[Insidious]

C R O W D A N C E
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She was never more thankful than when the sun descended from its high, mighty perch in the sky. She often caught herself reluctantly squinting up at it, sometimes for hours on end (with frequent breaks in between) until finally - finally! - it started to slowly disappear in favour of the moon, retreating under the harsh, disapproving sneer on her face. As soon as the cool wind of night swept through the clearing, the first smile of the day would stretch lazily across the senior warrior’s face, blinking her pretty, greenish-blue eyes far more readily, knowing that they would no longer open to witness the glare of the sun’s rays until, StarClan forbid, the following morning.

What with how much she cherished the evening, it was no shocker that she was beginning to feel nocturnal, wide awake and prepared to hunt when it seemed the rest of StoneClan was retreating to their respective dens to sleep. She sometimes wished that the rest of her Clanmates shared her revulsion for the sunlight, then they could all start sleeping during daylight and rising once the landscape turned dark. The tortoiseshell scanned the clearing, wondering if any felines would be staying awake for a while longer yet, when she caught sight of Wolfclaw’s unmistakable pelt just outside the leader’s den, deep in conversation with Hawkstar. The duo said their goodbyes, Hawkstar wandering towards the nursery - undoubtedly to say goodnight to his mate and their kittens - which was the same moment that Crowdance’s paws shifted into action.

There was an odd lightness in her step, she found, far more eager to see Wolfclaw, to speak with him, than she anticipated herself to be. She had no right to be excited to be in his company; her heartbeat started to stutter, the nerves making it feel like her fur was sticking up, straight as needles, and before she even knew what she was doing, she had screeched to a firm halt and started briskly walking in the opposite direction. Her tail lashed behind her, once, twice, whether out of anger or embarrassment she had no clue. She could only hope that Wolfclaw had not spotted her in the midst of her indecisiveness. She could imagine, clear as day, the way he was probably snickering to himself right now at having witnessed her turn-tail and race away like he harboured greencough in his chest and would potentially get her sick if she drew any closer.

Why did it have to be so easy to make a complete fool out of herself?

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Tags: Amber
Word Count: 423.

[Deleted]

Insidious
ack

Wolfclaw watched with a small smile as Hawkstar retreated to the nursery. The evening patrol had just reported back to him and went off to bed, and in turn he had just relayed the report to his leader. His duties finished for the day, he cast his gaze over the camp. He had already notified the cats of the dawn patrol, he already had plans in mind for the rest of the hunting and border patrols, and the camp was quiet as cats were winding down and going to bed.

A flash of color caught his eye, and he turned his head to see the lean form of Crowdance walking away, perhaps just a little too quickly. He watched her for a moment, perhaps a bit longer than was necessary, before stepping forward to follow her. He strode forward with confidence, but as he drew nearer, he faltered, as his heart began to skip a little. What was it about her that could cause his confidence to wane? Even in the heat of battle, he was always calm and confident. But here, in peace and in her presence, he was uncertain. It was unsettling, to say the least.

"Good evening, Crowdance." His voice was gentle, but still held his strong undertone. He smiled softly at her, hoping he hadn't startled her. Now he was here, and next to her, and he suddenly realised he didn't have any sort of plan. No idea as to why he would just randomly come up to her, no thought as to what he should say. So he held his smile and hoped she couldn't see that he had no idea what to do next.

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W O L F C L A W

[Insidious]

C R O W D A N C E
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It had been easy to convince herself that enough distance had been established between her and StoneClan’s deputy as to prevent the onset of terribly awkward conversation. She had never been good at talking to other cats, or trying to make friends at all, for the matter, and she just cared so much about Wolfclaw’s opinion. In an ideal world, nothing but nice things would come to mind whenever the deputy took a moment to think about the unusual senior warrior, but in all honesty, there was little about her that she believed anybody else could find even remotely appealing. For starters, she was getting old. Her prime would be leaving her behind in no time, and she had no trademark to leave, no stamp of greatness that would tell future generations of StoneClan about the senior warrior that had once been, repulsion towards sunlight and all. That was another thing about her that nobody else seemed to understand. The sun was something to be happy about, because it warmed pelts and brought the promise of another day, but she hated every second of its ascent into the sky, because for her, it did nothing but burn her eyes and make her want to burrow into the ground. She was a feline of the night, because not only was the air crisp and cool, but any chances of company diminished as more and more of her Clanmates went to sleep, and it was only then that she ever had a moment to truly relax.

But it seemed that Wolfclaw was more attentive than she gave him credit for, because somewhere in the midst of her tense escape, he had seen her and decided to follow her to the very edge of StoneClan’s camp. His greeting was warm, welcome, and everything that was to be expected from him, but he may as well have been a LightningClan intruder attacking from behind, what with the way she practically leaped out of her clumsy sit to whirl towards him in self-defense. Her tortoiseshell patterned fur was standing at all ends, her expression enough to give away how incredibly unnerved she felt. Immediately she began to feel like a complete and total fool for reacting to his words so irrationally. She was in StoneClan camp, for pete’s sake, so she should have been better prepared for somebody to approach her. There was no reason for her to be as nervous as she was, and yet . . .

“Wolfclaw,” her voice was breathless, as though she had just run the whole of their territory twice. “I’m sorry. You scared me. I hadn’t been expecting anyone to -” To what, exactly? If she said that she hadn’t been expecting anyone to talk to her tonight, she would just sound like a hopeless excuse for company, and she didn’t want Wolfclaw to think that she was unapproachable in the future. She settled with letting her sentence awkwardly transition into silence, looking at his paws because it was a lot easier than looking into his eyes and trying to figure out the extent to which he thought she was a loser. “I’m sorry, again, that was really embarrassing.” And to make matters worse, she had apologized a second time, for what she couldn’t even be sure.

It was decided: she would be sleeping elsewhere tonight so that she wouldn’t have to spend the night in the same den as Wolfclaw, and then she would proceed to avoid him over the course of the next few moons until this was completely wiped from his memory.

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Tags: Amber
Word Count: 593.

[Deleted]

She spun around in -- fear? -- and Wolfclaw instantly regretted speaking out as he did. He should have waited for her to notice him, walked around into her sightline, something, anything, that wouldn't have startled her so.

Her voice lacked breath, and Wolfclaw flicked his ears back momentarily. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Her gaze dropped to her paws, and his heart did a funny thing. He looked at her for a moment, using her inattention as a chance to take in her pretty multicolored fur and lean frame. She apologized again, and Wolfclaw sat down beside her, flicking her side with the tip of his tail.

"It's okay. I won't tell anyone, and we can act like it never happened." He flashed her a broad, genuine smile. He wasn't certain why, but he really wanted to get to know her, and he wanted to be her friend. He was willing to move past this embarrassing start to their conversation, and move into one worth having.

He looked up to the sky, where the stars of Silverpelt were growing brighter. The moon had yet to rise, and the sky was darkening to an inky blue-black. Wolfclaw smiled. "I've always loved watching the stars. Apart, they are only small points of light, but together... together they shine."

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W O L F C L A W

Insidious