ring of gold -- hailstone

[Orangestar]

"You didn't have to come with me," Orangeblossom meows for the second time, nudging Hailstone gently with her shoulder. Despite her words, her tone is far gentler than it would have been this time a season before - with the relaxed set of her ears and her comfortable pace, it's clear that she's only saying it to be polite. She's glad for the company, privately glad it's him.

She'd had been mortified when she'd woken him up by accident, her clumsy scrabble causing him to stir a few nests over, choked on her words when she'd told him in a whisper she was going for a walk and that she couldn't sleep. Nearly keeled over on the spot when he'd insisted on joining her on such a beautiful night, stars twinkling in the gaps of branches and a claw-moon lighting the way just enough to see. She'd ignored the knowing look one of the night-guards had tried to shoot her as they left camp, though the knowledge that an outing with just the two of them might be seen as romantic in its basest form ... and, to her surprise, Orangeblossom finds she doesn't mind the idea.​

✦ ooc ✦ info

• @Hailstone
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring eveningpaw.
  ✦ 26 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Ashenclaw]

[ ☾ ] A low chuckle radiated from the blue tabby cat and he shook his head in amusement, "So you've said, but again, I insist," He playfully spoke and flicked his feathery tail behind him. Hailstone had been staying in camp more and more recently, since the blizzard really, and he had been there tonight. Sleeping in his nest besides Thistleback and Slate, and the sound of her scrambling upwards had woken him from a light doze. While normally he would've let her go on her own, rolled over and gone back to sleep, he had felt a pull to follow.

It was a strange senstation, he sought out her companionship more and more recently. More so than his friendship with Thistleback and the other toms but the label was unknown. It was on the tip of his tongue but he just couldn't really pinpoint it. The sky above was clear with dark velvet hues, the stars gave off silvery light and the moon was about halfway full. Suppose it would be time for that medicine cat meeting or something- it was something Bananapaw mentioned to him. He didn't really listen.

"Besides, I should probably be home before sunrise and this gives me an excuse to have you walk me home," Hailstone montonely joked towards the orange and white she-cat. He gave her shoulder a gentle nudge with his own in his own playful way before looking up towards the sky quietly, "It is a rather nice night as well,"

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[Orangestar]

The concept of Hailstone heading back to his twolegs, calling it home, stings something in Orangeblossom that hasn't stirred since Apricotflower had left - and even then, the stinging nettle of a loved one's home being somewhere else is entirely different to ... this. She sighs, soft, in a futile attempt to relieve herself of the feeling. He observes the night with a nudge of his own and she glances at him, sidelong. A dreamy glimmer settles in her eye for a moment, before it's hidden again when she turns her head. "Beautiful, yes."

Orangeblossom can see the stars through the trees, much easier in the frosty weather than in the height of greenleaf with patches of leafless branches stretching out between the pines, frail beams of connection tying the forest together above their heads. A question stirs, and she breaks the silence with a small hum. It's a genuine question, and one with no intent behind it - simply curious on his stance. Yet,

"Do you believe in fate, Hailstone?"

Is inherently a loaded question.​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring eveningpaw.
  ✦ 26 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Ashenclaw]

[ ☾ ] It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was like they could have conversations just by looking at each other and that was enough for him. They padded along the muddy ground and he shook a paw for a second as ice stuck to his toe-fur. Then Orangeblossom spoke once more, and he blinked a bit in surprise at her question. Believed in fate? Hailstone looked down at the ground for a moment then to the sky, did he believe in fate?

Was it fate that had brought him to Skyclan? Fate that he found his mother, Pinataflurry? Or was it simply a coinsidence? A random streak of luck, maybe even a wish upon a star years ago. The blue tabby mane coon furrowed his brow for a moment before giving a small, slow nod, "I think so, it would make a lot of things make sense," He responded with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "Was it fate that made me wonder into the forest and found Skyclan? Who knows, it could very well be. Or fate that my mother would so happen be there too? That one seems more believable to fate,"

Emerald shaded eyes then moved to meed the deepest chocolate, "Did fate play a part in us meeting? I'd like to think so," The tone was flat and monotone, like it always was, but there was something sweet behind it. A try at an incidation of being soft on the she-cat; a rarity for the large blue tabby cat.

