Come and Find Me {Leafshadow & open}

[}M.idnight]

[bg=white][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,500,table] Birds chirped faintly in the background, the sun, barely coming up from the horizon and the crickets still played their night time lullabies. The dark blue sky turning to pale pinks and oranges. He lay, still curled, in a golden ball of fluff. He opened one emerald color eye and popped his head up. Giving a huge yawn and giving a dramatic stretch, he pushed up onto all four paws and looked around his surroundings. A late firefly fluttered past his field of vision and he pawed at it frantically. This seemed liked a normal day from the young cub; waking in the morning to chase butterflies or any kind of insect and then searching for someone's leftovers. It might seem like a sad life to some, but he was quite content with it. Sure it become monotonous after awhile, but he learned to live with it. He abandoned hope of catching the flashing bug and went on a pursuit of food. He stalked through the grass, weaving in and out of obstacles, making a game out of his, so called hunting. He slipped into a fallen log and came out the other site, a spider web caught behind his ear. He chuckled and batted it away playfully. He looked around again, still finding nothing. He spotted a little bird, on a fallen tree, not far from him. He crouched down, wiggled his tail in the air and ran after the bird, laughing excitedly. He followed it for as long as he could before he bumped into a rock, sending him to the ground, limbs sprawled out. He sat up, unsure of where he was, his head in pain. Ospreykit sniffed the air and could smell other lions somewhere very near to him. He looked around hopefully. He padded towards the scent, curious to where it lead. Character: Leafshadow Word Count: 308 (not good, but not bad for having brain mush) Background song: "Rainbow Veins" by Owl City Notes: HE'S SO CUTE <3

[Bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/10xwx76.jpg] IT was Littleclaw that woke Leafshadow from her nap, reminding her it was her turn to do some hunting. She'd had dawn patrol already today and had been catching up on sleep atop her favorite sunning rock just off of the camp clearing when her brother roused her. Yawning widely and arching her back in a luxurious stretch, claws flexing harmlessly on open air, the young lioness leaped off the rock. Giving her sleek golden pelt a brisk shake, Leafshadow glanced around, half hoping for someone to hunt with but found no one. She'd hunted once with Swiftstar since he'd come back from his ceremony to replace Palestar but that was all. Loudheart was off doing StarClan knew what and Littleclaw was eyeing a gazelle leg on the freshkill pile with hungry eyes as he prowled toward it. Stormwind was nowhere to be found but that wasn't necessarily a new thing. The younger lioness tended to breeze in whenever she felt like it and drift off just as quickly. Sunpaw and Elkwhisker were both out doing some long overdue training and other than them there weren't many cats Leafshadow would approach about patrolling with since there was still some anti-loner-born sentiments wriggling around camp, whispered warrior to warrior even after Swiftstar revealed he too was loner born. That hadn't calmed things. If anything it had added fuel to the fire so to speak, especially after Palestar retired and left Swiftstep to become Swiftstar. SHRUGGING, the lithe lioness padded out of camp and out into the open plains of LionClan territory. Border patrols had been done this morning so she stuck mainly to the interior plains, going out far enough from camp that herds would be out grazing. Leafshadow had just chosen a cluster of zebra to scope out when a scent drifted toward her on the midday breeze. Straightening from her crouch, she looked around. Several zebra raised their heads to regard the huntress before going back to their grazing. All plains animals had something of a sixth sense that told them when a lion was actually going to attack. Leafshadow had never been able to understand it but sometimes it was nice since she really didn't feel like a stampede anytime she nixed a hunt. Focusing instead on the scent, Leafshadow abandoned the herd and began trying to find a stronger whiff of it. IT took a bit of doing but finally the slender young warrior managed to get a good breath of the scent. Her rounded auds perked up in interest as she caught kit-scent. It was a distinct smell of young lion cubs before they really began to develop their own scents. Apprentices generally had grown out of this stage by the time they receive the 'paw' suffix in their names. From this scent, Leafshadow knew this kit was still mother-dependent and a loner since no LionClan she-cats had kits at the moment. Curious about what a loner kit could possibly be doing within clan territory, Leafshadow began to slink her way through the plains grasses, picking her way along the scent trail until she was able to peer through the grass and find the thing she sought. A kit was just sitting up from the ground and looking around, dusky pink nose twitching. Leafshadow breathed deep, keeping herself low to the ground and hidden but seeking the scents of the kit's parents. Usually lionesses didn't let their kits wander too far but this one, it smelled alone. That was strange indeed. For a moment, Leafshadow wasn't sure what to do. Should she leave the kit to its own devices? Herd it toward the border like a diseased water buffalo? Kill it? Certainly not. Leafshadow would do a lot of things for LionClan but killing a kit wasn't an option. Then she remembered long ago when she and her brothers had been in that kit's place, alone and scared, surrounded by unfamiliar scents. A lioness named Foxclaw had become their mother, soothing their hurts and feelings of abandonment. Foxclaw had shown them the good life the clan could offer and had given them all her love. It was true that life wasn't easy for loner-born kits but Leafshadow felt like she'd turned out alright despite the best efforts of some unnamed felines. Her brothers too had survived just fine. Loudheart, big and lovable was quite popular with the clan and Littleclaw was known for his cunning and subtly. They managed to get along just fine in the clan so maybe that was an option for this lost little kit too? Mind made up, Leafshadow straightened up so she stood above the tall grasses behind the young kit. "ARE you lost little one?" Leafshadow called, hoping she didn't scare the fur off of him and make him run. Tagged;; Ospreykit Word Count;; 821 Background Song;; "American Honey" by Lady Antebellum Notes;; blah! >.<

