Soldier Boy

Large pawsteps could be heard pacing back and forth outside the medicine den.  The patients inside probably couldnt get much sleep with the thudding of them back and forth.

Outside, a nervous wreck of a Stormwatcher was pacing back and forth outside the medicne den, his previous appretnice Hickorypaw now Hickorysmoke was recovering from a busted up leg.  He had decided to visit him but now that he was here could only pace back and forth while he tried to find words to say to Hickory...

Nothing sounded quite right, words were hard.

'well hows the leg? At least we didnt die huh?' and then bonking hickory gently on the shoulder had crossed his mind but he felt sick to his stomach thinking about how true that was... Him and hickory did almost die that day.  Probably not something to say even if it was meant to make the mood lighter....


'You look horrible' crossed his mind as a way of sarcasm if nothing else to maybe make Hickorysmoke laugh but the young, injured warrior held himself in high regard something he often struggled with when they were training.  There was no way humorous remarks would work not like those two initial ideas. Hickory had gone though enough, he didnt need his old mentor making sarcasim remarks even if the end goal was to try and make him feel better.

Offering sympathy was Storm's weak spot and probably would be turned down by Hickory anyways.


So the big guy paced while figuring out what the dark forest to say to the young warrior.


Eventually he had enough, it would be as would be and he barged into the med den, his figure blocking out the light of the doorway entrence as he narrowed his eyes searching the nests for his ... friend??

Were they friends?  He had no idea, He didnt like Hickory but then again he didnt like almost anyone ... That probably made them friends he supposed to himself


He went over to the occupied nest and sat beside the patient.

He glanced at his leg and frowned seeing the shape it was in.

"Well .... I uhmm paced around like a foxdung idiot trying to think of what to say to ya..."

He could feel his ear twitch involuntarily as he could feel himself getting sensative, he hated that... Hated that he had to have emotions.  He often hid them well enough but it wasnt going so well at this very moment.

"I guess all I can say is ... is" he felt a bit choking up and he growled at himself in his mind silently to cut this out.

"is I'm sorry" he felt like he nearly choked on the words, they were yucky! Foreign!

He was... He was truly sorry what had happened, it wasn't even really a secret that he and hickorypaw had fought lots when they were training partners and it was no secret that the two couldnt even stand each other back then... even so, he had never wished for this to happen.

After everything Hickory was still his apprentice, - errm well he was.  

But saying it - he always deep down had felt he would do anything he could to protect his apprentices, fighting dogs included.  But that was easier and came more naturally to him than having to say aloud that he actually cared about his appretnice.

He coughed a bit clearing his throat as if he had a squirrels tail caught in it.

"They uhh... taking good care of you in here?" he grumbled more so back to his usual self.

Stormwatcher's ears laid back and he huffed annoyed, this brat! He didn't move away though, Hickorysmoke was in pain... that much even he could understand with his limited ability to think of emotions.

He rolled his eyes at the comment about how the med cats were obviously taking care of him... his apprentice was even more emotionally deaf than he was huh??

He sat there sulking a bit mostly wanting this exchange to be over with. This is what he got for showing the slighting amount that he cared.

He did care deep down of course but this was the closest he had ever done to really showing Hickory that, and it was greeted with sarcastic answers and stating that storm didnt know the dog was there.


He was about to leave the den and mutter that he would bring him something to eat later but before he could get up he was being asked questions..

Eyes narrowing he glanced at his former apprentice, "No. It nearly killed both of us. I bluffed my way through it. It could have eaten us both. I don't think it realized how close it was to defeating me. It ran off and I drug you home. It is out there somewhere, so don't be stupid next time.

Storm's ears flicked again and his whiskers whisked at his former apprentices next words... a thank you. His eyes looked to his paws not even sure what in dark forest to think of that. He gave a short nod was all. The two of them... for now understood each other on some level which is more than he ever thought possible so best just leave it as that for now. Too much progress like this would make him sick to his stomach with all this emotion stuff... he didnt know how to handle any of it.

He snorted a bit at the next comment... "No you were right... I definitely do. What you think an intelligent warrior would stand up to a dog? ... alright so maybe Hickory was not so hard to interact with as he originally thought... but that still didnt mean he would ever let hickory know that he cared.