The Shadows Are Only The Beginning

[Moegami]

The sun had set long ago as Shadowstrike had exited camp. Now the sun was rising, and he came back. The warrior's eyes were dull, and he entered the camp slowly, and headed for the side of camp. He began to pace, and mutter things. He didn't like the way he was, a shy tom, no friends. He wished he was born as someone else. He had nobody on his life, his mother lied to him, his father was a loner, his parents had left without him, his fathers didn't even know he existed. He continued to pace.

[Venom]

Timberblossom was wide awake and thinking. It wasn't something she did often, and when she did it was usually about pointless things. Like if the river leads all the way to the ocean. Like if she had kits, what they would be named. But, she mostly thought of new ways to cause trouble. Her most recent thoughts include how she could get a colony of ants into her siblings nests. She gave a small laugh at the thought of one of her sister's screaming at the crawling insects infesting her pelt.She was surprised to see someone walk by. She raised her head, but laid it back down again. She was stretched out on the ground, taking up as much space as her body would allow. Despite her cruel thoughts, she frowned sympathetically at the tom.
He was clearly not happy. Something stirred in er. Usually, she would call out an insult, but she didn't, seeing the sadness in his eyes.
Instead she spoke in a neutral tone, "Hey, are you alright? You don't look alright." She said, not moving except for lifting her head and turning her ears for a response.

[Moegami]

Shadowstrike stopped pacing, and sighed. He didn't looked at her, and just stared at the air in front of him. "No." He mewed quietly. "I'm not." He sighed and lashed his tail. He closed his muzzle and was silent once more. His black eyes blinked slowly, and he shook his head sadly. He then remembered how happy he had been when he was born, and for moons, his life was great. Then he learned the truth about his father, and nothing was the same. I don't deserve to be in this clan, not one bit. He thought sadly. Shadowstrike sat down, and stared at his paws, and a tear made its way slowly down his muzzle, and fell off, landing on the ground, bursting into nothing.

[Venom]

Timberblossom hated crying. But, these tears seemed to stir something in her. Perhaps her maternal instincts, but she edged closer to him. She knew next to nothing about this tom, then realizing she new next to nothing about most of the cats in ShadowClan. She didn't let that bother though.
Timberblossom crept around to his front and looked him in the eyes.
"Well, I won't pry, but if it's something you can change, then change it." She said, her eyes unusually soft. "If not, I don't know what to tell you."
She shrugged looking down at her paws, returning to her normal self.
Ignoring her former comment she leaned forward a bit, a mischievous look on her face. "You didn't kill someone, did you?"
She knew this question was immature, and she knew she probably looked like a very curious apprentice.

[Moegami]

Shadowstrike lifted his head and looked at her. "What kind of question was that?" He asked in annoyance. "I mean, why would I?" He asked and stood up. He lashed his tail and turned, no longer caring about his sadness, and was more focused on leaving. He was already heading for the exit of the camp, and he didn't know what to do after he left.

[Venom]

After giggling a bit, the she-cat frowned as he walked away. "Hey wait." She shouted. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it." She felt ashamed. Of course, she was used to being ignored, but no one usually walked away from her.
She watched as she scuffled her paws in the dirt, tasting the words 'I'm sorry' over and over again. It was unfamiliar to the cat, for she didn't normally apologize.

[Moegami]

Shadowstrike stopped walking and turned around. "That's all I needed to hear." He murmured and padded back to her, a small chuckle from him, but she hopefully didn't hear it. He sat down with a sigh. She does need to learn to grow up eventually. He thought. Shadowstrike sat down in front of her, waiting for her to say something.

[Venom]

She heard paws steps and looked up, watching as he sat down. "Shadowstripe, is it?" Timberblossom asked, knowing very well that she got it wrong on purpose. She smiled at him, but not the usual mischievous kind. It was friendly and welcoming. It was unusual to see her dark blue eyes without the troublesome gleam.

[Moegami]

Shadowstrike returned the smile, and then blinked. "Actually, it's Shadowstrik." He corrected. Nobody had ever gotten his name wrong, though nobody really talked to or about him. "And you're Timberblossom, correct?" He asked. Shadowstrike did pay attention to other's names normally, no matter how annoying the cat actually is.

[Venom]

She rolled her eyes, irritated he didn't get her sarcasm. She wasn't surprised he knew her name, she was probably mentioned in one of her siblings complaints. She stretched out and started rolling in the dust.
"So, I suppose your not going to tell me why your overwhelmingly depressed then?" Her blue eyes stood out on her now dusty for. "Because, I am very curious on what made a seemingly tough cat like you cry."
She shrugged. "And if not, I could always continue guessing."
She knew she was being a pain in the tail, but that's what Timberblossom did best.

[Moegami]

"What kind of guesses do you have?" Shadowstrike asked. He blinked at the tough cat remark, and wasn't sure why she had said that. He brushed the dumb thought off and waited.

[Venom]

"Well where do I start..." Timberblossom blinked for a moment. "Perhaps your mate died of sickness, carrying your unborn kits with her. No? What about this. Your apprentice who trained to be one of the best ShadowClan warriors ever and they turned traitor?" Running out of ideas, she started getting creative. "You're in love with a kittypet? I'm not even close am I?" She said, scratching an itch just behind her ear. "I would continue to guess but all of my ideas are depressing me." She shrugged.

[Moegami]

"Yeah, none of those. I mean, those do sound like something that could make a cat be depressed, but still." Shadowstrike sighed. He looked around the camp, a sad glance crossing his face. He lowered his head and shivered. His mind again filled with questions.

[Venom]

Timberblossom was not going to get him to talk she realized, with obvious annoyance. "I hope leaf-fall arrives soon, the heat is killing me. Even the fish are hiding." She changed the subject quickly, giving him a nonchalant glance. "But then again, prey is plentyful and bellies are full."

(no muse)

[Moegami]

(Yeah, I've been having low muse warnings for myself continuously because I'm using all my muse during school. Finally time for the weekend, when my muse is at its best.)

Shadowstrike shrugged and a yawn erupted. He blinked and was already rushing for the den. He was soo tired that he needed to sleep. Strange thing though, he wasn't usually tired.