Are You There? (Lion)

[.:Lion:.]

Lilithnight frowned slightly. Who is that speaking? Do I know him? Why can't I remember? Ugh! This stupid headache makes it so hard to think! She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"How are you doing?" She opened her eyes as she saw her sister slowly coming towards her, hesitantly. There was something about Cursedangel's expression that reminded Lilithnight of... old times... happier times.

"Curse..." she murmured.

"Everything's fine," her sister responded with a soft smile, "Just relax and tell Lastsong how you're feeling." Lilithnight turned to the medicine cat and grinned lopsidedly.

"I feel like someone dropped a couple dozens boulders on my head and a Monster ran over my spine. But otherwise I'm okay."

"You're such a baby," Cursedangel purred, but there was amusement and affection in her voice and expression even as she shook her head.

"That's good,"

[Magicheart]

Gatheringclouds felt guilty as Lillithnight described how she felt. I am supposed to be a warrior now. I should have shown better judgement...it was foolish to jump through the trees when they were slick with rain. he thought, disappointed in himself. Why couldn't he be more like his father? His father always seemed so stoic. He always seemed to have good judgement and knew what to do. His clanmates always spoke fondly of his father after he had passed away when Gatheringclouds was still very young.

Gatheringclouds wondered if his parents were ever as clumsy or insecure as he was when they were younger.

[.:Lion:.]

OOC: That demon post deleted what I wrote! *growls*

BIC: Lilithnight noticed Gatheringclouds looked sheepish. She smiled slightly and leaned her head against her paws, staring up at him with big, piercing blue eyes.

"You know it's my fault, silly," she meowed softly. "It was my idea." She closed her eyes and sighed. Cursedangel sat down beside her sister and looked at her worriedly. Then she glanced at Lastsong. He smiled, relaxing. Now that Lilithnight had woken and had spoken clearly he wasn't worried for her. She hadn't broken any bones, thank StarClan, so it would only be a matter of time before she healed. He turned to see what Moonpaw was up to.

[Magicheart]

Gatheringclouds started, surprised that the she-cat seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. He sighed. "I need to be able to do something in those situations. I hate being so helpless. It was just like when I was too young to fight the rats and had to watch my parents die."

Moonpaw was caught off guard by Gatheringcloud's strong response. Didn't know he had it in him. Maybe he isn't just a naive, ignorant furball after all. he thought to himself. He knew how the tom felt, seeing clanmates getting carried away by eagles on the mountains. He shuddered, and then felt eyes on him. He glanced at Lastsong and their eyes met. It seemed to Moonpaw that the medicine cat could see right through him, and that made him uncomfortable, but he had a hard time taking his eyes away. "So what do we do now?" Moonpaw asked.

[.:Lion:.]

Lilithnight looked up at Gatheringclouds solemnly. She knew what he meant. She knew what it was like to feel hopeless. A small sigh escaped, though the effort made her temple throb a little.

"I know what that's like." She murmured softly. Lilithnight remembered well. She could feel her sister standing beside her and knew that Cursedangel was thinking of the same thing. Or nearly the same thing. She didn't want to look at her sister, though. She was afraid that the miraculous change she had just seen in Curse's eyes would disappear as quickly as it had come.

Lastsong shook himself off as he stood up, feeling damp and chilled after his swim through the flooded river.

"We hole up for the night I suppose," he meowed with a flick of his ear. "Unless you all want to go back to camp?"

"Not me," Cursedangel replied immediately. "I want to stay with Lilith." Lastsong nodded and turned to the other cats.

[Magicheart]

Moonpaw twitched his ears. The answer wasn't surprising, but for some reason, it caught him off guard. "What about our clanmates? They don't know we are here." Moonpaw realized that it sounded like he was volunteering to go back to camp, and he immediately regretted it. His fur was still chilled from the swim over, and his muscles were exhausted from all the traveling.

"I could find more bedding for the cave." Moonpaw offered, hoping that Cursedangel would want to go with him.

Gatheringclouds glanced at his medicine cat. "I will do whatever is needed. Just let me know." he meowed softly and curled his tail tightly around his paws.

[.:Lion:.]

Lastsong nodded. He had hoped that Moonpaw, at least, would have wanted to go back to camp. As it was, he'd just have to improvise.

"All right, then. Moonpaw can go get the moss. Gatheringclouds, if you wouldn't mind, you go back to camp and tell Songstar where we are and why." He meowed.

