Wolf Mother, Where've You Been?

OOC: You can capture her, talk to her, drive her out, etc.

IC:
Sharptooth was exhausted. Purely exhausted. After seeing both Leafstorm's grandson and her own daughter in the short span of two days, her emotions had become just as sore and weary as her paws. Wandering in Twolegplace hadn't been particularly enjoyable, but it was easier than wasting time in the barn, growing fat on mice that she didn't need to hunt. Still, she had to admit that she was looking forward to her warm nest of straw and feathers, and perhaps a nice, fat barn swallow...
So she was back. Worn, weary, unkept and stick-thin, Sharptooth was back at the place she had started- not for no reason, of course. After learning of Swoopnose's missing companion, she had immediately picked up the rogue group's trail and had followed them all the way here. It wasn't difficult to follow them, as they weren't exactly the most cautious group of Clanless cats she had come across. However, Sharptooth had lived far too long to let such a thing go over her head. Lack of fear meant one of two things. Either the group leader was stupid and inexperienced, or they had no reason to hide from others. And, as the she-cat had quickly learned in Twolegplace, most living leaders weren't stupid or lacked experience. She'd need to tread lightly.

As she approached the barn, she couldn't help feeling a rush of happiness. Despite the danger of the situation, she had to admit that she had found contentment on her first journey. She had come to realize that as long as she was doing good in the world, helping those in need and keeping her mind off of everything that had occurred before now, she was happy.

The battled-scarred she-cat chuffed to herself as she plodded into view of the barn at last, producing a sound that was half-surprise and half-confusion. She had found the group she had been tailing at last, but there were more, far many more cats than she had anticipated. Her tattered ears twitching as she took in the sight of all of them; sprawled beneath the weak sun, sharing tongues with one another in the shade of the barn, or stalking nearby mice. They looked well-fed and lazy, and most seemed to be in good shape. With a grunt, she approached warily. Clearly, not all of them had arrived with the group she had been following. And, judging by the way they hunted and lived together in unison, not all of them were born on the streets.
Her tail-tip twitched and she came to a halt at the top of a small bluff overlooking the barn. "I'm looking for a tom named Cinderfall." She called, her claws flexing in the soft earth. The cats looked up, and Sharptooth narrowed her dull green eyes at the sight of their young faces. Most cats hadn't seen more than four Leafbares, and although the former Thunderclanner hadn't eaten well in several days, she knew that she'd be able to hold her own in a battle if need be.
"Have you seen him?"

Wolf turned and faced Sharptooth, rather confused as to why a cat would have the courage to just walk into their rather large group. Cinderfall. Maybe this was a Clan cat coming to rescue him? No, she smelled more like Twolegplace. But then how would she know who Cinderfall was? "And why would I tell you?" The nearly apprentice-age cat glared at her, trying to pour as much confidence into her voice as possible, albeit flicking her gaze around for Xeuxi. The silver bengal didn't like the way the newcomer's claws were out.

Dante who had been on very jumpy ever since the left leapt right up in the air as he heard an unknown cat. He spun around and started at the rather large she-cat "Ci-cinderfall?" he looked around, unsure what to do. Cinderfall... could that be the name of the prisoner? He's eyes searched frantically around the barn trying to find Chase.

When he couldn't find her his eyes stopped at Wolf, that young she-cat had alot more confidence that he would ever have... He knew that he should probally leave before he said something stupid that would let the stranger know that they had a prisoner, altough he didn't know if his name was Cinderfall or not. But he couldn't move at all, he felt like he were frozen in place. "Y-you should leave... N-now!" he let out a low snarl as he stared at the stranger.

"My, my, my," Although the honeyed drawl that slipped past Lichenmask's maw was airy with that usual infuriating note of self-assurance, there was a sour undercurrent of something akin to malice, "Sharptooth, as I live and breathe!" The confidence that practically bled from the Exile was much more authentic than what Wolf or Dante could muster up, radiating with a silent intensity as he emerged from the thick swathe of shadows that nested within the Abandoned Barn. It had been quite sometime since he had encountered the shunned molly, so long that she had all but faded from his memory over the course of the changing seasons. Who would've ever anticipated Sharptooth to rear her head in the view of the public once again? How strange, the internal musing was sharp with blatant interest, must fate bring ours paws upon the same trail once more? Brushing past the pair of Regime members without hardly a single sound, the young tom's head cocked slightly as he drew closer and closer to Sharptooth. "It's been quite sometime since we last saw one another, hasn't it?" The soft mrrow was unexpectedly friendly, as if he was addressing nothing more than an old friend. When there was no immediate recognition upon the molly's features, Lichenmask flashed his teeth in a grimace that could be loosely called a simper. "I don't blame you if you can't recognize me, after all... we met during such excitement."

Circling Sharptooth with a leisurely pace, Lichenmask's feral grin remained prominent upon his comely features. Under such close proximity, he could clearly glimpse that the former ThunderClan Warrior was hardly the specimen she used to be- whatever experiences she had undergone during those moons prior, it had clearly taken its toll. It wouldn't take much. It'd be easier than handling Littlestar. "Surely your time spent fending for yourself hasn't made you forget your manners?" He inquired, a playfully chastising tone sweetening his words, "You should know better than to wander into my home without invitation and ask such rude questions without even bothering to introduce yourself!" Clicking his tongue sharply against his teeth in belittling disappointment, Lichenmask's poised movements didn't falter for a single moment.

