So I Made some MISTAKES [Open]

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven's sleek black pelt was drenched moments after coming to this place. She looked around, and realized she was at the Rainbow Pool.

She had left Ripple alone so she could be alone with her thoughts. She was still close to home, but far enough away that she could be alone. Raven looked around at the water, and noticed the rainbow many loners had told her about. It was beautiful. The young she-cat saw it and smiled. She would have to tell Ripple she had seen it. He would want to come and see the rainbow.

Raven sat down and watched the falls for a long while. She thought about Ridge as she sat. She was a fool to think he had loved her. She knew her heart now lay with Ripple. She also knew her life would be horrible if she had stayed with Ridge. she wasn't a killer. She had thought she was at the time, but now, looking back, she knew she wasn't.

Raven sighed. She loved Ripple. He was protective of her, but she knew he was still a little wary when Ridge came around. She knew he had already said he would protect her, she knew he was making sure she'd stay commited to him. The thought made her want to go back home, but she wanted to stay a little longer.

She turned her head back to the waterfall and looked up at the top of it. It was so high up, she was surprised. She wanted to climb up there, but she knew it'd be suicide. Shaking her head, she turned around and padded into the forest. She heard a rustle and pinpointed a squirrel. She snuck up to it and killed it quickly. She buried it and sat, curling her tail around her paws, her ears open to the sound of more prey, or a cat coming.

[--|Sootie|--]

Cloud had left Snow Clan about ten sun-rises ago. And was regretting her decision already. What had she thought life as a rouge would be? Nine lives for everyone and cat naps whenever she wanted? She was young, and everybody made mistakes, right? Mistake was the wrong word to use. Catastrophe was probaly more fitting. What were you trying to prove by abandoning your clan?Your family?The warrior code? Have you found you answers yet? She was thinking through what had led her to make that decision to leave everything, wandering aimlessly as she did. Cloud was being foolish and paying not attention to her surroundings whatsoever. She never heard the prey rustling leaves, of the cat chasing it's prey, not even the continuous crash of cascading water up ahead. It came as a complete suprise to Cloud when she found herself in a clearing with a beautiul waterfall surrounder by trees. Even more suprising was that there was a black cat sat in the middle of it. Instinctivley, she dropped into a fighting stance and began to growl.
'Who are you?'Cloud snarled. Right now, she wanted to be alone so that she could think, and this cat whoever she was, was topping Cloud from being alone and thinking. But does that really mean that I want to hurt her? I though I'd just decided that I wasn't a murderer. Wuth that though, Cloud stopped circling and stood up straight, still swishing her long fluffy tortie tail. Maybe ther was a friendly way that she could make this cat clear off.

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven's ears swivelled towards the sound of pawsteps behind her. She had turned around and spotted the cat before she had even spoken. "I could ask you the same thing." She replied coolly, noting the way the she-cat seemed to want to intimidate her. When the other cat sat down, her fighting stance gone, Raven lifted her paw. "You must be a clannie." she meowed. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Ripple's, the helper of Clans, mate, Raven." She introduced herself. "Might I ask who you are?" Raven tilted her head, before standing up and circling the younger cat and sniffing her pelt. "You smell of Snowclan." She meowed. "What brings you out here? Have you lost your way? I can help you back if you want." She offered. Raven didn't want to sound unfriendly, and she wanted to know this cat. She always enjoyed talking to 'clannies', because their lifestyles were so different.

[--|Sootie|--]

It's really not your fault

Cloud sat down and kept sheathing and unsheathing her claws, digging them into the powdery snow. 'You told me your name so I'll tell you mine. I'm Cloud. And I am not a 'clannie'. I once belonged to Snow Clan but there was nothing there for me.' All the while she was speaking the young calico kept her blue eyes on the floor, keeping her muscles tensed incase Raven wasn't as friendly as she said she was. Cloud had met Ripple, and saw truth in his eyes and heard care in his voice. It was difficult to find anyone so sincere as him. He was probably one of the only cats Cloud would be able to say that she trusted. But Raven wasn't Ripple. Cloud didn't know or trust Raven.