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[Orangestar]

Orangeblossom listens quietly as Hailstone speaks, providing his view - fate and chance may be the same thing, but if it was merely the latter then it was certainly a surprising string of coincidences that led him to be with them today. She warms to the very tips of her ears as Hailstone makes eye contact again. Their meeting? Fate? She'd never really thought that fate might play a part in becoming so close with another. But maybe her friendship with Hailstone was always meant to be, predetermined from the moment they made eye contact for the first time. Is this friendship, though? Whispers a little part of her mind that Orangeblossom has often silenced. Or is it something else?

"... Me too." She meows finally, loosing a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"I think fate is our own choosing, somewhat, or at least we can choose things that will influence it. Like I chose to stay when Apri ..." She sighs, and resigns herself, a realisation sparking to life in the front of her thoughts. "I never told you about my sister, did I? She's in RiverClan, left us when Ho- when Beesong got that sign from StarClan to go with Cicadastar. It's good we're allies with them, she was never graceful but in a fight, but ... she abandoned us. She made her choice, and sealed her fate away from every other member of our kin." Her tail flicks, dismissive, trying to quiet her irritation on the topic even though she's brought it up of her own volition. Her nose wrinkles. "You'll know her if you see her. Trust me."​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring eveningpaw.
  ✦ 26 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Ashenclaw]

[ ☾ ] A sister? He knew of her other siblings of course, Bananapaw, Strawberrypaw and Blueberrypaw, but he didn't know she had a littermate. Hailstone listened as she talked about this Apricotflower and how she had left to join Beesong in Riverclan. Seemed the topic irritated her based upon her tail twitches and he gave a soft look. The blue tabby tomcat then brushed his tail along her back in a comforting manner, and decided as a response he would talk about his own siblings.

"I don't know where my siblings are, to be fair with you," He confessed softly, "We all got seperate at nine moons old, and they went to different houses in the city," Green eyes looked up to the sky then towards that of the twolegplace, "At least your sister is close and we are not at war with Riverclan," He offered a bit of optimism, very unlike Hailtstone who was usually very blunt in his words.

The tom then felt himself grow warm up to his ear tips and he cleared his throat a bit, "I suppose we both have traumatic sibling issues," He mused a bit and then immediately felt stupid. That was a bit dark, but it was already out there.

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[Orangestar]

"I suppose we do," she huffs with dry amusement. Orangeblossom hops down from a log in their path, hesitates, takes stock of her leg and relaxes when it doesn't twinge. Slow progress, but still progress. She casts a glance skyward, to the branches above their head- she can't wait to climb again. The ginger-and-white molly turns her attention to Hailstone as he follows suit, landing with a small crunch of snow. She knows this part of the path like the back of her paw, not close enough to the twolegplace that she falters but far enough from camp that it's just the two cats and the night-pines.

"Hey, Hail ... you think you'll reconcile with yours if given the chance? If fate shoves them back into your life?"​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring eveningpaw.
  ✦ 26 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Ashenclaw]

[ ☾ ] Having leapt over the log that had blocked his path, he landed a bit stiffly and shook out his coat. He had expected there to be ice but only instead it was slush and mud, great. He followed after Orangeblossom as they padded through the trees and he could see the twolegplace beyond it. Though they were far enough in that it was more secluded and quiet out here. The bustle of the twolegplace was distant but there was the sound of soft crickets as things started to warm up.

Hailstone had been looking to the sky when her voice came from his side and he looked down to her. Orangeblossom question if he would ever reconcile with his siblings if given the chance and he found himself nodding, "I would love to see them again, it has been moons since we saw each other I don't even know if we'd recongize each other." he responded with a light chuckle at the she-cat.

The blue tabby tomcat paused for a moment before he glanced at her for a moment, "I- uhm-," He started in his more awkward way and his more quiet nature made the syllables fumble out of his mouth. There was a huff of frustration with himself before he glanced away from Orangeblossom. He moved his green gaze to the sky and then slowed his pace slightly, head tilting off to the side and he pawed at the she-cat, "Look, Ora, its a shooting starp," He breathed softly, as if speaking too loud would spook the star.

