BUT I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ✦ an intruder

[DOEBLAZE]

A carpet of pine spills out beneath her paws, a chill that feels out of place despite the rusting leaves nipping at the tips of her ears. Twolegplace is at her side, snatches of brickwork and chimney smoke visible through the gaps between the last fringe of trees between the wild and the orderly neatness of the Twoleg village. Doeblaze swishes her tail as @cloudypaw~ lopes at her side, her coltish charge nearly outpacing her and making her work to keep up with each step; she slots in her lecture between frost-clouded breaths.

" Twolegplace can provide an opportunity to find unique scents on the wind. Ones you wouldn't see elsewhere, " she instructs as they move along the border, the rest of their patrol scattered nearby, chatting or simply taking in the blazing-red leaf-fall foliage. Instructively, she parts her own jaws, tasting an acrid smokiness and a sour, bitter tang layered over the heady cocktail of Twolegplace's usual smog mixing with spiced pine. " Why don't you tr ... " she falls away from the words midsentence as the scent rings home in her mind with a sound like cool metal against itself. That false wildness, artificial smoke—familiarity unspools bitterly on her tongue.

Every fur along her spine makes itself known as it ruffles into spikes, her eye widening. Her claws sink into the earth as her limbs tremble with the sheer power of the overwhelming urge to flee, to let her paws carry her as far from that scent as they can take her. Until sixteen moons of callouses wear themselves away in a second. The urge washes over her forcefully, insistently, and it takes a hard glance at Cloudypaw's innocent face to keep her paws rooted to the ground. Slowly, surely, her body unspools, tension spikes settling back down into their usual lines, and then—

Crack! She turns too-quick on her paws and nearly unbalances herself, tail whipping behind her as she perches birdlike on the tips of her toes, ready to run. There's nothing at all—and then something shifts between two stout trunks, and she surges forward a half-pawstep too fast. Not fast enough to catch anything more, but enough to nearly trip—and to see, for just a moment, two beaten-copper eyes in the shadow cast by one of the great pines. She blinks rapidly, turns to @Florabreeze , the first patrolmate she sees—and there's a rustle, a movement of black in the already-dark shade.

Doeblaze stands wordless and with her forepaws trembling, breathing heavily though she's moved no more than a couple steps. Abruptly, she realizes it can't have been more than a moment since the crack of a branch under someone's paw.

OOC : No need to wait for Florabreeze! Important to note — the intruder is gone, and nobody but Doeblaze and Florabreeze will have seen them.

✦

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[Florabreeze]

Twolegplace isn't unknown to Florabreeze, nor is it an unknown to her apprentices. This border is one that is guaranteed to be as much of a constant throughout the day as the sun is to rise and fall. No matter what happens they day will start and end with crossing this threshold, while she tries to keep an eye on Jellypaw there is enough trust for her to know this area will enough to let her gaze wander. Taking in the familiar haze of smog and artificial scents, the bird song was a nice contrast it formed a bridge between worlds in her mind. She tries to spot anything out of place, the intention for that being weird little creations that twolegs had created. The border was rife with them, in fact she remembers that strange sphere like object that her patrol had batted not too long ago.

The crack of a branch grabs her immediate attention, of course it was likely that it was just another patrol mate but she remembers those foxes. She would be remiss to not immediately assume the worse, tail swinging to tap Sfogliatella's side as a warning. Apparently she wasn't the only one alerted to the sound, battle hardened Doeblaze of course was immediately onto it. There's a quiet admiration for her friends alertness, though that admiration turns to concern when she caught the sight of black fur shuffling to slink away in movement. It was difficult to catch anything at all since it blended into the shade of the pines, a fact that the lead warrior was willing to wager that the intruder knew.

"Jellypaw, move away from the border" she tries to hide the wobble in her tone, it instead comes out as a barked order. A phantom of a grimace crosses her features, she didn't want to be such a buzz kill but all too quickly does she remember that discovery of the bodies by the border. She wouldn't let that be her apprentice or her patrol mates. There was an assumption that it was a rogue, given the fact that Doeblaze is beside her she can only think of one weirdo with a dark pelt who might be lingering. There's no proof to back that up though, only a hunch.

