all you need to know [closed]

Emberleap seized on the season’s fading warmth like a snake on a nest full of eggs. He hunted, he marked borders, he ducked into the medicine den and offered to help fill the stores (in an official capacity this time; his encounter with Loudpaw had scared him off of sneaking out alone for a while) when they seemed lacking; he’d never been so useful before in his life. It should have felt good. Sometimes it did, when he was on his paws and moving in the thick of things, but there was no ignoring the pit in his gut, the ridiculous sense that he was apart from ShadowClan despite being part of it—as if that sort of thing mattered with rogues snarling around their borders. All the more reason to work harder, really.

Tonight was a continuation of the trend. The mottled warrior tossed his most recent catches—two frogs and a bird that’d taken several swats to bring down—onto the prey pile as he passed. Halfway to the warriors’ den, a coppery pelt caught his gaze, and he rocked back a few steps. Curiosity and common sense tangled furiously inside him. Marsh cats were closemouthed as a rule; Fangsnap, naturally, fit right in. But Emberleap had learned just enough to feel an odd kinship with him anyway. Raised by ShadowClan, then lost, then found.

In the end, loneliness tipped the scale. Emberleap pawed through the pile until he found a mouse. With this peace offering at the ready, he made his approach. “Hey, Fangsnap. Is it okay if I sit with you? I brought food.” So saying, he nudged the mouse toward Fangsnap, though he stayed firmly on his feet, tail swishing low. “It’s fine if it isn’t, I just figured since you don’t look busy and I’m not busy, maybe—well. We’ve shared a den for moons, but I hardly know you.” Too forward, probably. He gave a flick of a suddenly-warm ear in acknowledgement.