MAU

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| Open thread, but it was made for Spottedheart. |

Maplefrost had perfected his thousand-yard stare recently. The elder put it to use whenever he was lost in thought… so: frequently. Today just happened to be another of those zoned-out days. He'd been gazing blankly at a rock for the better part of two hours.

Even the approach of a Clanmate did not rouse him from his near-coma. Maple could've been in the midst of a raging battle and it wouldn't have mattered - he was essentially deaf to the world and completely absorbed in his own mental banter.

[Spottedheart]

Spottedheart had just moved away from the freshkill pile with a rabbit when he saw an elder. He didn't remember the last time he saw or spoke to an elder. With his mouth full Spottedheart moved over towards the elder.
"Hello." The young warrior greeted politely. Using his paw he moved the rabbit between them incase the elder wanted some.

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The calico tom let out a startled noise and thrashed around for several heartbeats when Spottedheart spoke. After he'd realized what was happening and calmed down slightly, he squinted at the black-and-white feline with his one good eye.

"Great CloudClan, you scared me out of my fur." Maplefrost glanced down at the rabbit - prey was scarce during leaf-bare, but he was hungry. Did the warrior really not mind sharing?

[Spottedheart]

Spottedheart shuffled his paws nervously and looked embarrassed, "S-sorry." He apologized.
Changing the subject he flicked his tail towards the rabbit. "Want to share?" He offered, hoping to hear one of the Elder's stories. He shoved his paws underneath him and sat waiting for the elder to respond.

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"Hm… I don't see why not," the old cat conceded after a brief hesitation. Maplefrost took a bite of the meat gratefully. For a Maine Coon, he was rather thin; just a consequence of living in the mountains.

He swallowed, then straightened up. "Have I met you before?" he asked Spottedheart. Maybe he'd seen the warrior around camp… but he found himself unable to pair a name with the face.

[Spottedheart]

The younger cat took a bite after the elder did and tried to remember if he had met the elder or not.
"I don't think I've seen you around before." He mewed, enjoying the flavor of rabbit. Slowly, so as not to startle the elder he repositioned himself more comfortably. "Do you have any stories? I love stories."

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"Really?" the calico asked with a raised catlike eyebrow. That seemed… improbable. Maplefrost had been around for countless seasons; he rarely disappeared, and could often be seen lounging around camp now that he was retired. "Well. You can call me Maplefrost," he stated, mostly fishing for a name from the younger tom. Maybe that'd ring a metaphorical bell.

It was uncommon to see adults asking for stories. However, he obliged anyway. "I daresay I'd be pretty lame if I didn't have any tales to tell. Did you have anything particular in mind?" Maple questioned as he took another bite of the prey. Some cats asked for retellings of historic Clan events… others just wanted something for entertainment. He didn't really favor one type of story over the others.

[Spottedheart]

"Yeah, I kind of, er... Left for awhile." Spottedheart mewed, leaning his head down. "I just want to hear stories about what life was like before cats like me were born."
Tentatively he took another bite of the prey, feeling less hungry then before.

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Though he considered it somewhat rude that Spottedheart had not introduced himself in response, the elder didn't say so. He just allowed silence to fall as he contemplated this request. Maplefrost wasn't quite sure when this tom had been born, though he appeared to be a somewhat young adult.

"Hmm… I don't suppose you've heard about the time when TreeClan's territory caught fire?" The consequences of that natural disaster had been pretty brutal. And though it wouldn't have directly affected them, IceClan had been dragged into the mess soon enough.

[Winterrose]

[[Invited by Spottedheart]]

"Hello, may I join you?" The white she-cat approached grabbing a small field mice for her tasting. At that moment she spotted the old fragile, wise elder too and a very colorful cat that had the appearance of a badger or raccoon; the black and white colors whom she seen often on hunts and what else.
She was just in time to hear Maplefrost speak and this- this here sparked her interest. The last time she spoken to an elder or seen was so so many seasons ago, when she was a kitten and that was a elder Wildwind, who doesn't show herself anymore..ever
Her ears perked forward,"I heard bits and pieces but not the full story. Oh, I'm Winterrose." That may of happened when she turned an apprentice. She sat down in their little group waiting for maplefrost to carry on.

[Spottedheart]

Spottedheart turned his head to see a fairly pretty white she cat approaching. Using his black tail he flicked it at a spot for her to sit next to himself and the elder. "I'm Spottedheart, I think I've seen you around a few times." He nudged the rabbit over towards Maplefrost, offering him the rest. He had enough and figured the elder deserved more than him. After all, what respect should a deserter have after abandoning his own clan for months on a foolish soul searching journey.

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Upon hearing another voice, the one-eyed tom casually waved over Winterrose with his tail. Group storytelling was always interesting; more so with a bunch of kittens or young apprentices, but he supposed it didn't matter much.

"Maplefrost," he meowed to the she-cat, in case she hadn't caught his name before. The calico paused for several moments as he recalled the event in question. "Well… this was many seasons back. Three greenleafs ago, I believe, but that could be wrong."

"I happened to be hunting in the mountains. It was a late-night outing; I had woken up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I'd left around moonhigh. Despite the light rain and occasional thunder, it was very peaceful. At least… until I happened to look out from on top of a ridge. There were flames dancing among the trees in the distant forest."

He paused to take a breath and to allow the two warriors to react. Though he hadn't known exactly what happened in TreeClan during the fire, he'd heard enough from their cats to fill in the gaps.

[Winterrose]

She took a seat next to the warrior named Spottedheart,"Oh, we've seen each other around I'm sure. Kind of don't speak much though, always ignored at a young age so.. kind of stuck that way." She gave a careless shrug than glanced at him than Maplefrost as he began to start. "Wow.. So the lightning struck a tree down possibly and caused a fire. I forgotten lightning storms can do that. We never had that happen in Iceclan.. have we? Or did it react our border? I know the smoke must have. Pretty interesting in a bad way."

Winterrose replied. So it wasn't snowing at the time.. Otherwise the snow could of burned it out..

She glanced at Spottedheart,"Anything like that happen on the hunt you went on recently?" She whispered than remained silent wondering what else Maplefrost would say.. or Spottedheart.

[Spottedheart]

"No, thank CloudClan." Spottedheart murmured. It was about time that Spottedheart found a mate after Gracetail. He couldn't rush to conclusions though. She seemed nice enough, quiet and polite. Finally realizing he was staring into space he snapped back into reality and looked at the elder waiting for a response.

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Ears twitching slightly, the calico resumed telling the story. "The rain was still too light; not nearly enough to put out the fire. So it spread. I'm no expert on TreeClan's territory, but I had a good idea of where their camp was - and it looked like it'd be nothing but ash soon enough. There wasn't any way a cat could stop it, so I ran back to our camp to spread the news."

"Apparently, TreeClan managed to flee the forest fire. They made it to the stream at our border and then headed up into the mountains. I suppose they were hoping that we'd shelter them until they could return to their territory… and, well, they were right. It wasn't like we could turn them away after what had happened."

Maplefrost curled his tail around his paws and nibbled at the rabbit some more. "But there's a reason why the Clans have separate territories, you know. TreeClan didn't fit in too well. It was, honestly, a relief when they eventually went home."