pafp would? + tire

[smogstar]

Carrionplace carried a particularly nasty smell. Now, one might become accustomed to its off-putting odour should they spend enough time in its vicinity, and such happened to be the case for Smogmaw. He practically wore its stench wherever he went, which didn't prove to be a problem considering everybody in the swamp clan smelled awful. The twoleg dumping ground and its surrounding area existed as a haven to obsessive collectors like him - and this time around, he had unearthed something of immense interest. Something too large to simply take back to his hidey-hole near camp. If his compulsion to hoard could not be satisfied, then showing what he found to someone just as interested as him would suffice as an alternative.

When Smogmaw entered camp in an excited fervour and appealed for someone to accompany him, the closest clanmate in his proximity turned out to be @FLICKERFIRE. It mattered little to him if the prospect of heading towards carrionplace disgusted her, as what he had discovered was cooler than anything he had seen prior. Still, he refrained from mentioning the dung heap during the journey there, and insisted that it was a surprise.

"I think it's a monster's foot," he mewed in an excited and enthused tone. The object in question was propped upright against a tree trunk, some fox-lengths away from the landfill's fence. Its black surface was soft enough to rub against without feeling friction, but too hard to be punctured by claw alone. It looked hollowed-out, and even collected a little bit of rainwater inside its opening. And in terms of size, it had to be at least four Flickerfires high. "I've never seen anything like this, not ever before," he went on, uncharacteristically spirited during this moment.

Judging by the shape alone, it looked as though it would roll forever if it were propelled in a specific direction. Smogmaw felt a growing urge within him to push it. He kind of wanted to push it, just to see what would happen.

Never mind.

He really wanted to push it. ​

[ AND THE BASTARD WALKS BY ]​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Flickerfire's odor is somewhere between swamp mud and fresh-kill on the precipice of becoming crowfood. She's never noticed the smellier cats' scents -- Barkbreath is one who causes anyone with senses left to wrinkle their nose, but Flickerfire hardly notices the old man's stink. Smogmaw, too, constantly digging around in the Twoleg debris at the Carrionplace. His scent barely registers as different as he approaches her, uncharaceristically excited about a "monster's foot".

Flickerfire is bored, and she yawns dramatically to showcase this in Smogmaw's face. The crow she'd just eaten waves generously into his senses. "Better be good," she warns without teeth. Her tail tip flicks, finding @Siltcloud. in the nearby gathering of apprentices sharing tongues. "Don't'cha wanna see? You can be one of the only apprentices t' say she's seen a monster paw."

Really, the tortoiseshell doesn't believe Smogmaw for a second. She's expecting another mushroom, albeit weirdly shaped, and is pleasantly astonished when he exposes his prize to her. Enormous, its skin black and scarred and studded, the smell faint but still bitter under her tongue. She rears up on her hind legs in order to peer within it -- it has no middle, nothing but shiny skin that's collected rainwater.

"What's bigger than a monster? Whatever it is took its foot," she said, clearly impressed with Smogmaw's find. Her tail is lashing with adrenaline. "Feels heavy -- but it's hollow like a skeleton! Wonder why."

Excitedly, she rubs her skinny black body against the thing, enjoying the way the ridges scratch against her pelt. It's collected garbage for so long that the Thunderpath scent is barely a shadow beneath the Carrionplace. "Think we can take it somewhere? Back to camp?" Dumb excitement shines in fluorescent orange orbs.

- ,,​

​

 

[smogstar]

A grin takes hold of the tom's features as Flickerfire probes his discovery. It pleased him greatly whenever others showed the same enthusiasm about his discoveries, and seeing the excitement in his clanmate's movements brought a little bit of brightness to his face. He nods along while she provides her own analysis, especially in regards to it seeming like a skeleton. The hollowed-out area must have been filled in with something at some point, but with what? Twolegs and their monsters worked in mysterious ways, ways in which he'd never understand. "The hole is unnaturally huge," he remarks, "big enough for you to fit inside."

A questionable idea then infiltrates his mind. He already decided that he'd push this thing and watch how far it went - but doing so with Flickerfire inside it would be an even better spectacle.

She asks about moving the foot elsewhere and he dips his head in acknowledgement, being on the same wavelength. "I've seen how fast these go on the Thunderpath," says Smogmaw, eyeing up the circular object with perplexity. "I think- if we shove it hard enough, it'll go all the way back to camp. Then, we can show everybody."

