Posts by ADDERFROST

"I'm in!" Duskbreeze echoed, padding over to Lucidpaw.
"Should we wait for others to join or start?" she inquired, tilting her head, her emerald gaze widening simultaneously. She usually answered the 'Truths' honestly, but when it came to the 'crush question', she lied shamelessly. No cat could know about Nightwing. And as for the dares... well, she usually didn't 'dare'. Ha ha. Geddit? She cringed at her own cheesiness.

The smallest of frowns creased Duskbreeze's face as she sat on her perch, gazing down. She had a vast view of the forest, and she couldn't see the border between ThunderClan and ShadowClan, no matter how hard she tried.
The borders are only in our minds, she realized, with a little pang in her heart. She briefly wondered what Nightwing was doing now, before gracefully descending from the tree she had settled herself in, branch by branch. She tottered precariously for a heartbeat as the branch she had just jumped onto wobbled ominously, but it steadied after a while, and she continued on her way down.

She tilted her head ever so slightly to glance at the sky, the usual source of weather. Sagebrush clouds blanketed it, and a slight breeze ruffled her pelt. Her small paws skimmed over the territory, exhilaration taking her, surging through her tiny body. Duskbreeze knew every tree, every hiding-place, every clearing. She wondered what life in ShadowClan was like. Perhaps it wasn't that much different to her own life. Perhaps the only differences there were had been created by the cats. She pondered this for a moment, standing very still in the middle of ThunderClan territory, before instinctively dropping into a hunter's crouch, swift but silent.

Her eyes found the source of the prey-scent just a few heartbeats after her trusty nose. It was a vole, feeding on grass seeds. She carefully put one paw forward, not even crumpling the leaves that lay in front of her. Sure, she was small, but that was an advantage. It made her agile, made her lighter and made it easier to squeeze in tight spaces, though they kinda creeped her out in a minor way. It felt like she was running out of air to breath in, and it made her breaths instinctively shallow, short and quiet, which always made her inhale deeply after it was over.

She put paw after paw, slowly, bidding her time, her gaze narrowed in calculation. Then suddenly, she darted forwards, claiming the vole's life for ThunderClan, her eyes gleaming at her brief triumph. She diligently lay it on the fresh-kill pile as she gracefully entered the ThunderClan, her eyes darting around, watching cats and other creatures mill around casually. A soft but none the less hearty sigh escaped her as she sat down not too far from the warriors' den.

"Duskbreeze." she replied, forcing herself to look more cheerful.
"I'm just worried..." she lied. "That there'll be another death. There've been so many."

"True." Duskbreeze meowed. "And at least he isn't our burden anymore."

A smile spread on Duskbreeze's face. This seemed to be quickly becoming a full-out game!

Duskbreeze laughed slightly.
"It was a play-thing." she repeated. "But StarClan I would have been scared if it had chased me!"

Duskbreeze watched in trepidation. This was Silkypaw's first time hunting for real and so far it seemed to be going well. And then, in a matter of heartbeats, it was all over.
"Well done!" Duskbreeze praised, her eyes sparkling. "That was impeccable." She inspected the mouse. "I remember my first time." she purred. "I was so happy! Go and put it on the fresh-kill pile." she added, nudging the apprentice with her shoulder gently, still purring.

"Hey, I"m not Darkkit, I'm Darkstar!" he retorted, laughter in his voice.
"Yay!" Darkkit cheered. "TornadoClan! TornadoClan!"

Duskbreeze snarled, putting as much ferocity as she could in it and lunged towards the WindClan warrior that had picked up Patchkit by the scruff.
"Don't touch a whisker on her!" she meowed, one paw extended threateningly.
"Get reinforcement!" she ordered Emeraldheart, whisking her head towards the nursery exit. "Hurry!" she added.

Duskbreeze was taken aback at Silkypaw's anger and was heavily relieved when Michael came over and explained it to Silkypaw. She had been about to point out that she was a she-cat when Silkypaw retaliated. She watched as her apprentice ran into the apprentices' den.
"Well." the she-cat began awkwardly.

"Then we would be as bad as they are." Duskbreeze reminded the she-cat. She hated being the sensible one, but it seemed like the only role available for her. "Still, though, I wish we could show them how... how..." She paused, as if searching for a word to describe their acts. "How evil it is to murder." she finished.

Duskbreeze’s tail floated behind her and she cast a glance at the sky. It was no longer blanketed with the ominous, sagebrush clouds that had predicted rainy weather, but was now a cheery summer lake blue. A few white clouds drifted here and there, almost lazily, in no pattern in which she could see. She watched leaves of a tree tremble what seemed to be a gentle breeze. However, weather was unpredictable, as she knew.

She settled herself into a sitting position, her watchful gaze flicking from side to side, before getting to her paws again and exiting the camp in a somewhat graceful demeanor. Once she was within the territory, her eyes narrowed as she glimpsed movement, but it was only a mere shadow, dancing through the blur of colour that was the forest. Perhaps a shadow of a bird, their visits seemed to be more frequent now, but that was to be expected. It was the first day of beautiful weather - of hopefully many other – of greenleaf, and the territory was bursting with vibrant colour, mostly made up of green.

