can't be a F O O L son; [snowstorm!]

[ωнιskuяz]

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[atrb=background,http://i39.tinypic.com/35jmdzp.jpg] [scrolly:h(115),w(413),sy] A chilled eastern wind ruffled the leaves of even the shortest trees that nestled themselves in the TigerClan territories as sunhigh crept up and eliminated shadows off the face of the earth for a short while. The air was crisp and held the faint tinge of moisture - a sign it may rain later on today or early into the night. Amberwind's whiskers twitched slightly as she took in the scent, trying to assess whether or not she thought the clan would really be caught in a light rain today. She wasn't much of a weather forecaster, however, and shrugged her darkly stripped shoulders; if it rained, it rained. This just meant she needed to get done with her duties earlier than usual. The slight TigerClan warrior had decided to skip the light nap she would normally have been taking at this time in favor of finishing her rounds of the borders of the clan. A tigress who took her responsibilities to TigerClan more serious than was probably necessary, Amberwind made the exact same route each and every day, taking care of the exact same things each time, in the same order, at the same pace. She was a creature of habit and was very much in love with her day-to-day rounds. She'd checked the eastern, northern, and western boarders of the clan's territory and was currently making her way to the south for the same reason. The only difference in her schedule was the order in which she checked the borders. She did enjoy a change of scenery from time to time, and as such checked first whichever boarder she was nearest to, then picked a direction from there and started sniffing. Yesterday the clan had gathered to find that Crimsonfire, who had been their deputy for the last few moons, was now leader. Sparrowstar had left for unknown reasons, reasons she wished Crimsonfire would keep to himself and not relay to the clan. Amberwind didn't agree with this, but of course, she refused to voice her opposition. She had no right, no place; she was a warrior and the happenings of those above her were just that: above her. Crimsonfire was simply following the last orders that had been issued to him while Sparrowstar was leader, and she was glad to see he'd kept the sense to follow that order. As far as Amberwind was concerned, it was still an order from the leader and should be followed. Now, however, came the sticky situation of having a leader than few in the clan approved of. The lithe tigress hopped nimbly over a fallen tree in her path, barely breaking stride once as her mind continued to analyze the potential problems this would bring. Because of all the hubbub of the change in hierarchy it was no surprise the scent border was beginning to grow faint, but the tigress wasn't worried about it. When things calmed down they would be renewed and strengthened, right back to normal. This particular path she followed lead the she-tiger through one of the many clearings scattered throughout the territory, this one on the smaller side. It was roughly ten or eleven foxlengths across and typically empty. Today, however, there was an exception to this rule, if Amberwind's nose was to be trusted. She detected the fresh scent of a male of her clan, familiar yet she couldn't quite put her paw on the identity of her clanmate. Her auds flicked, searching for noise or an indicator of where the other tiger was. If someone else was here, they had likely checked this stretch of the borders, meaning the southern line was acceptable and wouldn't require Amberwind to go over it. If this were the case, she thought happily, that meant she could get on with other duties and be well finished before the sky began to cloud and the rain fell. If, indeed, it did. Her deep eyes scanned the clearing closely, finding no trace of her clanmate. With a slight shake of her head, Amberwind left the path near the border and entered the clearing, following the male's scent and trying desperately to figure out whom it belonged to before she faced him. Placing her maw to the ground, the she-cat took in a deeper breath of the tom's scent for identification. Unfortunately, she also got a nose full of dust and sneezed heavily, sending the dust and spittle flying in a cloud around her face. Amberwind shook her head to clear it of the dirt when a flash of white caught her attention and she stopped, looking at the light pelt. The scent suddenly clicked in her mind and Amberwind knew who was there with her - Snowstorm, of course. How could she