[the picture of sophisticated grace] dunepaw

He had a dream about a tree. The bark before him was silver like the white of a naked river birch. The tree shone in the black that surrounded them both. Its boughs spread on in every direction and some were low enough to step up on, as heavy with fruit as they were. Each ripe fruit was clear, like fat water droplets from summer rains, and bright with a single star inside. Looking up, Dunepaw saw countless stars in countless fruits on countless branches. He began to climb, skittering up higher and higher until he could see nothing but the blur of light in his squinted eyes. A distant wind began to pick up. The tree didn't shift the length of the smallest bug. He listened closer, trying to pinpoint the sound of rustling branches, but only began to hear the whispers that made up the wind. Only then did the tree move. It shifted for a moment, but it was enough.

Even the Skyclan cat, raised on the limbs of their grand territory, could not keep his nimble perch under paw. Dunepaw plummeted, unwelcome on the shining branches. The tree whipped by, stars turning into single streaks of white and the bone-bark of the tree looking like the undulations of a snake's belly as he tore past the curving and twisting trunk. He looked down as the black below approached, waiting for the snap and the quiet that would follow.

He woke with a start, a body above him and words in his ears. The large apprentice wrangled his breathing in, straining to steady his racing heart and fluttering lungs. His orange-flecked head popped up from the nest he was curled in, moss bits clinging stubbornly to his white fur. Wide eyes landed on the chattering Crystalpaw. Dunepaw choked out a sigh, picking himself up from the floor in an attempt to force his body to stop trembling from the rush of adrenaline. It didn't work all too well. On shaky legs, he watched his happy clanmate with an unnerved expression. ”Crystalpaw was this- that needy- needing- necessary? Just give me a movement- moment.” Dunepaw struggled to get his words in order and to mouth around the panic still clogging his throat. He'd made a mistake giving the cat a mouse-length the night prior and now she wanted a territory's span. Not that he'd back down on his own tentative agreement.

The tom took a deep breath and shook his pelt out to escape the moss scraps. The longer he lingered, the more excited she'd get. It was better to hit the game-trail sooner rather than later. ”Let's just get- go, yeah?” He nervously flicked his tail towards the entrance to the apprentice's den, content to let her lead the way. Hopefully they'd travel far enough for him to settle himself before they got into trouble. Dunepaw wasn't overly optimistic about what Crystalpaw would have them jointly get up to, but he was resigned to his fate. It'd make his clanmate happy, so that was at least a plus.

feeling kinda blue