Camp [♥x] {oh.how.boring}

[Agii♫]

Now, where could he find Maplestar?
Swallowing, brilliant tawny eyes flickered across the dusted camp grounds of EarthClan, ebony-tipped ears pricked lazily forth in his time of placidity. Truly, his mind could not get away from the fact that his heart pumped irregularly for the vision of a love he had yet to find more affection for. Blinking slowly through hazed eyes, the immensely tall feline moved with slow, exotic, lithe pawsteps towards the leader.
Glancing up, Eagledance fixated his opaque pupils on the sight of his leader; that Maplestar was large.

[Battie]

Catching the scent of the warrior he had sent for, Maplestar turned to see Eagledance looking at him. The tabby locked eyes with the odd-looking cat, then stalked towards him, his fur bristling slightly more and more with every step.

"I've heard some interesting things about you," Maplestar growled. He wound his way around Eagledance, circling the tom to seem ever more intimidating. "Something about- if I'm remembering this correctly- a SkyClan cat on our territory, and a certain warrior not chasing them off. A certain warrior who I allowed to join this Clan despite the fact that he was a foreign cat who had no idea what was going on here." Maplestar stopped circling the tom to stare angrily into Eagledance's face. "I don't think that's very loyal... do you?" His challenge was hissed.

A small voice in Maplestar's mind said to go easy on the tom. But a louder voice told him what he was doing was right. Maplestar valued his friends, valued loyal warriors, and valued the will of StarClan. Something he hated more than the stories of the ancient Tigerstar, was the idea that a warrior could be disloyal. And now, here was a cat who had gone against the warrior code! Maplestar's eyes narrowed dangerously.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Padding out of the warriors' den and in to the EarthClan Camp, the figure of the tomcat looked up at the sky, a wistful and saddened expression inhabiting the features of his face. So desolate was his look that it appeared as if happiness would never cross it ever again. Indeed, it felt to the tomcat that cheer was an emotion that would never cross his mind ever again.

His bright eyes, a mixture of greens, yellows, and browns, were shining slightly with the tears pricking his eyelids, threatening to burst out. Lowering his head and running his tongue lightly over his left paw, he set it back down to gaze out in front of him. Soon, however, his gaze gently drifted up to the sky, scouring the dark shade of the sky, his eyes resting on the brilliantly bright stars that showed the pelts of the warriors who were deceased, living up in StarClan.

"Dewstripe," the tomcat, adressed as Raytail, murmured softly, his tail curling around his figure and resting on top of his paws.

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[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Dovekit walked over to the sad looking brown tabby cat. She didn't know why he was sad, or why he was here, but something tole her she should comfort him. She walked over and pressed her pelt against his, not mewing a word, nor asking him what was wrong, just staring up at him with large, ocean blue eyes.

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[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

It was true, Raytail was glad for the small comfort of having a cat pressing their pelt lightly against his, but he couldn't help but flinch slightly at the sudden rush of familiar feeling. There had been many nights when he had fallen asleep with Dewstripe, their pelts brushing somewhat like this. He had half mind to pull away, but at the last moment decided not to in case he somehow hurt the feelings of the cat.

Turning his head to get a better view of the cat, he saw that it was nothing but a kitten. "Thanks," he meowed in a low tone to show that he acknowledged the comforting touch. After saying his thanks, Raytail cast his eyes back up heavenwards. He had a lot of thinking to accomplish. A lot indeed.

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[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Dovekit said nothing but "Mmh" at first, then looked Raytal in the eyes and said "Are you alright?" She wondered if she should ask what was wrong, but decided better. She stayed planted where she was, acknowledging the flinch that the brown cat had gave when she touched her pelt to his, just sitting beside him, awaiting his answer. She gave a slight shiver as a cold wind whipped through her fluffy silver fur.

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[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"I..." Raytail began, unsure of how to respond to the she-cat's words. With his eyes still cast upwards towards the darkening sky, he exhaled a deep breath, otherwise known as a sigh. Why had he done it? Why had he left Dewstripe for the mere whims that had bothered him about the life of a kittypet? What had he done? What was he, to be a cat that subjected to wantings and longings to be warm and have others feed him? "She's gone," he murmured softly, no other words as a reply emitting from his vocal chord after those two. She's gone. She's gone. The two words, however, repeated in his mind over and over again, torturing him nonstop. She's gone.

[Agii♫]

Immediately his pupils minimized from their previous dilation, a certain appearance of coldness sharpening his body as his acrobatic haunch, neck, and shoulder muscles bulging with tension. He had controlled himself from his soldier-like birthclan enough to keep his golden fur against his skin, although it was beginning to prickle heavily. With all respect due to the large leader, the exotically long-legged and tall warrior arched his neck in defensiveness. Keeping his calm was easy, but in these predicaments, it tended to get less and less tame.
"She was lost," he replied smoothly, "an' seemed friendly enough." Eagledance swallowed, closing his eyes briefly to restrict himself from using his scottish slang to describe the event. "I had no reason t' chase 'er off so hasty-like. I promise ye, Maplestar, my honor is with EarthClan."

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Dovekit nodded, swishing her tail. "So, who is Dewstripe?" she asked in a nonchalant voice, but very eager to ask more questions. She restrained, not allowing herself to open her mouth too much in case a torrent of questions came rushing out.

