The sun shines on another day

[Wazo]

The sun streamed in through the den, casting a dim glow on the inhabitant within. An elder druid was stretched upon the ground, sound asleep, his closed eyes twitching slightly as the sun's glow bounced around in his den. Blinking his amber eyes open, Solareclipse yawned, and proceeded to ready himself for the morning day. His limbs cracked softly as he stretched, almost in protest, at the thought of being subject to another day of fast-paced life. Solareclipse was well aware of his age. It reminded him with every crooked step he took with his lumbering gait and every deep breath that filled his lungs after a short run. Everyone has to grow old...Solareclipse just never thought it would be him one day. At heart, he desired nothing more then to romp in the forest with the listeners or hunt for hours. Still, his age allowed him to serve his tribe as a Praiser and after what he put the old Praisers through as a listener, he owed that. He chuckled slightly. Even he didn't expect himself to be in this position one day, but he had changed his life around.

After one last stretch, he exited his den, pausing to lap up water in a puddle. He straightened up and looked at himself; dark black fur mottled with gold and flecked with silver. He was old. But it was something he had to deal with. His tribe needed him to be of service and not fretting about the loss of his youth. Basking in the sun's glow, he was ready for a new day.

[Wazo]

ooc: i thought we could perhaps use this for windrunner and snowstorm's news

[Stormeh]

An ancient cat padded from his own den. His long white fur flowed and rippled as he shook his pelt to get pieces of moss and dirt out. He yawned as his icy gaze scoured the Druids' clearing. The sun granted his pelt no shining gleam; in fact, the gray stripes that marred it seemed to dull his coat. The scars that were on his body accented the broad cat's body.

The tom glanced around the clearing once more before sighting Solareclipse. He padded over to him slowly, taking as much time as he wanted, before he stood next to the tom. "'Morning, Solareclipse," the white tom meowed in his gruff voice. "Anything new happening on this...fine...day?"

Icemask wasn't one for conversation, really, outside of speaking to the praisers, and he doubted that he would even speak to them if he wasn't one himself.

Yet another cat was stretching in his den this morning. The leopard-like tom let out a huge yawn. When his jaws closed, a smile had replaced his gaping mouth. He padded outside of his den, a long hollow log, and looked around the clearing. Such a nice day, young Leopardfire thought. Perhaps some cat will want to go on a hunt with me later...

Very few cats had the same outlook on life that Leopardfire had, which was perhaps because of his young age. But he was enjoying every bit of life as it came, so who was he to complain?

[Wazo]

Solareclipse had never been bothered by Icemask's gruff personality. In fact he very much respected him and thought he was an excellent Praiser. Both had lost a loved mate and worked through their hardship to become well respected in the tribe. He turned his amber eyes towards Icemask, "Good morning to you too Icemask. Nothing new that I have heard of. Besides I don't think my old bones could handle a surprise," he commented with a rueful grin. "My body simply isn't listening to my protests that I'm not old just yet," he added with a chuckle, closing his eyes to bask in the sunlight of the day.

The sunlight seemed to be an irrestible force that was drawing the druids out of their dens one by one. However, a delicate female had already been up before the sun began to streak the sky. Seabreeze padded back to camp after her routine morning visit by the water, the sun gleaming on her dappled silvery grey pelt. Her dark blue eyes glanced around camp and noting the morning awakers, happy to see that she wasn't alone in an early morning venture. She nodded respectfully to the Praisers as she past, her tail swishing behind her. She was proud of her new Ranger status and she held her head high and her eyes were bright with the prospect of a new day. She picked a sunny spot in the clearing and sat down, curling her tail around her paws.

[Stormeh]

Icemask nodded in agreement as he settled himself down beside his fellow praiser. His muscles and bones screamed in protest as he moved, and finally stopped as he was laying down. He sighed with relief. "You? Not old?" The white tom let out a hoarse mrrow of laughter. "Solareclipse, you're as old as I am, at least, and I've allowed myself to finally realize...I'm old!" He looked at the tom next to him with something like a fondness. "There aren't many cats alive these days that are older than you and me." He looked around the clearing. "But that's okay, I suppose." His eyes grew dark. "I guess we would have outlived the things that mattered most in life, anyway." He sighed.

Leopardfire glanced over at Seabreeze and smiled a tiny smile. He would be moving into her den soon, which was...odd, but welcome. His den that was just an old log was a bit drab; what else was he to expect? Icemask had picked it out for him since he was his only family left. And he hadn't been to the water that much; perhaps she could show him some things about it that most Druids wouldn't notice with just a casual grazing over it with the eyes.
He trotted over to the she-cat and realized how pretty she was with the sun on her pelt. "H-hello," he meowed courteously with a little dip of his head. He was trying to be his cheerful self, but he couldn't help feeling nervous, even though he didn't know about what. "How are you today?"