And no one cares to talk about it

Cloud listened to Racen's other questions, considering them carefully before forming answers in her head. She also considered Raven's motive for asking the questions, as was the nature of a rouge. Is she trying to lure me into a trap? To ambush me? Maybe the black pelted loner's heart and thoughts were as dark as her fur. How am I to know? Cloud knew from her combined experiences of being in a clan and being a rouge that she must chose her words carefully, and her answers even more so.

'Cause I've seen love die way to many times

She looked up as she replied to Raven, her piercing blue eyes cold. 'No, I have not lost my way. Not my way back to the place I came from anyway. What's it to you?' Cloud turned her face away from Raven. She wasn't sure why she'd added the other part to her answer. What did she mean not my way back to place I came from anyway? Thinking over the words which had come involuntarily, Cloud realised that she had lost her way. In life. What was she now? A rouge? A Snow Clanner without direction?
Just a lost cat wandering down the highway of life? That seemed a pretty accurate description. Cloud was care not to answer Ravens last question. Of at least one thing she was sure; that she wouldn't know what her response would be to that one.

When it deserved to be alive

_{Music by Paramore, Emergency}

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven's eyes seemed to drop as she noticed the tension in the cat's fur and muscles. She had seen how her claws were unsheathing and sheathing, and how her eyes were trained on the ground. "I'm going to tell you something. You can judge me on that, tell me I'm not trustworthy, or you can judge me on me being hee now, trying to help. It's up to you.

"I've made my mistakes in the past. I was once a loner, then I turned rogue. I thought it'd be the best thing ever, joining someone to menace the clans. I only did it because I was bored. I met a cat named Ridge. He was torturing an innocent cat when I wandered up. I got him to let the cat go. I thought he was so strong, and handsome. I fell in love with him.

"So I went along with him. But a couple of moons later, I seemed to have woken up from a long dream. I didn't love Ridge, I loved Ripple. I saw what Ridge was doing to innocent cats, and I didn't want to be like that. So I snuck away. But he saw what I was doing, and he told me, 'if you leave, I will hunt you down, and everyone you love.' But I had no choice. I left. I went and found Ripple at his barn, and he had turned my life back around.

"So you can judge me on looking like I'm a bad cat. Believe me, if I had seen myself out there with Ridge, I would want nothing to do with me. But if you judge me on sitting here, trying to help you, I would be glad. I really am a nince cat who had just lost her way at some point, like you. And that's why I'm so curious about you. I don't want you to make the same mistakes as me." She finished her story and dropped her head. She shook it, getting rid of the images of Ridge threatening her when the clans were leaving their old home. She looked back up at Cloud and waited to see what she would say.

[--|Sootie|--]

You and me we're invincible together

Cloud was scared, worried because she was sat here talking to another cat. Having a friendly conversation, while someone poured out their life story. Is that normal? Am I supposed to care about her love life? Cloud looked away from Raven. There seemed to be too much in common between the two of them. The black pelted loner-come-rouge-come-loner reminded her of the other mothers in the nursery. The way Thornclaw was with her other kits. 'My mother never cared, why should you? Why should anybody? Does it matter if I do make mistakes? I'm out here on my own now, I am the only one who will get hurt when I make the wrong decisions.' Her words were laced with forced malice as she spat them at Raven. She was supposed to be a rouge, rebelling against the way her mother had been with her. Why was it that she had to try so hard to be nasty?

