//...and the world laughs with you. ((open?))

[cranberry]

A quiet, desolate pathway up the mountainside, somewhere near the edges of camp. The only thing to be heard or seen, the gentle fluttering of the snowflakes and the whistling breeze. And suddenly the silence is shattered by the thundering of pawsteps as a fluffy gray she-cat bursts onto the scene, playfully stomping around after her own plume of a tail. Eventually she settles down onto the frigid terrain, resting peacefully with her paws tucked under her chest. Yes, it was cold, but how could you let something like coldness stop you from living life?

Cloverspring frowns as she surveys her surroundings. No one else seems to be around, all off busy doing one thing or another. They ought to just slow down for a minute, take some time to appreciate this temporary tranquility... she sighs. But no, everyone else will continue to tromp around, every pawstep laden with responsibility and concern, brows furrowed and in dull spirits. She shook her head and let it go. She would change all that someday, yes, someday!....

[cloudy]

Shatteredrose kept her head down and her eyes narrowed as she made her way up the mountainside. Fluffing up her fur against the cold, she scented the air. No prey here. There was cat scent though, from her own Clan. She couldn't tell who it was from here - it was too faint. Shatteredrose just hoped she didn't run into whoever it was. Sighing, she continued climbing, determined to catch something. She had come hunting, and hunting was what she wanted to do.

Actually, she just wanted to get away from camp. Everyone seemed so happy all the time. Shatteredrose just couldn't bring herself to even smile without a good reason. It was just in her nature to always see the dark, gloomy side of things. And the squeals of excited kits, the chatter of apprentices and the hushed whispers of cats when they looked in her direction was too much for her. They could say what they wanted. She didn't care any more.

She stopped dead when she realised that she had almost crashed right into the cat whose scent she had picked up. It was a she-cat from her Clan, Cloverspring. The polar opposite of herself – always cheerful and positive. Shatteredrose’s tail twitched. She wanted to avoid a long conversation, but she didn’t want to be rude. “Hello, Cloverspring,” she meowed.

[moonflower]

(( Heey there. You wouldn't mind if I throw in Burntash, would you?
BON.

Edit;;
Oh crud I was late. .__.
Okaay, let's fix this.... ))

Heavy footsteps could be heard coming from the opposite direction, and a moment later the large tom that accompanied the huge black paws came swaggering into view. His head and tail were held high, nose up in the air, and an arrogant smirk plastered on his face. He paused, glancing around, and spotted Cloverspring and Shatteredrose. The grey tom frowned, and stalked over to glare down at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked in an indignant tone. "Shouldn't you be busy hunting or something?"

[cloudy]

Shatteredrose wasn't sure who the question had been directed at. She didn't want to talk to this arrogant tom, so she muttered, "I was just saying hello to Cloverspring on my way to hunt. Is there anything wrong with greeting one of my Clanmates?" Her tail tip twitched. "I'll leave then, if that's what you want," she added, her voice laced with anger. She nodded to Cloverspring and started to pad away from her Clanmates, the fur on her back slightly raised in annoyance. She obviously wasn't wanted here.

As soon as the tabby she-cat was out of earshot of the others, she lashed her tail and let out a low growl. Sometimes it felt like the whole world hated her, and even taking it out on trees didn't help. She stared at her claws, embedded in the bark of a birch, and sighed, pulling them out of the tree and moving forward. She settled underneath a dense bush and scented the air. At last, some prey. She would show Burntash what a good hunter she was. Although the rational side of her knew that it was in the dark tom's nature to be aggressive, she still felt irritated by him.

[cranberry]

Cloverspring lowered her head in embarrassment as Shatteredrose stalked off. She hadn't even gotten the chance to say a word to the tabby she-cat. Not like she had seemed that eager to talk, anyways, before Burntash had ushered her off to be productive...

She swiveled her head to face the tom, emerald green eyes sparkling in greeting. "Oh, hi, Burntash! Aren't the mountains beautiful today? And the fresh snow, and the--" she suddenly realized she was rambling and stopped in midsentence, grinning nervously.

[cloudy]

Shatteredrose realised that she could still see and hear her two Clanmates. Narrowing her eyes, she made out what Cloverspring was saying. The tabby she-cat couldn't help sneering inwardly. Who in their right mind would be nice to Burntash? Her whiskers twitched. Even though she didn't really get along with these two cats, she felt another stab of loneliness. Nobody seemed to want her. She could - and would - be nicer to others if they started showing that they wanted her to be with them. But some cats just didn't care. Trying very hard to keep her anger under control, she moved a little way off so she was alone again. She just didn't feel like putting up with Burntash right now.

