It's Worth It [C]

He had been preparing this for quite some time. Frostgaze knew that it wasn't the best use of his time, he could obviously be training, helping train, or doing patrol rosters. The deputy had finally found enough time to do it though, or at least he made the time. Sleep could be sacrificed for it. It had taken a few late days, where he aligned the sun with what he had created, then mussed it up to be unaligned once again, moving it ever so slightly to account for wherever the sun decided to emerge from next, which was always slightly off from where he had made the puzzle before. It was curious, but unimportant except to the function of his puzzle. Though eventually, it was done. Twigs stuck down in the mud of the camp floor, various leaves and pine needles kept in place by more mud. It was simple, yet he believed that Webshadow would enjoy it enough.

The basic concept was this, the sticks formed the frame of which the sun shone through as it set. The muddied leaves could be pulled off and placed elsewhere to allow the sun to come through, but only at a specific time, meaning that if Webshadow moved them wrong, he would miss the time window and would have to reset all the leaves again. A line in the mud at the base showed where the sun should shine given Webshadow eventually figured out the puzzle.

With that, Frostgaze entered the Warrior's Den quietly, finding Webshadow's pelt quickly. "Webshadow," he whispered, "would you like to try a puzzle? I know it is early, but this is the only time to do it." Of course, Frostgaze thought it would be smart to make this a surprise. It was not, because he was unsure how Webshadow felt about early mornings. For once, he was excited though, and the camp was mostly abandoned, save for the occasional patrol coming back from checking their respective borders.

Frostgaze's gentle voice rose Webshadow from the haze of his dream. It had been nice... a little snowy clearing, but without the sapping cold. He would've stayed in that dream, if he could, but as the tabby slowly stirred and lifted his head, he let out a hum and offered a sleepy grin. He was happy to be awake; he could have the dream later.

"A puzzle? Oh, sure... it's early, though," Webshadow rumbled, stretching out his legs with a grunt. "I don't mind early mornings. I like sunset," the addition came swiftly and with another shake of his head. He would hate for that to be a taken as a complaint– it was just a statement. He was sure Frostgaze would understand that, but he didn't want to leave any room for error. Slowly gathering his legs under him, he pushed himself onto his paws, brushing past Frostgaze to exit the den. "I'm excited to see it."

He wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Moving a little stone through the lines, like he'd seen Frostgaze working at a few times before? That seemed easy enough. But what had actually been set up seemed a little more complicated than that; small sticks stuck like pegs in the ground, little pawfuls of muddied leaves, a line drawn through the earth. It looked nice; Webshadow almost didn't want to try it, so he didn't have to ruin Frostgaze's hard work. Blinking slowly, he gave the game another quick look, turned his attention to the lowering sun (not without an appreciative hum), then returned his focus to the puzzle. Leaning forward, he nosed at it carefully. A twig wobbled in response, and he backed away before he could accidentally push it over. "Explain to me?" Webshadow mewed softly as he gave the surrounding earth the same ginger prodding.

Frostgaze gave Webshadow an appreciative smile as he looked over his puzzle. He was also completely unsurprised by Webshadow's confusion and request for him to explain it. "Certainly. Basically, if you move the muddy leaves around enough, you can keep them on the sticks while still letting the light of the setting sun through. If you get it, you'll see it on the line. Do not be afraid to break it, I could always just put it back up. This is certainly the most... interesting puzzle I have come up with, I... hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it." That word again, 'hope'. Hope was an awful word, one the deputy abhorred using. Hope was the act of wanting something, but not doing anything about it. If a cat wanted something, they should act on it without delay, or at least be gathering the facts before doing so. Yet with Webshadow... something about the tom made him want to use that word, as if there was nothing quite certain about him and the tom. Hope just seemed so apt, despite his own dislike of the word. Perhaps it was his own fear of Webshadow not enjoying the puzzle? Something that he would never show, of course. Frostgaze was unsure, but it made him want to knead the ground in anxiety just thinking about it.

Ears flicking as Frostgaze explained, the tabby nodded slowly. "That sounds... easy enough." Webshadow said smoothly, keeping his attention focused on the sticks in front of him. He could feel the sun warming his fur, and it lit the leaves up in a way he wished he got to see more often. It reminded him of the Thunderpath– as dangerous a place as it was, it was still beautiful in the right light. Anything could be, he supposed. Even muddy piles of leaves.

As pretty as they were, though, the leaves were in the way. Leaning forward to push with a little more force, Webshadow nosed one of the piles again. The stick teetered, but it stayed stable; but the leaves that sat on it were threatening to slip off, and in a thoughtless try at keeping them in place, Webshadow clumsily took half of them between his teeth. For a moment, his whole body froze as he processed the action. Eyes narrowing, he parted his jaw, letting the leaves fall back to the earth. A few quick swipes of his tongue across his chest got most of the taste of mud out of his mouth. "I don't think that's how you're supposed to do it," he commented, a note of amusement in his words. He was sure he looked silly, spitting and half-stumbling over leaves of all things, but... he didn't mind so much when it was only Frostgaze. He was more comfortable with the deputy than he was with almost any other cat; being clumsy or slipping up in front of him didn't make Webshadow's pelt warm in embarassment the way it normally would. Heat had rushed to his ears, but when he turned to give the white warrior a quick, appreciative look, he didn't feel embarrassed at all. He wasn't exactly sure what to call the feeling instead, but it was a nice one.

Turning back to the game, Webshadow blinked slowly as he assessed his progress. Trying to eat the leaves had apparently worked, at least a little bit. The sun's light hadn't crept up to the line yet, and the tabby tipped his head to the side. He couldn't work out whether or not it was a matter of waiting, or if he needed to move something more... Brushing aside the leaves he'd unceremoniously spit out, he– with a bit more grace –nosed a few of the still-standing leaves out of place. They fell to the ground with a wet thump, and Webshadow hummed, observing his work. It looked like the light had a clear path... but still, it had yet to reach its destination. Ears lowering, Webshadow worked the ground underpaw, staring at it for a long heartbeat as if that would will the sun into place. Eventually, he just turned to Frostgaze, a low, warm rumble rising in his throat. "What do you think, does that look right? Aside from the..." Webshadow gestured a loose paw at the leaves he'd tried chewing on. "Aside from that. Was I close? Is it the sun's turn to move?"