[EN] Old people smell.

You’re disrespectful this, you’re disrespectful that, it all sounded like a bunch of nonsense to her. Whoever thought she would learn her lesson after this punishment, was absolutely wrong. The only thing it did for her, was worsen her mood. With a big, angry frown on her face the large she-cat made her way to the elders den. After she had cussed at a senior warrior who had critique on her rude manners early this day, she was now assigned to clean up the elders den and help whoever needed anything. Wolfpaw was determined to finish this task as quickly as possible, so she could go back to doing actual useful things again. Like cursing at senior warriors and giving Windclanners a dirty look. With a soft groan she sat down in front of the den. Ew, it smelled like old cats in here. “What do y’all want,” she grumbled, making her presence known.

[&Slatefur B) ]

When her sensitive eyes adjusted to the faint liight inside the elders den, she saw that there was only one cat present; Slatefur. Well, she wasn’t too bad. Eventhough the blind she-cat still had that stench surrounding her, she smelled the least like old people, someting Wolfpaw could certainly appreciate. ”Wolfpaw," mewed a warm, well-known voice. Since she was often sent here after breaking a rule or two, she and the young elder had become aquinted and if she was completely honest, Slatefur really wasn’t that bad. Not that she would ever admit to being friends with an elder, Wolfpaw was way too cool for that. "Only me in here today and I can happily take care of myself. How is your training going?" the fluffy apprentice let out a dramatic sigh before sitting down, completely abandoning her task of cleaning the den.“I mean it’s fine. Tallshadow is kind of a wussy, but he does sort of know how to fight,” That was as close to a compliment as you would get out of her. “But everything would go a whole lot faster I didn’t get sent into this damned den full of whiney old peopleall the time!” the young cat was clearly agitated by this. ”No offence, Slate,”

She tilted her ear slightly when the grey she-cat let out a snort of laughter, a big grin on her face. See, not everyone had to be so butthurt about everything."Did I ever tell you that he was scared of me when I was just a wee kitten and he was already a big burly apprentice?" now it was her turn to chuckle softly. “I am so going to use that against him,” the young cat was already looking forward to her next training, oh poor Tallshadow. After her rant about the elders den and it’s inhabitants, Slatefur didnt seem too bothered at all. "None taken, I'm not old, just unlucky." well, that was the truth, something Wolfpaw wouldn’t deny. She shurgged again, not realising the young elder was unable to see that. “Yeah, well, at least you don’t have to see how incredibly stupid some of these cats are,” A very big plus, if you’d ask her. She turned her amber colored eyes at the other she-cat, who was licking her paws. Must be weird to not be able to see at all, she had no idea what anyone was doing around her. Wolfpaw stuck out her tongue and made a weird face. Somehow the fact that Slatefur had no idea that she was doing this was absolutely hillarious to her and she couldn’t help but chuckle sheepishly[/i][/i]

"If he ever is being annoying, just call me, I'll scare him into submission," Slatefur promised, winking at nothing in particular but Wolfpaw appreciated the gesture. This was great, knowing she now had an ally. Was it fair towards the poor, hardworking Tallshadow? Absolutely not. But perhaps that made it even more enjoyable."He called me the devil or something like that, not even sure how I scared him that much when I was just a kit, but it worked." It was hillarious that Slatefur had no idea that Wolfpaw was sticking out her tongue at her. However, Wolfpaw had just the faintest bit of manners to know that she was being not only very childish, but also rude to one of the few cats who seemed to genuinely like her at least a bit. “My other senses still work perfectly fine,” said the grey she-cat.“So I can still hear cats complain. Though I can act like i cant, and make crude jokes about cats looking good, so those are blindness advantages,” Wolfpaw couldn’t help but laugh. Slatefur was nice, she used her disability to make crude jokes about others, instead of wallowing in self pity like most elders. ”You ought to try,” She shrugged, again not realizing the other cat wouldnt be able to see. ”Most cats don’t really like my jokes,” she answered honestly, thinking back to Chickenpaw, who now seemed terrified of her. Oh well. “Slatefur, how did you become blind? You weren’t born that way... Right?” she asked out of curiousity, oblivious to the fact this might be a senstive subject.

