[RP LOG] Leaf-bare

[Brindlesage] 

Brindlesage was not a fan of leaf-bare so much so she often ended up cursing the snow when she was younger. Though this distaste for the chilly weather only seemed to grow worse with having an injured leg. Her low cursing could be hear randomly by other cats sometimes hushed and other times for out yelling at the snow or trees that would drop snow onto her.
She was in camp so she thought she'd be mostly safe except for the fact her paws had grown numb and she often had to shake them about to feel them once again. Her ears were folded back as she fumed about the snow. Though other than the ears being back and her intense glaring at the snow nothing gave away her hatred for it. This was the probably as most emotion she'd shown over sometimes so simple since she was a kit.  

[ Ivysong ] 

Snow was so fun! Sure, the cold made Ivysong's stump-leg and shoulder ache like nothing else, he rather enjoyed the snow itself. He loved playing in it, flinging it around, rolling in it. He loved curling up next to Tanglebranch after a day in the cold and generating heat together in a little bundle. Especially now that they had kits to care for. He remembered this time last leaf-bare, attempting to convince Mousepaw to join him in the snow. He knew at least Dovekit enjoyed the snow, but he wondered about Cedarkit and Cottonpaw. Perhaps he'd try to get them to play with him later. He was interrupted by his thoughts upon seeing Brindlesage' cold glare. his head tilted slightly. This she-cat was the one Leafpelt talked about, right? He had such a hard time remembering names. He trotted up to her anyway, thinking about her injury."Hi," he said, ears perked toward the brown she-cat. "Don't like the snow, Brindle?" He paused. "It is Brindle, right? I'm so awful at remember names"

[Brindlesage] 

The she-cat's glared turned from the snow to the black tom with white speckles on his face. Her ears flicked forward and she tried her best to keep a blank face but it was hard to hide her hatred of snow, "No. I hate it. Yes. And you must be Ivysong." She kept her answers short unsure of what the tome wanted from her unlike with apprentices who she could teach warriors were harder to really figure out where she stood with. She knew this tom was a friend of Leafpelt's due to his missing leg.

[ Ivysong ]

"That's me," he chirped. "Mind if I sit here?" He sat beside her anyway, before she could even answer. "Leafpelt talks about you a lot." He paused. "Well-- lately, all she's talked about has been her kits, but it's not like I can blame her. They're all very sweet. And Cottonpaw's my apprentice! So it makes it even better!" He beamed as he just kept talking. Did he know how to shut his mouth? "I used to think it was annoying when parents talked about their kits, but now that I'm a dad too I totally understand. I mean? They mean so much to me! I love them both so much! I can't wait until they start talking more. Maybe I can teach them some of my favorite stories."  He paused, ears twitching as he turned his head to Brindlesage. "Do you ever want to have kits, Brindle? I didn't think I ever wanted kits. Neither did Tanglebranch. But now, I'm so glad we did."

[Brindlesage] 

She waved a partial numb paw not caring what the tom does it wasn't like Brindlesage own the camp. Her ears flickered between him and in front of her showing that she really didn't care. "You talk as much as Gorseheart." She muttered remembering the tom had said calling cats pest-like was hurtful.  She raised a brow, "Not really. They're loud and whiny. Plus why would I want things that would keep me stuck in the nursery. It doesn't help that I don't have a mate yet." Brindlesage said looking down to the Shrike feather in her chest fur.

[ Ivysong ]

"Dovekit and Cedarkit aren't loud and whiny," Ivysong said, though it didn't seem like he took it as an insult. In fact, it sounded more like boasting. "Well-- Maybe loud. But not whiny." He suddenly noticed the feather as she looked at it. "Oh! We're feather buddies!" He gestured to the feather behind his ear. "Tanglebranch gave me mine. The first meal we shared as apprentices was a dove. And I gave her hers! When I asked her to be my mate." He paused. "What did you get your feather from? That's from a shrike, right? Did someone give it to you? Was it-- erm-- what was his name? Gorse..? Gorseheart! Yeah! I always confuse him with Goose. Was it Gorseheart? He's your brother, right? He's so nice, I should talk to him more." Ivysong hardly seemed to realize just how many questions he was asking at once

[Brindlesage]  

She raised an eyebrow at the tom's comment of them not being loud and whiny. She doubted that since most kits with very few exceptions were like that.  She shook her head, "I'd never take my brother hunting with me. He'd scare all the prey away with his chattering." She then explained it, "It's from the first prey that Mintthorn and I hunted together. She stuck the feather into my fur." Though she decided to leave out the part where they failed to kill it and brought back a bigger duck instead.

