C'est la vie, mon cherie (LokixFawnxTiger) private

[Cloud of Diamonds]

It was rare in Loki's life that he'd ever thought he'd actually die of his own accord.

But it just might happen now, he thought with weak humor as he lay in a pool of his own blood, collapsing at this border after being attacked over the other one. What a way to kick it. Oh how the mice would be laughing if they could see him now.

The pain was bad, obviously. But not as bad as it had been when he had cruelly, viciously raked and bitten - for no good reason! Sure, he'd made a few teasing on comments. Sure, he'd been on their oh-so-precious land. Geez, he could have left with a simple "good-bye." But of course, they had to do it the hard way. Sigh. He was so misunderstood. All he wanted was a little affection - and no one at the ranch seemed to want to give it. So he'd left that dump of boring serious...bores, and had come here in search of love instead.

Which gone totally down the wrong path and he'd ended up here gasping for breath after being unable to walk from his loss of blood.

He wondered if the cats who lived here would finish him off. Probably. But then again, maybe there was a flicker of hope...nah. Ah well, at least he'd die a dramatic death.

Black was looming before him, and he was shutting his eyes more often. Accepting death with a dramatic sigh, he fell unconscious.

[green ! [old ghost]]

When Fawnpaw learned she would be the Medicine Cat apprentice, the last thing she ever expected to do would be go for herbs. Yeah, she knew all Medicine Cat apprentices did it. Heck, she knew that even normal apprentices would be forced to do it sometime. But she was blind and MeadowClan had so many holes in the territory. She could break an ankle doing this! And then what use would she be? Being blind made her useless enough, the she-cat wasn't fond of thinking that things could get worse.

Then of course, she was assigned an escort. She assumed it'd be an apprentice, like one of her brothers. But no! She got a warrior. A strange one, too. Fawnpaw didn't know Tigertail personally, but what she heard from Shrewpaw was enough to make her fur fluff up in excitement.

She only hoped he was as awesome as her brother boasted-

Was that blood?

Fawnpaw dashed away from her escort's paws, following the sticky scent of blood to who knew where. She couldn't see where she was going. It wasn't until she felt the goo on her paws did Fawnpaw stop running, planting her feet firmly in the blood and leaning forward until her nose bumped into what was obviously a body. A cat's body. And through all the warm blood and fur, her nose couldn't tell her whether the cat was breathing or not. "Are you alive?"

Well, she might not get a response, but Fawnpaw couldn't very well look to see, now could she?

[Crowzerplorodon]

Tigertail, for all his quirks, actually liked young cats. Most others would just peg him as the sort of grumpy guy who didn't want to get within six foxlengths of apprentices and kits. But, having “kits” of his own (a fact which surprised people) made him quite open to hanging out with cats much, much younger than he was. Not in a creepy way, though. Tigertail was creepy, but he wasn't that sort of creepy. He much preferred his gals and guys without their -paws, if you know what he meant.

And no, that didn't mean he was a fan of cutting off feet.

Anyway, his liking of young cats was why he had agreed to go with Fawnpaw today. She was Shrewpaw's brother and he liked Shrewy, so why not give his sister a chance? So far so good, though admittedly the blind she-cat hadn't said much. Tigertail hadn't really been jumping at conversation either. He was busy making sure the medicine cat apprentice didn't do something to kill herself, and he was sure she was busy keeping a look out for herbs. Well, not a lookout, actually. More like a hearing-and-smelling-out.

Tigertail didn't care if it didn't make sense.

Next thing he knew, Fawnpaw was dashing off and he was following, wrinkling his nose at the scent of blood, cat, and StreamClan. Was something...? Then he saw the body and realized it wasn't a StreamClanner (he had the briefest flash that it might be Redtail, StarClan forbid), only to laugh at what Fawnpaw said, the she-cat looking like the bravest thing in the world. He stepped over, avoiding the blood and watching until he saw the faintest rising and falling of the tom's chest. “He's alive, sweet cheeks. Ain't awake, though,” the warrior said happily, burying his teeth in the fallen cat's scruff. “S'gettim back ta' camp.”