[Raven-chan]

She had been running, hard, as fast as she could, desperate to get to the Praisers as soon as possible. She had no idea where Windrunner was, probably leagues ahead of her, but it didn't matter. Her yellow-blue eyes were squinted in determination, and her tail was streaming behind her in total submersion to the effort of the wind.

Finally, the camp. There it was! Snowstorm put on another burst of speed, her youthful yet short legs nearly flying over the ground, though not nearly as quickly as Windrunner could go. Finally, she skidded into camp, mud staining her white paws.

"Icemask! Solareclipse!" They were the first praisers that she saw, and she rushed towards them, panting for breath, before realizing how rude she had been. But she didn't care, she needed to talk to them, now! Sides heaving for air, she stopped in front of them, her eyes wide with panic and the need to tell her news, yet the inability to breathe hindering that ability.

[Wazo]

Solareclipse chuckled. "Yes, we have seen a long life. Luckily our tribe allows us the comfort of taking it easy in our old age. Much as I would like to run around with the young ones, those days are long past. Even I have to admit that to myself now," he added, his amber eyes still bright even in his old age. "I am happy to spend the last of my days as a guide to the tribe and in the comforting prescense of old friends," he said with a smile at Icemask.

His ears perked, although his hearing wasn't as good, at the appearance of Snowstorm. Not even an old Praiser couldn't sense her approach as she raced into camp in a panic. When she stopped in front of him, he ignores the lack of respect expected to a Praiser, judging from what a rush she seemed to be in. He never quite cared for those formalitities anyway. He allowed her to catch her breath before saying, "What is the matter Snowstorm?"

Seabreeze looked at Leopardfire with a smile. She didn't seem timid or embarrassed at all. While nervous inside, she didn't let it show at the idea of Leopard being her mate. "I'm fine," she told him, glancing over the idea with glowing blue eyes. She flicked her tail to the spot next to her. "You can sit down you know, I don't bite," she added with a soft laugh. "How are you?" she asked, realizing she didn't know much about him at all. He seemed like he would be a good mate, after all, his father was a Praiser, Leopard seemed intelligent and kind, and no doubt, he was a handsome tom.

[Stormeh]

Icemask only got a nod in before Snowstorm had arrived in front of them. He could smell something on her...perhaps a fear scent...and he nodded at her when Solareclipse asked her to speak. Very interesting that this ranger would come panting up like this... Something was definitely wrong.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Leopardfire let out a tiny laugh and felt his ears grow hot with embarrassment. What are you doing?! he thought as he sat down next to the she-cat. You've no reason to be nervous! He tried to smile through the mix of feelings that he felt coursing through his pelt. "I'm glad you're well," he meowed. "And I'm quite fine myself, thank you." He turned his gaze away from her for a moment, then turned it back. "So...can I ask you something? I was...just wondering...what do you like so much about the water?"

[D a R K - R a H]

Windrunner came panting up beside his new mate, skidding to a swift hault in front of the Praisers. He paused to catch his breath before launching into an explanation.

"Cats! There are cats on the foothills!" He paused, eyes wide with fear and excitement. "They're near the horizon opposite the lake," he explained, as Taragoff was completely surrounded by foothills. "There's alot of them, more than twenty I'd say."

"Cats, did you say?" another voice chimed in. A mottled tabby she-cat limped stiffly over to the group, her eyes flickering from Snowstorm to Windrunner and back. "We've been the only cats in the Park for many, many seasons, unless you count the occasional lost kittypet from Twolegplace..."

It was frightening to think that there was another large number of cats in the Park. What did they want? What if they came to take the Druid's territory? Bearheart shoved any worries out of the way and turned to see how the other Praisers would react.

[Stormeh]

Icemask felt anger building in his chest. This was their park, not some other large group of cats' that was probably blundering around their territory like the lost kittypets that Bearheart had mentioned! The white tom snorted. He faced Windrunner and Snowstorm, his fur prickling, though not at the two rangers. "Did they see you?" he growled at them both, icy eyes trained on their pelts. "And what more did they look like? What were they doing?" What if these cats meant harm to them? Certainly the Druids would be able to fight off a dozen cats, give or take a few, but at least twenty?

