[Fawn]

Sprucefur
31 Moons || Tom || TreeClan || Warrior

Lionstar had been the subject of a strange dream last night. He could remember feeling the soft warm glow of early morning sunlight on his pelt as he'd stood underneath the Ancient Stump, meeting Lionstar's gaze though the golden tom had been addressing the rest of the gathered cats as well. Feathercloud had stood beside him, and it was only when two quivering, excited kittens came bounding forward that he'd realized what the dream was about; it didn't get strange until Sprucefur stepped forward to touch noses with his newest and first charge. It was a younger version of himself! Sprucefur had reeled back, ears flicking to settle at a sideways angle with the height of his confusion, and both he and his younger doppelganger had glanced at Lionstar with an obviously imploring, bemused stare. There were murmurs in the rest of the crowd -- Feathercloud hadn't had this problem, he'd recalled after waking up.

Lionstar in the dream only shook his head. "Maybe next time."

The paler half-brother of the Clan's leader had been left to contemplate this, as he picked a finch out of the freshkill pile, normally clear yellow-green eyes radiated a sense of deep introspection, as if he was here in body only, his mind turned inward upon himself. What was that dream trying to tell him? That he was only fit to mentor himself? Or that he couldn't even manage to teach himself, if that were somehow possible? It was too ridiculous a dream for Sprucefur to want to discuss it with his sisters; Appleshade would have looked at him as though he was crazy, and Lichenfrost would've probably blamed it on a bad piece of prey last night - or accuse him of spending too much time with Feathercloud.

"Sprucefur!" He snapped out of his thoughts, shoulders bristling as he came face to face with the subject of his unsettling dream, who looked as though he'd repeated his name several times before Sprucefur had actually answered. "Sorry, Lionstar. What did you need?" To tell me personally that you won't be making me someone's mentor anytime soon? It took effort to swallow up any few burgeoning seeds of resentment.

Lionstar scrutinized him, and Sprucefur felt himself able to take a breath once the tom seemed to let go of any questions like 'how are you doing? are you feeling okay?'

"Sootpaw is ready for his warrior's assessment. I thought that you and Feathercloud might oversee it today. Sixtoes has already been notified."

It wasn't the announcement Sprucefur had been expecting, but it was one he accepted, aware of a tiny needling thought at the back of his brain. Perhaps if Lionstar saw how well Feathercloud and I handle Sootpaw, he'll consider giving us apprentices. Sprucefur couldn't recall a time when he'd wanted one so badly; it wasn't like him to hunger for things, but maybe it was the losses TreeClan had suffered in no small thanks to the greencough epidemic that put him in such a progressive, participatory mood.
"Of course. I'll let her know." He gave his chest a few grooming licks and then stood, taking a single step towards the warriors' den until Lionstar's voice again reached him.

"I've told her already, I'd check around the Great Maple, if I were you."

Sprucefur course-corrected, dipping his head curtly to Lionstar before exiting the camp with a trot; he didn't want to keep her waiting. Maybe she wouldn't think him crazy if he told her about his dream...

Tags: BlooRey DVD, Phoenix (This is optional, you don't have to bring in Sootpaw if you don't want to xD)
Word Count: 600-ish

[BlooRey DVD]

