Moonpaw blinked at Sagepaw, as if he had never really considered that before. Was she dead? The rest of his family had spoken of their mother as if she was alive, as if she was living her own life far away from them, but now that he was older, he understood the way some cats would talk, speak of sweet nothings just to soften the blow on those too young to understand. After all, Charlotte had been surprised to hear that they were her siblings. The adults had taken time to speak in whispers as he and Evenie slept.

"I don't know," he admitted, "my papa said she just had other things going on and she couldn't take us with her. I met one of my sisters...she was from an older litter. She...she sounded surprised when papa said my mom was still alive. They said she needed to do what she could to survive." That was what he had said to him too when he left the young kit in NightClan. For the first time, he felt almost a bitterness around this topic.

"I wish they didn't hide so many things from me because they thought I couldn't handle it," he muttered under his breath, voicing a thought that had occurred again and again, but he had been too young to understand.

Moonpaw didn't know how to react to that. He understood the anger. He had felt the same, but he'd never admit it. Still, the thought of what she said made him uncomfortable. Why did his mother leave him? Was it really so bad, to take care of him and his sister? Was he so bad that everyone would leave him? It wasn't just his mother, but his stepfather too, and Charlotte, and even Evenie. His ears drooped at the thought of that.

Perhaps he'd be even more miserable if the crack of thunder didn't made him jump, and suddenly there was rain, and a heavy one at that. He swore under his breath. "We need to find somewhere to hide," he spoke immediately, squinting at Sagepaw, as he looked around. The world was shrouded in the rain now, when something fell on his tail and he jumped. What was that? Hail?

"Come on!" he yowled above the loud rain, "let's find a tree or something!"

He raced after Sagepaw, wincing as he narrowly avoided a ball of hail to the face. They were getting bigger and bigger, and it felt like running through some sort of obstacle course. He had no idea where they were heading, he just dashed after Sagepaw, letting out a hiss of pain when one of the chunks slammed into his back. It didn't break anything, but he was sure it'd leave a bruise.

Diving after the other apprentice, he found himself in the hollow of a tree, wrinkling his nose at the same scent Sagepaw must've smelled. "Yeah," he mumbled, peering nervously at the sky. It didn't look all that great; the sky was grey but in an angry way, as if saying the storm wasn't going to subside anytime soon.

He only looked at Sagepaw when she spoke. "Cuts?" he echoed absentmindedly, before realizing that oh, where the hail hit did kind of hurt. "I got hit," he replied sheepishly, "but I don't think it's anything too serious." He looked her over. "How about you?"

He moved closer to her, looking closely at her wound. It didn't seem too horrible...it was a cut but Moonpaw was also acutely aware of how simple cuts could easily become heavier wounds if not carefully looked after. He glanced up to Sagepaw with a frown. "We should definitely get that looked at when we're back at camp," he murmured, before freezing.

Back at camp. Right. They were out here without permission. She was injured. Which meant...when they were back at camp...oh gods, they were going to get in so much trouble. He groaned at the thought. "You think Aspenstar would just...not notice if we snuck back with injuries?" he mumbled, "just pretend I accidentally scratched you in my sleep or something?"

He looked sheepish as he turned around, looking to Sagepaw. "Anything wrong?" he frowned, uncertain of what it was. It just felt like a bruise but he wasn't sure.

Sagepaw had a point, they could always make stuff up about getting into a scrape, though he was sure that regardless, Larkspur would find a way to scold the two of them, if not for sneaking out, surely for leaving bruises and scratches on each other in their little fights disguised as 'training sessions.' Moonpaw already accepted his fate at this point, and he sighed, peering at the skies once more. The weather had gone from zero to everything; he could barely see six feet in front of him now.

"Yeah sure," he replied with a frown, but his ears immediately perked up at the sound of a game. Despite his attempts to pretend to be a chill, cool cat around the clan, he was always easily excitable, and games were a surefire way to get his attention, even if he did throw the towel in more often than not just to keep the peace.

"We could do never have I ever," he suggested, "or truth or dare?"

He grinned at that. Truth or dare huh? He wasn't a coward, but at the same time...well, he wanted to see what kind of cat Sagepaw really was. "Truth," he decided with a nod, "what's your question?"

That was....a really tough question. He had half expected easy ones. What kind of prey do you like? Do you have a crush on any of the other apprentices? What's the most embarrassing story you have? Things like that, but this? He had to think about it. "I don't know," he admitted finally, "I like it here. I guess I don't know where my dad or mom are, and I've never really met my real mom, you know? So there's not much I can compare it to...but I miss my sister a lot too. To be honest, Larkspur and everyone else has been so nice to me here...I don't know if I really want to leave either."

He smiled softly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I think at this point, I've lived in NightClan longer than I've lived anywhere else," he admitted, "and sometimes, I wonder if my life would be better or worse if I didn't...but sometimes I can't really imagine having it better while travelling everywhere without a home."

He shook his head, a quiet laugh leaving his mouth. "Sorry, I probably sound like such a downer," he replied, shaking it off as if he hadn't just opened himself up to the thick air of vulnerability just moments before. He turned to her, blinking slowly as if taking a deep breath, before smiling that ever-present Moonpaw smile. "Truth or dare?"

He grinned. "Yeah, guess you're keeping me around to balance that out," he rolled his eyes, before chuckling, "to be honest you're not as depressing when you're not around the others."

Moonpaw hummed, thinking over the questions he could ask. He could've asked something just as deep, and part of him wanted to. There were so many things he was curious about, whether she too wanted to follow her father to the ends of the earth now, whether she had lofty goals of her own...

He instead, chose an easier question to start with. "If you could be any other animal, what would you be?" he asked with a chuckle.

He nodded thoughtfully. "To be honest, sometimes they freak me out, especially when it's dark out and you don't expect them to be there and they just stare at you with those eyes, you know?" He shook his head, laughing lightly, before turning to Sagepaw with a grin. "Dare," he smirked, "throw me your worst I guess."