Open to Join Dawn Returns

Adventurous hearts, wild and free, dance to the rhythm of destiny.

╭── ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🔥 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ ──╮

Brindlespice was enjoying a plump vole when Leopardrose padded around nearby. She wasn't blind to Leopardrose's little spiral, instead of how she normally was, she seemed like she had taken these deaths deeper than most. Could it have been because she wasn't a true clan warrior herself? Whatever it was, Brindlespice could do without hearing her drawl on about it.

The pale tortoiseshell finished off her vole and rose to her paws. She noticed Leopardrose's pacing and thought of going over to her, not particularly to comfort her on purpose, but to entertain her a little. After all, Brindlespice had little to do after the initial culture shock of the rogue attacking Quailcall.

Brindlespice's steps were deliberate and calculated, as if she had plotted the path moons before she took it.

The paused at Leopardrose's side and let a smirk part her lips, not one that would be immediately seen a feigned worry or consideration, but one that had something more behind it. Something a little more selfish than she brought on. "How's that wound Leopardrose?" She asked, nothing noticeable behind it, but from a cat like Brindlespice, it was a little unusual.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
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Leopardrose didn’t flinch when Brindlespice appeared at her side. She blinked. The tortoiseshell’s smirk earned nothing more than a faint lift of Leopardrose’s brow, her expression smoothing into something dry and perfectly unimpressed.

"Oh, I'm sure Quailcall will be fine - but I'm not Tigerrush. You should ask her if you want to know about her wounds."

Her whiskers twitched, the ghost of a grin tugging at her muzzle. Leopardrose turned her heads towards the younger warrior. "Unless, of course, this is your very subtle way of checking on me." Her smile was lifted in earnest, a mask that she wore effortlessly. "In which case… I’m touched."

Adventurous hearts, wild and free, dance to the rhythm of destiny.

╭── ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🔥 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ ──╮

Brindlespice's whiskers twitched, her smirk only sharpening at Leopardrose's dry tone, as if she'd be expecting that unimpressed stare and was delighted to receive it. She sat down beside the other she-cat with a neat little flourish of her tail, posture relaxed but eyes bright with that familiar, nosy spark.

"Oh please," she purred, rolling her eyes with theatrical ease, "if I wanted the full gory tale, I would have asked, Tigerrush. She'd tell anything like she wants the whole camp to know someone's business."

She leaned in just a whisker length closer, voice dripping with feigned innocence. "And besides, you're far more interesting to check on. Quailcall letting herself get ambushed is boring. You getting hurt?" Her grin widened, sly and clear as day. "Now that's a story worth sniffing around. You keep your guard up like a camp wall. How you'd let yourself get hurt is far more interesting."

But when Leopardrose called her out, blunt, smooth and effortlessly unruffled, Brindlespice paused just long enough to blink before scoffing softly, as though caught doing something she'd never admit to.

"Subtle? Me?" She huffed, lifting her chin. For a heartbeat, there was a pause, enough for her tone to sink. He gaze flicked to the subtle bruise that lay beneath Leopardrose’s fur, then back up. "I know you'd do the same for a clanmate that got injured." She amended with a dramatic sigh, shrugging a shoulder.

Still, there was something a touch softer, barely there, beneath the mischief as she added, "Don't get too touched, though. I'm only here because it's interesting that Quailcall was out there all on her own." Her tail flicked Leopardrose's flank lightly. "Imagine what she would have been doing out there, how dramatic the gossip would be."

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
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Leopardrose let Brindlespice’s theatrics wash over her like water rolling off a rock though she may have been faintly entertained in spite of herself.

"Oh, is that so?" Her eyes narrowing in that lazy, feline way that made it impossible to tell if she was teasing or assessing. "I didn’t realize my tribulations were such valuable entertainment. I’ll try to get mauled more artistically next time."

Her tone was light. When the conversation edged toward Quailcall, something in Leopardrose’s gaze shifted to controlled flint. "Whatever she was doing I doubt it was anything noble or mysterious."

She exhaled through her nostrils as he begin to swipe her tongue over a paw. "She goes out alone because she ignores every ounce of sense she has. Blatantly ignoring a leader who she doesn't believe in. Blood-pride gets cats killed."

