Cry a River || Turtle & Daisy… Fight? Flirt?

It wasn't a good day.

Right paw. Left paw. Right paw. Left paw. An even march of dark feet across the shoreline, contrary to the soft rush of the river, because Turtlefang was anything but cooperative. He didn't much like the waterside- during the flooding seasons, the mud rose all too eagerly to trap wandering warriors, bringing clinging silt and slimy stalks of wetland plants alongside it. Dirty, disgusting, and disorganized. Most days, he wouldn't be caught dead here, as much as his mother always used to claim he could find other little turtles to play with if he stuck his nose in the bulrushes (And then what, get bitten?). But today, after the trouble he'd started and ended with his siblings, it was a welcome reprieve, knowing neither of them would think to search for him here. The beating sun of midsummer had long since dried the flood grounds, soaking the moisture from the soil and leaving it cracked and dusty to the touch. Still something he'd have to clean off his pads, but a marginal improvement from feeling his entire foot get sucked away beneath him.

Even so, he couldn't help but glare a little at the pale flakes starting to speckle his toes. If he focused enough on how annoying it was, it may be easier to forget what he was leaving behind. For now, anyway.

Until a voice interrupted his walk.

As if pulled from a trance, Turtlefang halted abruptly, grounded all too suddenly in his surroundings. How long had he been walking, anyway? As he peered across the river, he couldn't be too sure. It made his pelt ruffle uncertainly, made all the worse by the sound of someone he couldn't see. A kind voice? A sweet voice. Familiar, somehow. A voice that... knew his name. Motion at the water caught his eye, tracing the ripples back to their epicenter. A little head bobbing in the water, folded ears and a dusky face. All too easily, he forced his pelt smooth, an automatic response to companionship. But it took just a moment longer for the exact identity of his partner to click- visible in the sudden shift of his expression from a wary stare to something more carefully blank.

"Daisyfire." It presented itself immediately to him, the name he thought he would have forgotten by now, at the forefront of his consciousness. For just that instance, he could almost have sounded like a normal cat, voice flat with tactful acknowledgement and nothing more. But that's when he remembers- Yes, there's something else happening, here. He remembers, because why else would a Moonclan warrior be talking like she had the whole night sky glittering away in her throat? Honestly, he didn't expect to have ever seen the tom again, or at least not until next gathering. He's not sure how he feels about his expectations being challenged. He's extra not sure how he feels about this little facade continuing. What's the purpose? Why are you here? Did she come just to mess around? Or to scout an aquatic infiltration?

Whatever the case, it's happening. And he's not leaving it alone for a second.

As quickly as it takes him to pace those three, four pawsteps so that he's right along the water, he's already concluded that she's well in her right to be here- she's far from the Sunclan shore. That rules out a fight. Daisyfire has the high ground, and they both know it. Turtlefang, unable to defend his territory, resigns himself to a gentle smile, tail curling somewhat as he settles for basking in the view of a rival cat swimming awkwardly beneath his eye level. Below me, where you belong. A lilt enters his voice where it'd previously been absent: "Merely patrolling on my own, for some extra coverage. And what brings you here? Practicing for the next flood?"

It's still a mean jab, even after the several moons it's been since Moonclan's last emergency, but a strange sentiment underpins it. After all, it was that last flood that'd kicked off their first encounter, hadn't it? Here at the riverline, he has to walk more carefully to keep his paws clean, but it also allows him to match Daisyfire's pace in the water as he began tracking her in her movements onwards, a malicious part of his mind remaining acutely aware of just how far she was from official Sunclan territory at all times. Prepared for what might happen should she get too cozy playing around with an enemy.

It's annoying, how easily he's brushed off. But he didn't falter in his stride- Like a parallel shadow, Turtlefang continued to stalk Daisyfire's every stroke, acting more the role of a hungry predator than that of an escort as his teal eyes glowed intently through the river's grasses. With how fixated he was on the other cat's position, he didn't realize where they're going until they'd gotten there, the ground underpaw giving way to smooth stone as they approached the Celestial Lake's reservoir- Moonpool. Where most cats would find comfort at the spot, Turtlefang felt an immediate wave of nausea once he recognized his surroundings. That, or maybe it's just his natural response to Daisyfire's unnatural gusto. It's only once they reach the pool, where the water's gone stagnant, that the tortie halted his trailing, lingering at the mouth of the sacred pond to watch the other cat, at last, climb out. He wondered, just for one moment, how hard he'd have to push to knock her back in.

There you go. As the Moonclan warrior began to dry, it already eased more of that bad, bubbling feeling in Turtlefang's gut; He'd had half a mind to expect the other to drape herself all over him, what with how far this conversation's already been pushed, and it's a relief to see the threat of that scenario fade away with every tactful lick. The mere thought brought an unconscious shiver, reminded him how much he'd hate getting wet, but moreover, how much he'd hate to share anything with a cat from across the border, be it prey or even a single trace of water on his pelt. Still, it's got to be cold after being soaked to the bone, and he fluffed out his pelt a little as he continued to watch Daisyfire, warding off his own secondhand discomfort.