have not recognized him? She wondered if that meant that this border had been checked, as she'd previously assumed it had been. It wouldn't really be like Snowstorm to ensure the border safety if he had something else to do, would it? He rarely showed any interest in the clan itself, and when he did it was precious little. Amberwind disliked his lack of interest in the home and family they shared here shown by the snowy tom, but so long as he stayed within the borders and didn't cause trouble, he was part of TigerClan and she would treat him as such. And that meant family, as distasteful as the thought may be. The lithe tigress took a step forward, wondering if he was sleeping or simply standing there for a moment for whatever reason. "Snowstorm," she huffed the greeting through the trees at him. "Good morning." words;; NINE-HUNDRED-FIFTY-SEVEN muse;; LOW-MODERATE notes;; I KNOW THIS SUCKS A LITTLE, SORRY ABOUT THAT. LOW MUSE AND IN DIRE NEED OF NEW MUSICS DOWNLOADED THAT KEEPS DISTRACTING ME...>_> speech;; 8c0000 music;; "FIX ME" BY 10 YEARS [/scrolly]

[Bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z431/poshiloh/Something%20Beautiful%20v2/middle-5.png] [scrolly:h(282),w(444),sy] IT was quite early when Snowstorm roused himself from sleep, or more like was roused when a nearby warrior kicked him in the flank. Blinking pale blue eyes open, the white tom raised his head and looked around. The warrior sprawled out beside him was twitching in his sleep, caught in the throes of a dream. Huffing quietly, Snowstorm extracted himself from his nest. He was one of those cats that, once roused from sleep, could seldom find it back again so, no matter the hour he was awake until he just ran out of energy again. Sometimes it wasn't such a bad thing but during times like this when the clan was quiet, he sorely wished he could kick the other warrior right back. Still, such outbursts were below him so he reined in the urge. Jaws stretching wide in a quiet yawn, Snowstorm picked his way through the slumbering cats and out into the clan clearing. Glancing around, he found little had changed from the day before. SPARROWSTAR'S old den lay empty and quiet, Crimsonfire still gone at the Starcavern. Nearby was the herbal scent of Goldenlight's quiet little clearing, silent at this time of what appeared to be early morning. Glancing skyward, Snowstorm found the moon still hanging placidly in its navy sky, a pale fringe of pink just barely beginning to peek over the eastern horizon. Yawning again, Snowstorm trotted past the freshkill pile and out of camp. He might as well hunt or patrol, do something with his time rather than lay around. After all, he'd spent the last moon and a half laying around in Goldenlight's den waiting for the old medicine cat to declare him healthy enough to return to his normal duties. Apparently broken ribs weren't something to be taken lightly. He'd laid quietly under her treatment more or less since griping about it did little to change anything. AS he began his more or less random roaming through the pre-dawn gloom, Snowstorm let his mind rove over the happenings of the last day. The clan had been told by none other than Crimsonfire that Sparrowstar had left. Even though he was more or less a loner in a clan, Snowstorm wasn't estranged from the feeling of betrayal at Sparrowstar's abandonment. It had sunk its claws in and ached for a while but he refused to give it acknowledgement. Obviously the clan meant nothing to Sparrowstar so why should he give her a moment's thought? Either way, the young leader was gone and that left Crimsonfire, the untried hothead to step up. In naming his deputy alone, alarms had gone off in Snowstorm's head for several reasons. Most would argue, if he told them of these alarms, that he was jealous of Petaldawn getting the deputy position. This was untrue. Probably the most untrue thing to ever be said about him, and boy did the clan love to gossip about him. Snowstorm wanted no part in leading the clan nor anything close to it. Of course, those nay sayers would come back with his dislike of Crimsonfire. First off, Snowstorm didn't necessarily dislike him. There were few cats in this world Snowstorm truly disliked and Crimsonfire, though annoying, wasn't worthy of that privilege. Disliking someone meant noticing them constantly and Snowstorm granted that to very few. The second reason alarms had gone off in his head was Crimsonfire's lack of knowledge of tradition. Still, he had kept his peace seeing as everyone would just say he was jealous or power-hungry or prejudice against Petaldawn for her loner