[ Ivysong ]

"That's so sweet!" Ivysong chirped. He pushed his one front paw ahead of him slowly until he was laying on his belly. Once he was mostly comfortable, he tucked his paw under himself and looked up at Brindlesage with a grin. "Are you and her friends? I don't know if I've ever talked to Mintthorn. She seems pretty cool." He took a moment, looking at her. "How's your leg doing, by the way? It's not fun not having one-- erm.. one that's usable." His tone suddenly shifted, getting a bit more serious. "My stump gets sore when it gets cold like this"

[Brindlesage]

"Is it?" She asked though didn't really care. She shrugged her shoulders, "We've been partners since Apprenticeship. We started off sparring partners and just continued to do so now." The she-cat tensed when the tom asked about her leg. Brindlesage looked down at the scarred up leg that was wrapped in her tail so she won't feel the snow on the tender scarring. "It's simply hard to get through the snow." She'd never admit if it was causing her pain or not. That was a weakness that never needed to be shared with anyone.

[ Ivysong ]

The black tom shrugged. "Snow isn't too bad for me, but I guess it helps that I'm pretty tall." He paused. "But I also.. don't have anything that could get in the way, I guess." He glanced down to the stump, frowning a little. No matter how much he tried to act like it didn't bother him, Ivysong couldn't help but get frustrated about it all. "Sorry." His voice was suddenly much quieter, eyes on the ground

[Brindlesage] 

She listened to him not really caring to respond since nothing was directed at her. Though her brow quirked when he apologized, "What's the apology for?" She asked confused not really seeing the need for an apology though it's not like she understood them in the first place if you felt guilty your actions should speak louder than your words in Brindlesage's opinion.

[ Ivysong ] 

His ears twitched. "Killing the mood?" He paused. He.. didn't really know. "I dunno. I guess I just felt the need to say sorry. Tanglebranch says sometimes I can be a little 'overwhelming'." His mismatched eyes landed on Brindlesage's face, and he looked almost as if he was studying her for a moment

[Brindlesage] 

She shifted her paws around again before standing a shaking out her fur to keep what little warmth she had left. "Not really. My brother tends to be similar to you the only difference is that your less soft then he is." She looked down on the tom for a moment before sitting down again. "Tanglebranch is a fairly calm cat so I'm not shocked that she found you overwhelming. It's doesn't bug me when I'm in camp for you buzz bee chatter if we were out hunting or patrol I'd already have your ears though." Brindlesage shrugged honestly she found herself fine with most chatty cats it's not like she couldn't keep up with them it's just she didn't really care to half of the time.

[ Ivysong ]

"Heh. She and I are really different, aren't we?" Have I ever talked to Brindle before? Stars, I need a better memory. "I'd like to think we complete each other. Well-- Almost. I'm a little lopsided." He laughed a little at himself, shaking his head. He paused. "You're really different from Leafpelt, you know? Oh-- and Orchid. Orchid's really different from both of you. But I don't think that's a bad thing. If everyone was the same, life would be really boring."

[Brindlesage]  

She shrugged, "I don't think it really matters if your different or not." Her gaze fell to her paws she knew she was extremely different from Leafpelt. The pale brown she cat was the prefect she with a gentle heart, kind personality, her life was the prefect bubble of happiness in Brindlesage's eyes. When Orchidswan was mention the she-cat tensed up and scowled at the ground. She became even more intimidating than usual. A foul mood fell over her, "I'd never want to be like her." She muttered which was unusual for the brown tabby.

[ Ivysong ]

 Ivysong's ears twitched. "Why not?" He didn't really realize he'd struck a nerve. He knew that Brindle and Orchid had an argument at one point, and Brindle and Leafpelt no longer spoke. But Leafpelt never told him anything else. He didn't know if Orchid and Brindle still talked or not. And he was awful at reading expressions. "She was really nice to me when I lost my leg," he recalled. "But.. to be fair, you all were kits at the time. But-- she managed to distract me when I was still recovering. So that's got to count for something."

