Actions speak louder / open Mosstumble and Featherstep

Oh great. Someone else was here. Mosstumble caught their Clanmate's scent on the wind. It was Featherstep, a young warrior like Mosstumble. And he had something too. Fresh hare was hard to miss.

Well, Mosstumble. You can sit here miserable or you can go talk to somebody. Maybe he'll even want to listen. The mini pep-talk didn't make them fel any better, but they still forced themself to rise to their paws and shake out their dark grey and white fur. As is physcially shaking out their conflictions would get rid of the thoughts. It was a silly habit, but a habit nonetheless.

They let their nose guide them to Featherstep. "Hey," they meowed, their miserable state apparent in the dullness of their eyes and the flatness of their voice. "Didn't expect to see you out here. Stormwatcher got you on a hunting patrol?" Mosstumble hoped that wasn't the case. They couldn't imagine dealing with more cats right now.

//mosstumble's pronouns are strictly they/them c:

Mosstumble feebily smiled, shaking their head. "Oh, that's right! You don't talk. Kinda like Foamfur." Mosstumble opened their mouth to speak, about ready to let the floodgates of their rant sweep over the other warrior, but thought better of it. Could Featherstep actually hear them?

Well, at least now would be good practice. Even after being Foamfur's apprentice, their signing was shaky at best. Most everyone in MoonClan could sign to some degree, but for whatever reason Mosstumble had more trouble with it than most. All the mosre reason to practice. Can you hear? They lifted their paw up to their ear to emphasize their question about hearing. Hopefully, Featherstep would get the gist of what they were going for.

// no worries!

Mosstumble nodded and sat beside Featherstep, curling their tail around their paws. They looked down at their paws and sighed loudly. "I just! I've not been a great friend or cat. I don't know what's wrong with me, or why I act the way I do. Sometimes I snap and say really mean things. I was just awful to Rosepaw and Webpaw, and then there's this thing with Mistypaw and I," Mosstumble paused. Did they really just bring up Mistypaw?

"Forget her. She doesn't matter in this. I wasn't mean to her, I mean," they meowed awkwardly. They wanted to look at Featherstep to see if he was following along, but it felt too weird to do so. "Just, don't tell anyone I vent to you like this. It's totally lame of me." They paused again, realizing what they said. "Right, sorry."

Mosstumble's whiskers twitched as they heard Featherstep's voice for what they believed to be the first time. They had thought the tom was incapable of speaking, not that he chose not to. They knew it didn't really matter, but Mosstumble thought about it nonetheless.

They sighed, shaking their head. "Maybe you're right, Featherstep. I don't know" Their dark grey and white fur stood on edge as they could feel Featherstep's gaze examining them. Can't he look at something else? They could feel their frustration with the situation growing. "I don't know why I'm talking to you about this anyway. I doubt you event get it."

//again, mosstumble's pronouns are they/them only

Mosstumble saw the prey in front of them and offered the warrior a slight smile. "Thanks, Featherstep." They settled themself lower to the ground and took a bite of the rabbit before passing it over to Featherstep. Their frustration was beginning to dissolve thanks to the kind gesture. They didn't understand why they were so quick to get mad, even at stupid things.

They sighed again. "Y'know you're not so bad. Actually pretty cool to talk to, I think."

Mosstumble was again a bit surprised to hear the tom's voice, though less so than when he spoke the first time. They smiled when they saw Featherstep take a bite from the rabbit. At least I didn't scare him off.

Mosstumble suffled their paws in the dust, as if they were searching it for the next topic of conversation. The silence between them was comfortable so far, but the warrior was terrified of it turning awkward. If Mosstumble was good at anything, it was making an awkward situation even worse.

"So uh, you got any good stories? I'm still new to this whole 'being a warrior' thing y'know?"

Mosstumble's whiskers twitched as Featherstep just walked off. That was strange, and it made mosstumble more curious than anything. "Uh, lead the way I guess?" they meow as they rise to their paws. "Where are we going?"