[spade]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

(Shrike's gonna be the stalker here xD)
"Right. Back at Camp." He mewed, with a brisk nod. The embarrassing thing was that Heathertail seemed to have taken control here better then he had...which, in all honesty, although embarrassing-- was also quite surprising. He definitely hadn't seen that coming. And he sort of wished that he had, considering that he might have been able to save himself some of the time. Perhaps Heathertail would have made a good Deputy...she seemed to be able to assign orders fairly well, which was something that was certainly an admirable and enviable trait. Though a good Deputy had to be able to do more then that, and the tom was unsure whether she was capable of doing so or not. Sighing, the old tom headed in the opposite direction, not daring to look back for fear of what he might see there. He was tired of seeing heartbreak, and although he was sure that the she cat would be far from heartbroken, he was nervous that she might have another expression that he would have preferred not to see. Betrayal, for instance. He had seen too much of that recently and it felt as though it was going to tear him apart. Shrikecall hated betrayal. To him, there was nothing worse then a cat who would go behind their clanmates' backs and do something wrong like that...the thought of it gave him a sick, twisted feeling in his stomach.

Shrikecall headed towards the border, padding along the edge. The scent of RiverClan was quite strong and uncomfortable smelling, like a bad odor that just wouldn't go away. A shudder went down his spine at the thought and he sighed, wishing that the awful scent would get out of here. But he couldn't really do anything about it...he was right by RiverClan's territory after all, and if there was one thing that he knew about that Clan, it was that they smelled of fish. And musk. And swamp. At least, that was what it smelt like to him. Shrikecall didn't like RiverClan cats, any more then he liked cats from the other Clans, but he did his best to be friendly enough towards them to the point where he was able to tolerate speaking to them at least. Not on friendly terms, and certainly not on more welcoming ones. The thought disgusted him and he shuddered, a sick feeling writhing in the pit of his stomach. He padded along the border until he was satisfied that there was nothing out of order. A half eaten carcass lay half on, half off, but Shrikecall didn't think too much of it. He imagined it was either some cat's idea of a joke or something like that, though he didn't find it at all funny. Not to mention if anything, it was wasteful. Some other cat could have eaten the other half of that carcass, but instead now it was too rotten to be eaten.

Once he was done patrolling the border, instead of heading back to the Camp he decided to go and check the ThunderClan border along with Heathertail-- whatever was left of it. That had been his desire in the first place, although he hadn't spoken it aloud, and besides, it would be an experience to remember... at least, he hoped so. He headed down the border, following the familiar scent of WindClan cats-- not to mention the strong, powerful scent of ThunderClan ones-- down the border until it was beginning to grow more faint. And he still hadn't run into the she cat. He was about to turn around and head back when a flash of brown fur caught his eye and he padded towards it quickly. "Heath-" He began, but he never got any further then that when he saw the badger. A look of terror crossed the Deputy's features, old and experienced though he may be, and he stepped just beside the boulder, separating the she cat from the badger's view. He wondered if it was too far down the border to be chased off, or killed-- and besides, it had that metal thing stuck on it's foot. "Get out of here. Run. Now." He spoke quietly, his hues fixed on the badger the whole time, never once looking back at the she cat, although he was still blocking her. His pelt was touching hers, in fact from the narrow space that he was in he was practically pressed against her, but he was too worried for both of their safety to think much of it this time.

Heathertail's amber gaze was trained ahead of her on the badger. Although terror froze her body and rooted her paws to the ground, something about the badgers movements threw her off. It was limping heavily, and more and more of the scarlet droplets fell behind him. Curious, she padded a little out from the boulder which she hid behind. It didn't appear as if the badger even registered she was there, which confused her even more. As she stretched her neck to get a better view, she felt someone brush up against her. Surprised, she looked over at the WindClan deputy. "Shrikeca-" she started, but froze as she heard a twig snap. She glanced back over at the badger and froze once more. It's beady eyes were locked on both her and Shrikecall. Instinctualy, her neck fur rose and claws slid out, ears flattening against her head. "And leave you? Of course not," she spat back in a hushed tone, not even glancing at the deputy.

For awhile, the badger just stared at both of them. Heathertail didn't break her gaze away for a second, and before she knew it, the badger started to lumber off, dragging it's injured leg behind it. The light brown she-cat started to relax as she watched it limp off. "Shrikecall, I don't think it's harmful," she suggested, and glanced over at him. For a moment, it registered in her mind that he had been extremely close to her. Protecting her. It sent jolts down her spine, and for a moment a flashed of an unknown emotion shown in her eyes. It was gone the next moment, however, and Heathertail dropped her gaze down to her paws before back at the badger. Even though the animal was a predator, there was something inside the WindClan warrior that ached for it. By now, it was disappearing among the other trees, and Heathertail knew that it wouldn't last much longer with an injury that severe. Slowly, she let out a sigh and felt exghausted all of a sudden. She hadn't even started to check the border, and it flashed in her mind that she hadn't followed a deputy's order.