~c.a.m.p~ {skyclan rocks the ridge!}

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Inkpaw had been continuing his extremely detailed description of Dreampaw and how beautiful she was in his eyes. The only word to describe him now was purely lovesick. Yes, lovesick. "...And her eyes always glimmer with her emotions, and she's so elegant and pretty, and..."

Inkpaw nearly jumped a foot and a half in the air once Moonpaw's voice cut into his contemplations and what he was saying. "Sure, I'll go hunting with you, after I finish this patrol!" he responded, then added eagerly, "Can Dreampaw come too?"

Although he didn't say it aloud, he continued saying what he thought about Dreampaw in his mind. Her sky blue eye and her bright green eye... Her blue eye is like the color of the summer sky when no clouds are in sight... Her green eye is like the color of the leaves that hang from the trees during new-leaf and green-leaf... The sun glints off of her gorgeous silver tabby coat like...

He finally finished his thoughts with another thought of: I can finish later while I'm waiting to go to sleep. Giving a mental satisfied nod, he waited for Moonpaw's reacction to his statement.

-x-

"Really?" Dreampaw mewed, fascinated. She couldn't quite picture her leader as North/paw/. She stared wide-eyed at the she-cat leader, wondering who had chased after her like Inkpaw chased after her as if there were no tomorrow.

"Who?" she asked, all of a sudden wanting to know everything about her leader. Like, when Northstar was North/kit/, how did she act? Did she ever break a rule in the warrior code? What was she good in and what was she bad in when she was an apprentice?

[Agii♫]

Northstar nodded with a light chuckle. "When I was your age I was a rather coquettish apprentice," she admitted with a sly smirk. Indeed, she found herself still rather flirtatious, however held it behind her and pulled the more dominant of her traits, which was the more sober, leaderly side. Mossy eyes glinting, the silver she-cat leader purred with amusement at the gay memories of kithood.

"Quite some, I would find. Near all of the tom apprentices were after me and my friend, Cloudpaw." One would assume she was a rather Mary-character, however in fact it was her indifference that gave way to the young and foolish hearts of the toms. "I'd have to say, to narrow it down, that one in particular reminds me much of Inkpaw. A very sleek tom, always wanted me to come with him to the Lakeside to catch fish or explore The Ridge with him."

Long silky tail wrapping around her small paws, the leader paused for a moment before returning to Dreampaw, whom seemed to have mixed confusions and inquirations in the young apprentice's eyes. Pulling back her lips in a devious smirk, Northstar grinned. "I was a very devilish cat; breaking the warrior code whenever I could," she said the last bit with a tinge of regret in her gentle voice. "I was very foolish."

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

"Well, I...uh...kind of wanted to go..." Moonpaw just couldn't admit that she loved Inkpaw. "Sure, I guess...If she wants to." Moonpaw sighed. "You can ask her if you want. Come to me when you're done. Meet you at camp." Moonpaw said, and bounded away, looking for a cat she could talk to about Inkpaw.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Dreampaw blinked at Northstar to show she had heard. How could this be? This wise leader had once been a devilish and plotting apprentice? Strange. She couldn't quite imagine her leader sneaking out to go meet a cat or to not do certain errands that older cats wanted her to do. "What was his name?" she asked, fascinated. Perhaps he's Inkpaw's father! she thought good-naturedly. A purr issued in her chest at the thought of that. Who knew? Perhaps it was true.

"Do you think I'm like that?" Dreampaw asked, all of a sudden. What did Northstar think of her? Did she like her as a good apprentice? Did Northstar think well of her? Questions flitted about wildly in her mind. She looked at her leader, trying to imagine what North/paw/ was like in those long ago days.

[Agii♫]

Blinking slowly, she let her thick eyelids drop over a part of her moss-lit eyes, and for a moment her gaze seemed to dim. Northstar balked, sitting motionless for a brief moment before she brought herself back to attention and reality. Taking in a breath so that her furry chest expanded, the silver she-cat leader swallowed. "Wait until the Gathering at Highrock later," she replied calmly. "Tell Inkpaw to be ready as well as yourself."

Lifting herself up, she turned swiftly and padded away. Lithe, small paws hit the dusted camp grounds, avoiding the soft pricks of the coloured heather as she made her way hastily to her den. Shoudler blades rolled backwards stiffly, her tail not straight and erect as usual, but slightly lowered and undulating freely in the light cool breeze. Leaf-Fall was already well in its element, and Leaf-Bare was sure to bring many hardships, despite the already diminishing prey numbers.

