lash and lace [private]

[Fawn]

"A saint in the making, or a sinner rehearsing,
none could say for sure, not even she,
who performed her contrition with the same care as her cruelties."

Dovekit -

Stumbling into a horror scene featuring her father as the male lead was bad. The waiting was worse.

Everyday, Dovekit lived with it. The abhorred simmer of helplessness that gripped with its unrelenting, serrated edge in each glance towards the medicine cat’s den, the fitful dreams that left her choked for air, and her thoughts when she woke up and remembered it really happened.

Dovekit lived in those memories like replaying them could wear down the tape enough to erase it from existence. Most of the time she saw Spiderthroat drowning in his own blood. But sometimes the lens widened to the crowd, the useless crybaby entourage, that clumsy pelican of an apprentice.

Glazed-over green eyes refocused to the camp before her, and they slid to him, narrowed in calculation. She remembered his submission, and his quiet vigilance from afar afterward. She’d seen it. She saw e v e r y t h i n g.

Their last encounter, it’d been tragically ruinous in its timing. Words that had once spilled in a rush of fury now tasted bitter in her mouth.

Dovekit had been staring, intense with intent, while he enjoyed his little bird bath. Then, she was on the move in poised strides only to pause a length from him, tongue leashed and appearance unthreatening. Her edges seemed soft tucked under pristine kitten fur and petite stature.

“Lynxpaw.” What should’ve been a greeting sounded as if she was coaxing him—an invitation as much as a staked claim. Dovekit’s head tilted, picturesque feminine grace. “I’m afraid I may have lost myself during our last brush.”

She looked to the medicine cat’s den, tenser than she had been a moment ago. Her throat worked silently before she spoke, quieter, “I hope you can understand the circumstances were . . . unfortunate.”

@Ian

[Ian]

Lynxpaw groomed from his chest down to the soft fluff on his inner thighs. Having thick fur was annoying to groom, not to mention how hot he'd get during greenleaf! He caught movement in the peripheral of his vision and lifted his head just as Dovekit stopped right in front of him.

A gentle smile is offered at her greeting, though he waits for her to finish speaking before talking. After their last meeting, Lynxpaw figured it was best not to interrupt Dovekit when she was speaking. Ever.

"I do understand. There's no hard feelings, and I do apologize if I overstepped in my attempt to help." Her tensed figure when she glanced toward the medicine den didn't go unnoticed, but Lynxpaw chose not to comment on it for his own safety.

"If there's anything I can do, let me know. Now, or in the future." He gave her the open ended offer, having learned that she would most likely know what was best for her. After all, he'd hated when the queens acted like they knew what he needed after Bumblestar had allowed him into ThunderClan. He's not going to pretend to know what Dovekit needs—that's better left to the adults who need an ego boost because they have no life.

---

@Fawn ; Dovekit

[Fawn]

Dovekit -

Mid-glance at the medicine cat’s den, Dovekit’s gaze flicked back to him in a silent measurement, calibrating. That smile when she approached, his calm demeanor—for how she had reamed him into backing off, she had been expecting avoidance. The needle seemed to point closer to polite fear, and that was minimally workable.

“Color me relieved,” Dovekit said just above the din of the camp, the pressure dripping off her shoulders as she redirected away from the bleak medicine cat’s den and angled herself back towards him. “By your absolution.”

A sigh rolled through her, paw kicking up a puff of dirt in contemplation. “Pettier cats may have hung onto my distressed outburst to later use it against me.” Stars knew there were plenty of those sorts among ThunderClan. “Dishonorable, really. To take the behavior of an overwhelmed kit…” Dovekit trailed off, and she focused on one particular less-than-notable spot. “Even now, it’s all a bit of a blur.”

As quickly as it’d come over her, Dovekit straightened again, blinked a few times. “Behind us, though.” Her words sounded tight. “Thankfully.”

@Ian