HOW TO BE BRAVE {rabbitrose} // only

[lily ♫]

the water never seemed to stop. even now, as roseblush huddled with a few of her clanmates inside vertigoclan's camp, rain continued to fall upon them. the strong mountain winds buffeted their pelts. shivering, the she-cat winced as she pulled herself up into a sitting position, gingerly putting weight on her front right paw. in the madness that had ensued after the flooding, the pretty pointed she-cat had nearly been trampled by her own clanmates and the cats both from tempestclan and zephyrclan as they made their way to the only high ground - vertigoclan territory.

accustomed to the steep yet more or less smooth territory of celestialclan, climbing up the rocky border and into the pine trees beyond had taken a toll on her body; she'd ended up twisting her ankle the wrong way and spraining it. unsure of what to do or who to tell, she'd mainly just stuck close to a few familiar faces and suffered rather than seek out a medicine cat. with all the stagnant water, there wouldn't be many herbs left to help her with anyway. standing up carefully, her balance was off and her small frame swayed slightly as she accidentally braced herself with her injured leg, hissing at the pain and nearly falling from the effort it took not to swear right on the spot. blue-grey eyes wide and sad, roseblush frowned deeply, eyes on her paws as she whispered to herself, "i just want to go home."

roseblush had stopped being so shy, so cowardly, so afraid, but now it had all come rushing back to her. all of these cats, many that she'd never seen or spoken to, set her on edge and made her uncomfortable. she simply didn't know what to do. even vertigoclan's leader seemed to terrify her - the calico seemed so vicious; the deputy too. a fight had broken out between a few cats and there were surely more to come. but even then, roseblush would still feel alone. celestialclan was gone, or so it seemed, though not deemed nonexistant by the other leaders yet. roseblush seemed to know it was coming. afterall, hallowstar was gone - disappeared - and the clan had looked to falconflight for guidance, but he too was missing. it was a confusing situation already with a leader, but without one, panic ensued. celestialclan had seemingly disbanded, though some cats remained together, thank starclan in roseblush's sake.

it wasn't that she had lost her bravery, it was just that losing the home she had always known to flooding and then being in a territory that felt so strange - especially the needles beneath your softer paw pads - surrounded by all sorts of foreign cats. well, it was enough to make anyone feel out of place or shy. shaking her light colored bodice as water droplets flew from her pelt, roseblush let her eyes wander across the faces and pelts of all the cats in the clearing, trying to suppress her overwhelming fear. there were so many of them, everywhere. she was beginning to grow claustrophobic, but she didn't want leave camp alone, especially if pyrestar ended up telling them that it was forbidden. roseblush could do nothing but stare.

[LYNX ♥]

he wasn't even really that shocked by the flooding, or the chaos, or the fear-drenched cats moving against him, shoving, hissing, trying to start fights because they didn't want to look weak all shivering and whimpering with cold and hunger and wet. he wasn't shocked, but he was a little disgusted. had they really come to that in a time of disaster? it was a little stupid, how cats so direly attached to habit could be thrown into discourse simply by a little hardship. that thought alone was oddly insightful for him, but he found it pretty easy to see situations objectively. except for birds, gosh. never birds, those freaking things didn't make any sense. not that that was the point. what was the point anyway? rabbitnose blinked and looked up, a yelp making its way out of his slender maw when someone accidentally tread his tail, breaking his absent train of thought, which really wasn't going anywhere anyway. still, rude! he wanted to get up and berate them until they at least promised to look where they were going next time, but, looking around him, the tom guessed he could probably forgive whoever it was. after all, everyone was a little out of sorts at that point, and it really made no difference. rabbitnose liked to give them the benefit of the doubt. surely, had the circumstances been different, they would have stopped and offered a pleasant apology. unrealistic as that was, the zephyrclan tom preferred to follow that line of belief regardless. it made it easier to forgive the rude and make friends with the cruel. it kept him on everyone's good side, at least.

the tabby, now thoroughly thrown off his thoughtful reverie, decided it was well time to get up and move about, before the crummy weather made him stiff. he wasn't old, not at all, but he had always had issues with achy bones, and now in this moment of struggle, the tom didn't really wanna deal with that. best to stretch! now was also a really good opportunity to make friends too, he realized. standing quite tall with his slender, long legs the tabby blinked his soft green eyes rather innocently, peering about for someone interesting to bother- er, acquaint himself with. someone who didn't look murderous. which really eliminated a lot of those who surrounded him in this strange, compact camp. some cats were already socializing with one another, and he didn't want to butt in, and others were sleeping, probably exhausted after their harrowing journey to this territory, watching their homes be destroyed. he sighed, pushing the final image of zephyrclan's camp before he escaped out of his mind, and set off toward a particularly woed-looking female not far off.

she looked as though she could use some cheerin up. "hi." he meowed, and realizing he sounded a little curt, he leaned forward to touch her nose with his. "you look.... a little tragic. I mean like not bad or anything but sad. you look really sad. can I help?" wide-eyed, he glanced upwards at the sound of a flapping of wings, but seeing no feathery menace overhead (thanks to the confounded amount of trees obscuring his view of them), he returned his attention to the she-cat who, as he inhaled, he identified as celestialclan. "my name is rabbitnose, by the way." he curled his tail, an encouraging smile adorning his simple features.

