Start of Something New [c]

Mishka was busying around as usual, doing so much yet nothing at all. She was meant to be eating, but the half-finished rabbit in front of her now left discarded at her paws. Instead, she was looking around for someone to tell her what she should actually be doing. Maybe growing some more independence would be useful, but you were so much less likely to get in trouble if you just followed everyone else's orders.

She was about to finish up and go check that all the Nightstrikers were happy and alright (since it was her job as a Pelt Ward) when a misty-grey she-cat a little younger than herself caught her attention. The cat in question clutched a feather in her paw and was staring out the entrance of camp, as if she desperately wanted to go out onto the moors but knew that she'd have to take an Asylum cat with her. Maybe she could help her understand that the occupation of their territory was for the better. After all, she was quite pretty. Actually very pretty. Her eyes were green but surrounded by a line of yellow, giving them an interesting and slightly unusual appearance. They also seemed... distant. Like more was behind them than what first appeared, and as if the she-cat was in another world.

Nervously, Mishka padded over to her, what was left of her rabbit in her mouth. There was still enough there that it wasn't worth wasting. Since she had nearly starved to death before Asylum found her, she was very cautious about making the most of prey. "Hey," She said, smiling sweetly at the pretty apprentice. "I'm Mishka, who're you?"

Violetpaw made her way outside of the apprentice's den. She wasn't used to having the Asylum cats around. She wanted to run on the moors alone. It wasn't dangerous at all, seeing as it's all open space. But not to the Asylum, apparently she needed someone to go with her now, and it couldn't be a cat from her clan. She sat down and dropped her feather, to hold it under her paw. Her gaze drifted along the hills and the grass that was slightly swaying in the wind. She wanted to run out there, alone, like an apprentice should be able to do.

She felt like a kit again, staring at places she couldn't go, because she wanted to be good and follow the code. She nosed her paw off her feather to pick it up in her mouth again, surely they wouldn't mind a little bit of exploration.

Violetpaw was so lost in thought, she hadn't noticed the Asylum cat walking towards her, and jumped when she spoke, causing her fur to puff up and make her look twice her size, if she wasn't unusually tall already. Her yellowish green eyes drifted over the cat, trying to take her in. She was a small cat, but definitely older than her. She went by the name Mishka, Violetpaw would admit the cat was pretty to look at, she did look a little like a rabbit, but she was pretty aanyway. Mishka also had round eyes that were a shade of green and she wore a rabbit pelt, that she didn't notice until now, since it blended in so well.

As she was staring, speechless, at Mishka, her fur began to lie down and she looked a lot more friendly. Violetpaw realised she had been staring for quite awhile, and she nervously took a step back. "Uh, Violetpaw." She introduced herself. "Sorry for staring, I get a little distracted often." Violetpaw looked down at the feather that she had forgot to pick up. So she grabbed it in her mouth and smiled. "Hey, at least you seem a lot friendlier than... your friends?" Violetpaw struggled to find words to speak to the rabbit-looking cat, she didn't know why because she usually found it easy to speak with cats when she wasn't in the middle of a huge group. Why am I doing this now, all of a sudden?

"Oh it's fine, I don't mind too much," Mishka said in response to Violetpaw's apology. Many Asylum cats received stares from the warriors and apprentices. Some were hostile, some curious, most just distrustful. Violet was a pretty name, suited to the she-cat. In her opinion, the -paw at the end spoiled it, but maybe when she aged it would add a little more. The rouge didn't try to understand clan customs; as long as they were following the captain's rules, they didn't really affect her. "I guess I am more friendly. But I wouldn't really call them my friends, they're more like... family. I don't know, just my real family abandoned me and the queen who adopted me is dead." She had always loved Edie, even when she had been harsh or tried to make her more than a ward, but she didn't know what was instantly making her open up to Violetpaw.

Mishka realised that her new friend was struggling for words slightly, she continued the conversation. For her, it was easy to speak to her, since many other cats didn't have time the the little cat's worries or words. But to each their own, she guessed. If they didn't want to listen to her speak, they could just send her away to do something else. "So you're an apprentice, right?" She thought that was what clan cats called their younger cats in training, but she wasn't completely sure. "Do you like, uhm, training?" She asked. Noticing that Violetpaw was still clutching the bright red feather, she asked about that as well. "That's a very nice feather. Did someone give it to you?" Feathers were usually something kits played with, but by the way the young she-cat was holding on to it, she assumed that she had had it a while.

Violetpaw looked sorry for Mishka when she explained her story. "Oh, wow. I hope I don't ever have to go through something like that..." She kneaded the ground a little before flopping onto her side to get comfortable. "I hope you're okay now, Mishka." Violetpaw murmured softly. After a few moments passed Mishka asked her a question. "Uh, yes! That's why my name ends with 'paw!" The tall she-cat was smiling now, happy to change the subject.

