Alone but not lonely [Dustfur and Gingertail]

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

The sun was still high in the sky, although it appeared to be past sun-high. The air was still warm and the sky was bright. There was no breeze at the moment; it seemed the wind was still and resting, taking a break from the heat of greenleaf. Birds were flying above and could be heard all across the territory, and rabbit scent was in the air. The timid creatures were nibbling on the long grass, but would flee whenever the cat padded by. The peaceful territory was the perfect place to escape to.

Dustfur hadn't wanted to stick around. He was uneasy enough about the strange loners being in WindClan's camp, and the ShadowClan patrol arriving as well hadn't done anything to lower the tension. WindClan and ShadowClan were on edge, tense over the situation with Rivermist's kits and ultimately whether or not they were to be split up. The chance of conflict sparking up was great, and the tom didn't want to be caught up in it. Aggression and feuds were not his strong point, neither were many other things. He enjoyed peace and quiet and solitude. In his own element he didn't have to worry about fighting and hostility like the others in his Clan did.

Dustfur found that his paws were taking him on a familiar path, the usual route he went on when he was walking by himself. Down along the river that ran south of WindClan's territory, then along the RiverClan border, skirting Fourtrees, up toward the ShadowClan border and the Thunderpath, and then back to camp. Lifting his nose up and scenting the air, he realized he was rather close to the RiverClan border. Continuing his walk, he remained wary of any patrols that might be passing through as he usually did. Sometimes he encountered patrols on his solo outings but usually never caused alarm being on his own. Still, the bulky gray tom kept scanning RiverClan's side of the border, on the lookout, just in case.

[Kitty]

The river wasn't too fast today, flowing sluggishly along the riverbed. The breeze helped, too; actually, there wasn't one. Silver fish flashed back and forth. It was the perfect day for hunting - fishing especially.

Which just so happened to be what Gingertail was still out doing. While the rest of her hunting patrol had probably gone back to the RiverClan camp by now, she continued on, stretching out her time out of camp while she thought over some things about her meeting with her WindClan friends. And so, as the sun rose ever higher in the sky, and then stretched past sunhigh, Gingertail had built up a respectable pile of fish - four of them, at least.

She was putting her last fish up in her pile - hidden in a mass of reeds - when another scent reached through the fishy smell of the ginger she-cat's pelt. WindClan? Had their neighbors sent out a patrol already? Surely it wasn't that late.

A glance at the sky proved her wrong - was it already past sunhigh?! - and she inhaled more deeply. Ah, but this was a scent she knew rather well...she'd smelled it recently, too...Dustfur? What was he doing all the way over here by the RiverClan border? She quickly determined that he was by himself, too, which was odd. Last time she'd seen him he'd had Heathertail, his sister, with him. Perplexed, Gingertail padded up the bank - had she really come this close to WindClan's border? - dripping pelt and all, and creeped the few foxlengths to a bush conveniently located nearby, keeping a lookout for the gray tom.

Ah, there was nothing like giving a WindClan tom a good scare.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Dustfur once again began to relax, sensing no threats nearby or large patrols. He glanced up at the sky, brightly colored although sundown would eventually come, and breathed in the fresh air. At moments like these he was in a better mood than any other time because it was so peaceful. He was able to just stay quiet and listen to birds or far-off voices that carried easily over the moors.

A scent suddenly drifted over him that made him alarmed. It was RiverClan scent; not unusual because he was right by the RiverClan border, but this was more fresh as if a cat was nearby. Glancing around, he was unsure of what to do. His senses were far from outstanding, and if his brother Harewhisker had been here he would have picked up the RiverClan scent long before Dustfur did. That meant the cat was close by. Normally he would have just walked off wordlessly to avoid causing trouble, but something made him call out. "Is someone there?"

[Kitty]

Gingertail crouched in wait under her bush, waiting, waiting, waiting...right until Dustfur had passed right by her, and it seemed that then he finally caught her scent. "Is someone there?" he called out, but by then, it was too late.