roots. It was simpler just to keep quiet. WITH these thoughts rolling through his mind, the white tom worked his way through the brush as the sun rose. The forest was quiet and tasted faintly of rain. Heading south, away from the more popular apprentice training areas and more common patrol routes, Snowstorm sought out solitude within the forest's depth. Shadows striped his pelt as he wandered, not really hunting but not really patrolling yet not missing a thing. Each bird call made an ear twitch, each shiver of a leaf drew his pale gaze. All these things were done on autopilot, because they had to be done, not because he gave them any real attention, sort of like breathing. After all, he technically wasn't scheduled for a patrol anyway so there would be others to double check the rare things he might miss. Out in the brush, the hours slid by without a single scent of possible game or intruders as he angled his course to trail along the southern border at a lazy walk. SOMETIME around sunhigh, the sound of fern fronds moving brought Snowstorm to a halt. Raising his head slowly, rounded auds perked, the tom scanned the surrounding area with his pale eyes. The scent of a deer tickled his nose, a doe and perhaps a fawn. His mouth watered at the scent, reminding him that he hadn't eaten when he'd gotten up. Still, the deer would go to the clan if he caught it which was fair enough so long as there was a rabbit or something for him to snatch in exchange for his bigger kill. Unsheathing his claws, Snowstorm began slowly making his way toward the concealed duo, skirting a sunlit clearing, keeping in the undergrowth. His gaze zeroed in on the single patch of brown fur he could see through the crisscrossing plants. Keeping low, he kept his whole focus on the deer and its fawn, tucked up in a thicket, as of yet unaware of the danger drawing near. He circled around so that he lost the deer scent but could still see the deer move occasionally through the undergrowth. 'SNOWSTORM, good morning.' THE voice rang out from right behind him, as out of place as a clap of thunder on a sunny day or snow in greenleaf. SNOWSTORM'S icy eyes hid behind closed eyelids as with a crash of moving undergrowth, the deer and fawn took off as soon as the words drifted across the afternoon air. Muscles that had been tensed to pounce loosened and the breath Snowstorm had been holding rushed out. Pulling his composure together, the tom dared to glance over his shoulder and see who had thought saying good morning was worth ruining his hunt. AMBERWIND. HUFFING, Snowstorm gave his snowy pelt a shake as if to shake off the agitation caused by her interruption. In his mind, he debated whether he could run after the deer and lose her or if ignoring her and acting like he was deaf would be more productive. Eyeing her coolly, Snowstorm tried to decide but in the end he didn't know enough about the ginger tigress to draw any helpful conclusions about how she might react to either treatment. Unfortunate indeed. Finally, he simply turned so that he was half facing Amberwind, perking his ears and giving her an expectant look, the look of one waiting for the rest of an order. In his case he wasn't looking for an order, he was looking for what could have possibly been so important that she just had to open her big mouth. He didn't return the greeting though, not by any means. Didn't even bother to twitch his tail. His gaze was cool and level and if you didn't know him well, you wouldn't have been able to guess Snowstorm was annoyed. If you did know him well, you would know that his utter stillness meant you were on thin ice. Finally he managed to unfreeze his jaw after swallowing his frustration. He knew it wasn't her fault, at least his logical brain did. She had approached from the same direction he had, not able to smell the deer but unlike him, she had not seen them. Still, swallowing his frustration felt like swallowing a boulder. "WAS that really necessary?" Snowstorm rumbled at last, his glare sharpening dangerously. Tagged;; Amberwind Words;; 1351 Song;; "Strangers Like Me" by Phil Collins Notes;; he is so mad you don't even understand.... [/scrolly]

[ωнιskuяz]

