x. [we can't be] FAR OFF &

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit bit her lip at Pecankits comments and shivered. She didnt want anyone to be upset, though she didnt think that Pecankit liked her much anymore. Sighing she looked to Aurora. "Well, i dont wanna upset anyone" she said quietly. Yeah. like thats gonna happen she thought to herslef, seeing as Pecankit was already upset. "I'll do whatever you want to do Aurora, nobody needs my opinion"[ she said, feeling sullen for the first time on this journey. Why couldnt everyone just get along, the journey end and let them go home. Mottledkit missed EclipseClan, missed Littleheart and Yewkit. Why did it have to be her on this horrible journey?

xx why me?

[/blockquote][/sub]

[SHADE. :D]

Karasu shivered outside in the snow, the cold flakes landing on his thin, soft coat and melting into his skin. The young fox lapped nervously at his lips, just making their sting from the cold worse. Nerves were bubbling up inside him, making him feel sick. Sicker even than the time he had swallowed Poisonberries by mistake. Karasu watched the darkness of the cave. He could see several pairs of eyes gleaming from the shadows; two blue, one amber, one yellow. He could not tell if there were any other cats in there, but for the looming black and white shape of Aurora. But he had been sure there were five cats...

Pecankit snorted. "You've never usually seemed to care," she muttered. The lack of clan-mentoring had seemed only to make her stubborn attitude worse, rather than smoothen it out and eventually be rid of it.

[[xoxo] shard. :)]

^{Moonkit didn't care much whether the fox stayed or not, but his bond with Selenekit led him to agree with her. "We should keep a good eye on him," he stated quite obviously, feeling slightly dumb. He shrank back a bit and went to stand by his MoonClan friend, somewhat embarrassed.}

[kee :]]

Selenekit felt stupid. Aurora's answer made her cheeks grow hot and she looked at Karasu for a long second. He didn't seem to be a threat, only a scared baby fox that had a family who didn't want him anymore. Maybe he could help them... But even if Aurora trusted him, he was a fox for StarClan's sake! And she had heard horror stories about foxes... Selenekit's icy gaze looked from Karasu and then to Aurora. She, finally, huffed and sat down. She realized that Moonkit was at her side and it seemed as though he felt that same embarrassment. She pressed her black fur against his for comfort, she keeping an eye on Karasu.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"I quite agree," Aurora said to Moonkit, quite surprised that the tomcat had finally decided to speak. The fae turned to the fox and walked up to him. "Alright, Karasu, you can come with us. We need someone to help us find food and shelter. You think you can help us?" She smiled wanly, sitting down in front of the little cub. She was tired of arguing and would rather get this journey over with, having to deal with these bratty cats who still acted like kits half the damn time. If Karasu would help them find their way, then so be it. She didn't care if he was a fox or not.}

[SHADE. :D]

Karasu licked his lips nervously, his eyes wide and scared. The young fox immediatly flattened himself to the snow again as Aurora appeared, paws pressing into the frosty ground and muzzle low. He whimpered piteously, sure his wretched life were about to end. It seemed nobody wanted him alive. Not even his own mother. She'd tried to kill him. Karasu blinked as Aurora spoke, surprised but willing. He jumped up, his whine's turning joyful. "Yes, yes, I can help you to find berries and stuff," he yelped. "The healing kind and the eating kind and the snowrabbits and the..." He trailed off, still bouncing on his paws.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"Good," Aurora said firmly. "I think we need to have a good meal and somewhere to pause to warm our paws up." The tuxedo fae smiled slightly at the fox. "Lead the way." She stepped aside, letting the fox precede the kits down the long tunnel of ice that they would have to glide through. She sniffed the air, wondering what was going to happen next.}

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit winced slightly at Pecankits harsh comment but decided not to say anything. Why should she? Mottledkit was fed up trying to please everyone, it obviously wasnt going to work, what with everyone either depressed, angry, frightened or oblivious to everything. The tortoiseshell femme nodded at the others decisions, staying sullenly quiet. She decided she would stay with Crystalkit, who seemed like the nicest, safest option, seeing as Moonkit and Selenekit were a pair and Pecankits likeness for her had quite obviously diminished. She flashed the little white she-cat a smile, before looking to Aurora. No matter if this fox was coming or not, she would still always look to Aurora for instructions and whatnot.

