Weaver of Crowns[O]

Boartusk
T1 Warrior | ShadowClan | He/Him

Boartusk tried to keep his paws busy. He didn't like sitting around when something could be done, feeling as though he was wasting time, but eventually he would run out of steam and have to recharge. As he rested in camp, he couldn't help but notice a young apprentice up to something. It reminded him of when he was young, collecting interesting rocks he found in the dirt and stuffing them under his nest for safekeeping. It didn't take long for his mother to find them. Surprisingly, rocks were not comfortable to sleep on.

Was Juniperpaw a little collector as well? Or perhaps she was just bored considering things have been too busy around camp to assign her a new mentor yet. Maybe she would appreciate company? He had been trying to be more social anyway.

He rose to his massive paws, lumbering over to see what the young molly was smuggling out of her hiding place. Yet, just as he reached her, Juniperpaw cowered before him, wide eyes staring up in terror as though he had raised his claws at her. He wasn't prepared for that, though perhaps he should have. He was a towering tom and he had been told the resting expressions he made weren't exactly inviting. He should have approached more carefully.

His ears planed outwards as he awkwardly cleared his throat, stepping back to give the molly some space. "Apologies; I didn't mean to startle you," he rumbled softly. He lowered himself to the ground, tucking his paws underneath himself to make himself appear smaller and, hopefully, less intimidating. "Did... I see something I wasn't supposed to? I'll pretend I didn't notice. I just wanted to make sure you were settling in alright." He pointedly averted his gaze, giving Juniperpaw time to hide away her work if she wished.

discord: MediocreCrisis  | timezone: EST | code (c) kieer

I wish I could go back in time; not to change anything, but to feel a few things twice.

It took several moments for her to calm down. Juniperpaw swallowed thickly, nodding mindlessly to whatever words were coming out of the tom's mouth. The shadow falling over her had scared her, brought her back to some memories she never wanted to remember again. She swore she could almost feel the touch of the Twolegs' hairless paws graze her pelt, and she shivered with disgust. She blinked, grounding herself back once more to the present, and looked over at the warrior that had dealt with her sudden panic. He was crouching down, a little farther away than he originally had been, and his gaze was adverted. He was... trying to be nice to her. Did she seem like a helpless kit in his eyes, she wondered. "... Thank you," Juniperpaw managed to mutter out, "I'm fine. Just... nothing."

Boartusk
T1 Warrior | ShadowClan | He/Him

Boartusk sat silently, the awkward air growing thicker with each passing moment until a small, soft voice broke the quiet.

"Is it nothing because you want me to leave you alone? Or is it nothing because you think it doesn't mean anything? Because if you're interested in it, then it isn't nothing." Hopefully those words came out... intelligible. A cat shouldn't be ashamed of their hobby... assuming what she was hiding was a hobby. He remembered seeing flowers in her maw every once in a while.

The silence returned for a beat, the large tom unsure what to say, but then he opened his maw again. "You know, I used to collect rocks when I was a kit. And a little while as an apprentice too. I still have them. I think it's good to have something to occupy your mind."

discord: MediocreCrisis  | timezone: EST | code (c) kieer

I wish I could go back in time; not to change anything, but to feel a few things twice.

Naturally, the tom had to ask more questions. Juniperpaw wished he wouldn't try to pry further, because she had no answers to provide him with. She didn't know what she meant either, and she was never good at lying. The words would simply remain as thoughts in her mind and refuse in their entirety to reveal themselves to even herself. So she remained silent, letting the silence answer the Warrior instead. Her gaze adverted, flickering to her paws and across camp, wandering anywhere but to Boartusk's face.

The admittance, however, snaps her attention to him. He had collected rocks? Why in the world did he stop? Had becoming a warrior been such a burden, or the pressure from their clanmates so high, that he had stopped doing something he loved? And would the same thing happen to her? Juniperpaw looked down at her half-woven creation, as if by starring at it longer she might increase the amount of time she had left to create more similar art works. She didn't want to ever stop making art. Hadn't the Queens' naggings been enough? Would she still have to give up her love afterall? A small, resentful part of her wished Quillsplash had left her in the Monster. Being a Warrior sounded horrible the more she thought about it, and yet it was how she would spend the rest of her life.

Boartusk
T1 Warrior | ShadowClan | He/Him

His words didn't seem to help much... in fact, he was pretty sure he made them worse. She glanced down at what she was working on, as if it would suddenly dissipate into dust the moment she looked away. He didn't realize he was that bad at this whole talking thing. He shuffled awkwardly, partially wanting to just apologize and leave her alone, partially wanting to patch things up. He didn't want to leave on a bad note, but stars he was worried about digging himself into a bigger hole.

"Do... you wanna talk about what you're working on there?" He offered one more attempt to reach out and talk. He didn't want to force her into a conversation she didn't want to have, but he was pretty sure he accidentally traumatized her. Walking up, scaring a molly half to death, then walking away sounded awful...

discord: MediocreCrisis  | timezone: EST | code (c) kieer

I wish I could go back in time; not to change anything, but to feel a few things twice.

Juniperpaw blinked at the older tom, her claws curling into the dirt and pressing gently before releasing once again as she pondered her answer. Was he... interested in her art work? Maybe a part of him missed his little hobby of collecting rocks too... it wouldn't harm anyone to share a little, right? The small black apprentice backed away so that light may be shed onto her small trinket. Her gaze lowered down onto it, tracing the thickly woven stems and pine needles that held together the small white petals. Larger, darker, wide-spread rich purple petals spread out from behind the white ones, lit up as if the white petals were glowing, and in turn sharing their brightness with their darker-coloured friends. It was just a small crown, something to fit between one's ears, or fastened at the base of one's tail. It fit her, at least, but she was small, and... her green eyes darted up to the much, much larger warrior. A small purr of laughter came from her as the image of the large Boartusk with a small crown of petals at the top of his head flashed through her mind. No, that was too cruel. If she wanted to fashion him a crown of flowers, she would design one fitting for his stature.

Right, she still had to answer his question. "I made a small crown... it fits me, and I thought the colours were really pretty... would you like a crown, too?"