Matter of time

[Grayshadow]

Howling winds ripped through the trees and the sky was dimming rapidly. Night was the best chance to run into a ShadowClanner. In fact one was out in this sinister forest right now. The lack of light made it hard to see what color the cat’s pelt was. Ears twitched as the cat slipped through the trees silently.  The fact that the wind was wild didn’t matter to the cat. He loved to run under the moonlit sky.

Claws unsheathed as the tomcat listened to any sounds of life especially if it was one of the other three Clan cats on his Clan’s territory. Satisfied, the tomcat slunk under a log and continued traveling the forest. Jaws parted to reveal white fangs. Something had his attention. Cold blue eyes scanned the undergrowth as he spotted a blackbird. Stomach growled lowly as the cat imagined sinking his fangs into the bird. The bird would be his next meal whether the stupid bird knew it or not.

Crouching, the unusually massive tom grew near until he was a tail length away. Swiping his tongue around his muzzle, the cat lunged at the bird as it flew in the air but a burly paw knocked it to the ground. Jaws wrapped around his prey until the blackbird’s wings finished flapping, hitting the ground with a soft dull sound. A smirk appeared on the tom’s face who starting plucking the crow’s feathers off, hungry as ever with the bird’s warm scent wafting to his nostrils.

Clouds parted for the moon to reveal the coloring on the tom. The cat was a dark shade of gray with darker stripes running every way on his body. A single black stripe ran down his back as well. The gray tabby’s pale blue eyes rose to the sky momentarily before leaning down to take a bite from his fresh kill. The seasoned warrior's mind raced as he finished his kill. Now what? He shrugged to himself and carried on his patrol. Only a matter of time before some cat appeared.

[~Nighthunter~]

Blackjaw

The frigid air buffeted the sleek strong form of black slinking against the ground. The frail lifeless form of a vole hung between monotone jaws of black and white. Blackjaw had been out hunting for some time now, and was starting to move his catch back to the camp. His skills had been passed down from his father before him, and he had caught another vole and a frog for the freshkill pile. Of course it was expected of the well kempt tom to be in top performance. Afterall he needed to show off to the ladies, and it was his duty to feed the clan as a warrior. He loved his life, and couldn't wait to seek out a clanmate to share prey and tell tales about the day with.

Opening his mismatched jaws to take in the scents around him, he grinned and grabbed his prey again before leaping to a run and taking off. He danced through the forest until he came to a clearing with Grayshadow there. Placing his catch down again he looked at the other tom. The remains of a bird near his paws, made Blackjaw wonder why the tom had eaten before taking prey back, but he would not openly challenge an older warrior. Still it irritated him. Ever the sly and confident tom, he simply smiled in his charming sort of way, and waved his tail with a flourish."Greetings Grayshadow. How is the prey running." Obviously he was catching prey since he had eaten some, but Blackjaw was curious to his answer. He didn't know Grayshadow as well as other clan mates, but that was because he mostly spent his time with the younger cats and trying to impress females with good natured fun.

[Grayshadow]

Ears almost flattened as paws thudded against the ground near by, then skidded to a stop not too far away from him. Cool ice blue eyes flicked towards the black and white pelted newcomer as he spoke. ."Greetings Grayshadow. How is the prey running?" The massive gray tabby's muzzle curled with a mocking crooked smile, "Well obviously quite well seeing as I just ate and you as well." The warrior didn't care for most cats but he tolerated his Clanmates for the most part but he didn't Blackjaw very well so he wasn't going to be overly friendly. But Grayshadow never was....friendly...not since...He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and locked eyes with Blackjaw. "So what brings you out on this lovely night?"

The warrior sat on his haunches as he flexed his claws, licking the sweet red liquid from them, half waiting on Blackjaw's answer, half not really caring. Grayshadow then swiped his tougue around his muzzle, cleaning the remaining blood from it. He looked at Blackjaw again and studied him for a moment. Slightly crooked jaw, confident in himself, and trying to be charming...females must be into that sorta thing...he didn't go for charming. Not usually.

