Nostalgia is Normal {Closed}

Wrenpaw silently padded out of the exiles camp. She was originally aiming to just hunt and do nothing else, but Wrenpaw also realized that she'd enjoy a normal walk as well. She heard the flapping of wings as pigeons flew overhead, and yet she ignored them. Unless a rabbit were to leap in front of her, the WindClan apprentice wasn't going to purposely stop to catch anything. The amount of Twoleg nests around here was enough to make a Clan cat sick, and Wrenpaw had honestly felt like she had swallowed mouse bile when she had first arrived her with the other exiles. Now, she had to admit she was used to it, but this was no home for a Clan cat. Maybe for a rogue, a loner, or a kittypet, but not for a Clan cat. She missed the feeling of the wind blowing her fur as she raced along the open moorland that she used to call home.

Well, she still did call it home...and she always would...

She suddenly realized that she had strayed awfully far, because a tall wooden fence was beginning to come into focus. The familiar scent of ShadowClan began to fill her nostrils. Well, at least she thought it was ShadowClan. No, of course it was! It smelled like ShadowClan because a few of the other exiles from that Clan had the Clan scent, but there was another scent mingled in there. Every cat had their own unique scent along with their Clan's scent, and the vat whom Wrenpaw could smell was...

"Frostedpaw?"

She had been sitting on that fence for ages, at least it seemed like ages, and she had refused to leave. Her long black and white tail had been swaying back and forth there like a grandfather clock, keeping track of time, but yet her tail couldn't nearly tell her or anyone about how long she had been there. She didn't know how many times she had sighed just in the time she had been there. Her amber gaze had been locked on tree after tree, and it seemed as if she had stared down anything she could see. A blade of grass, a small swamp, a curious little frog who's death was destined to come soon when a cat from ShadowClan took it down in it's paws for prey. It was her home. Where she belonged. She didn't belong here. And 'here' was being concealed behind the artificial walls of Twoleg nests, being forced to share space and vital food with rogues, being confronted day after day by curious or hostile kittypets, and, above all, the struggle to survive here, in Twolegplace. She had met new friends, bonded with the other exiles, but yet deep in her heart she knew it all would shatter later, it would break into pieces like and be destroyed. What would be destroyed? The bond. All of the exiles would soon meet each other in battle, in hostility, in anger. It was clearly destined to be. Only exiles from the same Clan would continue to live on in peace with each other. So, was she even friends with the exiles? Friends with Vixenheart? Friends with Wrenpaw? Even though she was now a warrior, the ShadowClan cat had created a friendship with the WindClan apprentice, and she would hate for it to be destroyed. But it would be destroyed soon.

Or would it...?

What of the exiles never returned home? What if they all turned into lowly rogues, living forever in Twolegplace, never returning to their original territories again? Family that stayed behind in the Clans would never be seen again, friends that stayed behind wouldn't either, and some toms would never be able to see their kits...ever again. The black and white she-cat atop the fence had no living family at this time, so she considered herself her own family, but she did have friends. More like a friend. The one cat who had came over and decided to talk to her when they were both kits. The one cat who she was able to get along with without lashing out or acting like a total brat, like she used to when she was younger. Rainpaw still wasn't here. Did he believe that the ways Dark Forest was the right path to go on? Certainly Rainpaw had more common sense than to give up faith in StarClan so easily. But the black and white cat was giving up hope by the second, and perhaps eventually she'd have to accept the fact that he would never come.

She also missed feeling the marshy and damp texture of the swampy grounds of ShadowClan territory under her paws. She missed the frogs and the reptiles. None of them ever strayed over the fence. She feared every sunrise that she would never experience what it felt like to taste the amazing taste of a frog, to smell the pine trees and the marshes combined, to see the territory come to life with prey scuffling around and darting from one hiding spot to another, to hear the little chirps of frightened creatures right before they fell limp and lifeless in the clutches of a hunting cat, to touch and feel the bark on the trees, the substance of the dark and thick liquids that were sprinkled around the territory, and the slimy and smooth backs of reptiles and frogs crawling around and trying to be unseen.

It was Frostedgaze, who was sitting upon the fence...

