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

In stubborn adherence to his self imposed secrecy, Turtlefang didn't raise comment to the confusion as it was mentioned, although it did help pull him back into the moment. It was ridiculous, of course, to listen to someone else agonize over the very questions he had about them. If she was perplexed enough to voice it, did she think he was any better off? They were both here together, strung around the Moonpond like false worshippers with eyes only for each other, and Daisyfire thought he was the exclusive ambiguous factor? You could leave just as easily. Maybe a small part of their mutual rebellion had survived after all, he pondered, as he quietly watched the other's wariness from beneath the motions of his foreleg.

The casual swipes halted altogether, however, when he deigned to mention water. Although Turtlefang had long since regained his bearings from their original spat, the way he slammed his paw back down nearly rivaled the forced that had stunned it prior. "You will not," He all but growled, eyes sparking back to life. "Get so much as a dew drop on you. You would lay my entire favor to waste." The strength of the reaction almost surprised himself, but didn't feel unwarranted- After going through the trouble to call things even, after putting himself so close to someone and drying them off like an ally, he would sooner lunge at her all over again than let her reset his hard work. It was like mauling good prey, like trampling the very herbs you helped your healer to find. Wasteful, wasteful. Was everything about Moonclan so geared towards inefficiency? To think the Daisyfire who'd dared to ask for his help, dared to expose her weak points all to get a job done, would sooner trudge back to camp soaked all over again without anyone else to do the job.

Well. There... were probably several other cats back at home who could do exactly what he'd done, and probably much better, but. It was about the principle.

Honestly, having expected backlash for the lack of complexity, Turtlefang was pleasantly surprised by the other tom's compliance. But then, of course it'd be that way. What reflected poorly on him put her in a much better light, so there was really no losing out for Moonclan. Moonclan, Moonclan. An easy placeholder for someone's name, if you had to use it that way. Easy to swap out a face for their allegiance and make it easier to ignore. It made it all the more curious why the same method wasn't being employed against him, hadn't been since they met at the Gathering. A warrior was a representative of their clan, weren't they? But almost all this time, it wasn't Sunclan on Daisyfire's tongue- it was just his name, repeated like they'd known each other for moons. Those other nicknames, as if they were so prone to conversation that he required a shorter address for efficiency. Efficiency. That's what this whole plan was about, wasn't it? So why was it so much easier to linger, even when he wanted to slip back into the Moonpond and let the stars burn him away?

He returned Daisyfire's focus with cooperation of his own, although his back couldn't help but ache a little at sight. "It's plenty fair. I'm the one who asked you to fight me. Consider it my recompense." There was a tinge of disappointment at memory, in place of the shame that had once existed. Although Turtlefang had known nothing good would come of it, there'd been something exciting about standing poised across from one another, all bets aside and only adrenaline in the moment before the clash. It'd reminded him of something far away now, a time in his life when he could throw himself at somebody and tumble around until one of them came out on top, but both of them smiling. Had he wanted that for them, right here and now? Looking at someone who listened to him, who fought fire with fire, who didn't back down unless he asked, he was no longer sure of what he wanted. Maybe all he wanted was to see things the way they were again, when she was just a face in the crowd and he was just her problem. "..It'll be fine."

Then, at the mention of fever, the tortie's dark ears perked forward, as if listening for the simmering of illness in the orange center of Daisyfire's face. He came forward somewhat, before stopping wary in his tracks. But regardless of his own self control, he couldn't help the shifting of worry making itself at home in his chest, kneading at his heartbeat like a kitten. Offsetting his eyes just enough so as not to give away that treacherous feeling- not so obviously, at least- he focused instead on the reflection in the water, a blur of brown and white and ginger instead of a whole entire cat. A collection of shapes, an idea. Something in another world. Being in Moonclan, he may as well have been. Turtlefang pawed at the ground in a tiny motion, not a full swipe nor a simple tap. "You said earlier that you didn't need my escort, but if you're feverish, I'd like to present my services once again. At least so I know you won't pass out somewhere too far from where a patrol would reach." That wouldn't do for the plan, of course. It's only rational, he told himself with slipping assurance. The humorous visual of Daisyfire flopped on the ground somewhere like a furred husk somehow didn't amuse him as much as he wanted it to. Not when his paw was already bothering him, and all those rasping breaths, and... whatever tied it all together. "..it's like you said. It can be dangerous to go alone."

With the stutters of Daisyfire's rambling, splintering like brittle sticks into wood fibers midway through a statement, Turtlefang couldn't help the twitch of his mouth, a sardonic curve as he considered the implications laid out before him. The way she was talking, words of repayment and paths crossing and urging him to make a promise he in no way could be guaranteed to keep, it really felt as if the other wanted to meet him again, regardless of the dangers acknowledged. It opened up that hole in his heart where negative space surged outwards, eating away at all the known and familiar feelings inside his chest cavity and leaving it gaping with void. It was an emptiness that reared its head and stared back up at him through the glow of violet eyes, as deep as the Silverpelt and just as capable of swallowing him whole in their magnitude. There was no way to look at it directly, and so he didn't- He tore his attention away from him, away from the soft, seeking irises that pulled at him for answers and solutions he couldn't provide. He looked away, because there it was all so hopelessly meaningless.

