cowabungaaaa [cedarxginger]

[{amberrr}]

<sup>The wind rustled the dark green leaves as the sun rose above the tall trees above the camps, signaling that sunhigh had just passed. Out in the clearing of the camp, Gingerstripe was sitting in a corner by the warriors den, grooming her ruffled ginger fur. Gingerstripe had just been out hunting, and she had caught a few burrs in her dark fur. She had also collected dirt in her paws, from digging holes for her prey. Satisfied with her grooming, which had left her fur silky smooth and shining, she stretched and yawned. Gingerstripe padded over to the prey pile, selected a mouse and trotted back over to her sunny location.

Once there, she silently prayed to Starclan for the life of the mouse, and then began to chew on her first bite of the mouse. Once she finished her third, she realized she hadn't eaten since the previous night, when she had gotten back from a patrol. She shook away this thought, unlike in Leaf-Bare, she needn't worry about prey. The forest apparently agreed with her, because she heard movement from behind the bramble wall of which she sat by. It was slightly relieving to be past the burden of Leaf-Bare, it was cold and unkind. With a stretch of her lower leg muscles, Gingerstripe got up, buried the bones of the animal at the dirt place and padded along the camp.</sup>

[Cloud of Diamonds]

The leader liked his camp for a number of reasons. Namely because it was his - he'd found it, he'd led the cats here, he had made this Clan. No matter how bad things could or would ever get, that would be a constant source of pride for him. On days when he had little to do in the way of responsibility - like today - he would sometimes pad out of his den under the twisted tree and explore his camp more. He almost always found some new little thing in it. Even today, with that bit of gold over there looking so pretty...

Wait, that was a cat. Gingerstripe!

For some reason, he found himself going over what he knew about her. She was ForestClan-born, he knew. Much younger than him, for he remembered she'd only been an apprentice when they had set out and had become a warrior just before they'd found their home.

He wondered what his sudden interest in her was about. Then an idea occurred to him. Could he possibly like her? The big brown tabby felt like purring at the very thought. This could be the start of something wonderful.

So, confident and majestic, he swiftly (but still casually) padded over to the young warrior and sat down next to her, about a tail-length away.

"How are you today, Gingerstripe?" He rumbled in his deep voice.

[{amberrr}]

<sup>Gingerstripe padded over to the bramble wall, seeing the handiwork her and a few of the other warriors had finished while they had still been apprentices. She purred when she saw the spot that had had to be redone because she and another cat had been play fighting, and she'd been hurled out of the wall. Cedarstar hadn't been too happy, she remembered. The realization struck her, she had been known a little to well to cause a raucous around the camp...Just 2 moons ago she'd been punished for stuffing garlic in another warrior's bedding. But hey, what's life without a little fun every now and again? That's what she had told Cedarstar, and she could have sworn she'd seen his whiskers twitch with amusement.

"How are you today, Gingerstripe?"

Gingerstripe perked her ginger ears up. She could have sworn she'd just hear Cedarstar...she turned around, and there he was. Her instincts kicking in, she immediately thought if she'd played any pranks on anyone in the last moon. Coming up empty, she was clueless to why Cedarstar had come up to her. The strong brown tabby had always liked her, she had just supposed that had been because of her fiery spirit. The sunlight hit Cedarstar in a certain light and Gingerstripe struck back her look of surprise, because the way the light had hit him had been...wow. He'd looked handsome!

Woah,woah,woah! she thought to herself. What are you doing? she thought, you can't just go around thinking about cats that way, especially the leader! To him, you're probably just another warrior. Besides, you've caused him more trouble than most likely any apprentice combined. she thought. But, Gingerstripe still clung to that image of him in the sunlight. Cedarstar was looking at her, and she realized she'd been standing there like a moonstruck rabbit, just pondering over things while he waited for her to speak.

"I'm good, how are you, Cedarstar?" she asked pleasantly, silently begging StarClan that Cedarstar hadn't noticed her dazed look.</sup>

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Funny, Gingerstripe had paused for a moment before answering. Was she surprised to see him? Or did she not like him? Immediately he found himself growing anxious. If she didn't like him, that wasn't good. He knew he'd punished her (lightly) a few times, but that didn't mean he wasn't fond of her.

The brown tabby had barely realized before how much he cared about her opinion. Maybe I really do love her, he thought in wonder.