[/color][/blockquote]

[SHADE. :D]

Pecankit frowned as she glanced around, spotting Selenekit and Moonkit huddled together, and Mottledkit shooting Crystalkit and friendly look. She felt utterly alone, and though she knew inside that it was her fault, completely wrongfooted. The tabby she-cat sniffed a little, proudly pushing back the tears in her eyes. She would not cry. She had to stay strong, at least on the outside, or risk being trampled upon and left behind. Pecankit swiped a paw over her sapphire eyes in the pretence of licking it, hoping nobody would notice. To be perfectly honest, she didn't care what anybody thought of her anymore. She didn't need to be social. She had lost those skills after leaving the comfortable warmth of BrightClan. Nobody wanted her anymore. She was just the stubborn spare part that refused to run with the rest, or move aside. The she-cat took a deep breath, lifting her head, and blinked. She didn't even want to be part of this group, of any group, anymore. BrightClan didn't seem nearly as inviting as it had four moons ago. How was she supposed to fit in there when she couldn't even fit in here?

Karasu nodded, looking over his shoulder. "Well, the snowrabbits come along here quite often," he said, words rushed and tumbling over one another. "But they have sharp eyes. It's best if you can camoflauge with the snow or pretend to be a rock or something." The excitable young fox flattened himself to the snow, demonstrating. "Then they just hop past and you jump and rawr, pow, they're dead, and you have meat."

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit listened to Karasu speak, still watching him warily with bright amber eyes. She didnt trust him, not one bit, but she would stilll listen to him if it meant her and the others would get something from it. "Well, Crystalkit and Moonkit are the most white ones" she said, stating the obvious. And Pecankit could probobly disguise herself as a sme-convincing rock but her and Selenekit stuck out rather a lot. They wouldnt be very good at blending in. She looked to Aurora, her eyes saying what should we do?

[/color][/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"I think I'm half-good, half-bad on that side," Aurora chuckled, holding up her white and black paw. The she-cat caught Mottledkit's questioning look. "Don't worry, you two. There are plenty of dark holes for you to pop out and surprise your prey." She smiled encouragingly towards Mottledkit and Selenekit. The mixed female turned back to Karasu and mimicked him, nodding when she understood. "Alright, that doesn't seem too hard, right?"}

[SHADE. :D]

Karasu fixed his watery eyes on the five younger cats, narrowing them slightly. He nodded at Crystalkit. "She'd be best, yes, if she doesn't mind," he said quickly, ears pricked and eyes shining. The fox caught Mottledkit's wary expression and hung his head. He was crestfallen that the tortoiseshell did not trust him. What reason did he have to trust them? They were cats, one of the sneakiest of animals. But he was going to trust them, because Miss Aurora seemed nice. Karasu turned his gleaming gaze back onto Aurora, tongue lolling a little, awaiting orders.

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

__Mind if she misses?

Crystalkit smiled and nodded, almost chuckling at the young fox. In fact, she partially imagined that if Karusu was to hunt for himself he'd probably trip over his own paws, if not worse. She was eager to prove that she could do this. She was not worthless... right? The small apprentice-sized cat - who was the age of a warrior, and yet still had the name of a mere kitten - nodded to Karusu, smiling meekly at him. "Where do I go...?" she asked timidly, looking back and forth across the icy landscape. "Where's a good place?"

[/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>ooc:// she'll only be more emo ;__;

**Karasu</sub>

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

__Exactly. :] We need her to feel useless enough to die for them, remember? xD

[SHADE. :D]

Karasu bounced forward in the snow, somehow managing not to make all that much noise on the grass. The small fox prodded the ground with his paws, eventually discovering a cat-sized dip. "Here'd be good, Miss," he mewed, nodding over-enthusiastically. The fox stepped back, tail wagging, ears high, tongue lolling, eyes bright. Karasu glanced over at Aurora, grinning toothily. He wanted to show her that he could be trusted; rather that than meet his end by her claws... Besides, she seemed fairly nice...

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Crystalkit blushed at being called 'miss', not completely sure what it meant but somehow knowing that it was a thing of respect - he called Aurora 'miss', right? So it must be a good thing, to be called 'miss'. Nodding again, the small cat bent down into the snow, her pelt harmonizing with the snow. She closed her eyes, deciding that her ears would be better for this particular task. The snow swirled around her and her paws were freezing cold, but she knew it was for a good cause...

There! She heard the thumping of feet and a quick-paced heartbeat pass by her. Jumping up, Crystalkit pounced towards the creature, but somehow... she missed? Gasping as she fell into neck-high snow, Crystalkit nearly swam back to Aurora and the others. "I'm sorry.... I didn't mean to... I mean, I..." the kitten sighed, trailing off and looking away.

Yes, still useless.

