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Minkpaw lay in his nest, half-open eyes staring at nothing as his head rested on his paws. Don't want to sleep again... The only thing that waited for him there were more nightmares, all of them running almost the same theme. Maybe I won't dream this time. That was a distant hope. At first he'd seen things even when he just closed his eyes, now that they'd been relegated to his dreams he was afflicted them almost all the time whenever he slept.
The sunlight outside the den seemed to beckon, and he tiredly wondered in a distant part of his mind about maybe going outside. The medicine cats said he was allowed to wander about the camp if he wanted to, just not to go hanging off anything or go outside the camp in case he met a fox or some other creature. An involuntary shiver ran up his spine as he inadvertently thought of the other fox... Shoving it away, he pushed himself gingerly to his paws, trying not to wince as his leg stretched slightly at the movement.
Yawning, he limped his way out of the den, stepping as quietly as he could to hopefully not wake up any of the other occupants currently there, his eyes passing over Sparkfrost curled in a comatose heap in his own nest. Wild dogs on RiverClan territory.... he shoved that out of his mind, leaving it as blank as he could. A moment later, he had to squint his eyes almost shut as the glaring light of almost sunhigh assaulted his vision, bouncing off the snow that still lay over the glaring and straight into his eyes.
Blindly, he inched his way across the clearing to the prey pile, a rumble in his belly complaining that he hadn't eaten since the night before. Going solely by his sense of smell, he pulled a fish - stiff with the cold, but still not bad - out of the pile, gingerly attempting to tear a chunk off. "This is one frozen fish," He mumbled to himself around the bite.

Lightstep had told Mottledspark that his apprentice was well enough to leave the medicine cat's den, but the young warrior hadn't yet gone to see the young tom. The dark tortoiseshell warrior had been busy hunting and patrolling close enough to the Gorge to scent that the dogs were still present but not nearly close enough to see them or be seen. At Jaystar's orders - and with the use of his own common sense - Mottledspark avoided the Gorge like the plague, but he still had patrolled. He was returning to camp when he spotted a familiar ginger tom trudging through camp towards the fresh-kill pile. 

Mottledspark approached, calling, "Minkpaw! Hey." The bulky warrior saw his apprentice munching on a cold fish. "Ah, there's nothing fresher?" he complained mildly as he glanced over the pile. He shrugged and added. "Not hungry anyways." Mottledspark felt awkward. He hadn't seen his apprentice in nearly a moon... what had the young tom learned in that time? "I, ah, I'm glad to see you're out and about again. How are you feeling?"

Minkpaw jumped as someone called out his name and twisted his neck around to see Mottledspark. Just Mottledspark. Nothing else. He resisted the urge to shake his head at his response to the noise, giving his mentor a smile instead.
"Ah, there's nothing fresher?" The other tom almost seemed... awkward around him. He doesn't think I left on purpose, does he? His pelt almost spiked at the thought as he remembered when he'd been questioned.
"I don't think so." He looked over the pile nearby, seeing only more cold fish and some other kinds of prey. Sitting up, Minkpaw abandoned his half-eaten fish for the moment as Mottledspark continued, seeming almost painfully awkward.
"I, ah, I'm glad to see you're out and about again. How are you feeling?"
I've got a hole in my leg, I feel like I haven't slept since I got here, and everyone acts like I abandoned them, how do you think I'm doing? He shoved the thought away and grinned awkwardly at his mentor, resisting the urge to look behind himself. "I'm glad to be about, too." He broke off eye contact before Mottledspark could spot the shadow of a lie in his gaze, running his eyes over the beaten down snow somewhere to the side. "I'm fine."
Sure you're fine, that's why you've got nightmares and don't want to get out of your nest. His tail twitched involuntarily behind him at the thought, and he shoved it away before nudging the half-eaten fish near his paws and taking another bite.

Mottledspark didn't feel that he had much in common with Minkpaw. Their mentor-apprentice relationship was truly the only reason that they interacted at all. Normally he wouldn't spend much time around kits of rogues and half-Clan cats. However, Jaystar and Scorchclaw had trusted him to raise Minkpaw to be a credit to his Clan. How can I do that if I don't get to train him? he wondered, half despairing and half annoyed. However, Minkpaw certainly didn't look as though he had simply chosen to go off on some grand adventure and abandon his Clan. As of yet, no one had really asked him... well, not that he knew of. Mottledspark himself had been toying with the idea - after all, he was his mentor - but he wasn't certain that Minkpaw was yet willing to discuss it.