We can be so tragical, whatever

Cloud sighed and looked Raven straight in the face. So what to trying to be something she's not. Life life as it comes. Say what you want to say, call a tree a tree. 'When I was born in Snow Clan, my father was already dead. My mother saw their kits as a way of remembering Gingerpelt. Except me. I was the one to blame for his death. Who knows why? Everything was always my fault. It was like I was her scratching-post.
It started to feel that everyone was against me. Nobody had a nice word to say about me, no matter how hard I tried. So when the Great Move came, I thoguh I could just go missing, and I followed the rouges. I needed some way to get rid of my anger at Thornclaw, at Snow Clan. When Carner started to say about getting revenge against Snow Clan, I litteraly fell at his paws. But I didn't like his plans. He's sadistic, cruel and bent on destroying all of the clans, for reasons unknown to me.

Living life with no regrets

That was when I realised that it couldn' happen because I still loved my mother. No matter how much hatred she fed me, no matter ow poisoned my mind had beceom because of her, I stll loved her. But I hate her too. I don't want her dead, certainly not to kill her myself. But there's no way am I going back there. I couldn't and I don't want to. I supose I am lost, like you said, but it doesn' matter. I need to find a place for myself, away from my past. I won't judge you, because I can't judge myself. I do think that you're too friendly and noseey, but that's irrelevant. I'll always be what my mother made me, even if I don't belong any where because of it./ Cloud hissed quietly at herself. What had she done that for? Raven had played the injured bird, and Cloud had fallen right into her trap. She'd told nobody about the abuse she'd suffered at the hadns of the ones who should love her the most, so why Raven? Why now?

At least they're gonna try to fly

_{Music by Bon Jovi, Captain Crash and the Beatuy Queen from Mars}

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven sat, shocked and dismayed at the way Cloud snapped at her. She shook her, head, and listened to her story. When Cloud was finished, Raven was surprised. She didn't realized her and the ex-Snowclanner were so alike.

"I'm sorry if I seem too nosey. I was only wondering, and I didn't want you to make the same mistake as me. But it seems you already did." Raven looked at her. "You're probably wondering why a loner like me cares. You probably think I'm going to trick you into trusting me, then hurt you. But I'm not like that." She told her.

"If you want, I can take you to where Ripple and I live, and you can stay there while you get back on your feet. I know Ripple won't mind." She smiled at the she-cat.

[--|Sootie|--]

My pain your thrill

Cloud was ashamed and angry at herself. What have I become? A self-pitying furball who hates everything; even the paw of help. Is it really all her fault? Cloud was swishing her tail, brushing the icing-sugar like snow from side to side; forming a trench size groove behind of her. Cloud had always been stubborn; she never liked to give in to her mother's accusations, and never stopped trying to be someting other than herself. Would there ever be anyway that Cloud and Thornclaw could repair their relationship? Had there been too many mistakes made before? Even if they could, it wouldn't be anytime soon. So what would Cloud be doing in the time until then?

I dont wanna break these chains

Fortunatley, the loner, a stranger to Cloud had a possible solution. The young rouge had told more to Raven in the few minutes just passed, than she'd ever told anyone before in her life. Why was is that they were hitting the right key? Raven had just offered Cloud a place to live, in peace and security for a time while she could thing about the deciions she had made, and the up-coming ones and their possible directions. Could Cloud possibly give in to her obstinate personality and accept Raven's offer?

You're poison running through my veins

Cloud looked up at Raven, her eyes blank, her face no longer twisted in rage and hatred. Cloud had listened to what Raven had said, which was a vast improvement on her usual apreoach to others. Raven had said exactly what Cloud thought. Cloud did think that an over friendly 'loner' was probably trying to tempt an unsuspecting, young, and confused cat into someting for their own benifits. And how Raven had put it; comparing Cloud's short life to her own made the choices she'd made look like mistakes. Maybe, just maybe Raven was true. Her words were honest and she wasn' just trying to twist Cloud to make her something she wasn't. Like her mother had been. Slowly, Cloud smiled at Raven. The sensation was unfamiliar to Cloud. 'Okay. I think I could force my presence on you and Ripple for a couple of days. So long as neither of you mind, that is.' Cloud spoke quietly, and all of the walls of security she had built came crashing down around her.

