Thinking About Other Things

Cloudfrost nodded. "Every day.. The plants are a little longer. A little thicker." He nodded to the surrounding forest. "Every drop of rain has a sound. Every rustle of prey, every breeze. Each has it's own sound. It can be rather confusing at times, because hearing is one of my strongest senses."

Kestrelpaw pricked his ears. All that caught his in his ears were the sounds of rain and the occasional rustling of trees, nothing else. He didn't get how he could hear anything. Or that mouse. If his hearing was so good, then wouldn't this be kind of loud? "So you just hear everything and you know the exact spot of anything, just like that? I don't believe it. It sounds like foxdung."

He growled in annoyance. "I have to concentrate to separate the sounds. And I can't hear everything." Though sometimes I wish I could... he added silently. "Try closing your eyes and letting your senses spread out. Then tell me if it's foxdung."

Oh, oh, now he can't hear everything. Sheesh. Kestrelpaw closed his eyes as CLoudfrost told him to and pricked his ears again. He could hear rain... and trees. Wow! The same things he'd heard before! What a surprise... He opened his eyes into slits, his face looking skeptical. "It's foxdung," he said again.

He scowled. "Focus. You can't concentrate unless you're calm." Cloudfrost swept his tail over the forest floor, hearing and feeling the leaves crunching beneath it.

"I am and was calm and I heard absolutely nothing!" Argh! He was making him angry again. That blind old cat was making him angry again! "Can't you just admit it's all been conjured form nowhere?" How hard could it be. "Don't be stubborn."

Cloudfrost twitched his whiskers in amusement. "I'm not StarClan. I can't conjure up a thing." Then he thought about it. "What were you thinking about? When you closed your eyes?" It had taken quiet a bit of effort getting to the point he was at. But he could be thinking about how horrible his day was and trip over a bramble in an instant. It distracted you.

"I was thinking about how I would try this and not hear anything, how mouse-brained I was being for even trying," he trailed off a little bit, "and I was thinking about other things." The last part was slight confession, but he wasn't going to show it thast easy. "What's it to you?"

He frowned. "That explains it." He stood up, scenting the air again to make sure no one else was around. And scenting for prey, of course. "When you focus on negative thoughts it's harder to focus on other things."

Kestrelpaw growled at Cloudfrost. Negative thoughts? For some reason he got the feeling that he was implying something in that little "advice" that he'd given him. He twitched his tail in annoyance. "Give me an example," he growled. Why woud he even ask for one? Just to get on the cats nerves perhaps?

Cloudfrost flicked his tail in annoyance. "For instance... Focusing on your dislike of having to share a mentor with Foxpaw. And the lack of training Griffonshade gives you."

Kestrelpaw laid his ears flat to his head and growled at Cloudfrost, showing his teeth threateningly, even if the white cat wouldn't see it. His little accusation made him angry, and just when he was getting calm too. The heat was enough to bring the forest down to ashes and he didn't even care to notice, he was too busy focused on the one in front, the one who could somehow read him. The one who could somehow know what he was doing, or thinking for that matter.

"Oh, and you just know, right? Because you can sense it all!? Just like that?!" He nearly yowled out the last part. He didn't like it, any of it. He unsheathed his claws and ripped at the ground with them slowly. He hated it all! Hated it! Hated it! Hated it!

Despite Kestrelpaw's little rant and obnoxiously loud voice, Cloudfrost stayed calm. It wasn't like the old days when he would get agitated at everything someone said. He was still irritated, but he was wise enough not to show it. His face remained solemn. "I can't sense everything, remember? Only the things close to me that I care enough to read." he mewed when Kestrelpaw finished. He wasn't hoping to calm him down. He knew he'd be of no use to try that.

"Oh, so now you care?" He didn't like this, not at all. He didn't like being around this cat anymore. He didn't like talking to this cat anymore. He didn't like living in the same territory with this cat anymore. He was suddenly making him feel uneasy. Odd. Unnatural and some way. Couldn't he leave? So it would all be the same again?

"You're my Clanmate. I pretty much have to care." he growled, scuffing his paw in the earth.

((Muse loss. D:))

"And who told you that? I don't care about anyone else and I'm doing fine." Goodness, he was acting like he was forcing him to do soemthing or something. Have to care? Not really. He couldn't see him getting into any trouble for not caring.