She had been sitting on that fence for ages, at least it seemed like ages, and she had refused to leave. Her long black and white tail had been swaying back and forth there like a grandfather clock, keeping track of time, but yet her tail couldn't nearly tell her or anyone about how long she had been there. She didn't know how many times she had sighed just in the time she had been there. Her amber gaze had been locked on tree after tree, and it seemed as if she had stared down anything she could see. A blade of grass, a small swamp, a curious little frog who's death was destined to come soon when a cat from ShadowClan took it down in it's paws for prey. It was her home. Where she belonged...

Yet, the extremely familiar voice of a certain WindClan apprentice was heard from behind her, and she did not turn her head. Her tail lashed, disturbing the peaceful swaying back and forth, and she responded as simply as she could.

"That's Frostedgaze to you, WindClan cat..." She said, her voice thick and tainted with hostility and anger. Why? The exiles were all for one and one for all until things went back to normal. If things went back to normal, so what was with Frostedgaze's sudden change of mood? She was upset with herself, and confused all well. Confused as to why she had responded to rudely to Wrenpaw when the apprentice had dons nothing wrong, and yet Frostedgaze still decided to lash out. Instead of softening her gaze, it hardened as her amber eyes flickered around ShadowClan territory, memories and nostalgia flooding her vision and her head. They lived in a whole new home with whole new cats, separated from loved ones and Clanmates...
Thinking back on the past and stirring up old memories was expected.

After all, nostalgia was normal...

(Beautiful entry, Acrylic!)

Wrenpaw was taken aback by the tone of Frostedgaze's tone of voice. Why was there so much hostility? Sure, Wrenpaw was a WindClan cat at heart, but none of the other exiles had acted like Frostedgaze had. Perhaps her friend was troubled. This was the fence that separated Twolegplace from ShadowClan, Wrenpaw could tell from the scent that matched Frostedgaze's faintly. If she were living right next to her home where that she couldn't return to, Wrenpaw supposed she would be quite troubled as well. Instead of leaving Froztedgaze alone, the cream apprentice leaped up onto the white fence, almost falling off, but keeping herself steady by sinking her claws into the wood, she calmly came closer to her friend, sitting down. Their tails were hanging off the fence in unison, and they swang back and forth at the same time.

"I can tell you're upset, Frostedgaze. I miss WindClan too. There's no need to be harsh because of it...and if you want me to leave, I can." She said in attempts to comfort the black and white she-cat that was beside her. Wrenpaw sighed, drifting off into her own daydream of nostalgia. She missed her brother, Adderpaw. He was probably a warrior now, though. Wrenpaw knew she'd see him again, someday, when the exiles could finally return home. Actually, it was if they could ever return home. Wrenpaw knew that Frostedgaze had no living family, so she could share no empathy with the ShadowClan warrior, because her brother was her only family, but she could sympathize with missing her home and everything in it. The moorland, rabbits, Adderpaw, her Clanmates, she wanted to see them all again. For now, her goal was cheering up her friend. Was this a daily routine for Frostedgaze to come here? The apprentice did notice that Frostedgaze would randomly disappear and then reappear in the middle of the day. This must be what she had been doing all this time...if only Wrenpaw had known!

(Thanks!)

Frostedgaze let out an agitated sigh, turning her head to glance at her friend. It was the first time her gaze was peeled away from the depths of ShadowClan's territory.
"I'm sorry if it came out rude...I'm just..." She paused, mid-sentence, and just glanced down at her paws. She noticed her claws were attached to fence out of anxiety. She noticed that Wrenpaw was concerned about her...did she really care that much? A cat that would soon be her enemy was acting like her best friend in the world. Frostedgaze shook her head, for now, they were friends, and that was all that mattered right now. She gave her friend an apologetic glance before her tail stopped swaying back and forth.
"You have family back in WindClan, right?" She asked, letting her frightened amber gaze lock onto Wrenpaw's calm blue orbs.

Frostedgaze was only frightened because she never knew if she could savely go over this fence without having to worry about being found by evil cats and being killed for her beliefs. She had no clue whether she still had faith in returning, or whether she had given up. So she didn't know how to feel, or how she currently felt. Was Wrenpaw's calm and gentle demeanor covering up the fact that she was scared too? Frostedgaze hoped she wasn't alone in her feelings...or maybe all the exiles felt this way.