Far, far too late.

For Gingertail was already springing out of her hiding spot with a yowl and jumping the tom, attempting to pin him down. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief and amusement. It was a good thing she'd picked a hiding spot so near the WindClan border. Otherwise she never would've been able to sneak up on him like that. "Of course someone is, mousebrain. Your nose isn't that bad yet!" she snickered.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Dustfur heard a sudden yowl, but it was too late to react before he was bowled over. As he panicked at the thought of a furious rogue or RiverClan patrol attacking him, he struggled to get a grip on the ground so he could jump to his feet. That was, until he saw who it was who had leaped at him. "Gingertail?" He blurted out stupidly, the shock clear in his voice. Why had she been here, and why was she so far at the edge of her territory? He tried to get to his paws, realizing she was still trying to pin him down. "What are you doing here?"

((Short post is too short. Dx But rambling is no fun.))

[Kitty]

"Surprise!" Gingertail meowed sweetly, still pinning the WindClan tom down with a paw on either side of his head. "what am I doing over here, you ask?" She straightened up, but didn't remove her paws, and turned ehr head in the direction of RiverClan territory. her fluffy ginger tail for which she was named gestured that way, as well. "Because my dear Dustfur, RiverClan territory happens to be two tail-lengths that way, and I happen to be from RiverClan." She laughed. "Anyway, I was fishing and smelled you. What are you doing so close to the border?" She climbed off of Dustfur finally and allowed him to get up. She'd been right; scaring him had been fun! That look of shock on his face...absolutely priceless!

((Short ))

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

As soon as Gingertail got off of him, he scrambled to his paws, trying not to feel as awkward as he felt. He remembered Gingertail from the other day when they met on the border. This was similar, except this time he didn't have Heathertail with him as a buffer. That meant he actually had to talk. More than usual, at least. He knew her, though, she was his sister's friend. That made it slightly less awkward.

Dustfur listened as she explained. So she had been fishing, that was probably why she had been soaking wet when she pounced on him and why his fur was now wet as well. Great. He took a second to shake as much of the water out of his pelt as he could, then looked back at her and shrugged. "Oh, I-I usually come around here by myself. It's... peaceful." Brillant response. But he answered simply, not knowing what else to say.

[Kitty]

Gingertail eyed the tom speculatively. Peaceful? Next to another Clan's border? Was he mad? He was likely to get yowled at if a RiverClan patrol passed by. Of course, it wouldn't look good for either of them if a patrol from either WindClan or RiverClan passed by them at that moment, but Gingertail was fairly certain that the patrols had already passed by this point for today, unless there was a later one scheduled that she didn't know of.

"Wow, Dustfur, I'm impressed," she meowed. "Peaceful at a rival Clan's border? You're either really brave or really mousebrained," she laughed. "I don't know at you, but I'm fairly certain that if a WindClan cat caught me standing as close to the border as you as to ours, then I'd probably get chased away. Now if they came by at this time when I'm standing over the border, my fur would probably get ripped off." She gave the tom a friendly nudge. WindClan cats weren't that mean. Usually if you were only just over the border you'd get warned back onto your side prior to being attacked. Rarely were you pounced on for standing two tail-lengths over the border.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Dustfur was surprised at how talkative Gingertail was, even with someone she didn't know very well. He imagined her having many friends in her own Clan and in the others, quite the opposite of him. He was even more baffled by the nudge she gave him, although he didn't flinch back. She was being so friendly, strangely, that he had to make an attempt to return the friendliness.

"Oh. Well, it depends on who it is... some cats are meaner than others." Gingertail seemed to think he was crazy. But in all the times he'd been wandering the border- and that had been a lot- he'd not often encountered particularly aggressive patrols. Most of the time he didn't linger in one spot for two long, and if he scented cats on the way he would be gone by the time they arrived.