He pads towards the object's side and props himself up to peer within it, just as Flickerfire had done, but carefully so as to not move it with his weight. "Y'know what?" asks the mackerel tabby, casting a quizzical glance towards his companion, "I think we should do just that: push it back." The way back to camp wasn't necessarily a downhill path, but with the combined strength of two warriors and a running start, then surely it'd go quite a ways.

"Or... maybe you could get inside it. You'd probably be the first cat to ever do that." ​

[ AND THE BASTARD WALKS BY ]​

 

[wolverinefang]

I've no time for confession​

Talk of a surprise is what peels Wolverinefang's citrine eyes open back at camp and after a lazy stretch and a minute's wait, the tuxedo had begun to pursue his clanmates. He stayed back, pretending to look for a place to hunt, before diverging in the sane direction Flicker and Smog disappeared toward. This way is the carrion place and he expects to see them past the fence with some goody but instead he happens upon them with some strange round thing. As many monsters feet as he's seen, it takes him a second to realize what it is when not attached to a metal beast.

"Whoa. When did that get here? Is it fresh?" He eyes it for any twitching. Don't want a monster returning to look for its lost leg. He's seen twolegs putting new ones on them after all. The lengthy tom leaps from the brush with excitement and his first thought is 'what does monster taste like?' but it's tempered by Smogmaw's proposition. He's one if the biggest toms if not the biggest in Shadowclan so in his mind, he thinks it's no sweat. "Yeah, go ahead and jump in, Flick. I'll help push it." The tom grins, wondering if she has the guts for it.​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[FLICKERFIRE]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Flickerfire pushes a paw into the monster paw to touch the silvery sheen gathered on the murky rainwater. It smells foul, but she's not bothered. Smogmaw agrees with her, that with enough effort, the warriors could roll it back to camp. "Think it'd be good for anything?" She mews. "Maybe we can store somethin' in it... maybe Bonejaw can use it for somethin'..." Her tiny brain is whirling.

Smogmaw's suggestion that Flickerfire gets inside it has her cackling, laughter crisp as a campfire. "You think? I love to be a pioneer." She peers inside again, half-convinced already.

When Wolverinefang voices his agreement, that he'll help Smogmaw push, Flickerfire needs nothing more. She flashes both him and the blue tabby a spirited grin and disappears over the rim. Her voice emerges, muffled and hollow, from within the inside of the monster paw. "Okay! Do it now!"

- ,,​

​

 

[smogstar]

Flickerfire voices possible means of utilizing the object, and a tension develops in his shoulders. The idea of other cats using this thing, even for the betterment of the clan, is not one that'd previously crossed his mind. It isn't one that he's very keen on, either. He is the one who found the monster's foot, and he plans to stash it away with the rest of his findings. The tabby frowns, albeit for a passing moment, as he then realises his discovery couldn't possibly get all the way to camp with a single push - he'd only have to roll it to the designated spot when the others weren't looking.

Smogmaw clears his throat, expelling his misgivings along with saliva. The grin returns to his face, half-forced, when Wolverinefang gets involved in the fun. "Yeah, you'll be somethin', alright," says the tom, padding up behind the circular entity with rising anticipation. Front-paws elevate from the ground and firmly plant themselves on the stiff material. "They'll have to change your name to 'Spinningfire' after we're done with this," he muses from his upright position, gesturing the younger warrior to join him.

The second Flickerfire broadcasts her readiness, the tom shoves his full weight into the thingamajiggy. It turns slowly, hardly moving through the soil at first - but it picks up the pace when Wolverinefang steps in. Smogmaw is already huffing and heaving, breathing in strained sputters on account of the physical effort required. But the monster's paw eventually leaves the warriors' authority when it picks up enough speed. It's beyond their control now, rolling faster and faster like a boulder in a landslide.

Once large and standing tall, the object is but a small shape in the distance now. The she-cat inside is either having the time of her life, or feeling the contents of her stomach bubble more than the swamp on a bad day. "I'm sure it'll come to a stop," he says, confident in his words as he watches the thing become smaller and smaller. "...At some point." ​

[ AND THE BASTARD WALKS BY ]​