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[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Who was Dewstripe? Why, who indeed? The love of Raytail's life, the one that he had sworn never to betray and he had done exactly that? Raytail's throat constricted as tears again pricked furiously against his multi-colored eyes. Muscles underneath his pelt tensed slightly, and he had to force them to relax again. Dewstripe. It pained him to think of her, yet it pained to not think of her. If he closed his eyes and tried hard enough, he felt as if he could almost detect her prescence near him, engulfing him in the warmth and laughter that she always seemed to leave in her trail when she padded by. Memories of her had never ceased to flood in to his mind, even after he had left EarthClan.

"Dewstripe was a gray tabby she-cat," Raytail began in a hoarse voice as if each word took pain for him to say it. Emotionally, it did. "She wasn't the most gorgeous cat and she wasn't those dainty little she-cats that SkyClan seems to be coming out with. No. She was full of energy and laughter and didn't even care about not being as pretty as some other cats. I loved her. She loved me. It all seemed perfect, but then my greed and selfishness took hold of me and I subjected to their wiles, leaving EarthClan in the middle of the night to assume the role of a kittypet. I have now learned that this action I took was the one that caused Dewstripe's death."

[Battie]

Maplestar glared at the foreign warrior. "The fact that she was near our territory and not part of our Clan should've been reason enough for you to be on your gaurd," he growled. "Eagledance, she is a SkyClan cat. She is and always will be. As a warrior of EarthClan, the only time you are allowed to talk to a SkyClan cat as a friend is at a Gathering."

He paused for a long moment. "You will be punished Eagledance," he meowed, looking away. "You must hunt for the elders before yourself, and you won't be able to leave the camp without a cat for company for half a moon. Going to the dirt place is an exception for obvious reasons, but you must come straight back." He looked back to the exotic warrior. "Am I understood?" His face was emotionless as he looked at the warrior.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Dovekit said nothing at first, contemplating this brown cat's explanation of Dewstripe.

So Dewstripe was not the prettiest cat in EarthClan, but she was friendly and full of laughter. She loved this brown cat, and he loved her back. But one day he chose to lead the life of a kittypet, somehow resulting in Dewstripe's death.

Usually normal kits Dovekit's age wouldn't understand, but Dovekit was different. She understood things most kits he age didn't, and sometimes even cats that were older than her.

She was usually one to think about even simple little things, like why they had all of the four seasons. Now, she didn't know about space and all that, but she didn't just think that StarClan controlled everything. She understood that there were different deceased cats in different parts of the sky. Her mind just worked...differently.

Dovekit nodded, her silvery grey tabby fur puffing up against the cold winds that whipped past them. Finally, she looked up at this brown cat, her pale blue eyes eyes full of concern.. Something about him looked familiar...

"What is your name?" she asked, sheking her head, thoughts of who Dewstripe was cluttering her head.

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[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

His name? What was his name? What was he? Raytail? Why had he done it? Why had he left her? These thoughts clung to him along with his memories and the pain of it all shone through in his eyes as he cast them heavenwards again, wishing he could know which star was Dewstripe's. He couldn't quite feel her prescence enveloping him like other cats said about when they lost a loved one, and that hurt. Did she not love him anymore?

A wind that could only be part of leaf-bare's harsh season billowed through, startling Raytail out of his slight reverie. No. He couldn't wallow back in the past; he had to live in the present and try to forget about Dewstripe. Well, not forget about her. That was one thing that he would never be able to accomplish and he would die before he had to do that. But he could forget the bad times.

There was a single ray of hope in Raytail. This was the hope of being able to join Dewstripe in StarClan. Still, this thought troubled him deeply. Wanting to go to StarClan was somewhat the equivalent of asking for death, and although Raytail wanted to see Dewstripe more than anything in the world... he was afraid of dying. What cat in their right minds wouldn't be? The life just sucked out of you, just like that, and then your soul traveled up to StarClan? That just didn't sound all too pleasing to Raytail.

"It's Raytail."

[Agii♫]

Ealgedance swallowed hard.

"Aye," he said quietly. Blinking, he righted his slang-y speech with a quick flick of the tongue, "Right." Eyes fluttering around the bulky frame of the leader, he took his anger in very well, frustration creeping up his spine like a cold pair of fox fangs scraping down his back. However experience kept him cool, both his voice, expression, and movements were well controlled as he padded silently off from Maplestar.

For this punishment, half a moon seemed to go on forever. He did long to see Silverpaw indeed, but his pride and determination to show that he was truly faithful to EarthClan was beating down on him harder than he could ever imagine. The exotically-built feline shortened his strides as he padded to the warrior's den.

Eagledance needed to be left alone with his thoughts.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Wintersong watched Eagledance padding away from Maplestar, her emotions mixed. She felt longing to go to Eagledance, but knew he wanted to just be alone. Seh also felt a strong dislike for Silverpaw, who had captured his heart; a dislike she hadn't ever felt for anyone in her life. Last, she felt regret for this whole thing ever happening. Eagledance going out into the forest, and Silverpaw being out at the same time. Even though there was no way she could have stopped this, she felt she could've. She stared after Eagledance with glittering amber eyes, and a single tear fell to the frozen earth, her fiery orange and ivory white silken fur swaying in the cold winter breeze.

Dovekit nodded to Raytail, her pale blue eyes staring up at him. "I'm Dovekit," she said, dipping her head slightly. "I like your name," she said politely, actually meaning it.

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