[smear:999999]Feathercloud[/smear:ffffff]

~~~~~~~~~

She hadn't been doing much that morning when her former mentor and TreeClan's leader approached her. She'd been lying in the early morning sun, rather enjoying the bizarre mix of warm and cold that came from that activity, when the sound of pawsteps stirred her attention. Silver ears rotated on her head as it was picked up off the ground. Her blue eyes found Lionstar's large form, and once she was sure he was aimed directly at her, she rolled to her paws, shaking off any dirt that might have tried sticking to her long, silver fur.

Smiling at him, she inclined her head, calling out a good morning to him. They'd exchanged a few words, and he'd asked her if she and Sprucefur could oversee Sootpaw's warrior assessment. Her immediate reaction was to be thrilled. Eagerly, she'd told him it was an honour, and found herself almost dancing on her paws. She began to move towards the warrior's den, where she was pretty sure Sprucefur still was, but it was obvious that Lionstar knew her well. He'd grinned at her and waved her off, explaining that he would tell Sprucefur the news and have him meet her by the Great Maple.

Doing her best to restrain her enthusiasm, she held her breath and bowed her head, even managing a "Thank you, Lionstar." But the way her tail was flicking from side to side betrayed just how excited she was. That, and the moment she was excused, she'd taken off at an extraordinarily fast pace. Running through the trees felt wonderful as she dipped between the tall trunks. Before long, she saw the massive branches of the Great Maple reaching high into the sky. Without slowing, Feathercloud made a bound for the trunk, springing off it to try and dissipate some of her excitement.

When all four of her paws landed on the ground, and she was panting heavily, she let herself stop, haunches dropping with a shake of her coat. The waiting was killing her. Tipping her head up towards the tree top, she couldn't help but notice how lovely it was here. The sun just barely managed to filter through the branches, casting soft and dancing light upon the ground. It even played over her silver fur as she sat a few tail lengths from the base of the tree. Parting her jaws, drawing in the air around her, she wondered if she could pick out Sootpaw's position from here.

She was soon distracted by approaching steps. Her clear, bright blue eyes flicked over to where the sound was coming from, and just then seemed to remember who her partner for the assessment was. An unexpected wave of nerves washed over her suddenly, which she covered be licking a paw and drawing it over her ear. It also served as a distraction for her. This seemed to be a usual reaction for her now, and it was confusing the silver she-cat more and more each day.

Forcing the butterflies in her stomach to settle, she lifted her head and met Sprucefur's gaze with her own. An easy, teasing grin spread over her lips as she tipped her head to one side slightly. As her tail curled behind her, she called to him. "Making me wait for you again, are you? Decided to sleep in today, hm?" She purred, rising to her paws to meet him part way. "Lionstar explained what is happening, I assume? Wonder if this is the first step in him considering us to be mentors. Kind of exciting when you think of it that way, isn't it?"

Realizing that she was on the verge of babbling, she decided to fall silent as she reached his side. Offering him a real smile this time, rather than her previous grin, she couldn't help but notice how distracted he seemed and wondered what was on his mind this morning.

[Fawn]

Sprucefur
31 Moons || Tom || TreeClan || Warrior

It was good to see her so cheerful today. Feathercloud's primarily upbeat personality pulled him a little out of his entrenching thoughts, revealing a hint of a smile on his pale muzzle. "Yeah, it sounds like a step in the right direction." Was it worth getting their hopes up over? Sprucefur wasn't the sort of cat who took his dreams too seriously, but this one had hit him right where he was vulnerable; he really was hoping that Lionstar chose them for mentors sometime soon. It was New Leaf, time for a new start, and what better way for them to get a new start than to take on something they hadn't tried before? Apprentices were always a step in the right direction, and he understood Lionstar not wanting to assign a couple of new warriors to too many 'potentials', and yet Gorsetail had been made a mentor before either of them...

There was no point in crying over lost prey. What was done was done. Perhaps he should just be laughing at this dream instead of letting it get to him? "I actually had a strange dream about that," Sprucefur mewed, nonchalant. There was a voice in the back of his head quietly wishing that this wasn't going to come out sounding peculiar. "It was an apprentice ceremony, you and I were chosen as mentors. It was strange, there was some sort of mistake because I was mentoring the apprentice-version of myself." Great StarClan, I sound crazy.

