{copperfall.so.tell.me.your.name}

The blonde long furred tomcat shifted his weight from one side to the other as he waited - begged for the she-cat to speak. The tom didn't know if Blithespirit would ever speak; the gray furred she-cat seemed entranced with the movement of the river - the ebb and flow and her reflection against its mirror surface. The ginger tom decided that clearing his throat again would be ill advised - he didn't want to ruin his first impression. Copperfall had never thought of himself as being rude, but the tomcat figured that if he cleared his throat in impatience one more time, he might as well be.

The Chosen One's face twisted into a half-grin as she turned, flashing her brilliant emerald orbs at him. She had acknowledged his presence, but she had yet to speak. The ginger tom's right ear twitched, but the rest of his body remained casual and in check. The slightest twitch of his ear was the only sign of his annoyance.

Then, she did speak. Mouth open, words poured cheerily out of her jaws. 'Well, I'm doing wonderful today, and yourself?' Copperfall smiled a little to himself, his worries evaporating briefly at the sound of her cheery voice. Let the small talk begin, Copperfall thought, relieved that this was the case. Small talk amounted to nothing, and the ginger tom figured that this particular she-cat would clear him of his worries, for at least one day. Maybe this was the reason that he'd come out here. To find her. For her to clear his bad thoughts away.

The tomcat at first did realize that she wasn't speaking anymore. Something in the wind that ruffled his pelt pulled the tom from the realms of his mind. "Uh, I'm fine, thanks for asking," Copperfall meowed, a little bit blandly. The tom wanted more than anything to continue to converse with this she-cat but the tom didn't know exactly what to say next. After speaking, his mouth clamped tightly shut and the tom wished that the gray tabby would carry the conversation he'd started on her back, instead. The ginger tom had always known and told himself that he was not the one to start the conversations. Copperfall had wondered why he had thought so and figured he'd forgotten. Now he remembered why. The tom had nothing else to say to Blithespirit and though he hoped that she'd say something more, the tom figured that it would be best not to gaze at Blithespirit too long, attempting to force her to speak. The tom figured that if he stared, he might send the wrong message across to the gray tabby. Copperfall was a taken tom, wasn't he?

Copperfall's eyes flickered to the sky and a shutter rippled through his body. I'll always be yours, Copperfall thought wordlessly, then dipped his head downwards to the earthy land that he still lived upon. It was hard sometimes for Copperfall; he had to constantly remind himself that he was still on earth, living among his fellow circle members. Copperfall's green orbs flickered over to Blithespirit and he held the gray tabby there in his sight until the colors of the scene began to blur together. She was a brief reminder for him that he wasn't dead, yet. Blithespirit was an imperfect cat, with her imperfections and all. If he was above, with his heavenly ancestors, then everything would be perfect. Closing his eyes, the tom reminded himself that any place where Eveningfall had existed was a perfect heaven for him. When she had been living, it had been heaven on earth for the blonde tom. He'd had no worries, or his worries had been infintesimally small and petty, unlike the ones that his mind was saturated with today.

Sighing, Copperfall's eyes reopened. Also, when she'd been alive, she'd been the Chosen One. She'd carried the weight of all the Circle for him. The ginger tom had not realized how much worry and responsibilty that Eveningfall had inside of her. No wonder ... Copperfall thought and flinched back as if he'd been slapped. Eveningfall had always appeared exhausted from lack of sleep whenever he saw her. She'd constantly get sad and fret over little imperfections in the circle. The ginger tom had not understood what was wrong with her; he'd comforted her and told her that 'it'd be okay.' Copperfall knew now that all her worries were not okay. As the new Chosen One of Rapidfall's Circle, Copperfall knew worry and pain like the back of his paw. The ginger tom's gaze had refocused on Blithespirit, but he did not hold his gaze there for long, reminded suddenly of the silence between them, the cause of putting two anti-social cats together. Copperfall's green gaze flickered up to the sky, but instead of with sorrow, Copperfall's lips twitched together in a single, upward motion. A smile. Did the Water Ones think it was funny to torture him, to put him next to Blithespirit and want to converse but not be able to? Ha ha Copperfall droned, rolling his eyes and lowering his head.

Tight-lipped, the ginger turned away from the gray pelt of Blithespirit, to survey the river that rushed nearby. Copperfall knew that he didn't come by the river too much, as it was a way from camp and there was always something that he had to do that restrained him from coming to this area. Though Copperfall couldn't come here often, the tom enjoyed this moment more than anything else. The Rapid River was the most calming place in all of Rapidfall's territory, so he had heard, and the tom had to agree. All the worries had drifted off of him and though he knew it mostly had to do with the casual cheeriness of Blithespirit's actions, he suspected the river had something to do with it as well. Closing his eyes, the tom forgot about the conversation of nothing he had been having with Blithespirit. The sound of rushing water filled his ears and his mind was at ease and for once, Copperfall felt all the tension leave him. He was drifting through an ocean but the salt would not touch his face in anyway to disturb his swim and waves did not push him under the surface of the usually ill-tempered ocean. Water allowed him to float effortlessly along. He was at peace with the confines of his mind.

