~ head held high [open]

[~ .rushstar.]

The tabby she-cat stood on the rock outcropping, head held high as she overlooked her territory. Yes, her territory. It felt so weird to say that, but she held the right to. She was Rushstar, leader of PineClan, the best clan in the area. Her cats were strong, brave, loyal, true warriors, not sniveling kittypets like RoseClan or weak-hearted Like StoneClan. He's, PineClan was the best and she was in charge of it. 

The fact that she was leader felt so strange to Rushstar. It seemed like just yesterday when Leafstar had appointed her deputy. Leafstar. She owed the old she-cat so much, for trusting in her early on, for giving her this opportunity. She had gotten to know the previous leader so well in her four seasons as deputy and hoped that she could be half as good of a leader as Leafstaf had been. 

Rushstar laid down on the warm rock, the sun having warmed it since the night's chill. It wasn't exactly warm out, but the sun baked rock was and it felt wonderful against the gong leader's skin. She gazed around, constantly moving her head. There could be predators in the area, foxes and hawks. She looked behind her once, eyes landing on PineClan's prized piece of territory. The area was filled with all sorts of plants and herbs, some of which only grew right where they were in PineClan territory. 

After soaking in the warmth for a few moments, she stood, head still high, ready to hunt or find something else to do. After drinking in the air for a few moments, Rushstar caught the scent of a vole and soon spotted it scurrying between rocks. After stalking forward a few steps, a paw lashed out, grabbing the prey. A quick bite to the neck, and it was gone. Thank you StarClan for this piece of prey and may you bless PineClan with many more. The leader had experienced StarClan once before, when she had traveled to Many Moons to receive her nine lives. It had been a weird, eerie experience.  She could still hear that ringing voice in her ears We greet you by your new name, Rushstar. Your old life is no more.

Rushstar picked the vole up, holding it between her jaws. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go back to camp or not, honestly. It was quiet out here, peaceful. The exact opposite of camp. It was chaos there, something that would have to be fixed soon.

[rae1]

Honeyrain left camp and headed towards Rocky Pass. As she got nearer she caught the scent of her leader, or her old friend. Memories passed through her mind as she remembered her life as a kit. Rushkit and her used to play all the time, their mothers couldn't keep the two apart. Honeykit would always leave with her siblings or with Rushkit trying to get out of the nursery. They always managed to get in trouble together or Honeykit would get in trouble with her siblings. She would pounce between the two groups, being the center of attention for trouble. The trouble didn't stop after Rushkit became an apprentice. The memories continued running through her mind. Good old times... She held a small smile on her face as she remembered when she first became an apprentice. She would always try her best to outdue Rushpaw, showing her that she was better. She had continued talking with her friend, everything changed when her father was murdered in an ambush.

Honeyrain was named Honeypelt first, she didn't get a chance to see her friend after the ambush because she was rushed to the medicine cat den. Her father was dead and it was her fault for not protecting her father, she had been up ahead, hunting when they got attacked by rouges. She got a name change shortly after she was free from the medicine cat den. After that she started leaving the camp alone to hunt, possibly making others bothered not that it mattered much. Honeyrain came out from her hiding spot, looking towards her friend again. Perhaps it was time to try and bring their friendship back, it seemed to be falling apart as the time went by. It was strange that her friend was now the leader of the clan. She was a tad bit jealous, but only because now her friend had the right to tell her what to do and it seemed like fun to do the same back to Rushstar. All the responsibly, she was glad to skip because it seemed like such a burden to her.

"Rushstar." She called out to her friend to see that she now had a vole in her mouth. She strolled over to her friend before sitting her butt down on the ground. They had a lot to talk about, she wanted nothing more than to bring their friendship back together. "How are you?" She asked, she beat it was strange for Rushstar because they hadn't really talked in some time. She sort of blamed herself became she started becoming anti social after the death of her father.

Words: 436
Tags: Rushstar

[~ .rushstar.]

