The Silence of the Daylight (Closed)

Lionspark was desperate - it felt like it had been forever since she had left the camp. Sure, Specklepaw was an apprentice now but it was hard to get back into the swing of patrols and whatnot...She sighed softly as she glanced around, her gaze hungrily searching for anybody who she could convince to join her on a...Well, a patrol sounded lovely. A simple one, just seeing the borders and whatnot. It had been so long since she had seen the river - she rather liked the sound of the water lapping at the shore and...Oh, she was getting carried away. She shook her head before she hurried her way over to the entrance of the camp, sitting down as she curled her tail around her paws in hopes that somebody would approach her with the same wish of going on a patrol.

Specklepaw woke from a bit of a nap she was taking, the growing pains becoming nearly unbearable. She looked through the branches of the apprentice's den, blearily seeing her mother passively trying to gather a patrol. Specklepaw realized that it had been a while since she had been next to her mother, the thought suddenly making her heart ache. So, with a daughters mission in mind she got to her paws and pushed past the apprentice's den entrance and up to her mother. "Hi mum, can I join you?"

Rockthorn was basking in the light of an especially sunny spot in camp, his scars aching from his kits that loved to seek him out and make his life absolutely miserable. So, when he saw Specklepaw - a rowdy large apprentice that frankly scared him - run up to her mother he decided to join them. Shuffling to his paws he strode over to Lionspark and Specklepaw with a frown. "I'll join you two if that's alright?" He asked, though he practically invited himself.

Today Poppypaw was bored out of her mind; it seemed as if now that Rockthorn had some mindless she-cat trailing after him, he was neglecting her training even more. How was that even possible when all he did was leave her in camp all day? Today was no different than any other day- she was lounging around camp uselessly as per usual, but something managed to catch her eye; a chance to escape camp for a little while. After spotting Lionspark with Specklepaw and Rockthorn, the young calico quickly swept herself to her paws and trotted towards the trio, moving slowly and gracefully as to make sure that her meticulously groomed fur wasn't soiled in the process.  Poppypaw brushed past Rockthorn without a single word, not even minding how blatantly disrespectful her behavior probably seemed in the eyes of others. "Specklepaw! Lionspark! Mind if I tag along?" Poppypaw chirped eagerly, brushing up against Specklepaw as she spoke to the two she-cats.

The large brown tabby glanced up from his seat near the warrior den's entrance, his green eyes trailing over the group of cats gathering. He instinctively hissed as he watched his daughter prance up to her mother. His own stubbornness towards reforming Specklepaw forced him onto his white paws and towards the group. The young warrior Rockthorn and his apprentice Poppypaw had joined his mate and kit. As much as he loved being alone with his family, he was grateful the other tom had joined them. Rockthorn was a respectable warrior, and carried much of his own mannerisms and ideals on what being a good warrior meant. Perhaps even, Specklepaw would act more respectably with more than just himself and her mother around.

"I'll join as well," the tom meowed rather passively.

Lionspark's eyes glimmered the moment she saw her beloved daughter slip from the apprentice den and head straight for her. Ever since Specklepaw has become an apprentice, Lionspark had seen less and less of her - most of her time being spent with Bramblefrost as he was in charge of her training. The idea of getting to talk to her caused the queen to let out a purr as she dipped her head in greeting to her daughter. "Of course!" she said quickly, very eager to finally be on a patrol with her daughter.

But then her ears flickered as another set of paws started to grow louder, turning her gaze up to the scarred tom that moved to join them. There was a slight flash of pain in the golden tabby's heart at the sight - feeling downright terrible for not being there for Rockthorn after all that had happened but her duties as a queen had kept her away from being at the younger warrior's side. There was almost a wistful sigh as she dipped her head. "You are always welcome to join me on a patrol Rockthorn," she said softly with a purr.

It didn't take long for another cat to step forward, this time an apprentice - Poppypaw. Apprentice to Rockthorn if she recalled correctly as Lionspark turned her attention to the young she-cat as she bounded forward to the group. The warrior's eyes flashed as she saw that Poppypaw didn't even acknowledge her mentor but pushed that aside as she spotted the apprentice press herself against Specklepaw. Oh, they were friends? It warmed her heart to see that Specklepaw had friends - while she wouldn't admit it she was a bit worried about that. Specklepaw could be rather...Blunt, even back when she was just a tiny kit. It was nice to see that she was managing to bond with her Clanmates despite that. She dipped her head, opening her mouth to say something when a scent caught her attention and her voice died her in throat.

