Private Thread High Above Our Rivals (13LG20)

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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Kosmo followed the long stretch of land between territories, straddling the scented lines of what was the eastern forest of thunderclan and the straight, two-leg trees, heading southwest towards the smaller, much less dangerous rock path to cross. A plump squirrel dangled in his jaws, swinging with every step of his wide trot. It had managed to elude him once, but it was his second time around that he managed to fell it, its voice quelled forever.

Across the path he planned on burying his fresh kill, stashing it with the other treasures he had managed to claim throughout his time here. One of many troves, dry, out of the way, secretive places that housed both herbs or healing, and those of hurting. Any excess prey that needed to be stored for later was also stored there. But before he could cross, his nostrils picked up the scent of something beyond the trees.

Pushing passed the blood scent on his tongue, he was surprised to discover what - or who - this specific scent belonged to. It was much too much of a convivence, and cautious Kosmo hesitated, dropping the kill at his feet and swallowing the aroma. Again he tasted the air, testing to see if any of her kin might be laying in wait, but nothing gave him the impression of an ambush.

He refused to lose an opportunity to speak again to them, and hurriedly scooped up his prey again and padded towards the scent. It wasn't long before he spotted her torbie patterned pelt against the treeline, rubbing up against a flowering plant that was all too familiar to him. Coming across the cat who had entertained him since his last visit to their forest, he was a bit too eager to give himself away, but it came with a disclaimer.

"Long time no see. And before you think that this prey came from Thunderclan territory, rest assured it was taken from lands yonder!" It took every fiber of his being not to immediately fall into a tirade of medicinal cattery at their shared presence of catmint. Half stub raised in greeting, ears alert - if neutral - and a wide, bloodied smile at the drop of prey.

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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The taste of fresh kill heavy on his lips, Kosmo's thoughts were racing - and not too concerned about the she-cat posture at his appearance. Keeping tabs on border courtesies were far from his mind when her last words to him still bounced in his head. He was extra keen to seek out any dead things laying about. It was a mystery sure to investigate once he actually found something suspicious, but there was no questioning the stillness in the air. The voices were spiraling with rumors and heresy; it was impossible to make them out individually, but soon... perhaps one would lead him to such intriguing quarry.

"True, I suppose you have no proof." He relented with a sigh, suddenly brought back to the reality of his company. She could have tried to attack him and he wouldn't have budged. "I'd like to stay away - and I have, but I only came by because I saw you. And the catmint." A small chuckle escaped him, the length of his tail stretching and curving.

Every word seemed to cause the tom to shift back, toptoeing backwards as if to inch towards the boundary without actually turning his back on her. Something he'd never consider doing - and instead, spoke with a sort of half-whisper. "Catmint is considerably more potent when dried and stored properly." Unblinking, wide eyed shifted towards the south, indicating to the small thunderpath. "Just across the 'path is one of my stores. Why don't you leave with me for a while and I'll be happy to share. There's nothing against the Code for leaving your own territory, as long as you don't infringe on others."

Making his offer, he began to dig where he was a moment ago, tilling the soil before his maw dropped the squirrel into the little cache. With a couple pawfulls of dirt, the creature was buried. "You can even keep the squirrel. My treat." With a purr, eyes alit to strange, untold fires, the tom continued. "What do you say?"

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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Every step that brought her closer was met with a scuttle backwards, deliberately trying to coax her closer towards the clear cut scents that distinguished the thunderclan border from the wide, wonderous world. Those fox lengths would have shrunk even more if he hadn't moved with her, in opposite directions, although now his standing frame hunkered down, weigh half distributed in a playful sort of crouch.

The majesty of her tail spoke volumes to the tom, there was no ignoring her interest. So many things held back her potential if only she would allow herself to see the world around her and acknowledge it extended beyond her own territory. His tail spanned outward in an arching side wave, a pitiful half gesture that was nothing compared to the volumptuous fringe of her own. Still, he matched her energy, his face visually crestfallen as if he had dealt her a stunned blow.

Dramatically, he threw his head to the side, eyes half lidded with veiled disappointment, yet there was wryness in his words. "Oh, such a blow. You wound me deeper than any claw could." He wasn't so offended by her denial, in fact, he stopped his wiggling a mere skip and bound from the edge of the twoleg trees. Before he knew it, his rump was inclined slightly above his shoulders as his front forepaws stretched out against the ground - almost close enough for him to reach her, and stood to meet her nearly nose to nose.

