hey, little songbird [closed]

Softcloud had just left camp, likely making her way back to WindClan. Together, they had brought back a rather large assortment of herbs, which now needed sorting. With a huff, Adderpaw made her way back to the medicine cat den and nosed around the pile of herbs before her. Her mentor had managed to keep a relatively tidy collection, but Adderpaw didn't care for organization as much as the older she-cat. As long as she kept everything in the correct pile, she didn't see why it was such a big deal. There was so much that she didn't quite understand about being a medicine cat; Softcloud assured her repeatedly that one day she would get it, but that just didn't seem feasible. Adderpaw was almost certain that she would show up one day and say that StarClan had made a mistake, or maybe Softcloud had interpreted her dream incorrectly. It was the only sensible explanation for all this madness- StarClan surely wouldn't have set her on the path of a warrior just to turn her entire life upside down, would they? She lifted her head slightly at the sound of paws approaching, keeping her tail low to the ground. Hopefully, nobody actually needed her, as Softcloud wasn't there to help.

He really had to hit this point home -- the tomcat was not soft.

After a rather nasty tumble a moon ago, he had been out of commission for some time, and to rub salt in the wound he had to watch as Whitepaw and Nettlesplash continued training as if nothing had happened. Which yes, fine, he would begrudgingly admit he was happy to see his fellow denmate continue training and work towards his warrior title, but it didn't dull the sting of knowing he would be delayed. Softcloud had deemed he be confined to the camp for a while, just in case the head injury lead to anything else and he wasn't in sight of another cat, and despite the loneliness and boredom he had appreciated it. At least for the first week or two when he was still recovering, but as the moon drew to a close he was restless, having shredded old moss that once lined the nest of an elder in a fit of annoyance.

His tail twitched side to side, stirring feather-soft grass with each agitated movement and he rolled onto his back, pawing up at the sky. Without warning, a golden-brown moth flittered into view and he let out a wild purr, pupils dilating and claws sliding out. Large paws batted the moth around in the air, and in a few heartbeats he had rocked back onto his paws before sailing into the air after the moth, capturing it in his paws as he landed with a thump. As Crakepaw unfurled his paws he noticed the moth was not in them - instead it was shakily making its way higher into the air and away from him. Huffing lightly, he looked around camp, noticing the watchful eyes of a queen rounded in amusement. Oh stars, she saw that, the apprentice thought, escaping to the nearest den.

A frazzled Adderpaw met him at the entrance to the den, and he skidded on his paws to avoid bumping into her or StarClan forbid the piles of herbs scattered around the den. "Uhhh... Sup, buttercup?" He managed at last, plastering on a goofy grin. Please don't murder me, was all he could think, worried the apprentice's frazzled look was due to anger or annoyance, and his intrusion would set her off.

Despite the urge to begin yelling at the apprentice for interrupting her sorting, Adderpaw settled for a rather dramatic eye-roll. "I'm not your buttercup." She said, flicking her tail in annoyance. "Don't forget that I trained as a warrior, too. Not that a cripple would be able to beat me, even if I hadn't." The dark apprentice mewed mockingly, keeping her eyes on the herbs in front of her. She sorted as she spoke, ensuring that she put the herbs in their proper piles, lest Softcloud come back and scold her in a shrill, headache-inducing tone. "Do you need something or are you just here to be a thorn in my rear?" She muttered, looking to the tom for a moment before shifting her gaze back to the task at paw.

He allowed a goofy grin to spread across his face before it was quickly replaced by a mock gasp of horror and surprise, eyes glittering with amusement as he took in her words. "Not my buttercup? Cripple!? How could you, Adderpaw! My feelings are just so incredibly hurt, never to recover!" Crakepaw's voice took on a note of dramatic over exaggeration, and he felt a very brief glimmer that she didn't seem entirely peeved and wouldn't rake sharp claws over his ears. Sticking to the edge of the den and being shockingly careful for his reckless nature, he flopped onto his side as he watched her sort. "I don't think I'm injured, you know, besides my feelings," he pouted once more, although there was unmistakable humour in his voice. 

"Do you have a cure for a broken heart? Cause as you should have already figured, you broke mine!" The dramatics were out once more as Crakepaw rolled onto his back, head tilted towards the former warrior apprentice as she continued to sort herbs. "Anyways, the real reason I'm here is to keep you company. After spending a moon confined to camp, I don't know how you do it, and I figure you might appreciate some company. I'll even shush, if that's what the heart breaker requires," He stuck his tongue out, flipping back onto his stomach and curling his paws underneath him, golden eyes carefully trained on the herb piles she had been sorting before he barged in. No matter what he said, he silently hoped she wouldn't kick him out because the tom didn't want to run into the queen who'd caught his embarrassing act, and he was desperate for interaction with a cat his age.

