[Ginger]

A large brown figure lounged on the rocks of the Sky Springs, feeling the gentle breeze carrying the water from StoneClan's oasis over his fur. The wet breeze condensed into droplets on the tips of his fur, giving the tom's pelt a shining look as the sun's rays passed over him. 

This moment was perfect. His clan was perfect. He was perfect.

Nothing could ruin this moment.

Nothing except what just waltzed in. Alderfrost nearly gagged as the slightest smell of RainClan blew to his nose. He turned his head, eyes narrow, and rested his gaze upon Honeynose. The sun was behind him, turning his dark figure into more of a silhouette while simultaneously illuminating the she-cat in front of him. The sun warmed her pelt, making the rather average-looking she-cat look anything but. She exuded warmth, but she also exuded that terrible RainClan smell.

She was a warrior of StoneClan. Alderfrost didn't like sharing with weaker clans. 

He would ensure that she stayed with StoneClan. With him.

The intense tom softened his eyes, appearing kind as one could. "Hello there," his deep and velvety voice purred. Alderfrost stood up on the stone he was standing on, so as to show off his size and might. He knew how to win the she-cats over. 

"Let's wash that scent off of you. We don't want the others finding out you ventured too close to our border with our ... neighbors." As pleasant as he tried to appear to Honeynose, he still struggled to speak anything less than an insult about RainClan. This was as good as it could get.

---

269 words
Fawn

[Fawn]

Her heart felt so light, it was a miracle it didn't squeeze itself from her chest and fly away. A hum forming on her tongue, Honeynose made the trek from the stone stream to the sky springs, intending to enjoy her alone time just a bit longer. Oh, how she wished she could tell the others about Emberlight. He had duties to attend to, and parting from him always felt... it felt wrong in some way that she couldn't immediately describe, but the feeling of melancholy always warred with the elation in her heart from the encounter.

What had started out as random, chance encounters blossomed into something... more. Something like friendship, but Honeynose stayed away from that label as if it would bite her whiskers off. They weren't...friends... they were... they were...

The tabby and white she-cat's chance to ponder specifics vanished as a voice, thick with an air of command, hooked her attention like claws through a fish's gills. Though Alderfrost purred his greeting, Honeynose still felt as if the wind had suddenly been knocked out of her. The way he looked at her, the way his nose twitched as if something foul had just come across his senses... Honeynose fumbled through her words, even as he confirmed the RainClan scent on her coat. B-But I was so careful!

Ah, thistles. She'd buried her face in the thick fur on Emberlight's chest (a favorite thing to do for her) just before saying goodbye.

"O-Oh, sorry--" why was she apologizing? "--I like to clean my paws at the stone stream! And the colors -- changing -- trees." After that verbal catastrophe, Honeynose forced herself to take a deep breath, muzzle comically puffing out as she held it to a count of ten, then let it out. "I like to see the colors changing on the trees, too. StoneClan doesn't have very much. What ah... what brings you here, A-Alderfrost?"

Senior Warrior || 60 Moons || StoneClan

Honeynose

Ginger || Made by Fawn || 319 Words

[Ginger]

She spoke with too little confidence to be telling any truth. "Oh, you know, just waiting for some prey to show up." Alderfrost was at her side within a few bounds. 

"You need not lie to me, flower." Despite his attempt at a friendly facade, his words still dripped with ice. With blood. "Whatever lucky tom you graced your presence with does not know who lies in wait on the other side of the border." A threat.

Possessive as always, Alderfrost was. He barely knew Honeynose, yet he already felt his jealousy growing. She was a StoneClan cat. She should not be spreading her strong blood and genes to one from another clan. With a smirk, the towering tom pressed himself against Honeynose, walking around the she-cat without breaking contact.

In a way he was helping her. He was masking RainClan's scent with his own. In a way he was marking her as his own. 

"I would hate to find that awful smell on you again, flower. I may have to do more than just mask his scent." He would let her imagination run wild with the terrible things he could do to whomever her pursuer was.

---

197 words
Fawn

[Fawn]

Honeynose gasped, stepping away from him without any effort to mask her revulsion. He was rubbing his scent on her? To hide Emberlight's. Their pelts didn't need to be touching for Honeynose's fur to spike uncomfortably and her skin to prickle; the threat was clear, and it made her pulse race as if to prepare her to run away from those words. "I-I think you should mind your own business, Alderfrost," she choked out the words, quickly putting some distance between them.

The idea of being covered in his scent like he owned her made her physically nauseous. What a horrid, arrogant tom. Already she longed for Emberlight's warmth and the security of his embrace; it took all the willpower the tabby and white she-cat possessed not to look at the RainClan border in the hopes of seeing him there. The connection she had with Emberlight was special - but it couldn't transcend borders and have him rushing to her rescue at the slightest bit of difficulty.

That wasn't fair to him. She had to stand on her own four paws.

Oh I wish Hazelcloud and Herondive were here. Her friends were brave and smart and capable - especially Hazelcloud. Honeynose felt braver for knowing them, but all by herself with only Alderfrost for company? She felt her bravery wavering. Honeynose glanced at him again, beginning a slow pace back towards camp. He wouldn't stop her (why would he?) but she didn't want him to think they should walk back together.

Senior Warrior || 60 Moons || StoneClan

Honeynose

Ginger || Made by Fawn || 249 Words

[Ginger]

TW for problematic behavior

---

"But, flower, I'm just looking out for you." As she began to back away, the massive tom took a few large steps and was in front of her, looking down with a sickeningly fake warmth. "It would make so much more sense if just the two of us had been alone together in the territory. Who knows what we could've been up to?"

With that, he stepped out of her way and then circled around her, making sure the filthy stench was off of her. StoneClan she-cats belonged to StoneClan. Not to other toms. "Every time you slip away, I will follow. Word will spread of our escapades."

After he finished checking for the scent of RainClan, Alderfrost returned to her side, his looming size and demeanor seemingly reducing Honeynose to even smaller than she was. 

"Maybe we could be up to something. Just you and I. Satisfy the gossipers." 

Alderfrost was no scoundrel. If Honeynose refused, he would back off. But she didn't know that. That fear could be enough to keep her away from RainClan's border for good.

---

183 words
Fawn

[Fawn]

Honeynose gazed at him with open horror, taken aback by the implications spewing out of his mouth. She couldn't, in that moment of blood rushing into her ears and cheeks, decipher if his promise of dogging her every step or that he wanted to be 'up to something' with her that horrified her more. Honeynose, fear scent beginning to lift from her skin, skittered around Alderfrost's lumbering form. Her resolve was crumbling faster than chipped shale, and she knew it wouldn't last if he kept pressing her like this. Refusing to let her emotions get the best of her, Honeynose hastily ran towards camp, not caring that she would likely arrive breathless and distressed.

She had every foxlength her paws took her to come up with a good reason why - rather than the truth. That she had fallen helplessly in love with a RainClan cat. That Alderfrost knew. That Alderfrost, a cruel and possessive cat, had so much power over her now. Honeynose glanced over her shoulder, narrowly avoiding tripping over her own paws in her efforts to catch a glimpse of the tom slowly retreating from view.

Somehow, the distance didn't protect her from him the way she'd hoped it would.

He was still going to be there, like a menacing, hulking shadow StarClan sought to punish her with. Oh Stars, what do I do?

Senior Warrior || 60 Moons || StoneClan

Honeynose

Ginger || Made by Fawn || 225 Words