Closed Thread No Time to Goof Around

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

Leopardrose moved through the forest with sharp, deliberate steps, her muscles coiled with tension. The cold new leaf air did little to soothe the fire that burned beneath her pelt. ThunderClan was on edge, and rightfully so. A rogue had already spilled blood on their land—she wouldn’t allow another to trespass unchecked.

Then a voice. Bold... careless.

Her ears flicked toward the sound, her already narrowed eyes locking onto a hulking, flame colored tom standing in the center of the Hollow. He wasn’t ThunderClan. His scent was sharp, foreign, lacking the rich, mingled warmth of the Clan that claimed this forest as home. And yet he stood there completely at ease as if he had every right to be.

Her claws slid from their sheaths as she wasted no time closing the distance as she prowled toward the edge of the hollow. She didn’t hesitate... Without a snarl, she launched herself from the ridge, fangs bared. The wind rushed past her as she aimed to crash into the stranger, aiming to slam him into the frozen earth with the full force of her weight and momentum.

"Not another step!"Finally came her snarl, her breath hot against his fur, her teal eyes burning with fury. "You’re trespassing on ThunderClan land, and I’m done giving warnings!"

She didn’t care who he was. She didn’t care why he was here. All she knew was that ThunderClan had already lost one cat to a rogue, and she refused to let another threat slip through her claws.

The world's too big to stay in one place.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🦊•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Fox's ears perked at the sound of the crunching snow but before her could turn to face the maker of the sound, his back was on the ground and paws were pressed down on his white chest fur. The force along brought a breathless hack out of his though, but he was soon able to have breath return to his lungs.

"I'll have you know I know what land this is" He replied, steadying his hind legs on the sensitive underbelly of the strange she-cat and pushing her back with a, what he thought, was a pretty strong kick before rolling back over to his belly and standing up at his full height, glancing down at the rosetted fur of the she-cat in front of him. All of his actions were brought with sheathed claws, his paws looking very soft as they had not been flexed for a moment.

His large, expressive ears perked up for a moment as he slouched only slightly, his head twitching to the side for a moment "Are you alright?" He asked, seeming to genuinely care about her state, he wouldn't want to hurt a cat because they caught him on their territory. He was the one here without permission, not her. "I'd hate it if I was the one that caused any injuries to you" he added.

The large ginger tabby continued to stand, his paws spread apart more sturdily now in case she wanted to launch herself back at him once again. At least this time he would be prepared.

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

Leopardrose had expected resistance the moment her claws met fur. He was too big, too solid, to simply crumple beneath her. That didn’t mean she planned to let him slip away unscathed.

She felt the shift in his muscles - instinct screamed a warning before his hind legs shot up toward her underbelly. But she was quicker. Instead of taking the full brunt of the kick, she twisted sharply, rolling off him with the impact rather than being thrown. Snow sprayed into the air as she landed lightly on her paws, claws digging into the frost hardened earth for traction.

Her teal eyes blazed as she faced him again, watching him rise to his full height. He was big, taller than most ThunderClan cats, but she wasn't intimidated.

And he wasn’t even using his claws!

"I don’t need your concern!" She spat, her tail lashing behind her. The nerve of him - to stand there so at ease, to act as if this were some casual encounter. Her fur bristled, her frame tense with barely contained aggression. "What I need is for you to explain why you’re here before I run you out myself."

She took a slow step forward, muscles coiling again, eyes locked on every shift of his stance. If he so much as twitched wrong, she’d be on him before he could brace himself.

The world's too big to stay in one place.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🦊•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Fox didn't seem surprised let along showed aggression towards the cat that was clearly trying to start a fight with him for passing through the territory, perhaps ThunderClan's rogue problem had gotten worse since he was last here. Fox still kept his claws sheathed and his fur lay flat and comfortably, not a strand out of place in fear, he knew she wasn't intimidated of him and he wasn't of her.

"Why do you think I'm here? I don't have the scent of prey on my breath, I am not stealing from you" He explained, his voice hardly twitched, if at all. The massive tom hardly moved a muscle, not even taking the time to adjust himself from the prior pounce, he wasn't planning on a fight, but Carnelian taught him better than to be unprepared for one. 

Fox blinked his lime-green eyes, thinking of the next thing he could say, he had a feeling that nothing he said would change the rosetted warrior's stand on whatever point she was trying to make, but at least she had given him time to prepare for an attack, if she did so intentionally or not was not up to Fox. "I pass through, I come and I go at my own pace, I know better than to hunt prey of the clans. You have much more cats on your side than I do, what cat is stupid enough to challenge that?"

"Now am I allowed to take a step of would you like me to remain as stiff as a trunk to give yourself some peace?"

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

Leopardrose’s ears flicked, her narrowed eyes scrutinizing every inch of the tom as he spoke. He was too calm...too comfortable standing there in the heart of ThunderClan’s territory, speaking as if he had the right to wander as he pleased.

Her lip curled, barely suppressing a snarl. "That’s exactly the problem." She growled. "You come and go at your own pace? That’s not how this works." Her claws flexed into the frozen dirt.