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[atrb=background,http://i39.tinypic.com/35jmdzp.jpg] [scrolly:h(115),w(413),sy] A sudden crash and movement in the underbrush in front of Snowstorm and herself drew Amberwind's attention, causing her to tense up and bulk, claws shooting free of their sheaths and fur bristling in surprise. As quickly as the movement and surprise came, however, realization dawned and Amberwind understood the situation. He'd been about to attack a doe, whose scent belatedly reached Amberwind's nose, now that she'd stirred up all that commotion and the air had carried it to her. Her auds flicked in slight annoyance that she hadn't noticed, and also in a slight apology. She felt guilty for ruining his hunt, but at the same time knew it hadn't been necessary anyway; the freshkill pile at camp wasn't running low in any way, and the extra deer carcass would have either sat there for a while, or been eaten quickly and caused other, previously caught kill to sit longer. It took Snowstorm a moment to collect himself and turn to acknowledge her, and before the light-pelted tom managed to hide his irritation, she picked up on it and took note. Ok, so she'd ticked him off - who hadn't? With a roll of her dark auds, Amberwind waited somewhat patiently for Snowstorm to finally decide to fully acknowledge her, which he of course took his own sweet time doing. Oh yes; it was Amberwind's fault that he hadn't acted faster. Not that she thought he would have - if his movements yesterday at the gathering were anything to go by his injuries were still a bit touchy, and while he was in no way lacking in his ability to hunt and kill, she doubted that Snowstorm would have had an easy time of taking out the doe. She simply saved him the effort, as far as she was concerned. "No, I suppose it wasn't," she said in a light matter-of-fact tone that conveyed her moment of caring was over. She had other matters on her mind that needed to be taken care of, and if Snowstorm wanted to get back to stalking prey he likely wouldn't catch anyway he was more than welcome to as soon as she was finished. Not that it would take long, assuming he cooperated and gave her the answer she was looking for. It was most unfortunate, as far as the black-stripped huntress was concerned, that the tom she'd come across was Snowstorm. He was so...frustrating. Many of the tigers in TigerClan made nearly constant gossip and assumptions where the snowy brute was concerned, and he probably pegged Amberwind as one of them. Which could almost certainly account for his attitude - or usually, lack thereof, as the case may be - toward her. In her mind, it could have nothing to do with the fact she was a patrol-obsessed work-a-holic that pushed her ideals on others without realizing it, nor that she'd chastised half the clan including Snowstorm about doing more for the clan and taking a larger interest in making closer bonds, so as to make things easier on them. Which was, where she was concerned, a bit hypocritical seeing as she rarely took the time out to relax or catch her breath long enough to make any particularly close bonds with anyone else herself. She flicked her tail in a brisk swat, flicking the thought away. It wasn't important and was bound to get her nowhere as far as getting back to her patrol or to take care of other matters of import. "Now that you're not busy, though," she continued in a business-like tone, "I was wondering, have you already checked this stretch of the southern borderline? I was taking care of it myself, but I'm sure there's no need to double-check if you've gone over it recently. I have other things to be done today and it could save some time if you have." Not that you care, she added silently. In fact, while Amberwind didn't know the tom, she wouldn't put it past the lazy hermit to tell her he hadn't checked the perimeter there when he had, just to make her take Amberwind take longer. Though on second thought, would he really care enough to go through the trouble of lying to her about it just to inconvenience her? She didn't know him well, but on second thought she doubted it. And she certainly hoped she was right. Standing here was taking up enough valuable time as it was, the last thing she needed to be doing was trying to figure out if he were lying to her for any reason, and what his motive would be. No, she finally decided. He surly doesn't care enough to be such a nuisance. Not this early in the day, anyway, regardless of the fact she'd interrupted his hunt. Right? words;; EIGHT-HUNDRED-THIRTY-FOUR muse;; MODERATE notes;; -SHAKES HEAD- OHH AMBER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE..? speech;; 8c0000 music;; "HMAS LOOKBACK" BY THE AMITY AFFLICTION [/scrolly]

[Bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z431/poshiloh/Something%20Beautiful%20v2/middle-5.png] [scrolly:h(282),w(444),sy] WHEN Amberwind began talking, Snowstorm almost couldn't believe the words she was speaking. How was he related to a single one of these insane felines that thought borders were more important than a good hunt? That was perhaps the one thing Snowstorm didn't mind about his duties for the clan, hunting. Of course he never hunted more than was necessary but today had been a special exception. Snowstorm was up for making sure the clan knew he was back in form, fully capable. Snowstorm hated appearing weak in front of the weak-minded of his clan. Since he never gave them a chance to see him mentally weak like them, he had to guard himself against appearing physically weak. Thanks to his botched boar hunt, he'd been down for the count for the better part of a moon. EBEN now with this tigress that Snowstorm knew next to nothing about, he could see it in her eyes. She knew about the boar hunt and knew he'd been more or less living in Goldenlight's den until very recently. Amberwind wasn't sorry about losing him a hunt because she thought he would never catch it. He could see it in her eyes and posture. Anger tried to rear its head in him but Snowstorm pushed it down forcefully. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing him angry. Instead, he drew on the icy calm that he was famous for. Turning to face Amberwind fully, he raised his head and straightened his posture from the rather disappointed slump he'd adopted after his kill more or less slid through his claws. LEAVING his cold gaze on the ginger-pelted she-cat, Snowstorm figured it wasn't worth his time to bother helping her. Normally, he would tell her he had indeed checked the border, send her back to camp and then go do it himself if only for the reason that it kept him out of camp longer. That meant more solitude, more alone time, less stupidity. It was Snowstorm's subtle brand of helping a clanmate that was obviously 'oh so busy'. Amberwind had an apprentice where Snowstorm didn't so he could guess she was a little busy but today she had chosen to ruin his hunt. Snowstorm wasn't above ruining her day. Well...normally he was but what could he say? He was feeling petty today. SO, rather than be a good clanmate and offer assistance to his clanmate, the young tom turned away from her. "If you'll excuse me, I have a deer to track," Snowstorm said at last. She thought she had better things to do today? As if she was the only one. Shaking his head, Snowstorm padded away is if he'd suddenly gone deaf to Amberwind's existence. INSTEAD, Snowstorm slid through the undergrowth toward the thicket where the deer had been and breathed deep. Filling his nose with the scent, Snowstorm focused on it instead of Amberwind. If she chose to follow him and bother him, Snowstorm could lead her on a wild goose chase without a second thought. There wasn't a pawstep of this territory he had't tread and could cover again. He had no apprentice to demand his time or insane work ethic to nag at his mind. Snowstorm was as free as it was possible to get living in the confines of a clan so he had not only the mind but the time on his paws to make Amberwind regret crossing him should she be foolish enough to trail along after him like a lost kit wailing about his laziness. IT was hilarious how most of the cats thought that, that he was lazy. Snowstorm did what was absolutely necessary, no more, no less, because it was pointless. Stockpiling food only lead to rotting meat and disease in camp. Circling the territory time and time again in endless patrols just lead to worn down warriors too tired to fight when they actually had to. Over training an apprentice stifled their ability to find their unique fighting style or special skills, forcing them to become carbon copies of their mentors which is more often than not, a very bad thing. This ideas however, were not ones supported by the clan after generations of foolish conditioning. Apprentices had to live in their mentor's shadow and do exactly as their mentor said. Patrols should be never-ending because the leader said so. Hunting patrols were always on the prowl because everyone was under the impression that they would starve if they did more infrequent but coordinated hunts. So, if you weren't patrolling, hunting or training, you were weak and lazy. Somehow that thinking simply didn't appeal to Snowstorm, but what did he know? Evidently he was a traitor to the clan when he hadn't even done anything, if you listened to the gossip. LET Amberwind fume about his silence or get mad or follow him if she so chose. It was her own waste of time and if it was one thing he knew about her from observation, it was that she hated to waste time. Snowstorm set his course northward, purposefully leaving the southern border behind him for her to check if that was her job. He had come out here for quiet, nearly got a lucky catch and had it ruined by a certain scrawny tigress. Let her waste her time as she wished, either tailing him and hounding him about respect like Crimsonfire was so fond of or she could shut up and go patrol the border like she so desired. Tagged;; Amberwind Words;; 947 Song;; "Authority Song" by John Mellencamp Notes;; all in all his opinion of her is that she could go jump off a cliff and he'd be mildly dissatisfied that he didn't get to push her [/scrolly]