[}M.idnight]

[bg=white][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,500,table] He weaved through the tall grass, unaware that he was being followed. He sniffed around the ground, batting at leaves and rocks. He still hadn't found anything to eat, but was still hunting down the scent of the other lions. The golden colored pelted lion cub sat down, looking around the area. He huffed slightly but soon caught sight of a beetle in front of him. Jumping back onto all fours, he growled playfully at the bug and pounced on it. A voice called his attention from the game he was playing and he behind him and up at the lioness, the beetle wiggling in his mouth. The cub turned to face her and cocked his head to the side in slightly confusion. It had been a long time since he'd seen a female lion and the sight of this one made him stop and think for a moment. This was not his mother, no, not even close. This was a different lion. One with the scent of many, many lions. He dropped the beetle and watched as it scurried away, covers in his saliva. He giggled slightly at the sight, but returned his deep green color gaze back up at her. Flicking his ears in a curious manner, he began to walk around the lioness, batting at her tail and crawling under her belly. He stopped a mouse-length from her nose and smiled. At the question the she asked, he simply nodded. He didn't like to talk much, especially to new cats. The cub sat down, staring up at her, waiting to see what she said next. He wasn't going to talk, at least, not yet. He had to trust her before. It had always been that way, ever since the day he was born. Sure she may find it annoying, but she'd get used to it the longer she stayed with him. Character: Leafshadow Word count: 320 Background song: "Vanilla Twilight" by Owl City Notes: :3

[Bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/10xwx76.jpg] KIND amber eyes regarded the young cub with interest when he turned to face her. He was a handsome little one, not mangy and skinny like loner kits could get when abandoned. His parents either hadn't abandoned him for long or he'd just been fed this morning by loving parents that had somehow lost track of him. Leafshadow could still remember after moons of being in the clan being hungry as a kit. It was all she and her brothers had known. They talked about it very rarely since their non-clan heritage tended to be more of a source of shame than anything. When they did talk of it, late at night when no one else was awake to hear them, they all agreed that the hunger was the only thing they remembered. Being so hungry they couldn't sleep and then being so hungry that sleeping was all they could do. They didn't even remember their old names or who their parents had been. They would never have remembered being loners, so young as they had been when they were taken into LionClan, if it hadn't been for Foxclaw finally confessing that they were adopted as replacements for her own lost litter. LOOKING at this young tom, Leafshadow doubted he'd gone hungry a day in his life. She was glad for him, without a doubt. Hunger was a beast all its own, gnawing at one's insides until there was nothing left. So far she'd never been with LionClan through a famine but she dreaded the day when one finally struck the providing plains of their territory. A smile came to Leafshadow's lips as she watched the little one amble around her. He was still slightly uncoordinated the way most cubs were until nearly apprentices. It warmed her heart for some reason as he swatted at her dark-tufted tail. She twitched her tail in response, raising it above his head and purring deep in her chest when he sprang to try and catch it before crawling between her hind legs, head butting lightly against her soft underbelly until he was right between her front paws. Compared to him, her paws were huge, her legs powerful columns of sleek golden fur on either side of the little tom. His head tipped so far back to look up at her that Leafshadow was amazed he didn't fall backward. Lowering her head until they were barely a whisker's width apart, she smiled, purring consistently in amusement at the adorable little one. "HELLO," she purred, twitching her rounded auds. "My name's Leafshadow." She leaned down a bit further and touched her nose to his. "What's your name?" OH if any of the other warriors saw her talking to a kit not born in the clan the rumor mill would probably explode. Everyone loved to debate the loyalty of Leafshadow, Loudheart and Littleclaw ever since they'd been kits. Foxclaw's former mate, Darkmane, had refused to accept the trio of loner kits when his own litter had died. Since Foxclaw turned away from him for the new kits he'd been driven by jealousy to make Leafshadow and her brothers as miserable as possible. Even though Darkmane was dead, his influance wasn't gone. There were still mutterings about the ethics of taking loners into the clan. Frankly it was a divided issue. Some cats didn't particularly care so long as the loners were loyal to the clan and accepted by StarClan. Others claimed clan blood should be kept pure without loners and still others believed loners should be allowed into the clan without a second thought simply because the clan was once founded by loners. If any Darkmane thinkers got sight of Leafshadow it would mean trouble but she didn't care. WHEN the little one didn't offer any answer, Leafshadow chuckled and stepped over the tom so he wasn't sitting between her front legs anymore. Laying down on the sun-warmed ground, Leafshadow laid her head on her forelegs so she was on level with the little tom. "I was where you were once, me and my brothers," Leafshadow confided. "My parents were loners and I was awful scared of clan cats when we joined." A tiny fib, she'd never been scared of her clanmates except for when Darkmane was around but oh well. "I bet you're not scared though, are you? I bet you're awful brave. Maybe brave enough to talk to me?" Tagged;; Ospreykit Word Count;; 792 Background Song;; NA Notes;; what's his loner name?

[}M.idnight]

[bg=white][atrb=border,0,table][atrb=width,500,table] The little lion cub watched the expressions on the lioness' face change as he walked around her. He didn't know why, but he felt very safe around her, almost like the way he did with his mother. He watched her face, very curiously, searching for the first signs of anger or a predator look about her. But he found none of that surprisingly, just a kind and gentle face and voice. When she opened her mouth to speak, he flattened his ears a bit, for fear of being yelled at to leave her territory, but was met by only her name. 'Leafshadow.' It was very pretty, as fit her so nicely. She asked his name, and he looked away slightly, fearing let her hear the sound of his voice. He fidgeted with his paws and a small pebble on the ground. He looked up to see her lie down and put her head level to him. He cocked his head to one side, tail flicking behind him. She spoke of how she and her brothers were in his situation. It was hard for him to believe, but he didn't completely reject that idea. She said that he was brave, brave enough to survive like he had been. He grinned. He was a brave cub. He had fought off vultures and managed to out run a hyena once. But even when he saw other lions, he never approached them. He looked up at Leafshadow, puffed up his chest and said in the bravest voice he could, "Course I'm not scared. I was just... Inspecting is all." He twitched his ears, looking away for a split second before looking back at her. "Mama never really gave me a name. She would always call me 'Son' but sometimes she would call me 'Rabbit' for my energy. Mama and Pa weren't very creative lions. Sissy never really had a name either." He started to trail off, curious as to how this lion had a name, but he hardly had one. He gave her a quizzical look, but brightened up in a matter of seconds. "Maybe you can give me a name! Your's is so pretty, I'm sure you'd give me a good one!" He jumped onto all fours, and started bouncy around, stopping occasionally to look at the lioness to see if she would say anything about his name. Characters: Leafshadow Word Count: 402 Background Song: "Crayons" by Amy Can Flyy Notes: OMG, I am sooo sorry this took me forever to reply too ._.;