pulses in [stone hearts] .[open

[Snowstar]

<sub>Snow covered the whole of Stoneclan's camp. From where the leader sat, there were no pawprints leading to the rock that overlooked the whole camp just above her den. Her grey-sage eyes still burned bright, however, showing no signs of fraility or cold. Her black fur was clear of the falling snow, but she remained without contrast to the stone grey sky. To her stone grey surroundings. Still, Snowstar couldn't have asked for a better life, a better home, or better friends and warriors.

Snowstar glanced around. The camp was almost desolate looking. Few ventured out of their dens nowadays. The cold weather had been one of the worst in her years of living here; she couldn't blame them for keeping to the warmth. As for Snowstar, she couldn't say she felt more alive in this cold wind. With a certain agility and grace only Stoneclan cats seemed to have, she made fresh pawprints across the blank canvas. Her footsteps fell silently, with no muffled crunch underfoot as she picked her way around the camp, her slender tail held high with pride and authority, modest as she was.

The sky darkened, and the snow fell silently. She glanced around for any companions in this cold weather. If there were none, she would carry on down the pathway peacefully.</sub> [/b][/color][/sub]

[Loveless]

“Dun na na na dun na na na dun na na na~”

Loveless sang tuneless to himself as he finally shifted his butt into gear. Havign suffered from a nasty cold, the tuxedo tom had been holed up in the warrior’s den for the past few days sleeping it off, but now he certainly seemed, if not actually sounded, like he was feeling so much better. The yellow-eyed boy yawned and stretched as soon as he made it a few paw steps forward, arching and curling his spine pleasurably as he kneaded the ground in absolute comfort.

Sure, things had been quite.

Sure, things had been peaceful. Peaceful enough that the energetic young warrior couldn’t help but to be antsy some – but didn’t Pinedark help that by so much?

Ah yes, Pinedark. Loveless’ one true weakness, aside from sleep and food, that likely everyone in the clan knew by now. He certainly had been wooing the pretty warrior, once his apprentice, for a long time now – but never dared to actually ask her to be his mate. There had been a few times, however, he had come close – but his normally exuberant voice left him in a rust and left such things unsaid.

Complications bite ass, maaaan.

The warrior was nearly tempted to retreat back into the den, as cold as it was right now, but he braced himself shivering and looked around. There really wasn’t too many cats afoot in such weather, but he nearly bounced when he spotted Snowstar and headed right on over to the leader, “Hey Snowstar! ‘Sup, anything planned for today?”

[Onyxdart]

Tail curled over her nose, Pinedark watched Loveless get up and leave the Warriors' den. She'd snuck in after he'd fallen asleep and curled up as far as possible from the entrance, behind him so he blocked any cold draft.

And now, since he was getting up, the cold drafts were going to wake her up anyway. She raised her head and opened her mouth in a jaw-cracking yawn before she stood up. Then she padded out of the den close on Loveless's heels. She stood on her hind legs and pawed at some invisible sprite well above her head rather than stretch, and watched Loveless for a second as he bounded over to Snowstar. She grinned like a fool, without realizing it. It struck her as a little odd that he'd been courting after her long enough everyone knew about it, but he'd never asked her to be his mate. It was possible she'd have to be the one to ask. The thought made her grin again, and she ducked her head to lick up a mouthful of snow and get her foolish facial expressions under control before she went after Loveless.

It was windy and /cold/ out in the main part of the camp. Pinedark ran to catch the other two cats and sat so that Loveless was, again, strategically placed between her and some of the wind. She sat hunkered down right next to him, almost practically glued to his side, ears tipped back so they didn't get cold. She grinned at Snowstar.

"Haaaaaai. It's cold. What's goin' on?" she asked, apparently in a good humor despite the cold wind and the snow.

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[Shadow Spirit]

Dragonpelt came bounding into camp, his paws kicking up flurries behind him. Seeing his mate; Snowstar and the others assembled near the entrance, he braced his paws in the white and came skidding to a stop. The three mice dangling from his jaws swung wildly, settling again once his body had stopped moving. He set the mice down in front of his mate, giving her a warm smile. Emerald fire seemed to emanate from his eyes, as though he barely felt the cold.

"Sorry to nearly crash into you all, I couldn't stand feeling like a lazy furball, so I got up early to go hunt," he gestured at the mice with his nose. "Fairly slim pickings, but there are always plenty of these little puffballs around, searching out seeds in the snow."

He sat back on his haunches, resting from his run, but not fulling sitting in case he needed to spring up again. His mottled pelt of white, orange, and black was ruffled and sticking out in places. It was obvious he'd thought of nothing, but hunting since he awoke. Swishing his bob-tail idly, he watched the others with interest.

