Too Tidy [Open]

Birdsong
» Take me under your wing tonight

It had been a quiet an uneventful morning for Birdsong thus far. He had awoken with the sun, its golden fingers reaching through the trees to stroke his snowy fur as dawn settled over the camp. The air held a fresh crispness that invigorated his limbs, adding a spring to a his step and a purr to his throat. Today was a going to be a good day, and on a day like this, Birdsong could think of nothing better than...

Preening! What a wonderful day to be clean!

The tom lazed about the camp, stretched out beneath High Rock, humming pleasantly as his tongue made quick work of the matted patches in his pelt. Not a single speck of dirt would escape his lapping pinkness as it swept over every hair he could possibly reach. The tom twisted and turned, bathing his legs and paws and face and sides, contently grooming every inch with great attentiveness. Oh, a spot here! Dear, a spot there! It was delicate business, but Birdsong was an observant fellow and, having nothing else better to do, was keen on achieving perfection. How the she-cats would admire his glistening fur! How they would marvel at its sheen! Rumbling with pride, the warrior visibly puffed up at the thought of the many compliments he would receive. An onlooker would have shaken his head at the sight of such a vain cat, but this did not occur to Birdsong. Not in the least. Quite the contrary, for he was far too busy licking a speck of mud from his ankle.

Notes: Short post, bored at work, open to anyone. x3 Would be funny if someone came along and mussed up his hard work, methinks...

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Hailpaw tripped. The little white apprentice was dragging along a pretty nice piece of prey, large enough to make it a decent hassle in transporting it all the way back to camp. Pride was fluttering in his chest like a trapped bird, ready to release when he ended his journey at his father's paws, seeing the pride reflected in his eyes and feel a lot better after the majority of his family's death. Although not nearly as depressed as the black warrior was, Hailpaw was too affected greatly by the sudden tragedy. He didn't know his older brother, Silentpaw, well, but his siblings and especially his mother did really hit the spot. Luckily, though, for now the deaths didn't really effect him at this age in his life. At least not in a negative way. Thanks to the support and comfort of his clan-mates, he turned his depression into passionate energy to not only live for his dead family, but live for the family blood bonds he has now as well as his Clan. But first he needed to help someone that meant more than his Clan. But during his over-confident stride he ended up tripping over his catch, and his light body flew in a ball of fur right toward Birdsong. His frantic summersault ended in a rough collision, not only covering the warrior and him in dust, but knocking them both to the ground as well. Hailpaw jumped to his paws after recovering from the surprising display and shook his pelt, only to stumble back to the ground in dizziness. Embarrassed, he looked up bashfully at the pale warrior, not sure whether to smile or frown. "I-I'm sorry, Birdsong. I was carrying a squirrel and I..." he glanced over at the place where his prey was flopped to the ground in an awkward angle. "...trippped." [bg=ffffff]

Birdsong
» Take me under your wing tonight

In a single instant, Birdsong's rather unexciting morning became something quite the opposite.

While most cats would have seen the little apprentice coming, the albino tom was too enthralled by his grooming to notice until the moment of collision. The bump held hardly enough force to push the fully-grown warrior a kittenstep, but through some bizzare twist of nature (or, more likely, Birdsong's startled and twisting body), he hurtled several tail-lengths away from Hailpaw, his fur fluffed to an extreme degree and his eyes as wide as Twoleg milk saucers. A typical warrior would have been mildly startled by the event and thought nothing of it, but Birdsong, frightful fool that he was, reeked of fear-scent.

"I'm being attacked!" he yowled, extending his claws and spinning around frantically to target his opponent. In doing so, Birdsong only managed to trip himself, and he fell flat on his face, sending an additional puff of dust into the air, which settled on his coat in a thick brown cloud. In his confused stupor, the tom had failed to hear the apprentice's apology, but as he lay in a tangled and filthy pile, too dazed to rise to his feet, Birdsong's eyes fell upon Hailpaw and what he presumed to be, based on its proximity and freshness, his dropped prey. He recognized the youngster and the apprentice's story began to come to him. Wasn't this the poor fellow who had recently lost his family?

Slowly, his fur began to flatten as his head cleared. Coughing and sputtering, a very humiliated Birdsong scrambled to a standing position, groaning at the sight of himself. He had spent hours, hours licking away all the grim from his once shining coat! There would be no time before the next patrol to properly fix this mess! Nevertheless, Birdsong was not a cat prone to anger. The incident was obviously an accident. He simply sighed, his cheeks flushing a light pink that glowed beneath his fur. At once, he began preening himself again, doing what he could in the little time that he had. "Oh, Hailpaw, it's all right," he mewed quickly between strokes of his tongue. "I er... Hope I didn't scare you there. Me, I scare very... easily. Too easily, I know. I'm sorry."

