private the fire hurts alright !! cindershade

[lichenstar]

The dirt remains in constant disruption as a twitching tail moves through it- agitated... anxious... restless- claws churn the ground in absent frustration and though they are focused on something, that attention doesn't belong to the empty space in front of them. A shadow disturbs whatever middle-distance that they were spinning in like a leaf caught in a wild current, ripping slit-pupiled eyes to examine whatever trespasser had moved through in harmless wandering. That dark fur and ivy colored gaze was one that hadn't been expected.. but one her paws itched to move towards.

Her skin practically buzzed with energy, a near-constant state of alertness demanding she do something other than sit. Other than wait. No patrols... It felt more like a punishment than a help.

They wouldn't play passenger forever and they knew an opportunity when they saw one. "Cindershade."

The usual lilt of a friendly greeting did not find itself in her tone, a voice flattened by purpose and urgency. They weren't close anyways... why would the spitfire molly care if Lichentail didn't put on a shitty smile that didn't match her feelings?

"I have a request... though I imagine it'll sound like a child's game if I were to explain it." Twitching an ear, she thought briefly about if she could've gone to someone else about this. The faces that shifted like a catalogue through their head found themselves each rejected in turn. Petalnose was too brash. Pikesplash was too gentle. Smokethroat... well he probably thought she was an idiot. The list proved to be of little help, only serving as confirmation that the individual being pestered now was the best bet for this.

"What if I were to ask you to play hide and seek with me? But not... like the kitten's game. More high stakes than that."​

 

[Cindershade]

A moment was all she wanted, a bit of solitude in place of the ever present buzzing of voices that touched velvet ears among their little island—a safe haven now that the beech copse was far behind them except for what it was initially meant for. Cindershade had walked through the thickest of reeds, bypassing ferns and bracken on light steps with an expression that was marbled and cut into stone. Finally, a moment along with her thoughts and she feels rather pleased despite her stoicism. A shadow she was, gliding through the undergrowth with a swaying tail in rythmn with a saunter.
It isn't long before that silence was now broken and the lead warrior inwardly groans to herself when a figure of differential blues enter her peripheral and their eyes locked. Cerulean delves into evergreen and Lichentail's mouth shapes her name with a certain urgency that was met with a quizzical quirk of a shaded brow. A warrior she had not quite acquainted herself with besides some banter here or there, and one she had not quite figured out yet. Cindershade steels her expression when the task of request leaves the tongue of her blue counterpart. Obsidian ears pull back as she awaits for her to finally explain, tail dusting against the loose soil behind her in a light annoyance. "Sounds like a child's game, huh? What?" It's curt, though not sharp like tempest blades. Her attention was undivided and interest mildly piqued as Lichentail explains somewhat of what ever she was planning. It seemed that her span in the medicine den had left her starved of physicality, the kneading of anticipating paws evident from the tousled soil behind her.
Quickly it came, a game of some sort—a challenge that it reeked of as the words 'high stakes' left their maw. Cindershade relished in a challenge of any against any warrior and her lips began to twitch into a smirk, the apples of her cheeks pinching her eyes. "Hide and seek, but more high stakes..." The woman echoes, mulling it over with a click of a her tongue. What could she be implying? Was it a timed challenge to see who could find the other first? Or something more? Certainly so if it was enough to have Lichentail near scambling from her previous post to meet her halfway. "What are the rules, then? I'm always up to a challenge." It is said prideful, confidence layering her tone like plush velvet. Whatever Lichentail was up to, the rosetted woman would rise up to it.
​

[ SILENCE IS DEAFENING ]​

 

[lichenstar]

Letting out a small breath as Cindershade squared her shoulders to better face Lichentail's request, there was an interested stare that reached deeper than her eyes. The other lead knew more than she was willing to admit, the way she curtly tilted her head as if denoting whatever hidden meaning the blue had, spying her intentions from the start though no plan had yet been shared. Feeling naked under such a scrutinizing gaze, they turned their head away slightly, shifting as if to pull their recent scars away from the menacing gaze that moved across her so inquisitively.

