Private Thread A Rose in the Pebbles

Even the smallest pebble can make ripples that change the course of the stream.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🌑•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Greypebbles had been chosen to go on a patrol with Leopardrose, no other cat was openly stated to go with them. He would usually be relieved but today, and ever since these murders had begun happening, since Leopardrose had changed... he knew it was her way of coping, but it seemed to worry him more than easing his mind.

"Uh, yeah. I suppose I did, not worse than normal." He replied, his bobbed tail flicking timidly as he caught up to her, brows furrowed with thought but he didn't address whatever thoughts bloomed in the back of his mind. If Kestrelswipe wanted the two to hunt, then hunt they will.

He glanced around, his eyes focused but worried, as if the rogue would jump out at them at any moment. Even if she did, he'd put himself first, he was tired of running from the fights he was meant to face, he'd done that enough. "How is that bruise going?" He asked quietly, his voice somewhat strained with worries that he held deep in his chest.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
──●◎●──

Leopardrose listened to his answer with a faint approving flick of her ear. "That's good to hear. You look less tired today." Her praise was subtle, and perhaps gentler than it needed to be.

When he mentioned her bruise, she exhaled softly and rolled her shoulders, testing the pull of muscle beneath her pelt. A slow stretch. "It’s not so bad." She smeowed glancing at him with a wry tilt of her whiskers. "Barely stiff now. I’ve had worse from tripping over roots."

She stepped ahead onto one of the flatter slabs of Snakerocks, her paws finding purchase with ease, but she slowed just enough that he remained comfortably beside her. "Thanks for caring about me...I know I've been...distant lately." Distant seemed like the right word but she wasn't so sure. "Sorry to keep you worrying..."

Even the smallest pebble can make ripples that change the course of the stream.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🌑•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Greypebbles' posture eased gradually as Leopardrose spoke, her breath running from shallow to smooth in the moments that followed, he kept up with Leopardrose the best he could, being smaller was as much of a detriment as it was an advantage, suppose it simply depended on the situation. 

He took notice of her easing bruise and offered a shy smile in response "Glad you can get back into your duties... and that you haven't decided I wasn't worth your time anymore." He let out a dry, humorless chuckle that seemed more self-deprecating than the humor it was meant to convey.

"These deaths..." he began, his words soaking in more emotion than that dry chuckle had ever expressed, "they've effected all of us I think, some, even more than one would think." Greypebbles shuffled his paw against the earth for a moment before glancing back at Leopardrose, his grey-blue eyes glistening slightly.

"It's nice to know you haven't forgotten about me though. It's fine. I'll be fine." He replied, as if he was also trying to convince himself as well as Leopardrose, but then, an odd sight and a strange scent drew him towards a whole that had been made in the ground and twitched his tail. "Leopardrose. You see that?" he asked, half of him just hoped he was seeing things, then it would at least give him some peace of mind that they wouldn't be ambushed by what he thought was nesting there.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
──●◎●──

Leopardrose felt the tension in Greypebbles ease and something in her own chest loosened with it. "Greypebbles... You would know best that if I didn’t want you around I wouldn't keep you guessing." Although her lips rose, smiling at him in earnest. She wasn't good at soft words, but she nudged his shoulder with her tail in passing.

Before she could say more Leopardrose followed his gaze, muscles bracing as she padded to the edge of the hollowed space between the rocks. The scent hit first sharp and musky before a shadowed space could be seen underneath the cleft.

A male long-tailed weasel writhed half out from beneath the slab of stone teeth bared in a spit laced hiss. It mock charged once darting out in a lightning quick bluff before dancing back underneath. Leopardrose's own fur lifted along her spine instinctively. "A weasel. A big, mean one.

She shifted slightly before whispering over to him. "I can try and bait it out of its den. Do you think you can strike at it when it's free of cover?"

