken completely off guard as the ginger tom asked him about Mudfoot and suddenly, asking if Mudfoot was his dad. What? No, that wasn't true. "No? My dad's not here," he said simply, confusion coating the few words that came out of his mouth. Why would Mudfoot be his dad? Bear was his father. That's what Wolffang had said so long ago, but both of them had disappeared not long before he and Barkkit were taken away by Flamestrike and Honeydrop. Then, Barkkit was taken... somewhere. However, the name Mudfoot had come up multiple times around the red tom, and the older warrior himself had even tried talking to him a lot since he had been here. Was there something he didn't know? "Right?" Redpaw suddenly questioned, his stomach suddenly dropping from slight shock. "I... I guess we do look alike..."

Seeing the discomfort it brought his friend to think that Mudfoot was his father, Gingerpaw quickly changed the subject. It must be hard to not know about a secret family member that would change your life. Not that he'd ever know anything on the subject, but he could sympathize with his friend's problems. If what Flamestrike and the medicine cat had been discussing when he walked in was true, the ShadowClan apprentice wouldn't be the one to break it to the half-Clan tom. "How much of the territory have you seen yet?" he inquired hastily after taking another small bite of squirrel. "I've seen most of it, I think- the marshes, the tallest pine tree, even the Thunderpath. That place is pretty scary. I wonder what's wrong with the Twolegs. Who would ever make- or use- such things? And the monsters are terrifying. Do you remember ever seeing any when you were in Twolegplace?" The orange tabby tom was genuinely curious, and not just trying to get Redpaw off the subject of Mudfoot. Not that he wanted to cause a stressful flashback to his friend's time as a kit in the barn, either.

Redpaw would be lying if he said that he hadn't gotten lost in thought at the mention of Mudfoot being his father. Would that have been part of the reason that Barkkit couldn't stay in Shadowclan? If Redpaw had ties to this clan, it made sense as to why he could stay. But why wasn't anything said to him sooner? Was that even true? Only when Gingerpaw finished asking his questions did the red tom turn back to him, blinking. "Huh? Oh, I actually haven't seen any of it yet," he said. "I know that it's marshy, but that's it. The barn never had any of that, though. It was warm and cozy. Always out of the rain and cold. We were taken outside once before we were brought here, and it was a lot of tall grass all around with no trees at all. It was nice." The young tom sighed as he almost lost himself in the memories that were slowly becoming fuzzy. He could remember general moments, but specifics were becoming exceedingly difficult to remember. As he tried, though, Redpaw became almost awkwardly quiet as he pondered on the thought longer than he should have. However, in the midst of his thoughts, they suddenly got veered toward Mudfoot again somehow. "Is he actually my father?" Redpaw asked, genuinely curious about the answer to the question.

So, apparently he sucked at changing topics in conversations. As Redpaw's thoughts wandered away, speaking of old memories of being brought outside as a kit, Gingerpaw had a sudden, quick flashback that faded away as soon as it appeared. A dry, secluded area; Flamestrike and Littlebrook looking on anxiously; snuggling next to a bright golden pelt along with his two newborn brothers. The scent of his mother and father. Then, the moment he saw it in his mind, it disappeared, leaving him with almost no recollection of what the vision had been. A little disturbed, the ShadowClan tom had to force his thoughts back down to earth, pushing off the odd recollection and going back to the conversation of Mudfoot. Gingepaw winced slightly. Why did he have to broach this topic? He wasn't even sure of the whole thing, and now he was caught in an impossibly difficult position. "Well...." he started awkwardly, "I don't even know, really. I just heard Flamestrike talking to Honeydrop about it one time, when I went in to get my sore pad treated. He said something like-" and here the ginger tabby imitated his father's low, gruff voice- " 'I don't think Redpaw is aware who his father is, and I doubt that Mudfoot would want him to know until he was entirely comfortable with the notion that-' then, he broke off when he saw me." Gingerpaw's tail waved back and forth anxiously. "See, I don't really know if he actually is your father or whatever, I'm just saying what I heard. And I think I heard Honeydrop or somebody talking about how Wolffang and Mudfoot used to be together. Wolffang was your mother, right?" He was way in over his head here- he knew that, at least.