It was also kind of weird to watch the whole time like some sort of creeping panther. It didn't quite hit until that awful nickname poisoned his eardrums, forced him to look away as quick as possible so that he didn't go through with the whole 'drowning someone' plan after all. A visceral discomfort set into his bones, inadvertently flattening his dark ears back somewhat in a way that he prayed, prayed, prayed he was playing off as sheepish embarrassment rather than the slimy, crawling sensation currently putting a stranglehold on his heart. Turty. Nobody'd called him anything of the sort, not even among his own clanmates, not even among his own littermates. It felt a step too far. For what it was worth, it served its role well- There was no physically conceivable way he could even begin to muster up his own taunt back, too busy finishing his cringe to go through with the effort it'd take to return the false intimacy. As much as he wanted to taunt Daisyfire- Daisy?- No. He wouldn't be caught dead. Not right now, anyway. Cut your losses? Concession is...

Enough. Small victories were hardly worth mourning. She could have this one.

Twisting the grimace from the bad taste on his tongue, Turtlefang managed a smile to rival even Starclan's benevolence, twitching just a little at the corner as he forced his gaze back upon the cat who'd brought him to this place, who'd interrupted him just to play around, who dared to- "No. I haven't been here, not since..." My mom- "..I was an apprentice."

Huh? Get it together. He quickly dropped to his forelegs, crouching idly by the water in hopes that the movement would mask the single lash of his tail that spasmed with the might of repressed everything. But this was still good. In a focused attempt to not think about all that, he focused on the moss ball in his court, settling his aqua eyes onto Daisyfire's violet. It was awkward to manage after descending onto his paws, a little too vulnerable, but perhaps that would work to his advantage. Sincerity was an unforgiving master. With the airs of a pious warrior, just like Sunclan was apparently expected to be, his smile reduced into something more demure. "What about you? You swam here like you were familiar with the trip. Prayer can be very cathartic- Is that another method of stress relief?"

Then, almost as if testing the waters, he dipped his claws into the dissonance of Daisyfire's momentary reservation, sensing a shift in her pretense. With his next words, Turtlefang's tone rang hollow, a little too close to his own truth, but the best acts always were. Authenticity at the core of every falsehood, and all that. "..Have any sins to confess?"

There it was again, just for a few lines- That feeling of honesty from the Moonclan tom, just barely there before it's pulled back like a hasty mouse tail into a burrow. Just like a mouse tail, Turtlefang had the automatic urge to pounce on it, shred it with his claws until it never existed in the first place, and use it to nourish his own starving soul like the lesser life substance it was. More violently than he might handle normal prey, because Daisyfire's own vulnerability made his heart pang uncomfortably with something very, very close to empathy. To an understanding that could not, would not, should not exist. If he could squash it like the bug it was, the parasite she was controlling, he'd do it in an instant. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long. Just as fast (just like me), she hid her weakness away, replacing it with purrs and smiles and steps forward.

Steps forward?

It was only a small approach, but Turtlefang's eyes narrowed upon noticing it, smiling hard to cover for his instinctive squint the moment he registered it crossing his face. What a pain. After another round of nicknames, he wasn't so easily shaken; At least this one was a full part of his title, even if still grating on the poor segment of his brain that had to process that little detail away. Maybe he'd been going about it all wrong- Maybe he should fall into the water own his own, and hopefully crack his head hard enough to drive every memory of Daisyfire's voice right out of it.To get away from her before she got the nerve to get any closer. As fun as things had been at the gathering, that little playlationship wasn't meant to have expanded to the point of whatever was going on between them today. It'd be easier to just leave.

Not an option.

"You're very passionate, aren't you?" It was too easy to throw the act back at her face, to bait her with the anger he knew was there. Turtlefang's grin grew a bit wider now, but more genuine in turn- how could it not be, seeing the awkward way Daisyfire all but squirmed under her dramatic declarations. Tales of destiny, of luck, of meeting again like tragically separated figures. It's all reminiscent of nursery tales, ridiculous stories that could never be true to life. But having pushed the other warrior this far, it was the only defense she had left to fall back on. As much as it served its purpose to keep them both neck and neck in this little charade of theirs, he could already tell he'd found an edge. "To think I'd meet someone with such.. fire."

It's so insistent. So deflective that he knows, he knows he's got everything right where he wants it. Put this sorry warrior in his place at last, made good on his goal to stroke his own ego. But it's not enough. Not for Turtlefang, eternally insatiable, having found someone who he can bleed for all they're worth. Daisyfire, for what it's worth, seemed determined to scramble back into dominance, the way he threw himself in the tortie's face like a dare. Just for a second, Turtlefang twitched backwards an iota, not- liking how close everything had gotten, not liking the ghost of breath that comes with the sudden proximity. But... it was something he'd started, and therefore, something he'd see through. He stood his ground, easing back into position as if staring down a Moonclanner face to face didn't bother him in the slightest. And, with a twinge of discomfort, he realized it really didn't. He's the one who brought me here. It's hardly my fault.