private i saw you walking down by the river | questioning

[Spotflare [in.]]

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"Rabbitnose."

Spotflare stood a fox's-length away from behind Rabbitnose, watching him carefully. His eyebrows were furrowed deep in thought and his expression was almost unreadable, though the blazing rage that once streaked through his eyes after Patchpaw's attack still burned fiercely behind his visage of eerie calmness. He had not forgotten what happened to Patchpaw, and he would not forget anytime soon. The entire incident had angered him immensely, and even when Patchpaw tried to comfort him by claiming fault for it, it should never have happened, and his teeth grit tight.
At least now, though, he was much calmer than the first time, though he still had many questions for Rabbitnose to answer. He could not fault Rabbitnose entirely for the situation; he knew Patchpaw had always been a bit of an airhead, focusing on random things she wanted to focus on rather than what she had to do. She was easily distracted, and that made it all the more difficult to keep track of her when she was always off doing her own thing.

"If you're free right now, I'd like for you to take a walk with me. To talk privately, that is."

---

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A CANDLE IN THE NIGHT IS MY ONLY WAY OUT​

 

[Rabbitnose]

He froze as he heard his name. Spotflare was ready to yell at him now, was he? It was only a matter of time. His ears pinned back and he turned to face him.

"Yes..?" He answered. He tried not to sound weak, but honestly, this cold made it hard.

He wanted to take a walk....To talk privately.... What if it was an ambush! No, he wouldn't..... Right?

"Sure... Lead the way." He said.

He knew what this was about, and he knew he was going to get yelled at again. He may as well get this over with. What happened to Patchpaw was his fault, anyways.
​

 

[Spotflare [in.]]

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Spotflare remained awfully silent as he strode out of camp. He gives Rabbitnose a singular glance out of the corner of his eye, amber eyes dark, before he continues on up through the camp entrance. With his ears flat to his head and tom-cheeks puffed against the cold, Spotflare slows down once he reaches the outside to let Rabbitnose catch up. Soon, they were walking side by side, with only the soft crunching of snow under their paws to break the tranquil silence in the forest air.

Eventually he stops short of a small clearing, where the completely white forest floor tapers down below a huge, shredded stump, and the shrubbery that surrounds them is weighed down by the heavy snow. Spotflare glances around for a moment, checking to make sure it was private enough, then sits with a slow, heavy sigh.
"Relax. I'm not going to kill you."

He turns to face Rabbitnose. There's a hardness in his eyes, a visage of sorts, born from tumultous stress and the anxiety that wears upon his chest like a necklace of stone.
"You were there the day Patches was attacked." He still calls her Patches, after all this time... "I simply want to know where her mentor was when this happened, and if he saw her attacker."

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A CANDLE IN THE NIGHT IS MY ONLY WAY OUT​