[Ginger]

Where on earth did Ashpaw and Flash go? Tumble, not one known for being perceptive, had lost track of the two toms. Had they gone out hunting? Or was it just a walk? Either way, the black and white tom had absolutely no idea. I really need to work on my memory. Out here, forgetting little things like where your family was could get you seriously hurt. In rare cases, it could get you killed. Luckily for Tumble, he was a pretty decent fighter and was unlikely to be felled by anything except a large and vicious animal. Cats, he could take.

For now, he would simply wait and hope that the two toms had remembered where they left him. 

And wait.

Where were they? Tumble stood up, feeling the beginnings of worry. Their scent had not graced his nose yet, and there were no noises in the distance. 

And wait.

It wasn't often that Tumble found himself separated from Flash and Ashpaw. Especially not for this long. The anxious tom began to pace back and forth, forming a little path in the dirt from walking over it again and again. 

And wait.

What if something happened to them? Tumble continued to pace, but he was beginning to grow a desire to leave his spot to go searching for the two toms. I can't leave. That will make it worse if they come back. He would give them a little more time. For now, all he could do was await the return of Ashpaw and Flash.

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Adderpool

"I see things no one else sees."

The rain of a couple days ago had lifted and the weather had turned hot again. Water was plentiful, which was a blessing in this heat, and Adderpool was making sure to stay close to ponds and puddles as she padded along. Hemlock had gone to explore and she'd grown bored rather quickly, deciding to do some looking of her own. The hollow they had found, while a touch foreboding, was a constant source of fascination for her brother and Adderpool was more than willing to let him amuse himself with its contents however he chose. It was comfortable, at least, and it had offered good shelter from the downpours.

The flicker of movement caught her eye and she stopped to look: a black and white pelt crossed behind a stunted tree and then emerged into the sunlight again. Her first thought that it might be Magpiewing- was he still going by that name?- was rejected. This cat's pelt and form was different; he was looking around, but hadn't seem to have spotted her yet. Wherever their father was, this cat wasn't him.

Adderpool approached slowly, tail up and ears pricked toward him. He had begun to pace, back and forth in front of a hole in the ground. A rabbit's burrow, possibly one he was using as a den. He had a worried look on his face, but he didn't react to her as she neared him, and she paused a few tail-lengths away. She didn't want to get clawed by him. "Hey," she spoke, and her tail whisked behind her as he jerked, head whipping around and golden eyes fixing on her. "What's wrong with you?"

Ginger || Notes

[Ginger]

A voice in the near vicinity of Tumble caused him to nearly jump out of his skin. A sliver of hope crossed his mind as he realized it was another cat. Ashpaw? Flash? But alas, the voice was much too feminine to be any of theirs. 

"Phew, I thought you were a tom," he said jokingly, recovering from being startled. Orienting himself to look fully at the she-cat, Tumble noticed that she was more than just a she-cat, she was a rather pretty she-cat. He found his golden eyes tracing the pathway of her ginger patches, starting at the base of her tail, moving up to where one of her striking green eyes was surrounded by a patch of warm orange fur. 

Tumble immediately found himself getting flustered. "I mean, you don't look like a tom." Ouch. That probably made if worse. "You look a lot like a she-cat!" He was only digging himself further and further into the ground. All he could do was stop now. I tried. 

At her question, Tumble looked around one more time, as if somehow he could will his family into returning at that very moment. It didn't seem to work. Despite how pretty this she-cat was, Tumble didn't know her. He couldn't give her too much information, just in case she had bad intent. "I'm just waiting on my brother, Flash, and my dear friend, Ashpaw. My name is Tumble, by the way." Oh foxdung. Tumble had literally just told himself to not overshare, and here he was giving away all his information to this random she-cat whom he had never met! She's not that random. She seemed nice. Tumble just felt naturally inclined to tell her everything. It was as if he was under an enchantment.

Time to cover up his awkwardness with an even more awkwardly-placed comment. "I'm not a she-cat." What? That was all he could say? Why was he getting so flustered? Usually one to crack a joke, Tumble found himself instead unintentionally making a fool of himself. Usually it was at least partly intentional. All he could do now was try to dig himself back out. "What's your name? And what brings you to this side of the mountains? I think I would remember seeing you. Not because you're super ugly or weird-looking, I swear. You're kind of pretty, really." He had something good going there for a moment, but Tumble fell right back down into his awkward and flustered state. It was difficult to talk to she-cats! The only she-cat Tumble ever really interacted with was his mother. Why didn't anyone train him in smooth-talking?

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Adderpool

"I see things no one else sees."

