[Liekki]

Originally Posted by dior

Blackfall was hunched over the river, his ears listening to the gentle bubbling and its graceful movement past the smooth pebbles of varying gray and brown hues. His hearing wasn’t focused on anything in particular; but his narrowed eye and tensed fore muscles told that he was waiting for a fish, waiting like a snake to strike.

The tabby warrior hadn’t felt the light flavor of fish upon his tongue in too long. But it had been a while that he was sitting here. His whiskers twitched with impatience and he began to lose concentration. The tunnel vision he had singularly focused on the rushing stream waned until he finally noticed the white pelt in his peripheral vision. On the right side thankfully; he never would have noticed her with the sorry state of his left.

With a huff and a stretch of his hind legs, he padded along the river in Shinepelt’s direction. He did not have much contact with the she-cat, but he knew her reputation. Like any other cat, the prospect of interacting with her was intimidating. Blackfall was no altruistic cat, but he believed that all cats deserved a chance regardless.

“Hey, Shinepelt,” he mewed nonchalantly, settling himself next to her. “I’m not bothering you am I?” The tom’s ears twitched nervously as he noticed a contemplative look in her eyes.

Shinepelt pawed at the ground, glancing at her reflection in the river. She dipped her paw in the water and smeared it on her pelt, realizing the dirt on her paw was covered in dirt and she only succeeded in putting mud on her sleek pelt. She sighed and held her breath, dipping her head into the water. She pulled it out and shook it off, looking at a tabby tom near her. She realized she probably looked ridiculous with her wet head and dry body, but she didn't particularly care. It wasn't like any cat cared, they would ignore her anyway, right. But this tom was actually trying to talk to her... it was unexpected. "Oh, hello. No, not at all," she sniffed, feeling very self-conscious.

Fearing embarrassing herself with her self-deemed 'dirty pelt', she slipped into the river and swam closer to the tom. "Just fishing, that's all," she said, trying to hide the fact that she was embarrassed. The truth was that she hated fishing, the thought of picking up a live, wiggling creature in her mouth was nauseating. She didn't know where they had been! Actually, she did, but that was almost worse. "How are you..." she started, trying to remember his name frantically. "Uh... Black....Fall?" she finished, saying his name like a question. It bothered her that everyone in camp seemed to know her entire life story and reputation, but she didn't even know their name. Lots of things bothered her, which caused her to curse her OCD, but as she looked at Blackfall, one thing bothered her most of all at the moment.

"Y-your eye," she stammered, her left eye suddenly hurting. She didn't like that it was asymmetrical... one eye was different than the other, though it didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't immediately recoil when he caught sight of her. She breathed in deeply, swimming to shore and climbing out, happy that her pelt felt clean and fresh. Shinepelt tilted her head, leaning forward to look at Blackfall. "What happened to it?" she inquired, longing to be able to make his blind eye look like the other one, but she tried to surpress her urge to say that it displeased her. After all, she was sure that others were 'displeased' by thing about her that she couldn't control, so she kept her mouth shut.