running along to a rhythm, on a path so bitter

[ Love Shimmeringmoon's character already! ]

Rookbriar's day had flown by quickly. On his feet since well before dawn, it was already midday by the time the dark grey tom had finished his long list of self-imposed chores. Hunt for the queens and elderly. Check. Collect herbs. Check. Preliminary patrolling. Check.

Suppressing a yawn, Rookbriar padded out from behind a clump of ferns and surveyed the makeshift camp he now called home. Dead quiet when he first left that morning to hunt, the clearing was now teeming with life, as his traveling companions -- more cats than he could count -- mingled with one another. He watched, bosom full, as they stretched, sunned themselves, chatted, shared tongues, munched on fresh kill, picked fleas out of their pelts, heck even simply breathed. They were beautiful. Each one of them. 

'I'm so grateful I'm alive to see this,' he thought, the pride in his belly giving way to regret. 'I just wish Kiteswoop and Magpiekit could be here, too. They would have loved to meet all these cats.' 

He studied the crowd for a few moments in silence before shaking his head as though swatting away a fly. 'I will take care of my new family now.' With a soft exhale, he sauntered into the horde, eyeing the remaining item on the freshkill pile: a bedraggled thrush. Belly rumbling, his teeth had just breeched its flesh when he heard the voice of an angel calling his name. 

Rookbriar! The tom turned and set the thrush down with care as the charming and handsome warrior Shimmeringmoon bounced over to him. I haven't seen you in forever! Rookbriar's face grew hot at the young lad's flirtatious tone and he couldn't help but grin dumbly. 

"Sh-shimmeringmoon!" He stuttered, trying not to pay attention the warrior's delightful scent. "How are you today? Have you eaten?" Rookbriar nudged the thrush with a forepaw. "We could, um, share? I-I couldn't eat this all by myself." 

Rookbriar hadn't known Shimmeringmoon for a long time, but the two toms had become fast friends and spoke frequently, daily if Rookbriar could manage it with all his responsibilities. There was no one who could make Rookbriar laugh harder than Shimmeringmoon, nor swoon harder for that matter. It'd been moons since a tom other than Kiteswoop had crossed his mind, but then again no one besides Kiteswoop had made his belly flip like this before. Shimmeringmoon was special, and Rookbriar wondered if he might get a second chance at happiness with the tom. While it truly was too soon to be thinking such things, he had always been a hopeless romantic at heart.