"Good. Luckily the wall is too. I'm sure Sprucefur will never forget how it wasn't originally." He said with a trace of a smile, remembering how the often serious gray and white tom had been fooling around that day. At least Gingerstripe hadn't been too badly hurt when she'd tumbled out, and she'd gotten back up again.

How resilient, how devoted to her Clan...at least from what he'd seen of her. He hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking of his and that she truly was loyal and devoted. His love must be devoted to the Clan he made. Even the best cats were nothing without devotion.

[{amberrr}]

<sup>Gingerstripe purred at the remark about Sprucefur. "Don't worry. he won't forget in a hurry about that." she meowed, remembering only this morning that a few of her fellow warriors had teased him. He taken pretty well, too, they just purred at it. This bit of wall had become sort of a remembrance to when MeadowClan had first been made.

"So, what's MeadowClan's great leader want to talk to a humble warrior about?" she asked playfully. Gingerstripe attempted to ignore the fact that Cedarstar looked so...she couldn't describe the way the sun hit him, or even causally, Cedarstar looked just so...right in the whole scene. A few of the non ForestClan cats padded by, and Gingerstripe caught a few snippets of their conversation.

She bit back a response as she heard the line,"Cedarstar sure seems to be favoring ForestClan cats right now, I mean look, first one put as deputy and now look at that, chatting away with Gingerstripe." the others of the group agreed, and they continued to diss the two, right in front of Gingerstripe's eyes. Who did they think they were? So what if Cedarstar felt a deeper connection with his original clan? What right did they have to talk that mouse bile about Cedarstar? Gingerstripe caught herself offguard for feeling about this so strongly. It must of just been that she, at least, felt loyalty to her Clan leader, nothing more. ...Right?</sup>

[Cloud of Diamonds]

OOC: XD Sprucefur is a future MeadowClanner of mine, in case you're wondering. And aw, Gingerstripe. <3 I'm hoping that after another rp or two, we can have them established as mates. But, I want to know what you think about that.

BIC: Cedarstar saw a few cats pad by, but paid little attention to them. He was too busy chuckling at the ginger tabby's words. "No, it is I who am I granted the honor of speaking to one of the cats who thought me worthy to follow even here. As for what? Well, do I need a specific reason to simply speak with one of my best warriors?" He said teasingly back. It wasn't all mere flattery, either. He wasn't really for too much flattery in general. She was a strong young warrior, and devoted to her Clan...and attracted his attention in a curious way.

She was just so fascinating, for some reason...he could hardly stop himself superfocusing on tiny things about her, like the way her slightly fluffy dark-and-light striped fur was made golden by the sunlight, or the way her amber eyes seemed so full of life...was this was what it was like to love someone? Did he love her? He wasn't sure yet, but he was getting excited. He'd seen her on the Journey, of course, and had talked to her a few times on it, but he'd been so busy then, with no time to worry about finding a mate, though of course even then it had still preyed on his mind.

She'd only been an apprentice, then, too...but she was a warrior now, and a beautiful one. She had a nice personality, too, he decided. He'd known her. They'd been distantly friendly, even with him lightly chastising her. And now this longing feeling...yes, he decided, he was in love. And proud to be. But, would she love him back? He found his good feelings now being riddled with anxiousness.

What if she didn't, or loved someone else? It would break his heart, he was sure.

[{amberrr}]

<sup>Ooc: Okay. Yes, those two are simply! I don't know, like perfect for each other. <3

Bic: Gingerstripe ignored the cats, after all, if they took away her time with Cedarstar, who would be to blame but herself? She, after all did seem to be just a tad nosy in almost everything around the camp. But hey, it was almost...a second nature. She purred, she was reminding herself of a few of the apprentices who had come on the Journey with the other Forestclanners. Cloudpaw and Duckpaw had been, well, something else.
"No, it is I who am I granted the honor of speaking to one of the cats who thought me worthy to follow even here. As for what? Well, do I need a specific reason to simply speak with one of my best warriors?"

"No, you don't. I just seem to stick my nose into every little detail." she purred. Cedarstar did have a charming air about him...and his eyes were so full of life and his fur was the deepest brown...Woah, woah, woah! she thought, he probably is interested in some other, older, more defined cat...I mean, I'm barely more than an apprentice, she thought bitterly to herself. Though...she'd never really seen him to be that kind of a cat. Gingerstripe had seen Russetpelt try to get Cedarstar with someone, but he always murmured something about them not being the one. The chance of her being "the one" was slim to none.

