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

And now.

It's not fair. It's a dirty move, and Turtlefang is mad, so mad he'd get so caught up in himself that he'd forget what a two-faced tease Daisyfire is. Even after only having met once prior, that much was obvious from the start. They were both liars, and trusting any semblance of authenticity from the point was an accident waiting to happen. And yet...

The fire in his eyes extinguished, washed out by the holy waters of the pool as he looked towards it silently, imploringly. It was no secret, especially after his commentary on the nature of Starclan, that he did not seek guidance from above. There was no way to rely on those who had abandoned you. That much he'd learned the hard way, from a very young age. But he did know and accept that there were things in this world that happened for a reason. And perhaps this, too, was part of the same divine plan that'd been set in motion all those moons ago to punish him for his past transgressions. A necessary warning... that Moonclan was not to be trusted, and he had no place letting his guard down for even a second.

That's right. It makes more sense. This, too, was a lesson. Turtlefang's anger, lost to the currents, was replaced with a solemn understanding. He turned his head back a fraction, eyed Daisyfire with new comprehension, before speaking, soft and meaningful. "You don't know this, because you're still getting to know me. But I don't like being touched. It's nothing personal, but when I touched your foreleg to examine it, I made sure it was alright with you. I expect the same sort of respect in return. As your friend." It was the most sincerity he'd put forward since the beginning of their interactions together, more honest than he liked to be, but if that was the only way to put up a barrier he crucially needed, a degree of directness was unavoidable. At the very least, it'd give him something to call upon should it be violated again. A defense she couldn't worm around, even if it put him in the awkward position of having to vocally express discomfort.

Why was he thinking about 'again's, anyway?

He tilted his chin up thoughtfully, maintaining the wary distance he'd put between them, but giving the other cat a modicum of patience, being the nice guy that he is. "I've already learned something from you. So please accept my mutual enlightenment." It was as if he'd been possessed by the gods themselves, the way his inner flame seemed to quell so suddenly. Maybe it was all those seasons of practice, or maybe it was indeed divine intervention. Turtlefang didn't particularly care. But whatever the case, he had regained his composure. Regained a new sense of persistence, having been humiliated so horribly. You'll regret it. On the bright side, that burning shame in his gut was easy to pull back out and wear like a second pelt, letting Turtlefang droop like a wilted flower as he offered Daisyfire another wide stare. If he couldn't play the empath, he'd have to succumb to playing the victim. "It's like I said. I'm... not perfect. I'm still a Sunclan warrior, so... if I'm caught by surprise, I instinctively lash out. It wasn't right of me. But.. I know if anyone could understand, it'd be you. Please forgive me. I just don't want to risk hurting you anymore than you've already been." So don't push me if you know what's good for you.

Oh. Admittedly, he'd been playing up the guilt trip pretty hard, and not entirely without reason- While he hated to admit it, hated feeling weak, hated losing control, that lick between them had been. Too much. Still thudded a little heavy in his heart, made his brain fizz up with a cocktail of emotions he wasn't sure how to define outside of the overwhelmed anger that came with having those complicated feelings weaponized against him. It.

Not important. Turtlefang's expression flickered from its exaggerated state, a weird guilt of his own starting to well up no matter how he rationalized the boundary. Because in spite of how badly he didn't want Daisyfire to toy with him like that, it wasn't like... he wanted him to be this sorry about it. Did he? Or. I didn't expect it to work. After all, they clearly disliked each other. Clearly had something to take out, using the other as outlets in this way. So why would she accept his terms so easily, much less apologize so sincerely. Ah- That kind of thinking. Believing in someone else like that, believing her at face value, hadn't that been what'd caused this all to backfire in the first place? How could he be sure of anything, at this point, when his trust was already fractured? For that matter, when had he started trusting him at all? It's not like that. I just underestimated her. There we go.

..Yet no matter how he interpreted the scenario at hand, Turtlefang's impression had clearly been skewed in some way, for him to be confused instead of basking in the regrets of someone who hurt him. No, didn't hurt him. Nothing could hurt him. Wait. What were they talking about again?

"Uh." Eloquent. Turtlefang's whiskers twitched self-consciously as he regathered himself, staring firmly at the Moonpool again. It'd given him a moment of clarity before, just a few moments ago, so surely he could find inspiration again? The stars glittered coldly, distantly in response. Way to go. Blinking hard to clear the furrow starting to form on his forehead, he took in the sight of Daisyfire, head bowed over with mismatched ears hung sad and drooped over. Orange and brown, like his own marks. Chest straining oddly, he looked at the ground instead. Nothing but dark paws, no sign of any injured legs to fuss over. "I can think of something." What???

