Chance Meetings

Brightpaw bounded through trees, the tightly woven boughs of the pine forest protected most of the area from heavy snow but as the trees thinned it began to accumulate. Sure, the pines kept SkyClan territory easy to traverse but the lack of undergrowth in leaf bare tended to make prey harder to catch. One of the other apprentices mentioned they were having better luck hunting towards the border of ThunderClan where there were more leafy trees, well, formerly leafy trees, and undergrowth. Despite, this advice, the snow would certainly make the hunt harder, so maybe she would have been better off climbing and trying to catch an unsuspecting bird... Brightpaw gave her head a quick shake, she'd already come this far, might as well see what she could find out this way.

Soon enough, she caught the scent of ThunderClan and halted to make sure she wouldn't stray over the border. The clans had been at peace for a while now, so no reason to risk stirring up unnecessary trouble. Brightpaw began carefully scenting the air. It was so still, just the quiet rustling and creaking of cold, barren branches. She caught the faint scent of mouse and a squirrel but the trail was stale, likely long gone. With a soft, frustrated huff, she began trotting parallel to the border, paws crunching quietly in the thin layer of snow.

Taking a deep breath, Bigfoot watched as his usually invisible breath turned into a thin layer of mist and quickly disappeared in front of his muzzle. The weather had gotten colder and colder with each passing day and while the bottom of his paws grew chilly, this was the season where he was thankful that he was on the bulkier size when it came to body mass and fluff.

Padding onwards through the forest, he kept his nose up in an effort to catch the scent of any prey that found themselves unfortunate enough to be running about in broad daylight. ThunderClan was pretty good about keeping their freshkill pile stocked up, but in weather like this it was never a bad idea to have more prey. Not having found anything thus far, a scent caught his nose that at first was unfamiliar, but the more he focused on it he could've sworn he'd smelt it somewhere before.

Nearing the Fallen Oak border, the scent grew stronger and slowing to a stop, his amber gaze fell upon the cat in which the scent came from; the SkyClan she-cat that he'd chatted with at gathering's past. Brightpaw, was it? Hopefully that was her name or else he'd look like a complete idiot... which of course wouldn't be a lie...

A large grin grew on his muzzle as he approached the she-cat, his large paws thumping against the snow covered ground bellow. "Hey there!" he purred happily.

As focused as she was, the wind blowing towards Thunderclan territory prevented her from scenting anything in that direction. She jumped at the sudden crunching pawsteps in the snow, whirling around just as a familiar voice spoke. Bigfoot! "Oh! Uh, hi- Bigfoot!" Her breath puffed out in a little cloud as she spoke and her eyes fell on the large, golden tom. Brightpaw quickly shook herself to settle her prickling fur. She quickly scented to make sure she hadn't accidentally crossed the border; though she'd meandered closer than she'd intended, she still definitely stood in Skyclan territory. "Well, don't you look warm over there," she teased, eyeing his thick, fluffy coat.

Glad that she'd remembered who he was, Bigfoot purred with delight. Taking a few steps forward as she spoke, the golden and ginger pelted tom's ears perked up at the thought. He never thought much of it, considering him and most of his family had been blessed with thick pelts, but she was right; he never found himself bothered by the cold. Her on the other paw didn't seem to be as fortunate and he couldn't imagine what it was like in Leafbare without fur like his. Of course, in Greenleaf she was probably more comfortable, unlike him who got unreasonably hot if he bathed in the sun for too long.

Stopping in his tracks, the ThunderClanner turned to his left where the Fallen Oak laid covered in snow. When it came to wits Bigfoot didn't have many, but when it came to she-cats, he knew exactly what to do, more or less.

Making his way over to the fallen log and hopping up onto it, he landed with a somewhat graceful 'thump.' Using his fluffy tail and big paws, the tom wiped away the blanket of snow that covered the dead tree. Sitting down, he motioned with his tail at a space beside him that'd he'd also removed the snow from. "I'd be even warmer with you by ma' side," he mewed smoothly, his big, goofy grin covering his maw.

Brightpaw blinked, watching curiously as Bigfoot turned and jumped up onto the Fallen Oak, brushing off the layer of snow. Unsure of the purpose until he beckoned her up with a cheesy line and goofy grin. She giggled, ducking her head against a raised paw to stifle her amusement. What a strange cat. After a brief hesitation she padded closer, "With all that fluff I don't see why little me would help at all." She teased, nonetheless the pale calico she-cat easily leapt up to join the larger tom, short tail neatly flicking around her paws as she settled in the space Bigfoot had cleared for her.

"I suppose you're right," Bigfoot pondered softly, looking up to the sky as he spoke and completely disregarding any of the clever charm that he'd held just moments before. "Guess it's still nice to sit next to each other," he purred with a smile, turning his amber gaze back down to the molly as she joined him. "Most of the family is pretty borin', it's fun to get out and be with a cat that brings me joy being around, ya know?" Somehow, whatever charm he'd possessed returned to him as he spoke as if a switch had been turned off and back on again. What he said, though his demeaner was in a constant goofy state, was purely genuine whether he himself really knew it or not.

Brightpaw purred softly, green eyes looking up at the larger tom. "I certainly wouldn't know much about that." She shifted to settle more comfortably on the Oak as she spoke. "I don't have any siblings and I never knew my father well. So, the entire clan is really my family, pretty hard for all of them to be boring." Her tail flicked around to playfully tap Bigfoot's flank, "But being around cats who you haven't know your whole life is always fun."

Listening as she calico she-cat spoke, Bigfoot sat in silence waiting until she finished. "Havin' a big family has its ups and downs I guess," he shrugged. He truly loved his family, even if the majority of them weren't much fun most of the time. That being said, he guessed that's why StarClan gave him such a family so that he could bring some life into their ever so dull ways.

Perking up a little as an ever so grand idea popped into his head, the largely built warrior looked to Brightpaw with his usual wide grin. "Ya know, I could always be your family too since you don't got a real one," he mewed, not having really thought about what the deeper meaning behind what he'd said was or the concerns that came with such an idea.