She wanted to be in another place.
She was sick of the attention.
Sick of everyone saying, 'I don't understand'.

Northstar leaped in to her den, landing with silent malice. Concentration did not come easy for her, and as unease crept in to the thickets of her sleek silky metallic coat, she felt an undying dread caress her spine.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

The silver tabby she-cat blinked with confusion after her leader. Dreampaw tilted her head to the side, staring at the retreating figure of Northstar. Had she said something that had angered the she-cat? After all, Dreampaw felt certain that her questions hadn't interrogated Northstar too much. Or had they? It was a mystery that she didn't want to attempt to solve currently.

Well, whatever the reason, it was a reason. Dreampaw gave a mental shrug and a sigh to herself, then heaved herself to her paws. Glancing around the clearing, she began reluctantly searching for Inkpaw so that she could deliver Northstar's message to him - whatever it was for, anyway. She wasn't really looking forward to speaking to the conceited, black colored apprentice tomcat, but she had to. Besides, if she didn't, would Northstar be even angrier at her?

-x-

"All right," Inkpaw answered, still full with enthusiasm. His hazelnut eyes were sparked with the exhiliration of getting Dreampaw to go hunting with him and Moonpaw. Once he caught her the largest squirrel in the forest, he was sure that she wouldn't be able to resist him. He would be Inkpaw the Irresistible (yeah right).

He was about to bound off into the forest in the direction of Camp, with his short, pudgy legs pattering along the ground as fast as they could go, but he remembered that he was with two warriors, both who were the ones who gave him orders. Realizing this fact just in time, he skidded to a halt...

...Just in time to hit a tree. "Argh..." he mewed to himself, absolutely furious at showing such an act of clumsiness in front of two full-fledged warriors. He glanced at the warriors, thankful that Dreampaw wasn't there to ridicule him. Sending a glare towards the two she-cat warriors to tell them silently not to purr with laughter, he asked as calmly as he could despite the pain floating around in the spot that had come in contact with the tree - his face and chest, he asked, "Can we go back to camp now? Maybe while we go back, I can plan a trick to show you two near Dreampaw!"

[Battooth]

Mistheart and Flamefoot exchanged amused glances as Inkpaw asked his question. "Go right ahead," Flamefoot meowed. "Be back at camp before sunhigh though. We can't have our apprentices wandering all over the forest." She padded past the apprentice, flicking his ear as she went. "C'mon Mistheart, let's finish up this patrol." The two she-cats said their good byes and moved towards the border of SkyClan territory, near the lake.

((Flamefoot and Mistheart are GOING TO THE LAKESIDE))

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Thanks!" Inkpaw responded joyfully, turning and springing up and raced across the ground, the scenery flying by in a blur. Finally, he reached camp and darted inward happily. He glanced around and saw Dreampaw looking around. He wondered who she was looking for her. Perhaps him? Delight tingled from head to paw at the thought of that. "Dreampaw!" he called out excitedly, awaiting for the she-cat to come in response to him.

Dreampaw looked up, seeing Inkpaw. She heaved a mental sigh and looked at Inkpaw, padding over to him, her dainty paws stepping lightly on the ground. She shook her head as she Inkpaw gazed at her with enrapture. "We're to sit with Northstar tonight. I don't know why," she mewed to him, turning to leave before he could say anything to respond.

"Wait, Dreampaw, I have something to tell you!" Inkpaw mewed, not wanting her to leave just yet. "Lilypaw invited me to go hunting with her and I said yes, if you could go. So will you go?" he blurted out before she could dash out of hearing range.

Dreampaw heaved a sigh, but she couldn't find a way out of the invitation. If she didn't go, chances were that Inkpaw wasn't going to go and Lilypaw would feel slightly hurt, no doubt. "All right, all right," she responded tiredly, then turning and padding away before he could say anymore.

"Yes!" Inkpaw mewed to himself joyfully, nearly leaping up and down with excitement at going hunting with Lilypaw and /Dreampaw/! He watched her retreating figure, admiring to himself the way she walked, the way that sunlight and shadow spots fell upon her silver tabby coat, just everything. Lovesick, eh?

