[time may pass us by] AspenxGinger

[Pyro]

Was this power?

Here was the rush of being so close to the summit of a mountain, achievement and victory could be tasted on the wind. Aspenheart noted, not entirely unpleased, how acutely he was aware of his clanmates now. Shrikewhisker was behind him, Harepaw too. no doubt they were going out to train. He hoped they wouldn't be out too long. they'd be needed for a patrol later. Cloudpaw was taking a meal from the fresh-kill pile. As long as it was hard earned, he was fine...Yes. Not only was he aware of them, but he was aware of their activities. Trivial things were important all of a sudden. If one of them asked for help he felt vindicated and proud. If he ordered them he felt different. A good different. A strong different. The sort of different, that if anyone knew how it felt, they would ant a taste again.

Yes. This was power...Was this how Gingerstar felt? Was this part of what made her who she was?

Gingerstar. She was the one who had given him this. The Council of Elders had had to approve of it, yes...However, she was the one who had offered him for their judgment. But why? What had caused her to abandon her beliefs, if only for a second, and appoint him as deputy? Was it fate? Maybe there really was an unseen force working behind the scenes...No, no. Gingerstar, Pineclan...They were...'We are above such things. Our destinies are our own, our paths forged by our claws, our wills...and for that, we are stronger. The strongest. And I am honored to serve them as their deputy.' He muttered the small speech under his breath and t gave him power.

It also reminded him that as deputy, it would not be good of him to ignore his leader's summons. She had asked to speak with him.

The tom padded up to her den and sat at the entrance. "Gingerstar...You asked to speak with me?"

[Whiskers]

Some days Gingerstar was so tired. The morning came, she stirred awake, and she had to force her eyes to open and let the light in. She had to remind her paws how to move, her body how to stand, her ears how to hear. She had to shake away all the dreariness and dreams inside her and she had to leap out of her den before she could collapse on the floor and revisit those dreams again. Today was one of those days and Gingerstar was struggling.

The morning patrols were all out though and so the camp was mildly empty, though the majority of the apprentices had the luxury of sleeping in a little longer. They would undoubtedly wake up soon and whine about how they wanted to go on the dawn patrol or the first hunting patrol, though some might be grateful to Gingerstar for letting them sleep in. It was a rarity that she did let the apprentices slack off like this; they were the future of her Pineclan. But Gingerstar was too tired herself, so she couldn't muster up her usual temperament. She just felt cold, physically cold. She wanted her warm den. She wanted someone in there with her.

She never got to sleep with anyone as she was leader and her den was solely occupied by herself. Most of the times she was thankful for this. Her privacy was something Gingerstar needed in order to keep her sanity. But there were times where she would gaze across camp and see some of her favorite warriors and wish to have at least their presence with her in her den. Ashstorm, Swallowpelt... those two stuck out in her mind. She'd feel safe if those two she-cats were in her den with her. She'd feel warmer.

Her almost-empty clan, her fatigued mind, her desire for company all clicked together and Gingerstar found the only answer to her weird mood was to call for her deputy. How did that make sense exactly, she didn't know. But she called his name in a quipped tone and then stalked to her den. And she waited.

When he arrived, Gingerstar was at a loss of exactly what to say. She did not actually want him. Not him. He was an excellent deputy, responsible and calm. One of her favorite toms in the clan, that Gingerstar could say with certainty. When he had been recommended to her by one of her friends, Gingerstar could not look past his impressive skill set and cool, collected persona. True, Gingerstar had been hesitant; she had questioned herself over and over before she approached the elders. But Aspenheart had not failed her so far and so Gingerstar was beginning to tentatively trust him, but only as her deputy, not as...as her friend or anything like that. So Aspenheart couldn't really do anything for her today, when what she needed was a friend's smile.

But he is all she had in this moment. Might as well make the best of it. It would really help though if Gingerstar knew why she wanted to see him, what she wanted from him.

"Ah, yes," Gingerstar confirmed with a short nod. Her eyes with clouded with her questions directed at herself, though no answers were rising from the mess of her mind. "Come in, Aspenheart."

What to say, what to say? "I...just wanted to...could you give me a report on the clan's status this morning?" The request was an automatic reflex and when faced with nothing to say, Gingerstar blurted it out. She felt silly asking, because she knew how the clan was doing. But perhaps this would be a good icebreaker and maybe, well, she could ask if Aspenheart wanted to go hunting with her. Or... if he wanted to share breakfast. It was a little late for breakfast, but Gingerstar doubted her deputy had had the time to eat anything. She certainly hadn't.

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[Pyro]

Gingerstar looked a bit off...But why? Everything was fine with the clan...Aspenheart almost opened his mouth to question her, but stopped himself. He was only her deputy. Their bond, if there was any, was strictly business. There was no friendship between them, at least, not yet. Maybe there could be one day. But that one day was not here and his leader had already asked him something, eliminating the possibility of him being the one to start the conversation.