"I thought you were a tom!" was the first thing out of the black-and-white cat's mouth, and Adderpool offered a blink, a glance down at her tortoiseshell fur, and then back up at him. Before she could offer a contradiction, he was going on, informing her that she looked like a she-cat. His face kept shifting through expressions, embarrassment, confusion, a brief attempt at amusement. Words poured from his jaws, like the leak in the beaver's dam she'd witnessed only a few days ago; she'd been fascinated by the efficiency of the aquatic animals and she'd watched them for hours until hunger had driven her to find something she could eat.

"You're kind of pretty, really." A tip of her head was a silent response to the compliment. It had felt like something he'd just- blurted. She'd never had any cat call her pretty, and she wasn't quite sure how to respond. Perhaps she ought to return it? Beauty- or the lack of it- mattered nothing to her. But, for the sake of this conversation, she accepted it. Perhaps it meant something to this cat? "Thank you, that's kind to say. To me, most definitely a she-cat."

Her gaze turned and she offered a flick of her tail to their right. "I saw a gray tom that way. He looked like he was hunting. I'm not sure if that's one of the two you're looking for. He wasn't far. My name is Adderpool. I was just exploring the valley a bit. There's so much to see. To do." For a moment she was silent, before adding on, "And you? You're new."

Ginger || Notes

[Ginger]

Tumble couldn't help but awkwardly laugh at the pretty she-cat's confirmation of her sex. She seemed like the type who didn't get around to joking much, so the friendly tom appreciated her rolling with it. 

The news that she brought next brought a flush of warm relief throughout Tumble's entire anxious body, calming every muscle, every nervous tick. Ashpaw was just out hunting, and Flash couldn't be far. They were probably just having a hard time finding something good enough to sate all three of the toms' appetites. Either way, Tumble knew he could relax and enjoy this serendipitous moment with the she-cat by the name of...

Adderpool. That sounded interesting. Too interesting. "Wait. Your name." He cocked his head to the side, curiosity taking over. "Are you one of those clan cats? Which one are you-no! Let me guess actually." 

Tumble walked around Adderpool, observing everything. Her fur was really dark, so she probably wasn't a cat that spent a lot of time in the open. So she definitely was not Cliffclan, Beachclan, or Cloudclan. Looking at her strong and developed hind legs, Tumble noted that she probably did a lot of jumping or climbing or something. The black and white tom knew next-to-nothing about the clans, but he had often listened with excitement to Ashpaw's stories about what made each clan different. Despite his struggle to memorize the clan names, he had a pretty good idea of the ideal build of warriors in each clan. "Are you Darkclan? Or Leafclan?"


With a smile, Tumble returned to the front of Adderpool, facing her head-on. "Me, I am Tumble of Noclan. But one of the toms I live with was part of Pebbleclan!"

---

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Adderpool

"I see things no one else sees."

Adderpool didn't join in with the tom's laugh, merely kept her green gaze fixed on him with only infrequent blinks interrupting the stare. She hadn't intended that to be funny, so why had he laughed? Yet, it wasn't the easy sort of laugh she'd heard before; there was an odd quality to it and his body fidgeted a bit as he did so. Was he nervous? Of her?

Ginger-flecked ears twitched as relief followed her announcement of seeing the two toms. Her description hadn't been detailed but it seemed to have been enough to ease his worry. Interesting. How just a simple word could calm this cat when he didn't even know if the cat she'd spoken of was the one he was missing. If she'd said that he'd been... injured, perhaps, what would that have done? Would he have shot off to look for himself? Some cats- just trusted too easily.

Maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Maybe she could use that to her advantage some time.

The black-and-white tom was speaking again and Adderpool focused her gaze on him once again. Now the topic was about her name, and its similarity to those of Clan cats. He'd caught on to that quickly- perhaps not strange, given how well known the Clans would be to loners. And there were Clan exiles. Had he met one of them? That would certainly explain how he'd caught on to her name so quickly. Before she could stop it, the question rose in her mind: had this tom met Magpiewing? She pushed it away. The answer didn't matter; she had no need for news about where her father was, or how he was faring.

This cat's names for the Clans were wrong, but close enough that she could guess what he'd meant. She didn't bother correcting him on NightClan's right name- and on a whim, chose not to give TreeClan's. Who cared? She wasn't TreeClan anymore. Neither was this cat. "LeafClan," she replied with a nod. "Former. My brother and I left at the beginning of greenleaf."

The news that he was traveling with a cat who had been part of StoneClan- what strange names he had for the Clans; hadn't this cat taught him the proper names?- did answer her question on how he had known so quickly that her name was similar to a Clan cat's. She'd known that she might have to deal with this when she'd named herself Adderpool, but she had gone ahead with it anyway. And now that she had his name as well, the tortoiseshell gave a slight nod of her head. "Well met, Tumble of NoClan. Would you mind very much if we moved this conversation to the shade? It's quite hot and it would be more comfortable out of the sun."