It was a perfect day, Duskbreeze thought. Not too hot, not too cold, perfectly balanced in the middle. A gentle breeze ruffled her fur and she turned her head instinctively. Chiding herself for her foolishness, she continued venturing through the territory. It seemed, she thought, that she discovered something new in the territory everyday, or at least everyday she was in it. She tilted her head slightly and opened her jaws, drinking in the familiar scents of ThunderClan territory. She could sense small critters everywhere, but they had to be found first, and killed before their flight.

A rustle which seemed to come from a bush nearby caused the she-cat to turn her head, but there was nothing. Sometimes, she thought, the territory seemed to mock her, taunting her with tantalizing shadows and sounds. Every time she assumed the source was prey, and every time she turned her head too late, the source of the disturbance slipped away into the safety of their dwelling.

After a few moments, which seemed like moons to Duskbreeze, she heard a similar sound. But this time, the source seemed to be of one that was bigger. Perhaps even a threat.

There Duskbreeze sat, in her nest, warming it up for tonight’s slumber, while grooming her fur meticulously. She was one of the younger warriors, so her nest was closer to the entrance and further from the warm centre, but she didn’t complain. After all, the senior warriors had been serving the Clan longer than she had, so they deserved the warmer and drier nests, not to mention the bigger ones.

She cast a glance around the warriors’ den. There were many unfamiliar pelts, and she could hear even more unfamiliar names drifting around amongst all the chaos of the den. Her small, attractive body curled up into a tight ball, so she looked like a dark brown furball, her emerald-coloured gaze drifting towards the ceiling as she let her thoughts wander.

Her kithood days had indeed been happy ones. She played all the games, like all kits, but none seem to stick with her. Mossball, catch-the-squirrel… She only knew a few games. Perhaps she should interact more with her younger brothers, she thought. After all, they were only five moons younger than her, their differences couldn’t be that great. Joyridepaw and Oakpaw did not share her kittypet history, but they had both visited Twolegplace a few times with their parents, and it was pleasant enough. However the pampered kittypet life was just not for them.

Duskbreeze awoke from her slumber and yawned, tucking her paws underneath her. Her body ached and felt limp and sleep was making her eyelids droop. She forced herself to stagger groggily to her paws, before abruptly collapsing in a heap in her nest. Her emerald-coloured eyes fluttered shut and she began to drift into sleep again, with a bleary murmur, before she willed herself to wake up. She did so, reluctantly.

She stretched her limbs briefly and stretched her jaws in a massive yawn, blinking away sleep. She started to groom her silky dark brown fur, aware that it was in a state of disarray and once she had finished her task, the pretty she-cat sauntered out of the warriors’ den, not bothering to appear wide awake.

Her belly rumbled quietly, reminding her she had yet to eat something, but she resisted, chiding herself and reminding herself that she had not yet hunted, so she was not permitted to take a piece of fresh-kill and eat it. She exited the camp, more awake now and scented the air. There seemed to be shadows everywhere, just out of hearing and scent, but they had yet to be discovered, and more importantly, killed. It was only a part of Clan life, a life for theirs.

Once she had located prey, a plump squirrel, she watched it in satisfaction as it foraged for food. It had no idea she was there, and she intended that it stay that way. She instinctively dropped into a hunting crouch, although the squirrel was blissfully ignorant of her presence. She delicately put one paw forward, careful not to even crumple a leaf, and suddenly darted forward, killing the squirrel with one swift, single, silent blow. Thanking StarClan, she examined her catch, a temporary gleam of triumph in her eyes. Duskbreeze scraped some dirt over it, under a tree, to retrieve later.

Later, she inspected her catches contently. The squirrel, a vole, a bird and a mouse, all of which were sized decently. She entered the camp in a somewhat elegant demeanor, depositing the fresh-kill on the already well-stocked fresh-kill and selected a reasonably-sized mouse and swallowed a small, neat bite. It was already a quarter-moon into greenleaf, and it looked like no ThunderClanner was going to starve anytime soon. A purr of contentment escaped Duskbreeze.

Joyridepaw watched in interest, his ears pricking. He had had lots of weird dreams, but he usually only confided in his close family.

"Sure thing." the pretty she-cat meowed cheerfully. "Anywhere in particular you'd like to go?" she added, blinking warmly at the warrior.

Duskbreeze twitched an ear at the she-cat compliment.
"Thank you." she purred quietly. She tipped her head to one side, as if considering something.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know you." she meowed, blinking. "What's your name?" She briefly wondered how the half-blind she-cat knew her name. But rumours flew fast.

"I wish that wasn't true." Duskbreeze sighed, her gaze shadowed. She tipped her head to one side as if pondering something, then straightened it to its original position.
"Strange things happen here." she stated, thinking about the limp, bloody body she had seen in the hotspring.

"Then what's your medicine cat name?" Darkkit queried. "And what are Shadowkit's and Buoyantcub's warrior names?" He bounced on his paws, a roguish grin spreading on his face as he imagined ruling over TornadoClan. The most powerful Clan! Stronger than LionClan, fiercer than TigerClan.

"Don't be so embarassed!" Duskbreeze laughed. "Everybody makes mistakes."
"Yes." Duskbreeze verified, smiling swiftly. Her smiles were like a shooting star, consider yourself lucky if you caught a glimpse. "They played with me and I think they tried to meow to me, though their accents were terrible."