With an embarrassed flattening of his ears, Sprucefur quickly cleared his throat, saying. "Never mind, it wasn't really worth talking about." They should just focus on the task ahead of them, not dwell on his nonsensical fear-based dreams that made little impact on his future.

BlooRey DVD

[BlooRey DVD]

Seeing him smile made her feel warm, and genuinely happy. Why was it that just knowing she could make him smile made her want to keep on smiling? Her feathery tail swished behind her as silver ears pricked towards him. Despite his agreement, it was almost as though she could sense a bit of unease coming from him. She wondered what it was that had him feeling that way. It was a little bit different for Feathercloud. Sure, she wanted an apprentice. It was an honour to receive one. Add the fact that it would be her first apprentice... It was a huge milestone in the life of a warrior.

But she didn't quite think she was cut out to be a mentor, at least not yet. It was weird to think of herself teaching a younger cat when she herself had so much to left to learn. It was a double edged stone to the she-cat, and she didn't mind waiting a little bit longer to get an apprentice. This meant that she didn't quite feel that same.. Urgency that Sprucefur did. Before she could question him as to what it was that seemed to be weighing so heavily on him, the pale furred tom spoke.

Interested by the aspect of the dream, the silver feline couldn't help but grin at him. "Your apprentice self? What a bizarre twist in a dream that would be! Are you sure it was you?" A thought crossed her mind as she waved her tail for him to follow. Though she knew that they had a job to do, and it was probably a good idea for them to find Sootpaw so they could keep an eye on him and assess his progress as they'd been asked, Feathercloud didn't think that the dream should just be tossed aside.

In fact, she even found it fascinating. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she curled her soft tail. "Maybe dream you was a father, and you were mentoring your doppelganger kit." She giggled suddenly. "Tiny little Sprucefurs running around. What an adorable thought. Wonder who the mom was. Who did Dream Sprucefur pick to mother his kits, hm?" Her pointed teeth were revealed as she grinned teasingly at him briefly. Stepping over a particularly gnarled tree root, she gave herself an excuse to look away from him, blocking his view of her face for a moment.

She frowned. Why did it seem to bother her so much? It was just a dream, right? And she and Sprucefur were just friends. ...Right? Maybe she was crazy. That had to be it. What other reason would there be for all the ridiculous things she'd been feeling in the recent days. What if she was sick? Perhaps she could visit the medicine cat's den... She shivered slightly upon remembering just who would be there to 'help' her if she did. She'd felt uneasy just visiting Skyfall. She couldn't be sick. She wouldn't allow herself to be sick. No way would you catch her in that den again.

Tossing another glance over her shoulder as nonchalantly as she could, the silver warrioress continued. "Who knows what it really meant though. Dreams are particularly fickle things. I mean, I never understand mine!" Why was she grinning again? She'd been doing that way too much recently... Especially around Sprucefur.

[Fawn]

Sprucefur
31 Moons || Tom || TreeClan || Warrior

"Maybe dream you was a father, and you were mentoring your doppelganger kit." She giggled suddenly. "Tiny little Sprucefurs running around. What an adorable thought. Wonder who the mom was. Who did Dream Sprucefur pick to mother his kits, hm?"

What? Sprucefur's face radiated surprise, and then he felt the heat suffuse over his skin as though struck with a solar flare of embarrassment, trapped there beneath his pelt like warmth coming off of the sun stones in greenleaf. There was so much in her giggled words that was beyond Sprucefur's comprehension that he stared for a clutch of heartbeats, missing the all important fact that she had stepped over a tree root, which he had failed to see -- and almost went sprawling because of it. Sprucefur's fur fluffed at the nape of his neck, startled, and he quickly tried to laugh it off, producing an awkward sound between a laugh and a cough. "Yeah maybe." Why did that make him so uncomfortable, when she brought up the idea of kits?

He couldn't picture himself becoming a father. Great StarClan, definitely not any time soon. And as for who the mother was, they both knew (or perhaps he knew) that there wasn't anyone it could've been; he wasn't close to many she-cats that weren't his sister, no one besides Feathercloud, and the idea of them having kits... He couldn't see it. So why then, did that puck at a saddened chord in his heart?