[lily ♫]

she'd been surprised when the tom had approached her, but she did her best to smile at him, even if it was half-heartedly. with all the rain surrounding them, the water, melting away the very lives they had known, waterlogging everything but vertigoclan and the surrounding pine forest, roseblush knew things were going to be different. why not treat it sort of like a gathering? steadying herself by locking her tail behind her, she swayed slightly, keeping her injured paw held high, along with her grey and blue gaze. "hi back." the celestialclan female remarked, a smile gracing her pointed maw before he went forward and touched noses with her. "oh!" she started, quite startled by the oddly damp touch and having stumbled back half a step, wobbling precariously on three legs before the fourth touched the ground out of habit. roseblush winced, her eyes watering slightly as she took in a sharp intake of air, making a hissing noise, before recovering.

shooting him an odd look, she just barely cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes out of confusion as she analyzed him, squinting slightly as he continued speaking. her eyes widened, her ears perking up a bit higher as she peered curiously at him, her tail tip curling. "well this whole ordeal is pretty tragic, don't you think? and i'm not...sad, really. things just haven't really been going my way." she admitted, gesturing to her paw with her head and then glancing to where a few of her clanmates remained gathered.

inhaling the air around her, she caught the scent of zephyrclan, confirming her previous thoughts about the tom. his lithe body, the ruffled look of wind in his fur - though ruffled patches of damp fur also covered his pelt, and the way he seemed to have just floated up to her. it was the minor details that set the clans aside, but roseblush still noticed them. another odd look was shot at the tom as he glanced upward, a slight flapping of wings and the rustling of the trees above just made her even more confused.exhaling slightly, she shot a small smile his way. "i think a little time's gonna help, that's all." she answered his question finally, just as he introduced himself. dpping her head to him respectfully, she half-smiled again. "i'm roseblush." meeting his encouraging smile with a bit of sparkling in her silvery pale blue eyes.

ooc: lawl and i said it was going to be short

EDIT: also i read sparkling as spanking and was a bit weirded out by myself. DAT SPANKING IN HER EYES O BBYYY BBYYY

[LYNX ♥]

he was happy she was a little bit open with him anyway, despite her wariness. she wasn't scared to be friendly, like he had found most of the cats in this sancuary were. they lashed out instead of smiling, because they were frightened, he figured. that's how it looked to him, anyway, but what did he know about feline nature? it was a mere guess, but looking upon the she-cat now, those guesses disappeared in an instant, replacing the space in his head with a permanent image of her soft, gentle pale eyes. shining blue. he blinking helplessly, thinking that maybe he had a soft spot for girls with blue eyes. first clear, then silentsnow, now her? it wasn't even like he had prominent crushes on any of them, but they sure were pretty. it melted his heart a little bit when she looked at him like that, and finally responded.

his smile sharply vanished though, when he caught her subtle wincing, and instinctively looked down at her paw. "hurt?" rabbitnose asked, twitching his tail tip with a distant concern. she was from a different clan, sure, and she wasn't clearly oozing blood or coughing and sneezing, so he wasn't particularly worried, but all the same he didn't like to see her suffering like that. it was a good cover-up though, most probably wouldn't have noticed. he wondered how long she had been hurt. "I don't think there are too many injuries right now, maybe you should see a medicine cat to ease the pain a little bit before they get busy with, I dunno, fights and chills and stuff. all these cats, it's only a matter of time." he laughed lightly, shrugging off the seriousness of the things he mentioned. "and anyway, doesn't celestialclan have two medicine cats?"

he was willing to let it go if she wanted, but he would probably insist on finding her later. or, he thought sneakily, just find a medicine cat and bring them right to this bi-colored female with the pretty eyes. the brown tabby returned to the present with a jolt, realizing she was speaking. quizzically he frowned questioningly. "tragic? well... I dont think so. I haven't even heard any deaths of all this chaos. sounds more miraculous to me! it might be tragic for elders who are so conservative and combative anyway, but young cats like us? I should think it's more exciting than anything! I love zephyrclan, but don't you ever wish for a change of scenery? our leaders aren't just going to leave us to ourselves. they're gonna lead us! either we'll go back home when it's done, or we'll find somewhere new. and better!" he grinned, flicking her chin with his tail, "chin up lass! there's no need to be pessimistic." I think a little time's gonna help, that's all. that was good with him, although he would like to have been more proactive in her healing process, he believed her. many cats were practically still in shock. he saw many trembling paws around him. "roseblush, huh? that is a lovely name." he purred, twitching his long tail again. "shall we be friends?"

