looking for some luck (dawny)

[eagleheart]

just as the sun began to set, eagleheart stirred in the warriors den. like always, the same dream returned. a flash of light, the smell of rain, the yowl of turtlepaw. it was like a mix of all the tragedies that occurred in his life. as his mint eyes snapped open, the tom let out a long sigh. the nightmares didn't really affect him much anymore.. no, he was just used to them. the lanky tom rose from his nest and padded out into the camp clearing. he just didn't know what to do. he had nowhere to go, no cat to talk to. it was like he was trapped here. but really, what was he expected to do? was he supposed to shrug it off and move on to a new mate.. acting as if none of this had ever happened? or was he supposed to mope around and cry all day? he had no clue.. and truthfully, he was stuck between the two.

eagleheart stood up idly in the clearing as the mist of the forest began to surround his legs. quite dramatically, the tom looked up at the moon and sighed. he knew they were up there. he just didn't know where or when he would see them again. the tabby let out a loud snort and shook his head. he looked like an idiot. when was he going to stop being such an idiot? he was tired of this. he just wanted to be happy again. the tom lay on his belly and placed his face in his paws. he needed some good luck. if the tom was not beginning to drift to sleep again, he probably would have heard the noise of a clan-mate not too far away.

tags: dreamstar ★

[dreamstar ★]

the heat of the day had finally been washed away by the cool dimness of evening, and a big, shiny white moon had risen over the hollow tree that was tempestclan's camp. dreamstar padded into camp, speckled with mud up to her forelegs, and stretched, feeling stiff and worn out. it had been a long day. she'd been sending more patrols out lately, since it was getting closer to the night of the full moon and the gathering, and she wouldn't put it past vertigoclan to launch an attack days before the truce. she stopped by the fresh kill pile to deposit her catches, a sparrow and a snake, and began to run through a list of warriors in her head. icetalon couldn't lead the dawn patrol, she knew, because he would be on the moonhigh patrol. 

glancing around the camp, she sighted an older tabby tom and moved to speak to him, not realizing that he was dozing until she was already nearby and calling out to him. "eagleheart, can you lead the dawn patrol tomorrow morning?" 

[eagleheart]

whiskers twitched briefly as reality started to return and the dream world faded further and further away. eagleheart blinked his mint eyes open and groggily looked around. he'd almost forgotten what had happened moments before. but the camp was still misty and the moon still hung high, so he couldn't of been asleep for long. next, he'd realized he wasn't alone. no, dreamstar stood not far from him. it had never been difficult for eagleheart to speak with her, since they had basically grown up together. but in a moment like this, he was nearly speechless. she had definitely said something. the tom shook his dull coat briefly and blinked his mint eyes, trying once more to readjust to reality. "i'm sorry.." he purred, almost too quiet for her to hear. but the tom swallowed hard on his words and nodded. she asked him a question. he needed to answer. the tom had felt like such a kit lately, he was almost incapable of doing anything. what was wrong with him? "yes, of course. orchidpaw will enjoy that" he meowed with an appreciative smile, thinking of his white apprentice.

the brown tabby stretched his long, lanky legs and let out a lazy yawn. he couldn't help but notice dreamstar's muddy legs. this was normal, but eagleheart could not keep out his beating curiosity. flicking a tail toward her legs, a small purr escaped his maw. "so, where were you today?" he hoped it hadn't came out rude. the tom couldn't help it. he was a curious cat.

[dreamstar ★]

dreamstar glowed a bit with embarrassment as she said apologetically, "sorry, i didn't realize you were asleep until i was already yowling your ear off." she smiled slightly, relieved that he didn't seem to be annoyed by her awakening him. yes, she was the clan leader, but they had known each other for a long time and she wasn't one to go around irritating the senior warriors anymore than the next cat. dreamstar didn't quite believe that she herself was a "senior"; after all, she had the power of nine lives in her blood.

"yes! apprentices always love waking up at dawn and getting their paws wet. besides, it's good for them," she mewed in a joking tone, grinning. "how has your training with orchidpaw been going?" the frosted she-cat questioned, thinking of how "well" her own training with orchidpaw's littermate, ivypaw, was progressing. she had taken stonestrike's advice to heart though, and planned to try a new approach with the sassy apprentice. it seemed silly, possibly, taking council from a tom that had only been a warrior for four moons, but she valued his opinion; and after all, he had known ivypaw far longer than she. 

"i was out hunting in the fen, is all," dreamstar answered, making it clear that she thought the trip was nothing special or abnormal. "i haven't gone out too deeply in the last few days, though. not since i got this," she explained, displaying the rat bite on her foreleg. strange, to encounter a rat out in the wetlands, but she had. 

