@
Kingly @
wnder
Shattervenom envied how easily Icestorm adapted to every situation... but then, that's one reason why Ice stood as such a respected WindClan warrior. His personality was as smooth and cool as his frozen namesake, and yet he held an unmistakable warmth that had the nervous huntress relaxing despite her fervent desire not to embarrass herself in front of him. How could anyone feel bad when the pale tom smiled at them so openly? If Icestorm asked Shattervenom to crawl into a hole and stay there while grinning that gentle grin, she'd probably obey him without question.
The pair of them managed to catch up to Sootflare with some long strides. As evil as it seemed, the older warrior's obvious discomfort helped Shatter loosen up even more; if Icestorm excuded positive energy and Sootflare felt more antsy than
she did, Shatter had no reason to overthink her every twitch and syllable. She released a taut breath she hadn't realized she'd been trapping in her lungs. Okay. They were fine. Icestorm wasn't going to berate either her or Soot to their faces, and Soot clearly had more on his mind to worry about than anything silly that Shatter might do on accident. That meant she could banish the tension from her shoulders and focus entirely on their mission.
A small happy spark lit within Shattervenom when Icestorm bothered to ask for her input, although her mask remained as stoic as ever.
"Yellow flowers," she replied with a decisive nod.
"As far as which yellow flowers... well, the ones that immediately come to mind are sunflowers and marigold, both of which I've seen out here—though the sunflowers are rarer." Confidence—simple and bright—bloomed within her with every word that the toms didn't interrupt.
"I'm not sure which ones Cowpaw would want more... perhaps we'll bring back both?"
Mentally making a note to spend more time watching Cowpaw to better pick up on his preferred method of communication, Shatter nodded to her companions and trotted forward, casually taking the lead to show them the general direction of where she'd last seen a lovely bed of marigolds. Above them the sky spanned a limpid blue, clouds skidding along with thin-feathered edges teased by a light wind. It was beautiful outside. They couldn't have asked for better weather... and so far, Shattervenom couldn't have asked for better company.
(Regardless if she was starstruck by Icestorm, and if Sootflare was about to implode from awkwardness.)
The white-spattered she-cat slid around some tall grasses until the terrain flattened out, high foliage giving way to sun-warmed stones and splashes of wildflowers. Shattervenom's discerning gaze swept over bundles of blue and vivid clusters of pink... until she noted thick clusters of orange-streaked yellow blooming all on its own. She bounded toward the marigold on light paws; the petals were almost curly, ruffled adorably upon each stem, their scent unmistakably musky—not unlike fresh hay.
Flicking her tail thoughtfully, Shatter leaned down to begin chewing some flowers off their bed of delicate leaves... ignoring, as she usually did, the buzzing drone of insects while they pollinated. Wasps and bees never bothered the warrior; she found that if she didn't bother
them, they wouldn't bother
her.
If Sootflare drew nearby to help her gather the flowers, Shattervenom would brush his shoulder faintly with her tail—a distanced act of welcome, letting him understand that he had no reason to panic. She certainly accepted the more experienced cat—and she guessed that Icestorm probably held no ill feelings, either.