Among the Crickets [badge-chan]

Stupid. She was so stupid. How in StarClan's name was it possible for anyone to be so mouse-brained? Tensions had been high in the clan lately, and there was so much going on, with her, her clanmates, her friends... A badger had nearly sliced her closest denmate in twice over. That was insane. But she was fine. And Raven really had no reason to be upset, once you thought about it. She was supposed to be a tough warrior for crying out loud! Not someone like...

Eugh. She felt a familiar stirring in her belly. She wasn't supposed to have frog for brains. She didn't know the first thing about being a ... a queen or...

Ravenclaw hissed under her breath, pacing back and forth in front of the heavy swamp waters, risen from all the rain. It was the only place then to get some time to herself, or so she'd thought.

Smokestripe hadn't been worried when Ravenclaw left the camp suddenly. Certainly not enough to follow her...Not at all....Which raised the question of why he had followed her all the way to the deep marshes. He had been doing his best to linger behind her, far enough away that she wouldn't taken notice to his presence but hadn't been looking where she had been going and instead had gotten his paw stuck in some mud. It had taken quite a bit of time to free himself and had lost all sight of his denmate as he did his best to follow her scent.

As he walked, he let himself muse over the question of why he was doing this. Was he truly worried about his friend? Ravenclaw was a strong she-cat...Why, she was everything he wasn't! She was beautiful, bold, brave...Not afraid to speak her mind but was sweet when she needed to be. He sighed wistfully in the air at those warm, bubbly thoughts of her as his skin warmed under his cheek fur. He couldn't have imaged himself standing up against a badger by his lonesome with seemingly no hope of help...It had taken the knowledge that he had a patrol with him the first time and had Larksong and her apprentice the second time. Ravenclaw was truly something else and he couldn't help but be in awe with her...So why was he following her?

He couldn't answer, or at least he couldn't bring himself to say the answer to himself when he suddenly came to a stop. He had gotten so lost in thought that he had walked right into the same area of her - the swamp waters separating them as his mouth hung open as he realize that he had most likely been seen. He closed his jaws with a swallow, glancing over the swamp to tell where the hidden rocks were that would grant him safe passage. Spotting one such area, he leaped forward and perched himself easily on the hidden surface, the water clinging to his paws. "Ravenclaw! Hello!" he called to the she-cat, trying to keep his voice calm but warm, as if he was plenty surprised to have run into her instead of knowingly having followed her. It...Seemed weird to admit that he had been doing so and he feared Ravenclaw would find it rather odd as well.