[/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"Ah, don't worry about it, Crystalkit," Aurora said softly. "I'm sure you'll get one another time." Her smile was gentle and soothing. She turned to the cats and got onto her belly. "Alright, for hunting, you'll still need to hunt and stalk your prey. Remember the techniques from before and you'll be fine." She turned to Karasu. "Do you mind if I try? It's been a while since I've hunted a snow hare." Her soothing smile was directed towards the little pup this time.}

[SHADE. :D]

Karasu watched Crystalkit, wide-eyed, tongue lolling. The fox felt excitement build up in his chest as the white cat pounced. It was dampened as she missed. He licked a paw to hide the look, then looked up at Crystalkit again. "Tripped over ya paws, don't worry, I do it a lot." Karasu flashed her a smile, before nodding frantically to Aurora. "Yes, yes, of course Miss, you try, you try! You didn't need to ask me, no, no, you go ahead." Karasu flattened himself to the snow, lidding his eyes so that he appeared to be no more than a rock jutting out of the thick carpet of white powder.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>Aurora smiled at the pup's enthusiasm, but turned her head to focus on the task ahead. She lowered herself to her belly, claws unsheathing as she crept forward. The snow hare Crystalkit had missed was only a few lengths ahead. The flakes falling masked her footprints as she exited the ice tunnel. The fae's white blended in with the snow. It was the black of her that gave her away somewhat.

The hare flicked its ears cautiously as Aurora snuck up behind it. It turned at the exact time she leapt up, claws raised. The creature shot off in the opposite direction. The femme cursed and chased after it, but it was soon apparently that the older she-cat wasn't as young as she used to be as it outran her.

The female looked into the distance as the hare sprinted away. Aurora sighed softly, flicking her black tail. "Oh well...," she said softly, shaking her snow-covered pelt and returning to Karasu. "No luck." She shrugged and sat down on the cold ground.</sub>

[Spice..xx]

Mottledkit padded over to Cystalkit, touching her nose to her friends. "Don't worry about the hare, they're big and fast, plus its hard to hunt in such deep snow" she said quietly, not wanting the little white she-cats spirits to be dampened just because of a dumb hare. She looked apprehensivley at the others, before looking to Aurora and Karasu. "Should i even try? I mean, a snow hare would see me from a mile away". Mottledkit loved her tortoiseshell pelt, it was very beautiful but not very handy in the snow. "I mean, i'll try if you want, but i dont think i will be very good" her quiet voice said again, amber eyes looking intently at her 'mentor' and the snow fox.

[/color][/blockquote]

[kee :]]

It seemed as though she was too dark furred to hunt in the snow, so Selenekit, with her head hung low, stepped back from the rest of the group. She felt oddly hurt, even though she knew she shouldn't. Besides, she really didn't want to make a fool of herself scaring the rabbit away before she even moved a centimeter. Sympathy hit her when she saw Crystalkit miss her catch and something more along the lines of... Disappointment when she saw Aurora miss her catch. If Aurora couldn't do it, then no one could. Sighing, she shifted her numb body and breathed deeply, letting it out as an inaudible sigh. The more she watched, the more she urged herself to try but when Mottledkit asked first, she slumped back into a drift of snow and watched with uninterested eyes.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

_{"They are really fast," Aurora said. "But I'm sure you'll be faster. Go for it, Mottledkit." The female waved her tail encouragingly. She would have caught the hare if she had been a bit younger. The fae wasn't exactly in prime condition. She touched her nose to Mottledkit's. "Maybe if you roll in snow, you'll fool the hare into thinking you're a bush or something covered in snow," she suggested, shrugging.}

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

Crystalkit sighed, but perked up slightly as Aurora missed too. But Aurora was black and white! The hare must have seen her coming, whereas Crystalkit was almost pure white and still couldn't seem to get one. Scuffling her paws in the freezing cold snow, she nodded encouragingly to Mottledkit, sure that even she with a black and orange pelt could do better than Crystalkit had. The white femme ducked her head and closed her eyes sadly, wind howling in her ears.

[SHADE. :D]

Pecankit listened moodily to the overexcited yipping of the infuriating fox, and the murmur of her companion's voices. The tabby she-cat stabbed at the dirt with unsheathed claws, fluffing out her ochre tabby fur in an attempt to make herself feel better. It didn't work. The young she-cat looked up at the dank den roof, her sapphire eyes seeking out StarClan. She felt nothing, smelt nothing but the earthy scent of mud and stone. Pecankit sadly drew her pink tongue over a snowy forepaw, her tail drooping miserably in the dust. Somehow, she sensed danger in the back of her mind, but did not act on it. It wasn't like anyone would listen, anyway. She suddenly felt weariness come over her, the tendrils of sleep begin to tug at her fur. She tried to refuse their soft caress, reminded on her spell lost in the blizzard, but the warm pull was too much.

