Completely different but all the same (open!)

Turtlepaw paced uselessly around camp. He’d arrived after his sudden freedom from captivity earlier that day. The short tom had yet to see his mentor or any of the Clan he actually talked to when he was younger; Wisteriapaw, Shimmerpaw, Viperpaw, Flashpaw? Perhaps the siblings Shrikepaw and Splashpaw? His father? His mentor? Instead, he’d been avoiding eye contact and wondering what he was supposed to do. SkyClan was gone. The river was overrun with fish. So much had changed during his many moons missing... except camp was still familiar and homey, and he was still a short-but-athletic tomcat with half of a tail and a desire to be accepted. He was just older now. Maybe a patrol would come home and he’d see Stormbringer or his father, and they would catch up on what had happened. Everyone walked around with such... caution.

He settled by the apprentices’ den, feeling odd about the den he should have been inhabited for the past two seasons.


OOC: Turtle is not wearing the collar from my signature

The sight of a familiar face made Shimmerdust turn her head. For a moment, she couldn't remember who this was. The last time she had seen Turtlekit was back when she was a Kit, and a lot of time had passed. For a long moment, she stood there, staring at the smaller cat and trying to remember why she felt this sense of deja vu while looking at them. Finally, it clicked in her head.

"Turtlepaw?" She exclaimed, loud enough for Turtlepaw to hear.

Loonwhisper peered around a corner apprehensively, hearing Shimmerdust's shocked whisper from nearby. He smacked the leftover flakes of carp off his teeth and blinked quite a few times. He had felt odd about the apprentice's homecoming, ever since he had returned. It was a name he had not heard, not in quite a long while. That name preceded the Asylum. He had suspected that he had gone the same way Spiderquill had... and when Spiderquill, or Dennis (perhaps the Not-Spiderquill), returned alone, Loonwhisper recanted his theory and quietly went along his way, long having processed the death or untimely disappearance of the older tom.

And now, as the deputy drifted across the clearing, he had to redo his mental framework once more, weaving Turtlepaw back into the intricate threads, the web, of RiverClan life. He gazed between Shimmerdust and Turtlepaw. She seemed happy to see him. Good. "Hello, Shimmerdust... hoo, hoo," Loonwhisper greeted politely, in a near-whisper. "Don't mind me."

The deputy rounded Turtlepaw, who seemed very tense, anxious to see the state of him and discern some kind of conclusion about who their lost apprentice had become in his absence. He walked around the tom, admiring his well-kept coat, the odd indent of his fur around his scruff, his half-tail, and finally, his uncertain eyes. Loonwhisper smiled blankly. "Apologies," he crooned. "You are larger, and much different than when you left. I don't know why I expected you to stay the same. How easily I forget that the sun spins where we can't see it."

Loonwhisper pawed his own ear. "Hoo... Of the older apprentices, I admired you most. Your tail, that was why. Though, I don't expect your memory to have kept me. Spiderquill's hadn't, and anyway, I was a... sheltered kit. Quiet, and reserved. Hoo."

”Shimmerpaw...?” it was a quiet, confused mumble, but it was audible just the same. His brows furrowed and then raised as he stood to greet her, and his short tail raised up in quiet excitement. They hadn’t really spoken since they were kits, but they’d shared a den for a few moons as apprentices and her demeanor had never been hostile. Turtlepaw stepped forward hesitantly and gave a little nod to confirm his identity. ”Yes, it’s me.” he mewed, a shy smile curling his mouth.

The dark-pelted tom who approached the pair surprised him a bit, although he did seem somewhat familiar. Not very much, though; his face was like a rustle at the edge of his memory. He spoke with a very pleasant, gentle voice and crowed a few times in a manner that sounded quite... uncatlike? Turtlepaw followed him with his eyes, a bit unsure how to react and rather embarrassed to have caught multiple cats’ attention. ”You shouldn’t have,” Turtlepaw responded to his odd praise with a sense of shame budding in his chest, although he wasn’t sure why it felt so wrong to be admired. His tail swept close to his legs. He was clearly uncomfortable with being evaluated. His gaze shifted to a cloud on the horizon. ”I was born with it like that. My father has a short tail, too, and he said his mother’s was short as well. It’s a family thing, I think.”