But...still. If Cedarstar did love a more refined, older and obviously much more responsible cat, what was she to say? Nothing. Nothing to any but herself, of course. Inside, she'd be burning a pain that she'd only ever felt when her parents had been killed in that freak accident with a badger. She gulped, holding back a potential cry of pain at the memory of their lifeless, limp bodies. Shaking this horrid memory from her mind, she thought back to Cedarstar. And, a probably foolish, mouse-brained idea came to her in that moment.

Everyone took risks in their lives, and Gingerstripe was probably going on a limb here, but she had to know if he liked her, well, the way she felt about him. Until now, she'd always thought of her love for him nothing more than a "phase". After all, that's what her friends had told her when she had told them Cedarclaw had been so brave to take half of his clan into unknown territory. But, now that she saw this cat more clearly, she knew Cedarstar wasn't some passing phase...he was well, amazing.</sup>

[Cloud of Diamonds]

OOC: xD They are, they are. And hopefully they'll have their own little family in a few moons. <3

BIC: The big, long-furred tom chuckled again. She made him laugh. That was surely a good sign, wasn't it? He found himself looking at her with a rare, full smile on his wide, shaggy face. Not even Littlewhisker or Russetpelt could make him feel like this. Happy, yes, but not like...like he was falling in love.

It felt like he had been traveling ahead of the world up to this point, and now it had caught up with him. Everything felt...frozen, in this moment, like leaves suspended on the breeze. This little space between them was a tiny bubble in the world, but it was filled with such intense feeling. It felt so wonderful, so unbelievable...like he never wanted it to stop, like if he could, he'd stop the world right now just so he could enjoy this moment forever.

But he couldn't. However, he could have a mate. Her. He could have, finally, what he'd always wanted for so many moons. It had been always been an unfilled longing, so long unfilled that he'd grown used to its chasm in his heart. But now...surely, surely she would feel the same? Surely she'd return his affections? He had to know. So...making his voice crisp again, he spoke.

"Would you enjoy patrolling the PineClan border with me, Gingerstripe?"

[{amberrr}]

<sup>"Would you enjoy patrolling the PineClan border with me, Gingerstripe?"

She looked up hopefully, and when he asked her, she felt butterflies fly around her stomach. Cedarstar wanted her to go on a patrol with him! This obviously meant something! Gingerstripe now knew that he felt something towards her, and that made her want to jump for joy. In spite of her self, she laughed at this feeling. She realized she must have twitched her whiskers with happiness, and may of flicked her tail a little too joyfully. Embarrassed, she replied to him.

"Sure." she meowed, purring. That was one aspect of herself that she couldn't keep down.

A Meadowclanner, once a kitty pet had told her that the Twolegs had a metaphor about cats and curiosity. Something about,'curiosity killing the cat'. Well, Gingerstripe was overly nosy and interested in things she should probably leave as is. Look where curiosity had gotten her, and she wasn't dead. Then again, she wasn't exactly sure of what those metaphors meant...Twolegs were weird like that. Realizing she had gotten completely off subject with herself, she looked back up at Cedarstar.</sup>

[Cloud of Diamonds]

He smiled even more. Maybe it was just her enthusiasm to serve her Clan, but maybe it was something more. He would know soon enough. "Then by all means, let's go." He said grandly, nodding toward the grass-tunnel out of the mostly underground camp. The big tom padded smoothly across his camp, his paws feeling as light and strong as if he were a warrior fresh from the apprentice den, and had the energy to run across the meadows forever.

The sun seemed to be shining brighter today. The grass seemed to be greener, the flowers smell sweeter, and every detail stood out sharp and clear. Unusually for the mottled brown tabby, he was still smiling, and he tromped through his territory without a single thought of trying to catch prey. This behavior was about as common in the tom as Cedarstar sleeping in the apprentices' den.

How good the world seemed when one was in love. How enjoyable the very air...he closed his eyes a moment and breathed in. He smelled the earth, the grass, the thistles, faint prey-scents...and Gingerstripe. Suddenly filled with energy, he bounded forward toward the border, running as he hadn't in a while.

When he finally stopped a few badgerlengths from it, he panted a bit and sat.

OOC: You start a thread in the Meadow Border board, k? :3