ghosts // private

[Ivypaw]

[[ Darya - I'm going ahead and switching this from an open thread to a private one, I hope you don't mind! ]]

Finally. With her newfound apprentice status, Ivy could roam freely, or at the very least, she could roam without getting shouted at quite as much. She could work under the pretense of hunting, if anyone even noticed she was gone. It was likely that nobody of any importance would- she liked to keep herself scarce, for the most part, even from her clanmates.

Now that she was out here, and alone, she realized that might have been a mistake- to distance herself from her main source of protection, so much so that only a few of them would realize she was gone, if she happened to go missing. Yet, the distractions, the multitude of new scents and sounds kept her distracted enough to push the thought aside. She was crafty. She was confident that she could worm herself out of any trouble. Not that she would run into any.

The place seemed rather quiet at the moment. She was content simply to explore. She kept the farm in sight, obviously, but besides that, she wandered as she pleased. She had gone out before, of course- testing the boundaries of the rules. With the warriors so busy, it hadn't been so hard. She still hadn't wandered so far before, though.

At the sound of a twig snapping, Ivy pricked her ears and straightened up, turning towards the origin of the sound. It seemed she was no longer alone. She said nothing, but narrowed her bicolored eyes suspiciously at the source, and she sniffed the air. The scent seemed almost familiar... 

[Darya]

(This will have to take place before her thread with Bael, hehe...I'm not sure if they'd be traveling together or not. And seeing as Darya wouldn't be so clumsy...)

Darya found herself wandering again. Alone, of course. Oh how she did that so often. She really ought to not spend such lengths of time alone, yet believe it or not she was less fearful on her own. More...young. She almost acted her age spwhen she was alone, other than the fact that she would hunt and practice fighting and herbs. She wasn't very good at the last one, but she was a skillfull hunting and getting better at fighting. Yet she still couldn't find a way to free herself from her ever present thoughts. Her mind always wandered back to her father, and the betrayal of her brother. The death of her mother. Oh how sufpch a life had left her cowering from even the scent of a feline. She found her thoughts upon her father now. She forces them away, not wishing to dwell.

For once Darya was fed. Thanks to her increasing skill in hunting, and living in an area specifically selected because it was plentiful in its prey, and no so much in its cats, she'd managed to hunt well that morning. In fact, come to think of it, she'd been less ribby lately, and less tired too. Her appearance wasn't so shaken, her fur wasn't so ragged, and she looked less kitlike in her reflection she than she was used to. Her eyes weren't as wide and frightful, though they still held that ever present uncertainty and spark of fear waiting to dig its claws into her heart. If anything, she looked...better. She'd been sleeping okay recently, but she still found herself missing the companionship she'd had as a newborn kit. She still finds her thoughts straying too far away from her grasp until she's forced to reel them back in with much effort lest her sense of sanity and reality join them. At least her instincts were sharp. Moons of keeping watch, of startling at almost every sound bpmade her senses keen.

Darya finds herself startled at the sound of a cracking branch. It wasn't her, yet she looks around beneath her paws to check, just in case. Her epfear rises at the confirmation, and her gaze flits around, almost panicked. Then she spots a bird rocketing out of a nearby tree, half a branch rpfalling to the ground. It's a spindly branch, but dry. She notices this was what had made the snapping sound as she approaches the fallen half. Her gaze flits up to track the bird's progress before she releases a sigh of relief. This doesn't last long, however, as she catches the scent of a cat. It's familiar, but...

Nerves on high alert, Darya whips around toward the scent and strains her eyes through the remaining copse of trees out into the meadow alongside her. She takes a few prowling steps forward, body tense and muscles coiled like springs. Her eyes flit to a grey and white tabby pelt, and she stares at them for a moment, rigid and ropeady to bolt. Then she recognises the feline and relaxes, if only slightly. Her ears flitter nervously, and she takes another hesitant step, knowing this cat is no longer a kitten and may have changed her mind about her. "Ivy?" She murmurs, despite the fact she already knows the answer. Her ears twitch back and forth, uncertain, and she habitually shields her scarred shoulder from view. Her torn ear isn't so easily hidden, but in this instance she forgets about it.