Even the smallest pebble can make ripples that change the course of the stream.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🌑•∙∙ ──── ⋙

The sight of the weasel, it’s angry half-charge and the venomous hissing didn’t really draw much of a panic from Greypebbles, it was small enough to hunt, but he had certainly tasted the meat of a weasel and it made his nose wrinkle for a moment ay the unfortunate memory.

His ears perked as Leopardrose hatched her plan without hesitation like she had a knack of doing, he smiled, he revered that about her, how she was always able to think on her paws when things came out of the blue. He missed this Leopardrose.

"I’ll move to a blind spot and pounce out at your signal." Greypebbles promised before leaping away, climbing the rocks carefully and moving above the nest, a spot that the weasel wouldn’t spot him unless it was trying to look for him. He gave a nod to Leopardrose, he was ready.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
──●◎●──

Leopardrose tracked Greypebbles' movement with a quick, assessing glance. Once his nod came, her focus snapped back to the slit of darkness beneath the rock. She sank low, muscles coiling. Her voice slipped out in a low murmur, only loud enough for Greypebbles to catch.

"Wait for the second feint."

Then she stepped forward and swept one paw across the stone near the den opening.The weasel answered instantly hissing furiously, its long body twisting as it lunged halfway out in another bluff.

She didn’t flinch.

The weasel spat, retreated then surged again with real intent this time, body launching fully clear of the den in reckless strike.

Even the smallest pebble can make ripples that change the course of the stream.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🌑•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Greypebbles watched as the weasel feigned an attack, the first time, then at the second it lurched its body out of it's den and he narrowed his eyes before pouncing forward, jaws wide open and ready to attack, his fangs bared in a snarl before snapping shut on the long-bodied creature before it could get a whiff of Leopardrose.

The foul, musky taste of the weasel's blood seeped into Greypebbles' mouth as he landed the bite onto the snapping creature's neck. The struggle was short lived but fierce, and if it weren't for Greypebbles quickly pinning the thrashing hind claws down with a paw, he probably would have gotten a few nasty scratches on his cheeks or worse, his eyes.

Tiny claws thrashed wildly and helplessly but were put to silence when Greypebbles bit down hard, ending its suffering with a single 'crack!'

When Greypebbles let go, the weasel was limp and still, it's once fierce eyes glazed and glossy with a lack of life that fresh kill always had, it was dead if he had ever seen anything dead. A few heavy breaths escaped him from the wild fight to kill the weasel, but it was dead, there was relief in that. "It's dead." He announced, giving it a nudge to reassure himself, the neck would caused by his wound blead steadily, caking the fur in red clumps. "If it wasn't for you it wouldn't be." 

He added with a purr, giving her a smile that was wide enough to shape his eyes, something genuine and kind. Proud even.

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
──●◎●──

Leopardrose’s chest swelled not with pride in herself but in him. She watched Greypebbles land true, clean and efficient. When the crack sounded, she exhaled the tension bleeding from her shoulders.

Her smile, she hoped would be praise enough. "We did it." And she meant it. For a heartbeat, the moment felt light then movement flicked at the edge of her vision. A soft shift of scales. Leopardrose’s ears pricked forward as something slid from beneath a neighboring stone.

An adder attracted by the scuffle and dead, easy prey. Leopardrose reacted instantly, stepping back with a quick hop that carried her away from the striking range. It started to wrap its coils around the weasel, jaws already testing the limp body as if deciding where to begin.

"Let's give it space. You earned that kill but I'm not arguing with a snake over breakfast. Musky breakfast..." Leopardrose smiled even as her eyes didn't lift from the feeding snake.

Even the smallest pebble can make ripples that change the course of the stream.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🌑•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Greypebbles' fur bristled when the snake decided that the freshly caught weasel was a better meal than hunting something itself. He flinched, having no interest in fighting a snake over a poor tasting piece of prey. "No, the snake can have it. It'll probably enjoy it more." he replied, his bobbed tail twitching as he backed away to let the snake feed on its stolen prey.

