t.tr.ra.ap.pe.ed.d - open to anyone

[Sash]

He missed his friends.
Yorke wouldn't say so, but it was true. He missed sleeping curled up with his clanmates. He missed Mintpaw, but knew she hated him with every fiber in her being.
Before entering, he hissed out to an apprentice following a group of Riverclan cats, curous. "Where are you guys going?"

"Yorke."
The apprentice darted away as Maplestar approached, her eyes dark, mouth a tight-lipped frown. As the clan left the amp and went farther and farther away, her face brightened. "Hello, Yorke! Home for a visit?"

"Yeah, that's all."

"You know, I would accept you if you returned."

He shrugged. "I know. But I don't want to."

"Not at all?" Maplestar's ears drooped. "You sure? You're one of the only cats I tr--"

"Shut up," he said, and the two cats sat in silence.

"We're going to a Gathering." she said. "Stay as long as you like." She was scolding him by not looking at his face, narrowing her eyes and running swiftly toward the front of her clan.

He watched her leave, rolling his shoulders and saying kind hello's to old clanmates, whoever had been left behind. He felt sorry for Maplestar but mainly sorry for himself. It was a sort of pity that made him sick to his stomach, and he left the bustling cats in the camp to sit just outside of it, staring at the ground, lost in his thoughts.

[~T.o.x.i.c]

A lithe light grey she-cat was walking out of the camp to go hunting. She saw a familiar face as was walking. Storm? She said his name like a question. Why do you come back all the time if you don't want to stay? Mint asked the question cruelly and didn't care if she hurt the tom's feelings. He had broken her heart, and she wouldn't just go up to him and pretend nothing had happened. Although she felt like it, she knew if she did that would go against everything she had done before. Mintstream knew she would never have a normal she-cat's life as long as she loved Storm, but how couldn't she. He was everything she could ever want and more, because he had loved her too, but now she didn't know.

[Sash]

At the sound of her voice Yorke rose to his paws. "Minty--" he said quickly, then paused, clearing his throat. His smile fell, and he shrugged his shoulders. "It's not the same," he said. "I...I can't live this sort of life, Mintstream. It feels so...restrained...to me. To...me."

There was an ache in his heart, mainly because he knew she would, probably, never forgive him. He still cared for her, still cared for her deeply,and he felt terrible for leaving her the way he did, hardly a goodbye.
His eyes darted to his paws at the thought of his first return, the cats who'd known smacking him with sheathed paws, cat who thought he'd died embracing him: and Mintstream, who he'd run up to with a big smile on his face. She'd hissed at him like he was a stranger.

[~T.o.x.i.c]

Mintstream seemed to take on the role of a bitter selfish cat when she was around Yorke. She always acted as if she was too good for him, but in reality she would give in to him in a heart beat. He was her weakness, but she would never let that be known. The sun hit her light grey pelt making it shine beautifully. What's the difference! If you had stayed to have your warrior's ceremony you would have more freedom. Just take care of the clan as well as your self. You left me here alone! Mint was angry and hissed her words, but didn't yell because she didn't want to disrupt the clan. Would it have been so hard to think of the clan, even just me, before yourself. she thought to herself. She felt like running away to cry, but knew that wouldn't do anything for her. He had left and wasn't coming back, not even for her.