[lone]

Originally Posted by reddykins

"Oh, yes," Redpaw mews after spitting her catch on the pitiful excuse of a fresh-kill pile. Her amber eyes trail over it for a minute before turning back to Gannetpaw, her snowy-white paws now drenched in mud and water, with a stray fish scale tucked beneath one claw. "I bet you just love to groom other cats, huh? Especially cats you have crushes on, your majesty." Redpaw purred in amusement as she padded to a less-soaked area of the clearing, settling down with Gannetpaw beside a damp rock. She got to work, her tongue lapping at the mucky soil on her paws. It wasn't her favorite task, but Redpaw preferred to be clean. It wasn't a pet peeve to her as it was other Clanmates, but after their hard work in their hunt, the she-apprentice decided a break was necessary. Hopefully Honeypool wouldn't call her in for a training session - her limbs were sore from having to swim through the rough river waves, and her pelt was still somewhat wet. Nothing was worse to Redpaw than having to train half-freezing. Her pelt wasn't as thick as most RiverClan cats, but it was obviously thick enough to get her through leaf-bare and leaf-fall. Though, when she had to train with her coat soaked, Redpaw had to force herself not to tremble in place, nearly frozen, limbs sore. Swimming was hard work, after all! Not all cats could do this special talent.
"Puh-lease," chortled Redpaw, rolling her eyes as she paused from her grooming session to shoot a glare at her companion. Her whiskers twitched as she glanced the black-and-white tom up and down, taking note of a stray leaf tucked behind his ear; one that would likely be a pain for him to reach. Stretching upwards, Redpaw gently shoved her muzzle behind his ear and snagged the leaf between her teeth, holding it as she recoiled. She spat the thing out at Gannetpaw's forelegs, tail flicking. "The most I'd do for you, Gannetstar, is pick out the twigs and leaves you've managed to get caught in your coat. What a mouse-brain you are! I would expect a leader to at least know how to groom himself and keep tidy, though I suppose the standards are a bit... lower for you." Redpaw continued her work of grooming at her tainted paws, and once most of the mud was removed, her nose wrinkled with disappointment. They weren't as clean as they were before the hunting trip, though the calico apprentice only hoped it would fade out of her fur as time passed. Maybe the rain would help wash it out. After all, there was a corner in the apprentice's den where excess water dripped in, and nobody had bothered to fix it. Perhaps she could sleep with her paws angled below where the water drip-dropped. That'd be an option!
Or, her mind tried to beckon her, you could sleep beside Gannetpaw instead of having your paws freeze to death. There's a pawful of other apprentices that probably need nests, too, so you may as well move yours next to a cat you actually know. Unless you want ShadowClan scent under your muzzle when you wake up, Redpaw!
"That's ridiculous," murmured a distraught calico, eyes widening as she realized she was speaking aloud. Redpaw's ears grew warm with embarrassment, praying to all of StarClan that Gannetpaw hadn't heard her mumbling incoherent things to herself. He'll think I'm crazy! Oh, dear StarClan, I hope he didn't hear me..! How embarrassing would that be?!

(yep, yep - all good!)

A crush? On her? Please, Gannetpaw thought with a roll of his eyes. Since it wasn't true he couldn't feel that familiar bubble of anxiety rising quite as high - had that been the opposite, it probably would have been. Thank goodness Gannetpaw knew exactly what kind of cat he liked. And she was NOT it. "Oh come on, Redpaw. If I had a crush on you, it'd be like this." He stopped for a second before going into 'nervous, introvert Gannet' mode. "H - hey, um... R - R- Redpaw, would you, uh... c - could I... help you w - with that?" He stammered, an anxious expression crossing his features. 10/10 impression of that, considering that moments before he had been perfectly fine. And slowly his stance returned to normal. This was not to last, as a semi-surprised expression crossed it just seconds later when she picked the leaf out. "Alright, alright! Point taken - I can do it myself."

The tom half-laughed, sitting down and quickly beginning to groom himself. The thing with a short pelt was that stuff didn't get as entangled in it as easily. And it was cleaned more easily. As his rough pink tongue worked at it, slowly the tom's black and white pelt began to look more normal. Not anywhere near as waterlogged and muddy as it had. But of course... Gannetpaw hadn't gotten everything out. He thought he looked fine. Except he didn't. The tom continued to try to work, just in case there was something he had missed (and there was) but of course there were always those muddy spots in strange places that were near-to impossible to reach. Submerged in his own world, the tom barely heard her words and answered somewhat absentmindedly - "Yeah."

He would do that every once in a while, answer questions without really hearing what the other cat had said. It wasn't the best skill or, indeed, problem to have, but Gannetpaw had it anyways. "Wait, what's ridiculous?" Coming out of his absentminded state and realizing that, in fact, Redpaw could have said something offensive against him and he may have accidentally just agreed to it, the multicolored tom's optics flashed with alarm. Please let it have been something good about me. Or just random, he wouldn't really mind. As long as it wasn't something seriously mean about him - he didn't mind the joking, teasing, offhanded jests, but what he did mind was seriously being made fun of. He hated that. It was painful to listen to and it was bothersome to hear.

Not meaning Redpaw had ever said something ill-tempered being completely serious, but there were other cats who had. Gannetpaw avoided them. And even though it meant generally sleeping surrounded by strangers or other "outcasts," as he thought of himself, the tom really couldn't care less. Being one of these "outcasts" didn't bother him in the slightest. It was better then being popular and surrounded by cats who were constantly trying to kiss up to him. At least, that was what the tom thought. He had never cared much for being considered popular, even though that would never happen. A lot of cats in the Clan weren't really that... how to put this... enjoyed by everyone, was the mildest way to say it. There was nobody that everybody liked. It wasn't possible. No one could be a cat that everyone would like the company of, and Gannetpaw knew it well. He was still wondering what Redpaw could have possibly been talking about. What was ridiculous?