At the [Rye]sing Sun [Midnight]

[ℓυиαя]

Tags: Midnight

A barrage of leaves raced across in front of large paws, a muscled tom stepping out from the shade of the warriors den and sweeping his green eyes around the area. His look was not one of interest, more so seeing who he would have to avoid today. He couldn't see anyone that had wounded him in the past however his shields had grown tight around him, entwining with his pale golden fur and becoming a part of his very being. There had been a time where they had been weak, able to be breached and had crumbled often yet over the moons he had gotten better at rebuilding them and then not letting them fall to ruin at all.

He made his way around the edges of the camp, his strong body brought down in a slouch, his tail low and his eyes looking around from a lowered head. He had discovered that it was easier to remain on the peripheral rather than draw attention to himself. His apparent 'flaw' did enough of that anyway and now rather than pick on him, cats seemed to steer clear - possibly finding him too confusing and antisocial for their liking. He walked around the camp until he had no choice but to venture into the centre to grab his breakfast as the sun crested the horizon through the birch leaf canopy. Ducking down, the large tom set his eyes on a mouse, half covered by the feathers of a thrush, and silently hoped that this morning would not be filled with unwanted company.

[Midnight]

Mapleflower didn't want to get out of her nest, not after last night. She'd been out hunting when a passing rogue yowled up to her. When she slipped down the tree she'd leaped to, the tom looked at her in shock. He explained that he'd never seen such a tiny, weak-looking Clan cat. Mapleflower growled at him, unsheathing her claws and preparing to fight, but he only purred, his whiskers twitching wildly with amusement. He said he wasn't intimidated, Clan cat or not, because she looked more like a try-hard kittypet than anything.

He thought she was funny. What did he know? Mapleflower had been through moons of training, and what he done? Spent his entire life going around and making fun of other cats? What a mark he was leaving on the world.

Unfortunately, useless and silly as it may seem, the tom's reaction to Mapleflower had made it under her skin. He was right. She wasn't threatening, she was too tiny and weak-muscled. What Clan cat would ever bother going for a molly like Mapleflower when they could mate with a queen who was stronger and healthier? She would be alone for her entire life, all because she was tiny, and that meant weakness in the Clans.

Her growling belly protested the idea of lying around all day, and so Mapleflower forced herself up. Who cared if she broke the warrior code, just this once? Her stomach was so puny that it couldn't handle much food, so she wasn't exactly taking up a whole lot of fresh-kill.

Mapleflower stumbled out of the warriors' den, padding toward the fresh-kill pile slowly, her tail dragging on the ground. Her pelt was ruffled and her eyes were dark.

Oh, look, there was someone already eating. Maybe he'd share with her? No, why would he do that? That was his food. She'd seen him around before... who was he? Rye... Ryeclaw? Ryepelt? Ryeblaze! Yeah, that was it. Mapleflower approached Ryeblaze, trying to keep a good distance, and stared at him for a few moments. The hardest part was always mustering up the courage to speak. "M-may I...?" Mapleflower muttered. Two words. That was all she could get out? Really? How useless could a cat get? The she-cat nodded toward the fresh-kill Ryeblaze had. It was a mouse. She was asking the tom if he would share a mouse with her. "O-oh, I didn't realize..." The warrior said quickly, turning to scan the fresh-kill pile for her own food. Not much. A few scrawny birds, some more mice.

Great, now what? Mapleflower was stuck between taking prey off the pile that she had almost no appetite for, or taking a bite or two from a shared mouse. She should have looked before she spoke.

[ℓυиαя]

The large tom had just sunk his teeth into the scrawny mouse when he sensed the presence of another cat at the freshkill pile. At first, it seemed they would just select their meal and be on their way but before he knew it, the pale golden tom felt eyes on him and a pregnant silence stretched between.

Weren't they sick of this by now?