Her words made Slatefur call out. "Wolfpaw! I'd never have guessed, I'd imagined you as the most well-mannered, soft spoken she-cat," somewhat annoyed she twitched her ear. Whereas the grey she-cat her sarcasm was completely justified, the fragile teenager Wolfpaw still felt insulted. "I'm just honest," she muttered stubbornly. The world would have to end before the apprentice would admit to any of her flaws. "But is that because of the other cats, or your jokes?" thankfully the other had turned a little more serious again. Wolfpaw thought for a second, not quite knowing the answer to that question. Obviously it was not her fault, but still. She could accept it if people wouldn't want to be around her solely for her jokes or honest remarks, if only that was the case."Most often, I found, 'problems' have two sides" again she shrugged. "I mean, some cats just don't like me. They just.. Don't" for a second she fell quiet. Talking about her more fragile feelings made her feel powerless and weak, therefore she quickly changed the subject. "No, I was born with my sight. I've gone blind due to an untreated eye infection when I was a young warrior. I was too stubborn to go to the medicine cat," oh, oh Starclan. That was actually quite worrisome. "You mean, if you had gone on time they might have been able do something?" she said, slightly concerned. Hm, it had been quite long since she visited Acefray. Maybe she should go get a check up again, now that she thought about it. Before she knew it, she could turn blind!

She felt extremely fragile confessing all of this to the grey she-cat, scared she would now know exactly where to sting her. Yet, that wasn't the case. Instead Slatefur simply listened and soothed her, in such a friendly manner that Wolfpaw did not know what to do with herself. "Nobody likes everyone," mewed the oher cat gently "we'd all do well for ourselves to attempt to surround ourselves with cats we dó like however. Those give our lives the most purpose." Wolfpaw only twitched her ear, stripped of words. Slatefur made sense in every way and managed to give her some genuine comfort. She was right, it didn't matter what other cats thought of her, it mattered what the cats she actually liked and cared about thought of her. Well, at the moment everyone seemed deeply disappointed in her after what Waspsting and Skullkit had done to her, but it was a comforting thought. "..Yeah," the young she-cat had no idea how to handle this fragile situation. "Thanks," it came out so hushed and hurried that it was barely audible. Still, she said it. Wolfpaw had genuinely thanked someone, it was a miracle come to life. To make sure no-one else would take notice of that she quickly changed the subject, asking Slatefur about her deteriorated eyesight. "I don't really concern myself with the 'if's of the situation," said the older she-cat with a shrug, as if she truly did not care anymore which may well be true, Wolfpaw realized. "if I continue to beat myself up with options on different timelines, I'd be a very unhappy she-cat."So brave, so proud. Wolfpaw was slightly in awe at the positive outlook Slatefur seemed to have on her life. The general grumpy-ness of old cats hadn't influenced her. Wolfpaw was about to make a remark about this when she noticed a faint smell she had got to know very, very well in the past few days; Waspsting. "Oh shit," she muttered, frantically looking around her for an escape route as she knew the large she-cat was coming their way. "Slatefur cover for me," Without even waiting for a reply she found her hiding spot; behind Slatefur. It was her only hope of getting out of this alive, since she already sensed Waspsting would not be happy she left the nursery without her permission. She rushed behind the elder and made herself as small as the widely build she-cat could, hoping she'd go unnoticed.

