[Doodle]

Originally Posted by Bad Wolf

Horseradish nodded, flashing her a gentle smile and then turning to study the ground in an embarrassed manor, a trick he often found useful. “Yeah,” he muttered, shuffling his paws slightly, “fighter. It's the rank that defends the Syndicate and learns mostly combat skills,” he replied, being as vague as possible without seeming vague at all, since the name somewhat spoke for itself. He looked back and refocused his amber hues on hers, then quickly looked away, still pulling off the somewhat embarrassed act. “It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Feathersong,” he replied, shaking himself, as if ridding himself of embarrassment that had of course, never really existed, but had been well displayed and easy to think of as real, which was the whole idea, since he knew that if he were in Feathersong's place, he probably would've fallen for it, as many cats did. He slowly went back down into a comfortable crouch, now fairly certain that she was caught, trapped under his spell, though not entirely, nor in the way he had planned. Already, Feathersong seemed like the perfect victim of his affection, which usually was just what a cat wanted, but not with him. You don't want to catch Horseradish's eye, or you do, but not for very long. Nobody really like Horseradish, only who he pretended to be, which didn't bother him, though few even took a chance at being alone with him, not once they actually met Horseradish, which Feathersong had not.

Nor had his other victims, as he was a bit of a cheater, and never played fair when he toyed with others' hearts, mind and emotions. Fun as it was, it had its downsides as well, and he could never be sure of how one would react. If the heartbreak would destroy them, or drive to a deep desire for revenge, the latter one being very undesirable, and he would probably have no choice but to kill them if that happened, though he may leave them alive, if he thought that killing them wasn't worth it, and they posed no threat. He was quite confident that Feathersong posed no threat at all, although whether this pleased him or disappointed him, Horseradish wasn't quite sure. But little matter, since that was of no concern until later on, maybe a couple of moons into the future, if not a season or two. It depended on how long he could stand to be around her, this time period varying depending on that cat and their personality. “I'm not sure, but it's not a pleasant thing to live with. One day you've got a friend my your side, the next day, they've been killed, but such is life,” he said quietly, his eyes glazing over with memories as he remembered faintly a best friend of his from kithood. Their death had been devastating to him, and had practically turned him into what he was today. He shook himself, pushing down his memories and refocusing on what was going on now, that being all that mattered.

“Mmm… that's true I suppose,” Horseradish meowed, nodding his head in agreement at what the SkyClan warrior said next, his amber orbs darkening for a split second as she spoke. “And yes, but why should I worry about that? I've done nothing wrong, nothing to provoke anyone,” the mottled fighter said, all if which was only half true, since no, he'd done nothing wrong to do with SkyClan currently, though he couldn't say that that was true about the Syndicate, since he had many cats angry at him, for various reasons that he couldn't name. “And that it is, but not much of out territory is exposed to sunlight, and there's other cats everywhere. Here, there's usually fewer cats,” he replied, this being one of the few things he'd told her that was not a lie, as a great majority of what Horseradish said was usually a lie, unless he was speaking with a cat that already knew his true personality. He easily could've asked why she was at the border, not to mention alone, since most cats knew better than to do that, especially after that humiliating battle, which Horseradish still resented the very thought of. He looked past Feathersong, into SkyClan territory, scanning for other cats, almost hopeful at seeing some, then maybe he could put on a show. But when there was none to be seen, he showed no sign of disappointment.

“Oh? I'd say that I'm the lucky one,” Horseradish purred, a bit surprised by the flirty air he picked up from what she said, but not about to show it. “You see, I'm lucky to have met such a friendly, pretty she-cat with a name that matches, instead of someone else,” he purred, picking each word careful before he spoke it so that he didn't say anything that seemed ill intentioned or rude. He wasn't known for saying things like that, but it even he slipped up every now and then it said something hurtful, though there were many times when he would've very much liked to say something hurtful, but had to restrain himself and hold on to his friendly and harmless air. Despfeedhow hard that could be sometimes, and he would've much preferred to say something that stung and hurt them, which was what he often did to healers, weak cats that weren't good for anything, as anyone could learn their "skills", and then there would be no reason to keep the weaklings around anymore, and it would be very fun to rid the Syndicate of all those weak links and extra mouths to feed, that being all they were. “It's quite a coincidence– I mean, that both of us just happened to be at the same place, same time,” he purred, knowing that this would only get to her if she believed in StarClan, which he did, but had no father in it. His faith rested solely in the Dark Forest, the Place of No Stars, or whatever everyone was referring to it as nowadays.

