As Lightspirit entered camp and headed towards the warrior's den with Foxfur, she spotted Longstar. Before she could mew a hello, Longstar narrowed her eyes and asked the two, "Where were you?"
"We were out, training," Lightspirit mewed. "Right Foxfur?"
Leafdapple did a small nod, and she mewed "I am going back to camp." She licked the top of Sundance's head, and she started to pad awaq\y glancing back
Snowfur purred, and her ocean blue eyes softly gazed into his, "Will you be my mate?"
Sundance stood there in shock and watched as Leafdapple padded away. When she was out of sight, he sat down and continued to stare at where she had disappeared. 'She... likes me?' Then Sundance shook his head. It must be a friendly sort of like. Besides, they didn't really talk all that much, so maybe she just wanted to be friends. That had to be it. Why would she like him otherwise? No she-cat wants a tom that acts like a kit all the time. Even so, Sundance continued to think about it as he walked back towards camp.
Willowwind dipped her head to Silverpaw, waiting for Blackshine and Silentnight.
Blackshine and Silentnight stood by the two cats. Unlike Silentnight's, Blackshine's heart was beating as fast as a mouse's. He had never before been in a war, or anything close to it. He was excited, and not in the fun way.
Silentnight glanced at Blackshine and noticed his fur stand up on end in excitement. She wouldn't blame him. She was excited too, but she actually wanted to go and fight. She glanced at Silverpaw, the youngest. 'If this is a war... Silentnight was also nervous, but not for herself. Silverpaw wasn't even a warrior, yet she had to go to fight. Then she looked at her leader, Riddlestar. He looked ready to go as anybody. 'I have to be brave too,' she thought. She dug her claws into the ground. She was scared, nervous, and excited. But she was ready.
Blackshine glanced at Silentnight and saw how she was. He took a deep breath in and exhaled. No matter what, he would fight to the end. He was ready too.
OCC: I'm still in school
Phantherpaw leaped onto another rock as soon as he heard the hiss and Lizardscale's warning. "What happens if the snake doesn't give us a warning? I don't think they would be kind to give warning if they don't feel like it" he asked
"Not everything has an answer, remember that," Lizardscale mewed as she finally jumped to the ground. "I'm just glad we got out of there OK. So, you wanna head back to camp?"
Sundance saw Leafdapple go into the warrior's den and his chest hurt. What was going on? Maybe Shadoweye could shine some light on his problem.
Shadoweye padded out of the den past Leafdapple and stretched, then padded towards the fresh-kill pile. "What do you want Sundance?" he asked before the cat could.
"While we were taking a walk, Leafdapple said she liked me." Sundance waited to see what Shadoweye would say, seemingly forgetting about why he took the walk in the first place.
"So?"
"But... I don't know what to say."
"Do you like her back?"
"Well... I... I don't know."
"If you don't know, most of the time you don't." Shadoweye picked out a mouse and crouched down to eat.
"But, I don't want to hurt her feelings."
"Her feelings are probably already hurt. Lying and telling her you do like her will bring problems if you end up liking someone else. If you honestly don't know, how about you think about it for a while."
".... OK. Thanks for the advise. You're really wise."
Shadoweye couldn't help but smile at the praise. "Humph." He continued to eat his mouse as Sundance sat down and squinted his eyes, thinking.
As Sundance thought about it, he came to a conclusion. He did like Leafdapple, but only as a friend. It hurt him to think that he'd have to tell this to her, but there was no other way. So, he stood up and padded to the warrior's den. "Leafdapple?" he called softly.
OOC: Some loves don't always work out.
Sundance frowned when he didn't heart her answer him, and he assumed he was sleeping. 'I'll come back later.' Usually, he'd be trying to mess with Shadoweye or do something that would cheer him up. However, he didn't really feel in the mood, and sat down.
OOC: I don't know.
When Shadoweye was almost finished eating, he saw Sundance sitting a few rabbit-lengths away, and saw how he was. Looking from his unfinished prey to his not-but-almost friend, he picked it up and trotted over to set it down in front of Sundance.
"What is this?" he asked.
"Eat," Shadoweye mewed. "It'll cheer you up." Sundance stared at Shadoweye in shock for a bit, then smiled and crouched down to eat. "Don't think that I'm your friend or anything, because I'm not. I just... don't want you to feel... you know-"
"That's OK," Sundance mewed as he finished. "I understand. Thanks." Shadoweye nodded and headed for the warrior's den to sleep, trying to stay cool.
Sundance sighed and followed after him, making sure to take the nest well away from Leafdapple.
"I'm sorry, but when the fight is over, my clan may not listen to you after the bargain we had made in front of them. They may try to chase you out themselves. Btu while you're here, I'm sure Redwood would be more than happy to take care of the sick cats," Springstar mewed.
"Heathercloud," Grassblade repeated, "why are you being so heartless all of a sudden?"
"Me? Heartless? I'm not heartless," Heathercloud argued, "I'm just saying that those cats have no right to be here, coming inside our territory like that and saying that Longstar threw them out. If they can stay, they can. But as soon as the battle is over and they're not gone, I'm going to chase them out myself!"
"I back you up on that," Threadshock mewed from the entrance. "I don't like them staying here at all."
Grassblade looked at them in shock, then in anger. "If you both want to be fox-hearts, fine by me. But I'm going to do the right thing and actually welcome them into the clan." With that, Grassblade turned and left the den, leaving Threadshock and Heathercloud to look at each other guiltily.
"Hey, are you OK?" Grassblade asked one of the cats. It seemed nervous. "I'm Grassblade. What's your name?"
Longstar stared at them suspiciously, then mewed, "Fine then. Make sure to sleep well tonight." Then she headed towards her den.
Lightspirit let out a sigh of relief when Longstar went into her den and started entering the warrior's den. "I think she suspected that we didn't train," she mewed as she lay in her nest.
OOC: In reality, Longstar would have been able to smell it, but let's keep it a secret.
OOC: Just waiting for Frozenstar to speak.
IC: Silverfur yawned.
Silentnight nodded at Willowwind's words.
Blackshine took another deep breath.
Sundance woke up and found that Leafdapple's nest was empty. He shot up, and hit his head on the ceiling of the den, making him sink back down in his nest in pain.
"Sundance, you're going to wake the whole camp," "Shadoweye mewed irritably with sleepiness lacing his voice. "What are you doing?"
"Leafdapple is gone!"
"Well, she's a warrior, don't worry about it. She probably went for a walk or something. Now go back to sleep."
"Yeah," Sundance mumbled as he lay down. "Maybe you're right."
Redwood lay down in his nest with a sigh.
Hernstrike took a few laps of water.
Lightspirit sighed again and lay her head on her paws. "Good night."
Blackshine and Silentnight, side by side, followed their leader.
Fangshard opened his eyes and yawned.
Lightspirit shifted in her sleep.
Pondfrog woke up and stretched.
Longstar stood up and stretched, then started grooming her fur.
"It's nice to meet you Mouse," Grassblade mewed. "You don't have to be nervous, no one will hurt you. How about you get something to eat and rest a bit. You must be tired from your journey."
Sundance stood up and walked out of the warrior's den, mindful of Shadoweye's sleeping frame. He walked into the rays of the sun, feeling it warm his fur. He sat down to enjoy the warmth, before getting to grooming his fur.
