star-speckled daydreams [c]

Dawnfeather should not be here.

No-one would chase her off, not from sacred, unclaimed land such as this, but at the same time- she’d spent so much of her life trying to get home. Why would she willingly spend her evening halfway across the forest? It was a simple reason, to be honest: she needed a walk. She needed to clear her head.

When she wasn’t immediately immersed in conversation and laughter, Dawnfeather had found herself…

…floating.

Every time she glanced over her shoulder, she expected to see Oliverain keeping easy pace. Every time she sat down to eat, she left enough room for Dandelionflight. Every time she curled up to sleep, even next to Foxtrot and Wolfblossom, she woke expecting, for a joyful heartbeat, to find her head sunk into the soft fur of her mother’s flank. She expected to wake early and make her way to the medicine den, find Muddy still asleep and curl up next to him, laying her chin on his shoulder and speaking with her aunt (who had already been awake for hours) in hushed tones. Every second step that she took, every for-a-moment unfamiliar face- it jarred her heart, pulled at her heartstrings, refused to let her forget.

She loved them still.

“Might as well hunt while I’m here,” Dawnfeather mused, setting her eyes on a starling perched on a slender branch. This far away from SkyClan territory, the birds thought themselves safe on the high limbs.

A moment suspended in mid-air, heart racing and eyes wide with exhilaration- Dawnfeather leapt, coasting through the air in an easy arc, landing impossibly high up in the Great Oak, bird pinned firmly under her paws and dead before it knew what hit it. Thank you, StarClan, for this little one’s life. It was good to know her skills were still intact, as well.

The member 'Cocoa' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

ooc: awwww! they should definitely be good friends :D

Dawnfeather turned her head abruptly at the sound of another voice. A WindClanner, judging by her direction and speed, with a soft coat and golden eye. A genuine, unprompted smile spread across her face, tail-tip twitching. Her mother- a SkyClanner, mayhaps? Surely no WindClanner could leap like a true-blood, true-born SkyClanner. Not even in the stars- Dawnfeather tilted her head in confusion, but she wouldn’t press. Everyone was in the stars. Perhaps this young one was a mite confused.

“Hello, Rosepaw!” She called, balancing daintily on the branch swaying in the wind. “Dawnfeather, of SkyClan! It’s nice to meet you-“ an idea began to blossom in Dawnfeather’s mind. Ever impetuous, she didn’t stop to consider the wisdom of what she was about to say, just the hope that it would help this little one feel closer to her long-gone mother.

“I could teach you, if you liked? To jump? You’re built decently well for it!” Not like a true SkyClanner, with powerful haunches and a long tail, but as close as the other Clans would ever get.

"Your name is beautiful, just like you!" was Rosepaw's first thought. Almost not looking like a cat of this world, Dawnfeather balanced daintily on a branch swaying in the wind, cream and gold-pointed fur shimmering and eyes blue sky-bright.

"Yes, please!" she responded excitedly, belatedly adding with a little panic, "as long as I don't have to climb a tree!" Rosepaw and her mama might be able to leap from the ground, but she was no SkyClan cat and she was terrified of getting up there with Dawnfeather. How different was leaping in the branches from running... much more dangerous... Or maybe, like flying. Rosepaw loved dreaming about flying.

Dawnfeather smiled at the small she-cat’s words, tips of her ears blushing ever so slightly. “You don’t have to climb if you don’t want to, dear! There aren’t enough trees in your territory, anyways!”

She leapt from the oak to the ground, landing easily with her long tail streaming behind her. Let’s see… Rosepaw wasn’t as tall as she or Hawkuncle, or built with as strong haunches or long tail, but she was tall, and somewhat lanky? Hmm. Dawnfeather felt certain they could do something with this.

“Alright,” she said, flicking her cut ear. “Really, the hardest part is the aiming, and as long as you don’t mind flopping a few times, you can’t mess up! Just bunch your haunches, and leap!”

Dawnfeather demonstrated, soaring up into the air and back down again as if she herself was a bird, beaming like the sun at the prospect of teaching. “Oh, and don’t worry if you don’t get it the first time. I’ve had a lot of practice, dear, and the best teacher in the forest.”

Rosepaw was relieved they would be practising how to leap from the ground. When Dawnfeather leaped down beside her, Rosepaw realised how much taller Dawnfeather was with powerful haunches and a long tail that streamed behind her when she jumped. "It's almost like you can fly!" said Rosepaw enthusiastically, golden eye alight. "I'd love to learn, thank you!"

"I have lots of practice flopping and trying again," Rosepaw assured Dawnfeather with a playful grin. She wondered who the best teacher in the forest was... surely another SkyClan cat, maybe family of Dawnfeather? She almost asked, but closed her mouth again and prepared to leap. Rosepaw was long-legged and long-bodied, though not as tall as her friend Whisperear, and her legs were strong from running even if uncoordinated and wobbly. Rosepaw got low to the ground, bunching her haunches, and then springing up with the biggest push from the ground that she could muster.

It was the pushing upwards that was the problem... all the power in her haunches went absolutely nowhere as her push-off was unbalanced and she simply wobbled and flopped to the ground. "The hardest part is aiming..." Rosepaw reminded herself.

The member 'isla' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

Dawnfeather took a step back, watching Rosepaw with clear blue eyes. Her stance was good, up to a point- Dawnfeather winced in sympathy as the young she-cat flopped onto the ground. “Good try! The most important part, to anything, really, is that you keep going!” the golden she-cat encouraged. “You were just a little off with your aiming… it’s hard on grass and dirt, you know. Would you like to try off the Greatrock? It’d be a little sturdier under your paws, help you get started!”

Dawnfeather flicked her tail towards the rock down in the hollow. It was perfectly deserted- indeed, a few birds had alighted on its top- and there was no harm using it on days when no-one else was around. The trees were taller, and better all-round, but Rosepaw didn’t seem to like them for some reason, and Dawnfeather would, of course, respect that.

Rosepaw felt the tips of her ears warm with embarrassment, but also with joy at Dawnfeather's encouragement. "Alright!" she agreed, "Maybe on the dirt and grass isn't the best!" She glanced over at the rock, deserted, but... "Not the big rock?" she questioned. "My friend got up there recently and it turned to not be a good idea."

Rosepaw considered. "Maybe from one of those smaller rocks?" There were several rocks below, one big enough for a representative of every clan to sit on together. But Rosepaw was just one cat and she didn't need to jump from that one specifically. However, she did choose the tallest of the smaller rocks to jump from, and gave it another try.

This time was much better and Rosepaw's confidence grew. A solid surface made a difference!

She needed somewhere higher. "Maybe the trees are better..." she wondered. A big, low, steady branch would be alright. She had tried many things on her journey home, and the cats of the Garden practiced all the skills of the five Forest clans. But Rosepaw was afraid of water, and tight spaces, and the dark, and... "I'm afraid of heights," she admitted to the experienced warrior. "That's not quite right," she corrected after a moment of consideration, "I'm afraid of falling." The feeling of plummeting into the gorge had still haunted her dreams until recently, and this was not a dream where she could fly like a bird.

The member 'isla' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1