The she-cat's ears twitched as she caught the sound of paw steps, the scent hidden due to the vole in her mouth. Slightly startled, Rushstar spun around, prepared to drop her prey and fight, if it was an outside cat. Her short pelt was fluffed up, everything about her saying she was prepared to fight. However, when the cat came into view, she recognized Honeyrain. The she-cat had once been good friends with herself, however after her father's death they had grown apart. The once best friends as kits were now silent, awkward strangers to each other, not sure what was going on with the other. 

"Honeyrain," she mewed in an emotionless voice after setting her bike down. "I'm good, I guess. Just the usual leader stuff," Her tone was flat, no emotion seeping through at all. It was weird between the two cats, having not talked to each other in moons. I was part her fault, Rushstar knew. She should have found time to visit Honey rain in the medicine den or something, even with all her duties as deputy at the time. "Just out here relaxing," she added with a soft sigh. She sat down near Homeyrain, gazing into the distance. 

"What about you? How have you been?" Her tail flicked slightly, coming to rest on top of her two white paws. "Why'd you come out here? It's your free time, most of them are probably taking naps, yes?" She didn't really know why her old friend wanted to come and sit out in the sun with her leader. It was rather unnerving for her, in fact. "Are you ready for the gathering?" she asked, out of the blue. The event was one of many things on Rushstar's mind that day. 

[rae1]

Honeyrain made no comment when she seen Rushstar's fur fluffed up. Sure she understood why the female had been scared and about ready to fight, Honeyrain hadn't been in view after all for her friend to notice who had come towards her. "Sorry." She answered Rushstar, but her voice sounded emotionless. Rushstar set the prey down on the ground and answered Honeyrain's greeting with one of her own. Rushstar's voice also was emotionless. "Oh I see.. I see..." She answered back, deep down not really caring all that much about the leadership rank that Rushstar had. Sometimes she felt like Rushstar was over worked. It was weird talking with her old friend, it had been so many moons since they last talked that it almost seemed like they were strangers just meeting each other. Something that never crossed her mind was the exact reason why the leader had chosen to change her name from Honeypelt to Honeyrain.

Nobody really visited Honeyrain in the medicine cat den, not even her siblings. She wasn't even close to them anymore, they were the first that should have come to seen her, the second would have been Rushstar who was to busy with her deputy duties to bother seeing her. Honeyrain nodded her head to Rushstar who spoke about relaxing out in the sun, sighing and sitting down right next to her. Honeyrain licked her pelt, noticing her scars from her younger years as a warrior. "Ugh..." It was a mumble, but Rushstar was close enough to hear her say something. "I hate these scars... why did I get a name change anyway?" She asked under her breath, words loud enough for Rushstar to hear. Right after she got out of the medicine den she had a name change. She still didn't understand the reason behind the name change. Honeyrain was pretty, but that should have been her first name. Surely Starclan hadn't made a mistake on her name.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Rushstar asked her a question. "I've been fine I suppose." She answered truthfully, not wishing to speak about her family problems if it was brought up next. "I came out to the Rocky Pass just to walk out here. Then I caught your scent and thought to myself it was time to break the ice?" The last part was sort of a question. She hadn't talked with her friend in such a long time, she couldn't help, but wonder if her humor had gone dry on her. Of course other warriors were sleeping on their free time, but she would much rather be out walking around then laying in the den sleeping with the rest of her clan mates. Rushstar's question caught her off guard, she wasn't ready for the next gathering. In fact she had forgotten all about it. "No, I'm not." She confessed, allowing a small laugh to leave her lips. "I had forgotten all about it." Maybe she had to much on her mind, allowing her to forget such big events. "Are you?" She asked back.

Words: 510
Tags: Rushstar

[~ .rushstar.]

At Honeyrain's apology, Rushstar felt slightly bad for being so defensive. "No, it's fine. I just heard paw steps, wanted to make sure it wasn't some non-PineClan cat." She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of her worry about the other clans and the clanless cats. There was no need to expect one to appear in the middle of her territory. It was mousebrained, really. One of the patrols would have caught a cat that wasn't supposed to be there long before it showed up at the Rocky Pass. Rushstar couldn't help it, though. The defensiveness against unknown cats was part of her nature.