[/justify]

[lily ♫]

he was a friendly face among the crowd, actually asking her about herself rather than watching her from afar, scrutinizing her actions and writing her off as another idiot from a rival clan, and for that, she was grateful. the pointed she-cat smiled at the tabby, her silver-blue eyes twinkling among the damp mist swirling around them. she looked down out of habit when he inquired about her injury, and she could feel her blush flaring up beneath her creamy fur. "i suppose you could call it that." she replied, looking back up at him with an expression one might see upon the face of an apprentice who had gotten caught sneaking out of camp. "and really, it's nothing, see?" she showed him, gingerly placing it upon the dampened ground, but pulling it back up as the dirt gave a little, muddying her paw as she winced.

as he mentioned medicine cats, she looked a bit sheepish, glancing around the camp before focusing back on him, her tail sweeping lightly from side to side. with a laugh, she agreed with him. "i'll go, i promise. you're right, too. i don't like the way tempestclan's eyeing all of us like we're intruders. i mean, honestly, you'd think this was their camp!" roseblush joked, grinning up at the handsome tom, her bright little ivories flashing at him. holding back laughter at her own silly self she timidly looked away, unable to hide her smile. "yes, i believe we do.

[/b]" she admitted, and she would have played a bit with her paws but she was too busy trying not to sway this way and that with her body off-balance to begin with.

the pretty celestialclan she-cat gazed at him with wide open eyes, nodding as he spoke. "yes!" she blurted, as he mentioned a change of scenery. "i've always wanted to see more of the world, and i've never in the world told anyone else!" roseblush added breathlessly, shooting him a pouty look as he called her pessimistic. "i'm not a pessimist! i'm just honest sometimes!" she told him with another grin, wanting to jab at him with her paw, but once again, lacked the means to. looking quite perturbed, she frowned. "you know, if i could, i'd be poking at you with this paw!" the pointed female teased, wagging her injured paw at him just a little, careful not to jostle it too much. trying her best to ignore his last compliment, she nodded to him, head held high as her cheeks burned. "yes, i believe we're going to be friends afterall!"[/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]

[LYNX ♥]

"really nothing, huh?" he rolled his eyes, but a grin lingered on his maw, "you've gotta know by now your gallantry isn't fooling me! maaaaybe it would fool someone who cared less," the tom purred warmly, meeting her big blue eyes for a moment before settling himself side-by-side to his new acquaintence, peering out from this remote corner into the rather still-unfamiliar camp of vertigoclan. "huh! that's what I thought, you've got no excuse to be wandering around all limpy n stuff. you'll make the very blood-thirsty tempestclan turds you gossip about think you're gonna be their next prey! now c'mon, you gotta be fit as a fly when you're in close quarters with this many jerks!" rabbitnose chuckled lightly, minding the tempestclan cats no more than he minded the vertigoclan or celestialclan cats. they were all unfamiliar, but they all surely had potential to be reasonable cats, right? maybe not, but rabbitnose still thought it wasn't fair to judge an entire group of cats based on a silly reputation, which was really something coming from the embodiment of a stereotypical zephyrclan cat.

he smiled distantly at the irony of his thoughts when he noticed that this she-cat was forming a reply, and jerked to alertness, keen on hearing whatever she had to say, and was surprised a bit by her enthusiasm. or perhaps he was simply surprised she had been so quick to open her thoughts to him, to admit her one glaring weakness, and so on. apparently he had been mistaken when he first observed her to be a reserved she-cat. he raised his brows slightly and let out a quiet laugh, "I wouldn't have figured that by your face! you looked like the sun just fell out of the sky!" the zephyrclan warrior crowed, lashing his tail, "'honest'" he teased, flicking her ear with his tailtip, "suuuure, anyway, how come you're over here all by yourself? how come you're not lolligagging with your clanmates like everyone else?" he gestured with a paw around camp, where very few inter-clan conversations were taking place, while most stuck with those they knew. it was strange to rabbitnose that the atmosphere was more like a gathering, with laughter and bragging and so on, but he figured many were feeling quite downcast in this unfamiliar territory, with the overcast skies weighing down their hearts. he sighed, wishing he could wipe away at least a few frowns. he peered over at roseblush with a sidelong glance and let out a soft, rumbling pur. he seemed to create at least once smile with a stranger, and that felt nice.

