Fruition of Appreciation [closed]

The sky was dull, gloomy and overcast as it always tended to be during Leaf-Bare, although the wind was nothing more than the occasional cold breeze. Brindlewhisker was settled on a rather steep crest that helped conceal the Windclan camp from outsiders, enjoying the peaceful silence that hung heavily in the cold air. The camp seemed crowded and uneasy; some cats were still rather prickly over the battle with Windclan, the nursery seemed constantly filled with the troublesome kits that appeared to be literally falling from Willowwhisker and the other queens, and the apprentices den seemed fuller than ever. Casting her eyes upwards, Brindlewhisker gazed up at the looming, still clouds that hovered above the moorland and forest, making everything appear more dull and lifeless than it already was. She became to engaged with gazing up at the clouds and musing over potential training exercises for Hollowpaw, she was oblivious to any other's approach.


blares "Somebody to Love" Glee version in the distance

Thistlefall made his way into the quiet camp, a limp mouse hanging from his clenched teeth. He trotted over to the fresh kill pile, one light step after another, almost accidentally he stayed quiet, perhaps to keep the serenity of the camp from ending. Just as he was to place down his kill, he looked up to notice a fellow clan-mate. What was her name? Brindlewhisker? He slowly dropped the mouse into the pile, then didn't waste another moment to greet her.

The young warrior grew closer, eventually coming to a stop. "Hello, Brindlewhisker." He nodded a greeting. "Oddly quiet isn't it?" He kept his eyes from bouncing away, something he seemed to struggle with was eye contact, he would hate to seem rude.

Brindlewhisker started slightly at the sound of a voice, and she turned to look at Thistlefall, watching the grey tabby with slightly wide eyes. "The quiet is nice; it's been much too loud as of late." She mewed, flicking her tail in amusement, feeling much more relaxed now that her momentary fright had passed. "Although I would assume you of all cats appreciate how quiet it is today- seeing how you always have your paws full with kits." She added with a teasing note, not really paying mind to the awkward look Thistlefall had in his face.

Thistlefall smiled, then found himself caught off guard at her next comment. The young warrior took a seat, shaking his head slightly. "Yes, I love this moment of peace, I'm not sure what the kits are up to, but whatever they're doing I'm in favor since they aren't being loud or bothering me."

The tom flicked his tail, preventing himself from sighing. "It's so stressful really, so many kits to feed, to keep from growing bored, they're always looking for me, their father." He glanced up at Brindleface, who he realized was actually listening. Then smiled again, a small chuckle escaping his muzzle. "I doubt you'd understand."

"I don't," Brindlewhisker admitted, although privately she had always believed it would be difficult to keep active in so many kits lives, "But I can see why it would be hard- especially once they hit the trouble-maker phase that all kits seem to go through." She mewed, watching the tom carefully. After watching Thistlefall rise into a sitting position, she quickly followed his lead before throwing a glance at the tom once more. "At least the kits seem happy." She finally offered; slightly unsure of what to add to the conversation that wouldn't overstep.

Thistlefall glanced to the side, processing the she-cat's words. "You're right, I don't know how I'll be able to keep up with them all, even with Mintpaw, Shinepaw and Cloudpaw as apprentices." He paused for a moment, taking in a breath of the cool, morning air. Of course the kits are happy that I'm around, heck, what if I'm not though?"I guess a need a break you know?" He looked over toward Brindlewhisker again, meeting eyes with her, a smile appearing on his muzzle once more.

Brindlewhisker looked closely at Thistlefall, curiosity flaming at this point; most cats seemed to do nothing but brag about their kits. "I understand the best I can- although I've never had to experience a situation like this." She mewed finally, belly tightening slightly at the smile he gave her. "At least now that Cloudpaw, Shinepaw, and Mintpaw are apprentices, they don't have sole dependence on you and Willowwhisker." She added thoughtfully, shuffling her paw in the dirt softly. Looking at Thistlefall once more, she felt slightly nervous at her next question- she didn't wish to upset him over the subject of his kits. "Does Willowwhisker know you feel this way?" Brindlewhisker finally questioned, her tone much more gentle than it was during her previous teasing.

Thistlefall simply listened for the time being, knowing she wouldn't really understand, since she obviously didn't have any kits of her own, yet. He glanced at the ground again, at the white expanse of snow that lay at the tip of his paws.

"True, true, it's nice having the weight of three kits being lifted off my shoulders." His eyes remained aimed at the ground, a smile still plastered to his muzzle. "No, Willowwhisker doesn't know yet, I honestly have no idea how to explain anything to her." He confessed.

