[wolfie]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

The blonde she cat shifted her weight, trying to think of an excuse - she wasn't really into playing games. But, she did care about Snowpaw, and if this was something he wanted to do... she was mature enough to compromise. Which was why she had said a short game. "Okay. One round. I'll hide, you seek. Then I need to head back, okay?" She was thinking about patients that might already be lined up. If there was a real emergency, someone would come and find her... right? She was scared that something bad could happen while she was gone, and if someone was seriously injured or bled out as a result of it, then she wasn't likely to forgive herself. She stood there for a moment longer, waiting for a response from Snowpaw. Why did she feel like she needed to wait for that? Impatience began bubbling up within Caliapaw... by nature, she wasn't the most patient cat already.

She was constantly wanting to go, either thinking out and carefully executing a plan or just running headfirst into something blindly. It felt like things were more of a hit-and-miss game then anything else these days. Her entire life was a hit-or-miss game. Without waiting much longer for a response from Snowpaw, Caliapaw slipped away into the woods, not really caring whether he was watching or not - the game wouldn't take that much longer. She needed somewhere that was easy, but not too easy for Snowpaw to find her in... a spot that was likely to have a few herbs nearby, so she could gather them on the way back, and a spot that was close by so that he wouldn't have to go far. In and out of the trees the blonde-furred medicine cat slipped, searching for a nice bush to hide herself behind.

Her light fur would stand out against it, sure, but since the weather was still cold and it was still snowy, Caliapaw was pretty confident it wouldn't stand out that much. If only she had been born a white cat. All she would have to do was close her eyes and find a comfortable hiding spot and she would be pretty well hidden. The she cat continued moving along, her body slipping comfortably into one spot in particular. It was behind a couple of large bushes, and while there were no herbs nearby, it looked like there could be just a little ahead - or a little bit behind the bushes, Caliapaw could definitely grab some of those quickly before she left.

Sighing, the she cat settled down, wincing a little as her underbelly brushed the ground, and then settled closer down, wrapping her tail around herself. Her fur wasn't long enough to completely keep her warm, but at least she wasn't completely without fur; when she was younger, an elder she used to like listening to had told her stories of cats who were completely without fur, who lived with the twolegs. Caliapaw had loved those stories. Perhaps someday, there would be another elder with stories like those... or perhaps, someday, there would be one of those cats without fur.


Grey paws stepped heavier then usual along the ground. Today, it didn't matter whether the prey heard him coming - the tom would be unable to catch it anyways. He didn't feel much like running, or jumping, or creeping along the ground... which was unusual for him. Anger burned within the normally emotionless blue eyes, as he kept them fixed straight ahead on a single target. To be honest, Stonegazer had been feeling a lot lately. Anger. Denial. Frustration. Guilt. Yes, guilt. It was a new emotion for the tom, who was so used to getting things right. Anyone would have thought he was immune to guilt, from the way that he acted. He was always right, wasn't he? He knew how to act like a warrior. But, he had recently left a cat who had shown nothing but kindness to him. Kindness that Stonegazer hadn't exactly repayed. And he didn't like the feeling that it gave him, in his stomach. Where was Powdernose? He knew the lazy tom was normally hanging around the clearing; and yet recently, he hadn't been there.

Where is that goofy fluff-head? Thinking that, and staying completely serious while doing so, was no great task for Stonegazer - for any other cat, however, it might have seemed a much greater one. The stoic grey tom continued through the territory, looking almost bored as he stepped heavily through it, his paws landing on the ground with dull thuds, scaring off any prey that would be close by. He walked with a limp - a nasty looking gash, one that was beginning to scar up in one leg being the thing that was keeping him from moving normally. There was another one behind his ear - this one didn't look quite as nasty, but it was, in fact, deeper then the one on his leg. There was a small chunk taken out of the other ear, and several smaller scratches on his face. They wouldn't scar, probably... but the one on his leg and behind his ear definitely would. Stonegazer didn't care.