[lily ♫]

she met his own smile with one of her own. "oh, and you care about me already then, rabbitnose?" roseblush teased, thinking to herself how kind the tom was. rolling her eyes, she huffed before returning her gaze to his own warm one. "fiiiine." the pointed female sighed, he was warming right up to her just as she was warming up to him, and it just felt right. before she'd even realized it, she was shaking her head at him again, a laugh escaping her. "those tempestclan-turds can think what they want of me!" she declared with a giggle, her grey-blue eyes shining with amusement as the tabby tom took a seat next to her.

it was odd sitting with a zephyrclan cat, prefering his company over her own clanmates'. but had she ever really belonged there? with her awkwardly large build, for celestialclanners, at least, and her cowardly nature, roseblush had only been another face, nothing important to, well, anyone. just in these few stolen away moments with this entirely foreign tom had her smiling and laughing when with her clanmates they'd be dwelling over the fact that they were now homeless and scattered between the rest of the clans because they had no one to lead them.

as he mentioned her earlier expression, she did jab at him with her good paw now that she was steadied by her bottom placed not-so-precariously on the soggy ground. "well excuuuse me, sir! things haven't exactly been all fine and dandy, you know!" was her good-natured retort as another smile fell across her pointed maw. "yes, honest! i swear, do you always act as if the sun's never going to go down, that you'll live forever, stealing away all these magic moments from those who aren't brave enough to find them?" she asked, pondering aloud at the last bit. scowling a bit at the pine needles strewn around them, she let out a short sigh. "now that's the life to live. adventure is its own sort of romance!" she declared, holding her head high, pushing her shoulders back before jostling her paw a bit too hard. "ooh, ouch, ouch, ouch! bad idea, that was!" she mewled with a laugh, shaking her head once more.

"how come i'm over here by myself? did you really have to ask? i haven't spoken this freely in moons! i swear, the she-cats in celestialclan just want to find romance and to prove that they're better than the other gals. me? i want to prove to the world that i'm different from them." this time it was her rambling, and she hardly even noticed. "to answer your question, i just never really fit in. i was the largest apprentice - i'm still a bit bigger than most of the warriors, even some of the prissy males from celestialclan!" she admitted, her eyes wide as she looked at him bewildered by her own existence. "maybe this is exactly what i needed." roseblush finished quietly, looking around her curiously, her fur a bit ruffled from her own big-winded speech.

[LYNX ♥]

she went on and on and... on! it was so funny, how completely he had misjudged her it seemed, since he had initially thought she some meek little bunny who was hiding from the world, quivering at the sound of every pawstep. no so, apparently! rabbitnose couldn't help but laugh at this strange she-cat, with her enthusiasm seemingly bubbling over in everything she said, and her excitement with which she spoke. "you'd be concerned if you were me too! so yes, I care! plenty! we're friends, remember? we decided that like two minutes ago? friends care, furrball!" he replied warmly with a purr, his tailtip curling up with contentment, though it quickly went rigid with the birdcall not far off, some menaces probably looking for a poor cat to dart at he figured, wondering if birds were everywhere. he shivered at the thought, hoping that maybe there wouldn't be any when they inevidably left and found a new place. wow! he couldn't even imagine being without those menaces, although speaking of menaces, he frowned faintly when a particularly mean-looking tomcat glanced his way and made eye contact. he hoped he wouldn't have to be around jerks for very long, they were definitely the worst kind of cat...

he snapped back to attention, blinking rapidly to clear his hazy chartruse gaze. roseblush was still talking, and he grinned apologetically for zoning out. "sorry, what? bad habit.. short attention span, er something." he laughed heartily at himself, knowing he came off very oddly to strangers, but this red-tinted lass seemed like the kind he wouldn't easily scare off. he hoped not anyway, since she seemed to be brimming with life. he liked that in a cat.

"yes! optimism owns! one day you'll see that moping about stuff you can't help doesn't do anyone any good! the best you can do is shoot starclan a prayer and laugh about something." he nodded assertively, and shrugged, adding confidently that, "one day, cats are gonna start taking my advice and being a lot happier." he thought so anyway, since he was so often in such a content mood, while many always seemed so.... down. so sad, he wondered why that happened to them, but suspected it was because they prided themselves in being wise- that never got a cat far, in rabbitnose's experience anyway. it was best to be humble and happy, giving less of a care was better, and seeking smiles made things easier. no one would listen to that, though, they were busy being sad about stupid things. the tabby tom snorted and stretched one long foreleg, then the other. how could everyone just sit around like this? he was itching to run. roseblush was explaining her strange position in her clan and rabbitnose cocked his head. "are you really that different? everyone's a little bit the same I think. they're just too busy denying that that they just make enemies of each other. be careful hating on the she-cats of celestialclan!" he shook his head, "I think you're making a pity party for yourself," he meowed bluntly, looking sternly at the stocky female, "you need to lighten up! now c'mon, let me take you to see a medicine cat."


//lets wrap this up dude