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Post by Kenya on Jan 17, 2012 18:19:05 GMT -5
Soft white paws met the cold snow with an unpleasant crunch sounding out from underneath. Leaf-bare always brought snow, and with snow brought cold and a lack of prey, but nothing would stop her clan from surging forward in this hard season. Blue eyes blinked up against the blinding light that reflected off the patches of snow as the young warrior made her way from the shelter of the warriors den. Blinking slowly a few times more, her blue eyes adjusted to the bright light of the clearing.
Even in leaf-bare the camp is seen to be full of activity. The she-cat extended her white paws forward, with her ginger and white ringed tail in the air and stretched out her well muscled, ginger body, her jaws parting in a yawn. Righting herself up again, she stepped further out into the clearing where she might gain a better view of the camp and her NorthClan clan mates. With a breeze stirring her pelt, she shook her fur and fluffed it up against the cold.
She turned and gave the white strip of fur that graced her back that had earned her the warrior name she worked so hard for. Lightningfur straightened up again, peering around for other friendly faces of her clan mates. Lightningfur's ginger and white tail snaked along behind her rhythmically brushed stray flakes of snow from the cold ground, freeing a few blades of grass that dared to break the surface in search of the sun.
Lightningfur took in a deep breath. Even as the crisp air stung her throat she could still scent the forest around her, alive and full of noise. Exhaling, she watched her breath vanish in a few wisps, her eyes lightening with amusement.
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Post by sil on Jan 17, 2012 18:42:46 GMT -5
Fishbone trudged into the shallow dip in the mountainside that formed his Clan’s camp, heavy flakes of snow sticking to the back and flanks of his dark pelt. A thin layer of ice encased his whiskers and the stringy squirrel that danged from his maw. Time and time again, he wished he had the fluffy, thick coats of some of his Clanmates, but he was stuck with short, oily fur more suited to swimming in a river than surviving the mountain’s leaf-bare.
He wound his way through the rocky tunnels to the fresh-kill pile, where he deposited his prey. Soft, white puffs of air wisped from his jaws as he exhaled. Shaking himself from whisker to tapered tail, Fishbone was shuddering the snow and ice off his fur when he noticed the ginger-and-white she-cat lounging outside the warrior’s den.
With a tight smile, Fishbone padded over to her, who he recognized as a cat that was made a Warrior a few moons before him. Snow stuck stubbornly to his paws, which he flung away in annoyance.
“Apprentices are supposed to be clearing out the snow,” he meowed conversationally to the she-cat. Fishbone knew tensions in the camp were high, and that if he were still an apprentice, pushing snow out of the dens would be the last thing he were interested in, but it was no excuse.
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Post by Kenya on Jan 17, 2012 19:06:26 GMT -5
Lightningfur turned to the young warrior and purred with amusement as he spoke. "yes,' She meowed agreeing, "No apprentice wants to be pushing away snow when they can be hunting or fighting! Besides, it could be a lot worse I suppose.!"
Lightningfur eyed the young warrior as he moved next to her. His pelt clung to his frame more tightly than most. Sympathy for the tom pricked her heart as more wind swayed the fur on her back making her fluff out once more against the winds. "New Leaf will be a welcoming sight" She added flicking her long tail.
She dabbed the snow lightly with an extended paw, the white snow blending in gently with her paw till it melted on her warm fur. She shook it sending the few melted snowflakes off her paw to the ground once more. The she-cat turned her gaze back to Fishbone and blinked warmly towards him. "I'd like to see the other clans handle this kind of weather! they would never make it!" She mewed, her whiskers twitching miscellaneously.
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Post by sil on Jan 17, 2012 19:20:55 GMT -5
Fishbone caught the she-cat’s sympathetic look, and, in a rare moment of embarrassment, he turned his gaze to his dark paws. With his tail and a few flicks of his hind legs, he cleared away the snow to make a spot for himself beside Lightningfur. ”It will indeed,” he agreed. “The prey will return to our mountains, and the hunting will be good again.” The idea of hunting again in the warmer weather, as he did in his apprenticeship, brought a warm, tingling joy to his belly. He almost let out an amused purr as his thoughts traveled back to the quiet solitude of the mountainside.
The warmth disappeared at the mention of their rival clans. Pale amber eyes sparkled as he scoffed. ”Feh, the other Clans don’t know the meaning of a leaf-bare until they survive the dead of it here in the heart of the mountains.” Fishbone didn’t mention the fact that, during his last leaf-bare, he was nothing but a helpless kit, and the reason for his survival was not his own. ”They are soft,” he added.
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Post by Kenya on Jan 17, 2012 19:54:02 GMT -5
"Soft is right!" She scoffed, kneaded her paws into the ground. Lightningfur forced her fur flat. There wasn't any need for ill thoughts at the moment, there camp wasn't under attack. She flicked her ear forcing the negative thoughts from her mind.