It didn't matter that they would scar, because scars were trophies... he had fought someone, and he had survived. They were not something to be ashamed of. A familiar figure came into sight ahead of him. For a moment, there was curiousity - then realization. "Powdernose?" At first the word was spoken in a low, skeptical voice... just in case the tom before him was not, in fact, his friend. The steps did not change, remaining heavy and continuing at the same pace as he approached the other cat further, and then once he was nearly on top of him, Stonegazer was able to realize that this was indeed the other tom. "Where have you been? You haven't been around the clearing." This last statement was spoken rather accusingly, as though Stonegazer expected Powdernose to feel guilty for not being where he was expected to be.

"Yeah, okay. I know, I know." Snowpaw chuckled, he did it find a bit amusing about how much his sister cared about her job. The apprentice didn't really like it, however he wasn't clueless to the fact she cared about it. Truth be told, he would trust his life with all his siblings. He wasn't fairly close to anyone but he would. For him, trust came easily unlike a lot. He found it easy. He didn't hold much grudges. He was too dense to the subject of betrayal. It lead to being his biggest weakness. Snowpaw was a bit too gullible, he could argue for moons about something. He didn't give up, easily at least. He'll soon accept that someone told him a lie. Question the cat. Forgive them and forget it. Usually, their were those special cases where he didn't forget. Snowpaw's sadness was anger. Snapping at those who tried to comfort him, it was a whirlwind of drama when he did. He would regret it.

Snowpaw slowly walked away from the place, to count. He closed his eyes. "One, two.. three.. four.. five, six, seven, eight, nine, and.. ten!" He counted, opening his eyes quickly. "Sis, here I come!" He waddled around in the snow. Sniffing for her scent or her pelt color. He blend in easily with the snow, luckily for him. He climbed up a tree, slowly but surely making his way up it. He hauled himself up on a tree branch, scanning the territory. His blue eyes squinted as he looked for her. He stepped forward, thinking he caught a flash of her fur. He furrowed his eyebrows when he couldn't find it. He was at the edge of the branch, leaning forward. In a quick movement the ground under him seem to slip away, well bark in this case. Snowpaw claws dug into the bark, as his body hang limply. What was with him being so clumsy today? "Starclan, why do you do this?" He mumbled as he hauled himself up it, grunting in effort. His pink tongue rolled out of his mouth, climbing down the tree. It wasn't like he meant to be clumsy or almost break his leg but the territory just seem to be against him today.

Snowpaw sigh in defeat when he gave up searching. He look everywhere. Sure, he was rusty but he never fail this bad. He was ready to call out her name before he caught a whiff of her scent. He blinked, following it. Their was a faint one repeated sentence coming from him, "Imma get ya." He didn't realize how creepy it was. Snowpaw was too focused on finding his sister. Luckily he didn't call it quits. He poked his head through the bush, getting a mouthful of wonderful leaves. He slowly weaved through it, determine to find her. When he came out from the other side, Snowpaw had twigs and leaves stuck in his white fur. He spat out the mouthful of leaves, looking around for Caliapaw before finally seeing her. He slowly crawled forward, then dropped his body in the snow right in front of her. His blue eyes blinked up at her. "Hi. I found you." Snowpaw purred in sasfisction. No doubt about it his smile was wide and big. He was tempted to poke her in the nose but decided against it.

He rolled in the snow a bit, trying to get the leaves and twigs out of his fur. He did, picking out the last few twigs that stuck in there. His fur was messy and ungroom. A normal look for him. Snowpaw stood up, looking at Caliapaw. "Now like you said, we should return now? Oh, guess what! I almost died.. kind of." He exclaimed, as he told her what happened with the tree. After his probably over-told story, he added, "Trees just really are out for me today." He didn't have a fear of heights but he was scared unlike in the story he told her. Snowpaw fibbed to make himself look better. Everyone unusually caught on and thought it was just well, him being funny.