[Patmos]

Thorn wrinkled her nose at the sunlight. She preferred rain. The rain that almost symbolized tears of other cats. The rain that made others annoyed by wet pelts. Seeing the other cats be unhappy made her happy. The feeling of cold drops of water pelting down from the dark grey sky, sinking into her fur sent chills of pleasure down her spine. A small grin flicked onto her face. It disappeared when he heard some cat yowling about other cats.

A large group of other cats? The idea seemed, appealing to the young listener. She flexed her claws, sinking them into the dirt. Today she felt like a fight. It was not often anyone got to fight but the possibility excited her.

[Raven-chan]

"We didn't see them, and of course they didn't see us!" She meowed, having finally caught her breath, and dipped her head respectfully to each of the Praisers. She instantly felt embarrassed, seeing these three Praisers so dignified and strong in front of her, versus her young age and inexperience.

"What I mean to say is, that we scented something like a Druid, only something different. Then we-" she hesitated for less than a fraction of a second, looking up at Windrunner, and continuing on, "realized that they were other cats, not Druids, and we came back here to tell you." She wrapped her tail around her paws, giving her, (if possible) an even more petite look.

[Wazo]

Solareclipse's amber eyes widened in surprise at the news. Cats?! For a moment he was uncertain, grasping at straws for what he should do or say next. This was his home and not knowing about these cats or where they came from was agony. He turned to the other praisers. "The first thing we need to do is find out more about these cats," he mewed. "Otherwise we are completely blind. Either we need to spy or make direct contact with their leaders and us. We need to know why they are here," he commented, looking back at Windrunner and Snowstorm. What a day it must be for them, but thank goodness they had seen the cats before they had seen them.

She was a little taken aback by his question as it appeared to have come out of the blue. No one had ever asked her about her habits of walking down to the water every morning before the sun even dared to rise. Most likely they just assumed she was a little odd and didn’t bother with it any further. She wondered how she could explain it to him, but since Leopardfire was going to be her life-long mate, she figured she better try. “Well…” she started slowly, attempting to gather her thoughts. “I suppose I like everything about it, but most of all, I like how it’s always changing. I can go one morning and the water is smooth and clear like glass and the next morning the water foams and churns, unstoppable by any force. I like how sometimes the air is crisp and silent and the next day it hums and sings with the voices of the wild. I feel like I belong there…” she said, trailing off after she realized she had been ranting just a tad. “It’s hard to explain in words I suppose. You will have to join me sometime,” she said, looking at him with a soft smile. She wondered how it would be like sharing her place with a near stranger, but the idea of somebody showing interest and having company on her morning ventures pleased her greatly. It would be nice not to be alone.

[Stormeh]

Icemask growled. "Yes," he mewed. "We'll need to make some sort of contact. I do wonder what such a large group of cats would want..." He looked off for a moment, then snapped his eyes back to the situation at hand. "Well, shall we go, take these two--" He flicked his tail at Snowstorm and Windrunner-- "and perhaps Leopardfire and Seabreeze? There's no telling about what they could want, so shall we go with a larger group or smaller?"

Leopardfire nodded every once in a while, listening intently. He smiled when Seabreeze finished. "That sounds very wonderful," he meowed. "I haven't been to the water much. But the way you described it...you made it sound so majestic, so gorgeous." His smile widened a bit. "I'd love to accompany you any day that you'd like for me to."

[Wazo]

Solareclipse nodded at Icemask. "I suggest taking Snowstorm, Windrunner, Leopardfire, Seabreeze, and us. Naturally, all of the Praisers should make contact with them, and it wouldn't hurt to have some Rangers with us. Not enough to pose a threat, but enough to get out of a sticky situation. I know I couldn't do much against a multitude of strong and able cats," he said, pausing for a moment to recollect his thoughts. "I think it would be better to make direct contact. After all, if they catch us, which might be easy with so many of them, we are off to the wrong foot already. It would be easier to set our terms face to face as well to establish good relations rather then slinking about. We want to portray strength and confidence, not a ragtag group," he added, glancing to both Icemask and Bearheart, waiting to hear their proposals and opinions.

Seabreeze purred at his reaction, her blue eyes glowing. "I hope you can wake up early," she added with a trace of a grin. "It's much harder to convince yourself to get up at the crack of dawn, but it is the best time," she told him. She suddenly felt herself a little nervous around Leopardfire, her silvery pelt tingling with new feelings previously unknown.

To distract herself, she glanced over at the others in the clearing, her head tilting in curiousity at the commotion. "Hey look, I wonder what's going on," she commented, pointing her tail towards the gathering group.