As Rushstar was thinking, she saw Honeyrain give her pelt a lick, tongue hitting one of her scars. The incident had been before Rushstar was leader, about six moons before. Feeling slightly awkward, she looked down at her paws. "I have no idea, really, why Leafstar gave you that name. I was just a warrior, then, remember?" Her tail flicked back and forth, showing her uneasiness.

The leader was not in the loop on a lot of things. Problems were only made issues for her to deal with if some cat told her. "That's good, I guess." she replied, voice still rather flat. Rushstar had so much on her mind to deal with, it made her weak. No cat could know that, she felt. Her walls had been built up to hide that, keep her clan mates from knowning.

"Oh," she said, not really sure what to say. "We haven't talked in forever," she added awkwardly. This was not how she had pictured this conversation going. No, she had expected something different, not really sure what.

Rushstar's tail flicked. "I'm not close to ready," she answered honestly. "I'm afraid I'll screw up in front of everyone. And it's not like this is my first gathering as leader! It's my third, not my first." She sighed. "I'd really much rather be playing with the kits, but they're all asleep. I don't feel like being killed by the queens today, either." Emotion was slowly creeping through her walls and into her voice. "Maybe I'll take them out for a 'patrol' later on. Let the queens relax."

[rae1]

Honeyrain hadn't expected Rushstar to answer her back, the words had been meant to be low enough for the she-cat not to hear, and yet it had been loud enough that Rushstar had answered perfectly. Honeyrain didn't really remember what rank Rushstar had at the time. Was she just a warrior? I thought she was deputy by that time... Her mind was scrambled from all of her past. She let out a small laugh. "I guess I forgot..." She felt bad, "I don't remember when you got named as deputy." She confessed before adding, "When was that?" She asked, wishing to be reminded. They were still talking without emotion. That would be expected though, it had been moons since they had last spoken with one another. Honeyrain wasn't all that sure what to say back to Rushstar. She had tried to be funny, but Rushstar wasn't laughing with her, instead she seemed to be taking everything to seriously.

She was surprised by Rushstar's comment about the gathering. Not ready? She listened as Rushstar continued speaking. "You won't screw it up." Honeyrain laid down on her stomach, a few moments ago she had been in a sitting position. If there was one thing about her friend that she knew, it was that she wouldn't screw up in front of everybody. Not until another clan member brought on it first anyway. "Everything will be fine." She tried reassuring her. She let a small smile spread against her face. Good old Rushstar, still playing with the kits instead of being with older warriors. She loved kits too, but found that her warrior duties kept her to busy to spend anytime with the younglys. "Those kits we have in the nursery are so cute." She commented, showing that she loved kits too and she thought it cool that Rushstar loved playing with them.

"Killed by the queens?" She questioned before adding, "Is that because they finally got them to sleep and you are waking them up?" She laughed, thinking of her kit hood. She and Rushstar were never asleep, sometimes she felt like it drove her mother and the other queens in the nursery crazy. They were all over the place. She nodded her head, "That sounds like a whole lot of fun Rushstar." She paused before adding, "Those kits really need to be let out sometime... can't keep them in the nursery forever." She smiled adding, "We proved them about that." And almost every other kit that had been in the nursery before us...

Words: 419
Tags: Rushstar

[~ .rushstar.]

She could tell that Honeyrain hadn't expected her to answer. Oops. Oh well. She's said it and could take the words back. She smiled as the other she-cat laughed. "It's fine, half the time I can't even remember." That wasn't true, she knew exactly how long it had been, but she didn't want her friend to feel bad. "It was fourteen or fifteen moons ago, somewhere in there." That day had changed her life. Leafstar could have chosen any of the older warriors to be deputy, but she had picked Rushstar. They youngster that had only been a warrior for moons. 

"I hope so. Falconstar and Onyxstar aren't exactly new leaders themselves." Sge shook her head, all the possibilities running through her mind. "I don't know how Leafstar did it. It's scary, being up in front of all the cats of all the clans and having to talk." Seeing Honeyrain lay down, she did so, head resting on her paws. "I sure hope so. But what if they accuse us of stealing prey or something? We know that none of our clan would do that, but I don't know what I should say if that happens." Her tail twitched, worry showing in her eyes. 

