𝓬𝓸𝓼𝓶𝓲𝓬

[Cobra]

➵ Illicit ⛓️

Illicit couldn't seem to sleep.

Maybe he was stuck - maybe he was cursed to never sleep, maybe he wasn't physically able to fall asleep(way too unlikely, was that even possible??). No. Those were kitten thoughts, dumb baby thoughts. But. Anyways. The problem at hand. Sleepless. For once, he actually wanted to fall asleep - a concept almost foreign to him. Usually, Illicit wanted to stay up, to milk the day of its pleasures, et cetera, et cetera. He was feeling neither of those. Were they emotions anyways? Or maybe.. something like emotions. Illicit was feeling too bored to figure it out. Come to think of it, his cravings for the dreamworld were probably just

probably

no

Aiming to leave all of his idiotic thoughts behind, Illicit decided to take a moonlit stroll. Honestly, you could say that he was sleepwalking - if you appreciated that kind of stuff. Which he didn't. The tom was in no mood for humor. In fact, he hoped he didn't meet any cats, because it would force him to put up his flirty, playful facade. He glanced at the land around him, a half-bored, listless look on his face with his eyes 55% open. Sleep was still not coming to him. After a while, the landscape grew familiar.

Oh.

RiverClan territory.

He gritted his teeth, not ready to interact with any RiverClanners nor dumb rogues who thought they were RiverClanners(there were surprisingly a lot - don't ask). To his horror, unfortunately there was a small, brown, feminine cat. At first, Illicit almost thought he was a deer, but no, he only looked sorta like that. The tom stopped in front of the other cat, banishing all thoughts of distaste for small talk, his eyes bright and a delighted smile on his face. "Hello!" he meowed casually, totally aware of the moonlight lightning his silvery fur. "I'm Illicit. And, darkness above, you look small. Nah, it's probably just me - I am rumored to be the biggest cat in the forest. Not to brag, not to brag.. " His voice trailed off and he stared into the distance before snapping his attention back to Fawnsqueak. "I'm just glad you don't look like him. Though, tell me - do you have any relatives that are a dark color, with leopard-like spots and blue eyes? Also idiotic and perhaps a taste for blood?"


@Dipper

[Fawn]

⇢ Fawnsqueak 🕊️

It was nearly a second round of seasons later, and Fawnsqueak couldn't shake the insomniac's curse. He didn't remember a time when he'd been able to maintain a natural sleep-wake schedule, nor any stint of his life when he hadn't been stirred into alertness with intrusive thoughts. That typically left him hopelessly awake in his nest to stare at the den walls until sun rays peeked in, but tonight, he'd opted for a stroll to inspect the territory in its leaf-barren state. Moonlit snow had an allure, the biting cold did not.

So he was about to return to camp when he heard another soul wandering out this far but realized nobody had passed him, and the dawn patrol wouldn't be up yet. Fawnsqueak stiffened, clenched his jaw. It was just his luck that he'd have to deal with something like this: either a trespasser or a predator. The options were grim. Turning around, it appeared the gods of the universe settled on the former, the lesser of the evils. Well, at least it would've been if this random tom had kept his mouth shut.

The greeting and odd method of engaging in a conversation didn't strike his fancy, and he dryly commented, "Uh.. yeah. It's not, dark out." The whole 'darkness above' thing didn't really apply here. Or.. ever, really. Unless clouds were coating the sky.

Oh. Biggest cat in the forest. Fawnsqueak didn't know why he'd pointed out the darkness inconsistency; he shouldn't have wasted his breath, this one was merely delusional or too self-absorbed to notice literally anything else.

The description of 'him' sent his fur into a momentary bristle because, to his despair, he ..did in fact know someone who fit the description. And worry began to pool in him as he considered this tom's possible relation to his father, what awful experiences he was about to unload. That vanished when he mentioned the blue-eyed detail, and Fawnsqueak dropped his shoulders in relief. "No?" he replied, eyebrows scrunching. "You're kind of looking in the wrong place, man." It was the most polite way to tell him to leave.

With a cough, he tilted his head toward the other direction. "You can try elsewhere, but, yeah, not here. We have a policy on trespassers."