His eyes briefly followed theirs towards the buried squirrel, an indulging huff escaping him. One audacity for another, and like Mistyleaf, Kosmo was feeling quite bold. "And yet you can't hide the desire from your eyes." He teased lightly. "What would you ask of me, I wonder, if you were privy to my secrets? What power could you hold with that knowledge, and what could you possibly do with it?" Who would believe her, a mere warrior - and how would that reputation be suspended in that balance?

Together their paws had brought them closer to the boundary, and perhaps neither of them really knew, but when the tom continued, they were sharp, a clinical aspect of his medicinal nature. "I've thought about what you said about the fox... It's not the first time that has happened. My investigations on the matter has led me to a couple of theories..." He deliberately held his tongue, gauging her interest.

Yet kosmo's maw pitched back in a small yawn, licking the blood from his maw in the process. "Although I find catmint makes me much more talkative. Company does too - usually. I can get both elsewhere if you're not bold enough to follow." He would spare her of any details of long nights kept up by talking to himself. "Promise you won't bite off the rest of my tail?" Turning his back on her would be a risky idea, even if it was mostly a joke.

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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His smile was soft like mouse fluff, pitching upwards at her sternness. He wouldn't put it passed her to take her at her word and take off the rest of his tail, finishing the metal monster's ravaging of the appendage. He doubted he'd even feel her teeth on it, honestly, as most of the nerves seemed dulled by their trauma - claws and teeth seemed blunt against his skin, for he rarely felt it especially while poppy coursed through him.

"You're rather intelligent, aren't you, for a Clan-cat." He meant it with every sincerity he could muster, even if his eyes twinkled with mirth as she meandered innocently enough to the border and began to spread thunderclan's reach, scenting the boundaries between the straight, laced bound trees. "Let's begin with an easy, leisurely trot. One paw at a time." He approached her from the side, head level with her own as they more or less stood shoulder to shoulder, equal sized.

Kosmo started their pace, a wide stride trot that took him from Thunderclan land and into the bordering two-leg land beyond. First, they would have to cross the small rocky path to the other side to eventually cross between the slots of a fence and into the yard where he had taken shelter before. He paused at the flat topped surface of the road, ears flicking in both directions to catch any roaring of any road-bound creatures, but heard and saw none.

"Just a little farther, now." It didn't mean to come out so ominously, but Kosmo could only imagine what kind of scenarios flew in and out of her mind. Would she be ambushed the moment she crossed the rocky path, or be set upon by an army of rogues in the yard beyond? Keeping a grin from his mouth, he squeezed through the slot of an old, withering fence. It seemed whoeevr had once called this place their home hadn't been there in an age.

Kosmo increased his pace once he broke through, bounding with a quick couple hops over towards a large, sloping oak tree with a winded, serpentine like trunk that seemed fused with other roots and twisting boughs. The rest of the area was sequestered from view from anyone outside looking in, a sheltering thicket of foliage broken up by smaller trees that were clearly overgrown.

"Here we are now, one home sweet home." At the roots of the pinnacle oak, he half turned, tail casually waving in wide (if small) half arches. "Your ailments... Let's see what we have here." Distracted now by his task, the tom half circled the oak, pausing before his head angled up and leaped onto the tree, clinging with his claws as he scooted a few foxlengths up until he spotted the sheltering nook. Nostrils assailed by the scent of herbs, he continued playfully. "Are you having any difficulties breathing? No...? Hmm, well, you certainly could use something to help you relax." Chuckling to himself, he came down the oak with a grand leap, landing on his feet with a small grape leaf wrapped around a pile of crushed, dried catmint leaves.

"Catmint." He announced when he stood in front of her, package dropped at her paws where it opened up, spreading some of the flakes into the air. Dipping his front half into a bow, legs straight, he eventually ended up on his belly, rump flattening on the loamy earth, half tail giving a thump. With a slow, deliberate blink up towards the she-cat his slightly tuft ears flicked. "I am nothing if not a cat of my word. As I do value the rest of my tail, however marred it may be."

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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Unlike Mistyleaf, Kosmo had no reserves about taking in what he had so painstakingly harvested and preserved for one of these very moments. It was by no means his preferred herb of choice, however, it calmed him - a sort of warm euphoria was was similar to poppy but different at the same time. His nostrils twitched as he inhaled some of the powdery dust that floated up, but he didn't sink his face into the pile and heave like some degenerate.

