Never Too Late [Hailfall]

Orange, and yellow danced off the pristine white snow as the sun was setting in the distance. The only disturbance among the silent and calm sun fall, was a single gold and white rogue walking towards the fourtrees. Torn didn't know what to make of the relative silence, or the vast empty space, that was usually full of cats whenever she encountered it. Thorns how long had it been since she had last been here?

She paused in her walk as she stood below the Great Rock. Azure eyes drifting upwards, looking at the four great oaks, and the looming rock the leaders stood on. Numerous nights passing through her mind. How many nights had she spent here? How many nights were spent listening to useless information the leaders spit out? What was the point of the gatherings? No clan cared about each other, not when they tore each other's throats out every other night of the moon.

Torn slumped down in her spot, body slumping against the rock. A chill running down her spine from the snow underneath her and the chilling stone. Silence was all around her, but her mind was filled with continuous thoughts.

Hailfall had a bad habit of just letting his paws take him wherever they pleased. Sometimes his patrol mates would call him back, telling him they shouldn't split up, other times they let him daydream and wander away. A cardinal dangled from his mouth, having been lucky enough to catch one a few fox-lengths back, though when he lifted his head and saw the Great Oaks in the distance, he realized just how far he had walked. Perhaps he should start heading back, it would start to get colder and his eyesight would worsen in the dark, but there might be more prey in the neutral land of Fourtrees... and thus more birds to pluck for his decoration fascination. He was still adorned in his dove feathers, but the assortment he had currently was starting to feel stale.

He slid down the slope and into the clearing, the crunching of snow announcing his presence before he could notice the other trail of tracks on the other side. Hailfall squinted. They looked fresh from where he was. Lifting his nose to the air, the scent of another cat flowed on the chilled air, though it lacked any clan scent he recognized. But it was... still faintly familiar though he couldn't place how.

"Hello?" he called, not wanting to catch this stranger off guard as he followed toward the rock. If they were a loner, which he assumed they were, he didn't want to appear threatening. Fourtrees belonged to no one, so there was no real need to chase them away.

He dropped his bird before peeking around the corner to see a tawny she-cat. "Oh! There you are... Are you cold? Fourtrees isn't the warmest spot this time of day."

Torn blinked as soon as she heard the voice, who else would be here at this time of day.. As far as she knew warriors didn't really venture out this far when there wasn't a gathering. She sat alert but unmoving as the other cat had approached her, even when she was expecting it, he nearly spooked her.
"... hello." She said back to the tom. Her voice soft. She took in the tom, noting his little.. decorations she would call them.

She took in his scent as best as she could.. Skyclan. Did they send someone to track her down? No. Not with the way he approached her. He was here merely on his own. "I'm not terribly cold right now, there are certainly worse spots to linger." She told him. "I certainly admire your little.. decorations. The feathers in your fur."

Hailfall's face instantly lit up at the mention of his decorations, a wide smile pulling at his features. "Thank you! These aren't even my prettiest feathers, I have a whole collection back at camp that are a lot more vibrant." He twisted in a small circle to show off, though the gray dove feathers blended in too much with his fur to be as flashy as he wished to be.

"I was just collecting more actually! Well, also hunting for the clan but they don't mind if I steal the tail feathers of the birds before they end up in the prey pile..." He paused, his gaze drifting over the she-cats golden pelt. Red did go with yellow a lot more than it did with his pelt by itself... and he did prefer cooler colors anyway. "Would you be interested in your own decorations? I have a cardinal whose feathers would go just wonderfully in your pelt. My clan wouldn't be so happy about sharing prey, but they said nothing about adornments." He flashed a large grin. His offer was a tad selfish, he loved decorating others as much as he loved wearing feathers himself, but if anyone deserved to be pampered, it was rogues. He had no idea how hard it was living alone, especially with this leaf-bare being so tough.

Torn watched as he spun, while the feathers might not have stood out as much as he wanted, the way they reflected the light had him dazzling just a little. It really had the rogue in awe. She never really thought about doing anything like this, even in her time as a warrior.

"Woah..." She muttered out softly. "A whole collection?" Just how many feathers did this guy collect? What other things did he use for his decorations? Then she blinked up at him when he mentioned wanting to decorate her pelt with the red feathers.. "Oh uh.. Well I have never had anything like that in my fur, but if you insist it will look good then I don't mind." She told him. It would be strange having a Skyclan cat so close again.

Before he could get in her space, something clicked in her mind. "Oh! My name is Torn. What is yours? I can tell you are from Skyclan." She asked.

Hailfall beamed at the she-cat's increasing interest, absorbing the attention and awe like his ego was starving. "Yeah! I have Bluejay and Starling feathers at home as my favorites, but I'll grab any feather that's vibrant and beautiful. However, this is just to tide me over until new-leaf brings flowers. Those are much more eye-catching."

The moment he was given consent, he nodded and grinned, shifting the bird closer to pluck the most beautiful feathers from its tail and wings. "Trust me, I'm an expert at making cats look their best. Not that your fur needs much help. The gold color is absolutely stunning. It's like a little bit of sunset got stuck in your fur!" He was truly a little envious. Her blonde pelt and blue eyes were such a beautiful combination.

He had just settled next to the she-cat, flowers at paw, when she announced her name. Oh right! He had forgotten with all this talk of adornments. "I'm Hailfall, nice to meet you!... So you know of the clans? Then you should know it's a bit risky being in the middle of all the territories like this. Some cats can be so rude... I'm glad I ran into you instead of someone like Bloodstar." Rude might be an understatement for some, as he had no doubts there were some that would resort to violence the moment they laid eyes on her. Judging by her ears, perhaps she already had of taste of that.

He paused, taking in Torn's appearance before carefully starting to weave the red feathers into her fur.  She would look even more like a sunset with these colors, how beautiful.

Flower huh? She sat still for the most part as he began to weave the feathers into her fur. It was strange, letting another cat this close, especially a Skyclan cat but she didn't seem to mind his presence. He seemed nice enough, of course his compliments had gotten her a little flustered. She knew she inherited her dad's good looks, but no one had really ever complimented her before. She muttered out a soft "Thank you.."

Of course she perked back up at the mention of the clans. "Yes I'm aware of the clans, and the danger I'm in wandering here, but I couldn't do much job other wise." She told him. "Plus I can hold my own, I have my father to thank for that. Made sure I was trained up right." She told him, not really wanting to give away her history just yet. She didn't exactly trust the tom fully just yet.