Quote:
Originally Posted by lost
Lostpaw didn't reply to Badgerpaw, not quite knowing what to say to him. So instead she let a silence overcome them. Her focus went to moving through the flood. She noticed that it was growing easier to navigate, and a relief washed over her that they would soon be reaching RiverClan and be safe, at least for now. She wanted to say something, but no words came to her. So the silence continued as they moved throughout the territory.
Suddenly she seemed to process the last two words Badgerpaw had said, calling her amazing. Her head snapped towards him. Did he really say that, or was she just imagining things in the silence?
"Uh... Did.. did you say I was a amazing?" She felt awkward asking this, because then it meant she wasn't paying attention to him at all and that was wrong of her. "Sorry, I was listening, but... I didn't realize what you said until now. I was trying to focus on walking and uh... Sorry. I should have been paying attention to you."
She felt awful for asking if he had said what she thought, but that was the only way she knew to break the silence without trying to conjure some weird topic from the inner depths of her mind. Her face felt hot, and she flattened her ears a bit as she turned her head to face forward. She felt horrible for asking what he had said.
"Oh, did I ever tell you about two of my siblings? I don't remember them much, since they died when we were pretty young. But I had a brother and a sister and we got along really well. Toad, my brother, always kept mom's attention away from me since she always took her anger out on me. And Petal, my sister, she just told me all about the world. I didn't understand I was eyeless at the time, but I knew that I was lacking the ability to see. No one ever really told me I had no eyes until I was in ShadowClan for a while. But Toad and Petal got sick, and mom didn't try to take care of them so they passed on. After they died, I escaped as fast as I could. Life without them in that place was unlivable." Lostpaw had no idea when she started talking or why. She had no idea why she decided to share a part of her past that she never talked about before. But the words tumbled from her jaws and she didn't stop them. Badgerpaw deserved to know about her life.
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Now was his chance. He could deny what he had said, pretend like he hadn't said anything at all and she was hearing things, or... he could do the harder thing. He could tell her what he had said. And, what shame was there in that? She was his best friend, after all. "It's fine, don't worry about it... uh, yes, I - I said you were amazing." Despite the fact he knew it was natural, it still felt uncomfortable. Yellow eyes flashed as though he was just realizing how strange he must sound, and he wondered what there was to say now. As the scenery began to change and the water seemed to be letting up more, Badgerpaw guessed they must be entering RiverClan's territory. It had been a rough trek and he didn't like the thought of some RiverClan cats taunting them and being rude towards them, despite the fact that their own leader had been the one to agree to give them shelter.
Badgerpaw blinked some more water from his eyes and stayed beside Lostpaw, listening to her speak and semi-grateful for the aversion to the previous topic. He didn't want to dwell on it longer then was necessary. But, the story that Lostpaw told him made the tom frustrated. Why would anyone act that way towards her? How could someone have so much hate that they would reject a cat who had literally done them no harm? Ever since he was a young tom he had hated cats who picked on those who couldn't defend themselves. And while Lostpaw may have the means to do that now, she certainly hadn't then.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Badgerpaw told her gently, putting his tail more securely around her. She was a strong apprentice now, no longer the delicate butterfly that Badgerpaw had sort of thought of her as when they had first met. How had she gotten around so well throughout that dangerous time? How had she escaped Blazingnight? Whatever had happened, Badgerpaw was thrilled that they were friends once more. The past was the past, and up ahead was looking brighter. Both metaphorically and literally. Sharp yellow eyes gleamed with pleasure as the scenery continued to change. The water was nearly gone now. He turned to Lostpaw, giving her a smile... even though he knew she wouldn't be able to see it. "We're in RiverClan territory now, I think - and we'll be to camp soon," He told her. From the scents and scenery he would guess that was correct. He just hoped he wouldn't get her hopes up for nothing.