'This river hasn't stopped flowing even in the dead of leafbare. I also noticed that there are a few fish in there. Granted there aren't a lot, but maybe this would help out the load a little...' Blithespirit's words broke not only the silence but Copperfall's small moment of piece. He was torn from his word of happiness. Despite his bitterness that his happy moment was gone, Copperfall wore a pleasant face, unlined with worry and free of doubt. Small talk. that was what he had come here for, not to get therapy from the river. Copperfall blinked and opened his jaws. A noise came out, at first. Not exactly a note sort of sound, but a hiss of old air that had been gathered up in his lungs and left there too long. Copperfall wasn't given the opportunity to speak; Blithespirit seized the opportunity and spoke again. 'We'll make it through this. You can't let yourself doubt that. We've come too far to turn back on this. It was understandable that we'd have a hard first leafbare. I think that would be true anywhere, but don't you see? If we can make it through this, we can make it through anything this land throws at us. Next leafbare, we'll be prepared. We'll know what's coming, and we'll have many moons to prepare for it...'

Shifting, the tom figured he needed to reply. His jaws opened and his teeth shone, each of them pearly ivory beauties. He had incredibily nice teeth for a cat whose teeth was stained by blood once every couple of days. "Yeah, I've noticed. It is rather miraculous. But most Rapidfall cats aren't much of fishers, are we?" Copperfall said and felt giddy with excitement when his eyes drifted over to the muddy waters of Rapid River. Sure enough, Copperfall could see from where he was sitting that fish swam, just under the water's surface. They seemed plump and healthy, too, Copperfall noted, and padded closer to them, as if he was being drawn to them by a string. Moss and algae lined either side of the river's expanse and, narrowing his eyes, the tomcat could see little flakes of the vegetation being pulled away from the group and ripped of life by the rushing waters. This must be the fish's food, Copperfall decided and halted at the river's edge to peer into its depths. The fish in the river usually weren't hunted by Rapidfall's circle members. The ginger tom wondered if they even noticed or cared about his presence. They didn't seem scared of him; they didn't even know that they had a reason to be frightened about the big ginger lump of a tom that was poised over them. Copperfall was thankful for the fish's naiveness.

The tomcat sighed, not allowing the river to allure him away from their conversation too much. Copperfall had noted, previously, on how thin she had appeared, and now she was trying to make him feel better? Was his worry that obvious? Copperfall's fur prickled a little, but the annoyance died in his heart before it could amount to something. Of course she's worrying. She notices how tense I am and tries to make me feel better, Copperfall realized, knowing that it was within most normal cat's nature to comfort one another. Copperfall's jaws opened, a thankful smile written on his face. "I hope we will make it ... I worry that my circle will fade everyday. If Rapidfall's Circle doesn't make it ... I will have destroyed everything Eveningfall has created. I already have destroyed most of that," Copperfall said, looking a little forlorn. "Eveningfall was a great Chosen One. I know that I cannot match her greatness, but at least I can keep the Circle alive. That's the least I can do ..." Copperfall said and looked down at the ground. After a few brief moments, Copperfall's head raised to look at Blithespirit, his olive eyes filled with a new light. "Yes. Rapidfall's Circle will survive no matter what. It must. And I can start keeping it alive ... with this," Copperfall said, and then turned to the river and made a gesture that he was going to hunt. He pulled himself so that his toes were slightly over the water's edge.

The ginger tomcat's left front claws became exposed and he lifted this paw practisedly in the air. This'll make up for the time a few days ago with Heronleg when I lost that mouse, he told himself, grinning almost mischeviously. He was no longer aware of Blithespirit's presence; he focused on the task at hand with a massive amount of concentration.

The deed was done in a blink of an eye. One moment, his paw was in the air, just behind his head, and the sun had peaked from underneath its warm blanket of clouds to reflect off of the tom's ginger fur. The next, his paw had plummeted into the water and his left paw had followed suit, lifting up from the ground and joining the other in the quick water dip. When the paws were pulled out of the water, the large, squirming body of a silver pink-bellied trout were between them. Water sprayed from the wet fish as it trashed, still live and wanting to get back in the water to breath. Copperfall held the fish over the water, in place, as if he were torturing the poor fish. The trout was so close to the water, and yet, so far, as it soon became known. Copperfall twisted, slamming the fish's body on the mossy ground and impaled it with his left paw. The trout died a swift and clean death. The fish still in the river were undisturbed and didn't notice the ruckus up above. They remained blind that one of the members in their 'fish family' had been taken.

Copperfall's chest swelled with pride and then deflated. The tomcat had been taught that move, the way of the fisher-cat, by someone else. Eveningfall. The sleek black she-cat had always reminded her of more of a RiverClan goddess than a down-to-earth ThunderClanner. She picked fish from the water with such grace that she left Copperfall looking like a dunce. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have been able to catch the fish at all.

Her, Copperfall thought, and became aware, once more, of the gray tabby's presence. he had been trying to have a conversation with her - he'd been chastising himself for his rudeness in wanting her to speak. Now he was practically ignoring her. Which was worse? Copperfall padded over to her, the fish in his mouth. The ginger tom's mouth watered but he did not give in to the fish's taste. This fish would be for someone else; Copperfall knew that their were plenty of cats who needed it more than he did. "Tadaaa!" Copperfall meowed and settled down beside Blithespirit. He deposited his large catch on the ground and stared at it, as if it was something beautiful. It was.

word count; 2373
character; Copperfall
comments; holy crap. xD