conversation [closed]

Mistrain trotted into the SkyClan camp, having concluded her morning patrol. She headed to the fresh-kill pile, choosing a fresh squirrel from the small mound of prey. As she made her way slowly across the clearing in search of a nice corner to settle down, a brown tabby she-cat caught her eye. Tigerleaf seemed to be sitting alone, lost in thought or perhaps just waiting for someone. Either way, the small deputy made the decision to go and converse with her Clanmate for at least a short time.

She had been a bit worried for Tigerleaf, as she had suffered severe injuries in the recent battle, but the she-cat seemed to be recovering nicely. Mistyrain approached the tabby warrior with a cheerful flick of her tail, dropping her squirrel between them. "Good morning, Tigerleaf!" she greeted her with a wide smile. "How are you doing today? Better, I hope."

It had been quite a few sunrises since the war with Lichenmask, and SkyClan was steadily moving on to prepare for the coming leaf bare. As Tigerleaf sat quietly at the edges of camp that morning, she could already feel the wind's bite through her thin pelt. It seemed like the oncoming season would only be another harsh one. While the young warrior's gaze was fixed in the direction of the fresh-kill pile at the clearing's center, she wore a blank, vacant expression. Rather than looking at anything in particular, it was quite easy to tell that she was simply drifting in her thoughts. Tigerleaf was currently bored out of her mind. The injuries she had sustained in the battle had yet to heal, and there was no way she could leave the camp while her left foreleg remained broken. Even though the sun had returned... Even though the forest was surely full of new things to examine by now... Here she was, trapped. With few activities to pass the time, she watched her clanmates bustle about their lives. It brought back memories of her kithood, when she had always been doing so. She could vaguely recall those times; Palepaw had always been the more outgoing of the two siblings. It was a pity that the other she-cat had gone to join StarClan so soon. She would surely have made a fabulous warrior, probably a better one than Tigerleaf was right now.

All of a sudden, Mistyrain's voice reached her ears, snapping Tigerleaf out of the past and back to the present. The striped she-cat jerked in surprise, yellow eyes wide as she took in the sight of the deputy. "Uh, I'm okay." Technically, she wasn't okay, as the splint around her left foreleg would reveal. Faltering, she searched for something else to say. "Good morning, Mistyrain. How did... your patrol go?"

Tigerleaf felt mildly uncomfortable in the presence of the other cat, but she resisted the urge to push her away. Some idle conversation couldn't hurt, especially when she had nothing better to do right now. Gaze narrowing just slightly, she glanced over the gray-and-white molly. Mistyrain was younger than her... right?

Mistyrain froze for a moment as Tigerleaf jerked suddenly. Her eyes widened, mirroring those of the brown tabby warrior. After a moment's awkward pause, she let out her breath, chalking the incident up to surprise. She shifted her position, unsure of what to say. My patrol? The deputy hadn't spend much time getting to know Tigerleaf, but something told her she wasn't very well versed in social situations. "It went well," she responded.

Now she was really stuck. Tigerleaf may not have incredible social skills, but Mistyrain's were clearly lacking at the moment as well. She eyed the injured warrior, searching for some object of conversation. "Ah... well, I'm glad you're recovering." She tilted her head curiously. "Has Mintwhisker told you when you can get back to regular warrior duties?"

Ahh, I chose the wrong topic, huh? In the few seconds of empty silence that followed her question, such a thought popped into Tigerleaf's head. She could practically see the gears turning in Mistyrain's mind as the SkyClan deputy pondered over a response. Usually, one would not describe the state of the forest in detail when asked how a patrol had gone. Had there remained any tree not yet stripped of its leaves? Had the streams already begun to freeze? What kinds of scents and smells had filled the air? Many similar questions were right on the tip of her tongue, but the young warrior swallowed them in the end. The simple adverb "well" provided little fuel for her imagination. It would be pointless to press some other cat for the details she wanted. If only she had not broken her foreleg in the war, she could be roaming about the forest as she usually did. Not for the first time that day, a stifling sense of dreariness rose within her. Reflected within her dull, empty yellow gaze was Mistyrain's form.

It was easy to decide on having a conversation. The difficulty was in selecting a topic to converse on. Tigerleaf merely stared blankly as the deputy fumbled around for the words she seemed to have lost. This really is hard... Feeling more than slightly uncomfortable, the striped warrior furrowed her brows. She could never understand some of her clanmates, who seemed to have a knack for being social. As expected, Mistyrain made the obvious choice and mentioned Tigerleaf's injuries. A partial sigh slipped from the latter's opened jaws. Line of sight briefly dropping to her paws, she quickly directed it back up. "Not anytime soon." The exasperation that she felt failed to transfer to her tone. "I never fully realized how cumbersome it was to have a broken leg until now." Tigerleaf tried a wry grin, before saying somberly, "Still, I guess it was good that SkyClan didn't lose any cats. Apart from... the Exiles." Her voice trailed off towards the end, and she frowned, regretting her own words. Jaysong and Falcongaze - had they been reunited with their kit in StarClan? At any rate, she knew that there were cats who wished that the two had. The war was over now; it would not do any good to dwell on such topics for too long. With a flick of her slender tail, almost as if to physically change the subject, she finally asked, "Is it hard being Tinystar's deputy?" Her expression had been carefully rendered unreadable as she watched for Mistyrain's reaction to such a question.