Her gaze quickly snapped up to see Bramblefrost strolling toward them and she felt the fast beating of her heart that she had grown to love whenever she saw the handsome tom that was her mate. It was such a lovely feeling as she was forced to restrain herself from darting forward and brushing cheeks with him - she knew he wasn't fond of shows of affection like that and it was hard to keep herself from doing it but she managed. She purred in greeting, her tail curling and swishing behind her as she dipped her head to her mate. "Well, I say we have a good group for a patrol!" she noted as she scanned over the four cats before her. This was going to be a great patrol. "Come on, let's head out!" she purred as she spun on her heels and led the way into the territory - heading straight for the ShadowClan border with the plan being to check there, then head for the river before making their way back to the camp. It would be a simple patrol but that meant all the time for talking and getting to know one another.

Specklepaw chirped in surprise when she felt the older apprentice's fur brush against hers a smile put on her maw before she saw her dad follow behind Poppypaw a frown forming as she watched him from the corner of her eyes. Surely she wouldn't be scolded in front of... her friends? She wouldn't really say that Poppypaw was a friend, something lesser definitely but she'd figure out what Poppypaw was to her later. Specklepaw turned to look up at her mother with a purr, licking her shoulder before looking back at her father with a sly sneer.

Rockthorn caught Lionspark's eyes before looking away quickly, his ears flicking back at the blatant disregard from Poppypaw but all he could muster was a tired exhale. He had kits to deal with, he didn't want to deal with Poppypaw whom was far worse than that of his other seven kits he had to look after. "We should get going." Rockthorn muttered lowly, his whole body rigid as he stood stock still. He'd prefer to take the back of the patrol, no one would want to look at his ugly mug anyways. Maybe he could get a few tips from Bramblefrost, after all they both had difficult apprentices.

Poppypaw couldn't help but let a little smirk crawl across her face as Rockthorn simply faced her with quiet defeat; it was nice that he finally learning that he would have less grey fur on his muzzle if he didn't stomp all over her. After briefly resting her chin on Specklepaw's shoulder and watching the rather bulky apprentice interact with her mother, the young calico pulled away with a soft trill of agreement at Lionspark's words about the patrol being great. Indeed this was going to be a great patrol! Falling in behind Lionspark, Poppypaw eagerly bounced after the golden she-cat, unable to hide how giddy and smug she felt at the prospect of actually being in front of Rockthorn during a patrol- normally he always made her trail behind him!

A mischievous part of her was tempted to scuff stones and dirt at her heavily scarred mentor, but she decided against the actions as she wasn't in the mood for being scolded. "So which borders are we going to check? Are we going to do any hunting afterwards?" Poppypaw couldn't help but babble as she always did, feeling a bit nervous to be out on patrol with Lionspark and Bramblefrost- she hardly even knew the pair. While she was on fairly good terms with Specklepaw, she didn't know the bulky she-cat that well; although she was curious to see how her denmates family like function. Did Specklepaw's parents fawn over her like Poppypaw's own parents did for her? lmao nah son.

Bramblefrost trotted up to Lionspark's side as the group left camp. His attention was drawn to Poppypaw as she asked what direction they were heading. "It seems like the Thunderpath is our first destination," the warrior, meowed in response, looking as his mate led them through the forest and towards the ShadowClan border.

ooc: sorry 4 smol

There was a happy bobbing to Lionspark's head as she glanced over her shoulder at the small strange group she had following her as she led them through the undergrowth, knowing the path so well that she barely had to pay attention to where she was placing her paws. Her eyes locked onto Poppypaw as she gave a swift nod as her mate spoke up. "We are going to check the ShadowClan border first before heading for the river," she explained as she allowed her attention to flicker back toward the path before them for a quick heartbeat. "As for hunting...I had no plans for it but I suppose if we are all feeling up for doing a bit of hunting when the borders are checked...Well, I don't see why we couldn't give it a small go."