Another Fly in the Web of Secrets [Stumble x Cinder]
Sept 3, 2023 15:35:56 GMT -8
✦dreamy likes this
Post by Christalclear on Sept 3, 2023 15:35:56 GMT -8
Stumblefoot
The evening air was finally cooling down now that leaf-fall was here. The trees still held their color, but soon their leaves would fall to the ground providing less coverage. Stumblefoot would have to be more careful in the coming moons if he were to continue seeing Nettlebite. He used to be extremely cautious when they had first started seeing each other, moons ago, with the Thunderclan double patrols around the border and the tension between the two clans like a thin sheet of ice that might crack with the slightest amount of pressure. The warrior, then apprentice, would walk along the river in a roundabout way of getting to the rendezvous point. Sometimes, when the river wasn't as dangerously rushing, he would walk in the river's edge (to not provide tracks). It took him longer to get to Thunderclan but that was for everyone's safety.
Now, however, he hadn't exactly gotten lazy... but maybe more relaxed? There were other concerns, one could say. Gone was the time of war preparation and now was the time for self preservation. Stumblefoot didn't risk anyone's life but his own anymore, getting caught in a trap possibly. He thought he was too smart for that, however. He did make sure to be on alert for anything somewhat suspicious and would veer away just in case, though.
He was coming back from being with Nettlebite for a little while and decided to head back to the Riverclan base camp. The river wasn't too powerful in a certain spot and there were slippery rocks that, if skilled enough, a cat could jump on to cross the other side of the river from one clan into another. He had done it a dozen times now or so. If Stumblefoot were too fall, he'd have some time to correct himself and swim out to safety (theoretically). For a Riverclan cat he didn't have all that much practice swimming in the water.
The warrior had just landed on Riverclan's side when he realized his mistake. The was another Riverclanner's scent nearby. He had been so focused on his footing. His ears pricked up and his eyes widened with panic. Stumblefoot couldn't see anyone or a shadow, so maybe whoever had been here before had already gone before Stumblefoot had come this way. Or maybe whoever it was had seen him and raced back to camp to tell the new leader his transgression.
No, no. He shouldn't panic yet. He lifted his nose into the air to get a better read on who it was that was nearby. Stumblefoot's fur pricked on the back of his neck. Cindersmoke, his former mentor. Would he keep his secret? Cindersmoke was one of the only cats that knew the extent of Stumblefoot's insecurities. He had watched him grow from a tender apprentice who reeked of self-doubt into the fully capable and quiet confident that Stumblefoot now had. That didn't mean they were close, by any means. Stumblefoot always tried to keep whatever drama was going on out of training... Maybe if he had opened up and told Cindersmoke about the first meeting with Nettlebite when they were apprentices he would have kept his secret then and they would have became closer. Or maybe Cindersmoke would have told Sootstar and he would have gotten exiled from the clan before he was even a warrior.
Choices had been made then and now was another one. Everything hung in balance, but would the scales tip?
"Cindersmoke, I can explain," Stumblefoot meowed, hoping his voice didn't waver. Even if the other warrior hadn't seen him cross the river, the smell of Thunderclan still probably clung to the young warrior's fur. He'd have to get ahead of this if his future in Riverclan were to remain the same.
+ JAMIE it's a little rough, but thought I'd start this
