Anti-Social Socialising
Unfinished gathering roleplay.
Scrapped // Anti-Social Socialising
Word Count:
Robinsplash — 752
Troutpaw — 279
Robinsplash
Seeing as this was her first time going to a gathering in a while, you could say she was pretty nervous. The molly had never really been one for socialising, especially in such a condensed situation as this, always with a slight tension sizzling under the surface. It all made her so nervous. The only times she’d really enjoyed the gatherings was whenever she had Frecklecall to distract her, especially when they were apprentices. They’d actually been very fun during those times, and Robinsplash often begged the grey-furred molly to tag along with her.
It was almost like old times as she’d somewhat begged Frecklecall to accompany her this time, too. Robinsplash couldn’t really avoid the monthly meetings as easily as usual due to the black and white apprentice standing close to her, quiet as usual. There were certain expectations she had to uphold now that she was a mentor, and teaching Troutpaw proper gathering etiquette was one of them. It was too bad that Robinsplash had never been very good at manners. She suppressed a sigh as her thoughts tried to wander to how much a disaster this night might just turn out to be.
Her tail twitched slightly with impatience as she looked back at her apprentice once more. It wasn’t exactly like it was awkward between the two of them, but they were both so similar that sometimes their conversations mirrored two rocks sitting next to each other. When she didn’t make much of an effort to start up a topic, it wasn’t uncommon for long silences to pass between them. Robinsplash didn’t much mind these, but she was pretty certain that mentor and apprentice relationships didn’t develop very well without actually talking. That was very essential to getting to know each other, you see.
Mouth feeling slightly dry, she meowed to Troutpaw, “Excited to be at the gathering?” It was a horribly simple question, but at least it was a start.
Troutpaw
The black and white apprentice sat beside her mentor with her gaze flicking across the crowd, an expression somewhat of a mix of awe and anxiety creeping in that muted fashion. She had never been around so many cats before— she hadn't even known there were this many cats in the valley! One part of her wanted to seek out chubpaw and say hi to every other apprentice in the gathering- but the other part of her wanted to stay put exactly where she was, stationary, silent. Without her sister, troutpaw had no idea how to deal with attention. She loved that Chubpaw was happy to be in the center of everything, letting Troutpaw sit beside her and still be part of the action— but without her… Well it was easier to be a wallflower.
Robinsplash sat beside her silent as well, and Troutpaw could feel the calico’s eyes on her. A curious and wordless gaze. She appreciated how robinsplash never forced her to chatter idly, never asked her to be a social butterfly like chubpaw- robinsplash was similarly content with the quiet that pooled between them. It's why she was a little surprised when her mentor spoke up— starting small talk that they rarely shared.
Troutpaw gave Robinsplash a curious look, questioning her silently for a moment— opening her mouth once or twice wordlessly before she managed out a few words. “It's… very noisy.” The words didn’t amount to much but STARS were they true. It was crowded and noisy and she was used to noise- Chubpaw was her sister after all!! But this was something else.
“Chubpaw would like it though,” She let out a little sigh.
Robinsplash
A small smile appeared on her maw at her apprentice’s response. Despite Robinsplash always advocating that she was literally the worst around kids, she had noticed that she seemed to have some strange natural capacity around them. It wasn’t even like she was trying to forcefully understand and allow them to choose their own distance, but more so she just treated them as adults because she had no idea how to interact with children. Awkwardness for the win.
The dilute molly nods her head in agreement, humming slightly before responding, “…Yeah. The clan cats in the valley are usually noisy, but they all work together to cause an absolute frenzy at the gatherings.” She flicked her tail as she attempted to get more comfortable, though her eyes were still darting around the crowds to try and find her mate to no avail. “It’s why I don’t really like these things, but I come to them because I want to be helpful.”
She looked back over at Troutpaw now, perhaps as a technique to figure her out more. “Frecklecall would agree with you, too. I’m usually the one forcing her to come here— She told me I shouldn’t be so dutiful all the time, but I just can’t help it.” Almost as if her body wanted to prove her point, her claws sheathed and unsheathed as she began to notice just how many cats were really her. It never stopped being stressful. Despite always trying to be present, she didn’t push herself on the social aspects.
In an attempt to reassure Troutpaw that she wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want, she added, “I always keep to the side like this, so we can stay here if you’d prefer. Well… I’d prefer it, anyway.” There was a lesson somewhere about being an active part of the gathering in order to retain relationships with the other clans, the significance of the truce, and all that— But Robinsplash felt that she didn’t need to explain it. Troutpaw had shown herself to be more than capable of knowing things herself, and the warrior figured that if she needed to know anything, she’d ask.
Her eyes looked around the crowd again, though this time for her apprentice’s sister, instead. “Is Chubpaw here tonight?” She couldn’t remember if she’d seen the other molly with them, but Chubpaw had a habit of running off at the first thing she saw so Robinsplash knew that her lack of memory didn’t mean she wasn’t here. If anyone would know, it’d be Troutpaw, she supposed.