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Year 7, Leaf-fall 29 - Temperatures drop a bit with the presence of random bursts of showers and blustering cold winds throughout the day.

Passionpaw;

The howling wind whistled through the rocks of the StoneClan camp. The haunting noise and her dream of falling that night had woken her earlier than usual. She loved to sleep until the very last moment of waking up. In the dimness she shuddered awake, her chest rising and falling quickly from unexpected adrenalin. Her wide pale green eyes blinked owlishly as she made sense of where she was – in the dens, surrounded by her siblings.

The first two days after Flickerleaf had been carried away, Passionpaw had been quieter than usual – in fact, rather silent. She was sure there were some that were grateful for the break in her chatter, but there were also some that had worried, but had given her space. Silence. It was the last thing she remembered Flickerleaf talking to her about – being quiet. Perhaps her silence was Passionpaw’s way of grieving or showing respect to her old mentor… she blinked at the thought, in her mind’s eye seeing the flailing body of Flickerleaf as she was carried away. Her dreams had been similar, ones of falling or being carried away or flying – which had been wonderful until she was falling. Falling…falling…

Her body shuddered and she quietly got up, picking her way through still silence bodies. More than a week ago she probably would have tried to wake one up to keep her company, but her haunting dream had woken her up in a quiet mood. She found a tight spot that led to where the rocks opened up to outside and squeezed into it – her nose touching the cold air of the morning. It wasn’t raining at the moment, but it smelled like it had not long ago. She took a deep breath and curled into the tight space and let her eyes flicker close. It only took a couple of moments of laying there for Passionpaw to regret not waking up one of her siblings. Her ears flicked backward to see if she had inadvertently woken up her siblings anyways, or maybe someone else. She didn’t want to fall back into sleep where she was bound to have another dream and she definitely didn’t want to lay by herself where her thoughts had time to marinate, Passionpaw just wanted the day to start.

KARAZHAL Ghost the Undead Goddess [open to anyone who wants to jump in! we may be doing battle training for dawnpaw and passionpaw]

[KARAZHAL]

Soft pawsteps rustled the pebbles outside, and a gray shadow shuffled in smelling of damp mouse. Birdtalon shivered; he was grateful to be out of the blustering wind. Heaving a soft sigh as he mentally welcomed himself home, he trotted to the fresh-kill pile with his mouse. Two more warriors did the same with their prey. The nighttime hunting patrol petered out, leaving Birdtalon to pick an empty spot and groom himself. It felt good to lap away all the rainwater clinging to his pelt. His rough tongue swiped at his paws, and he ran those across his muzzle to cleanse it after his hunt.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, but he saw it was just an apprentice getting comfortable in a cranny. He looked at all the favorite spots and holes camp had to offer. That apprentice had the right idea--and a good spot too, for that matter. After a night of hunting during intermittent rain, sleep (and drying off!) was just about all Birdtalon wanted to do. He pushed together moss until it was a tumbleweed. He climbed into the nest and slouched against one of the humongous slabs that made up their camp's walls. He pressed it against the wall until he decided he wanted some more material.

A portion of dry moss lay discarded near that narrow space where he could smell that apprentice. Most little cats would curl up together in a pile, but not this one? Birdtalon ducked his head down to look into the nook. "Hey... everything okay in there?" he whispered. This spot was so close to the entrance that the wind howled through little pockets and hurt Birdtalon's ears.

tag for @muze

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Passionpaw;

Her nose twitched at a sound, her whole body going rigid as the sounds multiplied as the home started to come alive with clan members. Her nose twitched again, flaring daintily as she took in the scents that wafted in with the cool breeze. They were hunters, bringing food from the night… she half wondered what role she could play in her clan, what sort of help she would be good at. So far, with the tumbling and wrestling she did with her siblings, she doubted she’d be much of a fighter. She wished there was some sort of explorer – like those who patrolled, but beyond the borders… her brain pushed the aside of border patrol, her dreams teasing to come alive from the recesses of her thoughts.

She jumped a little at the sound of a voice, having distracted herself in her thoughts that she had forgotten that there were others awake and about. “Oh, hi!” She uncurled herself a little, shuffling so that she could see better the face peeking in toward her. Everything okay? Her mind didn’t take long to register the strangeness of her loneliness, but for her it wasn’t the warmth of bodies she’d been missing, but the company to distract her.

“Yup, just woke up before my siblings.” She said in an excited whisper, shifting closer to poke out of the crevice she had found. The gray form of Birdtalon became more clear, his green eyes flashing in the dimness. His scent was damp and of mouse. “Were you out hunting? In the rain? All night?” She asked, excited to have a captive audience, whether he knew he was captive of not.

KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

Birdtalon's eyes were a little watery from being tired, but they crimped at the corners as he watched Passionpaw and smiled down at her. It was good to see the she-cat in warm spirits, if her soft excited voice was anything to go by. Birdtalon was the sort to mourn publicly and, unfortunately, take it out on others, but he had not suffered a greater loss than the time his sister Redpaw had been slain by the badger. He'd never lost his mentor or watched somecat get taken away by raptors. He'd heard about Flickerleaf of course; the elders sat a vigil since there was no body to bury.

Passionpaw did not snap at him that she wanted to be left alone. His tail swept around his hind-end and he sighed softly, regretting his past self for lashing out at Icepaw. The young apprentice in the stone pocket seemed a lot more put together than he'd been.

"Do you mind if I lay here?" he asked softly, pushing the big moss pile closer to her and taking up his post. He folded his paws beneath himself as he settled down, ready to answer Passionpaw's questions. "Not all night, but yes, we were hunting. Have you been on a night hunt yet?" His chin jerked toward the clanmates who'd gone with him; Birdtalon wasn't the sort to boast meaninglessly. "Are you hungry? I can get you something?" he offered.

tag for @muze sorry for the wait!!

