Bound

| Chapter Two |

Thump.

Gingerpaw's mouth stretched in a small gasp as she fell to the ground, though of course, the she-cat could not hear the sound that escaped her muzzle. Her amber eyes quickly switched behind her, focusing rather quickly on a red tabby tom whose fur was spiked.

That was her mentor and anger was written all over his expression. It was common, actually.

His mouth opened and closed in rapid succession and each of his amber eyes was a separate blaze of vexation as he stared at her. His tail lashed back and forth behind him, almost as if he was attempting to capture the deaf apprentice's attention.

And eventually, he did, as the she-cat pulled herself to her paws, shaking out her dark ginger pelt. His muzzle opened once more and this time a rather familiar motion occurred.

It was almost as if he was pressing his muzzle closed, then opening it, only to let it close and open once more swiftly. Gingerpaw could tell it was her name. Everyone made a similar motion around her and so she assumed it was attached to her. Some cats made it too quickly, almost as if they were slurring it. Others tended to quickly snap it to her when she couldn't hear. And some drew it out as if she could hear if they were slow with speaking to her.

Though she had never really known what her name was, and it wasn't like anyone was ready to teach a deaf cat.

She glanced to at her mentor to notice that his mouth had stopped moving, though soon a sigh escaped it - one she could not hear, of course, though she could recognize the motion. That was common. Gingerpaw was used to cats sighing around her because they simply couldn't communicate well with her.  

So they didn't.

Well, most of them, anyway. Except for Redhawk, her mentor, who she could tell hated trying to speak with her, and it wasn't like he could stop. He had to communicate with her, or at least try to do so. It didn't matter if it succeeded or failed because he was her mentor and so he struggled through it. 

The red tabby in front of her slipped into a crouching position, tail flickering behind him as if inviting Gingerpaw to perform a similar motion. She had learned over time that training with him meant that she had to copy what he was doing.

While the dark-ginger she-cat couldn't hear anything, she had picked up on some things to make her seem somewhat useful to MistClan, even if cats ignored her anyway. Of course, picking up her name was fairly simple, as most cats appeared to be irritated when making the motion of her name around her - likely due to the fact that she couldn't hear them.

It was also easy to pick up body language from cats around her. She'd soon learned that flattened ears meant that the cat was irritated, upset, or afraid, though she knew the first one best. A cat's muzzle could also draw back into something that looked angry as if they'd scrunched up their muzzle so close to their eyes that they couldn't see over it.

A lashing tail most commonly meant that the cat was irritated, impatient, or just nervous. Sometimes cats flicked and lashed their tail around her because they were unsure of how to speak with her. Others let their ears prick or flicker. She learned that the latter was similar to if a cat's tail were to flick, however, if a cat pricked or swiveled their ears, they could be hunting or searching for prey.

Gingerpaw had also seen cats nuzzle each other - they touched noses sometimes too. Others groomed each other or licked their ears. That meant comfort, most likely. It only happened between cats who the she-cat had observed be rather close to each other, physically as well as mentally, it appeared.

Some she-cats tended to follow toms around, trailing at their every word. The she-cats were attached to the toms, although sometimes it was the other way around. Others licked another's shoulder and that seemed to be reserved for special ceremonies where the leader would receive a respectful gesture from a new warrior.