She brought up a good point. Catmint wasn't the sole reason for their adventure, and his face softened at the mention of the kits. Brows relaxed, whiskers slouched, odd eyes half lidded as if he were conversing with an age old friend. Paranoia was a deep seed to uproot, but the catmint helped either way. A partial purr escaped him. "No, you're quite right. Others have needed it, and probably will need it. I'm optimistic, but I try to be practical - and have the right forethought to prepare should any need call for it."

He exhaled slow, eyes flickering to her own. "The dandelion and caraway were successfully pillaged!" A bark of a laugh escaped him, save the note was a tremor soft, shallow as if to not garner any attention from outside forces. The sway of his tail teased playfully. "The queen sends her regards. The herbs have increased her flow - and the kits are no longer half-hungry. They are each healthy, if a bit undersized - for now."

Taking advantage of the moment, his head swished around and began to lap at his foreleg, pausing to speak between every lick as he smoothed down the hair there. "I shouldn't have to worry about finding more herbs for a while, I think. At least in clan lands." Out of the corner of his eyes he watched her, almost as if he might expect her to challenge him back to try again. Maybe not even to harvest herbs.

If she was willing to follow him from outside her precious clan lands.

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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Catnip would soften the blow of her seemingly disinterest, her stiffness seemed purposeful. And instantly, he wondered why she was so invested in this mystery - Had someone close to her perished like that fox? He pondered whether or not their death spasms were similar - but found the question on his tongue withering. It would be... tactless to so directly inquire, especially trying to have her describe them in every harrowing detail. He'd spare her his questionable passion. For the moment.

"First... I must collect my thoughts. I want you to close your eyes with me." His voice was a note dour, tone of seriousness as she very much demanded he keep true to his word. She had reached out to him, out of some sort of desperation - of which he believed her determination stemmed from - or some unseen curiosity. Odd eyes were quick to weigh her actions, silent judgement as to wether or not she would follow his direction. Despite embuing himself with the scent that rose into his nostrils, he was still - he was calm. A low purr escaped him, a still note that seemed to echo in chant.

"Let your ears swallow your surroundings." His purr slowly subsided, eerily quiet. This silence continued without even a twitch of the tom's whiskers, stretching far into the uncertain. From the hollows of his ears funneled a variety of sounds from the neighbor in which they inhabited. "What do you hear?" Closer were the sounds of two-leg life, but the animal life. The chirps of passerines, the chattering of chipmunks and squirrels. The pattering of yard-rabbits as they nibbled on garden greens. None of them would consider stealing from his cache.

"Their voices are strong - they're many." Exhaling slowly, his eyes fluttered open before his chin tipped towards the forest. "The forest voices are fewer. They lament. They're suspicious and fearful. The other day, I lost a friend - they flew down to scavenge prey. They died shortly after." He dipped his head, ears deflating sideways. Pity punctuated his eyes.

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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 The longer he laid observing his surroundings the longer he felt as if the weight of the sounds threatened to overwhelm him. Sensitive to the nature of his surroundings, oddly attuned to the mysteries of the forest and the area around their attainable world in which they called home.

At the sound of her voice offered in condolence, Kosmo's mismatched eyes fluttered to meet her own. His gaze was somber, echoing her solemn response, yet there was something in them that spoke of opportunity as if the story wasn't done yet. He took a deep breath, the scent of catnip yet lingering heavily in the air. He had pieces together his investigation through the help of others, although she'd be surprised to know that cats weren't part of it. Save her and her speculations and company, equal.

"It would be strange if you did. He was a crow." His mentor's secrets were far removed from the general population of warriors within the clans, and Kosmo's grin teased lightly on his maw as he continued. "I watched as he ate from the rat. Shortly after he started to seize. He tried to fly away but his wings refused to carry him - and unable to vomit, he fell to the ground and saliva pooled from his beak."

The tip of his half-tail tapped in thought while hers swept like a bushy mop. "But that wasn't all. I found a young hawk near the Riverclan border that seem afflicted by the same sort... Of what sort it's odd to say... But it seems to me as if they ate deathberries, holly berries... Their sickness seems very sudden, but to think these creatures are plucking such berries like that and eating them. It doesn't seem like probable cause."

Next Kosmo fixed her with a casual stare, and ear flickering to hear her response. "Have you lost any of your friends from this?"