bottlecaplogs | April Catch-all

Anasui ignores Firepaw's staring and works on his own task. Technically, the post didn't say they needed to eliminate the mushrooms but this would slow down the spread that they're worried about. Once he gets a feel of digging with his talons, he starts to slowly dig a trench around the mushrooms.

Occasionally, he dumps any buried roots up for the others to collect. But besides the occasional grunt of exertion, Anasui works in silence.

Firepaw manages to get a good pile of roots going, although it's slow going and difficult to keep his claws extended for as long as he needs them. Emporio's praise does help, but after a while he just switches gears to gathering all the roots Anasui is digging up, and adding them to his pile.

"Is he always like this?" He's pretty much just speaking to Emporio, although he's not being quiet at all.

"Hahaha..." His laugh is potentially quieter than Firepaw's words- but, considering how often people were really loud about their thoughts on Anasui, he thinks they'll be fine. "Pretty much? If he knew much about these mushrooms, he'd probably have more to say, but Anasui's more interested in getting things done most of the time."

It's...surprisingly complimentary, not that Anasui will likely say anything about that.

But that aside. He lowers his voice. "...honestly, even though I miss everyone else... ...I'm kind of glad it's him, if I think about it? ...I... ...it makes it a little easier somehow. I knew him for a long time, before."

Anasui continues to work in silence. However, while he seems like he's ignoring them, he's listening on their conversation. Firepaw's question is almost non-existent (people have been asking about him like that since he was a child) but Emporio...

The Espathra doesn't slow down. There's only the briefest of pauses to signal that he heard Emporio (despite Emporio's best efforts) but he continues digging. His beak is clenched a little tighter though.

He's not sure what to make of the emotion or the thoughts that come to his head.

Edited 2025-04-12 14:48 (UTC)

Cats often don't make much of a fuss about discussing each other within ear-shot, but Firepaw does lower his voice to match Emporio's. Even though he's fairly sure Anasui can hear them - he would definitely be able to hear it at this distance. And he's sitting down to take a break while they talk, since his paws are already aching.

"Well he's... digging a great hole. Better than I could do." He still fully doesn't understand what Anasui is doing. "I guess I don't know much about your friends back home. Are the rest of them... uh..."

He's struggling to word it more politely than are they weirder than him?

Emporio unfortunatly doesn't clue into the fact that Firepaw means 'weird', or anything like that. He assumes- because, really, it's hard to track who knows and who doesn't at this point, but he assumes...

"...yeah. ...they're all dead," he says quietly, soberly, pausing with a mushroom. "T..they..."

He plucks the fungus, moving for another. "...It. ...I think soon, it'll be as long as I knew Hermana. ...Being here, I mean. ....I don't know what to think about that."

Anasui stops mid-shovel as he realises just what Emporio said. A month? Emporio only knew her for a month? By extension, he had only known Jolyne for one month - that beautiful, wonderful, life-changing woman.

And then he realises that it's month of the kid of the kid alone. Without Weather. Without anyone he knew. A month of dealing with the murder of that bastard.

... It should be Jolyne here. Not him. If Anasui had to pick between the two of them, he'd pick her every time. Emporio should be allowed to be here with Jolyne. If not her, then Weather! Emporio's known Weather for longer and then Anasui wouldn't have to live without Jolyne! Emporio's wrong. He should be asking for any other one of their friends to be here.

But he doesn't say anything. Anasui remains silent but he starts tearing up mycellium roots faster and faster.

Edited 2025-04-22 05:24 (UTC)

That wasn't what he meant but that works too. Firepaw hesitates, unsure of how to proceed for a good long while, and just busies himself by kneading his paws on the ground.

"If it helps, I've been here as long as I knew my best friends, too. I only got to know Graypaw and Ravenpaw for two moons... and we spent most of that training, anyway."

Although Graypaw and Ravenpaw could end up here, and he doesn't think Emporio's friends could.

"...You don't have to tell me about them if it would make it worse. But it might help."

More than a month, even.

And perhaps that's the worst part.

"...Training probably counts as being with them," Emporio says quietly as he grabs another mushroom. "...That's probably what matters. I guess...part of me thinks, should I feel less sad? More..? ...Polteageist knew I was having nightmares and offered some help about that, but even they said a lot was going to just be...time. ...but how much time is enough time? ...It was only four months. Er...'moons'," he says for Firepaw's benefit.

"...I only knew her for four months. ...but it's only hurt more. I..."

The cubone pauses, and quietly steals a glance toward Anasui- the pace of digging hasn't been missed. "...I don't know if it would make it worse or not," he says eventually, turning back to the mushrooms. Lowering his voice even further, to barely a whisper-

"....Anasui died trying to save everyone after all."

Edited 2025-04-22 14:57 (UTC)

The bird is very aware of the fact that they're talking about him and Emporio is whispering so not to hurt his feelings. As if it would make him feel any worse.

The amount of time you spend with someone has nothing to do with the impact on your life they make.

Anasui continues his work, digging the trench. Deeper. Deeper than it really needs to be. At least he's thorough and the mushrooms will have a tough time of regrowing here of all places with how deep he goes..

