Fall Leaves [c]

Hailpaw really hadn't been looking where he was going. Which, honestly was terrible since he would barely navigate when he was trying to. Every root seemed to be indistinguishable from the ground when all the detail was sapped away from his subpar vision, leading to frequent tumbles or getting stuck in bushes. At least he could always find his way through scent and large landmarks, so when he found himself back at Fourtrees, he thankfully knew he could find his way back home despite the long way he had traveled.

Fourtrees looked so empty when a gathering was not taking place, the ground stamped by thousands of paws so that little life grew where the cats stood. It wasn't quite beneficial to his hunt for decorations, but at this point he had found enough. The last of what he could find of green-leaf's flowers decorated his fur, as well as a few hawk feathers he had found. His pale white pelt was now adorned with yellows and reds, not as pretty as blue and purple, but much better than going plain. Within his jaws were a few more leaves and feathers that he planned to take back to his nest for another day, their colors clashing too much with his current decorations to be worn currently. Or perhaps they could be a gift for a friend.

He sat down in the clearing, taking a well-deserved break from his travels. The sun was high, he would still have time to get back and hunt before returning home if he rested his paws a while.

Cherrycloud was sitting in her clearing full of things she had collected. She looked at her collection of feathers, leaves and flowers that she had stashed away. It seemed to be smaller than the time she had last went here. She carefully took a few things out and weaved them through her fur. Cherrycloud felt like wearing her decorations for fun this time, as she normally only wore them for special occasions. She stood up and started to wander off, not really paying attention to where she went. Nothing caught her eye as she walked, so she didn’t stop. She felt the ground changing beneath her paws and she looked around. She saw Fourtrees and another cat sitting in the clearing. She approached them and meowed, “Hello, who are you?”

Hailpaw's ears perked as he turned to view the stranger that approached. An orange she-cat with... strange colored flecks in her fur. He blinked then squinted, accidentally ignoring the she-cat's question as he took a step closer to see better. Were those... decorations?! It definitely wasn't fur, what little texture he could see let him know that.

"Oh! Do you decorate too?!" He blurted, dropping his collection to speak. He didn't know another cat who decorated like him, at least, not one that he didn't drag into the hobby. This cat was from another clan entirely! He couldn't pinpoint which one though, all other clans just smelt odd to him as he hadn't been exposed long enough to know the difference.

"The colors go so well with your pelt too! Your fur is already a very nice shade, but the feathers really add some nice contrast." Hailpaw complimented, giving a nod to show his approval. This cat had not met him before, but she should know that he was the master of decoration. Oh, wait, she had not met him before. "Oh! Sorry, I'm Hailpaw."

Cherrycloud was a bit confused when the cat didn’t answer her question and instead squinted at the items in her fur. He suddenly dropped what he was holding and blurted out something. “Yes,” she hesitantly responded. Though she was slightly confused, Cherrycloud was grateful for the praise that he had given her on her choice of decorations. After a bit, he seemed to remember that she had asked something and introduced himself as Hailpaw. “Hello, Hailpaw, I’m Cherrycloud. Your decorations look very nice, too,” She meowed to him. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him, and she was curious to learn more about a cat who had similar interests to her. “What brings you to Fourtrees?”