border you can't chase what's not there .. private for now

[lilacfur]

A confident stride carried the lead warrior across the marsh, paws traversing wetlands she's known since she could walk. The arrival of spring is evident as all the frost had begun to wane with the rising temperatures. The gradual song of frogs had started to lull her back to sleep after moons of their silence. Crickets chirped and fled from beneath the tall grasses and reeds, moss stretched and arched along the trunks of spruce and pine.

'When I think of our home, I always think of how soft the tussocks are during the spring. Or how beautiful the algae looks in the sunlight,'

She had said to Roosterstrut right as leafbare turned its head. They had expected to see newleaf together, rising above the challenges of winters wrath and its an aching reminder every time she's without her red tabby friend on a patrol or sharing prey.

"I hope Roosterstrut makes it home." She spoke aloud to her patrol, made up of mostly her fellow leads and her nephew. "He told me, right before leafbare how newleaf was his favorite time. Not because of the prey but because it proved we made it through all the snow and hunger." Speaking of prey... There should be some out here but it's been eerily quiet thus far.

"Weird that the birds are... quiet." ​

[ i need the clouds to cover me ]

@pipitclaw !! @FORESTSHADE @SHARPSHADOW ​

 

[FORESTSHADE]

Forestshade pads along after her clanmate, nose twitching as her jaws part to taste the smells. Not a single piece of prey has found its way into her paws today - a rarity, for sure. She frowns and continues on, her pelt prickling with a bit of irritation. She hates returning empty-pawed, it does nothing but harm her totally awesome reputation. She huffs, annoyed, before lifting her head to listen to Lilacfur.

Roosterstrut, now there's a name she hasn't heard in a while. A tom whose disappearance remains a mystery to this day. She nods along, humming her agreement but unable to say much more than that. It's not like they'd been close, but of course she hopes for his safe return. He's still a clanmate. The patched she-cat flicks an ear as boredom begins to seep in. "Wow, that's really moving," She replies dryly - keen ears may be able to pick up the sarcasm in it. She doesn't mean to be rude, though. She's just disinterested.

She does notice the birds, though. Sharp ears prick up, searching for the faintest sounds of pigeons or snipes, and she finds none. She frowns and comes to a stop, her tail beginning to lash. "That's not a good sign," She reports lowly, blind eyes narrowing.​

 

[pipitclaw !!]

Why he was being brought along for this little investigation was far beyond him... A sore pad sticking out between all these lead warriors, Pipitclaw was fairly certain it was just Lilacfur's way of forcing him to spend time with her without giving him the choice to complain much. Forestshade, at the very least, was cool and found him funny rather than the common consensus that he was a pest. Sharpshadow as well... he supposed, though... that one proved to be more enigma than friend.

His aunt droned on about someone... something about the changing of seasons. He hardly cared to really listen to her but it was hard not to when it was the only noise aside from their gentle footfalls. The muddy molly offers some kind of reply, her voice oozing with an exhaustion for this conversation pretty immediately and he has to stifle a smirk.

"The birds are quiet."

How annoying that she was right... that he couldn't have another excuse to sulk and be irritated with her. Picking up sunflower eyes to look around a bit, the chimera found himself wanting to fill the stillness with his voice... this silence made his skin crawl. It wasn't natural. Warily, he turns to look at their blind companion, "Your nose is better than mine... anything smell off," he asks in hushed words. A compliment veiled in a necessity to find more information.

"I don't.... see anything," he continues warily, eyes fixating on the brush ahead of them that obscures the territory further on.​

 

[SHARPSHADOW]

He feels awkward, padding alongside Lilacfur and Forestshade like this. The three of them shared a role. One above the title of warrior— one that could be granted to young savants and batty old cats, two steps from the nursery alike. It felt… inappropriate, for the both of them. Lilacfur for one reason… and Forestshade for another. She isn’t sure whether she’s relieved or annoyed that she couldn’t catch Sharpshadow’s stare boring into the side of her, when he had the chance. At least Pipitclaw was just Pipitclaw. Sharpshadow liked that fine enough.

It’s sudden, when Lilacfur suddenly speaks of Roosterstrut. Sharpshadow nods along, because… of course she should. She wanted every ShadowClanner home. Every one that didn’t deserve to be here. Roosterstrut certainly didn’t. Roosterstrut had been… kind. Were he afforded the chance, would he willingly return to a place like this?

" That's... nice. " Something dryer nearly falls off the tip of her tongue, but she ought to say something kinder. (She ought to be honest, right?) Forestshade’s reply is wry instead. Sharpshadow wrinkles her muzzle, wondering if she should’ve said something similar.

Weird that the birds are... quiet.