Cloudfrost twitched his whiskers. "Would you be happy if you were in a fight and being clawed to death and I was just sitting on the sidelines?" Great StarClan. He thought Kestrelpaw might understand even a little. But... Jeez.

"I didn't mean it like that!" He growled. Kestrelpaw sighed. What the point of even arguing with someone who just didn't get it? He slumped down and eventual fell to his stomach, in some comfortable position. He looked almost as if he'd just given up, but really he was just tired. Tired or talking to this cat, and tired of the irritation. But how was he going to fix it? He had no idea.

Slowly he started to sink into his own mind, the brain activity changing his emotions at different tempos and paces. He just thought about everything.

Cloudfrost shrugged. "Oh well. Say what you like. I'm going hunting some more. If this blasted rain ever lets up maybe I'll really catch something." He smiled wryly before turning and starting to stalk into the undergrowth.

Kestrelpaw said nothing, looking out, thinking to himself. Thinking about the monotonous, tedious, repetitive, boring clan life. The more he thought about what he would be doing for the rest of his life, the less e wanted to do it. He wanted something fun, something new. Couldn't they at least make training more fun? Griffinshade, he knew, would never let that happen. He didn't even think he could pull it off.

He pricked his ears and then turned his head back to Cloudfrost. What did he say? He'd barely even heard him, he just saw the white cat walking off, his body being clouded by the rain. Kestrelpaw stood up suddenly, and then he felt like everything had drained out of him and were all replaced by something else. Some type of terrible, terrible feeling. Almos sad. Was it sad. StarClan, he didn't know. All he knew is was that he didn't want to be alone... Not right now.

"Wait!" Kestrelpaw called after Cloudfrost, almost afraid he's lose him. He ran after the cat, cold mud on his webbed paws. He stopped before he reached him. He was running too fast. He felt like he was being frantic. Like he had to get there as if his life depended on it. He wasn't even that far away!

Kestrelpaw forced himself to walk towards the cat, eventually catching up. Now, what to say? How to keep him there? "Can't you teach me!" He amost blurted like a kit. "Can't you tell me how to focus on the prey? Like you do?" Was that enough? Would he even say yes?

Cloudfrost heard pawsteps coming his way, identifying them as Kestrelpaw's a moment before the young cat's voice reached his ears.

"Can't you teach me?! Can't you tell me how to focus on the prey? Like you do?"

Surprise flashed in his eyes. "Kestrelpaw, before you thought it was a joke. Something conjured up like a prophecy from StarClan. Why the sudden change?" he asked, blinking to force the emotion away.

Jeez. The cat was six-and-a-half moons old and he barely knew how to pounce on a leaf. What made him think that he, the old blind warrior, would be able to teach him?

Kestrelpaw lowered his ears, almost shamefully at Cloudfrost's question. He didn't want to, and wasn't going to tell Cloudfrost. He wasn't going to admit this stroke of weakness to him. He was better than Griffinshade, so he could have, but he knew they had a relationship. He could go tell him for all he knew, and he didn't want to answer with that, not at all. But if he didn't give him a good answer, then would he still teach him?

"Because," he trailed off as he triedto think of what to say. What would work? "I want to be better." Okay, better? "I want to be a better warrior." There, that would do, right? Would he take an answer as generic as that?

Cloudfrost twitched his tail. "Better than Foxpaw, I'm guessing?" he asked, his tone low so that any passing warriors couldn't hear. He knew that Kestrelpaw was envious of Foxpaw, because she was much closer to their mentor than he was. And as a result she got babied a little.

Kestrelpaw couldn't help but growl when Foxpaw's name was even mention. Friend, bah! She and Bearpaw could go swoon until StarClan got sick for all he cared. He didn't care about her at all, though he did want to be better than her, even if he wasn't aware of it himself. If he was better, then wouldn't Griffinshade pay more attention to him instead? The answer pointed to a yes in his mind.

"I guess," he said lowly, angry at himself for this slight admittence. He didn't want to tell Cloudfrost anything. It was obvious.

He frowned. "I guess so. But this training will be tougher than regular warrior training. You do understand that, right?" Cloudfrost was almost hoping the apprentice would change his mind and go off somewhere to sulk. Not that he didn't want another apprentice. Now, half of his day was spent listening to Griffonshade bickering at his own two apprentices.