[Ivypaw]

Perhaps it's a false alarm. Evidently, the sound has come from a bird- not another cat, as Ivy had expected. She starts to relax when she hears somebody calling her name. There aren't many who know it, and the voice is vaguely familiar. Less nervous, and slightly more mature than she remembers, but it's Darya. The loner she had met, a few moons ago. Ivy whips around, still tense, stance guarded, in case she is mistaken, but then she sees Darya, and she immediately relaxes, even if some part of her thinks that it might have been a mistake to lower her guard. Darya is older now. She likely has more training than Ivy does, given that she has been living on her own, and Ivy barely knows how to hunt. And it's also possible that she sees IceClan as an enemy, now. Yet, she lowers her guard, anyway. She's almost happy to see Darya, actually, though she's not entirely sure why that might be. "Darya," she says, and it's a statement, not a question. Darya has definitely grown. She still looks a little afraid, yes, but other than that, she seems to be doing alright. Her fur is less ragged, and she seems less shaken up than she had the fist time they had met. Ivy is thankful for that, at least. Ivy blinks a few times, clearly somewhat mystified by the fact that she's face to face with a cat she honestly hadn't thought she'd ever see again, even if she had wanted to. "You're here?" she asks, despite herself, and her usually all-knowing attitude she likes to show off.

► kaigra ◄

[Darya]

Darya watches the other warily as she hesitates before whipping around to face her. At the guarded look, Darya takes a step back. Perhaps she'd been mistaken? No, this cat was deifinitely Ivy, if only a few moons older. Yet she might think of her as an enemy now...The young feline manages to shake off the thought - with some effort - as the other instantly relaxes. She seems reluctant to let her guard down, yet does so all the same. Perhaps she didn't see Darya as a threat, even now. We're she an you other cat, Darya would be insulted, yet the child merely found herself relieved, ears twitching slightly as though still unsure of her place. She takes a few steps closer, then stalls with one paw raised and tail swaying a little to portray her frayed nerves.

When the other speaks her name, it is a statement, not a question of unsure recognition as Darya's had been. The child can only over a nod, her eyes roving over the other before flitting toward her home, unsertain. She's always uncertain, frightened, wary, guarded, all things that scream 'leave me alone' in the sense of it all. Yet she'd begun to settle a little, saving her judgements as well as she can. It takes much conscious effort, but she knows well that progress has been made. Ivy must have noticed this too, for she sees a flicker of relief in her gaze, but then it's gone and Darya finds herself questioning what she saw. Her overactive imagination, surely.

Ivy goes on to ask a question, her tone quite unbecoming of the up herself personality she'd seemingly held onto so firmly when they'd first met. Darya wasn't sure why she liked this cat, but she did. It was strange, and she couldn't explain it. She shakes this thought off and finally finds some words to say. "How have you been? H-have ya started that training ya mention before?" Her fearful stutter and the lack of speaking due to her constant fear had now faded a little in her voice, leaving her with a soft and rhythmic accent, one that suited her wholly, yet was somewhat foreign here. Strange that one can keep a childhood accent after raising herself somewhere else with little to no speaking at all. Perhaps it was merely because she'd never managed to practice their own accents and words here, so she'd kept to her own. Her eyes flit nervously between Ivy and the barn she can just see in the distance, unsure about being out in the open, yet not willing to complain.

[Ivypaw]

darya notes

Ivy blinks a few times, before pulling her typical mask of confidence back over her face. It's not placed as certainly as it usually is. Perhaps it's difficult to do it so easily around Darya since the loner was one of the few who had managed to get her all sentimental before. She has convinced herself that the only reason she was so generous in the first place was because Darya seemed so fragile at the time. Why else would Ivy have extended such kindness towards her? Clearly, though, the loner doesn't need her generosity anymore. She's more than capable of taking care of herself, seeing as how she has already for a few moons. And yet, Ivy still feels compelled to be at least a little nicer than she usually is. That bothers her, a little. Maybe it's because Darya is one of the only ones that Ivy considers even close to a friend. Yuck. She's becoming too much of a sap. "Hardly," she sighs, sitting down in the grass. "I've only just started learning how to hunt, actually, which is rather disappointing. I would have hoped to be farther along in my training by now..." She pauses, observing the way that Darya still seems somewhat nervous whenever she looks past Ivy, at the barn. Maybe the idea of being so close to the open plain is unnerving. The loner hasn't said anything, but she doesn't really seem comfortable so close, either. Ivy almost brings it up, but decides against it. She stands and pads closer to the copse of trees that they were still lingering near. She tries to place herself in an area that's a little more hidden from the barn- and therefore less in the open. "In any case, I guess it's going well enough, apart from it being slow," she continues, casually, as though moving hadn't been something she'd deliberately meant to do. "What about you?" Ivy asks, next, eyes gleaming with interest as they land on Darya. "How's life as a not-clanner? It seems to be treating you better than it had been, last time. Good hunting?"

► kaigra ◄

[Darya]

Darya really shouldn't be this close to the barn, especially not staying here to have a conversation. Yet she basically lived around here now, wandering often so she wouldn't seem suspicious. Besides, it was good to see Ivy again. Even as she settles her mask of confidence back into place, Darya can easily make out the cracks that no doubt aren't supposed to be there. She wonders briefly if those cracks are only there for her, if she'd gotten better at spotting the cracks in such masks, or if they had always been there and she hadn't noticed at first. As it was, the other seemed less up-herself than she did as a kit, and Darya found herself glad of this fact.

