Merry and Bright {closed}

Getting to sleep had been the biggest challenge, but staying asleep hadn't been very difficult. The small tom was used to falling asleep, and being surrounded by warmth, silence, and comfort. Being in the middle of the forest with no sunlight, mounds of cold snow, and looming shadows of tree branches was a difficult transition for Claus, but hopefully he wouldn't find himself in a situation like this too often. Throughout the night, no noises had woken him up. He had slept through the sound of branches swaying in the breeze, snow dropping from the tops of trees to the ground, and the cold air whipping through his fur. Sunrise came quickly, and the tom managed to sleep through the beginning, when the sun began to bleed shades of red and orange onto the dark canvas of a sky that nighttime had created. When the first few true rays of sunlight poked through the trees, Claus found himself beginning to stir. He uncurled himself, stretched, yawned, and shook off any snow that had managed to fall on top of him in the midst of his slumber. It was early, definitely, but he had a job to take care of. The kittypet had to push his own leisure aside in order to make his twolegs happy. Finding that furry, red pelt was the only thing on Claus' mind. After blinking a couple of times so that his eyes could adjust to the sudden intrusion of light, the gray and white cat began to make his way through the snow, again.

It was as if the tom's senses had been completely thrown off. Everything here was so different from what he was used to. He wasn't used to feeling snow under his paw pads, he wasn't used to smelling the earthly scent that the trees had to offer, he wasn't used to seeing so much nature, he wasn't used to hearing the birds chirp so clearly. It was all beautiful, and Claus was fascinated by this, but if he had to choose between the forest and home, he would choose home in a heartbeat. It wasn't even a remotely difficult choice to make. The young tom had heard countless stories from the older kittypets about cats that lived in the forest. They had no twolegs to take care of them, they weren't given food, they had to hunt for it, and they fought... all the time. It wasn't a life that sounded luxurious to Claus. His mind began to race. What if he had the chance to see one? The cats back at home wouldn't believe him at all, but Claus wouldn't mind. This would give him the opportunity to see if these wild cats were as scary as the old kittypets made them seem. However, if they weren't nice, then Claus supposed he would just leave them alone. He would still feel a bit sorry for them, though. He felt as if being rude was just a way to suppress something, like sadness. Because of this, he always sympathized with cats like that. Claus had never had the thought that cats could be hostile just for the sake of it.

That was when the kittypet heard a slight noise, and he paused his little journey through the snow in order to remain completely silent. He didn't want to scare anything away, after all.

As leaf-bare had set in, Emberheart had started to miss the colored leaves of leaf-fall. She couldn't blend in with the snow the same as the leaves. But the snow was pretty, at least, and she could admire it for what it was: a reminder of a time that was past, now. A simpler time, one she sometimes wished to return to. Still, it was far from a fair trade-off, in her opinion: no fresh-kill in exchange for freshly fallen snow. Her hunting patrol had been fruitless so far, and it was frustrating: just then, she had misjudged a pounce, and the bird she was chasing had taken flight when it realized it was being tracked.

She paused, scenting the air to see if there was anything else she might be able to catch or if she should simply take her failure as a lesson and return home, and noticed something felt slightly off. The scent of... Another cat? It wasn't a ThunderClan cat, she could tell that much, so that left a single possibility: an intruder. She steeled herself for a potential fight, but hoped that the trespassing could be solved diplomatically. While she wouldn't hesitate to fight when it was necessary, Emberheart had seen more than enough bloodshed in her life, and given how the border she was closest to was the Twolegplace... She had been a kittypet herself, once. She wanted to believe the best of everyone. She had, however, learned to prepare for the worst, and that was the mentality she displayed as she spoke.

"Show yourself," she ordered, sitting in the snow and waiting with forced patience. She hoped she didn't come off as too intimidating, between her serious expression and the piece missing from one of her ears. "Who are you, and what brings you to ThunderClan territory?"