Musings [[OPEN]]

[The.Angry.Squall]

[/i] to the edge -- he needed to be up and about and in the fresh air and the sunshine. The Clan was more or less perfectly fine and safe in beautiful Emeraldsong's capable, delicate paws. And besides, if Squallstar remained cooped up -- trapped -- within his den, StarClan knows what sort of troubles there would have been... What thoughts would emerge and surface and bubble and boil --

'How many laws did I break with that thought already?' the powerful NightClan tom mused to himself as he padded on ahead, thick rudder tail swaying behind him. It was true -- he was breaking laws, many of them -- and perhaps the other Clans were aware of this?

Ah -- piffle on what the other cats thought, phooey on StarClan and their snobbish 'laws' -- if it brought his Clan pleasure and success he'd let it. And if it brought him pleasure then -- well -- wasn't that what every tom strove for? For some greater happiness that only the sweet, warm fur of a mate could gather --

A gull screeched and dived and brought Squallstar out of his musings. The tom blinked and shook his head, amber eyes narrowing as he made himself focus -- he was out here for a short break and would have to be back at camp soon enough. Yes, he would have loved to be out for much longer but -- well, he didn't exactly announce that he was leaving for a short break so -- better to be safe than sorry ...

And with that the great, russet-colored leader of NightClan surged forth -- digging his claws into the sand for traction as he ran, ran with powerful strides on the beach. No, he didn't have the grace of speed as most DayClan cats, he didn't have long, luxuries fur to ripple behind him like the cats of DawnClan, and he certainly didn't have anything that DuskClan (He sneered at the thought) was famous for -- if that Clan of rats were famous for anything. But, he suppossed he had his own flare -- the sun beating down and setting the russet hue ablaze with light as the tom rushed forward -- leaping and bounding over driftwood and other hurdles in his way as he pressed on. This was not exactly hunting -- but not exactly running away, either.

This was Squallstar, just lost in his own musings...

(And curse whoever said I'm a loon -- I'll bite their ears off!)
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[Fernpaw]

A dark lithe body moved stealthily over the sand, orange eyes watching with curiosity. Her black ears flicked in irritation when she noted that her leader seemed to be lost in his own world. Well so much for hunting, the lazy bum. The black cat shook her head to stop a string curses and dark thoughts in their tracks as they pricked at her brain.

She wanted to start anew, she didn't want to be who she was meant to be, yet... She would bide her time before she spilled blood. Her first victim would be their lazy leader, not that their current deputy was any good, but she would get there, and soon. She would strike during the next battle, or better yet, a war.

Blacheart suppressed her grin of pure delight at the thought of seeing the light die away from her leaders eyes as he made his way to StarClan, and then his deputy would follow. Once they were gone she would rise up and become leader of NightClan, and then the demise of DuskClan and the forest would begin. The forest would fall into a chaos at the power of her claws, all order would be disrupted and the Warrior Code forgotten. It would be just like old times when the cats first appeared in the forest.

Blackheart lifted her head above the smooth, damp wood of the log she was watching behind. The sound of running paws had reached her raven ears. Squallstar was on the move, which meant she should to. It was time to bring her leader home.

Quickly Blackheart moved from behind the log and out onto the open beach. She unsheathed her claws and dug them into the gritty tan sand. She lengthened her stride as she slowly narrowed the endless fox length lead that Squallstar had on her now.

[The.Angry.Squall]

((^^; I don't have anything against you, Fern, Squall is just quite crass - if you know what I mean))

[/i] to be here -- he was not a foreign entity that had shown up upon NightClan territory moons ago --

-- Which brought the tom back to earth and now to his current problem. His problem walked on long, but unbalanced legs -- and her gait was familiar, unique enough to distinguish from his other Clanmates. Not to mention, an ocean breeze brought to him her nauesating scent -- thick with blood and sweat. It was reminiscent of stepping onto a battlefield, and no matter what it seemed that the stench of gore was always present on her -- or at least, in Squallstar's mind it seemed as such.