Leopardrose shook her head and let the cool mask become natural and swiped her paw over her ear. "She’s not the only one either, but in her case… it was selfish. And foolish. And now she’s paying for it. Hopefully she survives to learn from it."

Adventurous hearts, wild and free, dance to the rhythm of destiny.

╭── ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🔥 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ ──╮

"Artistic, yes I think that’d make for a good story to tell the apprentices." Brindlespice’s amber eyes followed Leopardrose’s every moment, the articulated licking of her paw, the gentle way she moved it over her ear, every part seemed to bare her focus, like she was trying to find something differing int the movement besides the dull ache in Leopardrose’s shoulder.

The pale dappled she-cat curled her tail around her paws in an unreadable gesture. Keeping a calm cadence that is unlikely for the situation a ThunderClan warrior was in. "If cats want to be stupid they can be my guest. But consequences follow them." Brindlespice repeated in agreement, her muscles rippling beneath her fur.

Moosestar had been her mentor, of course she would listen to him, but there were times where it seemed like bees had made a nest in his brain. His demand for cats not to leave camp on their own was not one of those times.

It was then that she remembered something that she made worth noting and her body seemed to perk up only slightly, her mouth curling into another smirk. "What’s going on with you and Greypebbles?" She asked, her tone laced with feigned concern "He used to cling to you like bark on a tree but now he seems a bit… more jumpy than usual around you, like you might explode at any moment. Know anything about that?"

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
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Leopardrose let the question hang in the air for a moment. It wasn't like she wasn't expecting a cat like Brindlespice to press into her personal life, but even that felt like a low blow.

"Greypebbles?" She echoed, tone mild in a way that revealed nothing. "I can’t exactly speak for him. He’s always had a little… skittishness in him. Maybe all the rogue business has him more on edge than usual. Some cats don’t handle uncertainty well. And everything’s uncertain right now."

The sepia she-cat as slowly, casually began moving away from the fresh kill pile. Her face turned towards the dens and bramble wall as she attempted to assess its strength...and to look busy. Standing around seemed suspicious to some.

"If he’s jumpy around me that's his problem to sort out."

Adventurous hearts, wild and free, dance to the rhythm of destiny.

╭── ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🔥 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ ──╮

Brindlespice's eyes trailed along Leopardrose, trying to find a crack in her composure, there was none. It irked her. But she didn't falter in her confidence, not one bit, as she followed Leopardrose wherever she stepped. She still had more questions, something about this was too interesting to ignore.

"Perhaps." Brindlespice delivered her response with the same cadence of a cat that was failing to mind her own business, but that was just her. Her own business was admittedly a little boring, she would rather know what is happening in the other cats' lives. "That tom's always been skittish, I could toss a pinecone at him and he'd jump to the moon if he could." She mused, slipping in beside Leopardrose. She wasn't going to leave until to got something, anything out of Leopardrose that wasn't practically a deadpan.

A knowing smirk teased Brindlespice's muzzle, she didn't move closer to Leopardrose, but she stared at her with that knowing smirk for a pause that lasted longer than she would have liked so it would settle in her mind. "You would know about uncertainty more than anyone would, right, Leopardrose?" Brindlespice inspected her claws and gave them a soft clean, but her amber eyes didn't move from Leopardrose. "I've tried asking Greypebbles himself, he clamps his mouth shut like his words are sickening. At least around me."

"But with you," Brindlespice's tail brushed against Leopardrose's flank, the reason unclear but that smirk she carried didn't leave, "he used to cling to you, chatting to you day and night. I can only imagine what it was like when you and him got trapped in that snowstorm. He wouldn't be frightened of you for no reason."

Brindlespice then shrugged her shoulders dismissively "If it was so obvious that a cat I cared about was frightened around me, I'd want to know why. But what do I know. You seem wise beyond your moons ey? Far beyond someone that watches more than she talks" the the question was laced with sarcasm, but she didn't leave, she wanted a reaction, she wanted something, until she got it, she was where Leopardrose was. Unless she stormed up in anger that is, that would be reaction enough to amuse her.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
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Leopardrose slowed to a halt, paws planting with quiet finality as Brindlespice’s latest volley of prodding washed over her. She didn't bristle, just turned her head enough that one cool, teal toned eye met the tortoiseshell’s with a level stare.