@Cobra

[Cobra]

➵ Illicit ⛓️

It seemed that he was destined to encounter a multitude of starry-eyed idiots, disgustingly cheerful babies, and this kind of guy - awkward insomniacs. Well. He would just have to force this interaction into something that might even be.. delightful. Hmm. Unless, of course, the stars decided to force their little chat into something else, something less elegant and delicate, something more.. brutal. That would require a bit of eloquent wordplay, and he didn't know if he should shoot sharp, meaningful blows, or coax the other cat into simply leaving.

Either way was possible, and he briefly considered the second choice should it come to that, before opting for the first. That would require less energy and less time, and he just wanted to go away. But! Of course this was planning for the future, and he would only use that solution if Fawnsqueak disrupted their exchange. It was going so smoothly already, he would hate to have an interruption. And if there was an interruption, or something even worse, the other cat would immediately regret his actions.

He was wondering why Illicit used that particular turn of phrase, was he? He felt the carefree smile start to fall, then worked it back onto his face, the slight pain of the whole situation almost overwhelming him. The keyword was almost. The silvery tom could handle practically anything.

"So.. you belong to RiverClan, eh?" He selected his next words carefully, his eyes narrowed into slits. Obviously this guy was no rookie. He would have to find a different way of phrasing the words he had planned out for the worst. There was a very real possibility Fawnsqueak could counter them with some well-placed jabs of his own.

He nodded neatly, making a mental note in his brain to check elsewhere. Not that he was.. checking, really, it was just a sort of thing that he decided on the spot, because, heck, why not? He had the opportunity. It was basically just screaming 'grab me, grab me! please!' And it would be quite rude to resist, would it not be? But.. back to the thing at hand. He let out a quiet chuckle, noticing each of Fawnsqueak's movements, especially the small, hidden ones. But it couldn't be this easy, could it? Either the cat led an extremely sheltered life, or he didn't have an Illicit at home to help him learn how to conceal his movements.

"Perfect. But.. you wouldn't know anyone with the name of Blackhaze? Or something relating to that? Either way, I don't care. Though.. it'd be odd if there were two differents cats.. " The last words were muttered, Illicit's forehead creased in thought. "Oh!" He lifted his head up, crinkling the corners of his eyes fondly. "Yes, but I have a policy on.. lots of things, actually, and I - and other cats, not to name nameees - have disturbed them so much, I would be lost if I was any other cat." He smiled slowly. "Good thing I'm not."


@Dipper

[Fawn]

⇢ Fawnsqueak 🕊️

Fawnsqueak shrugged, guessing he was sort of bound by the societal expectation that he belonged to RiverClan, though that was such an outsider's way of putting it. A lifetime spent across several Clans taught him that he didn't really belong to any of them, and it was ironically amusing that he'd be more of an outsider himself than.. whoever this guy was.

Jeez. He wasn't even sure he'd gotten his name, too busy deconstructing what being an outsider actually meant, and he hadn't started in on his distaste for the obsessive loyalty concept.

Oh. Wait. He'd started with his name. He just... didn't remember what it was anymore, and felt awkward about asking--maybe didn't need to, because it wasn't like this was someone who he intended to see more than the one time.

When he mentioned Blackhaze, it took Fawnsqueak a few long moments to process why the name sounded familiar and the heap of memories that came with it, but by the time he was ready to formulate a reply, it seemed the guy was moving on. Well, if he was disinterested in the answer, Fawnsqueak didn't care to humor him with anything more than, "Okay?"

...Apparently it was his turn to talk again, not that he registered what in the stars this dude was on about now. The only certainty was that he didn't get a hint, and he therefore wouldn't take a warning. The options were dwindling.

Fawnsqueak didn't feel like running him off despite taking a second or two to size up the possible opponent. It wasn't worth it, too much headache and not enough heart. So, he'd just let some RiverClan patrol beat the snot out of him instead. "...yeah," he finally said, slow and contemplative. "I'm going to head out. Bye, ..." Stars. He'd paused too long, out of habit attempting to end the conversation with a name. Unfortunately, this one was a name he didn't recall. "..you."

That was the best he was going to get, and Fawnsqueak didn't need to wait around for a reaction.

@Cobra