[Kitty]

"Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? And I know you wouldn't hurt me." Whether it was because of Heathertail, his sister, and she being friends or his own personal reasons, Gingertail did not know, but she was positively, absolutely, undeniably certain that Dustfur would not be pouncing on her within the next five heartbeats. 1...2...3...4...5. There! She'd been right! Now she was sure that he wouldn't attack her. He'd made it through the five heartbeat test! And he'd passed with flying colors. Even if he hadn't exactly known he was taking a test.

"'Sides," she went on. "I've been having pretty good luck with borders today. Some WindClan friends and myself and a few more RiverClan cats met up on the border and chatted." Her green eyes grew wide. Mousebrain, you just told a cat from another Clan abobut your meeting! What if he tells Ravenstar?

But he wouldn't do that. He'd have to reveal that he'd been talking to me, too! And Dustfur's just too nice!

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

It was true that Dustfur wouldn't hurt her. He probably wouldn't even hurt a loner caught prey-stealing. He wasn't that type, to turn nasty with the twitch of a whisker. That was one of his flaws that made him not as good of a warrior as, say, his brother. The other thing she said made him think. Dustfur had been with Heathertail most of the day so far. They must have been different friends. Who, he wondered? The fact that they were from his own Clan made him curious. Hadn't he seen her with a large group of cats before at Gatherings? He didn't remember. He saw her eyes widen and watched her curiously. "Really? Who were they?"

[Kitty]

Gingertail considered telling him. Really considered. For any other WindClan cat, with the exception of her friends, she would have flipped them across the face with her tail and stalked off, head held high as she called back over her shoulder "Wouldn't you like to know?" If she told any other WindClan cat who she'd met with that morning, they'd run straight off to Ravenstar and tattle. Then her friends wouldn't be allowed to come over to the border again! How dreadful that would be! But it seemed to her that Dustfur didn't talk much about that kind of thing. Maybe. So....should she tell him? Maybe...

She'd make him promise not to tell. "Will you promise you won't tell anyone? Swear to StarClan and I'll tell you!"

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Dustfur blinked, wondering why in the world he had to promise not to tell. Was she doing something she wasn't supposed to do? Was meeting friends over the border against the warrior code? He didn't know, nor did he understand what was getting her so worried that someone would find out. But Dustfur wasn't the type to tattle, that is unless it was something really dangerous or bad. Plus, she was trusting him with this, and to him it seemed like a sign of friendship. He couldn't pass that up. "I promise. Swear to StarClan I won't tell." he said somewhat cautiously, wondering what it could be.

[Kitty]

GIngertail shuffled her paws, still considering, eyes facing the ground as she did so. What if her friends found out she'd told someone? Dustfur probably wouldn't tell them, though...and he'd promised....sworn to StarClan, even! That had to count for soemthing! She glanced up at the WindClan tom and relented at the curiousity in his eyes. "Well. It was...Thrushtail and doveclaw. Robinwing and LIttlestream went with me," she explained. "We hadn't really planned to meet up. But my RiverClan friends and i were on hunting patrol and we saw them over on your border, so we all went over." Her eyes narrowed. "I'd tell you what we were talking about, but you'd have to prove to me that you won't tell anyone. No cat at all." She grinned mischeviously. "If you even hint at it to any cat, I will hunt you down. And that's a promise, Dustfur."

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Dustfur knew those two WindClan cats. Well, of course he would, they were in the same Clan. Thrushtail was friendly, always seeming to act like a excited kit. He could picture the two she-cats being friends. Doveclaw was a different story. Dustfur knew that Doveclaw and Thrushtail were close, but to think of her hanging around the border chatting was beyond him. You never really knew cats, he guessed.

But now this was getting silly. Either Gingertail was really hiding something and didn't want to tell him, or she was just fooling around. He guessed it was the latter. But what did it really matter? He would just play along, no harm in it. "Fine. You can trust me, you know." And that was sincere. Whenever some cat had a problem, he tried to be there. It was one of the only things he was good at. Listening and being there.