Caught in the Rain

Thunder boomed, and on cue the rain began to pour. Reedstar cursed under his breath and began to run, sending up sprays of mud and damp soil as he went. Now that Greenleaf had lapsed it had been raining often and the days had suddenly grown colder. He thought of his den -- not the leader's den, the warrior's den, and how warm it'd be right now. His own nest was too lonely and cold, and at times he felt like he could hardly stand to stay in camp.

Even in his sleep there was no relief. Sometimes he still dreamed about the two rogues he'd killed; the Deomilite and the muscled one who'd killed Russetpaw, yet he felt no twinges of remorse these days. Even the Deomilite's face and voice were starting to fade from his memory. His friends were gone, his family was gone, and now the closeness of his Clanmates. Froststar cast this burden on me. He would bear it though, until he'd lived his last life. It was his duty.

He'd taken to the peaceful solace of lonesome walks deep into the territory when he could slip away, which was where Reedstar had found found himself when dark clouds had passed overhead. Drenched to the bone and his fur plastered to his pelt, he scanned the seemingly empty plains for some sort of shelter.

His eyes locked on a willow tree in the distance, with low hanging branches bare of leaves. It would have to do until the rain subsided. He picked up his pace, charging blindly through the grass and reeds in front of him and feeling sharp grass whip at his legs and flank.

When he got to the tree, he slowed down to a halt. Piles of dead and crinkled diamond-shaped leaves laid around the trunk and roots. Reedstar began to shuffle through them, searching, when... aha! He swept away a wall of wet brown leaves to find a hole. Immediately, a mouse darted out, and right into the tom's paws. He killed it with a swift bite and batted it back inside the makeshift den, big enough for a fox. What luck. He gave a small prayer of thanks and crawled into his refuge from the rain.

As the day began to fade, Cinderfur had been in and out of the warrior's den. She couldn't seem to rest and with the day coming to a close, she knew she would have to. It was only when she poked her head out one more time did she see Reedstar silently slipping out of the camp even with the looming weather and the sun setting. Where could he be going at this time of day? Making sure she wasn't bothering anyone else, she quietly padded out of the den once again and followed her leader out of the camp. It was more about worry than anything. He didn't seem to be himself lately. Granted, no one was really the same. Ever since the death of Froststar, the camp had been very somber and solemn. But it seem to affect Reedstar the most, at least in Cinderfur's mind.

Continuing on to see where he went, she slowly followed him as she listened to the thunder rolling overhead. It was very close and it wasn't going to be long before the downpour. but of course, as soon as she thought about it, the instant the bottom fell out of the sky. The rain quickly sank its way through the young warrior's fur until it was skin-deep in a matter of seconds. She had barely taken two steps and she was already soaked. Great. Just great. At least she was used to the water. That was always a plus. Even if that was the case, she almost let out a loud sigh of relief when her leader found a willow tree. Maybe now he wouldn't mind if she confronted him, especially since it was raining. Making her way to the tree, she crawled up to it, thankful for its branches that loomed overhead until she found the convenient little hole that Reedstar had crawled into.

"Uh, mind-mind if I join you?" She asked a little nervously as she poked her head inside, hoping that Reedstar wouldn't mind that she had followed him. It was definitely going to be awkward if he was furious, but hey. What else could she do? She had a good excuse... right?

Reedstar nearly jumped out of his fur when Cinderfur appeared in front of him, and for a second all he could do was gape in surprise. Had she followed him? Seeing how wet she was standing there, he faintly nodded. "Oh, uh... yeah, of course. I've got a mouse we can share, if you want." he mumbled. The tom shuffled backwards to make more room, and the previously spacious den would become a tight fight with them both crammed in, he noticed almost immediately. It didn't take long for him to ask the inevitable question, not even waiting for her to crawl in all the way. "What are you doing here?"