Shatteredrose started to focus all her energy on the hunting. She crept up on a squirrel, her belly fur brushing the ground and her amber eyes fixed straight ahead. With one flying leap she caught the prey and snapped its neck with one bite. She then scraped a little earth over it to temporarily hide it. Licking her lips and scenting the air again, Shatteredrose located a mouse. This time she didn't get so close before leaping, she just started running towards it. She loved doing this, but only when there was no-one else around in case she missed the prey and they told her off for not hunting properly. Her long legs made her good at running, so she caught up with the terrified mouse easily and she brought her paws down on its small body within seconds of starting the chase. The tabby she-cat felt rather pleased with herself. That way of hunting didn't often go well, and she only ever did it when there was enough open ground to chase something without it disappearing into a hole or something. Picking up the limp body of the mouse in her jaws she carried it back to where she had left the squirrel, and dropped it at her paws.

On her way back to where she had left her Clanmates, Shatteredrose made one more catch; a skinny vole that practically walked into her paws. She felt very proud of herself now - she didn't usually catch this much, and it was cold as well, surely most of the prey would be hiding. With all her catches in her jaws Shatteredrose approached Cloverspring and Burntash again. She calmly padded right up to them and dropped the prey. "Happy now?" she asked Burntash, the tone of her meow slightly smug and sarcastic. She sat down, sweeping her tail over her paws and looking the dark tom right in the eye. He would not dare be rude to her now.

[moonflower]

The ashy grey tom watched Shatteredrose stalk off with a disdainful expression, and then his sharp gaze darted to Cloverspring again. She started babbling about the weather, and how positively lovely everything was, and he suppressed the urge to gag. He gave a slight roll of his eyes, and drawled, "Sure, sure, it's simply gorgeous out. Perfect weather for just sitting around, hmm?" The sarcasm dripped from his words like venom from an adder's fangs.
Before the she-cat could reply, there was Shatteredrose again, tossing fresh-kill at his feet. He glared it for a few moments, eyes narrow and lips curled back in a sneer. "Sure, sure, absolutely thrilled," he muttered, scowling up at her. Then he blinked, his eyes in slits down, and showed his teeth in a humorless grin. "Well, since you're such the expert huntress, why don' you go find some more? The Clan will be so grateful to you." He paused, smirking, and then added, "And I'll just take this back to camp for you, shall I?" He placed one black paw on the top-most piece of prey.

[cloudy]

Shatteredrose fought back a snarl of rage, forcing the fur on her back to lie flat and her tail to stay still. The tip still twitched though. "Yeah, sure, whatever. And instead of just sitting here gossiping about the weather, why don't you go do something useful?" The tabby she-cat knew she was treading on dangerous ground here, taunting the black tom, but she didn't care. What else was she going to do? Slink meekly away and meet his demands by bringing back more prey again and again? Yeah, right. That was probably what he wanted though.

[moonflower]

Burntash just sat there, looking completely unfazed by her words. He stared with a patiently expectant, arrogant look at the she-cat, lips curled into a sneer. "Why of course, my dear," he drawled, giving a small smirk. His tail flicked idly as he stood, glancing toward Cloverspring. "You should get to work, too, if we're going to be working our tails off all day." He scowled at the sweet little she-cat, as if he were her mentor, and she had done something terribly irresponsible.

[MiNTY♥]

A smokey grey figure slipped through the undergrowth, towards the rumbles of snide meows. The bushes parted to reveal her smoke colored nose, and her pale golden green eyes. Her gaze first rested on Burntash, trust him to cause all the trouble, never the less she forced a half hearted smile to break the awkward atmosphere. "Good morning." She meowed joyfully, casting a flawless smile at Cloverspring, at least she wasn't moody, like Burntash, and sometimes Shatteredrose. "What, so you stalk around being the dominant tom who just picks up others prey and carrys it back to camp for them. My, you must be the most respected tom in the clan." She meowed in the same cheery tone but with a hint of dark sarcasm. She gingerly took a step back from the group of cats and turned to Shatteredrose, looking hopeful. "We shall go and hunt, at least it wont take us till sundown to catch a mouse." She meowed. She then began to pad off into the ferns, hoping that Shatteredrose would follow her.

[cloudy]

Shatteredrose nodded without much enthusiasm, casting one more spiteful look at Burntash, eyes narrowed, before turning to follow the grey she-cat. She remained silent, ears twitching for the sounds of prey. She tired to imitate her Clanmate's cheery mood, and failed. She just didn't see anything to be so happy about. Nobody liked her. Some cats actually went to the point of seemingly hating her, like Burntash. And it was still cold out here. She fluffed up her fur and scented the air as she padded along.

[cranberry]

For a split second, Cloverspring's ever-present smile faded and she fought back the urge to glower at Burntash. What would it take to get these stupid furballs to appreciate the moment? To treat each other with respect? To stop being such a hypocrite?

But she was good at this. She was experienced, she was a pro. So she simply beamed at the smoky gray tom and mewed, "That's a great idea, Burntash! It's such a great idea, maybe you should take some time to hunt, too." she nodded, like she was giving him a piece of great wisdom, and scampered off to join her other clanmates. It was possible that together with Radianteclipse, they might be able to knock some cheer into the normally reclusive brown tabby.

Things were looking up already.