Judge, Jury, and Executioner(s) [p]

[Mica]

Mistlewhisker

ShadowClan Enforcer
she/her | 38 moons
[Large black cat with a half-white muzzle and pale green eye (left gouged out)]
Purrks: Beefed Up T3, Shadow Fiend
· · ────────────── · ·
[Hawkbite - @SuspiciousMindz ]
· · ────────────── · ·
At the thud of a tail, Mistlewhisker swiveled her head to stare at Hawkbite. She canted her head slightly to the right so her eye could lock onto his more efficiently. His words felt ironic and hypocritical, as a cat who had seen the longing looks cast towards Darkfall, as someone who had caught the hurt gazes of a particular forever queen. Who had seen Lynxshade's attempts to garner his attention. Mistlewhisker would have chuckled, had she not been picking apart his every word.

His comment about Dawnstar was the first thing that received a flicker of reaction. The slightest twitch of a frown. The example of Dawnstar unlocked a spark of something painful [Her rper says "longing, teehee"] in her chest that she very swiftly stamped out. She didn't understand what that had been, but she decided she did not care.

His bravery shpeal earned a raise of an eyebrow. Now it just felt like he was making fun of her. There was no way he was this dense, right? He finally looked away, and Mistlewhisker took the opportunity to scrutinize him this time. "Right." Was all she said.

She grunted in agreement when he talked about the limited pool of suitable mates. "This clan makes me feel as though my standards are too high, but really they're just depressingly inadequate."

[No, Mistlewhisker, your standards are just incredibly high. And you are demisexual.]

Mistlewhisker huffed. "Emotions are nothing but liabilities." She muttered, mostly to herself. And especially in this clan, that seemed to be true.

[SuspiciousMindz]

[Hawkbite]
Enforcer Commander
Shadow Fiend | Agatha Kitty

Liabilities. Was that true?

Well, that was more for him to think on later. However, he was growing bored of this talk. Instead, he let out a soft scoff and glanced around the lazy clearing. Then, a new idea came to mind. No one seemed to be paying attention to them, in their dark little corner. Hawkbite allowed a mischievous smirk to cross his face as he rolled lazily onto his side and gave his legs a stretch that caused them to vibrate.

Reaching over, his toes tapped and prodded Mistlewhiskers side. He'd allow the dumb smirk to remain on his face as he shot her a playful look. "So, feeling mischievous is an emotion, right? Am I a liability right now?" Hawkbite would tip tap his feet on her side, his tail flicking and hitting the ground with happy thuds. It was a switch around from what he was just coming off as.

@Mica

[Mica]

Mistlewhisker
ShadowClan Enforcer
she/her | 39 moons
[Large black cat with a half white muzzle and a pale green eye (left gouged out)]
Purrks: Beefed Up T3, Shadow Fiend
· · ────────────── · ·
[Hawkbite - @SuspiciousMindz ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Mistlewhisker was... dumbstruck. She stared incredulously at the tom she had previously thought to be her Commander, the tom she followed without question. He was... rolling around. In the sand. Tapping her side. She jerked her head around, ensuring that no one was watching this shocking display of frivolity. "Did you get into Lostspark's herb stores???" She hissed, genuine concern for Hawkbite mingling with annoyance and... amusement? "What--" she let out the barest of giggles as his paws pushed against her side, shifting away as the sensation tickled. "What are you doing??"

Was the world falling apart? Did StarClan finally succumb to the Dark Forest? That was the only reason she could place for Hawkbite acting like a kit! Though.... some very, very deep part of her was smiling at the display, and it was hard for her to keep it off her muzzle. It seemed that both of them had let their masks of professionalism slip, just a bit.

[SuspiciousMindz]

[Hawkbite]
Enforcer Commander
Shadow Fiend | Agatha Kitty

Hawkbite would let a dramatic gasp escape him at her accusation, although he briefly stuck his tongue out at her for the answer.

"I'm trryyinnng-" Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap. Right onto Mistlewhiskers side as his voice came out in a teasing manner. "-to get the answer out of you. Am I being a liability right now, or not?" Hawkbite pressed harder -- both physically and verbally. His green eyes narrowed further, filled with mischief as he awaited her answer.

He'd lost track of who could be watching, but he didn't care at the moment. Now he was just doing this to pester the Enforcer. He was certain that every single one of the Enforcers had seen this dumb side to him except for this one. It was time to change that, huh?

@Mica

[Mica]

Mistlewhisker
ShadowClan Enforcer
she/her | 39 moons
[Large black cat with a half white muzzle and a pale green eye (left gouged out)]
Purrks: Beefed Up T3, Shadow Fiend
· · ────────────── · ·
[Hawkbite - @SuspiciousMindz ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Mistlewhisker couldn't help but gawp at her commander as he continued to roll around and grin dopily at her. What... what was she supposed to do here. Was she supposed to call for help? Try to snap him out of it? Was this a test? She stared down at him, wide-eyed. A liability? Of course he was being a liability! He was acting like a kit! And he kept. Freaking. TAPPING HER.

ALRIGHT! She had had enough! Mistlewhisker huffed, shifting her body so she was on her stomach, and proceeding to roll over on Hawkbite's legs, trapping them underneath her considerable weight. She glared at him. "If we were anywhere else I would say that yes, you are being a liability." She snapped, but there was little venom behind it. "Your actions vex me. I cannot tell if this is a test or a joke meant to make fun of me." She softened a little bit, and a flicker of genuine stress tugged on her lips. Was she really allowed to find amusement in this? Mistlewhisker searched Hawkbite's gaze for the answer, and when she found no malicious intent, she tilted her head, looking him up and down. "You intrigue me, Hawkbite." She murmured.