"Sorry if my exuberance isn't shared, but I just love the snow..." he said, looking a little sheepish at their lack of love for the cold. "Anything else I can do for you?" he addressed the question to Snowstar.

[Snowstar]

<sub>Snowstar closed her eyes, giving a slight contented sigh. It appeared she was going to carry on by herself. It was quite unfortunate for her that she had put her guard up, for 3 cats seemingly at once swamped out of their respective places and barrelled into her.

First was Loveless. She sprang slightly to the side, her fur fluffed out in shock. Then she gave a light smile. Loveless was a kind tom, and one of her reliable warriors. His attitude certainly brightened up even the quiet Snowstar. Perhaps if it were any other tom to speak to the leader in such a way, or announce himself so purposefully, she'd have swatted him with a sheathed paw and learn to speak english. But he had, over time, grown on the moody she. At least he was back on four paws after his cold.
Secondly was his bright-eyed and bubbly mate, practically overflowing with cheer. She could see the warm connection between them. She was certainly shocked that the tuxedo tom hadn't noticed that everybody knew, but with a warm smile, she said nothing. She prepared herself to speak, her voice always calm and well-thought out before spoken, but froze as the crunch of snow announced a third arrival.
She barely had time to face the entrance before she lunged backwards. She still received a facefull of the cold snow. With a flick of her paw, it was flung aside and she looked carefully at the attacker. Dragonpelt, her mate. Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected such an entrance from her faithful warrior and mate, but she quirked her head at the sudden activity. She looked at the meager meal, but smile. The three cats' humor wasn't lost on the black and white leader.
A pleasant surprise to see you all up, I was about to stick some nettle in your bedding to see if any would get up She said with a chuckle. Of course, she would do no such thing. Stoneclan was peaceful once more, and they never had a hard time finding prey as Stoneclan was really quite a dexterous group. She was about to congratulate Dragonpelt when she was suddenly attacked. With a hiss, she felt a large mass bundle into her leg, and she looked down to see a certain son of hers frolic about in the snow, clearly sharing his father's excitement for the cold fluff. Rowdykit! Stay in the- Sorry, Snowstar! I thought I had him under control! Bumbled in a patched black and white she-cat, soon to be followed by a tall, gangly, and handsome young tom. Lostcause and Honorpaw [long overdue of his warrior name, as well as his siblings] had followed the rule-ignorant son of the leader. He stuck out his tongue at his pursuers before dashing off across the camp, snow streaking out past his heels with a laugh that probably would have woken Mistclan.

Snowstar gave a sigh, closing her eyes and rubbing her head with a paw. So quiet it was. It was as if she was no longer allowed to enjoy the serenity. Evening Lostcause, Honorpaw. and...

Rowdykit, get back here! She snapped as the green-eyed kitten made a dash for the entrance. She groaned. All in the life of a Stoneclan cat, she supposed.</sub>

[Onyxdart]

Rowdykit had certainly not grown out of trying to escape. Pinedark still had quite distinct memories of chasing him and his siblings over hill and dale one night while everyone but she and Loveless had gone to a gathering, and they'd been supposed to watch the kits. And she'd just been made a warrior too. That had been absolutely awful.

Thank God she didn't have to watch them all just this second. She grinned as Snowstar called Rowdykit back, although she watched to see if the kit was going to return before someone went after him. Pinedark really liked all the kits, they gave the clan a life it would have otherwise lacked. Even if they did frequently get loose and raise hell. It was all part of the "fun".

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Warfox had been sleeping quite peacefully, nice and dry in a corner in the Warriors' Den. It would have taken a nuclear warhead to wake him, as hard as he was sleeping.

A nuclear warhead, or a yowling kitten. At first he was convinced they were under attack, and he'd fled out the Warriors' Den before he realized it was just Rowdykit, and Snowstar shouting at him. Warfox blinked blearily and licked the fur on his chest back down, then padded over to the other cats. The snow caught in his long hair and he was soon half soaked. But he liked the cold weather, and grinned at the others as he approached- an uncharacteristically happy expression for the serious tom.

"Hello, all," he said to the cats gathered.

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[Shadow Spirit]

A young tom came bounding after Rowdykit, meowing angrily at his brother. He was mostly black, save for a white chest, paws, and tail tip. Like a miniature version of his mother, he tore off after his younger brother and scolded all the way.

"Rowdykit, will you ever listen to the warriors?!" he yowled, kicking up snow with his small paws as he attempted to catch his brother. "Hi mom, dad!"