She was anxious to move... to act... and she knew anyone with a pair of eyes could read that from her body language as if it had been spoken aloud just as freely. It drove them to near madness, how much this one great inconvenience had ruined their guise of calm... the way their aloof nature came to bend under the weight of impatience. It made her feel as though she were an idiot... or a child demanding play.

Thank StarClan that even in her vagueness, her soon-to-be opponent had simply accepted without much pushback.

Flicking an over-eager tail towards the forest, their gaze hardened with a seriousness that did not match the description of their request. Only babies bothered to get frustrated over losing a harmless game... but this wasn't just a game to her.

"I'm not much a fan of losing," they start, seeming like a jump in conversation so abrupt it might be hard to follow should she had stopped there. "It is less one who hides and the other who seeks- We will be both, at the same time... I propose we take a few moments to separate... to hide. And after a certain count we start." They glance back with steely eyes and smile in a way that doesn't reach that gaze to warm it, "We hunt each other. Whoever gets pinned first, loses... sound fair?"​

 

[Cindershade]

A smirk presses her features, an air of determination and confidence growing more and more as Lichentail speaks of this "game". It is more of a test, a show of skill between two leads to see who comes out on top. Cindershade is a master of stealth, a literal shadow come alive that reigned from the marshes and the city in her younger seasons. She had to adapt from sleek stone to squelching mud and thick pine trees to now the meadows where they reside now. She had become a near master of it all. Ivory whiskers twitch as she surveys Lichentail, their slender frame near vibrating from the excitement of doing something other than being confined within the island of their home. "Fine." She says, nodding her head in understanding. A challenge to see who could hunt who first, a display of stealth and fighting prowess. She would show her strength to her opponent, and she would make sure to show that she was more than formidable.
With a twitch of a darkened tail, she will step away from the fae, already scanning the area that surrounds them before rolling her neck and shoulders to loosen them up. "If you're ready then, Lichentail." She looks back to them, pupils constricting to viper-thin crescents. "And one more thing—" Cindershade pauses, unable to hold back the challenge in her own velvet tone. "I also am not a fan of losing—so I suggest you be ready." She smiles to the blue point, gnashed teeth pressed together firmly in a contorted expression that was void of all warmth and friendship. And with that, the rosetted warrior would head off into the towering reeds—her form already disappearing and faint sounds of ghostly steps growing fainter as she fans out to more dense foliage.

​

[ SILENCE IS DEAFENING ]​

 

[lichenstar]

It would prove to be her personal mistake to have offered such a challenge to one of the most agile-bodied cats in her clan. Though she mistook Cindershade to be something of a spitfire that could not contain her volume, it would prove a downfall of her own judgement. The wicked smile that met her sent a shiver down an unwilling spine... This was not a game for either of them then.

Good.

Watching the spotted molly move into the bending leaves as if she belonged amongst them, the blue cat scrunched her nose slightly, a last attempt to remember that scent before she'd have to recall it more sincerely... Tracking was not terribly difficult when scents went unmuddied and your opponent did not think to hide it... but her opponent would know better.

"Ready as I've ever been..." A murmured reply, not really meant to be heard so much as to encourage her own paws to move. Scooting past what ferns obstructed her path, the river served as a good way to conceal misplaced steps, muting nearby sounds under the bubbling ambiance. With a sense of urgency behind her steps, she knew her time was limited to hide and so, with no consideration, she opted to try something she hoped would be less expected.

RiverClan was best in the waters.. below surface level really... but how about the trees? Lichentail was not an expert tree-climber by any means... evidenced by the gouging claw marks that litter the tree she chooses to ascend. It would give away her position, if noticed.. but would Cindershade doubt the stripe-pawed molly could actually get all the way up to the lower branches was the better question.

Crouching in idle waiting, they gave a small sigh to release some nervous jitters before stalking across one of the branches with a neck craned to scan the undergrowth as the game of cat and mouse began.​