The Shadow of Morning's Light

Tarot observed the border of Skyclan, the place his old friend had decided to inhabit despite how much it had stabbed him in the back in the past. Idly, the loner wondered what exactly he was planning when he did that. To lord it over the now-dead Bloodstar? To sabotage it from the inside? To prove them all wrong by making it great? Who knew, he hadn't had much contact with the pale tom since the Night of No Stars, either way, he saw next to no logic in the choice. Why trade freedom for kin that stabbed you in the back?

Well, it was no matter, he hardly controlled what his old friend did, and didn't have any intentions of doing so either. Perhaps, if they met up again, he'd ask. Besides, he could hardly talk, his kin had tried to eat him, and they were all dead by the time he had hit six moons.

WHy was he here? Well perhaps he was just waiting for a border patrol to see him, perhaps he was seeing if any displeased Skyclanners were meandering away far from camp because their loathed enemy was casually living within it. Personally, he was just enjoying listening to the sounds around him, pondering his plans for the future, pondering his old friend, pondering the Riverclan Medicine cat he had disillusioned.

He'd leave eventually if nothing came of it, or perhaps he'd just step right over the border and boldly meet Morningstar within. After all, he'd be interested to see how far his personality had warped, if he'd still call and attack on him to keep face.

Well, he wouldn't be terribly bothered if he did, it would speak enough about how far the ghostly tomcat had come without him even talking face-to-face with him.

Lamely patrolling her way across the border, Briarthorn found herself kicking rocks; kicking acorns, kicking pebbles- anything that she was close enough to send several fox lengths ahead of herself. It was the only way she could possibly get her frustration out without bringing harm to herself, her Clan, or her loved ones- or all of them. Such minute actions could never match the pit that had formed in her chest, watching Bloodstar hang lifeless overhead day after day, seemingly endlessly for moons. How long would this go on? Their suffering, their torture, seemed to have no end in sight. The more she dwelled on it, the more her anger and frustration grew, and the harder she kicked.

Briarthorn hadn’t even noticed the tom on the border, much less made note not to hit him with one of the pebbles and stones she’d elected to take her anger out upon. So, when she kicked a rather large pebble and didn’t hear it pitter-pattering across the hard surface of the Thunderpath, she looked up in confusion, only to be met with Tarot’s eyes gazing back at her. Immediately, her instincts screamed to remain wary, unsheathe her claws, and prepare to fight. Slowly, she unsheathed her claws, just in case he went on the defensive. ”Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing.” She said quickly, keeping her eyes on him and the slightest movement toward her.

He watched as a cat approached, seemingly completely oblivious to his presence as they kicked things about, one such thing hitting his foreleg where he sat. They then finally seemed to notice his existence, immediately on the defensive despite the fact that they had practically walked right into him after kicking a pebble into his leg. Clan cats were always so odd.

He rose a brow, tail primly swapping around his paws as his body language seemed entirely relaxed despite the clanner's preemptive aggression. "Seeing as how I watched you meander towards me without seeing I was here, I think that much is clear." His tone was tinged with amusement as he spoke, but he then cocked his head slightly, looking at them curiously. "You seem upset. Is there a particular reason? You don't have to answer, of course, but with how often I've seen clanners lord their positions over loners, I thought Clans were practically contentment incarnate." He chuckled lightly, still remaining relaxed, open, even friendly.

It was the same thing he did with any clan cat that didn't immediately try to claws his face off, lulled them into a sense of safety, then kept them there until they saw him as an ally, or possibly a friend, in Cloverhearts case... before she witnessed him on the Night of No Stars, that is.

He was partially glad it had been so dark that night, it meant most Clan cats likely didn't even notice his existence besides Morningstar, not with his pelt, that is. That seemed to be the case for this clanner at least.

Briarthorn sneered slightly at his remark, but made no effort to comment further on it. She simply remained where she stood, yellow-green eyes locked on the tom. ”I don’t owe you a response, but I feel like my answer should be obvious enough regardless of your affiliation.” The large she-cat huffed, muscles relaxing slightly seeing as the loner didn’t intend much harm, from what she could tell. Her claws still remained unsheathed, though, because one could never be too sure. ”Even the least bright kits in the nursery notice the lack of stars upon us these past moons. You seem intelligent enough to infer what that means, so why question my emotions?” A quick glance up at the sky and a flick of her tail gestured upward signified her call back to the starless night sky, question lingering in the air between them as she waited for the tom’s response.

He blinked, raising a brow at her response, She made it sound like no stars boded the end of the world. Had these clan cats really not had one night without stars? He assumed they were smart enough to know when clouds shrouded them, but that wasn't the only thing that could hide stars from view. Their worlds really were small, he wondered how they'd fare if they ever lived in the Twolegplace, where having no stars in the sky was normal. Would they panic? Think the Dark Forest was coming crashing down on their heads again?

"... And?" He blinked, "That much is obvious, yes, but where I come from that's hardly unusual, you realize?" Tarot smiled faintly, "Many twolegplaces rarely, if ever have stars in the sky. After all, why need them when the stars are on the ground?" Idly, he lapped at his chest, flattening some fur that was sticking up oddly. He then refocused his attention on the clanner. "So pardon if I seemed oblivious, but I'm not. It just isn't an unusual sight for someone as travelled as me." He tilted his head curiously, "Is that really all that has bothered you?"

He was playing a bit dumb, perhaps, obviously having no stars was unusual in a place that didn't have stars on the ground, but he'd hardly be having a proper conversation if he ended it so abruptly. In fact, revealing that he knew of the clans' strife would hardly elicit any good response from a clanner, for he'd likely see him as unempathetic of their plight.

So he had to make a situation where he could reasonably act as if he cares, and that was by getting the clanner to actually tell him what was going on. Of course, with this particular cat it could also end up annoying them, but that was hardly a problem for him, if she was irritated by plausible ignorance then she obviously had her own problems beyond ghost cats invading her home to live with.