Cinderfall was being kept in the worst corner of the barn. He had hay- the stalest they could find, how nice of them- to sleep on and was allowed out to make dirt but other than that, had to stay in one spot. He saw everything that happened there. Happy Regime cats, former Clanmates, here for one cause. To take down the Clans. So of course, he saw the formerly Thunderclan she-cat. She'd come looking... For him? Maybe Swoopnose had told her about him. He was a Thunderclanner, after all. It's me! He wanted to shout. I'm up here! But that would get him doubly scarred today, or more clearstone driven into his paw pads by Shade. Instead, all he could do was watch as Lichenmask himself came to greet her. He was so elegant and polite, yet at the same time so evil and misguided. It was, at the least, sad. He'd had so much potential to be a great cat. And yet, here they were.

Sharptooth looked down at the plucky young tom, struggling to keep her expression smooth. "You're quite a bold young thing, aren't you...?" She spoke like a queen appraising another she-cat's litter, flicking her tail-tip as she gazed past him and into the barn. Where was the silver tom? "I don't want to cause any trouble, so why don't you run along and find-"
As if he had been reading her mind, a sleek-furred tom stepped smoothly out of the barn, his expression as unbroken and calm as a lake at sunrise. He was unmistakably the leader of the rouge group, although he wasn't the tom large brown tom she had seen previously. The she-cat shifted her weight from one paw to the other, taking in his radiating confidence and soft, honeyed words. Danger, danger... She blinked as he casually moved closer, each step purposeful. She noticed his patched fur, and the muscles moving beneath. She saw how quickly the younger toms moved aside, as if they were scared of their own master.
He has them wrapped around his paws.
His tail-tip kept time to the beat of her heart as he stepped ever near. It was as if everything he did was planned, like he knew her next move before she had decided what to do. Like he knew her better than she did.
Struggling to keep her fur flat, the tall she-cat merely twitched her whiskers. He's powerful.

Sharptooth felt her jaw clench unintentionally when he spoke again. She remembered him- oh yes. No matter how she had tried to burn the memories of that wretched day from her mind, she saw him and his clanmates floating before her every night before she went to sleep.
"Hardly a warrior then, if I can recall," She murmured, turning to keep her eyes trained on his face. Noticing everything was Sharptooth's specialty; it was what had made her such an excellent warrior. The ability to predict what a cat was going to do next based on how they moved meant that she would always have the upper hand. In battle, she was never surprised. While hunting, she could always feel the moment just before prey decided to flee. Specklefang used to joke that she should've named her Owlkit.
Compared to the soft, open faces of her clanmates, Lichenmask was a stone wall. She couldn't get past his smooth, manicured exterior. "And now..." One of her tattered ears twitched as he circled her. Like a predator stalking prey. She couldn't let him get the upper hand. Once she let him get under her skin, the moment she felt the first hint of fear or uncertainty, he had won.

"Just because the robin leaves her nest doesn't mean that the sparrow is invited in," She struggled to keep her voice as silky-smooth as possible, although she had little practice with soothing others.
"But I didn't travel all this way so I could spend another night in a rotting Twolegplace shelter." Enough messing around. She felt many, many eyes staring at her from just within the barn. Her instincts were screaming at her to get away from Lichenmask before he ensnared her in his web of words. "You know who I am, and you know why I'm here. I was sent to retrieve Cinderfall, a warrior of Riverclan and the son of Jaystar." Jaystar... his name still made her feel sick. "Now, if you would kindly point me in his direction, I'll gladly take my leave and be out of your fur."

"Even if we did know where he was, what makes you think we would just hand him over to you, dear?" Rising from where he rested atop the second-tallest pile of hay in the barn once he had heard of the new intruder in their midst, Shade leaped down to the ground and stalked out into what little dark red light the eclipsed sun above provided, approaching the frazzled she-cat as close as he could without disrupting Lichenmask's pacing path around her. While the Exiles' tom delivered to Sharptooth a calm, charismatic smirk, he himself wore what could be described as a wicked mixture of a furious snarl and a sadistic grin. "I do believe my colleague has requested something of you. Perhaps if you do tell us your name and purpose for trespassing to a place you must know very well you aren't welcome in, we'll consider telling you what we may or may not know. You scratch our backs, and we'll, mm, probably scratch yours if we're generous enough."