She nodded, answering her companion's question. "Yes, they had just fallen asleep when I popped in there. They basically told me to get out." She laughed, then said, "Yes, they are adorable - and wild. Way too much energy for their poor mothers." She grinned. "I'd say so. We got into more trouble than most kits."

[rae1]

Honeyrain smiled, it was nice knowing she wasn't the only one forgetting such things. She hadn't realized that her friend had lied to her just to make her feel better. "Oh I see." She replied back, listening to her friend say how long it had been since she had become deputy. It had even been a surprise to her that the old leader had chosen Rushstar instead of another much older warrior as the new deputy. She allowed a small yawn to escape between her lips, not bored or tired, just a force of habit, some might say it was so that she could allow extra air in her lungs. Honeyrain wasn't all that sure what to say so she instead stayed quiet and allowed Rushstar this time to allow her comments to flow out in the open if she had anything she would have liked to say before she had more of her own thoughts coming out in the open herself. More words turned into sentences and now they had moved from the subject of a few moons ago to the gathering.

Honeyrain watched her friend before commenting back at her. "You aren't all that new either now though." She paused for a long moment before adding, "You'll do fine just like the other two times." Her friend explained the fear, having to talk in front of so many cats and possibly messing up in front of them. "Think of how the other two leaders must feel, being leaders so long and still having a chance to mess up." She winked at her friend trying to comfort her. They were both laying on their stomach with their heads on their paws looking at each other. Her eyes went wide when her friend asked her concern about being accused of stealing prey or something else from the other two clans. She for one hadn't been stealing prey and to her knowledge they didn't have any clan mates do it either. "Then I guess the clan will have to stand up and say their two cents about how we aren't thieves and we have fine warriors going out hunting and bringing back food on our own territory."

If her friend asked it of her, she would stand up for her friend. Even with this distance they had over the last few moons. She allowed a small smile to cross her lips as she spoke again. "I work very hard to bring prey back into camp, with or without the patrol. I would be very offended if we had such a clan mate act so lowly as to steal from another clan." If Rushstar had something to say about her being impatient and going out hunting without the patrol, Honeyrain had brought the subject into the loop, her point had been that Pineclan had no reason to steal because she and other warriors hunted for the prey just like her and they had no need to steal from other clans. "Besides if the clans want to fight just because of prey, then your clan is ready to back you up. I personally find it stupid of them to bring it up without proof of the cat in our clan." She didn't want to fight, but she would stand by her clan, but Rushstar if needs be.

Now glad the subject had again changed she felt so much better thinking more about the kits then the gathering and the possibly of cats stealing from other preys. She laughed, stretching her front legs, back legs, and her back. "They can't do that, your leader." She teased her friend before adding, "I would have asked them, 'What'd you say to me?' and wait for them to reply back to me telling me once again to get out. If I had your rank as leader... just for the kicks of it." Or I would have played with one anyway... "They need to get out sometime, stretch while their kits are out with our lovely leader." She wasn't kidding, she did find Rushstar to be a lovely leader, so she was trying to flatter her. "They will miss that energy though... I'm sure of it. I'd want to spend as much time with them as possible before they turned six moons." She had spent to much time with her father and then he got killed. The illness the clan suffered a few moons ago had stolen her mother's life.

Words: 739
Tags: Rushstar

[~ .rushstar.]

Rushstar sighed, glad her friend had fallen for the white lie she had told. Back when they had been kits, perhaps Honeyrain wouldn't have fallen for it, but after so long she hadn't noticed. It was just proof at how much they had grown apart in the last few moons. And then Honeyrain yawned, causing Rushstar to do the same. It was odd, how when one cat yawned, the others around soon would do the same. It was one of many things the young leader did not understand. Honestly, it was something she had never cared to discover, had no interest in. It had no major effect on her, so why should she care?