[/size]

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Lilypaw gazed at Inkpaw and Dreampaw, envy filling her eyes. For two reasons. One: That inkpaw and Dreampaw were going to sit with Northstar tonight at the Gathering, and that Inkpaw was completely in /love/ with Dreampaw.
"Inkpaw, I wanted to know if... You w-wanted to eat with...me when we come back from hunting?" Lilypaw said, padding ever so lightly to inkpaw as she gazed at him hopefully with beautiful yet unusual teal eyes.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Can Dreampaw eat with us too?" Inkpaw asked excitedly, his tail twitching back and forth with anticipation of being able to impress Dreampaw with how well he supposedly managed his manners and how good of a hunter he was. "Dreampaw!" he called over his shoulder, beckoning to the slender silver tabby she-cat.

Looking up when she heard her name, she padded over to Inkpaw and Lilypaw, although she didn't really want to go. She would go for the sake of the Clan, not for Inkpaw, obviously. The day she did that? The day she joined the ranks of StarClan and so forth. "What?" she hissed, frustration mounting up within her as she gave her curt response to Inkpaw.

"I guess we can go now!" Inkpaw mewed cheerfully, filling his nose and eyes with the scent and sight of her. He eagerly bounded off into the forest, wanting to catch the biggest piece of prey for the whole entire forest for Dreampaw.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

"Uh, nevermind. You two can hunt together, " Lilypaw said, bitternes in her voice.
She bounded into the forest, trying to look cheerful, and soon scented rabbit. In a few heartbeats, Lilypaw had caught the rabbit, faster than most cats due to her long legs.

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

ooc::
*eat, not hunt sorry.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Inkpaw, oblivious to Lilypaw's tone of voice, set off to go track down prey. After a while of sitting on a stump and listening to the sounds surrounding him - a new method that worked rather well in his eyes - he finally caught the sound of a mouse scuttling about in the bushes, about to dart out into the wide open, although of course, the whole ground was covered with trees. Leaping up, he came down heavily on top of the mouse, easily turning it into fresh-kill.

With agility and grace, Dreampaw darted off into the woods. In a mater of seconds, she had spotted a squirrel sitting on a low branch, chittering about and nibbling on a nut. Swinging herself into an elegant hunter's crouch, she slowly crept until she was within easy killing range of the prey. Leaping up, she landed lightly on the squirrel. Had the squirrel been paying attention, it would've been able to run away - perhaps leap onto another branch - but it was too late. Crashing to the ground, Dreampaw and the squirrel fell to the ground, although Dreampaw was certainly in a much better shape than the new piece of fresh-kill she had just caught. Carrying it in her jaws, she brought it quickly back to the spot where the three apprentices had departed. She tossed a few leaves over the meat to make sure that no other animals would come and steal it while she went out hunting again.

((-INKPAW AND DREAMPAW TO THE RIDGE-))

[/size]

[[:; [h] e a r t ::♥]]

Lilypaw scented mouse after she put down her rabbit and buried it, she went gracefully into a hunting crouch, stepping lightly with small paws, and pounced with elegance and grace onto the mouse, killing it instantly. She trotted up to near where Dreampaw had recently left her squirrel, and buried her mouse there, sighing. Why couldn't she have everything Dreampaw had? She was just as graceful, and; if not more, as fast as Dreampaw. Why couldn't Inkpaw see that she loved him just as much as he loved Dreampaw without her having to tell him? ' I just can't hold it in any longer, I know I should tell him, but I want to know if I should.' She thought to herself.

She walked back to camp, a plump rabbit, a mouse and a large squirrel, her exotic turquise eyes glittering. maybe Inkpaw will be impressed.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

((-INKPAW & DREAMPAW BACK FROM THE RIDGE-))

After a few minutes, they returned to Camp. Gladly, Dreampaw peeled away from Inkpaw's touch, hurrying to the fresh-kill pile and depositing her pieces of fresh-kill. Inkpaw, meanwhile, dropped the mouse into the pile, but kept the squirrel. "Do you want to eat with me?" he asked cheerfully to Dreampaw, hoping that she would say 'yes'. She's just so... exquisite and beautiful and dainty! he thought, affection gleaming in his eyes as well as pride that she let him touch his pelt to hers.

"No," Dreampaw answered shortly, much to Inkpaw's unhappiness. She opened her mouth to say more, that she didn't want to eat with a thick-minded cat, but was cut off short by the white pelted she-cat warrior Azalealeaf.

"Why not?" Azalealeaf asked, a hint of amusement dancing in her luminous eyes. She rather liked the younger apprentice cat - the hot headedness and the spirit Dreampaw had reminded her of herself.

Dreampaw looked up at the warrior in shock. She had always admired Azalealeaf; surely she couldn't not do what an older cat told her to do. With a resigned sigh, Dreampaw responded to Inkpaw, "Fine. I'll eat with you."