Keeping his eyes low, Ryeblaze pulled away from the starving pile with the mouse hanging limply from strong jaws. They hadn't started yet, and he wasn't going to be around to listen to them. He would find a place to sit near the edge of camp and they could rant alone. The last thing he wanted was to b-

Her voice cut through the air just as he turned his body away to do just that. It was small, a muttering barely heard over the pulsing of blood in his ears yet it was enough to make him pause, his body half rotated away from her, head low as he gave her pause. Her words were not laced with maliciousness, and they hung in the air between them shyly, unfinished and left to blow on the wind.

"M-may I....?"

May she...what?

The large tom didn't answer her straight away but his eyes lifted from where they strayed the ground to lock onto her face and finally acknowledge her presence. She stood before him, smaller in statue, with her dark fur fluffed up from her sleep. He looked to see who she was, he looked to see what she had meant, but most of all he looked to see if she meant what she said. Pale green eyes took in her the way she nodded towards his breakfast. The tom almost choked around his mouthful.

She wanted to... share..? With him?

He almost did a lot of things, some of which included shaking his head and leaving her there to try it on someone else. A defense mechanism snapped into place. She could be joking, after all, why on earth would she want to share with him? 

"O-oh, I didn't realize..." she went on, trying to right the situation by scanning the freshkill pile. 

Didn't realize what exactly? That he was the recipient to her stuttered offer? Pale eyes studied her from behind the body of a fighter and that of a tom that had had enough. Ears flattened and his tail slowed as he tried to separate what she was meaning and what his mind was screaming that she meant. Despite the fact that she could be joking and he knew it, this was different to the past. It was... believable and she seemed just as uneasy as he were. Could it be true that she were.... genuine...? Eyes tracked to the freshkill pile where the majority of their food were barely skeletons lying in an empty burial ground. The mouse seemed heavier in his mouth before he cursed himself a mousebrain mentally and looked back to her, knowing himself stupid for believing her.

What if she were like the rest all along? Though even as he studied her, he saw something different, an innocence that could not be faked. So instead of walking away and ignoring her quiet question, he locked eyes with her and gestured she go with him. The mouse would not fill them but better they feed two rather than one. If this backfired on him again, well, hopefully he wouldn't be that unlucky. Starclan had to show mercy at some stage right? Turning his muscled body around, Ryeblaze headed over to a spot he had picked earlier, taking a seat and lowering the mouse to the ground where it lay at some unrealistic angle. Even as he sat there, green eyes watched to see if he had been right, or if for once, someone would surprise him. Would she follow, or would her shy facade break and she turn into what kept him up at night? His gaze was up in arms, defenses high as he waited to see what she would present to him.

"You coming?" his voice was deep and low as he watched her from where he sat, almost a dare.

[Midnight]

Mapleflower watched as the tom stood there. Why wasn't he answering? She tilted her head to the side, cheeks burning. Did he think she was stupid for asking to share a mouse? Was he mute? She would've heard about a mute Clanmate, wouldn't she? Oh, maybe he was deaf? No, she wouldn't heard that too. Mapleflower turned to slink away, ready to crawl back into her nest after another failed attempt at being a Clan cat, but the tom spoke to her as she prepared for the journey back to the warriors'den.

"You coming?" He asked, his deep voice making Mapleflower jump. She looked back at him, eyes wide with surprise, and noticed that he was sitting with the mouse on the ground once again. It took him that long to respond? Here Mapleflower was thinking that he wasn't going to bother with her or something. She cleared her throat and gingerly padded over to Ryeblaze, sitting down slowly. She tried to catch his eyes to decipher his intentions. Was he mentally slow or something? Mapleflower's ear twitched as she tried to figure out the situation, and she crouched low, taking a small bite of the mouse. It was hard to chew, and even harder to swallow, but unless she wanted to starve, eating was the only choice. Besides, hunger meant weakness, and Mapleflower was done being weak.

"I'm Mapleflower," the young molly mumbled, eyes focused on the meal, refusing to look back up at the warrior. She always felt the need to introduce herself to her Clanmates, because even though they should know the names of everyone in the Clan, many cats had no idea who Mapleflower was. It wasn't uncommon for the warrior to go on patrol and see other cats giving her weird looks, hear them whisper about her, until someone grew bold enough to ask if she was new to the Clan.

