[lone]

Originally Posted by hiraeth

powdernose's ears flicked as he thought of what to do. "well, we could go back to my secret place, but i guess we could go to another place i know? it's more hidden than the stump, actually. unless you want to just hunt for the rest of the day," he muttered the final phrase, clearly displeased with the option. crystallic eyes trailed the territory around them, seemingly searching for something. after a heartbeat or two, he shrugged and turned back to stonegazer.

"did anything... too terrible occur?" he cocked his head to the side, genuinely concerned about the battle's damage. even after stepping away from the other tom, powdernose remained close enough in order to watch over his wounds. his soft fur rustled in a breeze, but he ignored it in favor of gazing towards stonegazer. "i mean, anything long-lasting?" his tail twitched.

oblivious to stonegazer's sudden change in spirit, he carried on. "i should have contributed, i'm sorry. i was being immature." he dipped his head and chuckled awkwardly, eyes alight with nervousness. don't mess this up, powdernose, the tom thought, taking a deep breath.

Hunting for the rest of the day was something Stonegazer would have been all-too-happy to do, which Powdernose should have known. The mere suggestion was enough to make the tom’s hues light up and he glanced at the younger warrior with a flicker of doubt crossing his expression. He knew Powdernose probably wouldn’t be too happy with that, and so, without a word, just shrugged a little. ”Wherever you think would be best.” It was just one day. Stonegazer couldn’t hunt anyways - he couldn’t really do any of the normal duties, except patrol, perhaps… but all the Clans were too busy taking care of their injured to even think of launching an attack right now.

He guessed some other, more healthy warriors were dealing with the patrolling of ThunderClan’s borders, and thankfully - thankfully - so far, there had been no mention of any type of attack. ”We had a lot of losses. The other Clans did as well, at least I think they did… but Snowstar should have had a better strategy planned out. Especially in this case. You have… no idea how hard it is to see clanmates dead or dying.” Powdernose didn’t look like the type of cat to have ever fought in a battle. In a way, Stonegazer envied him. He was living his life choosing to turn a blind eye to the darkness of battle, but he was happy.

He was… adorable, to be perfectly honest, and Stonegazer wished that he was that small and cute. He was battle-scarred, large, and had an energy that drove away most clanmates. Thank goodness this was one who was staying. Stonegazer did not have a need to be liked, but he did want at least a little bit of a bond with at least one clanmate. Just one cat. Was that too much to ask?