"The Clan..." Aspenheart muttered the two words vaguely with an expression of recollection on his face. "Dawn patrols have already come back with nothing to report, other than the scent of a FogClan apprentice near the border. They investigated it but the apprentice was long gone and did not appear to have crossed the border or taken any of our prey. The hunting patrols that have come back report that they prey is running magnificently well. Of course, that's a bit obvious from the size of our prey pile. It looks like Newleaf is going to be very kind to us."

The report held nothing but good news for the clan, but Aspenheart did not say it with the cheerful air of an excited kit. Rather, the words were spoken calmly and dignified, with the grand majority of his emotions shown on his face by the pleasant smile about his muzzle.

"...Of course, you know...Perhaps we could go on a patrol ourselves and show our clan how to really take advantage of such bounty." The forwardness of the request surprised Aspenheart, but he reassured himself by saying it was only natural for a leader and deputy to go on patrols together. Wasn't 'bonding' how they gained trust and confidence in each other?

[Whiskers]

Gingerstar regretted calling Aspenheart in. When he entered, the den, a part of her froze and she noticed something she should have noticed before: they were alone.

She did not like this. It made her insanely uncomfortable. So the second Aspenheart sat down, Gingerstar flinched, her chin jerked up and her eyes narrowed and the gold in them blistered as if he had already offended her somehow. Her whole form straightened up and she made her body as tall as it could go while her tail swept around her body yet again, blocking her claws and feet from Aspenheart's view. All this she did without thinking, and sadly, all this was normal behavior for Gingerstar. She didn't notice; Aspenheart probably would not either.

Yet, as she closed her whole body off, her ears remained open and she listened. As each word locked itself in place, her eyes lost some of their fierceness and they became more thoughtful. It was good that her clan was so successful. It was fantastic that, after that horrid leaf-bare, they would have an easy new-leaf ahead of them. The thought of all that prey, combined with the image of green leaves and budding flowers were enough to lift Gingerstar's spirits a bit.

Enough to let her consider Aspenheart's offer.

She really did want to go out and she had planned on asking Aspenheart if he wanted to hunt with her anyway. Now though, with him in her den (and them being alone in her den), she felt much more uptight and she was questioning that previous thought. It had been a while since she had gone hunting with anyone, let alone a tom.

But this was her deputy. Looking at him, Gingerstar knew that she had to-- needed to-- learn how to trust him. He was not a bad cat, he was not...he had not done anything too terrible. True, he was who he was. This would be a good time to really discuss things with him anyway.

But she did not accept right away. "Hm. That sounds like a reasonable request. And I haven't gone out in a while..." She paused, and almost asked if they were to go alone. She did not want to go alone with him, but she knew that they would get more done if they did. She swallowed that question and ended her hesitation. "So I think it would be smart if we did. And it would be good for the clan."

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[Pyro]

Aspenheart nodded. Obviously accepting his offer was awkward for her. Probably more awkward than being alone with him. A tom. Someone she definitely did not consider her friend. But maybe that could change. Surely if she could take the step to make a tom her deputy, she could make the step to accept a second as her friend...But perhaps he should start with trust first. This hunt could be an excellent opportunity, indeed.

Do you trust her?

The nagging thought caught him by surprise. Did he? He didn't know her. Not really. Just as his leader. Did she know him? No. Just as her follower, now deputy. Of course they wouldn't be instant friends. Of course there wouldn't be instant trust. But maybe the foundations for it could be lain.

"Shall we go now, or do you need some time by yourself?"

She probably wanted time by herself. That was obvious. The real question was, whether Gingerstar was willing to set aside her feelings to give him a chance.

[Whiskers]

Aspenheart's question confused Gingerstar. She started, then paused, her body frozen as her eyes took on a new light. What did he mean by this? Why would he ask her that? What was he trying to imply here?

Her confusion did not disappear, but she hid it behind her doors and chose to be annoyed at her deputy instead. After all it was such a stupid question to ask, completely unnecessary, maybe even insulting. "Why would I need some time "by myself ?"" she snapped at him. "I have plenty of time by myself if you haven't noticed."

At her last remark, she realized that she had hinted at her loneliness. A wave of embarrassment swallowed the leader whole. How ridiculous was she acting today? Letting little things like this miff her, snapping at her deputy, letting herself slip up. Aspenheart's intentions had probably been good. He was probably only trying to be polite, and here she went and got angry.

She couldn't very well apologize though. Best to just move on and pretend her actions were in the right and that Aspenheart was in the wrong for even asking. So with a lift of her chin, Gingerstar stalked out of her den.

