On My Own and Hating It [open]

With light, airy footsteps grey tabby stripes flitted through the pines, their owner’s olive orbs scanning the shadowy crevices, the dark corners, of ShadowClan territory. An ominous threat had been announced by Rosestar recently, one describing a group of feral rogues. Savages. Suggestions that they may not be killing simply for the sake of killing. Asterstripe probably shouldn’t have been hunting alone all morning, basking in the cool solitude of her loneliness, but the thought of bringing another clan mate along made her cringe. She worked better alone, demonstrated by the haul she had spent the last while retrieving from the places she buried them. With newleaf in full swing, hunting felt easy. Prey was plentiful, with this being the season of reproduction, and even they seemed to become less cautious, what with the nice weather and blessed relief from the frigid grasp of leafbare. She nearly felt bad taking advantage of their glee. But alas, her clan had to eat so she sent an extra prayer to StarClan for each kill.

Reaching camp without an encounter from some bloodthirsty rogue, Asterstripe relaxed her posture, eyes softening, and deposited her prey on the pile. Turning, she noticed a small, tortoiseshell apprentice lounging in the clearing. The warrior recognized her immediately as Blossompaw. Images of her as a young kit, chasing her tail or getting into trouble or bothering the older cats came to mind. A sweet girl, if a little high-maintenance. The cat seemed to be radiating discontentedness - a tangible unhappiness that the observant Asterstripe felt instantaneously. She wondered what could be bothering the apprentice, restrained empathy blooming in her heart. It seemed Blossompaw was attempting sleep, settling into a nook. She considered turning away, allowing her some privacy to enjoy the silence of dreaming.

However, sensing she had come too close to the younger she-cat to turn back - that would have seemed rude - Aster approached slowly, with her usual quiet grace, and dipped her striped head in greeting.

“Are you alright?” she murmured gently, “you look rather…exasperated.”