"…Don’t throw pinecones at your clanmates." She meowed flatly.

She returned her attention to the bramble wall, examining a spot where the rain had warped one of the woven branches. She had expected Brindlespice to 'claw at a dead mouse' the moment she'd opened her mouth about Greypebbles.

"You’re not wrong that he talked to me a lot. The snowstorm didn’t change anything between us." Leopardrose sniffed at the air and wondered if more rain was coming soon. "If he’s clamming up around you that's his choice. If he's quieter around me that's also his choice."

She gave a small shrug. "Choices aren’t mysteries for me to solve."

Adventurous hearts, wild and free, dance to the rhythm of destiny.

╭── ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🔥 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ ──╮

"Even if it did start throwing pinecones about," Brindlespice replied, a quiver in her whiskers betraying a bit of irritation, she had to find something that would get a reaction out of Leopardrose, and if not, she would find another to push a reaction out of, there were a lot of easier cats. "Greypebbles would let me cover him in them and apologize for the inconvenience. That's not a choice, that's weakness."

Brindlespice's self assured smirk returned as she flicked the tip of her tail. If the mention of her best friend's weakness wouldn't she figured something else might, even if it costed her a few missing whiskers. Being stone-faced was far too boring. "Stars knows why he actually got his warrior name, running away from a fox and being named for it is pathetic when some of us actually had to work for it." she added, curling her tail, confidence dripping through her teeth as she gave Leopardrose a grin.

Amber eyes narrowed as she moved a pace closer, just enough to be noticed but not enough to crowd. "But you would know all about having to work for your place, not all of us are born with noble blood." Brindlespice's tone wasn't as bitter as it could of been. It was surprisingly calm, calculatingly so, as if she getting under Leopardrose's fur was her personal project.

"Choices might not be yours to solve, but if you don't figure out what pushing him away you'll lose him." There was a bit of truth in that statement, that was clear in the drop of her tone. In truth, she didn't really care much for Greypebbles' friendship circle, but drama between friends were a lot more interesting when they were still friends.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
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Leopardrose had heard it all before. From mouths not even Brindlespice's own, since she was a kit barely old enough for her ears to unfurl. Yet she wasn't about to give the warrior the satisfaction of a good rile. Not at the jab at Greypebbles or even about her blood.

Her whiskers twitched once which was the only sign she’d heard any of it at all.

When Brindlespice stepped closer, Leopardrose finally turned her head. "Are you done?" Her tone could have made Brindlespice’s theatrics look louder by comparison. "Insulting Greypebbles doesn’t make you clever. It makes you predictable."

She shook her head, detriment to Brindlespice's own look. A paw gave the wall she had padded up to a testing push, still held firm, but could use some more supports. She could look for tree debris to fill up any gaps. She cast her eyes slyly.

"You try meeting a fox and see if it wants to share tongues. You'd run away too. Unless...you'd rather be like Bravesong."

Adventurous hearts, wild and free, dance to the rhythm of destiny.

╭── ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ 🔥 ⋅⋅✦⋅⋅ ──╮

Brindlespice flicked her ear, the only sign of her irritation from the lack of reaction. Great StarClan she got more reactions from her actual kin. Not some kittypet blooded excuse as a warrior. But then she tilted her head, her smile unwavering. Almost unsettlingly so.

"Sure. I can be if you're bored." The young she-cat chirped, twitching her tail in fake accommodation of Leopardrose's needs, in truth, she could hardly care less. This wasn't nearly as entertaining as she hoped and she would likely be able to find her entertainment with another of her clanmates... one of the younger elders maybe...

Then, her face fell, eyes narrowing like she were a leader about to announce dire news at a gathering. "But I wasn't joking about the Greypebbles thing, I've seen him around. Talk with him or you're going to lose him, Leopardrose." Brindlespice's cadence on Leopardrose's name was harsh and firm, a soft growl in it that was hardly noticeable without having to think about it first.

However she perked herself up and shook off anything that might have clung to her sleep diluted pelt. "Farewell for now." She trilled, her paws guiding her back to where she had made her place in the camp. She'll find her entertainment later.