[~Nighthunter~]

Blackjaw

Hiding a small snicker at the icy blue gaze that met his calm green one, he realized that Grayshadow was entirely not amused at his presence. This of course made the interaction between them slightly more fun for Blackjaw. He couldn't care whether he was wanted or not by the bulky tom. The crooked smile he was getting as a response slightly irritated him, as it was meant to most likely cause him to get annoyed. Still he would not let the tom win that easily, nor show his disapproval at the dismissiveness he was getting."Yes it is a lively lovely day, in fact I've caught quite a bit on this outing." Grinning again in a good natured way, he threw his prey next to the dead bird. The amount of blood on the ground made him lift a brow at Grayshadow." Your not very clean with your kills... or your meals are you?" He frowned at the display of feathers all over the ground. A queen and kits could have benefited from the bird, and the feathers. He was surprised that the warrior had no realized this and had eaten first. Though the content and uncaring way he was cleaning the blood from his claws meant that he probably didn't give a mouse tail about it. Narrowing his eyes, and bristling his coat a little, he made his irritation clear." You don't seem to be very considerate of the clan." Standing his ground and sending his green gaze glaring at Grayshadow, he waited to see what he would say.

[Grayshadow]

The chipper tone of Blackjaw's voice made Grayshadow snort in disgust. "Congrats on your kills." he mewed sarcastically. He nearly rolled his eyes until the other tom's words reached his ears. The lanky tom chuckled lowly, "Blood is always messy even if you're trying to be neat." he locked his colder blue stare with the green orbs of Blackjaw's, daring him to say something else about his kill. The gray tom usually didn't end up covered in blood but tonight he was in the mood for blood. Any kind. "And I'd watch what you say about me not caring about the Clan. Like you know what I've been doing all day. I've hunting earlier...but I really don't have to defend myself to you. After all, I'm on a patrol of the borders...I guess you didn't realize that, eh?" Grayshadow growled. Blackjaw wasn't going to get the satisfaction of seeing him angry or annoyed, the other warrior certainly wasn't worth the trouble. He glanced back the tom and raised an eyebrow at Blackjaw's glare. "Really? You're really upset over this aren't you?" the bulky male snorted in slight amusement. This was gonna be interesting.

[~Nighthunter~]

Blackjaw

The wiry tom looked at the bulky gray warrior. This cat was older then he was, and far more tested in his years then Blackjaw, but he was unsure if that meant he should back down. Surely a warrior stood up for his own word once he said it. Naturally his temper was what had come out in the end, a gift from his father that tended to surface once in a blue moon. This irritated him but at least he was clear that it wasn't just the situation that was bothering him, but he was kind of moody to begin with.

Listening to Grayshadow, he nodded acknowledging that he indeed had not known what type of patrol the tom had been out on, also he had not known he had been hunting previously. He felt ashamed for asking such things of his clan mate, as really he didn't even need to explain himself to him. Blackjaw really didn't know him well, and had judged him unfairly. Grayshadow instead of raking his face off with his claws, had answered the questions. Blackjaw realized that had the roles been switched , he would have been furious. It was also true that blood was messy on birds, he felt like a kit out of line, and very very embarrassed. Flattening his ears and frowning he tried to think of a way to make it up to the gray tom that rightfully looked annoyed and agitated with him. "Forgive my dierespect Grayshadow, I was troubled by other thoughts and shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you. Please excuse my questioning,I really do believe you and mean no harm, forget I asked."

Sliding a nail out and lifting his paw to circle it in the dirt in a nervous manner, he wondered if he would be belived. He had acted hasty in speaking out, but part of him was still uneasy about Grayshadow, and he didn't know why. This cat was protecting and providing for the clan before he was even born. Trying to find some other way to let him know that he wouldn't mind his peasesnce he tried another tactic." Would you mind if I joined you on patrol. or would you like to hunt with me?"

[Grayshadow]

Ears twitched as the tone from Blackjaw went from sarcastic to nervous. He flicked his tail with slight amusement with a hint of dismissal in his cold blue eyes. Did the other warrior really think he cared what the younger warrior thought? The bulky warrior rolled his eyes and spoke, "No worries. I'm not really about to claw your face into mouse-meat or anything. One, not in the mood and two, I don't feel like explaining to Gravesky why one of his young warriors has a bloody face." Grayshadow heaved himself to his paws and looked over at Blackjaw. "Sure. Who am I to tell you no you can't come with me? Besides, maybe we can bond and become best buds?" he tried to tone down his sarcasm but he failed horribly and he knew Blackjaw would most likely have some sharp reply or come up with a seemingly stinging reply but the dark gray tabby tom continued on. "Well anyhow maybe we'll find something going on near the borders. I wouldn't mind flexing my muscles against some skinny WindClan warrior." he snorted and trotted off towards the borderline.