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[Orangestar]

Orangeblossom nods along as they continue down the trail, weaving between sparse undergrowth and climbing over precarious fallen logs, and tucks that information away for later. It must be different for him, siblings taken away so long ago, not leaving their kin of their own volition but instead taken away to live entirely separate lives. Forgiveness would have come more easily to her if she were on the same branch. So engrossed in these thoughts, the comparison of two entirely separate lives, the deputy doesn't notice his stammer; but she sure notices the shove of a paw against her flank as Hailstone tries to get her attention.

She parts her jaws, about ready to shove him back, but the promise of a shooting star drags her attention towards the sky - it trails across her vision for a mere heartbeat, but that moment presses itself into her mind to stay. Instead of a snippy remark she's rendered silent, honoured by the sight, and as she leans just slightly against Hailstone to share in this moment with him she entertains briefly that maybe it was fate. Orangeblossom has only ever seen one before, sleepless night spent searching the sky for answers as to why her parents were acting so weird; only a few sunrises later for the two to announce younger siblings on the way.

Orangeblossom has always been the least dream-bound of her littermates, grounded to reality in such a way that Apricotflower and Citruspetal had never been; rolling brown eyes at the thought of soulmates when Alice had indulged her kittens in love stories about how she and Heavy Stone had fallen in love all those moons ago. Yet now, looking at Hailstone out of the corner of her eye, she wonders if this is how her mother felt.

Oh.

Unwilling - or, perhaps, unable - to break the silence, she stands there quietly for a moment in the wake of the falling star and her own realisation. Orangeblossom makes a sincere wish, attention fixed in the space it had been: for more good to come in its wake, even if things might be confusing or unclear right now. And, certainly, she feels as such - especially in Hailstone's company, protective and kind, the potential answer to a question she's never thought of before. Especially when they're on the way to deliver him back to his twolegs - away from SkyClan. Away from her. He'd come back, of course, but ... spell broken by her own worries, Orangeblossom sighs through her nose and continues once more down the path. ​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — mentoring eveningpaw.
  ✦ 26 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg. injured!
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Ashenclaw]

[ ☾ ] The feeling of Orangeblossom leaning into him slightly is what drew his attention away from the sky above. He looked down at her as her brown gaze was up at the night sky, watchting the star as it dove across the inky blackness and he could see it reflected in her deep gaze. The moonlight lit up her white fur with the little patches of orange across it and he found himself wrapping his tail around her softly. It was peaceful, and he could feel this emotion bubbling up inside his chest but the word for it seemed beyond his means.

Hailstone had never been one to believe in true fate or in wishing upon a star, but this time he took a chance. He wished for peace for the forest, that tensions would lull and things would go on smoothly into the new leaf. He wished for safety for his clanmates, for Orangeblossom, and he just wished for something good. Something like he had with Orangeblossom, something special and unexplainable. Was it truly unknown though? He felt like he knew what was going on, but found it hard to commit to the sentiment. What if she didn't feel the same? Did she also have this unexplained butterflies whenever she saw him? Or sought him out in the midst of a crowd? Hailstone doubted it really, she was the deputy. She had more thing to concern herself with than that of his silly kittypet-ness.

Then she sighed through her nose and started off down the path once more, and he blinked a few times- did something happen? Hailstone was terrible with social situations, but he could tell when someone was upset or at least a little bit of it, "Ora? You okay?" He voiced his concern as he trailed after the orange and white she-cat. Had he done something wrong? He hadn't meant to make her feel uncomfortable, and the thought of it made his chest sink with an icy stab.

"Maybe, we should head back to camp? I can stay the night and we can go on morning patrol?" The words left his mouth before he could really think about them, really process what he wanted, and he just wanted as much time with her as possible. Hailstone liked Orangeblossom, maybe more than he originally thought, and it petrified him. How could he adore someone when he wasn't in camp half the time? How could he attentive when his paws were in both worlds? The blue tabby gave a small lash of his tail at his own thoughts and his ears twitched slightly, "Or you know, something like that," The large tomcat shuffled his paws slightly across the ground and came to her side as they walked onwards.

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