They all seem to pause when Lilacfur says that. Along with the rest of the patrol, Sharpshadow pricks his ears. " Neither do I, " he mumbles in reply. ...Not like anyone asked him.

with myself i must play in this game of charades ( ♱ ) cause there's no one to speak to

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  SHARPSHADOW: he / she , no pref , dislikes gender neutral language ; fine with gendered terms ; 21 moons old as of 3.11.24 ; ages every 8th
  

  dark smoke feline that stands at an above average height. Easily identifiable by her namesake – an unruly mat of fur, destined to be cluttered by inconsistencies between chimera halves. Burdened with a broken tail, often lying dead behind her in the dirt.

  Anxious, antisocial, paranoid. Sharpshadow has not known peace for a single time in his life, and lives anticipating inevitable dangers to the detriment of herself and others.
  heavy ic opinions! he's irrational and mean </3

​

 

[lilacfur]

Her fellow Lead's response to her lament about her friend are not unexpected, considering how guarded this Clan has kept their emotions. The rosette was not unaware of that or how she always managed to be the odd one out when she shared her feelings more easily. Their words hold little comfort over polite acknowledgement and she takes it, because who is she to be greedy for their care?

Lilacfur's jaws part but no odd scent appeared immediately. Pipitclaw and Sharpshadow don't see anything out of the ordinary, encouraging her to take a few steps ahead to investigate further. Bent down and beginning to crawl beneath the rush, Lilacfur paused when she always fell face-first into the looks of a burrow. Then it overwhelmed her, the scent that coated Scalejaw and Smogmaw. The scent of badger.

"It's here! It's coming back to it's den- badger!" She could hear it now as it closed in on the patrol, snout grunting and paws stomping against the earth in an enraged realization its den was being disturbed. Lilacfur back out from the rush in a graceless stumble and in moments all she can see is black and white fur.

//badger has made its appearance! the badger is focused on lilac with a planned action to hit her before taking on other distractions​

[ i need the clouds to cover me ]​

 

[pipitclaw !!]

This felt like a waste of time... almost like that patrol Smogmaw had suggested for Forestshade to lead. Not that she wasn't a competent warrior but... seemed kind of stupid to send a blind woman on a 'search' mission... yanno? Turning to the other two lead warriors with a small frown, he's not as reassured by their confirmations as he would've hoped to be. Nothing heard.. nothing seen.... Yet still there is silence. As if the marshes are preparing for something to begin that only they see forming.

Lilacfur, perhaps stupidly, with the coming hindsight, wanders off alone to do some snooping. Flame bright eyes roll, traveling towards the bush-line in another direction to keep an eye out for anything strange but... there's just nothing. It makes his skin crawl, urges him to move along and keep this patrol going, to carve his own path. Stop waiting for pale fur to direct them.

He opens his mouth to fill the void of quiet again, thinks to just call out to whatever lurks in the shadows to stop being a coward already but there is a shrill, alarmed shriek from the undergrowth where his aunt had headed off. Immediately his fur is set on its end, bristling around the graceless leaves and twigs that cling to his coat like he is hiding himself amongst the trash collected. He should... he should move to help her.

That idiot, he thinks, and finds fury and bubbling frustration replaces his need to protect her like he should. An unfamiliar, seething voice he doesn't recognize tells him that she deserves a good smack, that she might learn something about betrayal if she were betrayed too. That good intentions did not absolve her of the retribution of the red twines of fate and she had hurt his feelings and made him look stupid and she should look stupid and hurt and-

They boil over the rim and by the time Pipitclaw is willing to acknowledge the uncharacteristic maliciousness, he has already waited too long.

"Time to go Forestshade," he finally says, a laugh in his mew that denies him access to the rotting, twisting fear that lingers in now-numb toes. "We'll be right behind you... Long as Sharpshadow's claws are half as menacing as the name suggests." His name too... a reassurance they could at least escape alive despite the soft, petaled nature of the molly he'd have to rescue.​

 

[FORESTSHADE]

Forestshade angles her ears back towards Pipitclaw, considering them. His words do in fact cause her ego to inflate. She draws her shoulders up, straightened, before parting her jaws to let the various scents of the marsh wash over her. While her clanmates murmur about not seeing anything, she pricks her ears as she tastes something on her tongue. It’s smelly, and sharp, and dangerous. “Wait-“

Lilacfur’s shriek cuts her off. Blind eyes widen as she steps back, mottled pelt bristling with alarm. Her tail swings back in forth in agitated lashes, for once unsure where to go. She doesn’t know where the beast is! She feels fur brush against her, ushering her back and normally she’d snap at the tom for ever assuming she needed help. But she feels the rare feeling of fear in her thudding heart and just listens, turning tail to hurry away to safety. She’s no help here, not now. She’s smart enough to know that much. “Sharpshadow?” She calls out behind her, tone pitching higher in terror. She needs someone with her; at the very least, she’d feel a tad safer. ​