~The Sky is Everywhere~ (JuncoxHare) OPEN! G

[Cloud of Diamonds]

The sky is everywhere
Look up and you'll see it there

She was nervous, as the she-cat often was, and it was getting dark. What if she didn't make it back in time? Jaynose would be disappointed it would be all her fault, all stupid Juncopaw's fault...idiot that she was. All she'd managed to catch was one vole since sunhigh. Tracking, fishing, climbing trees...and one measly little vole to show for it. Like she'd ever be a warrior this way.

The little silver tabby sighed. And sitting here brooding wasn't doing too much good either. But it was hard to stop when she was bound to fail anyway...

She found her thoughts drifting to Crowpaw. Maybe it was her mind's way of trying to cheer her up, but instead it just made her feel worse. Why would he, an amazingly talented and nice tom, ever look at her as even a friend, the failure that she was? He could heal illness and mend broken bones - and all she could do was drag home a piece of prey that would be eaten in one gulp and not even appreciated.

No! She told herself fiercely. That's not right! Just because I'm a failure at caring and being grateful doesn't mean everyone else is. Judgmental mouse-brain that she was.

Then a scent drifted to her nose. Oh no. All she needed were harsh sarcastic remarks right now. Please, please, StarClan if you exist, don't let Harepaw notice me, she prayed.

But so many spend their time looking at the ground
And so few wonder what they might've found
If they only remembered that the sky is everywhere

[Pyro]

A squirrel, a mouse, AND a vole. Harepaw was getting better at this whole hunting thing all the time. It was essentially tracking, wasn't it? Patience, just a little more speed, and careful paw steps. That was hunting. Well, it was a lot more than that, but that was mattered. And tracking was half of hunting. And tracking...well, Harepaw had tracking down pat. She could trck with the best of them. Maybe one day she'd even be the best of them.

The she-cat lifted her nose again to sniff for more prey. Did she even need any more? Shrikewhisker would probably be proud of her for catching more than one piece of prey. She wished she could have shown off the rabbit she caught the other day...But she deemed it was best left on the down low. Less questions...less inquiries about where she caught such a big creature. Nyah. She shook her head a bit. It was a PineClan rabbit to begin with, and that was what mattered. She had just...beaten it down and taken it back to where it belonged.

But not before meeting Firepaw. Why couldn't she get that damned FogClanner out of her mind? He was an arrogant fur-ball with his head in the stars just like all other believers. How dare he linger in her thoughts, trying to convince her with repeating words to believe in the ridiculousness that was StarClan.

Could they be real? No. No they could not.

Her ears twitched as she caught the scent of vole. Not her vole, another one. One already dead. Juncopaw's scent drifted down with it and it only took a second for Harepaw to put two and two together. Right now she needed to talk with someone about this whole StarClan business. More specifically, a fellow PineClanner. Someone who could put her doubt to rest. Someone who could tell her with conviction that they did not exist.

She tred carefully through the brush to greet Juncopaw. "Tha's a nice catch." she said simply in her flavored accent. It could be taken as gentle prod or an honest compliment. Her voice sounded on the fence enough.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

If this wasn't proof that they didn't exist, Juncopaw didn't know what was. Well, yes she did, namely the fact that her leader didn't believe in them and neither did anyone else in her Clan...but would StarClan really care about her? Then again, stopping Harepaw from noticing her wouldn't have been too hard...

She sat up stock straight and if it had been a cartoon, her tail would stuck out like a board while a huge anxious grin would be plastered on her face. As it was, her tail twitched nervously and her whiskers drooped as her mouth tightened in anxiety.

"HI!...I mean, er...thanks?" It seemed more like a question than a statement. The silver tabby knew it was weak and she probably sounded stupid. Great.

Though Harepaw was only a moon older than her, Juncopaw felt exceptionally kittish beside the smoother and more confident apprentice. She'd probably get a sarcastic and scathing remark back in reply, too. She was very tempted to say how nice Harepaw's catch looked, but something held her back. Probably because it'd seem empty and like she'd copied the brownish she-cat.

Contrary to popular belief, she DID have some small amount of sense.

[Pyro]

Oh, uh, your welcome." Crap. Where did she go from here? She couldn't exactly say something like 'Gee uh, yeah, we don't talk that much but I'd like to discuss beliefs with you.' No. that simply was not happening. Maybe she'd just tag along and see if the opportunity came up. Or maybe a StarClan discussion was better breached with Shrikewhisker. Surely her long-winded mentor had some opinions on the subject.

Say, Juncopaw, do you ever..." Damn. There went her mouth against the rational of her mind. no turning back now and saying something else, unless she wanted to look stupid. "Do you ever think about StarClan?"

Harepaw shuffled her paws. This was so...weird. But she had to know. She had to know if another clanmate was having doubts like her as far as if they existed or not. Firepaw...he had got her to thinking, curse him, curse him to wherever they said damned souls went to. How dare he make her think un-PineClan thoughts. How dare he make her foundations tremble, if even only a little bit.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

The question surprised the apprentice. It was unusual that any cat spoke of the fabled ancestors here - it was PineClan, after all. Well, not often spoken of unless you counted the common disdain against believers. She wondered, off topic, whether there were any believers in PineClan. Surely not - why would any believer come here? But back to the topic at paw.

She blinked her sky colored eyes, and answered. "Well, yes..." She replied tentatively. "I mean, not all the time...but sometimes I wonder if the FogClanners are right and they do exist. I just really doubt it, though. I mean, if they do, why can only leaders and medicine cats talk to them if they're so good? Wouldn't they want to visit their descendants and stuff? And if they're so powerful and good, why did they give Brownstar his nine lives anyway? Why didn't they just tell Elkstar he was a traitor, or something?"

That was one of her main issues with StarClan. Why would they give such a wicked cat power? From the stories she'd heard, the tom had been a monster, thus leading Cedarstar (who she still remembered meeting, nervous as a hare) to lead half of the Clan to leave. Wasn't StarClan, if they existed, able to see the future or something? They should've warned all the cats, she thought. At least let them know so families didn't have to be torn apart.

Juncopaw had great sympathy with any cat who had had to leave family behind; she knew what it was like, having lost her parents and her brothers.