Firepaw's ears perk up, and his attention turns back to Anasui. The gears are turning, although he's also just genuinely distracted by not understanding what the bird is doing.

"If he's dead, then maybe the rest of your friends can show up here. I mean.. he seems fine now. Mostly."

At least, he gets the sense that dying is not what made Anasui like this.

"And I don't... think it really matters how long you know someone. I mean, I only knew my littermates and my mother for four moons before I got adopted, and they're still important to me."

Not that that's a great point, because he hasn't thought about his littermates a single time in the last six months. He hasn't even mentioned having siblings.

"Mnn...."

He doesn't say 'I hope so'. It feels like that's going to be tempting fate, if he does. Fate, or...whatever the heck it is out there. He doesn't like the idea of it being fate, if he's being fully honest.

But he does pause, as Firepaw mutters his way around the timing of littermates and family, and a thought strikes him there. Firepaw is something akin to his age, after all. And...

"...Oh," he realizes with some surprise, sounding at least a fraction less dull and despairing as he does so. "...I guess...uh. You'd be an 'adult' soon, under normal circumstances..."

That's.

Well.

"...Do you feel any different?"

Anasui doesn't think the others will come. Rarely good things happen to them. It's already a miracle he's back.

Instead of vocalising this though, he stops digging. He starts taking out the roots from the trench he's made, quietly listening in to the two kids.

"Not really. I'm a few moons away from being four seasons old, but I still feel like a kit."

It felt like they were the same age when they first met. Now he's almost an adult, and Emporio is still a kitten, even though he's simultaneously much older than the ThunderClan elders. It makes his head swim a little bit.

After stewing on that for a moment, he shakes himself off and turns his attention to Anasui. "...Do you need help with your hole?"

"Hmmmm. Maybe you're growing up at the same rate the rest of us are now..?"

Ah- He turns, and blinks at.

The hole.

...Wow. "Oh wow. Uh...I guess you found edible roots?"

(Real smooth Emporio.)

"It's less of a hole and more of a trench," Anasui says simply to Firepaw without looking at him. "I'm done anyway."

Anasui gives a dismissive snort and shakes out his bob.

"There are roots. I'm not sure which roots are edible in this world yet. Do you know?"

"Oh. Right!" Firepaw tugs another root out of the ground with his teeth, and drops it so they can compare. "These are the right ones... or at least they smell right. I'm not really sure, I don't like eating things that aren't meat."

All the roots and mushrooms smell like Not Food, although nothing he's gathered tastes poisonous. To him, they're all sort of the same, but it seems like the kind of thing a medicine cat would be able to judge better.

"I think I could fit in there entirely, so that probably counts as a hole."

But that's as far as he'll go for arguing. Ah-

"Oh, right- your diet didn't really have to change much with this form huh... ...mmm. Looking at what they came from, these roots should definitely be edible. I guess the guild will ultimately decide on that though."

"I suppose. But it's deeper than it is wide." But fair. They don't have to go over the technicalities of trenches today.

Anasui grunts. As long as the kids think that it's okay and/or it can be someone else's problem, that's good enough for him.

"We continue picking mushrooms until we can't carry anymore, right?" Straight to business as usual...

"Is that what a trench is?"

He has no frame of reference, but Anasui and Emporio both seem to know all sorts of things.

"But yeah, that's the plan. Fill our bags up, then carry more in our mouths. Or... paws."

And now that they have a pretty good pile of roots, he sets about carefully picking them up with his claws and moving them to the saddle-bags on his back. Which, despite how tired and sore he is, he's doing well enough as to imply that either Littens are more dexterous than cats, or warrior cats are built different.

"Hmm. Well, I think a trench is normally a little long..."

It doesn't super matter though, as Anasui says. "Right. I've got my helmet here, which can act as another bag, but lets fill your bags first. I have an advantage."

Hands.

He has hands.

"It's long relative to you two," Anasui mutters under his breath.

Anasui undoes the 'scarf' around his neck with his beak and shakes it out. Then, he sits down and puts the cloth down on the floor.

"I can probably carry more than you two can. However, you need to tie this sling on me when we're done." And with that, Anasui will start using his beak to fill up the mushrooms.

Once Firepaw's bag is all filled up, he works on helping Anasui. He's starting to just accept that the bird is unknowable, and maybe just too smart for Firepaw to follow his logic. I mean, he is an adult for Emporio's world and Emporio is also frequently too smart for him.

"I can't tie things very well, so Emporio might have to do that..."

"Haha, don't worry! I've got both of you covered," Emporio starts, already making sure to help with the packing. "It looks like we have more roots than anything, so let's make sure they go in this bag. The mushrooms definitely need to stay on their own..."

Anasui will help by using his beak and his feet to nudge mushrooms over to Emporio's helmet and roots closer to the sling but that's the extent he can do.

He really needs to figure out these psychic powers so he can do things that require more fine motor skills. It's okay that Emporio's helping him but he would prefer it if he could do it alone.

April Catch-all

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