[Brilliance]

Originally Posted by Beau

Piperwing limped heavily through the camp. She still had serious injuries from the border skirmish, but had foolishly insisted on being a part of the fighting. Not only had the newest battle reopened her only slightly older wounds, but it had added many more, too many to count. Most were just scratches, but she did have a long gash now that ran alongside her spine. The two, deep wounds to her shoulders and chests from the border battle had been reopened and had started to pour so much blood from them that she had had to be sent back. She'd already seen Caliapaw, so they were re-bandaged, but they still stung like a snake bite. Thus, the heavy limp. Not to mention she could finally feel the sharp pain of her back gash. Blood still coated her fur, so much of it on her chest that it was still wet despite her return. At least she could say that the blood was far from all hers. She had sent as many cats running as possible before she had to retreat herself. Hunger burned in her stomach, though it hurt far less than her wounds, so she made her way to the freshkill pile. A ways beyond it lay Passionblaze, and Piperwing caught sight of the deputy with a frown. He had been the one to help her during the border battle, which she hadn't thanked him for at the time. Now that she was out of the heat of the moment, Piperwing could recognize that she had been rather rude. Sighing and cursing her stubborn pride, Piperwing picked up two plump squirrels and limped as quickly as possible to the flame colored deputy. Clearing her throat, Piperwing dropped the squirrels at his paws and gave him a hard look, as if she were about to yell at him. Instead, she meowed, "Look, you helped me at the border battle, which I appreciate. In the state I was in, I couldn't have taken on two warriors. I was rude at the time and I just wanted to say i'm sorry. And, thank you." Piperwing wasn't a bull-headed cat. She could be stubborn, but she could also admit when she was wrong. Therefore, it didn't take too much effort to apologize to Passionblaze. She had nothing against him. She didn't know him terribly well, but he seemed nice enough. Nudging the squirrel over to him, Piperwing commented, "I think we've earned it." The sandy feline plopped down beside Passionblaze and began to eat her own squirrel, occassionally looking over at the fellow Somali.

Passionblaze continued to lick his pelt clean, his thoughts were raging. If one had a key to unlock his mind, they would be dead from the concept of of menacing ways. Just like at the skirmish at the border, Passionblaze felt anger. Not with the others. He couldn’t be angry at a couple felines who have the audacity to make up their own minds and choices. He tried to prevent the fight, he tried to stop it...yet, he was itching to get into it. To put short, Passionblaze was angry at himself. Angry that he wasn’t fighting alongside his clan mates. Forget the aching of his bones! Forget the fresh wounds burning his skin! Forget it all and just fight! The deputy stopped abruptly with his grooming when he noticed a pair of eyes on him. Scanning her form quickly, he rummaged through his mind to see that it was Piperwing. Passionblaze tried to ignore her, as he wasn’t in the mood to talk after all the sadistic thoughts jogging through his mind. Yet, she limped her way over to him, carrying two squirrels from the fresh kill pile. Passionblaze rolled his shoulders, wincing once he felt that scar reopened. He stared at the warrior, though it may appear to look like he was glaring at her. His gaze were a piercing flash of golden green, and he was slightly taken aback when Piperwing...apologized? “Well, isn’t that obvious.” Passionblaze grunted. He was still a bit angry, but not at her. It was all for himself. He just had a habit of talking slick to anyone who dared approached him while he was in his mood. During that skirmish, he had jumped in front of Piperwing to hinder Rabbitpounce from lunging at the she cat once more. Piperwing became defensive; she didn’t need his help. That’s a stubborn Molly for you... Passionblaze knew she wouldn’t be able to take on two opponents, unlike him. The deputy was a fighter. This was a tom who played the perfect son, yet loved to provoke others to challenge him...he couldn’t recall the numerous opponents he battled for the fun of it, but it had improved his combat. So, two mollies? That was a piece of prey. “I’d think you’d show more appreciation to a tom who literally would throw himself in front of you to protect you.” He didn’t know Piperwing very well, so he didn’t assume that she was unappreciative. Perhaps, it was only in the heat of the moment. When she nudged the squirrel towards him, Passionblaze looked at it longingly. Piperwing was sitting next to him, eating her fill, but Passionblaze was simply staring at the dead food. Finally, after a few moments, he pushed it away. “I don’t deserve to eat.” He wrapped his tail around himself, and gave his shoulder wound a lick. His anger was still present, but the flame was flickering. Now, he was feeling a depleted of energy, like an overwhelming mess that couldn’t be tamed.