Ginger || Notes

[Ginger]

Tumble couldn't conceal his excitement at Adderpool's confirmation of his very educated guess. A wide smile broke out on his lips, and his tail perked up just a little extra. Tumble was the master of clan knowledge!! 

But..Why would she leave? Of course, being a free cat was awesome, but Tumble was intrigued by the idea of always having a consistent place to come back to every night. A network of family and friends even bigger than the one he was currently in. But was that really better? Tumble's home was his little family, and quality was much more important than quantity. Clan life couldn't be that great, anyways, if so many cats were leaving it.

Still. It was intriguing. 

Tumble shook off the thought as Adderpool proposed that the two cats move to the shade. "I would love that!" Tumble himself was rather hot as well -- his black fur and extra weight were very good at absorbing heat. He was pretty good at just pretending like he was fine, however, because he never wanted to make things inconvenient for anyone. 

But Adderpool here actually wanted to cool off. What a gem!

Tumble looked around, his eyes resting on a tree that was casting a looming shadow over some rocks. Perfect! The black-and-white tom perkily walked over to where the rocks were. As his front foot made contact with the stone, Tumble came across a pleasant surprise: the rocks were quite cool and refreshing! "Adderpool, come sit on the rocks with me! They're even better than just sitting in the shade!" He had just met her, but Tumble wanted to share the good he had found with her. It only made sense to do so -- this world could get lonely when your two best friends were out hunting. 

"So, Adderpool, she-cat formerly of ForestClan, now that you have been 'exploring the valley a bit,' where is your favorite place? And are you alone?" Tumble stopped himself before impulsively asking Adderpool to join him and his group. They would probably not have appreciated not being consulted. But it was still a temptation. Especially if she was all alone. Tumble enjoyed his life in the valley, but he would have hated it if not for his group.

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Adderpool

"I see things no one else sees."

With the tom's agreement, Adderpool rose and turned in the direction of the tree Tumble had pointed out. He padded ahead of her, settling onto the rocks, and she joined him a moment later, a quiet puff of relief escaping her as she left the oppressive heat of the sun shining down and settled on the ground, stretching herself out to soak up as much cool shade as possible. She flicked a glance at the black-and-white tom as he asked his question, and she considered the answer for a moment. Not that she had to think about it- more wondering how he would react to it if she told him the entire truth.

From what she'd seen of him, Adderpool was certain he would be wary- at the least. Most would be, if they were told that she lived in a hollowed out tree littered with the bones of long-dead creatures. But not she and Hemlock, and while her interest was more in wondering about the life of the creature who'd collected it, Hemlock had been much more interested in studying all of it.

"No, I'm not alone. My brother and I live on the moor. There's an old tree out there that is similar to the camp we came from. It is... very comforting to us both. What about you- and your brother and friend?" Not out of curiosity did she ask, simply because he had asked her, and she understood conversation enough to know that asking questions in response was generally the way it worked; if she didn't, she'd found out, sooner or later the other cat got weird. Something about her being awkward, and usually it soured the following talk until they left.

Talk or no, it was all the same. If Tumble wanted to carry on a conversation, she could humor him for now. At least he wasn't being pushy, and though he seemed to be the type to spout whatever thoughts came to his head- no matter how strange- she was willing to sit here and listen. And talk back. It didn't matter to her if she was alone, but maybe- maybe if she managed to convince a few cats to tolerate her, she could hand them over to Hemlock so he could have friendships. Maybe Tumble would be the first. He might not be the smartest cat, but he was certainly pleasant enough to be around. "Maybe you'd like to meet my brother sometime?"

Ginger || Notes

[Ginger]

Wow! They lived in a tree? That was pretty permanent. Tumble looked to Adderpool, his eyes full of interest and awe. "A real permanent home! So cool." 

Tumble, Flash, and Ashpaw, on the other hand, didn't have that. They had each other, which Tumble was forever grateful for. However, they never seemed to find any place to settle down. Maybe it was because Wander never had them staying any place for longer than a moon, maybe it was even because Ashpaw was afraid of calling any place home after being gone from his. Either way, Tumble could never picture a specific place to call home. It made him very sad, but he couldn't let this pretty she-cat know that.

The chubby tom puffed out his chest, an air of mock arrogance surrounding him. "My home is too big for any mortal to comprehend. I have a den in the mountains, a den in the valley, a den by the river, a den underground. This entire land is my home!" 

Now, losing the arrogance, Tumble awkwardly bumped Adderpool. "So welcome home, Adderpool."

At Adderpool's final question, Tumble perked his ears up. A brother? A new potential friend? Tumble loved Flash and Ashpaw, but it might be nice to see some new faces occasionally. "I would love that," he purred.

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Note: Finished? I can go reply to the other thread next