Somehow, Wasp had fallen asleep on kitten duty. She'd thought she hadn't needed any help yet, but apparently she'd been wrong. She didn't like to admit it, but losing Skullpaw to BloodClan had left an impact on her. She really had thought he would come around eventually. Not in the time they would spent together as kit and mum, she would be a fool to expect that; but she hadn't expected him to just leave as soon as he got the chance to. She knew she wasn't wrong giving him a punishment; if she had let him off without one, he could have thought of her as weak. And it was clear he didn't like weak cats - as he had left for BloodClan, where only the strong survive. Still, somewhere deep inside, she was blaming herself for his leaving. Because of this.. Emotional struggle, she got tired faster than she anticipated. Which led to her falling asleep - and Wolfkit escaping. When the persian woke up she immediately felt the lack of cat next to her and grumbling she got up. She knew the kitten-apprentice wouldn't go as far as joining BloodClan.. But she was still kind of worried. So she walked past every den to check them; first the apprentice den, then the leaders then, then the warriors den. Nowhere to be found. The only places left to check were the medicine's cat den and the elder's den. She decided to go to the latter first, maybe someone had found her outside the nursery and gave her a punishment for not following her punishment? Could be. So Wasp walked up to the elder's den, noticing only Slatefur was inside. "Slatefur," she greeted the other she-cat. "Have you seen Wolfpaw by any chance? She's supposed to be with me in the nursery - I don't know if you've heard about her punishment yet?" The persian took a quick look around but didn't spot the brown-white cat. Where could she be?

Wolfpaw was very much not anticipating Wasptings reaction when she found her here, in the Elders den not helping out like she was supposed to but instead boring Slatefur with her complaints. Therefore she leaped behind Slatefur, who hopefully would provide enough cover for her to live. "Don't mention it," See? That right there was a true friend, a real comrade who wouldn't let you be torn to pieces by one of Shadowclans most respected and feared Senior Warrior. "Slatefur," Wolfpaw crouched even further, to the point where she could barely breathe, but so far it seemed to work. "Have you seen Wolfpaw by any chance? She's supposed to be with me in the nursery - I don't know if you've heard about her punishment yet?" Oh crap, she was indeed looking for her, what else could she want? The grey apprentice anxiously waited, breaking out in cold sweat behind the blind elder. "Waspsting," mewed Slatefur sweetly."How is your newfound motherhood?" A smile crept upon her face as she sat there, trying to be as dead silent and still as she possibly could. Meanwhile the other she-cat was doing an absolutely marvelous job tricking Waspsting into thinking she was actually pondering. Who knew, Slatefur could be a stone cold liar. An absolute great skill to have, especially when there was a desperate apprentice-kit hiding behind you. "No I'm sorry, haven't seen the little one. Nobody likes the elders den I'm afraid. Maybe you should try the medicine cat den, kits like to play in that den right?" Wolfpaw couldn't help but twitch her ear. Excuse you, Slatefur? She was no kit! However this time, and this time only, she could forgive the elder. Simply because if she hadn't been around to cover her, Waspsting would have most likely torn her to shreds. The big bad Waspsting was fooled, while Wolfpaw was stupidly hiding behind Slatefur. Suddenly she had to try very, very hard not to burst out into laughter. It worked, until a soft 'pfftt' left her lips. Quickly she covered her mouth with her paws, hoping that Waspsting would pass it off as a very, very awkward fart. At this point Wolfpaw knew painfully well she would forever be in Slatefurs debt.

The she-cat snorted in response to the teasing of the blind elder. "Oh, it's not as bad for me as for Wolfpaw," she answered, not using the -kit suffix when without the cat in question. A small grin appeared on the face of Wasp as she heard the next words of Slatefur. Usually she wasn't all that for joking around, but she could appreciate it now; it took her mind off of the stress from losing Skullpaw. "That's their loss, then. I used to go to the elder's den all the time when I was a kit; elders usually have way better stories than the medicine cat." Waspsting frowned when she heard a suspicious sound, and she looked around the dark den once more. She wasn't all too sure if it had been Slatefur or something else. "Slatefur, where are the other elders, anyways?" She asked, as she stepped into the den a little further. It could be that Wolfpaw was hiding here without Slatefur knowing...