"Sent here to retrieve Cinderfall...?" Lichenmask echoed smoothly, the charming note of innocence within his soft voice entirely faux, "What a strange situation indeed!" Tufted ears twitching at Shade's words, the younger Exile circled once more, paws softly brushing against the overly rough surface of the Barn's floor. The recognition in the former Clan cat's eyes was diluted at best, but it was present- along with a wide array of other emotions. Even if there wasn't a proper name to be placed to the face, he mused with a tilted head, she remembers. Brushing his feathery tail up beneath the hard, jutting surface of Sharptooth's chin, the young tom curled his tail around the gaunt molly's throat in a manner that could almost be considered playful. "Who would be foolish enough to think that a single foolish, futile rescue mission would absolve you of all those terrible sins and nasty shortcomings you seemed oh-so proud of?" Pulling away before any damage could befall his tail, Lichenmask stepped aside once more, coyly tilting his head as he did so. Tsking in a verbal refusal to Sharptooth's request, he shook his head slowly, slow chuckle reverberating through his chest with a stick intensity.

"Cinderfall is a guest here, one which you have no claim to, nor right to retrieve. You might walk upon this trail in search of redemption, but none shall be found here. If you persist or attempt to collect him by force, all that will be accomplished is you'll be passed along to the judgement that Leopardstar was apparently too cowardice to submit you to."

Sharptooth flicked her tail, her dull eyes flashing. "Look," She grunted, eyeing Shade with a disdainful expression. "Whether I have claim to him or not, Cinderfall is coming with me." Her lip curled as she regarded the younger toms. Her patience was wearing thin; There was no turning back now. She would leave the barn with Cinderfall or not at all.
"Now if you'll excuse me..." The large she-cat did her best to push past the rogues, walking briskly toward the barn. She could fight them if necessary, although she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She didn't know how much injury she could take. She hadn't eaten well in so long...

OOC: Short ;-;

Wolf narrowed her eyes. Why did Lichenmask tell her? He had no right! After all, Cinderfall was Shade's prisoner. Not seeing Xeuxi, she figured she would have to step in, due to that young Tom's apparent stupidity. She leaped at the much larger she-cat without fear, and slid in front of her, ready to attack.

Ooc: feel free to let Sharptooth teach her a lesson
She needs to be less stupidly bold

Raising an invisible brow in response to Wolf's thoughtless antics, Lichenmask merely chuffed in response the pale-furred molly's antics. Perhaps it was just a rite of passage for young cat's to be so gravely naive of their own abilities, to believe themselves to be wholly untouchable. In a singular, fluid movement, the young exile was neatly sweeping Sharptooth's limbs from out beneath her in a move that was unsettling familiar to the one that preceded Littlestar's unfortunate demise. It had been easy enough then, so what would it be like in such a moment? Flipping the large molly onto her back with a surprising amount of ease, the dark-furred tom was quick to press a forepaw upon the vital area of flesh below Sharptooth's chin, which pulsated sharply with the throbbing of life. "Tell me, Sharptooth," Lichenmask's voice was suddenly void of all emotion, holding nothing but a bone-chilling note of certainty as slowly drew closer to the exile, whiskers brushing the sensitive fur of her inner ear, "Would you like to know a little secret?"

Sharptooth grunted as the small rogue approached. Foolish... This plucky young cat reminded her of herself when she had been younger. Battle-thirsty, eager to prove herself. She needed to be put in her place if she was ever going to learn how to fight well.
With that thought in mind, Sharptooth lifted one great forepaw off the ground, batting the cat aside with enough force to send her sprawling in the ground several foxlengths away. She wouldn't sustain any lasting physical injuries, although if the rogue was anything like Sharppaw had been, the bruise on her ego might sting for a while.

The older exile flicked her tail, ready to meet Lichenmask's eyes once more. A moment later, she realized her mistake. The tom had taken advantage of her momentary lapse of attention and struck, sweeping her other three paws out from underneath her. Sharptooth landed sprawling on the ground, her chin hitting the cracked earth and sending a cloud of dust into the air. Before she had time to leap to her paws, Lichenmask had her on her back. "Why you..." Her dull eyes narrowed as he approached, moving his head closer to hers.
Like the she-cat, he was very confident. That was his mistake.
Quickly, Sharptooth burst into action. Twisting her body, she pushed his underbelly with her back legs, hitting him squarely in the stomach. Instantly, she was on her feet. "You'll have to try harder then that."
Beneath her stony exterior, Sharptooth felt her strength waning. For the first time, she felt a faint prickle of fear itching at the back of her mind. She couldn't turn back- not when she had come so close to her goal. "Cinderfall! Where are you!" She called, peering past Lichenmask and into the barn once more.

Wolf rolled on the ground, and each time her spine hit the floor of the barn pain flared up her shoulders. She had been batted aside so easily, like a troublesome kit. Confused, she lay where she had come to a stop. She, the mighty Wolf of the Regime, had been defeated so easily... perhaps she wasn't as strong as she thought. Perhaps she had been stupidly bold. But, to be humiliated like that in front of Lichenmask, the cat she aimed to humiliate, stung worse, much worse, than her light bruises. Growling under her breath, she slunk back into the shadows. She would just have to train harder, practice more. Then she could properly beat up any cat she chose.

Cinderfall poked his head out from the rafters, wanting a better view. He watched in fear. This cat would be killed! Whoever she was, she was no match for a whole barn of rogues and former Clan cats. He tried to call out, but found himself only able to choke out a small whimper out of pure terror. Because of this... Because of this, Shade would give him extra pain today.