[ωнιskuяz]

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[atrb=background,http://i39.tinypic.com/35jmdzp.jpg] [scrolly:h(115),w(413),sy] For a moment Amberwind stood there somewhat bewildered and glaring after the white-pelted brute. He was so difficult! Was it honestly that hard to simply answer her question with an honest "yes" or "no" so they could both be on their way? His problem wasn't that other people annoyed him, it was that he pushed them away and inconvenienced them, which led to extra effort and time on his part, therefore annoying him. He shoved his own flaws and problems onto others and blamed them for it! What a little weasel, she thought with a hostile huff. Fine; if he wanted to be a thorn in her paw, she'd repay the favor. She knew every inch of the territory just as good if not better than him, though he was so high-and-mighty that he thought nobody else would know up from down and a fox from an elk if not for his help. Puh. Useless heap of foxdug. Trotting after him, Amberwind made sure to crash and barrel through as much undergrowth as she could and snap as many twigs as possible, making sure that any prey within fifty fox-lengths would be made aware of the predators and shy away, out of the deathly grasp of the white tiger. Whirling herself around, Amberwind faced his icy blue eyes with as much pride and spite as his held slight irritation masked so near perfectly. The she-cat didn't mind allowing her emotions to spill over, meaning he could probably pick up nearly every thought in her head as it scrolled across her face. Not that she honestly cared; let him figure her out, let him hate her, let him know her emotions; it would do him no good. He needed to learn as a clan, they were in this together - they were like family, whether or not he liked it. So long as he resided in TigerClan borders and hunted, ate, and fought with them, he was part of them. It was high time he grew up and began to act like it. "You're wasting your own time more than mine, you know," she hissed. Her hope was that if she pointed out how much he was being his own biggest hindrance, he'd cooperate a little, or at least stop wasting his time and do something that truly was productive. If he went hunting, he would bring it back and put it in the freshkill pile, meaning something would go bad and if nobody smelled it in time, sickness would break out. That would put a strain on the clan, a strain on poor Goldenlight who didn't yet have an apprentice to help her when those things happened, and on their new leader. Nobody wanted to start out leading a clan and have sudden sickness sink it's claws in and give them trouble. It was no secret that Crimsonfire and Snowstorm weren't on the best of terms, but he was their leader and this was their clan, and even Snowstorm couldn't purposely mess everything up on purpose once he saw the ignorance of his ways. "Let's assume for a moment you're able to hunt anything worth keeping down and take it back to camp. The freshkill pile has plenty in it, it's well stocked already because the clan works as a whole to keep it maintained." She made sure to put patient emphasis on the fact the clan works as a whole, hoping it would help get through his thick, pale skull. "For someone who is so intent on saving their own energy, you're sure wasting it on something so silly even my apprentice wouldn't be wasting daylight on it."

[/color]

Shaking her head, the amber tigress stepped aside, clearing the path for the solitary hunter. By all means, prove me right, her eyes read clearly. With a satisfied flick of her tail, Amberwind held her head high and walked past, deciding that Snowstorm probably had indeed checked the southern border, but if his mood toward her today was any indicator, he was incompetent at the moment and would likely need someone to ensure he hadn't missed anything. And who better for that task than Amberwind? She hadn't been scheduled for patrol today, but it felt strange to her not to complete all sides of TigerClan territory in her inspection.