It was no mystery to himself that he had feelings for Feathercloud, that he admired her tenacity and the fact that sometimes she could be a complete goofball, but did he believe anything would come of that? No, not really. Not when there were dozens of other toms who might catch her eye - and one particularly large, golden one already had. "Maybe it was just a bad mouse," he mewed after regaining some of his composure, wearing a rare smile. "I used to think it was my dreams telling me I wasn't ready for an apprentice, but like you said - they're fickle things."

Just like love.

[BlooRey DVD]

Silver ears were perched at a backward tilt, to better make out whatever Sprucefur might be saying. She laughed slightly at what he said, a response just... Automatically leaving her mouth. "Eating a bad mouse is terrible. I did that once, didn't sleep right for a moon! Okay so maybe that's an exaggeration, but the belly ache was nearly unbearable and that's not even considering the ridiculous dreams that came with it. First thing I would do every morning was convince myself that I didn't remember what I had dreamed about so that I could get up and get on with my day. Weird stuff."

She gave her silver fur a shake, long, feathered tail lifted and balancing in the air above her. It splayed out in an impressive display, almost like that of a bird. Her paw steps were careful and her blue eyes scanned the area around them, her jaws parting to track the apprentice they were charged with observing. She hesitated suddenly, one paw raised as she turned to glance at a nearby tree. "Sootpaw caught a mouse here. Looks like we're already falling behind. Come on, let's get in a little bit closer, hm?" With a glance over her shoulder, she flashed him a genuine smile before leading the way.

~~

From there, time seemed to pass quickly. When they weren't within close proximity of Sootpaw, the pair slipped into the easy conversation and banter that always seemed to spark between them. Even when neither one spoke, the silence wasn't harsh, wasn't awkward. At least not to her. She'd left him on the ground not too long ago, scaling a tree with ease to get a better vantage point on Sootpaw. The apprentice had tracked something, and from the smell that drifted to their noses, Feathercloud guessed it was squirrel.

She watched intently, her body at ease and relaxed as she crouched. She kept her tail low and motionless, long time aware of how much trouble it could get her in. In her younger days, she'd lost many a prey to her noisy tail. Now the numbers were far less, thank StarClan. She caught sight of the apprentice they'd been charged with following, watching intently as he stalked the animal she couldn't see. Her tail tip shifted slightly, a signal to Sprucefur if he happened to be watching, wondering what she was looking at or what Sootpaw was doing.

A satisfied grin lit up her features when the younger tom straightened, squirrel dangling from his jaws. Dropping down the branches with ease, she landed on the ground below, bright blue eyes alive as she met Sprucefur's gaze. Her paws were sore, but it was a satisfied feeling. They'd been moving for quite some time, and this wasn't the first tree she had scaled. With a wide movement of her tail she smiled widely at the pale furred tom. "That's another squirrel for Sootpaw. I think it's probably time to wrap this up, don't you think? If you ask me, Sootpaw did a great job. He's.... Soot-able to become a warrior."

She couldn't help but laugh at her own joke.

[Fawn]

Sprucefur
31 Moons || Tom || TreeClan || Warrior

Soot-able? It wasn’t that he found her play on the apprentice’s name all that funny, it was that he couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that she had laughed at her own joke. It was cute, and a little silly, but mostly cute. The busywork Lionstar had assigned to them kept Sprucefur from dwelling too much inside his own head, of marinating in the unintentional debate about his future that Feathercloud had sparked in her responses to his strange dream. He had landed a little awkwardly from their place in the trees, he was definitely not as comfortable within them as Feathercloud was, though he supposed if he had a tail as magnificently plush as hers, it would’ve lent his landing a little more grace.

Sprucefur eyed Feathercloud as he drew up alongside, her wearing another famous little half-smile of his. A retort hovered on the tip of his tongue, and, on a whim, he voiced it aloud. ”I think you’re pawbably right.” Oh Great StarClan what was he turning into? Sprucefur cleared his throat and became extremely interested in a clump of dandelions, and again his ruff prickled, his ears rotated and flattened, so as to block out the embarrassing sound of her laughing at him for his terrible comeback. Nice going, Sprucefur. Leave the joking for someone who’s actually funny. As cringe-worthy as that had been, If he was being entirely honest with himself… Being silly like this with her wasn’t a bad thing.