"Yes, I am still considered new. I'm the newest leader, not to mention that the other leaders were almost warriors by the time I was even born," she pointed out, tail flicking. She had been to many gatherings as deputy, but that had been different, even when Leafstar had been sick and Rushstar had spoken for PineClan at the gathering. "We'll see," she said dryly, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I just don't have a good feeling about this. Something is going to happen, I think." The tabby just couldn't shake the feeling she had. It scared her honestly, potentially being faced with the first major mishap of her leadership. 

Her tail flicked to rest on the warrior's back. "Calm down," she purred, slightly reassured that there really wasn't any prey stealing going on, at least by PineClan. "I know PineClan isn't stealing prey, but you never know what those kittypets that call themselves clan cats are going to do." She rolled her eyes, her hatred of the other clans showing through in her wording. She was slightly tempted to call them kittypets at the gathering. She flicked the feeling away, knowing that it wouldn't be her best move to start trouble. 

Rushstar couldn't help it, laughing loudly at Honeyrain's statement. "Trust me, against the queens when it comes to their kits, I have no power." It was true. She had to trust the queens to raise their kits into good young cats, then Rushstar would take over for their warrior training, in a way. "It's the same way with the elders. They don't give a rat's tail that I'm leader. If they want some prey and I look like I'm not doing anything, I'm fair game. And honestly, I kind of like to be seen as a normal warrior instead of leader sometimes."

[rae1]

Honeyrain watched Rushstar and sighed herself, though her sigh was because she was slightly bored. She assumed that was the reason why Rushstar had also sighed. When they were kits, Honeyrain normally could see passed a lie, even a small one, but since the attack she hasn't noticed as much, nor does she really care anymore. Rushstar was leader now, there was really no need to remember the past, to many bad things happened in the past. Honeyrain smiled when Rushstar yawned shortly after her, funny how when one yawns everybody else follows suit... again, another thing not important enough to discover. The silents was really killing her, she was about ready to ask that useless question but decided against it. She wasn't one for asking useless questions. Boy am I bored... I should have asked her to go running with me instead of sitting down for a long chat. The thought made her feel bad, but she couldn't help it when she was bored.

Now things were getting really interesting. Rushstar spoke about still being considered as new and Honeyrain frowned at her. Why can't leaders just respect the old and the new the same? She didn't know that Rushstar had her own thoughts of disrespect towards the other two leaders. Though even if she learned of it, nothing would change, she'd still be on Rushstar's side. "I see." She answered Rushstar back, proving to be listening to the she-cat, allowing her to continue talking. It didn't matter though, Rushstar had been to many gatherings, something Honeyrain happened to remember. Funny how I remember that, but there are other things I can't remember. Rushstar looked like she was going to be sick, Honeyrain picked this as the perfect time to tell her. "If you want me as one of the warriors going, just let me know." She wasn't going to up and volunteer because Rushstar might have had other warriors better for the choice.

Honeyrain was getting a little excited over the gathering and had plans on how she'd solve the problem if anything arose to that point. Then Rushstar's tail touched her back and the leader told her to calm down. Honeryrain laughed, "Sorry." She watched Rushstar closely, finally calm from the few minutes of talking about the gathering. She nodded her head to Rushstar, thinking she might get over excited again if she added onto Rushstar's worries. "It'd be fine." She spoke finally, trying to make her friend feel better. Rushstar knew where Honeyrain stood on the subject. "Well as I said a few moments ago, if you want me to go, just let me know." Honeyrain stretched before laying back down on her stomach. The scar on her stomach was slightly hurting her now, but that wasn't her reason for stretching, she had gotten a cramp in her back and stretching always got rid of that cramp. Stupid scar... She thought to herself.

Talking about kits was so much better than talking about the gathering. At least I got her laughing. She thought to herself, Rushstar pulled her attention back when she spoke up again. Honeyrain laughed, "I see I see." Though she really didn't understand how that was possible. "Oh." She really didn't spend much time with the elders so she didn't know that they didn't care about Rushstar being leader. "You think they would care if you were older than them?" She asked, not trying to be rude, but was just wondering. She missed the part where Rushstar sometimes liked being seen as a normal warrior instead of a leader sometimes.