_{Music by Alice Cooper, Poison}

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven watched as Cloud contemplated her words. She was worried that Cloud would turn on her and attack her for what she had said. But when she saw the smile and heard the words, she knew she was safe. "You'll love it there. Come on!" Raven jumped away, leading the way to the place where she felt safest. "It's a nice, rundown barn, with a roof still. It looks beautiful. When you sit on the roof, you can see everything!" She meowed. A large smile split her face as she remembered Ripple was there. She lengthened her stride and raqced to the barn. She stopped outside and waited for Cloud. When Raven looked down, she noticed her fur was all ruffled. So she sat and bathed herself as she waited. When she was done, her fur sparkled like a raven's feather. She grinned. Raven's mother had named her after a raven had come down and watched her kits one day. Her mother had noticed how much Raven and the raven looked alike, and thus, Raven's name came. She grinned. Such fond memories.

[--|Sootie|--]

Who've ever had a broken heart

Cloud stood up quickly when Raven jumped up. An old habit; a mutual warning of danger ahead, whether it was because someone had heard something in the trees, or because they were angry ready to attack. She looked down ashamed when she realised that her edgy behaviour and shady history ade her appear dangerous. Once her fur had laid flat, and she was able to sheathe her claws, Cloud began to walk slowly forward, keeping a certain distance between herself and Raven. She still didn't completley trust that she wasn't been lead into a trap. She didn't completley trust Raven yet. Maybe it was because the black cat seemed so similar, to know her so well and to see the deepest parts of her which she buried for so long. It was hard to trust someone who'd seen through the walls, through the disguise she'd hidden behind since her early kit-hood.

Who've wished upon a shooting star

When the dark pelted cat began to slip into the shadows, Cloud's heart began to quicken again. Sometimes seeing is believing, but you have to believe to see it. She couldn't see Raven, so she couldn't rely on the stranger who knew her, but she didn't know whether she trusted her even if she could see her. The thoughts in Cloud's head wam around paradoxically and she hissed quietley. Despite her false fear of Raven, the only scent coming of the cat up ahead by ow was excitement. The long haired tortie pelt was blowing about as Cloud sped up through the trees, running both to catch up so she could kep here ye on Raven, and so that she could see if there really was a sanctuary ready to welcome her.

You're beautiful the way you are

When a massive buliding of damp wood began to emerge from behind the trees, Cloud's pace began to slow. She also let out the breath which she didn't know she'd been holding. When she reached the front of Raven and Ripple's home, Cloud stopped, but remained standing. She felt uneasy. Ripple was a friend of the clans, he would probably hate her for leaving, for abandoning the warrior code, for temporarily joining with Carner. She knew that some loner's wished more than anything that they had been born part of such a large family. Cloud began to doubt Raven and herself. She'd told her life story to this cat, a cat she didm't know that she could trust. And Ripple too would undoubtedly be told all about her. If this was a trap, Cloud had just walked straight into it.

This one's for the girs

_{Music by Martina McBride, This One's For The Girls}

[[Ridge] of [Sapphire] light]

A long legged tom stood in the loft of the barn, his green gray eyes focused on the pigeon he had cornered near a bale of hay. He lept and landed square on it's shoulders. He felt his claws dig into the flesh and felt the warm trickle of blood over his claws as the bird let out a squak of alarm and pain. He bent his head down and bit into the neck of the bird, his teeth ground through mussle and flesh until they found the bone beneath. Wings lifted and began beating the air, but his weight was to great and the bird could do nothing. He ground his teeth until he heard a sickening snap and the animal beneath him went limp. He released it and took a step to the right. he looked down at the bird and then up at the sky through the holes in the ceiling. Thank you Starclan for this food...may it's life pass to me, and it's strength make me therein stronger. keep Raven safe...I don't know where she went, or if she is alright...keep her in your paws. He bent to lift the prey but stopped as the sound of rustling pawsteps entered his ears. He looked over the edge of the loft and a black pelt caught his attention. He turned and grabbed the bird and without thinking of where he was leaped off the edge of the loft. He landed in a pile of hay and sent a few mice scattering, but he didn't care. He dropped the bird in their small pile of kill and raced toward the door. He lifted himself from the ground and his lithe body flew silently through the air though Raven was probably already alerted to his presence from his voice echoing over the tundra. "Where in starclan's name have you been!" He shouted and landed on her tackling her into the snow. He licked her face, and then rolled off her batting her over the ear. "Don't scare me like that!" he scolded and then lifted his head to see a young she-cat coming out of the woods toward them.

