[lone]

Originally Posted by hiraeth

as a familiar voices sounded near him, powdernose flinched. his tail curled up from where it had lay over his snout, eyes opening slowly. because i've been avoiding you, his thoughts screamed, but instead, he answered, "i don't know." claws flexing, the tom sluggishly raised his head, regret briefly flashing upon his features before it slipped away. "why would you care?" now, the phrase may have been uncalled for, as stonegazer had mentioned that the possibility of him running off was very high, but at that very moment, the words had just slipped out with no thought put into them. powdernose couldn't care less; he was filled with a medley of emotions, and none of them held any common sense within them. ears flicking, he lowered his head once again and tried to block out the prescence of the other tom.

"just leave me alone." the words, though sour, held a hidden sadness in every syllable. powdernose had always been horrible at hiding his feelings, especially ones that he rarely felt. it'd been a long while since he had experienced the bitter, clawing sensations of utter helplessness. sorrow tore at his very soul, a stone weighing down his heart.

a stone.

stonegazer.

mentally, he smacked himself upside the head, nostrils flaring. stop thinking of him, you idiot. what's done is done. he's only here to scold you for not going to the battle and just wasting away instead of contributing to the clan. powdernose huffed dramatically and rolled over, turning towards a nearby tree and facing himself away from stonegazer. he didn't feel the need to be scolded; if he did, he would most likely break down. his heart felt heavy, his mind fogged by the evil voices that weighed him down.

it'd been so, so long. too long, in fact, as the clearest of details had blurred to nothingness. he searched and searched in his mind for the reason he had felt the melancholy dread, but no matter what, it wouldn't surface. it was as if a barrier had been created to keep him from prying into his deepest of memories. all he knew, was that even it couldn't top the feelings that grew within him now.

how could a single tom possibly cause him to be this way?

The harsher words spoken by the younger tom were enough to make Stonegazer upset, but he tried to keep his temper, watching Powdernose with a curious gaze. "Because you are a clanmate, and I need to make sure you're alright." He could understand how the other cat might be upset that their little outing had been interuppted. Especially since Powdernose had been much more into it then Stonegazer had. The grey tom's icy, cold eyes scanned the younger cat for any signs of injury. In the battle it had been hard to tell who was there and who wasn't. "If that's what you really want, I will." His own voice was huffy now, offended that he was being sent away when all he was doing was trying to help. It was so irritating, the tom wasn't quite sure whether or not he could handle much more.

Still... perhaps he could try and understand where Powdernose was coming from? What the younger tom was thinking and feeling right now, since Stonegazer had left him to go fight in the battle? It had been a bloody battle, one that could have caused many more lives to be lost, and he was thankful that WindClan had retreated. Perhaps war was not the grand thing he had thought it would be. A glorious fight that honor would be found in, although he should have expected as such. The battle from the Evil Era was still new in his mind, memories from it coming up every day when he saw - or didn't see - different cats around the clearing. Some had been lost, and it had taken a toll on ThunderClan. Cats had been lost now, too... Stonegazer missed every one of them. "Before I do go, I want you to know that I am... concerned about your mental health. I hope it was not my leaving that caused this."

His last words were phrased an unspoken question, though he was almost too proud to admit that it could have been his fault. It wasn't his fault, though! It wasn't! The tom would have been a good deal angrier if Powdernose had come out and placed the blame on him. He had done what he needed to do, defending his Clan... and while the other warrior's mental state was concerning, it certainly wasn't his fault. Sulking and feeling sorry for yourself were signs of immaturity, and Stonegazer rarely tolerated those things. Still, the other cat looked so sad that it was almost enough to make the ice-cold warrior have sympathy.

Another new emotion, one that rarely showed up in the grey tom, considering he was not the type of cat to feel sorry for anyone. Especially when they hadn't done much for him to feel sorry for them in the first place. Still, perhaps the grey feline could show a little grace towards the other cat. Some understanding certainly wouldn't do much harm... and maybe, if this current mental state was Stonegazer's doing, he could help undo it.