Getting to Know You [Beetlepaw]

The deputy padded through the snow, not quite sure on how to approach her newest self-assigned task. A cat returning to the clan after a long spell away, with the rank and name of an apprentice... And yet far older than most of her clanmates. Including her and her siblings. It was a strange predicament they all found themselves in, between living at fourtrees and... everything else, but this was... Different.

She was making it a point to keep a closer eye on Skyclan's apprentices and mentors, and those apprentices included the much older Beetlepaw, for the moment. A cat who should have been a warrior long ago by now, but circumstances had prevented that, seemingly. He was returned to the clan, however, a clan that he seemed to be finding as unfamiliar as Wolfblossom found him. And that wasn't good, she'd decided. She ought to know her clanmates more, especially ones that had spent so long away as to come back to a clan with few holdouts from when they were here last. She wasn't sure how to go about approaching it, but she would figure it out, she was sure.

"Hi, Beetlepaw, right?" She mewed, approaching the tom with her usual friendly demeanor. "I'm Wolfblossom. I don't believe we've talked much." Or at all beyond the briefest of introductions, really, but this would be the start of that. She was Skyclan's deputy, after all. She had to know her clanmates and they needed to know her.

Beetlepaw had once felt so sure of and so close to getting his warrior name, but moons away from SkyClan lost on his own had made that feel like such a distant fantasy. He had seen StarClan at the moonstone, and for that he was grateful, he wasn't sure if he'd have held out so long otherwise. Would he be living in a barn now if not?

Although Dawnfeather was missing, and her absence left a hole inside of him that couldn't be filled, he was once more surrounded by friends, even if those faces were different from the ones he remembered. The doubts he had experienced on his own were fading, replaced by a certainty of his destiny in SkyClan.

The black tom pricked his ears and sat up, giving his chest fur a lick to gather himself as his deputy approached. Wolfblossom, which was really such a pretty name. He purred, meeting her eyes, but giving a respectful little nod.

"That's me! Can I help you with something or did you just want a break? I bet being deputy is a lot of work," his voice was warm and easy. The tom had met few that weren't immediately accepted as friends, and that was apparently unchanged even by his time away.

She was relieved to earn a greeting that was friendly enough, not sure what to expect of the returned apprentice. "It's... Not exactly what I expected." Wolfblossom admitted, "If Dawnfeather hadn't been captured, I would've expected her to take it honestly, even if she's only just returned she seems like the type to thrive in that role. Smart, and not a bumbling oaf." She gave her head a shake. She hadn't come here to gossip or second-guess Birdchaser's choices. "I figured I ought to know my clanmates more, especially those who have just returned from seasons of being away. You knew Dawnfeather before leaving, right? Is there anyone else you recognized or are we all new faces to you?" She hoped the question wasn't too personal, but she needed to establish where the tom was - what he knew, what he didn't know.