Cedar and Cinderstripe [Private]

[Fairytale]

Cinderstripe glanced at Cedar. If he was willing to try staying, why wasn't she willing to try moving? Of course, she couldn't just abandon everything and everyone and expect it to be alright. But that wasn't what Cedar did. It didn't seem like he had many friends. "Okay!" She hopped to her paws. "What are we going to do?" Doing anything with Cedar made her happy. Every word, every action, all of it. And she had no idea why. @MooingPanda

[MooingPanda]

Pausing for a moment, Cedar slapped her shoulder with a paw. "Tag, you're it!" he called playfully, sprinting off through the trees. He relished the wind as it rushed past him through his fur. He glanced back over his shoulder at Cinderstripe. @popsicle dream

[Fairytale]

The action surprised Cinderstripe, and for a moment, she couldn't quite process what was happening. He smacked her with a paw and ran. What did he say? Tag, you're it. That's when she got it. She raced after Cedar, dodging trees as her paws thudded on the grassy ground. "Not for long!" @MooingPanda

[MooingPanda]

Cedar pushed harder as he saw Cinderstripe catching up. She was faster than she looked, he realized. Living in a Clan must have done something to help with speed. All that training and hunting. Focusing his eyes in front of him once more, he swerved quickly as a tree appeared right in front of him. Regaining his balance, he checked the distance between them. It had shrunk even more with his near miss. @popsicle dream

[Fairytale]

Cinderstripe zipped her way through the trees, after Cedar. She was catching up, but Cedar was still pretty fast. However, the trees gave her an advantage. She was used to dodging trees and not losing speed. She had no idea how many if the places Cedar had stayed at had trees, but she assumed it was a lot. There were plenty of trees in the Outskirts, but there were plenty of places that there wasn't, too. @MooingPanda

[MooingPanda]

Cedar swerved recklessly through the trees, trying to put some distance between him and Cinderstripe. He wasn't used to darting through trees at this speed and he kept his eyes open for a clearing where he could run straight. His breath rasping in his throat, he leaped over a bramble bush, trying to short-cut it instead of going around. For a moment, Cedar thought he cleared the tendrils, but one of them caught him on his hind leg. He landed hard on his shoulder and rolled once before popping up on his feet again. @popsicle dream

[Fairytale]

Cedar was getting away. He drew farther and farther, slowly. Cinderstripe put all her energy into her sprint. She was glad Cedar'd suggested the game. It was fun. At least, until she noticed how hard Cedar was breathing and how tired she was getting. She started losing speed, slowly, and she was certain he would get away. Until she saw the bramble bush. He would have to to around it, so maybe that could give her a bit of an edge. He didn't go around it, though. He went over it, and Cinderstripe immediately knew it was a bad idea. "Wait, Cedar!"

Her cry was too late. He already jumped. Time seemed to slow down as Cinderstripe skidded to a stop, holding her breath. She could only hope for the best. For a moment, it looked like he would actually make it. Almost... almost...

She saw the tendril sticking up, and knew he was going to fall. It was inevitable now. She raced around the bush, hearing the thud. By the time she got over to the other side, though, Cedar was on his paws, and she was worried he'd race off again. "Are you okay? I don't think this is a good idea." @MooingPanda

[MooingPanda]

Cedar was about to dash away again when he realized that Cinderstripe was right beside him. He gave a short laugh and flexed his shoulder experimentally. It ached a bit, but he was fine. "Yeah, I'm okay. You can go ahead and tag me," he added ruefully, sticking his paw out for Cinderstripe to slap. "That was a good chase. You're pretty fast." That was all he could manage and paused to take some deep breaths. @popsicle dream