words;; SEVEN-HUNDRED-THIRTY-EIGHT
muse;; MODERATE BUT RETURNING - FINALLY
notes;; SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER TO GET UP, MY MUSE RAN AWAY. BUT I THINK I FOUND IT BACK AT LAST<3
speech;; 8c0000
music;; "CINEMA" BY BENNY BENASSI FT GARY GO AND SCRILLEX
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[Bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z431/poshiloh/Something%20Beautiful%20v2/middle-5.png] [scrolly:h(282),w(444),sy] THROUGH his life, Snowstorm had come to learn a few things. One of the big things was that StarClan purposefully seemed to make cats that were singularly put on the earth to irritate the living daylights out of others. He'd never paid much attention to her before but within minutes Snowstorm became convinced Amberwind was one such feline. Evidently Amberwind believed it a fantastic idea to come tromping after him as loudly as she could possibly manage. She rustled every fern, stepped on every twig, kicked every pebble. In general she made a horrid racket and within seconds Snowstorm stopped bothering to track the deer. It had only been an excuse to escape her anyway, offering to track it. Hunting it in the first place had been more or less opportunity to test his physical strength after spending so much time on the mend. He wanted to test Goldenlight's handiwork though he didn't doubt the medicine cat's skill, he just wanted to find a landmark for himself to see where he was regarding recovery. There was only so much the golden she-cat could tell him on that front, the rest he had to figure out through self evaluation so he would know what needed training. At the moment all he was coming up with was that he needed to hone his technique for removing ticks and other parasites that decided to cling to him, such as Amberwind. TO be totally honest, the white tom could have probably tolerated Amberwind's noisy self. If she wanted to waste an afternoon tromping around after him like some overgrown elephant that had inhaled too many poppy seeds, that wasn't really his problem. In fact it wasn't his problem at all. What did make him stop and let out an invisible sigh was when she opened her loose trap and started talking. Honestly, why did everyone insist on words? They were so unimportant and so full of lies it wasn't even worth it! Good StarClan if Snowstorm was someday struck deaf and mute he would be one hundred percent content with his life. CLOSING his clear blue eyes for a moment, Snowstorm silently begged patience from his ancestors before slowly turning around and looking at the rambling tigress. Once she seemed to find silence again, Snowstorm kept regarding her coolly, mentally choosing his words with care. More care than Amberwind obviously deserved but despite all pretenses Snowstorm was capable of being a gentleman when he took the notion to be so. "YOU don't like me." Point blank statement. Not a question. "Frankly, I don't care. You are no family of mine and I can't seem to find a fiber of my being that would go out of its way to help you in any way when you choose to interrupt me figuring out where I stand in my recovery. Now. You can either get out of my way and go along with whatever waste of time you so choose to endeavor in or you can keep following me like you have no functioning brain of your own. If you choose to follow me you'll find yourself going around and around in circles all afternoon and well into the night. Leave me be to do as I see fit and you can patrol the border to your heart's content and brainwash the next generation as much as you see fit. If you'll excuse me, there are only so many hours in the day." HE spoke matter-of-factly without batting an eye. His gaze was cool and calm like two pools with the surface perfectly smooth. Every muscle in his body was loose under his white pelt, not a single one tensed in an outward sign of agitation. He kept his head held in a comfortable level, not a cocky overly high stance but also no low and submissive. Snowstorm had mastered neutrality practically from the moment he left the nursery. Cats like Amberwind could do their best to shake him but he still seemed as serene and calm as untouched water. Maybe it was unnatural or maybe it was a sign of loner blood somewhere along the line but Snowstorm frankly didn't care. The deer, he was only mildly annoyed with losing but there were others and other methods of testing his ability. He wanted to test his muscle strength, speed and agility after being down and out for so long. Amberwind was about as annoying as a mosquito