october's harvest moon; open

[nightshade]

in late afternoon, the long shadows cast a sinister feel upon the shadowclan territory. nightshade herself kind of liked it; it was more interesting, at least, than sunny birds and butterflies that peed rainbows. the autumn chill caused her to shiver, though, and she admitted to herself that it was nearly time to head home.

home. what an odd, odd word. was home really where the heard is? if that was the case, than she didn't have a home. she had a house, but not a home, according to the old adage. nobody cared about her, in her opinion; just look at her social life. she appeared mysterious, confident, sure, but did she have any real friends? did she have any family that cared for her? no. of course not. her mother, her father, they would never forgive her; not after what she'd done. nightshade's acquaintances where just that: almost-friends. cats who cared enough to hang around her -- some of the time -- but would never skin their pelt for her (or anything of the kind).

she shook her hide free of a pesky fly. no, from what she'd heard, real friends where supposed to do anything if your life was on the line -- they'd jump off a cliff for you, and you'd do the same for them. in her case, they would push her off a cliff if it meant their gain.

then again, wouldn't she do the same?

the sleek black she-cat killed the frog she'd been hunting and picked it up in her jaws. it was about time to collect the day's catch, the accumulation of her prey, before the evening patrol.

just as she was collecting the skinny mouse she'd hunted down earlier, which was by now cold, she found herself plummeting towards the ground. "and what the heck was that for?" she hissed -- for nightshade had tripped over another cat. or rather, they'd ran into each other, and she'd tripped over their tail. standing up and attempting to regain her composure, she glared. "what's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

[ello]

[bg=03031F] [ the sun was not at his highest point in the sky, but it was definitely the hottest it would be all day, late afternoon. because of the pine trees that sprouted in almost every possible spot in the territory, it was darker than it would be in say, windclan. it was chilly, not quite leaf-bare but cold enough to make you think it was. especially after a burning hot summer. every gust of wind seemed to cut through her short fur as the she-cat made her way through the marshy territory. if she'd had it her way she'd be in camp, curled up in her den resting while she tried to whisk away the soreness that came with training. but it wasn't her choice, it never was. after a vicious day of training with midnight, she'd thought she would be sent home. but her ebony mentor was less then pleased with maplepaw's performance and had insisted that she go out and hunt for the clan as well. the rambunctious she-cat had learned to hold her tongue in front of her mentor, but that hadn't prevented the gasp of surprise that had escaped her jaw. midnight had casted her a pointed glare, which told maplepaw to follow the order. so here she was, cold out of her fur with her muscles groaning in protest every time she moved. but it had gotten better. after the first training session she slept so long, and was so sore in the morning she was pretty much useless the next day. perhaps this mentor and the coterie were the best things that ever happened to her. not only would she learn the best firghting moves, but she also might live to be a cat to be feared. thats what she wanted. at least she thought so. deciding she better hurry up and catch something, the black and white apprentice opened her mouth, breathing in the scents of the forest. the smell of frog was the most prominent, and the she-cat slouched into a hunting crouch. her green eyes began to search for the source, and when they found it she began to move forward. her tail twitched, and right when she was about to pounce she felt the weight of a cats paw on her tail. she whipped around in time to see an all black cat plummeting to the ground. her first thought was that it was her mentor,and her eyes widened before she realized that her mentor was much bigger than this cat. and second, her mentor wouldn't trip. and what the heck was that for? she hissed , eyes narrowing. "what's wrong, cat got your tongue?" maplepaw's eyes narrowed as well and she let out a hostile hiss. im not the one who just tripped she hissed. walk much? notes; muse; alright. word count; 484 colors used; cc0066 comments; a it rusty with her! xD

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[nightshade]

the black cat narrowed her eyes and recoiled. she matched maplepaw's hostile hiss with one of her own, making no point of concealing her next motion, that of sizing the apprentice up. who did this cat think she was? nightshade wondered. "i wouldn't have tripped if you'd kept an eye on your tail," she retorted. "and i don't have time to be insulted by a midget with an attitude." it was more of a reflex than anything -- nightshade's first reaction was one of ire, as defensive as she was.

the she-cat recognized maplepaw, not only as a clanmate but as a coterie member as well, if she wasn't mistaken. that didn't make her any more inclined to take it easy, though; in fact, it might have the opposite effect. nightshade wasn't the most easygoing of cats, not by a longshot. and while she was capable of holding a heck of a grudge, this wasn't the time for grudge-holding.

maplepaw reminded the warrior of herself at her age, which was disturbing. i mean, look how i turned out. no healthy cat murdered their own mother, not even by accident. sure, she hadn't meant to kill her, and at the time she hadn't even known the connection -- at the time, the cat was just another opponent, just another despicable rogue. though the act had it's reprecussions, as always. it made nightshade wonder sometimes, could she do anything right?

but of course, as much of a perfectionist as she was, there wasn't a chance that the outside world would ever know that. as much as nightshade found her own mistakes downright infuriating, she always jumped to the same stubborn outlook when it came to others: you're wrong for thinking i'm wrong, and that makes you wrong twice.

ooc → not my best post, but hey, i did manage to make a one-paragraph post into four. x3 (i hope you take no offense to the midget comment, that's just nightshade.)