Turtlefang must've been stunned worse than he thought to have lost control of his voice alongside his body, mind immediately racing to try and make some sort of clever plan to make good on his half conscious statement. Maybe getting back into the flow of things would shake the strange tension between them, not nearly as fun as the sparks that'd flown before they got to this wretched pool. It'd only seemed to douse both their spirits since, and if there's one thing that couldn't stand, it was Daisyfire without that signature feisty attitude. Or- Was that a signature? What did he know? Stop thinking! Get smart already!

Yeah, this. Wasn't going to work at all. Turtlefang scrambled for a foothold, latching onto the strangely courteous way Daisyfire offered recompense, like all that talk of being friends had somehow wormed its way into his brain and scrubbed it of all the fun. Tilt the head. Check. He peered at the other curiously, fought up a curling smile that should help his companion revert back to normal. Anything but.. whatever this was. This engagement. This thoughtfulness that somehow, no matter how he shot for it with actual clanmates, never seemed to work so well. But walking this conversation like a thin branch, with weird rules and scripts to adhere to, seemed to almost force cooperation in a way he hadn't anticipated. A way he wanted to get rid of immediately, because whatever this was, it wasn't what he wanted from her. Not from anyone.

"That eager to please me?" It didn't carry the same lofty complacency as before the incident, strangely close to genuine as Turtlefang legitimately continued to wrack his brain for why he'd want to please an enemy in the first place? But he managed his half-smile, pulled off the phrasing without it being stilted. It emboldened him to continue. "You must really like me after all. I guess it works out, since I like you, too. But don't worry- I won't ask for favors on a pained party." He gestured idly with his tail to Daisyfire, peeling his focus away to look up at the sky, feigning a carelessness. "You were right in your assessment. It's nothing serious, but with all Moonclan has to deal with as is, I'm hardly keen on straining one of its warriors any further." A reminder of alliance. Something they both seemed to need.

"..You'll make it up to me next time." Whether or not there'd be one. It wasn't like he planned on actively trying to organize a meeting with her- that was much further to treason than he'd like to tread. But there was something funny about the thought that they'd get to talk like this again somehow, that Daisyfire would for some reason, after everything, call out to him like before. It was a soft out for her, one he wouldn't mind her taking. That sentiment still didn't stop his eyes sliding back to her against the upturn of his muzzle, a slight challenge on his tongue. A slight inquiry. "Should you see me again."

Boldly, daringly, the Moonclan warrior approached without pause, and Turtlefang's held position immediately shifted to meet her head on, smile fading warily. Was this the part where Daisyfire revealed her true nature again, broke the word she'd only just given- proved him right? He didn't like how quickly they'd come back to this position, so close to one another, only a few exchanges after he'd regained his bubble, threatening to pop it in one terrible burst.

It took the slight build in his throat for him to realize he'd stopped breathing for a moment, physically geared entirely towards the singular mission of defending himself should even so much as a whisker brush his. His eyed held hers like a magnet- unwavering and unshifting, even in the face of that childish condescension which piled up like a landslide, clogging his ears with cloying, clinging sentiments. Then, turning with the cursory grace of a crescent moon, Daisyfire disconnected, drawing Turtlefang's sharp awareness to the next point of movement; the wiping, brushing motion of a careless paw. None so definitive that he could make out the image on the other tom's mind, but neither so abstract that he could dismiss it as an unconscious quirk. Must be another bit of posturing.

"You know," He started, tactfully deciding to sidestep the prod at his clan. "Until I met you, I thought every Moonclan warrior was a duplicitous snake." For the harsh admission it is, Turtlefang confessed with the muted kindness of speaking to a small kit. "But meeting you, I can see I was wrong. Especially with you. I was close-minded." His ears angled sweetly, dipping his head in a sort of admiring concession. "You've changed my view, Daisyfire. You're one of a kind. I don't think I've ever even shared this much of myself with my own clanmates." Somewhere tight in his lungs, a laugh bubbled out with the end of his dialogue, a harsh sound that could only come from a place of bitterness. It tainted the brightness of his speech retroactively, countering itself only as it died down to a low chuckle, lost the dark edge that had pushed it out in the first place. A correction.

His eyes danced over the Daisyfire's tracing, merely playing at distraction to compensate for how very aware he'd become of his surroundings, prickling at his skin and bones like a porcupine's needles. Reminding him of the moral ambiguity of this entire excursion, reminding him of his own treacherous nature, as innate to him as his teeth and claws. "I wonder how much more you can teach me."