It didn't change his offer.

And.

Turtlefang's eyes stretched a fraction.

It's not as if he hadn't expected the answer. Daisyfire was volatile, shifting gears at the slightest touch, but that emotional investment also made him predictable to an extent, especially in matters concerning the two of them. He kind of hated that he knew that already, after only two interactions. But it was true- he'd expected the easy agreement, had seen it coming a mile away with all the crashing and stomping and reckless bumbling of a charging beast. The same kind of recklessness that made her agree in the first place, the shallow sort of affirmation that anyone could make without meaning it, throwing faith around like there was a whole sky's worth to spare. Empty claims pulled out of thin air, as transient as they were insulting. Easy to disbelieve, easier to forget about.

What he hadn't expected was the doubling down. Those three little words, targeted straight at his soul in fierce defiance, carried intangible weight, crushing a breath out of his lungs that he didn't know he was holding until it'd gone away, leaving him wrung dry and brittle. Breakable. Somewhere along the line, his aversion had been reversed, entrapped in Daisyfire's twilight night stare and all its limitless possibilities.

"Mm." That bothered look didn't escape his features, swarming with a thunderstorm's worth of feelings too violent and tumultuous to untangle from one another. It wasn't until he caught the start of Daisyfire's approach that his attention flit back upwards, wavering on the stubborn persistence of her stance, as firm and enduring as a river stone amid the worst of the rushes. Smoothed down by the elements and experience, with just enough grit left to make a home for itself among the creek bed no matter how strong the tides pulled. He was the same- Turtlefang had watched him wear down and down until there wasn't supposed to be anything left from their conflict. And yet, here she was now, settled in as if adapted to the circumstances that once had her on the verge of running off, tumbling with the tossing and turning of the stream that flowed in volatile twists and turns between them. Unmovable. Maybe that was a Moonclan specialty, too. Never knowing when to quit, even at your own impairment. Reckless. You're hopeless. But even to him, the observation was tempered by the same acceptance that'd made him swallow his loss. Accepting that this was just how the other cat was and always would be, so maybe playing hard to get wouldn't lead to the buffering effect he'd been hoping to achieve.

Not that he particularly wanted to be gotten, whatever that would entail. Just a figure of speech.

As they began their return to the territories, Turtlefang couldn't help but notice the uncomfortable silence. For all he'd been barraged with the entire interaction prior, he'd expected a lot more prodding and procrastinating from the cat who couldn't seem to hop off his tail from the moment they'd met beneath the full moon. But then, even when he'd become utterly predictable, Daisyfire seemed to have a way of swinging between modes faster than he could catch the cues for each switch. It made the walk a little.. lonely, in a way, missing all the banter they'd gone the opposite way with only just the same day. Maybe out beyond the borders, he somehow forgot what it meant to be divided, and he's only just now remembering on the way back. If that was the case, so be it. It wasn't the tortie's job to bridge the random gaps in another cat's allegiances, seemingly constantly flipping between him and the more rational, correct choice of her home and clanmates.

When they happened upon the Moonclan border, he almost didn't realize it. Mainly because he'd never set paw on this side of the river before. A part of him felt antsy at the thought- reassured only by the remembrance that Daisyfire's report would clarify any confusion about Sunclan scent along their territory. Even if she somehow decided to betray the plan, throw Turtlefang to the waves in an attempt to drown him, he always had a worse weapon. The truth of what had really happened. Burn me and I'll make sure you burn, too. A last resort, but one he suddenly had to consider, now that they'd arrived back in reality where being caught together could spell trouble for both of them. But then, the suggestion to split up landed at his paws, and it didn't feel as satisfactory of an ending as he'd been waiting for. So soon? The walk had felt much longer the other way, and one of them had been waterbound that time. Had they both been rushing that quickly to return to their normal lives?

"Hmmm." With a high wave of his tail, confidently poised in a way his mental state wasn't, Turtlefang dismissed the suggestion with a pointed glance to the cat beside him. "This isn't where we originally met. We'll proceed. For... continuity." He wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but it sounded just vague enough to somehow connect to some convoluted concept behind wrapping up their journey. At least, he hoped it did, because getting into an argument in such an easily detectable location would make it pretty awkward should any of their clanmates come along and see the two of them bickering like elders. "Besides, I'd like to keep my fur dry just a while longer. Who knows? Maybe someone will see you escorting a deceitful, disobedient Sunclan warrior back to his proper place. That'd be a fun story to tell. How you scratched me up and brought me to my pathetic defeat." Needlessly caught up in that scenario, which allowed him to take his mind off the other possible reasons he may be prolonging their walk of shame, he cocked his head in a pleading sort of way, lifting a paw haplessly before his chest as if to guard off an attack. "I promise I play quite the convincing victim. Poor me, at the mercy of Moonclan's escort for my wrongdoings.."