"What about me?" Cursedangel asked.

"You could help Moonpaw. The sooner we get Lilithnight off to sleep the better." Lastsong meowed decidedly. Cursedangel nodded and turned to look at Moonpaw. She wasn't sad that she would be getting to spend some time with him. She just hoped he wouldn't be upset that she hadn't met him and had gone to help her sister instead.

[Magicheart]

Gatheringcloud flattened his ears. Leave? He frowned. They probably thought he was getting in the way. He wanted to protest, but just let out a soft sigh and got to his paws. If him going back to camp was going to help, that is what he would do. Besides, he wasn't about to argue with the clan medicine cat.

Moonpaw nodded his head and dipped out of the cave. He let out a sigh and took in a deep breath of fresh air as he stretched under the night sky.

[.:Lion:.]

Cursedangel dipped her head to Lastsong and gave her sister and gently lick on her ear before turning to join Moonpaw outside the den. She looked around at the tall trees and the dim light and wondered at how she had ignored it all for so long. This is a beautiful place you brought me to. She thought with a small sigh. At least now she would have some time with Moonpaw. In all of the commotion she hadn't had the time to regret not getting to meet with him earlier. He meant a lot to her, so even these moments fetching moss together were precious to her. After all she'd been through, Cursedangel knew that she had to appreciate the time she had with the ones she loved. Looking at Moonpaw she wondered if she really did love him in the way she thought she did. It's different now. She thought. Nicer. A small smile crept onto her face, reflective and happy and surprisingly gentle for the usually somewhat intense cat.

[Magicheart]

Moonpaw gazed up at the stars and then fixed his azure gaze on Cursedangel. "How are you holding up?" he asked. Exhaustion was finally starting to weigh in on the young tom now that he had a moment not filled with adrenaline to actually feel it. He frowned. "I'm sorry this happened. I know how....important she is to you."

Moonpaw was surprised how the last sentence stung him. He had no one besides Cursedangel that he even wanted to spend time with. His family was lands away and he would probably never see them again. Was it dangerous to let so much ride on his relationship with Cursedangel? Thinking over the past few days, all he'd been able to think about was her. He couldn't even recall thinking of anything else that was important...but thinking to his time before he met her, unhappiness clouded his thoughts.

No...I needed this. I needed her to help make me myself again...to get excited about something again. Even in the mountains, Moonpaw was always full of grim determination. Then again, life was different when you or your tribe could become prey. Still, it made him almost sad to realize how little happiness he had in his life until now...even if his stomach twisted in knots at the uncertainty of his future with Cursedangel.

[.:Lion:.]

Cursedangel studied Moonpaw's expression and wondered why she felt that there was more to his words than there seemed to be. It was true that Lilith meant a lot to her. But why should that upset Moonpaw? He certainly did seem upset. Thoughts flitted about in Cursedangel's head, but she couldn't quite come up with an idea on the subject. She had been alone for so long, her social graces were obviously lacking--if they had ever existed in the first place.

"I will be fine," she meowed finally, with a small sigh. "Lilith and I have been through a lot together. We've lost so much--I even thought I had lost her, once. But no matter how much distance is between us--be it a city or the stars--I know we will always be thinking of each other. Together in spirit." Cursedangel thought of her kits. They had been watching over her for so long, and it had taken her so much time to realize it. Glancing at Moonpaw, Cursedangel wondered what he would say if he knew the truth. No one in the Clan new for sure, though she expected some of the sharper ones may have guessed. Her secrets hung over her like a dark cloud, filling her with a similar emptiness to the one she had recently abandoned. Someday. she promised herself silently. Someday I will tell him.

[Magicheart]

"Do you really think so?" Moonpaw asked softly, gazing at the stars. "I had...have a sister, back in the tribe....though our stars seem skies away...everything looks so different here." Moonpaw felt himself frustrated at the lack of familiarity. How could a sky of all things look different? Why did it have to? It seemed so unfair. The sun always looked the same. Why did he have to feel distant from his own ancestors as well?

"She will have become a cave-guard by now...if she is still alive." Moonpaw gave Cursedangel a wry smile. "I was always jealous that she was picked to be a cave guard when I was picked to be a prey-gatherer. Her position always seemed much more masculine...than again, she was more muscular than me." Admitting this almost made him laugh as he thought about how he used to pout about his sister's strength as a kit and young to-be.