[~Nighthunter~]

Blackjaw

The lithe black and white tom watched carefully as Grayshadow seemed to mull over his words. It didn't seem to take him long, and the whole while Blackjaw was careful to mentally prep himself for a fight should it come to it. He was well learned in combat, his father being Scarstorm, a particularily extrodinary fighter in his own right. Of course he had taught things, survival skils to his son. Grayshadow might have more experience on him, but he was confident, fit and younger with a slew of knowledge passed down to him. There in short would be no way Blackjaw would back out of a fight with this cat. He would deal with Gravesky later, though he preferred not to bring the leader into this. It seemed that Grayshadow was in the same manner of thought, for he mentioned not wanting to bloody his face, and then have to explain it. Darn right the tom would have to answer for it, but he would be damned if he would stand for it, and let it go unpunished before it reached Gravesky. Blackjaw wasn't a pushover, he would strike out if struck at, no need to reason why, if you get hit, retaliation is expected and often deserved to the fool doing the hitting.

Still he wondered if he should just let the idle threat float over his head seemingly unnoticed. Surely the tom would expect him to lash out, or even may be hoping that the comment would cause him to attack first. Well there would be none of that, he was smarter, and would make Grayshadow endure his presence instead. Somehow that seemed to be a much more fitting torment for the older tom. He was getting more surly and badger like by the minute, and it was obviously no skin off his back if he decided to stick around, so why not. Ignoring the comments from Grayshadow, and standing tall and cheery, he decided to take lead and started to walk ahead of Grayshadow, before looking over his shoulder at the tom. This was also his way of saying that he was not afraid of him, he was literally turning his back to him in lack of fear. " Windclan, yeah sure let's go." It sounded sort of commanding, and he dashed off, knowing that Grayshadow was likely to follow, because if he didn't then that meant that he technically had won.

[Grayshadow]

Grayshadow watched Blackjaw as the young warrior started off towards WindClan borders. He shook his head with slight amusement. The black and white tom was trying to antagonize him but it wasn't going to work. The broad shouldered male padded behind Blackjaw wondering if he should try to learn more about his Clanmate or just be silent like he typically was. "So Blackjaw, what do you think about ThunderClan going to the Moonstone?" He continued to stalk but he was beside his Clanmate now. He was never big on small talk. It was hard for him to care about any cat after Warheart but no one knew how hard her death affected him and he wasn’t about to tell anyone either. The gray tabby was never one to show or talk about his weaknesses to anyone not even his own Clan. He stopped as they approached the WindClan borders and winkled his muzzle. WindClan always smelled like rabbits. Certainly not his favorite entrée but then again he wasn’t a skinny WindClan rat. He turned to his fellow ShadowClanner, “Smells like we need to remark our borders. Been long overdue.” Cold ice blue eyes locked on something far in the distance on WindClan borders, his mind seemingly moons away. There was a reason he disliked WindClan, not more than ThunderClan, but he still despised WindClan with a burning passion.

[~Nighthunter~]

Blackjaw - When the jaw drops, its already bruised black...~

As far as he was concerned if a confrontation happened at least he was trying to avoid it. In truth he had wondered how Grayshadow would respond to a younger warrior leading the patrol and not himself. It bothered him that his clanmate was so prickly towards him, after all it wasn't like he needed cats not liking him, no one wanted that. Trying to sort out there diffrences he hoped would be easy enough, but he made a vow that if it couldn't be helped that he would fight back and bark at Grayshadow right on back to combat the bitterness until he differed.

It surprised him when the gray tom said nothing nor attacked his back, but instead trotted up until he was next to him. Even more shocking was the conversation that moments ago the badger of a tom had been all to eager to avoid was not keenly starting. Not hiding his surprise at the fact that he was being treated like nothing had just happened between them, he remembered to close his black jaw several seconds after Grayshadow spoke.

The journey to moonstone was something he had heard about from those that went to moonstone. He was unsure what to make of it, from what he heard it was a risky venture with uncertain gains. He had missed the Gathering, Gravesky had chosen him to remain and guard the camp. He supposed that it was something that the clans would have had to do sooner or later anyway. Its not like finding there ancestors was a lowly goal. " I think it is about time someone went back there. What if they can get in now?"

Following the disgruntled look of Grayshadow, he too smelt the stench of Windclan as they stood at the border. He hoped that something good would come of the journey. Remembering something else about rabid animals, he glanced around his haunches ready to react should anything spring out." Remember to look for infected prey, we are on there border too after all, can't be too careful." Looking to him again he figured he should try and talk back as well. " What is your opinion on the journey?"