Minkpaw responded to his question simply. Mottledspark immediately recognized the lie, but more than that he saw the discomfort... the unease. The dark tortoiseshell warrior nodded once and let Minkpaw take a bite of prey. Mottledspark meowed, deciding to try to reach out, "I don't know what you went through, but obviously some critter tried to shred you. Right?" The RiverClan warrior dipped his head and clenched his jaw, putting emphasis on the plethora of criss-crossing scars that covered his muzzle, nose, cheeks, and narrowly missed his eyes. "Obviously it's not the same severity, but a raccoon did this to me when I was an apprentice. For the next two moons I was terrified of every little sound, afraid another one would come out and get me again." He looked into his apprentice's eyes searchingly and asked, "Is that how you're feeling?"

Minkpaw twitched involuntarily at the mention of something trying to shred him. A cold wind rustled in the reeds at the edges of the camp, yellow eyes almost seeming to flash in the corner of his vision. He twitched his eyes briefly in that direction before snapping them back to Mottledspark, who had dipped his head, showing the scars that crossed his entire face. That... Was that...? He'd seen the scars before, but hadn't really thought about it that much. Now, though....
He swallowed as Mottledspark continued speaking, his head coming up again and slightly obscuring the entirety of his scars. A raccoon did that? Somehow he managed to hold his mentor's gaze as Mottledspark described almost the exact thing he was feeling at that moment. At least, he held it right until the end, when the other tom asked him if that was how he was feeling. Hesitating, he looked right down at his paws, some part of him aware that by his actions he had already admitted it. The chill in the air almost seemed to seep into his pelt, and he shifted as the snow underneath his paws seemed to melt into a frigid puddle. I'm not feeling that, it's all fine. I'm fine. I'll be fine. I'm not fine. I wake up panting and feeling like that fox is right behind me, I go outside and I can smell foxes and twolegs everywhere, and I can hear it in the dark at night  in my Clanmates' rasping breaths. Is that fine? He made a huge effort not to grind his teeth at the argument in his head, closing his eyes as he let out a quiet breath, the semi-normal facade he'd built peeling away for a moment as his shoulders slumped. "Yes."

Admitting his fear was not something Mottledspark cared to do often, not to an apprentice and especially not to a half-Clan cat. However, this apprentice was more than just an apprentice now... more than just a half-Clan cat. Minkpaw was his apprentice. Minkpaw was a RiverClan cat, whatever half his parentage said. The young ginger tom had come back to his birth Clan, new scars and all. He had returned, but he had returned with fear. That was something Mottledspark understood; that was why he knew it was necessary to make himself vulnerable in that moment. Sure enough, Mottledspark asked his question and Minkpaw's eyes immediately dropped. Oh, Minkpaw... the young warrior thought sympathetically as he imagined the argument the apprentice was having in his head.

Finally, Minkpaw's entire body drooped, and he uttered a defeated, "Yes." Mottledspark nodded again once and sighed deeply. A silence stretched between them for a few moments. Then, Mottledspark meowed, "I'm sorry for what happened to you. If I could have taken it from you I would've." The dark tortoiseshell tom began to pace the den a little and continued, "I can't undo what happened. Nothing will ever take it away. Not the memory... not the scars. Well, the interesting thing I learned about injuries is that they often heal stronger than they were before. The wounds on my face are thicker, tougher skin than the rest. I found I could make the memory work like that too: it could make me stronger.

"I was reckless as an apprentice," Mottledspark admitted. "Not every fight can be avoided, but if I had scented the air more thoroughly or paid more attention to how the birds had gone quiet near me I would have realized I was walking straight through the brush towards a raccoon. If I had pulled myself together more quickly - maybe known more moves - it wouldn't have gotten the chance to claw me." The dark tortoiseshell warrior shrugged and repeated, "Not every fight can be avoided. I could have avoided it. Maybe you couldn't have. But you can move forward the same way I did: Talk about it. When you're well enough, we'll train for it. We can learn from the things that hurt us." Mottledspark looked at Minkpaw, feeling shame try to prickle at his paws, but he continued to shove it down. Minkpaw's mental health and feeling of security was more important than Mottledspark's pride.

