&&time may pass us by [AspenxGinger]

[Pyro]

Aspenheart trekked through the tall pines, his eyes searching for some sign that they were closer t their destination. He hoped he could-oh dash it all. Of course he could bloody well remember where the little stream was. It was a stream for crying out loud. He went there to drink. But now with Gingerstar behind him he couldn't help but feel nervous.

However, as the stream finally came into view, he realized he wasn't nervous about finding it so much as using it. How many times had he fished in his life? Once? Twice? And he had challenged his leader of all cats to a contest of sorts. Great.

He approached the trinkling water carefully, watching so that his shadow didn't fall on the water. the tom grimaced to see there were actually fish there. Now there was no real excuse for him not to try.

[Whiskers]

What a relief, not to lead-- for just one second. Gingerstar wasn't one to give up control very often, but now that she had let go of the reins, eased to the back, and she felt a little less pressure. She also felt light-heated and there was this tingling lacing up and down her spine, her paws felt considerably numb, she had this weird drumbeat in her head that sounded suspiciously like a racing heart-- oh it was.

She was nervous.

But it made sense that she was. She was in the forest, alone, with a tom-- no. With Aspenheart. Trusted deputy, Gingerstar reminded herself with a nod. She whispered it, quiet enough that Aspenheart would not turn and ask what she had said. Trusted deputy. And she was about to go head-to-head with him on a fishing competition, something she herself was not good at. Thinking of this helped with the nerves and the urge to run. Her muggy thoughts lifted and the drumbeat faded to a quiet reminder in the back of head.

And then they arrived and Gingerstar was geared up for competition. She was thrust back to her Forestclan days, when she was an apprentice, always ready for the next training session, always taking whatever challenges life threw at her. The usual superior look of arrogance that she wore was now...well, not less arrogant, but certainly friendly, more engaged. She challenged Aspenheart with every look. Just try to outdo me. I dare you.

She stepped up to the river herself, positioning her body just right. The blatant fact that she was a terrible fisher did not faze her; it encouraged her to show herself up too. She needed to be the best anyway, at every single skill, since she was leader.

It was this confidence-- some would say it was conceit-- that made her make the first move. She saw a fish, meandering through the water, ignorant of her presence. Lightning quick, she struck the water, dashing water into the air-- and the fish too.

But she could not catch it and it flopped back in the water. Her eyes widened, then immediately scowled in frustration. Damn fish.

"Damn fish," she said aloud, her head slightly twitching to the side, eyes flicking to her deputy to see his most-likely bemused expression. But she was met with something better.

He was wet. She had splashed him. A tiny smile wiggled out of her. A tiny, true light that teased of happiness stuck somewhere within herself.

"Oh, sorry," she purred, her tail curling. And though she said sorry, she, of course, did not mean it. "The fish got the better of me."

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[Pyro]

Aspenheart breathed a sigh of relief as he saw he would not have to go first. He watched as his leader began with good technique but ultimately failed to catch the fish. The sight of his leader failing was so unusual he almost began to laugh with surprise. But the laugh died on his muzzle as he was drenched by the wave created by her ferocious pounce into the water.

Now he was soaked. And he didn't even have anything to show for it. "Oh you're sorry are you?" he said with a wicked grin. He leaped into the water, dangerously close to Gingerstar, giving her the full, unyielding punishment of a wave. Boyo, if he was soaked, then Gingerstar was drenched. They both might as well be made of water.

He tensed slightly. Did he make a mistake? What if Gingerstar was honestly sorry she had splashed him? What if she wasn't being playful at all? What if he had just seriously over-stepped his boundaries?

No...he had to stop thinking about the what-ifs. Especially with his leader. If they didn't trust each other already, they would. He for one trusted Gingerstar. Enough to be comfortable with her leading the clan. Enough to go out alone with her for a friendly hunting challenge. Enough to make light of her mistakes? Well, he hadn't pointed out that she had lost the fish. Of course, the thing about fishing was, once you scared one fish off, all of them were scared off. They had both made enough noise to scare the fish straight to the stars. But the feeling of the water was good. Nice and cool with the slowly heating air around them.