Squeezing herself into the small fox hole, she suddenly began to feel awkward about following him out here. She was just glad that he could keep up the conversation, although she didn't really know how to word her answer. "Oh, you know... I just followed you because I saw you slip out of camp." Yeah. That would totally work. Instead of immediately answering his question, she took a moment to try to get most of the water out of her fur. She hated how much the water dragged her down and if she could shake the water out of her fur outside, it would be much easier, but it was outside in the rain that drenched her pelt in the first place. Finally looking at Reedstar, she softly answered him: "Well, I saw that you were coming out of the camp, and... You seem to be kind of saddened lately." The longer she spoke, the more confidence she was gaining with her words. Now she was fully realizing just how concerned she was for the leader. I mean, come on. He had been there like.. her entire life. Of course she would care about him! "I just wanted to make sure you were okay... And then it started raining."

Reedstar was at a loss for words, shuffling uncomfortably around. "...Ah." Was that all he could manage? She'd gotten herself drenched trying to look out for him. The warrior deserved more of an answer than that. The truth. "To be honest, yes." he mewed cautiously, wondering if he should be sharing this with her. A leader couldn't show weakness to his warriors. He had to be strong for the whole Clan all the time, but the words were already spilling out. "This happened too fast for me. The Clan's survival depends on me now, until I've died nine times." Reedstar quickly realized that this is what he'd been wanting; comfort, consolation, and someone to talk to. The tom stared out the entrance of the den. "I'm terrified of failing."

He too followed his leader out of camp once when it rained. Reedstar wondered for a moment what would have happened if nobody had been there when Froststar crossed the Thunderpath, and how things might be different... If I look back, I am lost. he told himself. There was nothing to be done now.

Suddenly Cinderfur couldn't help but feel sympathy for the leader. It was definitely true. All of the responsibility was thrown on him at the last second, but Froststar obviously saw something there that no one else could see. Besides, the young warrior knew that Reedstar had the potential to be a great leader. "Oh, you won't fail! You have the entire clan supporting you through these times. Well, at least I'm pretty sure," she mewed with a reassuring look, hoping to help him feel a little bit better. "I mean, I'll back you up at least. You've only been a leader for a short time. I'm sure that takes some getting used to before you can really be good at it." That was one of the several reasons that she didn't want to be leader. She'd feel the exact same way that Reedstar did. Failure was not an option when it came to herself, but she was glad to help anyone else. She felt that she understood even though she couldn't say she knew what it was like to lead such a large clan.

Reedstar turned his gaze away from the rain and back to the warrior beside him, nodding his head in gratitude and letting a small purr rumble in his throat. He knew he had someone to console in now, someone to comfort him when things grew tough. When he found himself staring, he quickly tore his gaze away and back to the mouse in his paws. "D-do you want to share this?" he blurted out quickly, hoping to take some of the awkwardness out of the moment. I'm Reedstar now, not some sheepish kit. Speak with some strength. he berated himself silently, feeling himself grow hot underneath his fur.

It had honestly taken Cinderfur a moment to realize just how tense the air around them had gotten but as soon as she had noticed it, it basically disappeared when Reedstar quickly turned away and asked her about sharing the food. She really hadn't thought about food but as soon as he had mentioned it again, her stomach started to rumble. Slightly embarrassed by the vicious growl created in her belly, she accepted sheepishly. "That would be nice," she replied, her voice soft from embarrassment. But why was it suddenly so awkward between them? It was strange to her and the feeling wouldn't go away. So for now she just chose to ignore and hope that it would die down sooner rather than later.

Reedstar gently pushed the mouse in between her paws. He'd been hungry, but his appetite was quickly disappearing. Was that nervousness he was feeling? Cinderfur had always been so easy to talk to that he couldn't fully understand why it was so awkward now. He desperately tried to think of something to say to lift the horrible tense atmosphere, but his mind was blank. At least look at her. He thought as he found himself staring down at his paws. The tom stole a glance up at her, but quickly looked down again. But I can't just stare and not say anything.... He silently ran through possible subjects for conversation. The weather? Rainy, as she could probably guess, considering how they were brushing their damp fur together. Apprentices? Patrols? ThunderClan? It was all too boring and cliche. But what else? He became painfully aware of the silent moments ticking past, regretting pushing the mouse her way. If he had a mouthful it'd be up to her to talk instead.

