private uncharted lands // iciclefang

[splashdance]

Splashdance has finally dried off. It felt as if it took a moon, however even she sees the dramatics in her own thoughts. It likely took far less - maybe within the hour after her patrol. She's still divvying out the moss they've gathered, having first gifted it to the queens and Moonbeam for the injured. They'll have to go out once more to collect more (her patrol could only carry so much, and with the shift in the seasons, plenty of the natural growth is now dying,) but for now, this seems good enough.

Her tail sweeps behind her as she trots up towards the tortoiseshell warrior. It's been a long while since they spoke last, and though Splashdance is sure that they've had amicable small talk within shared patrols, she doesn't think they've... bonded for lack of a better word since. She thinks of the other's prodding words, sharp tongue - but still regards the lead warrior with status. Not to mention, just because they don't get along doesn't mean that the she-cat doesn't deserve a place to rest, especially after today.

"Here," she nudges the ball of moss towards the other. Her smile is casual, glued to her expression. "For you, for tonight. I..." she edges to say more, but is clear with uncertainty on what to say. Splashdance dips her head, "Everyone deserves some well rest after everything, yeah?" Something noncommittal to get the ball rolling, at least.

@iciclefang​

 

[iciclefang]

Iciclefang does not initially notice Splashdance's cautious approach. The tortoiseshell sits in silence, staring out at the sunburnt treeline, her eyes glazed orange by the evening. Her body is sore, and the fresh cut under her eye has not finished its weeping, but she has steered clear of Moonbeam. She is healthy; she can walk. There are kits who ingested floodwater; there are cats with battered bodies, wounds inflicted by debris. In the grand scheme of things, Iciclefang had made it out relatively unscathed.

But Apricotflower? Her jaw clenches. If StarClan is merciful, she will have washed ashore somewhere, injured but alive. Maybe... maybe they all have. Her paws itch with purpose — she wants to go find them, wants to make sure the gentle queen who saved her life will fight another day, will see her grandchildren become apprentices and then warriors.

Feather-soft pawsteps alert Iciclefang just as Splashdance has neared her side. Her ears swivel; she turns to face the ebony-pelted warrior. Clumps of dry moss fill her jaws. "Here; for you, for tonight." Iciclefang exhales through her nose. "Thank you." She paws the bedding almost absentmindedly. "Everyone deserves some rest after everything, yeah?"

Does she? What makes her more deserving of safety, of comfort, than Apricotflower? Iciclefang's jaws come unglued. She murmurs, "It will be hard to rest until I know everyone is safe." She meets Splashdance's blue gaze, feeling unnerved. And if you had not made it out safely, which of your friends would traipse into the marsh to let your mother know?

It's an uncharitable thought. She does not entirely push it away, however.

"This is not the first time our camp flooded. It will not be the last. That is the nature of the riverlands." She squares her shoulders. Moping will not save my Clanmates. Besides, she is more fortunate than some — her kits are accounted for, as is her littermate. They are bruised and scarred and terrified, but they live to see another day.

"I suppose if you're going to be staying here, you should get used to it, too." It's a faint dig, one lacking venom, but her consonants are sharp and fine.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — 28 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Pinepaw ; previously mentored Cicadaflight
  — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.

​

 

[splashdance]

The gratitude is expected - Iciclefang may be blunt, but she's not impolite. Again the urge to be personable plagues her, even as her mouth dries and her tongue stills, but she tries nonetheless. A pathetic excuse for a conversation, especially given the quickness the lead warrior replies with. Shame isn't exactly what itches under her fur, but something akin to it does not release its grip from her pelt as she nods solemnly. So many of their Clanmates swept away, some of them possibly lost to the stars... How could she suggest that they simply rest after all that's been done?

She does not think of what could be plaguing Iciclefang beyond the obvious. After all, in what would would the stoic tortoiseshell have a modicum of understanding for her situation? For her past, her troubles, her struggles with separating the now from the then? It's near impossible. The thought isn't even a blip in her mind's eye.

The other, surprisingly, carries the tune of engagement, and Splashdance takes the chance to seat herself and groom the unruly fur of her chest. "Ah, yeah -" she starts, straightening her posture to look at the other once more. Lakemoon told me, she wants to say, but the other continues. "... if you're going to be staying here..." Disbelief isn't readable in the other's inflection, but the black furred molly wonders how much festers in the other. Are you surprised I've lasted this long? Are you upset I stayed?

"I'd be a fool to leave as soon as it got rough," she murmurs, almost childishly if not for the way she holds the other's cold blue gaze. Defiant, though she makes no action towards the other. Determined, maybe, as the itch returns beneath her fur, like ants running across her skin. "The last flood -" she steers the conversation, hoping the moment to be a spot of connection, not subtle torture. "- did RiverClan... were there many losses?" She gauges the other's age and experience, figures she at least was an apprentice when it had happened before, maybe a kitten. Her ears fold to her skull, "I want to prepare myself." As if there's any preparation in mourning.​

 

[iciclefang]

Splashdance takes the opportunity to comb through the bedraggled black fur on her chest, her blue eyes like sky slipping through cloud cover. "I'd be a fool to leave as soon as it got rough," the younger warrior tells her, and Iciclefang's lip twitches. She studies Splashdance for a moment without comment before saying, "Fool is not the word I would use." The tortoiseshell blinks, neither kindly nor otherwise, in the dark she-cat's direction. "Regardless, every Clan in the forest faces its struggles. What would be foolish would be to think you could escape hardship by jumping Clans."

But she does not linger here. She does not think Splashdance had left the mire for fatter, richer prey — for all her cynicism, the lead warrior does not believe the girl's decision had been all that easy.

"The last flood — did RiverClan... were there many losses?" Iciclefang's ear flicks. She remembers the crushing weight of the collapsed apprentice's den splintering on her back, forcing her face under water. She remembers the frozen river cracking under Cicadastar's paws, the sound he'd made when he'd plunged under the ice. "There were. But to be honest with you, when I think of our time at the Beech Copse and death, I think of WindClan."

Iciclefang's eyes narrow. "They knew we were weakened. Displaced. Close to their territory. They came in the night. They destroyed our camp and attacked us in our temporary nests." Anger, inert for so long, blazes in the tortoiseshell's sapphire gaze. "Just when we thought we'd survived, their second wave came. Clearsight lost his life."

She draws her tail close to her body. "That is what worries me most about this move. The other Clans will find out we are here before long. Who's to say WindClan won't want another taste of our blood?" She flicks her gaze back to Splashdance's. "Or who's to say it won't be ShadowClan, next time?"

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — 28 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Pinepaw ; previously mentored Cicadaflight
  — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.

​