Private Thread Roll in the Heather

What are you afraid of losing if nothing in the world actually belongs to you.

˜”*°• 🐚 •°*”˜

It had been a fine day for a walk, Goosesong had taken to a few solo patrols around the territory, it seemed to ease him mind. Especially since his father... but after the talk he had with Cottonbright, he hadn't thought about it in the way he used to. He was... more at peace with it now. But in spite of that, a nice look at their territory helped. Soon Lilyriver's litter would be traversing the crevices of the territory with their mentors. Though he was pretty certain he wouldn't be one of them, he may be a senior warrior, but Boldstar had thought higher of him than he imagines Coldstar does. There might be a time, but he wouldn't be upset if there wasn't.

In his thoughts, he nearly tripped over a large fluffy object before him, but he stopped himself, his paw brushing against the mostly white fur. Goosesong glanced down and softened as he saw Cottonbright. "Good afternoon, Cottonbright." He greeted, lowering his face to rub against hers with a quiet but present rumbling purr.

"Flower picking?" Goosesong guessed, perhaps it was more than that, but when Cottonbright had come to speak with him a few days before, it wasn't just 'fishing'. "If you wouldn't mind company, I've been wondering the territory, my schedule is free." He commented before placing himself next to her, wrapping his tail around himself. "How have you been?" 

Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop, whoa. Pressure that'll tip, tip tip 'till you just go pop, whoa.
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One moment Cottonbright had been staring at a patch of heather and spiraling and the next there was a familiar voice above her and a paw brushing her fur. He lime eyes went wide as she turned to stare at him. "G-Goosesong!"

The rub of his cheek against hers only made the warmth in her face spread further beneath her fur. She sat up far too quickly, scattering a few sprigs of heather as she hastily tried to compose herself. "N-no! I mean - yes! Not yes -"

Cottonbright stopped, squeezed her eyes shut briefly, and took a breath. A nervous laugh escaped her. "I wasn't p-picking flowers. I was just... thinking and you know how that goes..."

The mostly white warrior glanced sideways at him as he settled beside her, suddenly very aware of how close he was. "I've been alright...maybe a little overwhelmed...Skykit and Galekit will be apprentices soon! A-And Beetlekit and Cricketkit...So, so big now!" She deflected quickly, hoping to walk him through her thought process.

There was the badger hole again. Cottonbright looked down at the flattened heather. "I suppose I've just been thinking about the future. What about you? You seem... better than the last time we talked." Despite all the anxious fluttering in her chest she found herself genuinely smiling at him.

What are you afraid of losing if nothing in the world actually belongs to you.

*~･ﾟ:* 🫧 *:･ﾟ~*

"I didn't mean to startle you." Goosesong apologized with a slow dip of his head as she rambled on. To her words, she nodded softly, Skykit and Galekit were older now, and Beetlekit and Cricket would be following them. She was right. He nodded along with a thoughtful expression narrowing his eyes. "Are you... thinking you might get a third apprentice?" He asked, he was still somewhat unsure of what she was meaning, this was certainly like Cottonbright, but the smile put the silvery tom off... slightly.

His ears perked slightly at the mention of himself, he gave a soft shrug of his shoulders "I've been fine, nothing particularly exciting, unless you count my walks across the territory to free my mind, exciting." he replied, fond, but his face didn't change much, aside from a thoughtful twitch of his whiskers. "The future will always come around. There's a lot that could be said, but nothing is really... set in stone, I think." Goosesong stated to Cottonbright's thoughts of the future. "StarClan knows, but I like to think the living have partial sway on it. We have some control on our own lives. Our own autonomy. To use how we fit with our own rewards and consequences."

Goosesong paused, was he talking too much? He didn't often do that, but he supposed that Cottonbright brought out the best in him. "Sorry for rambling. But thinking of the future is quite normal, at least to me." He added a softness in his eyes being given to her as the corners of his mouth gave the softest upward curve. "But it's nice to talk about it to someone who feels a similar way."

Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop, whoa. Pressure that'll tip, tip tip 'till you just go pop, whoa.
❖ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❀ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❖

A third apprentice? "N-no!" The answer came much too quickly before Cottonbright back peddled.

"I mean...maybe? If Coldstar wanted me to. I-I just... I wasn't thinking about apprentices specifically." Fortunately Goosesong continued speaking and she eagerly latched onto the opportunity to listen instead of explain.

There was something comforting about hearing him talk like that. Goosesong always sounded so certain when he laid thoughts out loud. "Don't apologize...The future is strange." She admitted quietly. "One day you're an apprentice...then you're mentoring apprentices of your own. Then suddenly there are kits everywhere and you're wondering where all the time went."

She exhaled slowly as if loosing a great weight from her chest. Even if it wasn't all dispersed yet. "And I suppose...I-I suppose I've been thinking about what comes after that."

She leaned into him, a silvery foundation that she was relying on more and more. "I-I like mentoring. I like helping RiverClan grow but I wonder if there are other ways to help the Clan grow t-too."

Immediately Cottonbright became very interested in the heather again. Her ears burned while she stubbornly avoided looking at him, silently praying StarClan would just have mercy on her.

What are you afraid of losing if nothing in the world actually belongs to you.

˜”*°• 🐚 •°*”˜

No matter how much Goosesong thought of it, Cottonbright's words seemed a little lost on him. He didn't really have her mind, he didn't think exactly like her, but she was thinking about something he wasn't even sure about. He was usually sure about... most things. "I'm trying not to jump to conclusions." Goosesong spoke finally after what seemed like a season of wary, focused and thoughtful glances at her as she spoke. "Perhaps you could help Nettleplume in the medicine den? If he'd let you, or perhaps request for Cinderwisp to place you on more patrols? Whatever it is, I'm sure that you will figure something out, you always do." He purred as kindly as a tom of his way of life could reallly.

Goosesong then noticed her interest in the herbs, oblivious as he was, maybe she did want to assist with Nettleplume? Perhaps not with an extended permanence, but Goosesong wasn't too sure as of today, so it seemed. The silver tabby grasped a few stems in his maw, an attempt a playfulness came after as he fluttered the heather in front of her nose intent on tickling it to try and take her mind off of whatever may have been bothering her or plaguing her mind recently.

Once the heather had been placed on the ground, he dipped his head to her. Not a sign of him leaving her side, but perhaps a subtle gesture of his presence. After all, the two of them did rely on each other in one way or another. "But I won't sit here and tell you what you should do, whatever happens, it is your choice to make, Cottonbright."

The fluffy tom-cat then lowered himself a little to brush their pelts together. His eyes softened by her presence alone. The scent of the heather almost relaxing him as he just simply stared, allowing her to share her own words. Whatever they may be.

Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop, whoa. Pressure that'll tip, tip tip 'till you just go pop, whoa.
❖ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❀ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❖

The heather stem brushing Cottonbright's nose earned a startled blink and a tiny puff of laughter. Her whiskers twitched as she gently batted the offending plant away with one paw. "Y-you're not helping." She purred softly.

When he lowered his head and brushed closer, she felt her courage threaten to evaporate entirely. Slowly she lifted a cautious gaze with just enough conviction to meet his eyes. "The nursury will be empty soon...And...If I thought having kits would be a good idea. Would you think that was foolish?" Her ears continued to burn. If a cat could blush she would have turned into a raspberry.

"And...W-Would you consider...siring them? We're friends and I don't want things to be strange and you don't have to answer right away and maybe I shouldn't have asked and - " She stopped herself with a horrified squeak as she laid her head down between her paws, hoping the feeling would pass.