Adderpaw simply ignored Crakepaw's instigative jests, instead choosing to focus on the difference between poppy seeds and foxglove, making sure she got that one right. That would be quite the slip-up, she mused, tuning back into reality at Crakepaw's next words. "The cure for your broken heart is deathberries, which I'll be happy to provide you with if you don't shut it with all this sappy nonsense." With a huff, she pushed to foxglove aside and began putting all the herbs where they belonged, knowing she clearly wasn't going to get any work done with Crakepaw in the den.

When she finally finished, she turned to face Crakepaw. "The heart breaker requires nothing from the cripple." Settling down in her nest, she motioned with her tail for Crakepaw to do the same in the one across from her. It was really meant for the ill, or those in need of Adderpaw's attention, but it would do well enough for now. "If you're going to distract me from my work, I might as well get comfortable. And I'm not confined to camp, you know. I can leave whenever I want, and I don't have to worry about the borders as you do, either. Us medicine cats have sense enough not to beat the pulp out of each other on sight, so maintaining our distance from them isn't a necessity." The dark medicine cat apprentice wrapped her tail around her body, the tip twitching occasionally. "Since you seem so keen on 'keeping me company,'" The she-cat said mockingly, "I hope you came prepared with a good topic of conversation."

His eyes were wide with interest and following her paws as she sorted herbs with a speed he'd only seen applied to catching fast moving fish, and wondered for a moment if her previous training as a warrior had allowed her to apply skills that medicine cats wouldn't otherwise have. At her quip about deathberries he feigned a yawn, pink tongue curled to complete the mocking gesture- although he didn't account for the fact this would make him actually yawn. "I mean, I would enjoy the rest. And to escape the heartbreak that you inflicted, of course," he purred, before following her instruction.

Stretching as he stood, a feeling of deep satisfaction flowed through him as he heard a few clicks as his alabaster-tipped paws met the ground once more, he followed to where she gestured and listened as she spoke. She chastised his interruption of her chores and insulting warrior apprentices and warriors in general, insinuating that they were all so battle-hungry and mindless that the moment they met, there was a fight. A soft snort met her words, accompanied with the thought of how on the nose she was with that one. "Well, Adderpaw dear, I'm sure you'll find the knowledge of how correct you are just incredibly surprising. Although, I like to distance myself from that. I'm not keen on marring my beautiful face, you see, unlike some of my denmates," he chuckled, thinking of the boasting that takes place without fail every night in the apprentice den. "I'm sure you'll be disappointed to hear I don't have many interesting topics of conversation, although you have me wondering, what are the other medicine cats like? Softcloud seems... well, she lives up to her name without fail. But are the others as passive? I've always thought about what it'd be like if a clan had a super harsh medicine cat," a cheeky grin spread across Crakepaw's face, and his golden eyes glittered with amusement at his next words. "However, speaking to you, I'm not entirely sure I have to wonder about it much more, Miss Heartbreaker."

Adderpaw let her fluffy tail fall into place over her paws, closing her eyes and listening to Crakepaw speak. She shook jokingly her head at Crakepaw's assertion that he tended to stray from battling with other warriors and apprentices. "There's only so much fighting you can do while confined to camp, Crakepaw. If you're not careful, though, I might end up marring your precious face myself. Keep an eye out." The plain black she-cat said, her voice practically dripping with satire. A scoff was the only thing she returned when he mentioned not having the best topics for conversation, but continued to listen to whatever he had to say. "None of them are quite as... gentle as Softcloud, in my experience. But they aren't what I'd consider harsh. I don't get to see them in camp at work, though, so I can't really know, I suppose." When the tom remarked on how he didn't have to wonder about having a harsh medicine cat, Adderpaw feigned a heart-broken gasp. "How could you!" Playfully, she reached over and cuffed a sheathed paw at the tom's shoulder, making sure to avoid his injured side. "You know, sometimes injured warrior apprentices have to become medicine cat apprentices because they can't carry out the duties of a warrior. If you keep up with your clumsy antics, you might end up as my apprentice."

A purr rumbled from his chest at her joking threat, choosing to shield his caramel features with his paws, his non-verbal way of asking her to spare the tom. "That would not be very nice of you, I'm sure I'd have to go lodge a complaint with your mentor. Or StarClan," he chastised playfully, large ears pricked and listening as she answered his question on the demeanour of the other medicine cats. "As to be expected, I guess you can only learn so much seeing them as often as you do. It would be fun to watch them work, I assume, although I have absolutely no idea on what anything is, so it's quite lost on me," he admitted, slightly rueful that such an interesting duty was not his path to follow. There was no doubt that Crakepaw would not enjoy it in any modicum, but he couldn't help the possibilities speeding through his head.

Nothing short of amusement plastered itself upon his face at her heart-wrenching gasp, before the threat of becoming her apprentice was loomed over him. The resentment for his warrior training Crakepaw had felt moments before vanished in an instant, and he pouted at her in response. "I think I'd sooner join the elders, and for once that's genuinely not meant as an insult. I just don't have the mental capacity to keep up, so it's probably best we leave that to you, aye?" he chuckled, grateful for the witty molly's jokes. The gloom and boredom of his confinement had begun to lift substantially, and for that he silently thanked Adderpaw.