Minkpaw kept his eyes closed, his head dipped as a silence stretched between them. I wish.... The thought trailed off almost before it began. that this had never happened? That you hadn't been stupid enough to wander off to fourtress in the middle of leaf-bare? That you could just leave everything behind? The last thought he shoved savagely out of his mind.
As his mentor's voice broke the silence, Minkpaw opened his eyes to stare down at his large white paws. I'm sorry too. But I can't change it. Mottledspark's words simply confirmed the thought in his head, but the fact that his mentor was talking like this at all.... Despite himself, Minkpaw's head rose, and he stared at his mentor, searching the other tom's eyes for any sign that he wasn't being genuine. He saw none. A warm feeling rose in his heart, and for a moment he felt almost secure, despite the noises and movement at the corner of his vision that set his teeth on edge. These wounds can heal, I can recover from this; be better than before....
"-Talk about it. When you're well enough, we'll train for it. We can learn from the things that hurt us."
Despite the hope rising in his chest, he still felt a tremble at Mottledspark's words, and he shivered as a cold wind swirled through the camp, not daring to close his eyes for fear he would see the images behind his closed lids, but still unable to hold his mentor's gaze. "I... can't talk about it. Not- not now." I don't want to. He left the thought unsaid, doing his best not to think of anything. especially the ants that seemed to be crawling through his pelt at the mere thought of- No. Not going to go there.
Lifting his head again, he gave Mottledspark a shaky smile. "Training though.... I can handle that."

Mottledspark looked at his apprentice every so often as he spoke, curious to Minkpaw's reactions. The ginger tom kept his head down for the most part. The tom had been so much more subdued since he had returned and now Mottledspark understood why. He hoped nothing he said was too harsh, or too real. He remembered how he had felt when he'd been attacked and knew Minkpaw must be feeling much worse than that. Sometimes I'm a little harsh with him, Mottledspark admitted, but right now he can't afford my impatience. He needs a mentor and a friend, not an antagonist and rival. When he spoke a little more openly about himself when he was young, and his experience, he was pleased to see that Minkpaw had looked up. Mottledspark did not meet his gaze so as to not make him nervous.

Still, when the young warrior finished by stating that Minkpaw needed to talk about his experience, the apprentice looked away, clearly disheartened and feeling uneasy. "I... can't talk about it. Not - not now." Mottledspark immediately nodded and said simply, "I get it." After another moment, Minkpaw lifted his head and added that he could handle training. Mottledspark purred a bit, pleased by his apprentice's spirit. "Once the medicine cats give us the okay we'll get back to it. We'll focus on various aspects of battle training, starting with the things that will help us avoid situations with dangerous predators: tracking, retreat, and environmental awareness. When you're feeling more comfortable - and I know it may take some time - then we'll work on defensive moves. Moves that will keep you from being grabbed or trapped, or will give you the opportunity to retreat."

Mottledspark looked seriously at Minkpaw and added, "Any warrior who says you shouldn't flee a dangerous situation is a fish-brain. If you know you're outmatched and you can escape, do it. A dead warrior is no use to their Clan." His tail flicked and he added jokingly, "I guess that's your first lesson."

(ooc: sorry this took so long, i kinda kept putting it off and somehow didn't get around to it ):
Minkpaw gave a relieved smile as Mottledspark decided not to press for details, a burden he'd barely realized he'd been carrying lifting itself off his shoulders. I don't have to talk about it now.... Some small part of him whispered that he would have to talk about it eventually, but he ignored it, focusing on the rest of what his mentor was saying.
"Great!" Ignoring a twisting feeling of apprehension in his gut at the thought of doing training that wasn't exactly... normal, he straightened up slightly. Trapped...? He shook away the thought, determination rising up in its place as he took this line of hope and clung firmly to it. He had something to look forward to, now, and he wasn't going to let it go.
He winced as Mottledspark mentioned fleeing from a dangerous situation. Even without digging up the memories, he could remember specifically not doing that. That won't happened again. Raising his tail slightly in a salute, he gave a chastened smile. "I'll remember that for next time...."