Tempestkit ran on, determined to make his sibling behave. Ever since his curiosity had led them almost to their death in the rogue meadow the youngster had decided to keep his imagination in check.

Dragonpelt shook his head, scowling after his younger son. Then his slightly older son came racing after, kicking up powder in his wake. The escapades of his children were all in good fun he was sure, but it made him wonder. If his sons were causing this much ruckus, where could his dear daughter be?

[Loveless]

Suddenly there was a lot more cats about!

The most important to Loveless was, of course, Pinedark – who followed him out of the warrior’s den and taken to sitting beside him as he spoke to Snowstar. For just a minute the silliest, happiest, most giddy looking smile appeared on the tom’s face…and he didn’t even attempt to contain it as he bumped his head against the she-cat’s shoulder with a loud, off-beat purr. Oh, he loved Pinedark so much; he was just a completely bumbling idiot around here.

Other cats camp, in the forms of two of Snowstar’s children, her mate Dragonpelt [to this day, Loveless wondered what in Starclan was a ‘dragon’ that the tom was called after], as well as the typically stoic deputy Warfox and the should-be-warrior Honorpaw. The black and white tom, still grinning from ear to ear like a happy idiot – under Pinedark’s spell as it was – waved his tail in greeting at them all. Cold, icky day or not, it was one to be enjoyed and hadn’t the clan be slow and slumbering enough lately?

Time for something to do!

As Loveless glanced around, he could see quiet Chainless watching the group from her den. It was almost as if the she-cat was a caricature of her former sleek, pure white beauty – she ate little since the war and spoke even less although she still plodded along and continued to her task as Stoneclan’s medicine cat with the same loyalty as she ever had. The only thing that remained the same in that thin, scarred shell was the vibrant jewels of her mismatched eyes…and was that even a spark of interest and longing in them as she watched them?

Sometimes, Loveless thought Chainless wanted to die.

The she-cat turned, breaking her view of the happy little group, and vanished into the depths of her den.

The fool smile vanished from Loveless’ face, but he gave Pinedark another little nuzzle and returned his attention to Snowstar and her happy family, a smile returning only because of the antics of the two little tom-kits.

Ahhh, kits! Loveless loved kits, wanted some of his own someday. But…he glanced to his dear love again and did a nervous shuffle, words dying yet again before he did his best to settle down instead of looking like a kit with ants chewing on him, and just bask in the happy atmosphere.

[Onyxdart]

Pinedark giggled as Loveless bumped her with his head, and turned to him.

"We should go hunting. The weather looks bad," she said as she nosed the side of his face. She hardly ever purred, still very self conscious of her rattling, broken motor sounding purr. Instead she chirped, which was maybe odd, but she didn't really care about that.

She had a simple plan, really. If they went hunting, she'd have a chance to talk to him without prying ears- and really, it wasn't the older cats she was worried about, but the crazy kit brigade- and then maybe she could get some kind of answer out of him over this whole awkward mates-but-not-mates thing.

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[Loveless]

“You’re right.” Loveless admitting, taking another glance towards the sky and smiling as Pinedark chirped. It was such an endearing little sound, one that was completely the she-cat’s and only hers. “I’m up for a hunt, it’ll be great to stretch my legs after being cooped up in the warrior’s den for fooooorever!” Okay so…it hadn’t really been forever. Sure felt like it though.

“Let’s go~” he laughed, wiggling like a fool before glancing at Snowstar for dismissal and permission. “Anyplace you wanna hit up first?”

[Onyxdart]

Loveless seriously had ants in his pants. Pinedark apparently found it amusing, because she laughed under her breath before flicking her tail in the general direction of the rock maze.

"I think this time of year the maze has more food than the field," she said, both because it was probably true and because there was less chance of anyone actually being able to find them there unless they actually tried, and so they'd have awhile to talk before anyone could hunt them down.

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[Loveless]

Of course he did, he’d been cooped up sick in the same place for days! The active tom had totally almost gone crazy not being able to move around – to go hunting and on patrol with his friends like he so loved and enjoyed doing! It certainly was an amusing sight for any cat, a full grown warrior grinning happily from ear to ear at the suggestion of a good hunt and unable to keep still even if his life depended on it…yeeeah, poor boy needed an outlet, quick.

He pondered Pinedark’s words for a moment and nodded in agreement. “More places for prey to hide from the wind, better foraging for them. I’m game, let’s go. Later everyone, we’ll be back with so much prey you couldn’t shake a paw at it!” A rich, warm laugh escaped the tom and he turned to his dear friend, motioning with a paw towards the general direction of the maze. “Ladies first.”

Poor Loveless didn’t suspect a thing.