A tunnel for your thoughts? (Closed)

Scritch, Scratch, Thump. The sounds could be heard echoing through the darkness. No light filtered through, no breeze shifted the air. Claws broke through dirt, then pushed it, shaped it, moved it away before resuming the process over. The large gorse circle a few foxlengths behind him as he tunnelled closer to the soft rumblings he felt against the wall when he pressed his dirt covered pelt to it.

He could feel the vibrations of cats running. The soft thumps of pawpads that weren’t worried about stealth. There was hardly a need to worry about that in camp. With a nod, he continued on his dig. A few tail lengths behind him was a small wry tabby that helped move the dirt and shoved it around to ensure the new structure was stable, as he had been taught at the beginning. Truthfully, Grousefrost knew he could have done this alone…

Only fools however, tunneled alone. It didn’t matter that he’d been on the moonstone journey and received the knowledge of the ancestors first paw. If anything happened, he had to ensure some cat would know. That things would be alright… and perhaps get the old tom Barleytuft to help him out. No doubt, after at least a little grief.

Grousefrost grunted at the thought, his paws suddenly breaking through the dirt to find… air? Light didn’t quite flood the tunnel as he drew his paw back. Some light was there, and he paused a moment to let his sight adjust before he began to shove the rest of the dirt down. His calculations meant he’d be in a shaded spot of the camp, but it felt a little too… soon.

He froze as he looked up from the dirt… only to see the bewildered eyes of Aspenheart.

In the middle of the Medicine Den.

Aspenheart was a light sleeper in the first place. He found that it was a good day for a nap, to forget his troubles, and if he slept out in the open he'd soon find a pile of kittens climb on his ribcage. So, he found himself among the beds of moss he had set out for the more frequent visitors. Of course, he struggled and flailed to find a comfortable position. It was nice to finally sink into that wonderful spot and sleep...

The floor gurgled beneath him, sending Aspenheart into a slight panic. The paranoia of his omen had not yet worn off. He half-expected to fall in and be subject to whatever horrors waited him below, and with that in mind he was suddenly scrambling across the floor to the wall, away from where the sinkhole was opening. Strangely, a cat's paw pierced the surface. Mystified, with a tilted head, he approached the small hole in the ground and saw a pair of icy eyes in the low light. "Grousefrost?"

Resisting the urge to club him for giving his medicine cat such a shock, Aspenheart peered down at the tabby. "Well, I wasn't intending to expand this season, but thanks," he said in a lightheartedly deadpan fashion. "Where did you even come from?"

Grousefrost blinked at the sight of Aspenheart. Dirt fell onto his back as the cat who had been digging with him was forced to stop since Grousefrost’s bulk was in the way. He looked up, then around, just to make sure of where he was. It seemed like a back corner of the den… that explained the moss. He ducked his head, body disappearing back into the tunnel for a moment.

His partner leapt out of the tunnel and shot out of the medicine den. Grousefrost returned with a glare at the departing cat’s tail, before he grumbled and finally removed himself from the tunnel with a huff.

“I wasn’t planning to come out here.” He meowed unhappily as he began to groom off the dirt from his pelt. “I intended to come out in the shaded corner, where the broom would hide it.” He glanced at the medicine den wall, as if he would be able to see the plant that he had intended the tunnel to be behind.

Aspenheart rolled his eyes at the supreme mess the two cats made as they emerged from the tunnel. Meh, he'd just get some poor apprentice to clean it up. The hole, of course, was going to take another paw or two.

"Well, whatever you were aiming for, your calculations were a little off, bud," Aspenheart laughed. He didn't buy into Grousefrost's icy demeanor or his obsession with the smooth workings of the clan. He was an admirable and good-natured tom, but boy, did the medicine cat love to torture him. "Got any bumps or bruises while you're in here? I swear, the rocks are sharper down there!" Aspenheart shuffled to his herb stores, checking his stocks.

"Are you taking care of Goldengale?" he inquired with a teasing tone. "Barleytuft is like a brother to me, which makes her a niece to me. Which, by extension... well, sure makes your relationship with her important to me, doesn't it?" He shot Grousefrost a knowing look. "I'm glad somebody's keeping her tethered to reality."

Resting... more resting. It was exhausting. Barleytuft had been resting when Goldengale came to see the medicine cat to receive news of her pregnancy, though she had been gracious enough to tell him privately after she announced it to her siblings, and now he was resting again as his daughter's mate broke through the earth. The tabby tom was laying on his good side, sleeping quite well.

Then there were voices. His ears flicked. "I wasn't planning to come out here," a familiar voice claimed with exasperation. Barleytuft adjusted his head slightly. Aspenheart was speaking of the tunnels. Some thoughts roused in the warrior's head. Was Grousefrost injured in a tunnel somehow? That would explain why he hadn't meant to be in the medicine den...

The warrior blinked open his misty hazel eyes to see Grousefrost shaking dirt from his pelt as Aspenheart delivered a rather heartwarming declaration of his close relationship with Barleytuft. The tom smiled and sat up ever so slightly, listening with a pleased, drowsy smile. Then Barleytuft pieced together that Grousefrost had come from a pile of earth that definitely was not there when he'd fallen asleep. With a groggy voice, the tom asked, "Grousefrost? Where's this tunnel from?"