Friendly Faces [Fuzzypaw]

Training had been going well, Harepaw thought, but she hadn't been prepared for just how tiring it could be. Every night, she and Swiftheart would go hunting, or practice battle moves. When she was in camp, she was bringing fresh moss or food to the elders and to the nursery. Tonight she had little to do however, Swiftheart having gone on patrol without her and allowing her a reprieve. Stretching, Harepaw exited the apprentice den, pawsteps bringing her toward the fresh-kill pile. The elders and queens should've been fed already, and she carefully picked out a small vole for herself before finding a spot nearer the den to eat. If she ignored the shadows that moved near the edge of camp, maybe they would ignore her, too.

Fuzzypaw’s head hurt with the sheer amount of memorizing he had to do. He did fine, but it always made him anxious. What if he forgot something? A terrifying thought. And then the deal with StarClan…

He walked to the freshkill pile, his mind running in circles. He grabbed a smallish piece of prey for himself. Fuzzypaw practically had blinders on as he bumped into Harepaw.

“Oh man, are you okay? I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

The giant fluffy tom felt rather embarrassed. “I’m Fuzzypaw, Basilbloom is my mentor. How has your day been?”

"Watch-" Harepaw hissed as a larger shape bumped into her, glancing up with a sharp glare, though the hostility quickly fell away upon realizing that it was a clanmate and not one of the... dead cats. It was a relief, to have not attracted their attention so far. "I'm okay." She mewed, shaking her head at the apology. The dead, she was sure, wouldn't have even given her that much. Much less asked her how her day was going. "I'm good, I finally get a break because my mentor's on patrol. Training's been great though, Swiftheart is an amazing mentor!" She mewed, "What's it like training under Basilbloom? What do you even do all day?" She was genuinely curious, having not interacted much with either of Shadowclan's medicine cats. Basilbloom was her older sister, but Harepaw had spent precious little time with her compared to her other siblings. Something she needed to correct, really. Not only was Basilbloom family, but she was part of Shadowclan's leadership and must've been well-respected.

The fluffy tom relaxed as her tone shifted. At least she’s not mad anymore.

The next question was about training. Fuzzypaw looked at the sky briefly, collecting his thoughts. “Well, we do a lot of stuff, we gather herbs, sort the herbs. We do checkups on the queens, kits, and elders. We used to go meet the other medicine cats at the Moonstone, but that isn’t allowed right now. Sometimes we get dreams and we have to talk to the leader about them. And then you have your ordinary minor injuries, like cracked paw pads or a torn claw, maybe some scratches. We also assist queens when they have their kits.”

He smiled when she mentioned his mentor. “Basilbloom is the best. I just hope I can be as good as her one day.”

"Sounds a lot different than hunting and fighting." Harepaw mused, fluffy ginger tail twitching before settling around her paws. Questions burned on the tip of her tongue as Fuzzypaw had spoken, and Harepaw couldn't help but to ask them. "What are the other medicine cats like? And the moonstone? Are you really able to speak with Starclan?" She was trying desperately to ignore the dark shadows that lingered around camp. As if ignoring them would make them truly disappear. "Dad said they give leaders nine lives, but-" She tried to keep her voice level, as if the level of interest she showed was about the same as a piece of prey on the fresh-kill pile, but she couldn't seemed to manage it, "-Murkystar is still uhm... You know?" Her voice trailed off awkwardly, and the apprentice shuffled her paws. Of all cats to ask, a medicine cat would have answers, right? Murkystar, mother, powerful warrior and leader, or so she'd always been assured, lay as dead as the prey on the fresh-kill pile. Harepaw wanted to know why.

“Well, I have experienced dreams. I haven’t met the others at the Moonstone, but I really want to. And I think leaders get nine lives.”

As for why Murkystar had not reanimated, that was a harder question. He was sure Basilbloom would know, but he thought about it and replied, “They get their lives from StarClan. With StarClan and Silverpelt disappearing, that may complicate things… but I hope that we see a starry sky one day. One that’s so bright, we barely can see.”

He had a gentle smile on his face. The prophecy he got was straight up terrifying but it also gave a way for things to be fixed. He hoped for as quick and painless as possible.

Stars... Harepaw didn't know what those even looked like. For as long as she'd been alive the night sky had always been dark, the only light the weak light of the moon. A thin, fragile thing compared to the storied silverpelt she'd heard of, but Shadowclanners were built for navigating the darkness. That Fuzzypaw couldn't shed knowledge on the other clans' medicine cats or the moonstone was disappointing, but he seemed to have hope that he would see them one day. "Do... Do you really think they'll come back?" Harepaw's question was hesitant, and instinct made her keep her tone quiet to avoid drawing attention. For her, it was all just stories and hearsay. Dangerous hearsay, should the living shadows overhear her question, she knew.

“Well, you have to hope sometimes. If they have been with us since the very beginning, surely they have a way of coming back… at least, that’s what I think.”

The Dark Forest cats concerned him greatly. After what happened to Frostgaze, he struggled a lot with faith. But the moon gave him some hope.

He knew he couldn’t tell Harepaw about the prophecy. The tensión ate him alive, but he would have to do this a lot. It was weird to feel so connected with the Clan and alone at the same time. There could be a whole bunch of warriors, but only one or two medicine cats. That was great for bonding with his mentor, but it did have him feel a bit lonely.

“You ever feel lonely even when there’s cats everywhere? Like they see you, you know they acknowledge you, but it’s hard to find friends or really get to know someone.”

Perhaps that was a bit too personal, but he stood firm, taking a bite out of some prey, waiting for her reply.

"I don't know..." Harepaw's gaze lifted to the black sky above, Starclan seemed like an impossibility to her. There were dead cats, yes, but they were here, among the living. Not all of them, but wherever they were, she didn't think they could be brought back. For her, the Dark Forest's presence was simply a fact of life. A very unpleasant one, but one she was determined to ignore as much as she could. From her limited experience, nothing was more powerful than them.

Fuzzypaw's words drew her from her thoughts, and she nodded. "Sometimes." She admitted, "I don't interact with many of our clanmates outside of my own family, either. I know I should get to know the other apprentices and warriors more, but..." She shrugged. "It's easier to just interact with my siblings or my parents. And Swiftheart's my mentor. If I'm on patrol, it's usually with her."

Fuzzypaw breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t alone in that sense.

He barely even saw Snakepaw, except that time he ate burdock root and for his dream.

“I can understand that. I’ve been so focused on learning herbs that I don’t really go out much. Sometimes I check on the queens and elders, which helps a bit.”

It was nice to talk to a cat around his age without having to patch up any wounds or pull any thorns. He breathed deeply and relaxed. It was nice just to take a few minutes and see the Clan.

“What’s your favorite part of your training?”

"Hunting, definitely." Harepaw mewed, glad for the lighter subject, "The clan needs to eat, of course, and I'm good at it. I caught a hare on my first day out of camp!" Harepaw chirped, "We fought off a raccoon too... Think I'd rather stick to hunting, honestly." She hadn't liked the sight of blood on her sister's fur, and the raccoon had been a snarling thing full of anger. "What's your favorite part about being a medicine cat? I can't imagine treating injuries must be fun, even if it's needed."