When Mishka brought up training she nodded, smiling brightly. "Yes! I am! Although my warrior ceremony might come much later than expected, first with missing kits and now we can't go out onto the moors with just our mentors, and I can't go to gatherings..." So many things that had happened lately put Violetpaw in a bad mood. Again, Mishka changed the subject and Violetpaw looked a little nervous. "My feather?" She placed it on the ground to take a look at it. It was a lot dirtier than she remembered, it was probably the mixture of the dirt from under her moss bed with her holding it in her mouth all the time that made it look like that. "Um, I actually found it when I was a younger kit." Her tail flicked, she would've never explained it to any other cat, so why was it Mishka that she was explaining to?

"Nobody gave it to me, uh, but I remember playing with it. Throwing it up in the air and trying to stop it from escaping camp, because kits weren't allowed outside of camp and I kind of just, told it the warrior code and..." Violetpaw looked back up at Mishka. "I guess that sounds a little lonely, doesn't it? But I am, still, a very friendly cat, of course, I don't spend all my time with the feather, I just... Kept it with me." She held the feather under her paw. "I could've had so many adventures as a kit, adventures that I thought would happen as an Apprentice, so, I followed the warrior code."

"Now I wish I misbehaved, sometimes."

Mishka had to admit, it was a little lonely to play with a feather, but it wasn't like the small she-cat was any different. But then Violetpaw said something that caught her off-guard: 'I wish I misbehaved sometimes'. Through her seasons with Asylum, never once had she purposely broken any rules, let alone wished she had. For her, she owed everything to her group. She had told herself constantly, it was always whirring in the back of her mind. How her real parents had left her and the rouges saved her. How, even though Edie had been harsh, she had been better. How she had to repay everything to Asylum.

Trying to bring herself back to the conversation, she glanced up at the taller she-cat, "I'm sorry you can't go out by yourself. I promise," she said her face displaying the honesty of her words, "that it's to keep you safe. Asylum wants to protect and help you, like they did for me." Was she oversharing again? Surely it would be okay, after all, it was just to prove her point. But she had told multiple Windclanners the same things, and barely any of them seemed to be convinced.

"Although..." She said nervously, glancing up at Violetpaw now and again, "I guess... I could go on adventures with you. If I'm allowed, of course, when I have free time." What was she doing? But she wanted to spend time with the apprentice. They could maybe become real friends, or something else, her mind thought quietly. Maybe she could help Violetpaw see the good side of Asylum, like the side that had saved her, and she could help Mishka understand things about the clan that she was struggling with. It was a win-win situation, right?

Violetpaw turned her head away from Mishka when the cat began talking about how she couldn't. "Mishka-" She turned her head back towards the Asylum cat. "Have you ever considered that some cats prefer to live in a smaller group, with less cats to feed and a simpler life? Some cats aren't social and want to be alone. Windclan doesn't enjoy being invaded by strange cats, it looks like you're threatening us... It really does." She started of angry and then calmed down. "Sorry." She murmured, listening to what the cat said next.

She listened carefully to her suggestion, but something she said caught her attention. "How much time do you get... Free time, I mean? You all look busy, some of you look tired and overworked... How much food do you get? I mean, if any of us are gonna join you, it makes sense to know these things." Violetpaw flicked her tail. "Can you go on adventures with me, now?"

(ooc: sorry it's short I don't have much time to respond-)

ooc: aaaa I'm so sorry I completely forgot about this topic!

Mishka wanted to make Violetpaw happy, but she couldn't change how things were. She didn't even remember the last time she spoke to Theron, because for her, talking to the Nightstrikers' leader would be answering back after an order. Although, she had tried her hardest not to seem threatening to the Windclan cats. It's not like they would find you scary anyway, she told herself, even if you meant to be. "I guess it depends on a lot of things," She began to answer to Violetpaw's question, "Like how quickly I do something, whether the Nightstrikers are in a good mood, sometimes even the weather!" For one thing, animal pelts did not approve of getting wet. If it rained and they were not being worn, it could take ages for them to dry. After all, she was a Pelt Ward, looking after the Nightstrikers' animal skins was in the job description.

"But I don't really like not doing things. Being idle makes me feel like I'm not earning my keep." Even now, her eyes flittered around camp, alert for any Asylum cat in need of assistance. "I mean, I don't need that much food, I am only small." Or maybe that was just what she told herself when food was short and she had only eaten one mouse in two days. "An adventure, now?" She hesitated slightly, but one glance at Violetpaw's face made her immediately accept. "Ok! we just can't be out too long, or else I might get in trouble."