[Whiskers]

Pineclan had been graced with fantastic, beautiful weather for a while now, long enough that Gingerstar was used to the warmth that new-leaf had brought to the land. All the snow was long gone, and flowers were happily arriving in dozens. But the water was another story-- it was still cold and sharp, appearingly innocent, secretly vicious. She regretted this choice immediately. Why not romp around among the stupid squirrels? No, she had to choose the freezing water that had yet to warm up.

And being drenched in freezing water didn't help.

She had had it coming though. She had splashed Aspenheart, she had teased him, he had reciprocated. The water sunk its teeth into her thick, beautiful fur and hit the bone. She shivered and gasped, her eyes wide and bright again, locked on Aspenheart in surprise. The scary, proud, stubborn Pineclan leader and been reduced to a wide-eyed kitten. She looked so much smaller with all her fur plastered to her lean body. Yes, she was tall and strong, but only now did she realize that her fur really did contribute to much of her size.

The air stung her and she shivered again. This time she was not just cold-- she felt self-conscious and terribly vulnerable all wet like this. Her heart had resumed its pounding, but she raised her chin, refusing to lose any more of her trademark leader dignity.

"Well that's it for fishing then," Gingerstar said with an eyebrow-raise. Her smile had disappeared behind her put-on smirk. "That's really too bad; I was looking forward to completely obliterating you at fishing, you know."

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[Pyro]

Aspenheart chuckled. It was warm and thick like honey, something that came very natural to the tom. "I guess we'll never know, will we?"

His laughter died off as his thoughts turned to more serious matters. The loner. Gingerstar hadn't kicked him out yet...But for all her stone-ness, he didn't really think she would throw out a seriously injured cat who had saved a PineClan apprentice. However it felt like Rain was in limbo and Aspenheart didn't want to give anyone false hopes that he might not be in danger of being thrown out on Gingerstar's whim. He didn't like the way his leader was ignoring the loner...She'd barely spoken two words to him. It was as if all the words that had needed to be spoken between them had been spoken before. But when? How?

He felt bad when he thought of probing. But perhaps there was that tiniest possibility that Gingerstar had had time before Rain came to the camp to figure how she felt about the tom. Or maybe she categorized him in her mind the moment she saw him in her camp.

No...maybe he really just wanted to be apart of the definitive decision that would have to be made. Or more likely, he wanted to give the tom a fair defense. That is, if he even needed one. He had done a good thing. But then again, he had trespassed. Surely the two canceled each other out, putting him on neutral ground? However, if that was the case, any decision could be made.

"Gingerstar...I'd like teh talk t'ya abou' Rain. I know you haven't removed our hospitali'ey...But you haven' really announced any decisions. The clan might feel be'er if yo-we come to a final and firm answer to his fa'e."

[Whiskers]

Rain. That's right; Rain. Him. That loner. Rain.

Being reminded of him made her feel even colder and she shivered again and she let herself shiver-- she let it wrack her bones and she closed her eyes briefly, letting the image of her deputy slip away for just a blissful blink. She did not want to think of Rain, because he was all wrong and all over Pineclan. He was the talk of the clan, and he was already very popular. She was not stupid-- she heard the way they whispered about his bravery and how they were so thankful that he had been around to save Willowpaw. Dismissing was not an option. It was out of her hands.

And that's what she hated-- it was out of her control. It was in a place that she couldn't touch, no matter how much she was trying to tear through the barrier to get to that place. She wanted it to be her decision and though Aspenheart was imploring her to make up a decision, it was not going to be hers. Having the clan's pressure on her shoulder made making her own decision impossible.

And then there was a matter of how much she should tell Aspenheart. Should she tell him that they had met once before? That she had caught him staring at her pine trees? That she had confronted him? It would make the loner seem more sinister, that is for sure. If the clan found out he had already been warned, they might think he had been planning something.

But it also meant revealing how she had failed to chase him away. And if her clan knew that their leader failed to chase one loner away, would they think her incapable? Would they think she had lost her edge, her power?