"Let's not waste time. We're leaving now."

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[Pyro]

ooc:I think I'm going to take aspen for a test drive with an Irish accent. ;3

bic:

Aspenheart smiled inwardly. She was bothered by being alone so often, it seemed...So the fearless, brave, stoic leader of PineClan was actually a cat and not a statue. Well, well, you learned something new every day. He shook his head at the thought in amusement, but to another it would look more like an apologetic movement. Which worked to her deputy's advantage.

"I'm sorry. Ima 'fraid I mighta spoken out of tern...But yes. The light o' day is bein' wasted with this 'idle chatter' ."

Aspenheart followed after his leader. He'd make a note to hang around her more. Not smotheringly...but enough that she felt more inclined to be friendly. A cat couldn't spend her life cut off, right? but then again, who was he to question her methods? Wait. Duh. Her deputy. Of course, he couldn't exactly walk right up to her and criticize her. how ignorant would that be? He'd just try to nudge her in a more...sociable direction. She needed more friends. Not just the couple of females she trusted. The whole clan would probably be willing to be her friends, more than just her clanmates. If only she'd open up. didn't she realize she could be open and strong at the same time?

"So, where d'you think we should go? Or will we jus' wing it?"

Questions, ha-ha, questions. Questions forced her to talk.

[Whiskers]

Gingerstar was a clumsy fool sometimes. Not physically, no. She was the picture of grace and of fluidity in that respect, and she had dedicated herself to being balanced and alert at all times after a certain incident. Falling down would just make her more vulnerable. But she was clumsy when dealing with cats and, when she noticed this, she felt like the worst leader in the world. And it was very possible that she was the worst leader in the world.

She was brilliant at fighting. She could hunt with her eyes closed if she wanted to. Tactical decisions? No problem. But she was missing the most important part, wasn't she? She couldn't even talk to her own warriors sometimes, let alone her own deputy. Here she was, a fantastically skilled warrior, who could not even exchange a pleasant word with Aspenheart, couldn't even relax enough to smile. What a failure!

Gingerstar could not do much about it though. Just glancing toward Aspenheart she felt a constricting in her chest that she could not explain. But she could get through this and have her dignity intact. She was leader, gosh darn it, and she could do anything. You're fine. Everyone thinks you're a great leader. They respect you, Gingerstar comforted herself as she padded through camp. They just don't...like you.

She paused in her gait and turned her head back to Aspenheart at his question. It was an obvious one; she should have probably told him where she wanted to go first.

She just didn't know where she wanted to go. In fact...why not...try to extend the olive branch for once. She swallowed and then said in a friendlier voice than usual (but by no means friendly):

"Your decision, Aspenheart. You lead, I follow. Surprise me."

And she sat down, arched an eyebrow and waited for her deputy to follow her orders and take over.

[/size]

[Pyro]

The reply came as a surprise to Aspenheart. Him decide? Was this the first attempt by Gingerstar to be...friendly? No...It was probably to test him. Yes. Of course she'd want to make sure he was a sane deputy. But why would she appoint a deputy she had doubts in? Ugh. Aspenheart would be glad when they started hunting. Then the only troubles he'd have to worry about would be the strength of his strike, the speed of his paws, and the clarity of his senses.

Now, where to go? Anywhere would be fine...Perhaps the patch of oaks by the FogClan border? There was a chance they could run in to a FogClan border patrol, but if the patrol tried anything mocking or hostile...Well they wouldn't dare. Or maybe they would from the safety of their own soil. The prey there was plentiful in any case.

"How uhbow' near the oak trees? The squirrels there run so thick ih's practically a pes' problem...But..." He thought for a moment. She'd probably think him crazy for this idea..."If you fancy a challenge we could try our luck with wa'er voles and fish in the stream."

[Whiskers]

Gingerstar mulled the two options in her mind. A hunt near the Fogclan border could be fun, and there is no doubt that both of them together would catch a plethora of prey-- it would be hard to haul back the load, but the clan would certainly smile when they saw the food. The other option might entail some embarrassment on both their parts. Gingerstar knew she was no Streamclan cat, and the chance of catching a fish were slim to none.

But Aspenheart used the word challenge, and because of that, the second option was more appealing. The smart thing to do-- hunt squirrels, provide for her clan. But it was not the better choice, not the best choice. Gingerstar's eyes glinted and her mind was settled. She wanted to try and best her deputy at this and it would be good practice, if nothing else.

Plus she would really love to best her deputy at this. Gingerstar loved competitions. And she loved winning.

"Hm. I'd love to see you try your paw at fishing," There was a new light in Gingerstar's eyes and in her voice as she challenged her deputy. She was easy-going all of a sudden, younger, less tense. Her smirk was not one of cruelty, but of amusement. "Lead the way."

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