Lichenfrost and Appleshade brought out the sides of himself that were usually the opposite of fun. They encouraged his overprotective streak, mostly through their actions rather than offering verbal encouragement, but they summoned a seriousness to him that Feathercloud did not; it was relaxing, even if they were doing something tedious like spend their entire sunhigh and afterwards trailing an apprentice. It hadn’t seemed quite so tedious, with her. Figuring someone ought to tell Sootpaw that his assessment was over, Sprucefur took the initiative, calling out to the young soon-to-be-warrior.

”That’s enough, Sootpaw. Your assessment’s finished.” He and Feathercloud could help carry everything back to camp, if the apprentice needed any assistance.

[BlooRey DVD]

There was a moment where Feathercloud's icy stare remained fixed on Sprucefur, ears tipped forward. There was something almost... Questioning in the way she looked at him, her mind having been completely unprepared for the retort he made. Pawbably. Pawbably. She was so fixed on what had just been said that the silver feline didn't notice his rather embarrassed reaction. All she could think about was the fact he'd actually replied to her silly joke with another joke. It had been a long time since someone had done that, and the warrioress just couldn't help herself.

"HA! Pawbably! I love it!" She purred, butting him with her shoulder slightly as they ventured towards Sootpaw. When the apprentice came into view, Feathercloud was certain she was wearing a rather goofy grin, but she didn't care. She felt so light when Sprucefur was around, so comfortable. It was hard to believe that he was related to Lichenfrost, who's presence only filled her with dread. Sprucefur's sister was extremely confrontational, especially when it came to Feathercloud. She had no idea why, but it drove her temper up a tree and their encounters never seemed to finish on a polite exchange. There was only hostility.

Driving the thought of Lichenfrost from her mind, she turned her attention on the dark furred apprentice. Dipping her head approvingly, she took hold of whatever was offered. She was worried that, if she didn't carry something back, she'd end up talking the two toms' ears off the entire way back. She was aware that she could be overly vocal sometimes, but knowing didn't make it any easier to stop once she started. The trio padded back towards camp, the trip generally uneventful. Even so, she was still filled with that strange warmth, as though she were just... Glowing.

When she trotted contently through the camp entrance, her feathery tail flicking from one side to the other, she directed herself towards the fresh-kill pile. Depositing what she'd carried, she turned to Sootpaw once more. "Well done, Sootpaw. You may take a break now." She watched and waited for the tom to wander off before she glanced back towards Sprucefur. Smiling brightly at him, she gave him a moment to sort himself out, expecting that they would head over to Lionstar's den now. After all, it was important for the leader of the Clan to know whether Sootpaw had passed his assessment or not, right?

[Fawn]

Sprucefur
31 Moons || Tom || TreeClan || Warrior

Sprucefur felt a surge of warmth when Feathercloud laughed - not at him but at his terrible joke; it felt good to make her laugh like that, he thought that sound of hers was one of the prettiest things about her. Not that he'd ever admit that, there was no way to compliment a she-cat on her laugh without sounding like a love-sick mousebrain, of that he was absolutely convinced. To tell her so would reveal more about his personal feelings than he dared to. Setting down the prey on the pile once they had returned to camp, he dismissed Sootpaw with a nod and the flick of his tail, noticing Feathercloud gazing at him. Was there something different in the way she was looking at him?

Just a trick of the light, said the voice of reason inside his head. Just my imagination.

For a half heartbeat, he had almost thought he saw fondness in the stunningly beautiful blue eyes of his friend, and it had stilled the breath in his chest, before reality set back in again and he quickly banished these hopeful thoughts. She probably saw him as nothing more than a friend, which was a shame for more reasons than just one, but he would have to accept it; still, a tiny voice in the back of his mind spoke up against his doubts and his frequent attempts at deflating his optimism when it came to her. Could I be happy knowing we're only ever going to be friends? No, he couldn't be. It tore him up inside, imagining himself to be her confidant, her friend while another tom caught her eye in ways that he could not. But she was not responsible for his happiness, it was not her job to ensure that he got everything he wanted out of life. She didn't owe him her affections, not even close.

Would it be better just to come clean? Would she hate him? The last thing he wanted, truly the last thing he could ever want was chasing her away, destroying their friendship when it was only just beginning. "Let's go tell Lionstar how he did." Sprucefur mewed, striding forward to seek out their Clan leader in his den, a quiet attempt at escaping the maddening thoughts dogging at his heels the whole way there.

OOC: Thread end?