When silence reigns

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Her paws landed lightly on the snow, the white substance crunching slightly under the weight. Jaggedbriar kept her head aloft, and her plumed tail also aloft in a similar manner. She was bordering on looking haughty or cocky, but she kept a friendly smile on her face, hoping to at least seem approachable.

Maybe it was the cold air buffeting her face, or the grey clouds covering the normally blue sky, but the day felt quiet. Unnaturally quiet. And that bothered the blue tabby. Though she preferred order to chaos, utter silence was strangling to her.

Heading for the dead willow she payed little attention to the path her paws were taking, having memorized the trails long ago. The cold usually didn't bother her this much, her fur normally created a barrier against it. but the wind pushed past her pelt, chilling her to her bones.

I should try and hunt out some prey...who am I kidding I can't hunt in new-leaf when prey practically sacrifices itself. she thought, annoyed at the fact that she had never caught onto the art of hunting. She would always dart out too fast, or too slow, or entirely miss the prey. If there's an award for lousiest hunter I would probably win it.

Passing by the heat pool Jaggedbriar slinked away from the frozen banks. Even if the water was shallow, and frozen over nonetheless, she had an ingrained fear of falling into it. It was an unfounded fear, but she just strongly disliked the feeling of water in her pelt.

Reaching the dead willow she began sharpening her claws against a root, arching her back, pleased with the feeling of tension it brought into her muscles. Shaking the flecks of ice covered bark from her paws she curled up at the base of the dead willow, fluffing her tail over her nose.

Closing her eyes she had no intention of sleeping, just to rest and wait for something to happen.

[kaethe]

The athletically built femme had taken a venture outside the camp area for once, taking a break from all of her clanmates. It was a relief to feel the fresh, strikingly cold air blow against her face, although her short hair did little to keep her warm. Blinking rapidly as her eyes watered, Cinderholly sped up in order to keep her limbs moving. The white fluff of snow crunched underfoot, as she fluffed up what little pelt she had to keep warm. Those longer haired cats didn't realize how lucky they were to be protected from the weather. Although her coat was a relief in leaf green, during this time of year it was absolute torture.

The snow muted the world, like a blanket. All of the critters were tucked safely in their dens, there was no birds chirping. No rustling in the undergrowth. Just the silence with the occasional poof of a snowflake hitting the ground. Leaving delicate, dainty paw prints in the snow, she left an obvious trail to any trying to follow her. Not that she minded. They were all a clan after all. A family. Soon, though, another set of paw prints appeared on the well known trail. Curious, she stopped her jog to sniff them. The warm, still fresh scent wafting up from the prints was the familiar one of that of her own clan. It was one she recognized well and carried with pride.

The feline it belonged too wasn't someone Cinder could easily identify, she struggled to find a name, but it evaded her. With a flick of her tail, Cinderholly decided she might as well greet her clanmate. Following the trail religiously, she wondered what someone else might be doing in the bone chilling cold. Mentally going through a list of names, one finally popped into her head. "Jaggedbriar." she muttered to herself, not quite realizing that she had uttered the name aloud. Perhaps I could actually do something useful for once. Wasn't that what I set out to do? Having an internal conversation with herself, the Russian Blue quickly planned up a conversation. An excuse for why she was out here. Cinderholly had a strict regimen for herself, and left nothing unplanned.

Finally slowing to a stop, the now anxious femme surveyed the area with her luminescent green eyes. Stopping on a motionless form, nestled near the base of a dead willow tree. Pricking her ears in worry, the feline wondered what had befallen her clanmate, or if they were merely asleep. Taking note of her long coat, she realized that they didn't have as much problem with the cold as she did. Approaching them carefully, she sat a respectful distance away and softly meowed, "Hello?" It seemed like a rather silly introduction, but it also seemed rather appropriate for the situation. Flicking her eyes over the blue tabby a pelt, she silently cursed her parents for giving her the genetics for a short haired coat. What a lucky bastard her clan mates were.