Feathersong smiled as the tom seemed embarrassed. His act- not that she knew it was a fake- had completely captivated her, and all she wanted was to know this cat more. Especially since it seemed he didn't fit in with his clan, not if they were supposed to be awful cats. He certainly was a very kind, even sweet tom, rather than ruthless. "That's cool," the molly exclaimed. "In Skyclan, we don't have designated fighters. Just warriors, and we hunt and fight. It must be nice to just concentrate on one thing, though. And you certainly look like a fighter," she tacked on, because Horseradish truly did. He certainly had a lot of muscle, more than other toms in her clan. The grey cat tilted her head as if studying him, before shaking her head. "Well, if I was a part of your Syndicate I don't think I'd be a fighter. I don't have the muscle for it, and I don't really like fighting anyways." A fact that had caused her not to be in the battle between her clan and Horseradish's group. She hated battles, and wasn't much of a skilled fighter anyways, so rather she had stayed back at camp while her clanmates were off fighting.

Feathersong shook her head, but this time sadly. "That's an awful way to live," she meowed softly, eyes brimming with sympathy. "I have so many cats that I care about, I wouldn't be able to live with not knowing if they'd survive in camp another day, since back at camp is supposed to be where we feel safe..." She frowned again, thinking of her own kits, and even their father. Just because things hadn't worked out with the tom, didn't mean that she wanted him hurt. Sure, he had hurt her, but only emotionally. She didn't want him dead. And if any cat had harmed one of her kits, the molly would be destroyed- after destroying the cat who had done it, of course. "How do you all even get along, if you can't trust each other?" She asked after a moment with a shake of her head. "I can't believe you still manage to have enough in your ranks to support and protect you all. That's incredible." The Syndicate must be very strong, then, and she felt a flash of pride that her clan had been able to defeat this strong group of cats. She hid the pride, of course, not wanting Horseradish to feel bad.

Her head tilted once more at what the tom said next. "Well, no, you personally haven't done anything to Skyclan. But... well, you're obviously no idiot. You know things aren't well between my clan and your... group." She wasn't really sure what to call the Syndicate, because they were like a clan but definitely weren't considered one. "If one of our patrols came along, they'd definitely be hostile. And not all of my clanmates are levelheaded. One wrong word and they'd lose their temper, and then attack you." She spoke truthfully, because there had been so many skirmishes with random rogues when her clanmates didn't like something that had been said to them. Her gaze turned back behind Horseradish at what he said next, scanning the darker areas of his territory a bit anxiously. Hopefully no one was watching them right now; she hadn't thought of the other cats in his group as bad, but they definitely seemed aggressive and she'd rather not have a run-in with anyone other than this tom right here. Perhaps she had scored in meeting the only passive cat in the Syndicate. She nodded to his explanation of his grooming spot, turning her attention back to his gaze.

A small smile quickly formed on Feathersong's maw at the tom's flirty attitude, a slight purr building in her throat at his words. All seriousness moment before was gone, the worry about being seen gone as well as she focused solely on the attractive cat in front of her. She giggled when Horseradish called her pretty, her ears pressing back in slight embarrassment and her eyes casting downwards. No cat had called her that since... well, she was refusing to think about him now. They simply hadn't worked out together, and it was okay for her to move on with her life. Perhaps even with this kind tom right here. Her eyes flickered back up to meet the tom's at his final statement, and they flashed with thought. "Yes, what a coincidence... maybe it was meant to happen," she murmured with a shy smile. After all, what were the chances that her paws would just happen to bring her to this spot along the border, where Horseradish happened to choose as his grooming spot? She hadn't even made a conscious decision to come to the border- she simply just walked, and wound up here meeting such a lovely cat. So, the molly thought, maybe it was supposed to happen. Maybe Starclan was helping her move on, and showing her just the right tom to move on with. She looked at Horseradish differently now, her smile growing ever the slightest.