Gesturing with her tail for her apprentices to follow she trots those few extra steps to Doeblaze's side "are you okay?" the question is meowed in a hushed whisper, eyes once again trying to make something of that figure that was only in her sights momentarily. Nothing comes from it though, it seems whoever was here was now gone.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Somethings coming ﻬ𖧧ﻬ So out of breath ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  apprentice tags <3 @jellypaw ♬ @SFOGLIATELLA
  

• 

• 
  FLORABREEZE 𖧧 She/her || Daylight Lead Warrior of SkyClan || 36 moons
  ❥ A large black tabby maine coon with low white and bright green eyes, always wearing her mushroom print collar if she can.
  ❥ Mentored by Sorrelsong ／Mentoring Jellypaw & Sfogliatella
  ❥ “Speech”, thoughts, attacking
  ❥ Penned by Juice ⏐ouijeejuice on discord {open to being dmed for plots}
  

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[falcongaze]

He and Radiopaw trail a few tail lengths behind the sets of cats ahead, murmuring quietly in turn about Twolegplace- somewhere that Falcongaze himself had not hailed from, but rather from the sewers that lined the roads, great arches of stone that carried water to and fro. He can't blame Cherryblossom anymore though- had he gone back to visit the sewers, he'd likely find he hated the smell too. A soft huff left him at the memory, just barely missing the crack! that echoed through the air.

The warrior comes to a stop, tail indicating to Radiopaw to hold still as well. Stormy blues settled forward on Doeblaze and Florabreeze- then past them, where he imagines he could have seen bushes rustling, but there's no clue whether or not what it contains is friend or foe. He grimaces gently. "Keep behind me." He bids Radiopaw, creeping closer to the cats ahead. Vision shifted from them to the bushes, and his ears shove forwards. As Florabreeze checks on Doeblaze, his tail twitches again- quietly ordering Radiopaw to hold with the other cats as he passes them.

Mouth parts and nose twitches with intent- he's attempting to scent the air, to see what he could discern. No, it was no fox, no badger. His frown deepened and grew, eyes narrowing as he stared into the pines, as if the shadows would wash away and he'd be able to tell just what was stalking them. A short growl was uttered before he steps back, heading back for the others- not without one last wary glance to the pines where the sound was likely to come from.

"It's not a predator. A rogue or kittypet, likely." Falcongaze says, vision shifting towards Doeblaze. There was a tough mix of emotions, there- where the other was the mother of the she-cat he had broken up with, but he still trusted her with his life. Starclan above, he had carried her back from the brink of death, almost literally- yet where he stood was rocky, so he left Florabreeze to helping her.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── THEYRE ALL THAT I WAS ⋅❁⋅ AND NEVER COULD BE ──┐‎

• "speech"
  // apprentice tag @Radiopaw
  

• 

• FALCONGAZE 🌧 he/him, warrior of skyclan, eighteen moons.
  ⭃ LH chocolate lynx point with deep blue eyes, and a long scar on his left cheek down under his jawline. pushes his 'hair' back. very long legged, half oriental moggie.
  ⭃ mentored by greeneyes / / mentoring no one
  ⭃ padding after lupinepaw / / brother to spottedpaw and sagepaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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[KITESTORM]

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Kite saunters close to Falcongaze and his apprentice with their ears keenly pressed forward to listen to the lynx point's teachings. The shadowy tabby nears closer and mumbles to Radiopaw about the Twolegplace, "Just steer clear altogether..." Kite scowls, tail twisting nervously as they recall the many of times they have been backed into the corner of an alley by ruthless jaws of other felines.

They normally do not speak at all on patrols, intent on having all their senses attuned. In their brief words to Radiopaw and Falcongaze, their attentiveness falters. They did not hear the initial sound that makes Doeblaze's body become rigid, but whips their head immediately towards Florabreeze as she barks an order to Jellypaw. The harshness in Florabreeze's sound causes Kite to scramble over in concern, hovering for a moment as she notices Doeblaze's broken composure.

"What was it?" Kite interrupts, pressing in closer to the two she-cats. They cast a worrisome glance towards her mate and grimaces, Kite feels a measurable amount of guilt for not being more aware. A light growl reverberates from their maw, "Let me go after it..." Whatever it was, Kite is confident they'll be able to manage if it meant Florabreeze would not be put at risk. Kite remains beside Florabreeze and looks expectantly towards Doeblaze with a mixture of concern for the stoic feline and an expectation to be told who, or what, was seen in the festering shadows.

✦ ╔═══《✧》═══╗

•  
• — black tabby with a small stature and compact muscles ; TAGS
  — 39, ages every 21st
  — they/them ✧ mate to Florabreeze
  — speech
  — peaceful powerplay allowed

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