Username: ivyy.
Cat Name: Shift
Gender: She-cat
Rank: Training Guard
Clan: ☽ Ashen Trail ☾Age: 19 moons
Prompt: "All I can say is that I was enchanted to meet you."
Gazing across the creek, her fluffy, cinnamon colored tail wrapped around her paws, shivering from a mix of the snow under her paws and the excited, fearful feeling she felt. Her eyes drifted across puffy, white snow. A small smile spread across her face as her friend appeared through the dead shubbery, "Hey, Shift!" The short-furred tom's pelt glowed in the mid-day light of the sun's light, turning his dark red stripes into flames against the white background of snow. Shift stood and her hackles spiked, happiness rushing through her veins, chilling her in a warm manner. "Alcove!" Across the creek, Alcove leaped, sliding on the snow on the other side of the quietly rushing creek.
They brushed cheeks, a tingly, electric feeling being shared between the two of them. "What are you doing in clan territory?" He asked, purring. "Oh, Alcove, it's been so long and I wanted to check and see if-" Alcove finished her sentence, "If I wasn't crow food within the clan?" Alcove chuckled and brushed against her light brown fur once more before taking a step back. Shift nodded, "Well, to put it plainly, yes." He looked a little conflicted now that she had gotten a good look at him. Alcove's eyes were dim and plain, his pelt seemed quite ungroomed, and his ribs were showing clearly through his fur. Before she could ask him, he spoke first, "And I'm not Alcove anymore, they deemed me worthy for a warrior name! I'm called Twigfur." He grinned, clearly proud of the way he seemed to be fitting into the clan.
Despite the way he spoke, confident as always, she knew there was something wrong. "Alc- I mean, Twigfur, are you-" Alcove cut her off before she could finish once more, "I miss you." He blurted awkwardly. Shift held his burning gaze for a moment, forgetting the dimness in his eyes and reaching forward to press her paw comfortingly over his. "I-I know. But my home is here." She reached her paw and gestured around her side of the creek, a twinge of regret sparking in her eyes as she did so. Twigfur nodded slowly in his acknowledgement, although his eyes were dotted with desperation. "Yeah, I know. Look, I better be getting back. I was assigned to the next patrol..." He trailed off awkwardly and without waiting for a response from his friend, began to cross the creek.
---
"Twigfur?" Shift called into OceanClan's side of the forest, wondering where her partner has been. The snow that laid thickly underfoot during their last meeting was completely gone now, replaced with budding wild flowers and dew covered grass. She no longer shivered from the cold, as she had partly done before, now she shivered with fear. A full season had passed, where was Twigfur? Did he get caught up in his duties as a novice? Maybe he had already made new friends within his clan... Just as her mind began to overwhelm her, the bush ahead shivered and she lifted her tail, perking her ears in excitement. He was alive and alright!
Relief turned to a chilly sense of foreboding when she saw the look in the unfamiliar cats' eyes. The light ginger tabby tom stretched his legs one by one, including the leg with the long scar down it. He hadn't noticed her till he finished, nearly jumping out of his fur as he spotted her brilliant, emerald green eyes from the undergrowth on the opposite side of the creek he was standing right in front of. "Come out and face me like a-" She limped into sight and immediately the strong looking tom relaxed, foolishly deeming her not a threat as he watched her limp towards the edge of her side of the creek. "I mean no harm, I'm looking for someone. I'm Shift." Familiarity sparked in the tom's eyes before grief replaced it.
"I know you, you
were Twigfur's love." Appalled by the usage of "were" in his sentence, she paused before rebuking a sharp correction, spotting the sadness in the bright amber depths of his eyes. "What?" She asked, a bit irritated by the look in his eyes, "If he should wallow in self pity
away from her and Twigfurs' meeting place. "He's dead." The hollow mew barely reached her as she collapsed onto the soft grass. The world spun and time, light turned to dark, and breath wasn't coming very easily for the young she-cat. Tears of anguish rolled down her face and clotted her cheek fur.
How could the thing she feared most be so cruel?