Lightningfur got to her paws and shook the flakes of snow from her pelt that head threatened to turn her as white as the mountain she called home. "I'm starving" she stated loudly to no one in particular. She padded quietly through the snow towards the fresh kill, selecting a thin mouse among the other fresh-kill.
"Do you want something?" She inquired lightly tilting her head towards him, her voice muffled by the mouse's damp snow covered fur. Her tail flicked impatiently as more wind whistled through the camp with more snow threatening the day. The apprentices will have their work cut out for them. She thought dryly.
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Post by sil on Jan 17, 2012 20:10:51 GMT -5
Fishbone regarded Lightningfur’s flash of aggression with an air of amusement, watching her pad away toward the fresh-kill pile. Although not particularly hungry, he tilted his dark head in her direction and mewed, “Sure. The squirrel I brought a moment ago will do.”
He followed the she-cat’s gaze to the encroaching snow, sniffing the air that promised more snowfall. The crisp scent of the air reached even into the tunnels that made up their camp. A new worry sent a pricking sensation into the ice-hardened pads of his paws. ”Have the Elders and queens been fed?” he asked in a calm, even voice that he hoped didn’t betray his concern. If there was one thing he cared about besides his own solace, the prosperity of his Clan, and StarClan themselves, it was the well-being of the non-warriors. He wouldn’t put it past the apprentices to forget to keep the snow out of the dens, not with all of the war hype going around.
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Post by Kenya on Jan 17, 2012 20:46:04 GMT -5
Lightningfur had dropped her mouse at her paws in order to turn and pick up Fishbone's squirrel. Her jaws had parted to gather up the fresh-kill when he asked about the elders. "I..I'm not sure" she meowed, her forehead furrowing in thought. The scents of prey touched her tongue as she lifted her head away from the fresh-kill. The queens and elders were the most important cats in the clan, without them there could be no clan.
"The apprentices know better, don't they? All apprentices know they have to eat first after all." She turned her head to face him with her body towards the fresh-kill file. She sighed to her self, her blue eyes blinking away a few stray snowflakes. Queens were lucky she-cats. A mate and kits would be wonderful but alas the life of a queen was out of her grasp. Playing with the young kits when their mothers let them out of the nursery brought her more joy then some of her warrior duties. Thought with the strains of leaf-bare she hadn't much time to spend with the young cats of her clan.
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Post by sil on Jan 17, 2012 21:21:17 GMT -5
Fishbone waved a charcoal paw dismissively. ”I’m sure they’ve been fed, apprentices aren’t that forgetful, even with Clans preparing for war,” he meowed, hoping his tone was reassuring. ”It’s the snow and cold moisture in their dens that will make their old bones ache and the kits catch a cough. It's Mapleberry that will have to deal with them, not us. StarClan be with that poor cat.”
He stopped when he caught the strange look on Lightningfur’s ginger-and-white face. The beige point above his eye raised in curiosity and his ringed tail swung around to lay across his paws. ”What’s with the wistful look, if I might ask?”
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Post by Kenya on Jan 17, 2012 21:45:57 GMT -5
Lightningfur's head snapped up to meet her eyes with his breaking her thoughts. "What?" She asked before his words really seemed to reach her mind. "oh, its nothing" she meowed softly as her ringed tail swept behind her. "Sometimes I get envious of the queens" she finished quickly, her ginger ears perking up to show she was over her few moments lost in thoughts of queens and kits. After all, she was a warrior and still had much to give to her clan in other ways.
She turned back again picked up both her mouse and his squirrel, her jaws stretching wide to hold them both high from dragging in the snow. She crossed the clearing back to the young tom, pausing to drop the leaf-bare thin squirrel at his paws. Lightningfur extended one of her white paws forward to scrape away the snow from the frozen earth. Once she was satisfied that enough of the frozen water had been moved elsewhere she settled herself down beside Fishbone. Without waiting she sank her teeth into the now-cold mouse. It was stringy and thin but it would do to satisfy her hunger, after all mouse was her favorite no matter what season it had been caught in.
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Post by sil on Jan 17, 2012 22:05:33 GMT -5
His curiosity not diminished, but not in the mood to pursue the matter of queens and kits further, Fishbone’s lips pulled down into a frown. He wasn’t sure what about the life of a queen there was to be envious about, but he wouldn’t judge. The young tom had no desire to live about the nursery, caring to squealing kits. He strongly appreciated their importance to the Clan, and would fight to the death to protect them, but a family life wasn’t something he had really considered yet.