and just about as important but nonetheless she was something Snowstorm wished to swat away. Sadly that would be called treason or something like that and that was just too troublesome to bother with so he could very easily work around her. SIDESTEPPING around the ginger tigress, Snowstorm slid past her. The path they were on was so narrow that his white flank brushed against her ginger one, their colors clashing boldly, white on orange. He didn't bother looking back, he'd know if she followed. She was noisy enough, even when she was trying to be quiet. He'd heard her on enough patrols, passing under a tree he was lounging in. Even when she wasn't trying to sound like an elephant she made so much noise it was a wonder she caught anything at all when she hunted. So he fixed his sights on a stream cutting through the forest, picking his way down the steep bank full of small boulders and smoothed pebbles. Lowering his head to the rippling surface, his pink tongue lashed out to drink, light blue eyes hiding behind his lids as he listened. Somewhere nearby songbirds twittered harmlessly in the afternoon sun. Tagged;; Amberwind Words;; 961 Song;; NA Notes;; mmmm he's unahppy [/scrolly]

[ωнιskuяz]

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[atrb=background,http://i39.tinypic.com/35jmdzp.jpg] [scrolly:h(115),w(413),sy] Watching Snowstorm as he passed, Amberwind held her air of victory and her stance of pride, while inside she was now seething and nearly boiling over with rage. Not only was he blatantly insulting her intelligence, but he was so convinced of his own perfection and superiority over her and everyone else in TigerClan that it went past selfishness and took him straight into stupidity. As soon as he passed her, Amberwind allowed herself to bristle angrily for a moment, take a deep breath, then turn around and pad off in the same general direction as him. She had work to be done, and he was an incredibly unwelcome distraction. She watched him pad off and lap up some water, her eyes narrowing. What was his problem? Honestly? He'd never once been part of this clan, so long as she could remember. Snowstorm had always been off on his own avoiding everyone else, doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted however he wanted. She never understood it. He saw the clan as his protection. His easy meal ticket. His safe home. His to rule as if he were Leader, StarClan forbid. She feared for the state of TigerClan if ever Snowstorm somehow gained a bit of power in the hierarchy. He wasn't cut out to take care of himself, much less the clan. Padding off past him, she flicked her tail lazily and kept her eyes straight ahead. "It's a pity, really. You'll hide behind whatever means necessary to avoid having to be part of the clan. You may as well begone if you won't pitch in and appreciate everything we do for each other. That's all a clan has, Snowstorm. Each other." With that she was making her way back to the border. She would check the south side; he couldn't be relied on to have done a passable job, as far as she was concerned. Snowstorm was as reliable as a kit, and about as clueless. Not to mention dysfunctional. She was sure there had to be something honestly wrong with him, the way the tom always seemed so emotionless and calm, regardless of what was going on around him. He must have thought he was so cool to always bottle things up (assuming he actually felt them) and look like he was completely indifferent, but he was wrong. It was a pity that Snowstorm didn't let anyone in, didn't show any indication he could. Of course, Amberwind wasn't exactly one to be throwing around these accusations, but that didn't occur to her at the moment. She was always so busy going around and doing whatever she felt was needed that she rarely interacted with the clan, rarely did much of anything that wasn't a duty of some kind. She was bad at letting others in, too, since she would prefer to prove herself capable to everyone over proving herself friendly. But she trusted her clan - most of them, anyway - and she loved each and every member, regardless of how frustrating and impossible and disgustingly detached they could be. Amberwind would lay down her life for every kit, every warrior and elder, any tiger in Tigerclan. They were her family, and she didn't care what mouse-brained fools like Stormwind said. words;; FIVE-HUNDRED-FIFTY-SIX muse;; LOW notes;; UGH! I POSTED THIS YESTERDAY BUT MY COMPUTER SPAZZED OUT AND DENIED ME ;_; I KNOW IT SUCKS, SORRY:/ speech;; 8c0000 music;; "" BY [/scrolly]