Words: 594
Tags: Rushstar

[~ .rushstar.]

Rushstar frowned at how quiet Honeyrain was being. As kits, there had been endless chatter between the two, to the point they had been told to shush several times during meetings and such. Apparently not anymore, it seemed. Now, they were struggling to think of interesting subjects to talk about. It was sad, really, the awkwardness between the two. She had seen the warrior about to say something, but deciding against it at the last second. The leader knew that the warrior wasn't one to ask useless questions, but also wasn't afraid to ask good ones. Whatever the warrior had been about to say must not have been important. 

When Honeyrain brought up the fact that she would go to the gathering if Rushstar wanted her to, the tabby nodded. "That'd be great, thanks." The leader couldn't help thinking that even if they hadn't had this talk and Honeyrain had been chosen for the gathering, she still would have gone. Rushstar's word was law, but it was polite to be as. tactful as possible. Yes, she wouldn't have commanded her to go either way, but it just made things easier on her. Why bother with something she could control right now? The leader, calmed from the talk, licked a forepaw and rubbed it over her ears as Honeyrain rolled over. As the warrior did so, she couldn't help seeing the scar on her belly. 

Rushstar laughed once more, when the other cat mentioned how the elders would treat her if she was their age. "What, are you saying I'm old?" she joked, laughing. "Nah, have you ever seem them with one another? They're worse." Rushstar stood up, stretching as she did so. "Well," she started, looking up at the location on the sun. "I'd better get back to camp, start figuring out who else is going to go to the gathering. And I need to talk with Amberblaze about tomorrow's patrols." The tabby scooped up her vole, then set it back down. "Thanks for talking with me, Honeyrain," she said sincerely, feeling better about the gathering. 

She picked up the vole, then turned towards camp, padding slowly back into her responsibility filled life. 

I hope it's okay I kind of ended this, Honeyrain is welcome to walk back with Rush, I'm just losing muse for this thread more each post.

[rae1]

Honeyrain really wished that she had more to say with her old friend, but words weren't coming easy to her like they had when they were young kits. She blamed herself for not being social with any her of her clan mates much anymore. So offering up her services to going to the gathering, if you were to call it that, seemed appropriate even though Rushstar could have easily ordered her to go. She was glad that Rushstar hadn't turned her down, maybe it was showing she still felt her friend was useful after all and not useless because of all of her scars and her terrible memory that she had slowly started inheriting.

Though even if Rushstar had ordered her to just go, she would have gone. She'd never obey orders from Rushstar, not unless it meant waiting on others to show up for patrol or going out hunting.... because those were things she felt she could handle on her own if others weren't ready to go out with her. Hopefully Rushstar didn't know this side of her and hadn't found out about her sneaking away without other warriors going with her. Honeyrain noticed Rushstar looking at her scar, but neither of them said anything about it. Good, I really didn't want to talk about it anyway... She was grateful that Rushstar hadn't brought it up.

Honeyrain laughed for a few seconds before saying, "Nope, I meant..." She stopped when Rushstar started speaking and just shook her head in reply. No she had never seen how the elder's act with one another. She laughed again when Rushstar called them worse. "I see." She chose not to say what had been on her mind seconds before, Rushstar chose the perfect time to leave. Honeyrain shifted onto her feet and watched Rushstar. "I suppose I should head back too then." She stretched before waiting on Rushstar to pick up her vole, which she did and then she set it down again. Honeyrain looked confused before Rushstar spoke to her and she allowed a small smile to cross her face.

Honeyrain watched Rushstar pick up the vole again and then turned towards camp, walking away from her. Honeyrain allowed a small sigh to escape her lips before she slowly followed Rushstar back into camp. Since they were both headed the same direction anyway. She had forgotten the reason for being out here in the first place, but was glad she had come out. It turned out to be good for her.

Words: 416
Tags: Rushstar
Notes: Oh it's fine, thanks for letting me know and sorry for taking so long to reply back to this. I'll also put on here Finished!