Relax

[xradx]

A grey tabby pelt emmerged from the medicine cat den and Ripplepaw paused for a moment to absorb the the sights and sounds of camp. A kit squeled in the nursery and two warriors argued about what the coming winter would bring. Slowly he padded over to a sunny spot and watched two young apprentices wrestle on the ground. Sometimes he was jealous of how close the other apprentices where, always out hunting and training together, but he would not have chosen another path for the world. This was his life, and he enjoyed it.

He sat there watching for a few minutes, letting the sun warm his back. The apprentices had gone back inside their den and the kit had stopped squeling, but the two warriors still argued. This is the life, he thought, What else could I want?

[.&&. Snowsong.]

As the two apprentices, who were wrestling, padded back into their den, another apprentice yielded for them to pass by at the den's entrance. Her blue gaze rested upon those two apprentices for a short moment, and then shifted to the clearing of the Camp. It seemed that there were only a few cats active in the Camp at the moment.

Her gaze soon spotted Ripplepaw, an apprentice at her age. Though he was a medicine cat apprentice, she still wanted to socialize with him. She liked the socialize, and she also liked to know how it felt to be something she was not. Like how it was to be a kit, or warrior, or elder, or medicine cat.

A light smile played at her lips as she padded over to Ripplepaw. "Hey, Ripplepaw. How are things going?" Her paw-steps ceased when she reached about a foot from him, and she settled down onto her haunches there.

[xradx]

Ripplepaw was surprise to hear Gingerpaw talking to him. Normally he didn't socialize much with the other apprentices, but he was grateful for the company none the less. He smiled sweetly at Gingerpaw, "Things are going well," he responded thoughtfully, "The camp has been fairly free of sickness lately. Hopefully that bodes well for winter."

Ripplepaw's eyes gleamed in the sun, and as they rested upon Gingerpaw he smiled, just a tad. "How are things as a warriors apprentice?" As much as Ripplepaw loved being a medicine cat, he was also curios. He wanted to know what it was like to be a warrior, to run through the forest in search of prey, to fight for your clan, he just didn't want to actually do all those things. He was funny like that, but his face never betrayed the complicated thoughts that danced inside his head. It only showed a friendly politeness, just as he liked it.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Gingerpaw was grateful to hear that the Clan has been well away from sickness. As he asked her about how she was doing with her life, she allowed a kind, mellow smile to play at her lips. "Oh, things are fine. It's usual, but not too expected. I like it that way."

(( Ugh, in a rush, crappy post. ))

[xradx]

Ripplepaw's eyes seemed to dance. As far as he could tell all was well with the clan. With the sun warming his pelt and companionship his own age he was happy. "Sounds like all is well on both sides of the spectrum," he purred.

As he spoke a cloud crossed across the sun and a shadow fell across camp. He looked up at the sky, wondering if it was supposed to be some kind of omen, but in a few heartbeats the cloud passed and the sun shone in the camp again. He couldn't help voicing his thoughts out loud, "I hope that's not an omen of some sort." He was not worried, it was more of a comment he had made without thinking.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Gingerpaw tilted her head slightly at the sky when the clouds passed. When Ripplepaw spoke, she shifted her gaze back to him. "An omen... Do you think it's possible? I thought omens last a little longer than that, and I thought that they were more unnatural." She flicked her tail slightly, as well as her ears. Even though concern didn't seem to be a factor in Ripplepaw's tone, she couldn't help but wonder if he was hiding concern. Knowing Ripplepaw, at least a little, he would likely show what he needed to.

(( No muse. ))

[xradx]

Ripplepaw's eyes widened in concern, "Oh, I didn't mean to worry you. I don't think it's actually an omen, I just spoke before I thought. Don't tell anybody, but I've never been good at talking to Starclan. I never get anything they're trying to say!" He wasn't sure if should be telling her all this. Mostly he kept all his medicine cat stuff secrey, unless he was talking to Arcticpool, but he didn't see any harm in telling Gingerpaw.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Gingerpaw chuckled faintly. "Oh, it's alright. I sometimes speak without thinking too, and you didn't concern me too much." She flicked her tail gently, or gingerly, over Ripplepaw's shoulder. "You don't need to worry or panic. I'm sure you're doing fine as a medicine cat apprentice. You'll understand StarClan soon." Her gaze became mellow.

