Running from XherX

[squee.]

The swift beat of paws sounded through the forest and away from Shadowclan’s territory and even those barely disturbed the sheer silence of the forest. Amber eyes locked on the barn ahead of him, his escape. A few moons ago, Mothpelt was struck down by a monster in order to save a friend’s life. Only to be sent back with half of his soul replaced with Tigerstar’s. He’d taken on the identity of Tiger the harmless loner and made his home with Gracie the rogue. And though neither would admit it, the two grew close over the moons. But all of that changed today.

While Tigerstar disappeared for a mere moment, Mothpelt had told her what he had meant to tell her since he became a warrior. Today, he had told Cheetahpelt he loved her only to race off again fearing what wrath Tigerstar would send upon her if he had stayed. Now he was back at the barn and ready to pretend to be Tiger the loner again….not the lost warrior who didn’t even know if she loved him back.

As the sun’s light turned to the shadows of the barn, he forgot all of today’s occurrences and focused on an excuse to why he brought home no prey…..after all that’s why he left today and he did tell Gracie she didn’t need to hunt if she didn’t want to. He’d just have to tell her that he fell into thought and will return hunting after a quick rest.

On that note, he lifted his head again to look for the she-cat.

[Roxie !]

She was formerly of Wit's band, but had left when Milo had taken over. Frankly annoyed by the younger cat, she had slunk away. Heck, she had been there at the birthing of the tom. But now she was just...Gracie the rogue.

These memories flashed before her icy blue eyes as, sleepily, she lay beside a half-eaten mouse and an untouched chaffinch. She lay on her black-striped side, optics staring into nothing in an unfocused way. At the sound of pawsteps, the feel of the slight vibrations through the ground that only a cat could pick up, she stirred.

Fur ruffled, Gracie licked her ivory chest quickly to smooth the poofed fur, and then looked up curiously. Tiger was approaching now, and she watched idley as he did so. The two had been friends for some while now, and had grown extremely close...even from the time when she had thought him a mouse-brained, amnesia-sticken kitty-pet wandering the fields.

"Hey," She meowed, ears flicking in a natural gesture.

[squee.]

As causal as the greeting from the rogue, he nodded a short greeting. No words escaped the tom’s mouth, which was unusual for him. As he neared the she-cat, he suddenly felt………….guilty for the lie and what he had said to Cheetahpelt. He let his gaze fall to the soft hay that he stood upon, almost refusing to look at the rogue. But wait, why was he feeling guilty? They we’re nothing but friends….they didn’t care that much for each other did they?

This time, he raised his gaze meet hers as she stood to greet him with another nod or just stare at him one of the two. “Hey Gracie” He meowed, trying to force his usual chipperish tone. Though it ended up blank and slightly emotionless, but mostly distracted. Shaking his head as he found a soft spot to sit down for a minute, he forced the thought of HER out of his head.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get any prey while I was out. I thought I found something familiar and decided to chase the memory. Turns out it was just another loner.”

He meowed, his voice still half-way distracted but slowly returning to normal again. With another pause, he lay down in the hay and rested his head on his paws. “Either way, it looks like you were successful in hunting and I’m not hungry so….in a way it all worked out.”