"Yeah," Redpaw replied mindlessly. There was no doubt that Wolffang was his mother, but how did that happen? When was she with Mudfoot if that were the case? As far as he knew, she and Bear had always been together... Now, though, there was a whirlwind of different emotions all fighting to take control: confusion, fear, excitement all rolled into one. Ultimately, the news went against everything the young tom knew, but he also knew that he looked nothing like his mother or Bear while Barkkit was a spitting image of their-- his father. "So, Bear... he's not my father..." Redpaw breathed, his eyes wide from the hundreds of thoughts rumbling through his brain. "If Flamestrike said something about it, then it has to be true. He was there. Maybe... Maybe this is a good thing! Maybe we can talk it out or... or something." As the apprentice thought over it, he sat up, his tail lashing around behind him. Suddenly, he turned to Gingerpaw. "Do you think Mudfoot would want to talk to me? Would he be excited about this?" Honestly, the young tom had no clue how to react to the news.

Gingerpaw tipped his head to the side, not quite sure how to answer. "I don't know Mudfoot that well- he's one of the Clan's most senior warriors. But I think he wouldn't mind talking to you. I mean, from what I can tell, you're a pretty great guy. I think he'd be proud to have a son like you." The orange tabby tom flashed a smile at Redpaw. "Did you know, if Mudfoot's your father, you'd be related to the medicine cat? And Waspstep and Foxheart? They're all pretty cool. You have Clan blood in you, Redpaw. ShadowClan blood." Excited for his friend and more than a little anxious, his tail waved from side to side.

The young tom's eyes widened in delight as Gingerpaw started talking about being related to cats in this clan. That was so cool! He was related to the medicine cat?! And some cool warriors! He had a lot more family in this clan than he thought he did. It definitely made him feel like he fit in a little better. "That's so cool!" he purred, ultimately forgetting about the squirrel that the two cats were sharing. "I have relatives here!" The thought made Redpaw beam. "What about you? Who are your parents?" He asked.

A grin crossed Gingerpaw's face- he was glad his friend was happy. "My dad is Flamestrike- you know him. He's the coolest tom in the whole Clan- besides Leopardstar and Magpiewing, of course. My mama is Littlebrook, another senior warrior. She was a hero in the Great Battle- the fight between StarClan and the Dark Forest. I'd ask Thrushstripe for the story sometime if you don't know it. My brothers are Sparkpaw- who can be a bit of a stick in the mud, but is pretty great the rest of the time- and Firepaw, who's almost as great as me. You should hang out with us sometime!" The orange tabby apprentice's green eyes grew even brighter at the idea. "Man, I wish we were related. Wouldn't that be so cool?"

At the sudden idea of Gingerpaw and Redpaw being brothers quickly made the young tom really excited, but within heartbeats, that excitement spiraled into a not-so-hidden sadness. "Yeah, that'd be cool..." he responded, thoughts of his brother Barkkit forcing their way into Redpaw's mind. It had been so long and the memories were starting to grow fuzzy, but the red tom refused to forget. He knew that some day, they were going to meet again, but until then, Redpaw sorely missed his sibling. However, despite it hitting him hard, Redpaw tried to put a happy face back on. "But I would really like to hang out with you guys!" he mewed forcibly.

Gingerpaw's ears drooped as his friend grew sad again. He realized that he didn't know much about Redpaw at all. All he knew was that the tom was half-rogue, possibly half-SC, and that his mentor was Mousefang, who had disappeared. That was... all he knew. Wow. He was a mouse-brain, apparently. The ginger tabby tom eyed his new friend inquisitively. Apparently, the other apprentice led a very different life than he had. "What's the matter, Redpaw? Don't worry, you can tell me. I want to help."