The sound of the marsh

Marshpaw exited the Apprentice den, yawning. "... mmmmh tired." She muttered. It was early morning, the sun filtering through the leaves and landing on her black and white pelt, but as soon as she spoke she felt like something was wrong. Her voice had deepened in a way that was more fit for a villain than any soft, kind-hearted apprentice. She straightened up a little more, whispering some things to herself. "Hi-" She looked down. "Hi." She blinked a couple of times before looking up again. Maybe it didn't matter if it strained her voice, she wanted... needed to be innocent. So cats would like her. So cats would do things for her.

The voice inside her head had changed a little too, it wasn't as friendly and welcoming anymore, but Marshpaw didn't notice, if she did, she didn't care. Marshpaw sighed and stretched out. "I'm Marshpaw." She muttered, sitting in camp alone for no real reason. Marshpaw didn't need to go train yet, not until Fangsnap needed her to.

For now, her voice needed to be high, sweet and innocent, like a kit. She needed to seem be sweet and innocent, like a nice happy-go-lucky apprentice.

Loudpaw arrived at the camp and walked over to the fresh-kill pile, gently placing his toad down. He mewed goodbye to his hunting partner and walked off to his own spot near the apprentice den. The sun shone above his tabby head, silently watching him lay down. He looked around the camp and at his clanmates walking in and out of dens, wondering what they were thinking about. Probably about the rouges, or the heat, or the loss of cats recently. All of these weren't the most pleasant things to think of, and Loudpaw wanted to change that. He couldn't do much about the heat, but he could try to get rid of the rouges. He hadn't encountered any yet, but then again he hadn't searched.

His train of thought broke as an apprentice exited the den, muttering something to herself. Loudpaw watched as she stretched and such, figuring she was just waking up. He stood and walked up to the black and white she-cat. "Hi there!" he greeted, "Good morning."

Marshpaw let out a loud yawn- only to be interrupted by another apprentice. She stared at the apprentice, her tail flicking. "Hi..." She started, before clearing her throat. "Hi, I'm Marshpaw. Good morning to you too, I don't think we've spoken before, who are you?" She tilted her head before licking a paw and drawing it over her head. "Sorry- I've just woken up." As Marshpaw put a paw down her gaze drifted downwards. Her thoughts told her to make friends, friends that would help her at some point. She put on a welcoming smile as she waited for their response.

Loudpaw smiled as the apprentice introduced herself as Marshpaw. "Marshpaw is a beautiful name, I like it. Yet my opinion probably does not matter, what is important is if you like it. Do you? Oh right, my name is Loudpaw. My parents are Mistyfalcon and Murkystrike. Basilpaw is my sister. Uh, what else... My mentor is Flintstar. What about you? What do you prefer, hunting or battling? Favorite prey? Excuse me, I just like making new friends," he meowed politely, waving his tail in excitement.

Marshpaw smiled as Loudpaw started telling her everything about him. "My parents.... well I only know one, her name's Soottail. Littermates? They um... haha..." She shuffled her paws. She didn't really care about her littermates, they weren't alive so they didn't matter to her. She didn't even know them that well. She pretended to be a little upset that they weren't with her. "My mentor is Fangsnap." She looked back up at Loudpaw. "I like battling, though I've never really been in any dangerous battles." Marshpaw stretched up her paws. "But hunting is great too! You can't feed a whole clan with just battling after all..." She blinked as she tried to think of her favourite prey. "Frogs, maybe? They're unique to the marsh and have quite a bit of meat on them." She licked a bit of fur on her chest down. "It's fine... I want friends, I don't have enough." She smiled sweetly at Loudpaw, the tom was very trusting of her. "Consider me your new friend." She waved her tail happily. "Do you have any other friends?"

Loudpaw liked Marshpaw already, she was sweet and friendly. "I was in what I would call a dangerous battle, my parents and I came across a fox! It was definitely scary, sharp teeth and everything. I prefer hunting much more," he told her. He didn't mention that fox had also killed his brother. Loudpaw flicked his tail at her question and thought about it. He had met a plenty of cats, and he would call all of them friends, but he guessed the one he talked with the most was Frostgaze. "I do not have any close friends my age, so perhaps we can hang out sometime? To get to know each other more. We could go hunting or spar," he offered.