---

Sorry for the short post. x.x

[ℓυиαя]

OOC: Nonsense, it's not short! Mine was just insanely long ;D

His eyes didn't leave her as she nervously made her way over towards him and took a seat to his side. The more he watched her, the more he believed she were being genuine - her nervousness too stark to be a facade as it coated each follicle of her pelt. He said nothing as she took a bite, one which she seemed to take an abnormally long time to both chew and swallow.

"I'm Mapleflower," she said, refusing to look at him now and keeping her eyes on the scrawny excuse for a meal before them. An ear twitched and he gestured she take another mouthful before him while he contemplated why on earth she were introducing herself to him. Did she really think him that isolated from his clanmates? Sure he kept to himself but he could name each by name yet whether they could do so in return was not known to him. Instead of questioning her however, the large tom nodded and twitched his whiskers. 

"I know. I'm Ryeblaze," he answered in that deep rumble that suited the musculature of his build. After all, perhaps she didn't know him and that's why she chose to start with introducing herself. It wasn't impossible and it had certainly happened before. Briefly looking around camp, he then eyed her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not going to bite you, you know."

[Midnight]

She missed the gesture that she were to take another bite--not that it mattered, because Mapleflower wasn't so sure she'd be able to swallow it anyway. The warrior gently pushed the mouse toward the warrior, glancing at him quickly before looking away again. Was he not going to eat it now that she'd bitten after it? Was he pitying her for her small size to the point where he was going to force her to eat the rest? Mapleflower shuddered and felt a twinge of irritation. It was always hard to decide which was worse: pity or bullying.

"Y-you know?" Mapleflower asked, her ears flattening a bit. How did he know that? "How do you know my name? I'll go a moon without talking to someone and they think I'm new here, yet..." she trailed off, yet you know me just by looking at me for the first time in... how long? All of the days melted together in Clan life, at least when things were normal. Each day passed, border patrols, hunting, training, and the days melted into weeks, which eventually clumped together into moons. Things were only different when there was tension between the Clans, or StarClan sent a prophecy. Not that prophecies particularly affected Mapleflower, as she was no medicine cat and she had a tendency to stay out of Clan affairs.

"I'm not going to bite you, you know," the tom's words brought Mapleflower out of her thoughts, and she blinked at him a few times. "I-I would hope not," Mapleflower mewed back. "We're Clanmates, after all!"

[ℓυиαя]

Below him, the mouse was pushed back towards him with a delicate paw and it didn't go unnoticed. Dipping his head, the large tom took a small bite, feeling the flesh slice around his teeth. It certainly tasted of Leafbare - the rodent stringy and leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. Food was food though, and Ryeblaze knew it would save him a night with an empty stomach.

"Why-you know?" 

From where his head was lowered to the food, the tom frowned and moved back up to eye level with his uncertain clanmate. Yes, he did. Was that really s-

"How do you know my name? I'll go a moon without talking to someone and they think I'm new here, yet..." 

Ah.

His ear flicked and he brought his tail closer around himself as he swallowed the tough meat. "Maybe," he said his eyes remaining on hers. "I know what it feels like." While that was true - it didn't run parallel. Ryeblaze - sure many knew the name. Many knew him as the Leafclanner incapable of climbing, the one that preferred to have his feet solidly on the ground but few truly knew him honestly. His name had been popular among his apprentice days for one purpose only - making his life a living hell. Even now, when someone knew his name, he grew on edge - regardless of their intentions.

So yes, he knew.

"I-I would hope not, we're Clanmates, after all!"

He knew otherwise but he guessed she had a point. His tail tip flicked slightly and was possibly substituted for a chuckle. "Yes, that is true." Green eyes traced her face before he spoke again. He wanted to ask why she were talking to him but what if she realized her mistake and left soon after? Ryeblaze was rather enjoying the seemingly innocent company. Nodding down at the mouse, he twitched his whiskers. "Your turn."