Time Spent With Others Is Much More Fun [Closed for Arcana]

With a hurried pace, a certain dark-furred apprentice entered the camp with haste and headed straight for the prey pile to deposit his catches. He'd been hunting since sunhigh and now, it was almost sundown. He'd managed to catch two decently sized prey. It wasn't his finest work. That was because he'd gotten distracted gazing upon the broken pools. He had never had the chance to visit them and was only able to look at them from afar. Even from where he'd stood he could tell that the cold weather was freezing over the shallow pools of water. Blackpaw's curiosity kept bugging him to see them up close. However, he pushed those thoughts away so he could at least finish his task. Now that that was done, he could allow those desires to flood his mind again.

He could've just left on his own. However, he felt as if going by himself wouldn't nearly be as fun. He was an extroverted tom and his enjoyment usually came from interacting with others. This is why he decided on asking around if anyone was available and willing to tag along. He wasn't going to force anyone to accompany him even if they had nothing to do.

After asking around for a while and finding no luck, he came across a pale gray-furred she-cat. She was around his age but perhaps a bit older. He hadn't interacted with her much but had seen her here and there. Hopefully he was lucky this time around.

"Hey there! Hollypaw was it?" he called out to her, green eyes bright with a hopeful twinge. She may not know his name but he had taken the time during his first days as an apprentice to learn his denmates' names. "Are you busy right now? I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to the broken pools? I've never been there and I just got the urge to go today but didn't want to go alone cause it wouldn't be as fun. I know that you don't really know me but nobody else seemed free to go with me. I asked around before ya but I didn't have any luck." The dark-furred tom paused himself from speaking to catch his breath. He offered the molly a sheepish grin. "You don't have to say yes if you don't want, of course! I can keep looking if you can't!"

"Hey there! Hollypaw, was it?"  A voice spoke up. Alerted, the molly whipped her head over, curiously looking at the dark-furred apprentice. She figured she's seen him in the apprentices' den and around camp a couple of times before, though she wasn't so social to actually head towards a cat like that. Though if she was correct— she'd make a guess that the apprentice was still young; and new to the role. The questions that came from him made her blink, pausing for a slight moment. It wasn't that she'd never dealt with such a situation before, though she needed to reply quickly. And.. carefully, not like last time.

Though just then, the apprentice mentioned the Broken Pools; somewhere she rarely had ever heard about before. Even during her first training sessions with Creamfrost, the warrior have barely ever took her to places like so. She had caught glimpses of it before, though. Figuring that as long as they don't get themselves into too much trouble, she nodded. "I don't see any reasons for me to decline your offer," She smiled, "Well, as long as your mentor allows you to. I wouldn't want to be the cause of your injuries, especially seeing how you're still so new to being an apprentice." Hollypaw offered them a light chuckle, then stretched, raising herself up with a flick of the tail.

The molly trotted over to the clan's entrance, and headed out once she made sure the tom would follow her close by. The familiar sceneries appeared in front of her, and she continued to swiftly dart across the forest; waiting for the tom to catch up every now and then. And soon enough, she stopped. They've already arrived at a series of scattered, frozen pools of water in the snowy weather. She gave a silent purr, gazing over the frozen pools in both interest— and caution. The Broken Pools.

Blackpaw's shoulder's sagged with relief. He hadn't been rejected for the umpteenth time! "Thank you, Hollypaw! Oh! Don't worry about my mentor. I'm usually allowed to do what I want just as long as I'm careful and don't cause any trouble. I'm sure we'll keep ourselves safe." he rushed out with a sparkling grin. He was giddy to begin the trek there.

Once the she-cat made her way out of the camp's entrance, the dark-furred tom made sure to stay close behind her. He felt a bit guilty for having her pause every once in a while for him to catch up. He had wanted to enjoy the scenery for a bit, however, Holly had decided on setting up a quick pace. His eyes had wanted  to take in the beauty of their clan's territory. Despite his short fur, he didn't mind the cold. He rarely had the chance to appreciate the little things so the weather wasn't about to dampen his mood. He was glad to be spending some time for himself alongside one of his denmates.

Their arrival to the pools had felt longer to him than it actually was. They'd been rushing for Starclan's sake! He scanned his companion's face and noticed that she seemed to be taking in the view too. Was this her first time here too? "Hollypaw? Have ya ever been here before?" he paused for a moment before continuing, "Do you wanna take a closer look? I wanna know how they feel like. They look really smooth and extra cold." He emphasized his desire by lifting a paw then flexing it, playful grin on his face.

Hollypaw returned his grin with a chuckle, and she nodded. "Sure, as long as we take careful steps. I heard it could be slippery." The molly took closer steps to the frozen pools of water, carefully, and very cautiously placing a paw on it. She unconsciously let go of the breath that she'd been holding since before, and smiled. Her tail raised in a friendly gesture for the tom to come over, and she set her full paws on its surface now. The ice was slippery for sure, though as long as she placed her paws rightfully, she was sure there'd be no chance of falling through the ice. Even if the pools were shallow, there was no reassurance of what could happen if one was to ever fall through.

..Even if they were taught by RiverClan. In her mind held a small doubt, yet she frowned at the thought of it getting in her way to actually enjoy herself for some while. There would be no more time where she'd ever be able to interact with the other apprentices like this, would there? Ebonypaw would've probably be hesitant to come along. The sight of Blackpaw just from a small distance made her quickly shake her head, snapping the unconscious thoughts out of her mind. There wouldn't be anything needed to be so worried about, would there? She'd keep herself safe, and so would she try her best to keep the younger apprentice from as much injuries as possible.