Now, whether it was true or not -- that had nothing to do with his current problem which paced after him dutifully. His musings were diverted - gone were the usual thoughts of the day only to be replaced by one other thought that had been nagging in his mind. Why had Dogstar, his mentor his leader, why did she let Blackheart into the Clan? Perhaps at the time she didn't seem too much of a problem, and while Squallstar was not clever enough to discern Blackheart's true plans -- he was well aware of the aminosity, of the loathing towards himself and his deputy, sometimes to other Clanmates within NightClan ...

-- And it left a rotten taste in his mouth, which in turn made the great tom snort as he moved along the shifting sands, and the dried - splintered driftwod with ease. And then, he thought back to his problem who paced along after him and -- for better or for worse an idea came to mind and impulisve Squallstar just couldn't let it pass up.

He sped his pace, then, flying across the sand and the drift wood that stood out as obstacles in his path. Yes, he knew where it was he wanted to go and -- the closer he came to that place -- there came a hissing sound, a swelling and a splashing that was just as comforting as camp back in the woods --

-- He was as much at home near the ocean as he was on land, and it was halfway there that he came across what it was that he wanted to find -- it was a splintered mass of driftwood located down a sand dune. Now, this particular sand dune looked as if it was stable land -- and unless a cat knew that the ground sloped downwards here they would take quite the tumble ...

... Which was why, as Squallstar shifted to the side -- letting himself slide down -- down the dune itself he was able to brace himself for the wood he was ready to collide into.Or at least, he braced him for the wood he should have collided into. Again, Squallstar knew this, his land -- and he knew that this particular piece of wood had yet to leave its spot so he was quite ready to turn around and let his back hit the wood gently and, with that he glanced ahead, knowing that Blackheart would be on her way and, with that, he called out to her in greeting, his tail twitching behind him.

"Why hello there, Blackheart, fancy meeting you on a solo patrol too?"

The ocean water roared and crashed behind him -- and it was such a comfort to the strong tom.
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[Fernpaw]

((It's all good. Blackheart's going to get what's coming to her. ^^))

Blackheart retracted her long claws some as it was beginning to hurt her. She didn't want to rip out one of her claws, now. You never know there could be a decant battle some time soon. The black cat hated, absolutely hated running on sand. She hated the way it easily gave way under weight or shifted. She growled as Squallstar sped up on her.

She chased after him determined not to let the NightClan out of her orange gaze. The dark she-cat jumped awkwardly over the pieces of drift wood or swerved to avoid them as she pounded after her leader.

The roar of the ocean grew later as she followed the tom. She saw him climb a hill and then disappear. She grinned and gave just a bit more speed, she would get him now. Blackheart grazed her shoulder slightly some drift wood as she swerved to avoid while pelting after Squallstar.

Blackheart hated not knowing where she was going or where the next piece of driftwood would shoulder up to block her path or slow her down. She would have to learn the territory even better over here. She spent the least amount of time here on Driftwood Beach because she could not stand the unstable ground.

She finally reached the top of the hill and let out a hiss of surprise when the ground dropped beneath her. She tumbled down the sand dune head over tail and crashed into the the large chunk driftwood. She slammed into it so hard she bounced over the top of it and landed on the other side with a thud.

When she hit the log and fell, the wind was knocked out of her. Blackheart lay motionless for a few heartbeats as she tried to get herself back to together. Her shoulder burned like crazy, but she didn't care. She would wash out the sand and grit later back at camp.

That cunning trickster! I knew I should have slowed down! He knew I would come flying up the hill. He knows I don't know the are around here and hate the sand. Oh, I could just throttle him! Her orange eyes burning with fury she forced herself to calm down and keep her anger down. She would get him, all in good time. Blackheart stood up and shook herself before calmly walking around the driftwood to face him.

"Why hello there, Blackheart, fancy meeting you on a solo patrol too?"

"Hi Squallstar," she replied flatly. "Actually I came to fetch you Sqallstar. It was easy to guess where you would be. We were starting to get worried about you." The charcoal colored cat tried hard to keep the malice out of her voice as she replied again, but she knew some had slipped through. Hey orange eyes revealed nothing as she searched his face for a reaction.