"It's a tough subject to approach." Brindlewhisker mewed sympathetically, brushing her tail against his side before quickly pulling it away. "I'm sure she'd understand it- I mean a relationship shouldn't be that unbalanced." She added quickly; although the words felt slightly hollow on her tongue; the more Thistlefall opened up about his relationship issues, the more imbalanced it sounded. "Smokepelt raised Thistlefall and Willowwhisker, yet I know so little about them." She reflected while continuing to gaze at the tom.

Thistlefall finally pulled his eyes away from the snow in front of him to look at Brindlewhisker. "You're right again, it is a hard subject, but I should probably bring it up" He chuckled, his smile from before growing slightly.

A strange, new feeling tugged at the tom. Did he want to admit that he knew what this feeling was? The young warrior kept his dull blue eyes on the she-cat, feeling a little transfixed. He wanted to get to know her better, only seeing her around camp every so often didn't exactly let him know much about her. "Say, would you like to walk about the territory a bit? Maybe check the borders while we're at it?"

Brindlewhisker let out a soft purr at Thistlefall's offer and quickly rose to her paws, stretching her hind legs briefly. "That sounds lovely; this conversation was getting a bit heavy for my taste." She admitted, flicking her ear and gazing at Thistlefall with a hint of playfulness in her eyes once more. Beginning to pad away from the tom, she quickly looked back at the tom with expectant, pale blue eyes."So," Brindlewhisker began, "Tell me more about yourself; we were both raised by Smokepelt, we trained together and were made warriors around the same time, but the only thing I really know about you is your turbulent kit issues." Deep down she secretly felt pleased that he seemed so willing to spend time with her; no tom usually paid this much attention to her, and even if their time together was spent discussing Thistlefall's relationship issues, it still filled her chest and belly with a fluttering sensation. "I doubt Willowwhisker would appreciate my interference." She reflected with a soft pang of guilt, but the feeling was easily brushed aside by the look in Thistlefall's eyes.

Thistlefall smirked, happy to see her easily join him on a patrol. Time away from the camp is certainly something he needed. "Agreed," he stated once the pair were on their way out of camp.

As the continued through the snow-covered territory, he was slightly surprised to hear her asking about his current kit situation. The tom could honestly care less about what they talked about though, as long as she wasn't growing bored of his company. "Well, if you really want to hear me blabber on about how annoying so many kits can be, then sure." He let his smirk from before falter into a soft smile as he began to speak. "I guess it's not that she's been birthing kits, I mean, that has only happened twice." The young warrior chuckled a bit, stealing a glance in her direction. "She's adopting them, without exactly asking me, asking if I'm okay with being able to care for another kit,. I mean, I know they need some cat to care for them, but for StarClan's sake there's more than one queen." He paused, not breaking eye contact.

"I don't know why she would be up for taking in more kits," Brindlewhisker easily agreed, "I think just having one kit is troublesome enough, so why she would willingly add more and more to the mix is beyond me." She shrugged her shoulders at her last words, looking at Thistlefall as she spoke. The pair continued their leisure stroll through the territory, silence stretching between them briefly. "Willowwhisker is my friend, and I know she feels as if she's responsible for every kit that we find, but at some point she must realize that there is such a thing as taking in too many kits!" She finally continued, frustration evident in her tone now. Normally she would of never spoken about a clanmate in such a way, but something about the entire situation made her feel confident that Thistlefall wouldn't go about telling cats about their conversation. "I can see why you're frustrated about it all- I'm not even directly involved and yet my fur is ruffled!" She let out a sigh before briefly chuckling, feeling slightly relieved that at least one other cat seemed to agree with her on a topic like this. "She's definitely trying her hardest to follow in Smokepelt's footsteps." Brindlewhisker reflected wryly, twitching her ear.

Thistlefall merely sighed at first, not exactly sure what to say right away. He almost considered asking if Brindlewhisker could talk to Willowwhisker about it, but he knew it wouldn't matter too much once he makes up his mind. He flicked his gaze toward her for a moment, smiling. "How about we stop worrying about that now, we're out in nature, sure it's cold and somewhat snowy but hey, better than being crammed into the camp?" He half-joked, finding himself oddly happy around her. More so than Willowwhisker? He thought, but didn't think much more of it as they continued into the territory.

Brindlewhisker let out a short purr of agreement at Thistlefall's words- taking a leisure stroll like this through the territory was uncommon for her now that she was training Hollowpaw. "The only time I'm out of camp now is to untangle Hollowpaw from some gorse bush." She chuckled, fondly recalling her apprentice, "I swear none of us used to be as unruly when we were apprentices!" Moving on from the rather sensitive subject of Thistlefall's family-related issues was a relief to her- despite the newfound developments in their relationship, she didn't wish to push the subject too much.