Post by Laughing on Nov 7, 2008 17:22:39 GMT -5
Mistscream
[ we walk together through the mist, screaming when we lose our way ]
[ we walk together through the mist, screaming when we lose our way ]
"Honey, look at these kits. Aren't they beautiful?" the murmur belonged to his past mate, the one that had gone under. At her side suckled three kittens, born of only a couple of days. He had gazed on them before and revealed at their resemblance to both of them. A bengal among them, and two cream-point ones as well. They were beautiful, they were. They grew up to be beautiful too. And you could see the sadness that stretched in the eyes of the tom as he looked down on the mother. He felt the warmth she was exuding around her kits, the simple joy of having them there at her side sliding over him and causing him to blink his eyes, tired. He brought his face beside her's-- beside Ospreyfalls'-- and nuzzled her cheek affectionately. She looked up at him in surprise, but there was knowing behind those eyes. She reached up and touched her nose to below his chin. He smiled, though he felt tired in doing so. He opened his maw and let loose the words as he always did in these dreams of her, "Go back to the stars, Ospreyfalls. I will join you. Let me take care of my son." She looked at him, regret forming the look in her eyes. He laughed at her expression and touched his lost mate's shoulder in love. "Go now, and do not disturb Birchpaw either, he needs his energy." The she-cat would disappear, a playful frown on her face, and her lips would move as she whispered, "until next time." leaving him to watch as she left him all over again.
Then he woke up.
The movement of the sun through the other side of the earth had ended, bringing a dull dawn shine to the area that had been cloaked in darkness for the last twelve hours. It had seeped through the covering reeds of the warriors den, sinking its pink and purple rays into Mistscream's pelt and through his eyelids, attracting his brain back into attention and waking him from a dream that left him more tired then he had been when he had fallen asleep. And that would be saying alot, considering that he had been roughing it out in the cooling weathers of leaf-fall in a late-night patrol. Even though he had fallen asleep when the moon was about to reach its high position at moon-high, the dream pulled him into wakefullness at the beginning of dawn. Not that he minded, it meant that he could change positions with someone on the dawn patrol. He didn't even remember who he sent out in this ungodly hour, but he was glad to relieve someone from the duty. He was awake, he would take that responsibility away.
The deputy rose from the discomforts of the warrior den and stretched in the limited space that he had, aged muscles screaming to life with a burning tension. He felt a wince crease his brow at the dull pain, finding that by stretching the limb anymore that he would simply be in more pain. He limped slowly out of the warriors den, shading his eyes from the soft glare of the dawn with a tail coming up over his eyes. His pupils grew small at the light and then larger under the shadows that his tail provided. He turned from he glare and back towards the warriors den, wondering who exactly that he had asked to do the dawn patrol this morning. He would be leading now and could ease off the other warrior's duties, but the memory of who he had picked simply would not surface.
Nudging his way gently back into the den, he pressed his worse paw gently down on the ground and looked around through the den, sniffing the air as he identified the pelts of his clanmates. Really, he had no clue... Then, he felt a nudge to his skull, a one that forced his head to swing right for just a moment and he saw the form of the feline, Reednose, lounging in one of the farthest corners. The thought flicked through his head, a quicky memory of him telling Reednose that he'd be running the dawn patrol the next morning. Looking up at the sky which had the dim remains of stars glittering within the expanse that was glowing with dawn, he grinned for a moment before turning back inwards. He struggled past his clanmates to get to the younger tom, whispered in his ear that there was no need to get up for dawn patrol and then looked for the rest of the cats who he had dictated to join this certain tom on the patrol.
He remembered now, eyes focusing on the forms of Wave-land and Echofire. He struggled over to these two, raising his leg as he did so to ease up on the pain. He struggled down beside the bengal she-cat, Echofire and nudged her form with a paw, hoping to raise her from the sleep that was in her. He hoped dearly that she would rise. Then he hobbled over to Waveland and nudged him as well, praying that the two warriors would get up. They needed to patrol the borders before he was punished for not going out already. Curse his slow memory, it always did ail him when he needed it too. But that was because he was old, he really didn't know what Lionstar was thinking when electing him into such an important decision. But, if that was the will of the leader, then he had to accept. He just hoped that he could retire before Lionstar lost all of his lives, Mistscream was in no position now and surely not then, to take that role.
The grey-masked warrior had gotten out of the warriors den without a scratch (thankfully) and now was moving down towards the side of the camp that contained the apprentices. He was looking for his apprentice, Falconpaw, actually. He had told the young ex-Shadowclanner that he would be joining the dawn patrol, even though Mistscream had not decided to join it earlier. He had said that it would be a good building experience, in the hopes that the tom would meet new felines. However, he had a feeling that Falconpaw would be stuck to his side now that he was joining in and he frowned slightly. Or maybe not, he was never too sure about the young boy.
Mistscream ducked his head into the apprentice den and saw his apprentice immediately. He was about to walk over and nudge him awake like he had done to the others, but felt that leg blazing again and simply called out over the snoozing snores of the younger cats around him. "Falconpaw, dawn patrol!" he croaked out before sending a glance to Birchpaw, his son. The bengal was curled up, surrounded by his clanmates. The cream-colored time smiled lightly and then scooted out of the apprentice den, hoping to find his patrol gathered. He did not.
Blinking in the light of dawn one more time, Mistscream sat by the exit tunnel to Riverclan camp and waited for his companions to join him for the dawn patrol.