[The.Angry.Squall]

((>_< Sorry for the short post, but I gotta run onto Kanoa!))

[/i] far -- and he watched as the she-cat bounced over the log and he had the courtesy to wince when she didn't get up for at least a few heartbeats...

... But, then the black head reared up and he saw those blazing orange eyes, and the two lockjaw fangs and he could only flick his tail.

'Huh, so she survived the fall...'

But, he pushed that thought aside as Blackheart righted herself and then moved over to his side. He tensed, then, when he came face to face with the cat that reeked like a battlefield -- but he did remain calm, indifference plastered on his face as the she-cat began to talk to him.

"Hi Squallstar." And the tom only nodded curtly. What was with she-cats and small talk? Small talk was for ninnies -- she had to get to the point and he wouldn't stay long if she could only say "Hello" --

"Actually I came to fetch you Sqallstar. It was easy to guess where you would be. We were starting to get worried about you."

Ah yes, he could hear the malice in her voice and he did grit his teeth -- holding his tongue lest anything bad slipped out --

Sadly, though, Squallstar was an open book and -- if anything -- he could only look annoyed when the she-cat began to talk, which was enough to cause the tom to snort. He flicked his tail again and, shaking, his head he side-stepped the other cat as he began to make a move to pad away, throwing back carelessly over his shoulder.

"I'll be back to camp shortly, I smelled Blackmist over the rise there so I rushed to grab him. Either way, you're dismissed -- unless you'd like to accompany me which would be quite boring since Blackmist is quite easy to spot out here on the sand, I'm sure Emeraldsong has a job for you back at camp..."

Was it truth or a lie? Blackmist was a shadow, he could be here, there, anywhere -- and Squallstar did begin to run and well... It was up to Blackheart, really, if she dared to follow her leader or not or believe his words but -- Squallstar was quite adament and he strolled away, making a point to leap over the driftwood that Blackheart had the grace to slam into.

'Now, dear StarClan, Blackie better be here -- I need to talk to someone of the male persuasion. Crazy she-cats and their bad humor...'

An ironic thing, really, since -- moments earlier -- he had been complimenting she-cats...
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[Fernpaw]

As her blazing orange eyes searched his face she saw a look of annoyance cross his face. That would mean trouble for her later, perhaps he was on to her... That couldn't be though, it was forming in her mind she had yet to tell soul, except for Russetfur of course, how could he possibly know. She would worry about that later, besides probably didn't like her or even she-cats in general. She consoled herself and thought, that must be it.

She felt even better about it when he merely nodded curtly to her when she replied to him, it had to be it. The black warrior held back a smile as the tom moved away from her and then turned around. There was something odd about him for sure. Blackheart had tried to be nice and tell him about the what the clan thought of disappearance now he would leave and go back with her.

"I'll be back to camp shortly, I smelled Blackmist over the rise there so I rushed to grab him. Either way, you're dismissed -- unless you'd like to accompany me which would be quite boring since Blackmist is quite easy to spot out here on the sand, I'm sure Emeraldsong has a job for you back at camp..."

Blackheart twitched her ears at his back, the thought of chasing after him again would be most unpleasureable. She had had enough for one day. "No thanks, I think I'll pass," she meowed slyly to his back as the cat took off. She would just go and find Russetfur back at camp and talk to her. She really didn't want to go talk to Emeraldsong. The fat lazy cat would probably send her on a hunting patrol, or worse yet, on a border patrol, yuck!

Left alone to her thoughts the dark warrior got to her feet stiffly and walked back of the sand dune, well attempted to walk back up it. After sliding down a few times the raven colored warrior cursed at the dune and walked around it. Blackheart didn't have all day to play around with a pile of sand.

Grumbling all the way along the beach about the sand everywhere on her and about her shoulder that had stiffened she thought again about Squallstar's curious behavior. Were she and Russetfur in danger of being found out and banished? How could he have known, unless Russetfur had told him. That little traitor! She would get the good for nothing warrior back if it was true. She would have to find out about that when she got home.

((It's all right. I understand. I should get there too, today.))

[The.Angry.Squall]

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