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Hailpaw flushed, feeling more guilty and embarrassed than ever. Even though it was probably a lot more of a feeble sight for Birdsong due to his overenthusiastic reaction to just a simple tumble, it was Hailpaw that caused eyes to glance in their direction, and he was at fault for Birdsong's unexpected scene. Although, a tinge of humor couldn't help but escape his consciousness, forcibly making him a little less apologetic than he should be, though it didn't make him any less sincere. Especially since it seemed as if he might have ruined the pale warrior's pride, from the quick rationalization of the older cat's sudden and rushed self-cleaning. "No, no, it's fine--" Hailpaw replied hastily, taking a hesitant pace forward, his mind resisting the idea of keeping his abandoned prey out of his sight any longer. At any moment a warrior or apprentice could pick it up with a confused moment of observation and take it to the elders. Although Hailpaw knew through his traditions that elders and queens were the most important to feed, this was a special circumstance that required a certain cat to have a little more privilege to this juicy meal than anyone else. Guilt, though, kept him in his place. "Do you want me to help?" Hailpaw ventured, his head raising and falling in attempts to catch Birdsong's eye. [bg=ffffff]

Birdsong
» Take me under your wing tonight

"Oh, you want to... Ah, well, um..." Birdsong was somewhat taken aback by the offer which, to his vain ears, seemed almost like an insult. Did this apprentice think that he was incapable of cleaning up his own messes? His tail tip twitched at the thought as he continued to lick his mussed fur, running over his flanks in what could only be an obsessive-compulsive furiousness. "I am quite skilled enough to--"

The tom suddenly caught himself, spitting out a mouthful of his own white fur. Mouse-brain! he thought. Hailpaw only wanted to help. It was all too obvious to Birdsong (albeit, mistakenly so) that the poor apprentice must feel simply awful for ruining the tom's precious coat. It did not occur to him that Hailpaw might be offering to speed along their encounter because he had somewhere he needed to be. His ears flicked forward with eagerness. With Hailpaw to lend a... well, tongue, surely he would be back to his spiffy self in short order?

"Well, now that you mention it, I suppose I could use some assistance," he murmured, frowning at the state of himself and what little his efforts in cleaning up the mess had accomplished. "I just don't want to be a bother," the tom meowed innocently. Though his tone suggested otherwise, inwardly he really did not care whether he was holding the apprentice up or not.

OOC|| Sorry for the delay. As I told Wish, work, Thanksgiving, etc.

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Hailpaw flinched, sensing the rise tension between the two felines. Not knowing the warrior very well due to being a rather new apprentice, he automatically assumed that Birdsong was probably a nice cat considering most of the cats he had formally met in ThunderClan have been pleasant and friendly. It took the white tom off guard when he saw Birdsong's muscles tense and a start of a snark reply, but instantly relaxed when the warrior stopped himself and obviously thought better of it. What motivated this change of course, Hailpaw didn't know. He could only hope it was out of the kindness in his heart. Even though it his original retort would have got him out of his not regretful offer and continue his travels to his father. After Birdsong's rather inconspicuous change of tone, he nervously glanced back, reassuring himself that his well-caught prey was still in sight. But, unfortunately, it was gone. Like it fled from existence. Hailpaw stifled a sigh. Of course it was taken away. It was laying in the middle of camp. He wouldn't expect anything better, not because of the position the prey was left in, but Hailpaw's luck. It wasn't the first time where he tried to please his father. Every time he made a plan, it always seemed to backfire on him. The young tom felt as if he should be used to this sense of failure now, but it didn't seem to get any easier. He still felt the same pit-less disappointment in his stomach. Turning back, he was left to face a dirty yet dignified cat who he honestly couldn't read. Hailpaw heard his innocent words clearly in the comment on how he didn't want to bother the apprentice with such a miniscule task as self-grooming, but for the first time there was some sort of instinct that triggered him not to fully believe Birdsong. As if the guilty feeling amplified by his words was all a part of a plan. Hailpaw stiffened. He truly hoped that this was the first time this was done to him, and he wasn't gullible up until this destined point. But figuring this out was only half the battle. Hailpaw honestly didn't know how to handle this manipulation, especially with guilt still digging at his sides. Whatever Birdsong's motives were, Hailpaw still did ruin his pelt. It still felt wrong that he just sit there and do nothing after being the cause of Birdsong's misfortune. Besides, he didn't know the warrior very well, besides the whole 'perfectionist' vibe he had going on. "It's...fine." Hailpaw replied hesitantly, still not confident about his decision. "It was my fault; let me help you." Politely as he could, he settled down beside Birdsong, glancing wistfully at the empty spot where his prey used to be. Distracting himself he carefully lapped at his spine, getting the hardest to reach spots first. "So, uh..." he began awkwardly between licks, cautious about accidentally offending the pale warrior again. "You...you have a really nice coat. No wonder you want to keep it clean." Starting off with a compliment. Yes, that's good. It'll warm him up. It sounded weird, but it'll do. [bg=ffffff]