Comforting Movement [closed]

The forest was bathed in the honey colored light of the late evening sun, filling the sparsely green territory with a plethora of tantalizing and enticing scents. Despite the seemingly overwhelming storm of tragedy that had befallen SkyClan, Newleaf had finally fallen upon the forest, proving that life always found a way to continue. Even in the face of grief that seemed insurmountable. Sitting hunched beneath the dappled shade of a blooming oak, Elmcloud continued to restlessly linger on the edges of camp, hardly able to muster the energy to properly groom himself. But despite his pitiful state of mourning, he found himself unable to just sit by and let the first nice day of the season slip out of his grasp.

"Elmcloud?" Dull green eyes peered in on the warrior, pacing back and forth as he brought himself to ask the older tom on a patrol. "I... There's no one to hunt with me." The fluffy tom was itching to get out of camp, itching to stretch his legs. He'd tried to forget that his mentor was gone, but nothing was helping. No one was there to go on a patrol, no one to take him hunting. In Rippedsky's busy agenda, Swiftpaw guessed he must have forgotten to give him a new mentor. He hadn't been out of camp since his passing, and it was dreadful sitting in camp, nothing to do except talk to Moonlight and her kits. With a dejected sigh, he looked to the tom one last time, hoping he'd say yes.

Ears swiveling forwards at the sound of Swiftpaw's voice, Elmcloud was abruptly jolted from his strange, seemingly mindless trance. Twisting around slightly to gaze at the equally bedraggled young tom, it took a moment for him to work through how awkwardly dry his mouth was. "Nobody wants to hunt with me, they never do." It was an overall terrible attempt at a joke, and the raspy chuckle that escaped his mouth was completely unrecognizable. Paws shuffling awkwardly in an attempt to find a source of comfort, Elmcloud forced himself to speak once more, "But if you need someone to come with you, I guess I can tag along."

With a pang, Swiftpaw realized that maybe Elmcloud wasn't the best cat to ask. He'd been really beaten up by Crowstar's passing, as most of the Clan had, but for him, it must've been a thousand times worse. "Is... Is this not a good time?" With a light sigh, Swiftpaw shifted his gaze down to his own paws. "Sorry..." He'd always thought about going out on his own, but ever since Rookpaw's... accident, he'd had no reason to. He breathed a sigh of relief with Elmcloud's next words, looking back to the older tom. "Thank you." He dipped his head in appreciation, flicking his tail towards the camp entrance with a lazy attempt at a smile.