The child is broken away from her thoughts as Ivy speaks, causing her attention to jerk slightly and her to briefly startle. Yet she calms instantly, or at least appears too. She's still wary and no doubt rather jumpy, uncertain of her place too. Yet she doesn't look like she's about to bolt in terror any second like she had during their first meeting. What an improvement. "Really? I thought ya'd have learnt more too...do yer older cats not teach ya as much?" She refrains from entitling her learnings. It sounds better this way, less expectation, yet it was also better to know more at and earlier age. At least in her case. This feline has a clan, which means she doesn't have to commit to these things so much in order to survive.

Darya finds herself pleasantly surprised as Ivy gets to her paws again and starts wandering toward the nearby copse of trees. Of course she keeps the barn in sight, but perhaps the other doesn't like the open meadow so much either. Or maybe she'd moved to suit Darya better. 'She probably just finds my scardiness annoying, that's all' she points out sharply to herself. Yet she follows gladly and settles down so that the foliage shelters her slightly from the view of the barn cats. Ivy merely continues on casually, and Darya nods in understanding. "That's good to know. Ya seem like ya'd be a quick learner" she offers sincerely, being a good judge of these things thanks to her learnings back when she was littler.

As the subject changes to her Darya's ears heat up slightly and she ducks her head, kneeling the ground absentmindedly tpwith her paws in thought before peerin up at the Iceclanner in order to respond. She catches the gleam of interest in the other's eyes, and can't help the ghost smile upon her face. "Pretty okay, actually. I keep to myself, and live nearby here mostly, over at a fallen down barn my Ma used to take me and my sis to when we was little." Her ears twitch slightly and she subconsciously flinches at her offhanded mention of her Ma and sis. She forces these thoughts away and goes on. "Huntin's alright. I've been teachin' myself how ta fish, an I've perfected the burrowhunting my brother used to teach me. I think I've gotten better, and it's good not bein' so small no more." She smiles, her accent stronger as she relaxes more.

Despite her now more relaxed state, she's still nervy, and her eyes flit around her a few times before settling upon the ground, uncertain. It also strays toward the sky once or twice, for she'd recently seen a bird attack a cat, and it looked dangerous. It almost got them too, if their friends hadn't shown up on time it probably would have. The cat was lucky, yet she might not be so. To distract herself from her wandering thoughts the child allows her attention to settle back on Ivy just as a thought occurs to her. "Hey, since I live round here, I could always help ya with yer trainin' if ya want. I in't so good at battle, but I like to think I'm pretty good at huntin' and I could show ya a few good spots. I used to come here a lot, and I had some trainin' here too."

[Ivypaw]

darya              [ ivy the tsun tsun ]

"I suppose they've just been too busy lately," Ivy shrugs. "Some of them are still patrolling the old territories to see if we can go back, so less have been around." For a moment, Ivy wonders what will happen if they find out that they can go back. She'd been born here- she's never seen the IceClan territory. The farm is the only home she's ever known. But one day, they will go back. Something in Ivy stirs uneasily when she realizes that after that, she probably won't be seeing Darya again. For some reason, the thought bothers her. There's a bit of pride that blossoms in Ivy's chest when she notices the way that Darya smiles, ever so slightly. It's odd, when she's so used to taking pride in doing the opposite- bothering others. But she's more used to Darya being nervous, and seeing any sort of smile on her face, even a tiny one, makes Ivy almost glad. She feels herself start to grin a little as well, and it's a somewhat impish, but it's not like the scheming variation that she usually wears. Ivy's smile fades slightly when she notices the way that Darya flinches at her own mention of her family, but her uneasiness about that seems to fade when she keeps on talking. At least her memories of her family seem to have faded into something a little more positive than they had been the last time they'd met. And while Ivy is glad that loner life is going well, she's somewhat disappointed as well- it seems that she won't need IceClan. Or Ivy, for that matter. For some reason, Ivy takes that a little more personally than she should, and her mask falters for a moment before she puts it back in place. The one time she opens up and offers help, it turns out nobody needs it. Just her luck. "Really?" Ivy asks, trying to hide the tiny bit of childish excitement that creeps into her voice. She clears her throat, attempting to pass it off as some sort of voice crack, and she averts her bicolored gaze, somewhat embarassed by the whole thing. "Well, if you're offering, 'n all." She pauses for a moment, then tips her head to the side. "Where'd you find somebody to train you, though?"

► kaigra ◄