[pine]

Alnitak slipped through the underbrush, green eyes open for the small white shape of his sister. The big grey tom felt a strange sense of deja vu as he passed through here, like he had been here before. . .but then again, maybe he had. Since he and Anilam had taken up wandering from place to place as their profession of choice, they had passed through a lot of forests. He narrowed his eyes as a dark shape emerged through the trees. A barn? Recognition at last. The last time he had been here was the last time he had seen both his parents and his other sister. . .and Carner. The usual rush of hate flashed through him before he remebered to sniff the air. There had been countless other cats here too. . .but from the looks of things, they had all gone. Wait, there was something. . .
"Anilam," he called softly. No response. He didn't want to risk calling these strangers' attention to himself. . .but maybe they were friendly. He cautiously stepped forward, pausing at the edge of the woods. Here goes nothing. He darted the remaining length forward and poked his headi n the barn.
"He-hello?

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven galloped through the snow, looking over her shoulder every once in a while to see if Cloud was still there. She heard Ripple's voice, and pushed on, only to find herself tackled into the snow. "Ahhck! The mighty warrior caught me!" She teased him, before pushing him away. "I wanted to go and see the falls. They're beautiful." She licked his nose, and grinned. "Oh, I found a clan cat turned rogue, hopefully turned loner. Her name is Cloud." She flicked her tail in the direction she had come in. "Come on out, Cloud!" She called.

A rustle alerted Raven, and she looked behind her. Flicking Ripple's side with her tail, Raven padded forward until she stood behind the loner. "Excuse me," She called coolly to him, "But why exatly is your head in our barn?" She cocked her head to one side, curious, while she waited for her answer.

[pine]

Alnitak jumped about a fox length in the air. Stupid! You left yourself wide open for an attack! He whipped around, fur on end, and pulled his lips back a bit.
He opened his mouth, preparing to sneer "Your barn?" at the she-cat, but stopped himself as his dad's voice played through his head. Don't commit to anything until you're sure it's what you want to do. You can't take back first impressions. Right. Thanks for the convoluted advice, Dad. Good thing Anilam's wasn't there. . .
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize it was your barn," he meowed flatly, eyes flicking from one cat shape to the next. Stupid, stupid, stupid. These cats didn't look like they'd kill him for setting foot on their land, but you never could tell. "My sister and I are traveling in the area, and we haven't really met anyone to indicate that it was lived in." He paused and scanned the trees over the female loner's head as is checking for Anilam. Like she wouldn't just charge in and start attacking whoever she thought was a threat. "She's around here somewhere. . ."

[x-Ginger-x]

Raven cocked her head to the side still, listening to the tom. So this was his game. "I see. Well, come over here, and talk to Ripple. He'll let you know. I wasn't around today, but I didn't see anyone that looked like you, until I saw you just now." She flicked her tail in the direction of Ripple. "You look a little worn." She commented. "How long have you been looking for your sister?" She asked. He seemed to have been looking for a while. Unless he wasn't used to the area. "If you want, I can help you look." She offered, "If you don't want to stay here. After all, it's always easier looking with someone else to help." She smiled and nodded her head.

ooc;; I know, not long enough. :///// I just don't have museness right now.