He made his place beside Leopardrose and let out a calm purr as his head met her shoulder with unpracticed ease, like it always was and always will be. "I'm glad we could come out here you know." the meaning behind his voice didn't falter, the kindness and soft whisper beneath the words didn't leave, he meant this. "I've felt like... we haven't been as close as we were, that everything that's been happening recently... all this... all this might have taken a bigger toll than you let one." He added, his presence, his weight, however light, existed to ground Leopardrose as he softened his expression.

"I worried that I'd lose you... I still do, a world without you as my friend felt a lot more empty, something about that emptiness... it scared me." Greypebbles' voice was a whisper now, his ears angling back slightly. However he moved his expression to something encouraging and kind, that face he always seemed to make around Leopardrose, his closest friend. "I don't want to lose what we have, Leopardrose. I don't want to lose you, you're my friend, you make my life brighter just by being in it." 

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
──●◎●──

Leopardrose didn’t take her eyes off its coiling form until Greypebbles' shoulder brushed her own. She was pleasantly caught off guard as his purr resonated through her. Only when he finished did she turn her head.

"Greypebbles." Her voice came low and personal. "These deaths - purposeful hunting of cats is unsettling in all the ways it should be. When the killer is caught we can all sleep sounder with it." She hated feeling the need to always look over her shoulder when she was out and about. For a cat who was usually guarded the extra layer of vigilance was exhausting. 

She nudged his forehead gently with her chin, a gesture she offered to almost no one."But don’t think for a heartbeat that you ever lost me. You're my friend too. One of the few I trust without even thinking about it." She let that sit. "I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were slipping away. I didn’t mean for that."

Even the smallest pebble can make ripples that change the course of the stream.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🌑•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Greypebbles' expression softened as Leopardrose spoke, his eyes moving to her and meeting her eyes in a soft acknowledgement, still soft with worry, but certain that he and Leopardrose could make it through this, mostly because he didn't want to think of what would happen if the rogue left either of them alone.

"Once this is all over, I want to go out for the day, just us." Greypebbles suggested, shutting his eyes and letting the breath settle between them. "Without anything to worry about, without worrying about getting ambushed, attack, killed, just us. For as long as we can make it." He added, a purr rising in his throat at the thought.

Greypebbles curled his short tail upward pressed into Leopardrose's affection with equal loving affection. "We could even go to your favourite tree." He chirped with an affectionate purr that grew louder with each word.

"It's okay. I didn't think you meant it." He replied, giving her shoulder a few soft licks before pulling back "You're coping in your own way, just like the rest of us. Whatever way works for you, you should keep doing it. I'm just happy I'm not going to lose you so fast." He added, his paws shuffling. "Because, I wouldn't know what I'd do. I hope that it never happens so I never know." his voice held a coy amusement as his whiskers twitched with the soft laugh that he let out.

Greypebbles then looked down to the adder as it slowly swallowed the weasel and it sent a shiver down his spine, he couldn't even eat a mouse a whole and this snake was swallowing a weasel like it was nothing. "Let's try somewhere else before the adder decides we look tasty." He thought for a moment, twitching his tail before a rare smirk twitched the corner of his mouth "Race you to Sunningrocks!" 

Spawn of flame, Thunder-struck, from the ashes I rise
──●◎●──

Leopardrose’s whiskers twitched as Greypebbles painted the picture of a future without fear. She didn’t allow herself many hopes these days but that one slipped in easily.

"I’d like that." She meowed steady and sincere as a flash of fond amusement lit her eyes. "I’d even let you climb to the first branch this time." His affectionate grooming drew a soft, quiet hum from her chest and bumped his cheek with her nose in return.

"I’m not going anywhere..." Her tone grew firmer, a promise wrapped in the voice of a cat who always kept her word. She followed his gaze to the adder, its jaws now stretching impossibly wide around the limp weasel and nodded in agreement.

A real smile broke across her muzzle. "You're on!" And with that the two of them bounded away from the snake and the weasel as they raced toward Sunningrocks.