The idea was too much to think about, so she stopped. But at least she knew now that she would not tell her deputy-- not yet. She didn't need to, anyway.

"Oh yes, the loner," she quipped and she was once again rigid. "He's obviously in no condition to be moved-- and he saved Willowpaw, so he deserves our medical attention. He can stay until his wounds have healed. But," she began, but then paused and hesitated, reconsidering what she was about to say.

Was it selfish to limit the number of visits? She didn't want her clan to like him. She wanted them to leave him alone.

It may be selfish, but she was selfish. She was no better than any cat. And if Aspenheart thought differently, she would hear him out. Or try to.

"-- I want the clan to give him time and space to heal as quickly as possible," she said, going through with her thought. "So few visits should be allowed."

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[Pyro]

Few visits certainly made sense. Hopefully the clan had worked out some of their overly curious air the first time they had been allowed to swarm the loner. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Rain would be staying to recover from his injuries. Of course, he was sure Gingerstar wouldn't have kicked him out so soon, no matter what may or may not have gone on between them. And surely, as far as the latter was concerned, something had. Bad feelings and looks Gingerstar flashed in Rain's direction whenever the two were within feet of each other never came without reason. Aspenheart wanted to know what that reason was...but...still. He couldn't pry. He really couldn't.

Well, perhaps in getting the 'Rain-situation' sorted out, he could, indirectly, pry.

"I think Rain wants to stay a little longer than jus' until 'is wounds are healed." He mused out loud. It was just loud enough that Gingerstar could take it as an invitation to speak more on the subject of the loner.

However, in saying that he realized there really wasn't much else they could talk about. Any other topics that seemed relevant, not just prattle, were business-related. It struck him that they were on strictly business terms. They didn't have any special connection or past friendship to call on to provide conversation. This made him wonder why he had been chosen as her deputy. Yes, the council had a paw...but how much did Gingerstar know about him really? And the more he talked with her, the more he wondered if she had any desire to change that. He'd seen the way the other leaders treated their deputies with respect and confidence in their abilities. Some even chatted casually as they descended to four trees, whereas he and Gingerstar had acted more....separate. As though their only link was their duty to PineClan.

Not that he wanted something romantic...that would be utterly absurd. But still. He wanted the same connection other deputies had to their leaders.

[Whiskers]

Aspenheart's words hurt Gingerstar and that paranoid, persistent part of her thought that he was trying to make her angry and upset. But Gingerstar reminded herself that no sane cat would ever do such a thing on purpose, not when she had the reputation that she did. She had made certain cats felt wary around her, so Aspenheart must be having a momentary lapse in his judgment. That could happen to toms, when they stared at something shiny or had some water stuck in their ears. And then again, there were other times when their brains overheated. It was a summer day. Hot. Though the river they were currently sitting by should cool the tom off.

But there was another possibility, a scary one. Maybe Aspenheart's judgment hadn't gone completely. Maybe he was informing Gingerstar of where he stood. He wanted Rain to stay and become a Pineclan warrior, just like most of the starstruck cats in her clan of fools. Usually it was not like Gingerstar to feel a surge of anger toward Pineclan as a whole-- they were her clan, her warriors--but she couldn't help it. She cursed the entire clan for their stupidity. They couldn't see past Rain's oh so noble deed to his mysterious, untrustworthy black heart.

"Oh? Is that so, Aspenheart?" she spoke with a cold and mocking edge. "Do inform me how you know this about our fine hero. Have you been speaking with him?"

Though her words were pleasant, her tone was not, and it implied several unsaid things that were particularly nasty: Do you think you know better than me? You've been speaking with him behind my back then? Why not run off with your new friend, by all means?

[/size]

[Pyro]

Aspenheart blinked. All he had done was suggest Rain might ask to stay...something that anyone could have seen. The loner was very curious as to the workings of the clan and hadn't mentioned anything about leaving. Nor had he looked in any rush to go on his way. It was clear that he was going to ask Gingerstar sometime. If anything, Aspenheart thought she might be grateful for the subtle warning.

But no.

((To be finished))