it tells you nothing | open

Quickpaw thought he'd been careful enough of where he put his feet as he left that it wouldn't rouse the rest of his den mates - then he could go back to bed whenever he wanted and nobody would come out to question him. Not sneaky enough, however; the soft steps of another apprentice told him that, and while he'd have done the exact same thing if their roles had been reversed, that didn't null the disappointment that flickered through his mind as he heard her voice. It was Maplepaw, and he turned his head slightly to look at her, shifting his weight and swishing his tail across the still-damp ground.

"I know that," The edge to his whisper suggested she needed to keep her voice down a little more, but he couldn't find it in him to be averse to her company now that she was here - and he really didn't have a good explanation to offer. Didn't mean he couldn't conjure one. "I can't sleep, so I guess I'm stargazing. Looks like the clouds are clearing off some," He straightened his posture, regarding the calico from the corner of his eye as he spoke.

"Sorry if I woke you up."

She gave him the chance to reign in his spark of attitude - that was saying something, right? Maybe she'd prove the distraction he needed, and it wasn't like he'd be doing anything else, especially not sleeping. His eyes drifted skyward again as she related to his restless evening, the mention of Lilykit drawing a more solemn tinge to his features. Maplepaw's sister; he remembered her. Not well, certainly not enough to recall anything prominent about her - other than she'd fallen ill and joined Starclan before she ever had the chance to become an apprentice. He remembered the burial, the devastation that followed.

But at least Maplepaw had known her. Quickpaw tried so hard not to let jealousy creep in, but he couldn't even recall his sister's face because he never got to see it - his eyes and ears were still shut tight when she left them forever. Did she still see him, then? Did she know who he was, even though they never got to meet? Maybe she was reunited with their mother and they were both watching him from Silverpelt right now. His mind felt like it was swirling, but all of that only culminated in a mere beat of silence before he replied, sounding just a bit more distant than before. "Sorry about your sister. I miss mine too," He hadn't intended for that last part, jaw setting a little in realization. It was stupid anyway; how can you miss somebody you never met?

On a much lighter note, he couldn't keep the smirk off his face when Maplepaw lamented their wet feet despite Riverclan's (very) fitting name, "What, are we gonna have to start calling you Drypaw?" He knew where she was coming from, regardless - Quickpaw wanted his wet fur to be his idea, not mother nature's, "I'm tired of rain too, though. Nice weather makes it more fun to swim," Few things were as pleasant as cooling off in the river and then feeling the warm sun on your pelt. 

"Do you have that many nightmares?" He kind of felt bad for not noticing her being awake before, because he certainly would have asked her sooner if he had - if there was one other thing Quickpaw and Maplepaw had in common, it was their nosiness.