[Brindlesage] 

Her mocha gazed turned to him it was frigid and harsh almost like Leaf-bare itself. "Apprentices actually. I was a newly made apprentice and went to find Leafpetal since she was my best friend at the time. Orchidswan was with her and they were talking about something. It lend to talking about you and how they would lie to kits about your injury as to not scary them. I disagree with that. If you don't tell the kits then they'll think they can leave camp and be safe. Of course this was untrue at the time. Things quickly turned into an argument between me and Orchidswan. Leafpelt was crying and Orchidswan called me a monster of course its turn in some way or another so I left. I was called a heartless monster that hurts cats I'm close to. So I don't recommend getting close to me." She said looking up to the grey sky it was one of the first times she explained the story so many details where lost but she'd always remember being called a heartless monster.

[ Ivysong ]

Oh. Oh no. I hurt her feelings, didn't I? He turned his head away, ears pinning back. He thought about what she said. Mostly about him. "I- I don't tell kits the real reason I lost my leg. She's right about that. But.. It's not because I don't want to scare them." His eyes were fixed onto the snow. He'd.. never even told Tanglebranch this. Would it be okay to tell Brindle? He hardly knew her. But.. maybe it would lift the burden off his chest. Ivysong took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Every time I think about what happened, I-- I dunno- I.. It's like I'm there again. In the forest with Lioncall-- I sometimes even remember what it felt like when the-- when-- it.. bit down.." He opened one eye and looked up at her for a moment, as if he was afraid she was going to scold him. "I know.. it's.. stupid.." He turned his face away, his claws on his front paw etching into the snow

[Brindlesage]

"Then how do they learn to be careful? To watch around themselves? To stay safe with their clanmates as well as with their own lives? You sheltering them makes them think everything is safe and that when they get older nothing bad could ever happen to them." She growled its not that she wanted to be heartless or insensitive its just that she didn't like anyone getting hurt. She can't protect everyone and there were too many soft cats who couldn't fight in the clan.  She sighed looking at the tom empathizing with him, "I still have nightmares when my leg was shredded. I can feel the claws dig in and rip down my leg. I can feel their bites. I can feel the helplessness and fear for the others in my patrol. I even remember getting it fixed up and having to stay stuck in a place that took my kin. To be unable to help fight the rogues and instead kitsit cause I was useless to them." She said calmly like she wasn't talking about her leg but in truth she was a mess she had just now slowly be accepting the fact that she'll never to as good as she once was or even the fact she might one day get into a fight she'll use because of her leg.

[ Ivysong ]

"Stupid kits will be stupid kits," Ivysong protested. He paused. "And my injury wasn't because I wasn't being careful. We didn't know the-- bob... monsters.. were there, or.. even existed," he said. "Lioncall and I just.. happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.." His eyes landed on her wound for a moment. Then he looked up at her. "Neither was yours," he said. "You got it in a battle to protect your clan. That's not because you weren't being careful, it's because you were fulfilling your duty."

[Brindlesage]

"Then it's our duty to tell the kits the dangers that they could face once we know of them." She stated not moving for her point she never cared to sugarcoat things. She looked down at her wounded leg, "I did get into a battle to help my clan but I wasn't strong enough. I didn't push for myself to be the leader of the patrol I could have done more. Could have been seen as more of a threat so my patrol could escape without wounds. I wasn't careful and strong enough to do what needed to be done." The she-cat felt like she could have done more and better during the patrol so she could have kept everyone safe for longer with less injuries. She could have had them stay back so she could take the blunt of fighting.

[ Ivysong ] 

Ivysong sighed. "I don't want to argue with you, Brindle." With a bit of effort, he climbed to his feet. "I'm.. gonna go find Cottonpaw." He started to limp away, but paused after a few steps. He turned his head to Brindlesage, looking over his shoulder. "Don't think you're alone, Brindle. We might not agree but.. we're both fighting the same battle." Oddly wise words for such a dim tom. "I'm here if you ever need my help-- or.. advice, even." He smiled a little at her, ears perking up

[Brindlesage] 

Brindlesage knew she had chased away a other cat she could tell he felt defeated in his sigh. Though this was not a battle she cared to win. She simply shook out her paws once again not responding to the tom. Why would she need advice from him? Why would they be fighting the same battle? What battle were they even fighting. She was confused but didn't let it show on her face.