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Passionpaw;

Her ears flicked at his question and she shifted eagerly in her spot. “Nope!” Her pale eyes watched unblinking as he moved closer. Her mind and body seemed to be put at ease with the sudden proximity of another, distraction pulling her even further from her nightmares. She was glad the day was starting soon; it would help her paws remain in reality.

“No, not yet.” Passionpaw quickly responded, her relaxed body tensing momentarily at the thought of her training. It wasn’t like she was against her path to becoming a warrior, but… it definitely hadn’t been easy. She got bored easily. And with the death of her previous mentor… there were doubts that held her back unconsciously, ones that she avoided facing when possible. “It sounds exciting though, I can’t wait for the opportunity!” Her training hadn’t stopped, she had gone on patrols and done training with others, but it hadn’t progressed terribly quickly either. The though had occurred to her that the clan was letting her have time to mourn, but realized very quickly she didn’t want the time by herself in her mind.

Hungry? She blinked, no she hadn’t eaten. “No, I’m okay right now.” She wanted to talk, not eat. She didn’t really know Birdtalon very well, since she spent most of her time with other apprentices and their mentors. "What did you most enjoy learning when you were an apprentice? I love exploring the territory.” Even as she said it, it left a sour taste in her mouth, her paws almost numbing from the memory of the hawk carrying off her mentor. It hadn’t changed her love to learn and explore, but it had taught her to be more wary… she still had a hard time focusing, but she at least tried a little harder. At this point she probably would have originally talked his ear off on some adventure, but that had faded with the numbing of her paws. Instead she focused on the warrior, ears cupped toward him.

KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

His blue-green eyes caught the sudden tension in her back. To a hunter like him, she seemed a mouse who'd froze at the sight of a scorpion. Birdtalon pitied her for her loss, but he hoped she did not fear what laid ahead in her apprenticeship. She spoke confidently enough. Yet, he knew all too well how a cat could say one thing yet feel another.

"Smokestar won't leave you hanging," he promised, "and StarClan will guide your paws." Now that Flickerleaf had gone on to the Endless Hunt, did the apprentice seek solace in prayers? Did her former mentor touch her dreams? Birdtalon took comfort in knowing Redpaw was always walking beside him even when he couldn't see her. Once Icefang reminded him of that, it'd been easier to get back in step with himself.

The matte-gray tom gave her a small nod and settled into the bed of raggedy moss. "Hmmm," he hummed a thoughtful note, and he drew one paw up to his chin, trying to remember his childhood. "I would say... hunting. I was good at it, and that made it fun and easy." He remembered being rather unimpressed with his clan's territory. Exploration only seemed to uncover more stones. Even at his first Gathering as an apprentice, he couldn't believe they'd traveled all the way from camp just to watch the leaders sit atop--yes, you guessed it--stones. He and Icefang had gone to the Little Woods to rub cheeks a few times back when they were younger. That was really the only place for privacy.

"I love our home, of course, but I can't help wonder what's farther out there, if we ever went beyond the ridge where the Moon Tree is. Forget trespassing on land some LightningClanner or RainClanner has peed on already. Haven't you ever looked at those cliffs and thought about chasing the horizon?" he asked.

tag for @muze

[Deleted]

Passionpaw;

She didn’t like how he spoke as if he could read her thoughts and feelings, but she shrugged at his soothing words. She hadn’t thought she’d be left hanging and it wasn’t like she didn’t believe in StarClan – but at the same time her young mind couldn’t grasp how they could help her if she couldn’t see them. She was glad when he changed note, diverting the attention off of her and reminiscing on his days as apprentice.

Hunting. In Passionpaw’s mind that was a necessity, like a chore. Sometimes it could be fun… she tried to imagine it from his point of view. The stalking, the imagining you were stalking and killing something much larger than a mouse… hunting could be fun. Her head suddenly tilted at the change in his tone- her eyes slightly widening as he went on about real exploration. She twisted from the upsidedown position she had rolled into, to laying with her attention fully on the tom.

Her mouth almost watered at the sort of adventure he posed. “I mean, yeah, I have.” She glanced around, and then zeroed back in on the male. “But… we can’t, right?” Her eyes glazed over a little. “I used to imagine all sorts of things, like flying.” She gulped. “But, ah, I still do. Imagine all sorts of things.” Her head shook a little and she spoke in a hushed tone. “Have you gone so far?”

KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

Birdtalon's blue-green eyes slipped further and further together. Slowly they'd open and blink at Passionpaw, but the tom was having trouble resisting the urge to sleep. He exhaled a breathy laugh at the apprentice's sudden excitement. He hadn't thought she'd react this way. "Oh?" he said softly.

"As long as we do not trespass on another clan's territory, it is not against the Code. It is just discouraged because of how dangerous it is. If you go too far from camp, you would have to rely on your own abilities instead of being able to ask your clanmates from help. That doesn't appeal to many. Most think of Demon and get cold paws." And he couldn't blame them. There were many predators out there, kept at bay by the combined scents of the five clans. Occasionally one would have the gumption to cross the line and prey upon them, whether it be a wolverine, a badger, or a coyote. But past the clan borders on the mountains, there were equal amounts of danger and beauty. Few thought the risk was worth the reward.

"No, I haven't, not yet anyway, but there are cats that live in the mountains, known as the Tribe. When you go to the Gathering, you will see them and be able to talk to them. You should make friends with them. They are not like the clans, but that does not mean you cannot be friends." Birdtalon smiled at her gently.

tag for @muze