[SuspiciousMindz]

[Hawkbite]
Enforcer Commander
Shadow Fiend | Agatha Kitty

Boy, oh boy. Mistlewhisker really never had fun, did she? It was all work on the mind. Always thinking she's being tested, huh? Hawkbite was slowly learning what made this feline tick. Her weight on his paws did not deter him from being an absolute menace. With a wider grin, his toes flexed beneath her body. The rapid movements were aimed to tickle the she-cat or at least annoy her enough to free his legs. Right now, if he tried to escape, he'd be flopping like a fish. While he didn't mind being goofy sometimes, flopping like a fish wasn't on his list of goofy things to do.

His tail thrashed a little, still hitting the ground in a rhythmic pattern. "Loosen up!" Hawkbite mused as his toes continued to move. "Everyone should have some fun sometimes. Especially us. Don't you think we deserve some time to goof off? No one's watching anyway," Hawkbite pressed with a playful scoff. "Big bad Commander isn't always so bad, y'know. You give me too much credit."

@Mica

[Mica]

Mistlewhisker
ShadowClan Enforcer
she/her | 39 moons
[Large black cat with a half white muzzle and a pale green eye (left gouged out)]
Purrks: Beefed Up T3, Shadow Fiend
· · ────────────── · ·
[Hawkbite - @SuspiciousMindz ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Time to goof off? Mistlewhisker was growing more and more dizzy with every word that left Hawkbite's mouth. Not to mention he kept wiggling his paws under her flank, tickling her. She grumbled, glancing around and realizing that even the ark kits had disappeared back into the nursery. They truly were alone.

It wasn't that Mistlewhisker was afraid of dropping her mask in front of others. It was just that she didn't HAVE a mask. She was like this in front of everyone. The last cat she had been openly enthusiastic around had been Thornwing. And that had been when she was a newly-made warrior, fresh faced and with both of her eyes.

Sure, she had emotions, and sure, she usually hid them away. But it was just so much easier that way. When cats couldn't tell what you were thinking, it was easy to convince them you were on their side. That you agreed with them, so there was no need for conflict. It was hard to backpedal when your emotions were easy to read. It was a useful skill she had learned.

Could she really unlearn it, just for moments like this?

Well... Mistlewhisker had already achieved her dream of becoming an Enforcer. Deputy felt so far away. She had no goal, now. Maybe... this could be her new goal for now. Learning how to be like Hawkbite. Clearly it worked for him, so she could at least try it.

Oh great, she had started to overthink it again. Huffing, Mistlewhisker scrunched her eye shut and let her body flop, still tense despite her stretched out form. She cracked open her eye and glanced at Hawkbite. "....Am I doing it right?" No, she was most certainly not. But it was a start.

[SuspiciousMindz]

[Hawkbite]
Enforcer Commander
Shadow Fiend | Agatha Kitty

A small chuckle would escape Hawkbite as he watched the multitude of emotions whip through Mistlewhisker's eyes and face. Then, he'd entertain her attempt at trying to relax. He could still sense the tension in her muscles. This truly was foreign to her, wasn't it? Stars, he'd have to drag her out for a small adventure sometime. A contest maybe.

"Take some deep breaths and block out the surroundings," Hawkbite didn't directly answer her question, but figured a small suggestion would help. The tom even demonstrated, inhaling deeply and rolling onto his side more lazily with his eyes half closed.

@Mica

[Mica]

Mistlewhisker
ShadowClan Enforcer
she/her | 40 moons
[Large black cat with a half white muzzle and a pale green eye (left gouged out)]
Purrks: Beefed Up T3, Shadow Fiend
· · ────────────── · ·
[Hawkbite - @SuspiciousMindz ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Mistlewhisker did as Hawkbite instructed, closing her eye and taking a deep breath. On the exhale, she tried to force the sounds around her to quiet. All it seemed to do was make her more aware of them, and the harder she tried to force them away, the sounds always poked her.

Huffing in frustration, Mistlewhisker tried a different approach. Hawkbite seemed very content, and he didn't seem to be forcing his senses to stop taking in all of the information the world provided. Maybe if she laid down and pretended to fall asleep, it might trigger something?

The Enforcer sprawled out further, taking slow, deep breaths and closing her eyes. This time instead of forcing the sounds out of her head, she chose to focus only on the sound of her breathing. Soon enough she felt herself melt further into the ground, a tentative purr building up in her throat. It felt like she was being made into liquid sunshine. Like even if the clan exploded right this moment, she couldn't stand up even if she wanted to. Hm. That thought definitely did not help.

Cracking her eye open to scan the clearing again just to make sure everything was okay, Mistlewhisker spotted Hawkbite practically molded into the ground. The molly was still stunned at his ability to do this so easily. She still had to focus in order to... uh... not focus. Ugh! This was all so difficult! Forcing herself to focus on her breathing again, Mistlewhisker laid fully onto the sand, soaking up the warmth through her dark pelt.

She hadn't realized when the thoughts that circled her like vultures had finally quieted. She didn't know how long they had sat there, basking in the sun, before she had a conscious thought again. Even when she did, Mistlewhisker felt herself idly pushing it away in favor of having just another moment in the sun. Hm, maybe she could get used to this.