mistletoe in the marshes [c]

It had only been a day since Mistlepaw had been made an apprentice, and she hadn't done any training yet. The night in the apprentices' den had definitely been a new experience, as by now she had grown used to the draughty and empty nursery and her new nest had felt almost claustrophobic with all the extra cats in the den. She had found that as the sun set, the den emptied, as the others all went to train, and she stayed, waiting. It wasn't clear exactly what she was waiting for; even she didn't know, but it was definitely something. Eventually, sitting around camp wasn't enough to entertain her. she was usually perfectly happy to be alone with her thoughts, but everything got boring after a while.

Instead she decided to venture slightly out of camp. It wasn't very far, but it was somewhere. Here she could sit, knowing that the camp wall was only a few fox-lengths away. The trees also didn't seem as intimidating when they were lit by the still-setting sun that cats a pinky-golden glow across the branches. Here it was nice. Too early for moths however, which meant her plans of searching for her friend from moons ago had to be scrapped.

The sounds of movement nearby made Mistlepaw's ears prick up. She could tell by scent that it was a cat, and expected it to be Mistyfalcon, given that her thoughts were still in the past. "Hello?" At least the shadows were ruled out, given that she was pretty sure they couldn't move things. Still, the thought of rouges was still out there.

Marshpaw had exited camp, she didn't have a cat with her and had snuck out on her own. Her mentor wasn't giving her the lessons she needed and wanted to try it out herself. She loved Fangsnap, as a mentor of course, but, sometimes she felt like the days were getting long and repetitive, the same lessons over and over. She needed something new, something exciting.

Pushing past some bushes, Marshpaw found herself in front of another apprentice. She stepped back a little, looking around, but this cat seemed to be out alone too. Cautiously, she padded away from the bush. Multicoloured eyes blinking curiously. "Hi. Out alone too?" She replied, sitting down. Her gaze drifted up at the sky. "It's very early. The sun hasn't even set yet and the moon has barely started to rise." She switched her attention back to the other apprentice. "I don't think we've spoken before, but you're that new apprentice, Mistlepaw? I saw your ceremony, I think."

She curled her tail around her front paws, her head tilted sideways. "I'm Marshpaw."

ooc: sorry I took ages to respond to this!

Mistlepaw was relieved to find it was another apprentice who had startled her, not anything dark and scary, like the shadows... or an angry warrior. "I like the colours of the sunset, the way they blend together." She said to the other cat without moving her eyes from the sky, when she did, she was met with a black-and-white she-cat with striking eyes. Different colours swirled together, reminding her of the gradient in the sky, only in cooler tones. "A lot like you eyes." She pointed out to Marshpaw.

"I'm brand new, haven't done any training or shadow-scaring yet. I think my mentor isn't very well." From what she could remember from the nursery, Marshpaw was only slightly older than her, and only made apprentice just before. "What's training like?"

Marshpaw listened to the she-cat before her, she seemed trusting and friendly. When Mistlepaw started talking about her eyes, it caught her by surprise. "My eyes? Oh, yeah, three different colours, cats don't comment on it a lot. Thanks." She smiled, looking up at the sky. "It is very pretty, hehe." Looking back at the apprentice, Marshpaw listened. "What's training like? Well..." In all honesty, her mentor had been busy too, not caring enough about her training. It was very boring lounging around camp doing nothing at all. "My mentor's been ignoring me." She frowned. "I know, probably just busy and all, but I'm his apprentice." She lowered her head. "He should be training me instead of pretending I'm not there." She flicked her tail side to side. "Whatever, I'll find my own way to train, by myself, and then I can become a warrior without his help."

Mistlepaw was surprised, to say the least, that Marshpaw didn't say the best things about her mentor. To the younger apprentice, she always assumed that everyone got on with their mentor; after all, they were supposed to be paired partly on personality, but at the end of the day there were only so many warriors able and willing to train a younger cat. Some less willing than others. "Even the toughest seed can't grow without a little help. Something's got to water and shine on it." Hopefully the sun and water she needed would turn up soon. If becoming a warrior was like blossoming, apprentice training was the growing of the buds. "Although you seem quite capable to do most of that work yourself. But the point of the clan is so you don't have to do it completely alone." The clan was like her family - without it, she may've never returned from trying to look for her actual family.