THE SACRED STAIR [ chilledgaze ]

[FERNDANCE]

It felt like the territory had changed from a winter hellscape to an upgraded marshland overnight. The ground, free of snow, felt sodden wherever the ticked tabby stepped her paws (though she did not do a good job of trying to avoid the mud and slush), yet, regardless of how unpleasant it could be between her toes, she'd missed being able to venture out towards the outskirts of the territory. Fern's form had withered somewhat with ShadowClan's starvation, the already lithe feline's ribs pushing more obviously against her skin, but leafbare's gradual decline gave her hope that things would change. The stream, roaring with a ferocity she'd never seen before, did its best to shatter that optimism before it even had a chance to bloom. Having broken away from the patrol, her green eyes watched the widened brook intently as she prowled along, perhaps praying that a fish or frog would leap out straight into her mouth if she persisted. It was disappointing, but not unexpected, when nothing appeared above the frothing water waiting to be snatched. She would have to hunt the old-fashioned way, shucks. Ferndance turned her head away, watching as the main patrol group began to sever and split, all except one animal.

It was hard to spot the Deputy against the backdrop of dark trees, only the bolt of white across their face gave them away. Chilledgaze wasn't a cat they'd spoken to too much, despite her longer tenure within ShadowClan, bonds had seldom been formed by the shallow tabby. She offered a brief nod if they looked at her, and took only a few steps before a new obstacle entered her path. A withered branch, swept up by the stream, had caught on a coarse corner. It pointed towards the air, and on it, pierced like a shrike's prey, was a strange grey object. A green, tattered label still stuck to it was buffeted by the wind. She strode towards the thing, discerning it to belong to a twoleg but uncertain of much else. How had it gotten there? What was it? Could she eat it? Placing a muddied paw onto a lowered branch, the ticked tabby propped herself up, stretching to give the cylindrical object a quick sniff. The first thing she smelled was fish, and then immediately after, a strange mildewy smell, like foul carrion only... somehow much, much worse. Whatever remained in there was long past the point of edible.

Grateful she didn't have any food in her stomach, Ferndance recoiled from the foul-smelling thing, turning her wedge-shaped head back towards Chilledgaze. "Hey Chilly, have you ever seen this before?!" She called to them, reluctantly gesturing with her nose towards what twolegs would call an 'empty tuna can'. "It smells like... a worse RiverClan."

@CHILLEDGAZE.
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[CHILLEDSTAR.]

the deputy physically recoiled at the nickname the molly gave them. they found their nose scrunching with disdain before they simply pad beside ferndance, tilting their head. no. no they'd never seen anything like this. chilledgaze tried to make a valiant effort to stay away anything that had to do with twolegs. the thunderpath, the kittypet nests, anything beyond the carrionplace. twolegs were absolutely disgustingly gross creatures, dumping their silly things everywhere, without a care in the world. always causing problems and pain and all they did was laugh and move on. not to mention those mutts they loved so much. 'man's best friend' but only known to warriors as beasts. twolegs were a plague, worse than whitecough.

"eugh. disgusting. i get enough of smelling those mangy fucks at the gathering. i don't need them here too."

they sniffed before sticking out their tongue with disgust.

"this is gonna attract hungry beasts. we'd better move it outta here."

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[ NOBODY ELSE MATTERS, GIRL ]​

 

[FERNDANCE]

A long time ago, before she'd been born and before the colonies had done battle, her father had been a kittypet. He'd never spoken of the oddities that twolegs collected, it was strange, the old cat didn't seem to have many hang-ups in life, but his time in a man's nest was the one thing she'd never heard him discuss. She briefly wondered if such lore would have helped her discern the intention of the abandoned object, then, she decided to roll her shoulders and shrug it off - it was more fun to guess than to know everything, anyhow. "Well... I don't know... they still smell better than you sometimes..." she teased with a wide, toothless smile. Humour was an excellent coping mechanism in times of hardship, but her Deputy seemed to lack it at the worst of times. Ferndance wanted to understand them, but except for the hunger, hardships had seldom come her way. There was a barrier that prevented her from exploring the full extent of Chilled's attitude, Fern would do her best with what she knew though. There was a brief silence, one that would've normally followed with her signature, 'I'm just kidding' - it never came, ShadowClanners could be just as stinky when they rolled around in carrion.

She swiped a paw at the shiny object, knocking it off of the branch towards Chilledgaze. It landed on the floor with a 'clink' and began to roll before the lid caught on a firm piece of earth and caused the trinket to settle. Emerald eyes hovered over her white paw as if trying to ascertain if the can had tainted it, when all that appeared on it were flecks of old grime, she leaped back towards the earth. Expectantly, she looked towards Chilledgaze - they were Deputy, they could do the honours of carrying dangerous contraband off of ShadowClan land. Besides, she was likely to stuff it in her nest if she was left with it for more than a fraction of time. As much as she loved to do her own thing, there were some impulses she knew were best kept in check. "I'm curious about why it smells like carrion. Who would put freshkill in something so... shiny? Twolegs make no sense... anyways, I dare you to lick it."



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