[Deleted]

Shiny yellow eyes peered out from the hooded features of the fluffy LightningClan she-cat, Jadedfeather. Eyes, while vivid in color, shone with a haunted, sleepless gleam. Another night had passed without any sleep for the medium-aged warrioress and yet, she was not surprised. Features of her reckless sibling danced through her head when she shut her eyes and when she woke, her bloody, lifeless body stalked her like a ghost. No matter what the gray and orange she-cat did, she was never alone. Jadedfeather once had confided in her troubles in her older brother, Rootstride, who once seemed to be one of the only cats in her living family that put up with her "nonsense". Now, she didn't even speak to him about it; the fluffy warrior had become certain that he was to consumed with his own life to be concerned with her monotonous, meager one.

The young warrior flicked her bushy tail against the ground and watched dust rise up in her wake. Such a motion was the only part of her body that let the LightningClanner know that she was alive. The breath and the thump in her chest might have been another indication, if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't feel so empty that it hardly felt like it was real. Every rise and fall of her white chest brought no life to her body. Only anguish.

Flicking her tired yellow orbs around LightningClan camp, she found no motivation to leave camp. Her throat felt closed up and dry and she wondered, should somebody cross paths with her and speak, if she could even speak back.

[Phoenix]

Any other day, and he would be out with Rapidwind, lost in LightningClan territory until the older tom decided that they had spent long enough freezing their paws off in the rolling banks of snow. It wasn't that he minded training. He didn't love it, but he didn't hate it either. It was just there, just another obstacle to tackle and overcome. Rapidwind was nice, though. Sometimes the older tom seemed exasperated, but he had never snapped or said anything mean. He felt a little bad about driving his mentor crazy, particularly since he was a skilled, good-hearted warrior, but there was nothing he could do about it short of requesting a new mentor. And he most certainly did not want to do that. Rapidwind was a pleasant cat and a good, hard-working mentor. Icepaw had no idea where the striped warrior was, though, so he decided that it would be best to stay in camp until he could be found.

That was when he noticed a different warrior, a rather pretty she-cat, settled off to the side of the camp. Curious and thinking that he might as well keep her company - they were both alone, so they might as well be lonely together - the apprenticed moved over to join her, scuffing the dirt lightly as he walked. Idly, he found himself wondering what the she-cat's name was. Though he had made it a habit to watch the warriors perform their duties when he was a kit, that did not mean that he learned their names. He knew them by the way they walked and the way they held themselves, whether they returned to camp with jaws full of rabbits or with a frustrated expression and no prey to show for it. It was almost more interesting that way, when he had no reputation to get in the way of his own opinion.

"Hi there. Do you mind if I sit here?" Icepaw greeted the warrior brightly, as he settled down beside her head without waiting for an answer. "You looked a little lonely and sad, so I thought I might keep you company." He paused for a moment, before adding softly, "Do you want to be friends?" She did look lonely and rather defeated, and in his mind, the best cure for both of those was friendship.

[/blockquote]

[Deleted]

he was high on i n t e ll e c t u a l i s m

The mousy brown, cream, and orange tabby she-cat only stared at the ground of the LightningClan camp instead of turning her eyes up to the sun. Light burned the young warrior's eyes too much to be an option -- she did not want to see it, nor deal with it. The light was not the only reason behind Jadedfeather's downward gaze. The femme did not want to risk the chance of having to interact with any other cat in her clan or otherwise. If someone were to speak to her, the unusual hued feline would have to feign a brighter mood and force out conversation. The warrior could think of nothing in her life that she would want to talk about and was content with her own thoughts as her only company.

'Hi there. Do you mind if I sit here?' Jadedfeather's tall, slender body jumped a little at the sound of another cat speaking so close to her. Jadedfeather could not really remember the last time another cat spoke to her, and she would've liked to keep it that way. Flicking her pale eyes over to the intrusive cat, she found the happy face of a mid-aged apprentice staring back at her. Taken aback by such a glowing presence as opposed to her gloomy one, the LightningClanner struggled to recall what sort of words the apprentice had spoken to her. There were more than one of them, I think, Jadedfeather mused, gaze searching the other cat's face as if the words he spoke would fall off of his face and land in her paws. The apprentice's face gradually began to lower and she suddenly found herself at eye level with him. 'You looked a little lonely and sad, so I thought I might keep you company,' the apprentice, whose name she could not recall, spoke with words she felt to be a little harsh. The warrior's fur bristled at the apprentice's words and she felt defensive. Sad? Lonely? What right did he have to make judgments on her? Jadedfeather asked herself, scanning the apprentice's face. Though the warrior's gaze was sharp and angry, behind such thoughts existed no energy or effort to back up such fierceness. The quickness to which Jadedfeather lost energy was an example of this. As soon as the apprentice asked to be her friend, all anger left her body through the toes. He's just an apprentice. Barely a kit. Why would you be mean to someone to young and harmless? So innocent? You piece of foxdung, Jadedfeather glanced up at the apprentice with a blank expression.
"I'm Jadedfeather. You?" she asked, voice quiet and at first rusty and ragged from disuse. "And where's your mentor?" the warrior asked, casting her gaze to the exit of the camp before returning back to the apprentice. Could he buzz off?

[Phoenix]

If her flinch was anything to go by, he thought that she was surprised that he had approached her, and that thought was a rather sobering one. Clans were to be built on bonds of friendship and trust, according to Rapidwind, yet this warrior seemed startled that another clan mate would attempt to start a conversation with her. Icepaw was not particularly knowledgeable when it came to thinking with his heart, but he did not think that the she-cat's reaction supported his mentor's theory on an ideal clan. The words were nice to hear, but speaking and doing were two very different things. He had learned that a while ago. In his short time with the clan, he had always thought that LightningClan was as close to this ideal clan as he could get. Had he been wrong? But perhaps it wasn't right to make that decision based off of one experience. Rapidwind would tell him to not give up on his clan mates so quickly.

"That's a nice name," Icepaw responded lightly, tucking the information away for future reference. "I'm Icepaw. And Rapidwind, my mentor, gave me the day off today. I was wondering if you might like some company...?" It came out as more of a question than a statement, but he felt obligated to ask whether or not she wanted him there before he forced his presense upon her. The she-cat - Jadedfeather, he reminded himself - seemed rather reticent in nature, no doubt a cat of few words and many thoughts. He was like that sometimes, though he thought he was getting better in the talking area, perhaps as a result of daily interaction with other cats in varying situations. The interactions weren't all bad, either, and like his training, certain parts were enjoyable.

He found himself wondering if Jadedfeather had enjoyed training to become a warrior. How much had the system changed since she passed through it? Had it? Plenty of clan life was based on tradition, like the ceremonies, and he was curious to find out if that applied to training styles and subjects as well. Surely it adapted as time passed and other problems became more relevent. "Did you like training as an apprentice?" Icepaw wondered aloud, blue eyes drawn to meet her pale-eyed gaze. "Has training changed since then, do you know? Or is it all the same?"

[/blockquote]