"Hmm." A low hum passed between them, Turtlefang catching the brusque stall of the paw in his vision. With the end of the drawing comes the end of his preoccupation, more caught up in watching the tilting of Daisyfire to and fro, always angling around like she was looking to catch something on the ends of her claws, like scooping a fish from the river. Unfortunately, Turtlefang couldn't feel the full effects of the point's suggestion, not when it was too closely aligned with some of the actual things he'd heard exchanged in whispers between his siblings at times. To think, what may be teasing exaggeration to a Moonclan warrior would be a line of legitimate thought for some of Sunclan's most virtuous members. It goes to show how hungry they are for bloodshed, should we weaken in any capacity and afford them the opportunity. Clearly, from his own reverse-speech, Daisyfire was just another violent warrior, the type who'd shred his ears had they not been in Starclan's most magnified point of view.

It was good, though. As easy as it was to ridicule Daisyfire's aversion to him, to everything Sunclan, it was a necessary evil. The kind of balance that allowed Sunclan to thrive was the suffering and hatred from across the border, which allowed for point of reference. What was Sunclan without Moonclan, and vice versa? In a twisted sort of way, they desperately needed to hate one another in order to justify division. To justify their own existences. And while some simpering, peace mongering fools might see as much and ask why even bother maintaining something you had to justify to yourself, Turtlefang was wiser- he knew it was much too late to turn back. And this was evidence. Daisyfire, so embroiled in his distaste, was an example of why the clans had to remain apart. There was no undoing generations and generations of separation and bigotry. They'd gone so far into justification that it had become harder to come together than it would be to remain apart. For the good of Sunclan, and even for the good of Moonclan, they had to look out solely for themselves.

Turtlefang smiled. "It is kind of silly, when you put it that way."

Daisyfire's dramatics didn't lose their meaning on Turtlefang, whose hackles shifted just a fraction as he slid his focus back to the Moonpool, firmly away from whatever skin-crawling expressions the tom across from his would be making to accompany the gaudy vocal performance already at play. In spite of his loyalties to Sunclan, he was disinterested with discussing the state of the other cats who inhabited it. Cats who he viewed as his community, but not necessarily as his personal friends. It made the other warrior's words all the more grating, reminded him that he didn't actually have much of a greater attachment to his own clanmates to even feel the need to defend them. The idea of Sunclan meant so much more than its components- But he knew that wasn't how he was supposed to feel, not as the image of the great warrior Daisyfire kept taunting him about. It was a pawprint he couldn't fill, and it made his pads sore to think about.

It'd be easier to talk in hypotheticals, lest things get too personal. Turtlefang dwindled in silence a few breaths after the point's rundown of a theoretical merge, mulled them over for the sake of thought experimentation. If they were going to keep talking like it was somehow an inevitability, he ought to go all in. Slowly, he turned his head back to Daisyfire, but his attention was clearly elsewhere- caught up in the machinations of his own considerations. "Actually. It wouldn't be all that complicated, if you really think about it. You raise some good points, but that's running on the assumption that a merge entails a spatial merge in the first place." Blinking with clarity, his tail gave a little twitch as he crossed his paws over each other, suddenly all business. "If we were going to live together, then a new camp would be inevitable. But for the sake of efficiency, it'd be much easier for things to remain almost identical to how they are. Consider Moonclan's camp. I've never seen it, but I know it's likely similar to ours- The warriors sleep in their own den, the apprentices in another, so on and so forth. Everyone serves a specific duty, rest in a specific place, but work to suit the whole. Do you understand?"

As he continued, voice becoming tactful and concise, he spread his paws apart to indicate a visual example. "As two separate clans, we act in our own interests. But as a unionized singularity, we could still remain where we are now. Like the designations of our clanmates or even the parts of our bodies, we serve specific, localized functions. If you pull the scope back, pool the resources that come out of each group's work, we become capable of supporting one another without even needing to deal with questions of complete integration." In one synchronized motion, he pushed his paws back together to emphasize the statement, blinking at their overlap meaningfully. "Sharing prey, sharing territory... these things can be done under the same leaders we have now, at the same camps we still maintain. This would also allow us to handle such a large territory; By treating it as we already do, with Moonclan's residents responsible for one side of the river and Sunclan responsible for the other, we would be able to patrol everything just fine. The only difference would be sharing the reports. I can foresee the need for a third camp if only to allow for cats to easily have a midpoint for the sake of delivering things like prey and herbs, or even running messengers between each territory, but I think it would be fine. An ambassador's team could be arranged for that."