The smell of fresh-kill broke him from his thoughts; he nodded appreciatively as the she-cat dropped his squirrel beside him. With a claw, he poked at the wet flank of his squirrel, not hungry but knowing he needed to eat. Fishbone settled into his meal with a tad of reluctance. What he wouldn’t give for the full flavor of a fat squirrel in the middle of newleaf!
He felt the stirrings of unease creep up along his spine, rare for the dark-pelted warrior. Fishbone stopped, straightening himself a little to meow quietly, “NorthClan is preparing for war. Will you fight?”
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Post by Kenya on Jan 17, 2012 23:03:10 GMT -5
She stopped chewing her mouse, and forced herself to swallow it before she answered. Lightningfur flattened her ginger ears against her head. "Of coarse, wouldn't you?" She sounded surprised he would ask. Her clan was everything to her and she would be more then willing to risk a permanent trip to Starclan to protect them. Of course no clan wanted to go into battle but what else could they do?
"I will fight like all of Lionclan to protect my clan," She meowed cooly curling her tail around her soft snow-caked front paws. Giving her chest a few quick licks, she added "You're going to fight too." It wasn't a question. Lifting a front paw, she gave it a few licks and then rubbed her paw against her pink nose to warm it a bit. Suddenly the rest of her mouse didn't seem as appetizing but she wouldn't let herself waste fresh-kill in such a hard time. reluctantly, she dipped her ginger and white head again and finished the last few bites of mouse, now tasteless after the start of this new conversation.
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Post by sil on Jan 17, 2012 23:37:11 GMT -5
Fishbone’s beige-rimmed ears flattened against his head. What fur he had on his shoulders bristled in surprise and dismay. StarClan above, am I terrible at this… he thought dismally. A heated flush of embarrassment flooded his skin, even in the chill of leaf-bare. He meant no disrespect to Lightningfur, none at all. He was just quite bad at socializing, especially when he didn’t have a moment to prepare.
”Uh..,” he started awkwardly. To his vexation, his voice squeaked like a newborn kit’s, and the flush returned in full. Please keep the fury of this she-cat off me instead of our rival Clan! he added to his silent prayer. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Lightningfur,” Fishbone mewed, twisting around to lick flat the fur on his shoulders and to give him a second to sort out the right words. ”I meant it in an indirect way to ask… to ask if you’ve ever fought another cat before…” He sat rigidly. ”And yes, I will fight. To my last breath,” he replied with conviction. And it was the truth—something he meant with every last strand of fur on his body.
He knew the solitarily of his youth had cost him the chance to make allies, which he needed if he were ever going to succeed in this place. But now he was just blowing it. Miserable, Fishbone prodded his half-eaten squirrel with a sullen paw.
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Post by Kenya on Jan 18, 2012 0:44:59 GMT -5
Lightningfur suddenly regretted the stinging words she had spoken to the young warrior when she understood what he had meant. She stifled a purr of amusement from escaping her throat when he had squeaked like a kit though. Sighing, Lightningfur shifted and stood up straight as the last stray pieces of fur settled onto her shoulders once more. She touched the tip of her tail to his dark shoulder apologetically.
"No," She meowed watching him prod his fresh-kill with a weary paw not wanted to look up at him after her angered words, "I have never been in a battle like this. I've been in boarder fights, but nothing like this." Now Lightningfur felt awkward. She stared down intently at her paws as she pressed them rhythmically into the frozen earth. Truth is she was nervous, but she wouldn't let any of her clan mates know that. After all, she was a warrior!
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Post by sil on Jan 19, 2012 0:37:56 GMT -5
Fishbone, a smart, observant tom when he wasn’t stumbling over his tongue around she-cats, took notice of her fidgeting. He blinked in appreciation to the apology behind the simple physical contact, and then tilted his chin to meet her eye.
”Don’t be nervous,” he mewed. When she was still staring down at the scraps of fresh-kill, he pressed a paw gently, reassuringly, into her ginger flank until she looked at him. ”If you go at our enemy with half the spitfire you just showed me, you’ll make all of NorthClan proud,” Fishbone continued and nodded, eyes sparkling in honesty.
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Post by Kenya on Jan 19, 2012 15:51:06 GMT -5
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L i g h t n i n g f u r
Lightningfur purred when the young warriors praise reached her ears and warmed her from nose to tail. "Thank you, Fishbone." She curled her ginger and white ringed tail around her paws and gave her chest a few swift licks. "Northclan will be proud of you too! Those other clan cats won't know whats coming!" She added turning her blue icy gaze back up to him.
They had never been close as apprentices, as Fishbone seemed to keep to himself most of the time. Perhaps now she could be friends with this young tom. After all they both had so much to offer to their clan.
"Are you ready?" She inquired lightly. A chilling breeze tore the the camp making the territory whine with protest around them. For once she didn't mind it as the wind cooled the hot feeling on her fur from his praise.
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