Alone (Open!)

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Stonewind emerged from camp, looking both sides if there were any cats around. She wanted to think and be alone for a while, she even made an excuse to go out. She looked up at the beautiful blue sky with barely any clouds covering it. She sighed, padding along from the grass filled ground onto the sinking sand.

She lied flat down on her belly, putting her tail down. She then sighed, gazing at the glistening ocean. Her eyes shining and her ears flickering.

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

Applestream had been swimming in the ocean, trying to catch some fish. It seemed as though most of the two legs had scared the easy prey away, and so Applestream spent some time simply enjoying the pleasant ache in his muscles and the pull of the current.

He spotted a cat on the beach and his interest piqued. The ginger tom let the waves push him back to shore and he gracefully pulled himself from the water. He paused to shake off the water before continuing to the she-cat, excited for new conversation and friends. As he got closer, he realised how down she looked and his pace began slowing, stopping a few fox-lengths short of her.

"Hey, are you okay?" the tom boldly asked. After all, no cat came to the open beach if they truly wanted to be alone.

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Stonewind snapped out of her never-ending gaze and looked up, seeing another cat. "Yeah, I'm fine. What do you need?" she said rudely, she didn't actually want her tone to be selfish and cold. She started rising up to her paws and lashed her tail. "If you want me to leave, just say." she muttered, her face expressionless as always.

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

"Yeah, I'm fine. What do you need?"

Applestream grinned and stretched out his back, leaning so his chest touched the ground and his forelegs were outstretched. The she-cat sounded a little snappy and that was funny; at least to him, anyways. He wasn't looking for a fight; just company. Before he could tell her this, his ears pricked forward to hear her mutter, "If you want me to leave, just say."

The ginger tom's grin just widened. How silly of her to think that. He sat in the sand, staying a few fox-lengths away. "I don't want you to leave! It's not my beach, anyways. If anything, it belongs to the twolegs. Or, you think it would with how often they're down here with their kits, screeching and playing," he said, smiling amiably, hoping the joke would ease the she-cat's lashing tail. "I was trying to catch a fish, but there don't seem to be any out and I saw you. So what're you up to? Just relaxing? DO you want to swim?"

Okay, so maybe he talked a lot. And maybe he should've asked for his clanmate's name, but that would be implying he didn't already know it, which he should by this point in his warrior life. He would wait, because now he had asked way too many questions, though not at al too fast, in his opinion. but, he knew, he'd probably forget to ask until much later.

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Stonewind heard the joke, and her gaze softened a bit as she sat back down. "Yeah, those mouse-brained Twolegs." she cursed. The dark-gray tabby then heard the question. "I'm just relaxing and thinking right now. What do you think? I'm just out here for no reason, and make figures in the sand like an idiot?" she retorted selfishly, this was her type of personality after all. She flicked her tail as she sighed.

"Look, sorry for snapping." she added after.

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

Ha ha, success! the tom thought as the she-cat sat down. He felt more comfortable already, and took a few paces closer to her before sitting back down. Good, this was a good length of space for casual conversation.

"What do you think? I'm just out here for no reason, and make figures in the sand like an idiot?"

He grinned. She was a silly one, if a bit prickly. "Oh no, I would never think that. I just figured I'd give you an out in case you were drawing in the sand," he mewed, standing up again. The sand in his fur was becoming a bit uncomfortable, especially in his still wet pelt. Gross. He hadn't even cleaned it before he started talking. He tried to shake the sand off, but it seemed to cling. Now Applestream would definitely need to clean it. but, he won't do that now, because he was still feeling like swimming, after all.

"Look, sorry for snapping."

Applestream grinned, as he always seemed to do. Yes, silly indeed. "Oh, don't worry about it. Think you can hurt a tough worry like me with some words?"

She was kind of fun, actually. Well, maybe fun wasn't the word. Interesting, really. He should really ask her name. Maybe he'd do that when she didn't look so annoyed with his friendly interruption of her thinking time.

"but, seriously, do you want to swim?"

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"Okay, fine." Stonewind finally accepted, and rose up to her paws. Without looking back, she dived in. Her head bobbing back up as she gently floated while her legs were giving her support. "Now, are you coming in or no?" she snapped, going back down and swimming around quick with movement.

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"Oh, yeah!" Applestream said after a short pause. He quickly followed the she-cat in and quickly swam to catch up to her. "Man, isn't this awesome? I can see why the twolegs are here all the time. Could you imagine a Talonclan cat trying to do this?"

Swimming was honestly such a release and source of freedom for him. The endless water could take him anywhere and that was just a little exciting. He swam beside the gray she-cat. "Right, not to sound like a dummy or anything, but who are you? I'm Applestream," he said completely calmly. He really should know her name. And he added his name in, you know, in case she was too scared to ask or something. He didn't want to make her any prickly than she already was.

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Stonewind felt more relaxed now that she was in the water. "Yeah." she agreed. "My name is Stonewind." she said politely, her gaze softening as her amber eyes went over to the tom. She then dived back in and swam farther and farther until she was a few tails away from the cat. She felt more happy for some reason, this was not like her.

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

"See, now this is relaxing. A Sunsetclan cat isn't meant to be stuck on the land all the time, even if it is just to think," Applestream said, more to just talk than for anything substantial. He watched as Stonewind dove under and swam away from him. He smirked slightly. "Oh, what, you're in the water and suddenly you want to play tag or something?"

He felt more confident now that her voice was kept a reasonable level. And swimming really did turn him, and probably other Sunsetclan cats, back into kits.

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"Don't blame me, I haven't done this kind of thing since a long time ago." she stated, flicking her ear, which resulted in water splashing. Suddenly, Stonewind tried to step down, but realized that she got to the deep end and started to sink too far down.

She tried to fight up, but with no ground beneath her, she still went down. She then did the worst thing she could possible do. "Help me!" she exclaimed, her voice was now distinguished with panic, and her eyes showed fear in them. Water was now at nose level for her.

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Applestream felt water hit his face and laughed. "Hey! Stop that!" he joked, going to splash Stonewind right back.

Before he could return what he thought was a playful move, he heard the she-cat struggling against the pull of the riptide. "Help me!" The toms eyes snapped open and he pushed himself towards her. His powerful legs carried him quickly to Stonewind and he lurched forward, aiming to get her scruff in between his teeth. He hoped he could pull her back to standing level.

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Stonewind feels some cat grab her scruff as she tries to fight for air, 'Why must I be so bad at swimming!?' she thought angrily before her vision slowly blurred as she still tried to get up, but it resulted in flailing around. She eventually felt the soft sand that was once beneath her and she bobbed her head up. She then saw the cat who saved her, it was Applestream. Before she could reply, she was interrupted by a series of coughs.

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

Applestream had managed to drag the she-cat to safety, but before he could joke about her being like Leafclan cat in the water, she was coughing. "Whoa, Stonewind, are you okay? Look, let's get out of the water and onto dry land." Maybe she would feel better with dry ground beneath her paws.

He began wading out of the shallows, looking behind him to see if Stonewind was following. Man, if she was so bad at swimming, she should've just turned down his offer. The ginger tom felt awful about this.

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"Yeah, yeah." she muttered, following the tom as the coughs got better and better until it stopped. She then sat down on the dry sound, then shook her pelt to dry her fur, which resulted in water splashing, again. "Thank you, and look, I'm sorry for making you save me. I should just go now." she stated, turning her gaze towards Applestream. She then gave a very rare small smile. "I feel like a kit being saved by their father, it's disgusting." she playfully said as a joke, then rose to her paws to walk out of the scene.