[eagleheart]

]once eagleheart had adjusted to being awake, speaking with his leader had became much easier. a small smile was thrown across his face at the comment of apprentices waking up early. he didn't care if orchidpaw wasn't going to enjoy it, she had to learn some way. ironically, he didn't have much of an answer for dreamstar. how was orchidpaw doing? had he even been keeping track? it was almost as if eagleheart had just been absentmindedly teaching her things and not even bothering to see if she understood. his mind was somewhere else. it always was. but eventually, he would improve. he had to. more thinking about himself than orchidpaw, the tom meowed a simple reply. "it's been hard to focus, but she is doing fantastic" the tom wasn't exactly sure if he was referring to orchidpaw or himself when speaking about being unable to focus. but a small nod and another meow reassured himself. "orchidpaw is an eager one. she will make a great warrior. such high aspirations"  he commented, finally rising up from his laying position to sit and face his leader.

at the sight of the rat bite, eagleheart twitched awkwardly. he didn't like rats. well, no cat did, but eagleheart had an odd hatred for them. "you should see spectresight about that. it's not worth the risk" his tone was concerned, but his mind was racing. already moving on to the next subject. anything to get himself out of his thoughts.. that was the only objective. "it must be nice to go out and hunt every once and a while. for you to get away from all the stress"

[dreamstar ★]

dreamstar narrowed her eyes at eagleheart's reply as if her piercing blue gaze could somehow garner some extra insight into his words. "well, she and ivypaw have their share of tension. and orchidpaw seems... misled at times by the young warriors," she meowed carefully, trying to pull on some of that diplomatic spirit that she didn't possess. when the tabby tom stood and faced her, she studied him for a moment. "and how are you doing, eagleheart?" she asked, before quickly amending, "i mean how are you really doing? you seem more tired than usual." 


the silver tabby sighed at his mention of the one-eyed medicine cat, spectresight. "oh, i have seen her," she murmured reassuringly. "don't worry! no tempestclan leader ever died from a rat bite." sensing that, given his history, death might not have been the best thing to mention, she plunged onward. a bit too eagerly she suggested, "why don't you and i go hunting together sometime soon? i bet you could use some de-stressing time yourself. and besides, it's not good to spend so much time cooped up in camp." 

[eagleheart]

the tabby tom wasn't into expressing himself much. he just spoke as quick as he could, trying to get the pressure off of him. he hated the pressure more than anything. and right now, he didn't expect the pressure to be on him.. but it was. it came quicker than ever, and left as slow as possible. it hung above him like a dark storm cloud, threatening his happiness with every moment. and for those moments, he was frozen. almost stuck in time. he didn't know what to say. he just nodded, breathing heavily. "i'm.. alright." he managed, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. "it's hard. but i'm trying my best"

he was eager to get off of the subject, even though dreamstar hadn't mentioned a word of his family. he knew what she was getting at, and tried to avoid it as best as he could. besides, eagleheart was trying to improve.. not be consumed by the past. he appreciated her concern, but it wasn't something he was going to dwell on. he had to move on, no matter how much he hated to. the tom began to feel much better as the subject was changing. rat bites. devastating little things, eh? eagleheart nodded with a fake smile, glad that his leader would be alright. he should have known that.

de-stressing. that was a word eagleheart was not used to. he'd spent so much time worrying about the stress, that he hadn't done a thing about removing it. he was just moping about the camp, wishing, hoping for a change. maybe it didn't come that easily. eagleheart did not know, but he had to hope for the best. that was all he could do, really. the lanky tom nodded as his whiskers twitched back and forth. "i'd love to. i think you could lose some of that stress too, right?"

[dreamstar ★]

dreamstar nodded, sensing, thankfully, that he didn't want to remain on that subject. how could she blame him? she wouldn't have wanted to talk about it either, had she been in his situation. she'd had her hardships, but nothing quite that devastating. it had taken time to move on from her brother's death, her father's illness and eventual death, her mother's betrayal; but they were all parts of her past, that she had accepted. perhaps such a rocky path had been laid out for her in order to ensure her strength. she wished she could make eagleheart believe that the same was true for him. but how could she be sure?

the silver she-cat was unsure of whether to pursue her goal in cheering the tom up or let him be. "thanks for taking that patrol, eagleheart," the leader mewed, dipping her head. "i should be going to find my nest, and i suggest that you do too. dawn seems to be getting here earlier and earlier as it gets later in the season." she smiled at the tom and flicked his ear with her tail-tip. "don't forget! we'll have to get that hunt in sometime soon." with that she strode off for her den deep in the hollow tree, scenting that longshadow was already there.

ooc// sorry this was kind of a short thread! i didn't know where to have them go from there O: you can either post a reply or i can just move it to old threads <3 if you're still in need of rp we could do something with coalpaw next :3 i've got three vertigoclan kitties. hmu!