It was as though she was watching from a great height, as though she were atop a cloud. She was staring down over a clearing she recognized as Jay's Hollow. She had only been there once - when she had met up with Aurora and the others for the first time. But she knew from nursery tale's that this was were Gathering's and great battles took place. In fact, one was raging as she stared. She could not scent BrightClan, just a mish-mash of other clan scents. The clearing appeared to be filled with mist, and the clan cats were shrieking. She couldn't see any more, though she narrowed her eyes in an attempt. The image began to fade, though the dying screams of cats remained. The wind picked up, whipping at her body and pounding her face. The Tribe... The Tribe of Nightmares.

Pecankit awoke with a start. Her fur was windswept, her body sore. She felt as though she really had been caught in a wind storm, when in actual fact she had simply been writhing in her fitful sleep, bruising herself on the harsh stone. The tabby sat up, digesting the dream, blue eyes wide. What did it mean?

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>"Are you alright?" Aurora's voice seemed to float around. Genuine concern trickled across her expression as she came to Pecankit and wrapped herself around the growing warrioress. Her warmth instantly seeped into Pecankit's frame. Everyone was thinner. There was no kitten fat anymore from the young ones or the built-up fat on Aurora's being from good hunting most of the time. This journey was taking a toll.

Aurora's scarred ochre eyes half-closed as her head rested next to Pecankit's. "Look, Pecankit, please don't be so dissentful. We need everyone to complete this mission, even you who thinks that you're not part of this family. We all love you in our own little ways, even if we don't show it." Aurora tried to smile but the cold was brushing against her muzzle.</sub>

[SHADE. :D]

Pecankit shivered alone in the dark cave for a moment, fear burning her ears. Then Aurora arrived, her soft fur brushing Pecankit's quivering body. At first the slender young tabby tried to pull away, sapphire eyes still bright with fear, but after a moment she collapsed against the older cat's chest. Pecankit tried to hold back the tears, her paws shivering and shaking. The she-cat swallowed, not looking at Aurora but feeling comforted by her presence. "I know," she mewed, voice muffled. "I'm sorry, Aurora." Pecankit sniffed, before speaking again, explaining her sudden fear. "I had a dream," she mewed shakily. "They're fighting them, Aurora. They're actually fighting them." Pecankit wanted to yowl to the heavens for the clan's foolish bravery.

"They're all going to die!"

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>Aurora curled herself tighter around Pecankit. "Then we must make haste, Pecankit. We have a while to go but we're half-way there. I know we can make it," she said softly. The black and white she-cat pressed her nose against that of the BrightClanner. "Our ancestors will guide us along the right path." She smiled and purred, trying to cheer up the young warrioress. "Your dreams will be happy some day, Pecankit. I know it."

Pecankit...I want to know more about you...</sub>[/i][/sub]

[kee :]]

"But will your dreams ever be happy, Aurora?"

A soft quivering voice came from several fox-lengths away and was barely audible over the harsh winds but a large fluffy dark gray she-cat sat in the cold snow, her bright eyes sad. Selenekit had grown a lot since they had first started her journey. Her muscles were developed, and she was well over her warrior ceremony time. Her foster-mother Pearlblade could even be an elder now, for all that. But at least she had someone to come home to, like most of the young cats in the group. "We're all going somewhere, after this is over," Selenekit swallowed, hoping there would be a life for her after this mission, "But where will you go?" The frost covered blob of dark fur came forward, toward Pecankit and Aurora, ignoring the fact that they could be having a private conversation. Selenekit was tired of Aurora having a favorite, that being Pecankit. She may not have dreams like Pecankit but Aurora was the only thing that Selenekit had for a mentor and mostly the only thing she had for a mother and all she got from Aurora was a correction or a command.

So why did she care where Aurora was going? Selenekit tore her sad gaze away from her so called mentor and sunk into the snow, cold and alone.

[(aurora) of the problematique]

<sub>Aurora froze at Selenekit's question. She slowly lifted her head and came to her all four paws. "I have my children to return to, my Ash, my Hollow, and my Jet, if he would like to see me. He's of BrightClan. I don't know the name they gave him," she said quietly. Her tail flicked once before settling over the she-cat's black and white paws. She stretched, hiding her saddened expression. She decided to direct herself towards them.

"Who do you have a home to return to?" she asked Selenekit and the others. "You have brothers and sisters right, mothers, fathers, guardians, best friends?" She smiled, or at least tried to.</sub>