(( Gah, no muse. ))

[xradx]

Ripplepaw felt slightly better after her words. "Thank you," he responded shyly. His darted around camp as he tried to avoid her gaze. Now he was regretting telling her about Starclan. Finally he decided to risk eye contact and turned his gaze back toward her. As soon as he did so, a leaf that had blown into camp from the forest started burning. His eyes widened in shock and he could not bring his voice to work. As if the fire was not strange enough, a bird fell from the sky right into the orange flames. He wasn't sure if it had been dead when it fell, but the sickening crackling from the fire confirmed that it would not be coming out alive. As Ripplepaw stared in horror and shock the fire died down to reveal nothing left of the bird, as if nothing had happened.

As Ripplepaw recovered from his shock he slowly opened his mouth, but the words seemed stuck in his throat. At last an audible sound came from his open mouth, "Th-that might have been an omen. I pretty sure that's not natural."

[.&&. Snowsong.]

"No problem." Gingerpaw tilted her head to the side slightly as Ripplepaw began to cause his gaze to scan the Camp. She didn't ask anything about it, though.

Her gaze soon caught a leaf, and it widened as the leaf suddenly caught afire. She lowered herself, knowing how destructive a fire could be. To make things worse, a bird soon fell into the fire. She stiffened slightly. She tried to open her maw, but it seemed as if it were glued shut.

As Ripplepaw recovered from his shock, she too soon began to calm. When he spoke, she flinched slightly. "W-w-well, that was the worse o-o-omen I've ever s-s-seen..."

[xradx]

Ripplepaw tilted his head, almost fully recovered from the shock. "Should we ask Arcticpool? Or maybe we shouldn't tell anybody. I mean, a bird just fell into a fire. What would happen if we told everybody? They would just panic. But maybe we should tell Arcticpool, she would no what it means, right?" His words were coming out in a jumble, and he wasn't really sure what he was say. What was he supposed to do? A bird just fell into a fire! He was sure it was an omen, but he had no clue what it could mean, and that scared him.

[.&&. Snowsong.]

"Y-yes, I think we should tell A-Articpool." Gingerpaw still didn't recover fully from the shock, and her gaze scanned the Camp. Had anyone else seen it? It didn't seem like it at the moment, and that concerned her more. Her gaze soon shifted back to Ripplepaw, hoping that she would be able to get over the shock. Amazingly, she soon managed to calm down as her gaze dug into his.

[xradx]

Ripplepaw nodded. That made sense, go tell Arcticpool and see what she had to say. He was about to stand up to lead the way to the medicine cat's den, but then he remembered Arcticpool had gone searching for... yarrow? Or maybe it was catnip? Now that he thought of it, he wasn't even sure if she had ever actually left. "Yeah," he said standing up, "I think she's still in her den."

[.&&. Snowsong.]

Gingerpaw nodded slightly, and then got to her paws. "You should tell her, I'll wait out here unless you want me to come with you." She doubted she was required of use in the den, but anything could happen. It was life, though the omen was quite frightening.

(( No muse D= ))

[xradx]

"That's alright, I can go alone." Ripplepaw didn't think Gingerpaw looked like she wanted to go visit Arcticpool, and she wasn't really needed, so he crossed the camo to the medicine cat's den and poked his head in. "Arcticpool?" he called gingerly. "Arcticpool, there' been an omen!" He padded deeper into her den and looked around, finally concluding that she had gone looking for herbs, and temporarily feeling guilty for not helping.

With one last look around the den he turned around and exited. Finding himself back in the middle of camp he looked around for the spot where he had left Gingerpaw, and padded back over to her. "She wasn't there. I think she's out looking for herbs."