Rogues had taken enough from ThunderClan. A cat thinking he could drift through their land without consequence was just another kind of threat - one that had already proven deadly. She advanced another step, forcing the space between them to shrink. "You think just because you don’t hunt our prey that means you belong here? That we’ll just let you pass by without a second thought? No." Her voice was lower now, edged with something colder than anger - something closer to grief.

Her tail lashed, her muscles still poised, ready for any excuse to strike again. "I don’t care what you think you know about the Clans. You’re leaving. Now." She gestured with a sharp flick of her muzzle. "I’ll be escorting you out myself. And since you know your way around, you first - where I can see you."

The world's too big to stay in one place.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🦊•∙∙ ──── ⋙

Fox still didn't move, he was taught better than to stand down from a challenge, to stand his ground when he needed to, and if that meant that he would not move from his current spot, then there would be no movement to be done.

"I never said I belonged here, who put bumblebees in your ears stranger?" Fox said with a tilt of his head, he wasn't really intimidated or threatened by her aggression, and it showed in how he held himself, there was no claws to back up his stance and no bristled for to proclaim any battle, just a sturdy structure in case she were to come at him with all she had.

His ears picked up on the grief in her tone and whatever sharpness, if any, that his eyes had vanished in the wind like dust being blown away from the ground. "Something terrible has happened hasn't it, are clanmates of yours sick? Or... worse?" Fox's voice carried concern for the clan as if he had been familiar with it since the day he began to walk without toppling over, as if some cat had told him about all the clans themself.

Fox twitched his ears at her demands, now he definitely not going to leave in a hurry, he was friendly and kind but he wasn't going to let cats walk all over him, whether it was a clan cat or not. "I won't if you speak to me that way, shred my pelt if you must but I will not blindly obey a stranger"

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

Leopardrose’s patience, already worn thin, snapped like a brittle twig beneath her claws. He wasn’t scared. He wasn’t taking her seriously. And worst of all, he had the audacity to stand there, unmoving, questioning her as if he had the right to understand the pain ThunderClan had suffered.

Her breath hissed between her teeth. "You don’t get to ask about my Clan." She snarled. "You don’t get to pretend to care."

She took another step forward, eyes flashing as her tail lashed behind her. He was stubborn - she could see it in the way he stood firm, his weight evenly distributed, his lack of bristling more of a statement than fear. That was fine. She could be just as stubborn.

"You think I care whether you obey me?" Her voice dropped to a near growl, her claws flexing as she coiled with the tension of a cat ready to strike. "You’re leaving one way or another, and I don’t mind giving you a reason to run."

She wasn’t bluffing. She wasn’t some young warrior full of empty threats. She had watched ThunderClan bleed, and she would not let another rogue plant their paws here like they had any claim to this forest.

"Go." she demanded, her stance widening as she braced herself. "Or this ThunderClan warrior will make you." If he did not go, there would be a fight. If he didn't leave now, there would possibly be others to back her up - their scents were everywhere. She was not alone, not truly.

The world's too big to stay in one place.

⋘ ──── ∙∙•🦊•∙∙ ──── ⋙

"Pretend?" Fox tilted his head slightly, she thought he was pretending to show concern for the lives of cats he had been living around since he could remember how to pounce? Oh well, it wasn't his problem and neither was she. "If you say so I suppose" he mused, still rather relaxed beneath the threat of the ThunderClan warrior.

She certainly had pretty developed muscle that was for sure, the coiling over her limbs as she grew ready to pounce at the reason, it was admirable stance if anything. "Well, It seems I was imposing on something important. I'll get going now" he replied to the dappled warrior like her aggression and vigor slid right off of his healthy coat.

Fox had no trouble scaling back up the Sandy Hollow, finally using his claws to grip onto the walls and using his hind paws to propel him upward. His paws met the rim of the hollow and he gave a respectful dip of his head. "Apologies for any sort of trouble miss, if you'd like to report me to your leader, I am just called Fox" 

He gave her a bold smile, he still had no fear contained in his gaze, he wasn't scared of a battle, more-a-less didn't feel like stretching his claws much today, and of course, not cause harm to such an already scarred pelt. Fox bowed gently in appreciation before slipping into the shade of the trees, disappearing into the closest direction to the ThunderClan border. What a fiery warrior, ThunderClan needs more of those.

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

Leopardrose remained rooted in place, muscles still tensed even as Fox made his way up the sandy incline. She didn’t trust rogues especially ones who could smile so easily after being threatened.

Her claws scraped against the hardened earth as she watched him disappear into the trees her tail flicking sharply behind her. She would remember that name. If he thought he could come and go as he pleased she’d make sure ThunderClan knew exactly who to look out for.

With one last lingering glance at the hollow’s rim, she exhaled sharply and turned away, shaking the tension from her limbs. If she ever saw him again, she wouldn’t waste her breath on warnings.

Without another word, Leopardrose melted back into the undergrowth, heading toward camp.