Silently accepting his gift, she began to eat, the mouse bursting with flavor inside of her mouth. It wasn't often that she was able to eat something other than fish, so this was absolutely amazing. Although, as she continued to eat, she began to feel a little more conscious of how she was eating. It sounded weird, but she didn't want to look like a ravenous kit all messy and obnoxious. When she was finally finished with it, though, she quickly licked the remnants of the mouse off of her muzzle and gave Reedstar a small smile, but instead all she saw was him just looking down at his paws. Was he still upset? She really hoped not... "Are you feeling any better now?" she asked, hoping that he was just possibly daydreaming. She didn't know what else to do if he was still feeling nervous and anxious about his responsibility. Although she never doubted his skills, who knew how he felt.

Reedstar looked back up at her and forced a smile. "Yeah, I am." he mewed. It was only half a lie, he supposed. It'd been nice to share her company, as awkward as it had gotten. He tucked in his paws and glanced outside. The rain wasn't letting up, pounding down as hard as ever. "It's a good thing we found this place." he said, finally finding something to talk about. "Whatever made this den saved our pelts." It was true, and Reedstar was thankful for whatever badger or fox who had dug it for them however many moons ago. It had only taken a couple of moments for the rain to soak him to the bone, and they'd have definitely had both caught colds if they hadn't found shelter when they did... though, he couldn't be sure if they'd been fast enough. His tabby fur had begun to dry, but he still found himself shivering slightly.

Cinderfur nodded as she stared out into the rain. She really hoped it would stop soon because in complete honesty, she didn't want to meet whatever made this den... if it were to come back. "Yeah," she responded quickly. "Let's just hope it doesn't come back! I don't want to have to deal with that.. in the rain no less." It was bad enough that the cooler air was make her fur take longer to dry, but she was becoming chilly as well. With a small sigh, she sat down and wrapped her tail around her paws hoping to try to warm herself up at least a little bit until the rain passed. Hopefully when it would, the sun would come out and then she could really warm up.

Reedstar purred in amusement. "But cram a fox in here and we'd probably get warm faster." he mewed. "The rain isn't so bad, as long as you aren't getting caught in it. There's something about it that's soothing." The tom seemed to peer off, far outside and into the downpour. He had every reason to not like the dreary weather, but for some reason he couldn't explain he just did. "Why do you suppose it rains? Is there a reason?"

Cinderfur thought about it. It seems like such a simple question to answer, but the more she pondered on it, the more complicated it got. It almost got to the point to where she was hurting her own head from all of the different thoughts piling up into nothing. "I don't know. I guess just to keep things growing. If it goes any deeper than that, I couldn't tell you," she replied thoughtfully as she continued to press the matter in her head, her eyes staring out into the rain although there was a point that the distance was just a grey sheet of water from how hard it had been pouring. She knew exactly what was on the other side, but it was so strange that clear water could keep her from seeing what was going on. Wow, she was really thinking about this too much...

Reedstar let out a nervous snort. "Ha, yeah, sorry... I guess that was a stupid question." he said with a flick of his ears. "I just wonder about little stuff like that sometimes. I guess I'm a bit like a kit in that respect." He knew that everything was the way it was because of StarClan maintaining a balance. Elders had their stories about why things had come to be, but rain was something nobody really talked about. It was just something that was there, something monotonous that nobody really looked at. Cinderfur was right, though. Could something like that really be too deep? Subjects being quickly exhausted, he tried to think of something quick. "Do you want to play a game?" he asked suddenly. "Just something to pass the time?"