There is cold, and then there is ice [c]

Redice tore into the belly of a rabbit. He'd done his chores for the day, taking care of others before himself and blah blah blah. He meticulously pulled the rabbit apart and went straight for the innards, smirking as his maw was stained in blood. It hardly made him look different, already having dark red fur, but the glistening along his lips and down his chin was enough to tell a gruesome tale. Redice was away from everyone else while he ate, but that was typical. He wasn't highly social. Frankly it seemed most were disturbed by him or didnt like him. The red tom never showed signs that he was bothered. They would all be brought to heel one day. Until then, he was content to be forgotten about. He couldn't say he liked a single cat in Shadowclan himself either, truth be told. He was so busy with his meal and his daydreams that he didn't notice anyone approaching.

Her favourite meal: mouse. Without fail that is what she would snag from the pile and rip into like she hadn't eaten in days. She was a growing apprentice after all, already bigger than the other apprentices.

But she never enjoyed eating alone. Her green eyes scanned the area, noting that those eating already had a partner to chat with. Except one cat. A tom with red fur. She remembered this guy... The one who saved himself during the Rumbling Earth incident. Not a huge fan, she had to say. But perhaps now that he was a warrior he would be different.

It was when Harrierpaw got closer that she had to pause for a second. Blood dripped down Redice's maw after taking unruly bites out of his rabbit. Maybe he... Just really liked rabbit? Well, she was already here. Plopping down in from of him, the black furred apprentice took a bite of her own meal. She said nothing but kept looking at him in awe as he ate.

Redice plucked out the innards that he liked the most and set them aside; Heart, liver, lungs... Then he pulled out what he didn't like and set it on the other side of the rabbit, like the stomach and intestines. He'd pass on those. He usually did. They typically went to feed the crows. Just as he was about to start eating the actual muscle of the rabbit... he was suddenly aware of another presence right in front of him. His eyes suddenly snapped upward and locked onto the dark furred she-cat. An apprentice... uhhhh... Harrierpaw? That was it.

"Come to join me, have you?" There was no reading his tone at all. There was no indication on his face on whether company amused him or displeased him. If anything at all, it seemed genuinely neutral and the innocent curiosity of a kit. He glanced down at the mouse she was eating and he snorted.

"I'm willing to part with these if you're still hungry, but the rest I'm saving for myself." He nodded at the stomach and intestine pile before he set his jaws back to work on scissoring off some muscle meat. He'd save the heart, lungs and the liver for his last few bites. Rabbit meat was dense and stringy, but there was something about the flavor he really enjoyed. Maybe in his past life he was a Windclan cat.

"I figured you might want some company. No one should have to eat alone." Harrierpaw didn't say this with confidence, getting hints on why Redice would be alone in the first place. He was odd, to put it midly. Acting like meticulously pulling apart and sorting his food was the most normal thing to do. Or maybe he knew it was odd and just didn't care... It was probably the latter.

The purple collar that fit snug around her neck after her run in with twolegs made a barely audible jingle when she shook her head. "I'll pass, thank you." She was trying hard to be polite and not grimace at the offer.

After a long silence of watching him, she nervously reached for literally anything to talk about. "Congratulations on your warrior name, by the way. Redice is a very cool name! It suits you perfectly. " A lot had gone on while she was away; she should have also been a warrior by now. She felt no bitternes, though. Only genuine happiness fornher fellow clanmate. She
smiled at the red tom. "How has ShadowClan been since I've been away? Anything new happen?" Not really thinking about it, she poked an overgrown claw into her meal, letting the rodents darkening blood coat her nail.

Redice wasn't so sure that he preferred company, but it wasn't unwelcome either. Shrugging, he went back to his rabbit, but he didn't get more than a few bites in before she spoke again. He picked his head up and eyed her once more. Congratulations on his name? ... He supposed it was something to be proud of... maybe? "Thank you. I'm quite proud of it." That was a lie. The truth was he was indifferent as to what he was called, but social protocol demanded he give that response, so he did.

"Shadowclan has mostly been the same. A little trouble with the Windclanners... but we're allies too. I'm not sure I understand how that works, but alas, I'm not the leader and it's of no concern of mine at the end of the night." Until it was, obviously. Still, if Redice didn't want to fight, he wasn't going to. It was that simple. His eyes traveled to her collar and turned his head ever so slightly to the side.

"You probably have more interesting things to say than I do. I love that color... what does that thing do?" The rabbit was suddenly invisible. He leaned forward just a bit to get a better look at the collar. It never even occurred to him that it might be bad or that Harrierpaw might not want to talk about it. Redice wasn't even entirely sure that he feared twolegs at this point. It wasn't like they hurt anyone... did they?

Harrierpaw froze as Redice tilted his head, mouth dripping blood. It wasn't until he asked about the collar that she realized she had been holding her breath. For a brief moment she really thought he was about to take a bite out of her!

"Oh, this?" She tilted her head to the side to expose the purple collar more. "I've no idea! Other than it making a noise every so often, it hasn't hurt me or anything." She shrugged. "Y'know, the Twolegs really didn't do much to me... I lost my two back toes but otherwise? Not much." She wouldn't talk about the place they were made to eat, sleep and make dirt in. That was somehow the most miserable part of it all.

Harrierpaw smiled. "Does it make me look cool, at least?"

Redice stared at Harrierpaw, unblinking, as she talked about her experiences with twolegs. He had less and less fear of them as time went on, truth be told. They were big and looked odd, but hardly seemed threatening. Many cats had been taken and many had returned... what was the big deal? Upon mentioning her losing her back toes however, Redice leaned in closer, clearly just blown away.

"They took your toes??? That's interesting!" What was more interesting is that Harrierpaw didn't seem to mind. From the pattern of behavior from prey as well as other cats, most things would be mortified that they lost something as useless as back toes. Redice... suddenly began to take a more intense interest in this apprentice.

His eyes went back to her collar when she brought it up again. Cool? ... Uhhh... Yes? Was that the appropriate response here? Redice smiled and nodded, unsure of exactly what to say about it. It wasn't a bad thing, it was interesting, but otherwise it was simply just there.

"Do you... like the noise?" He wanted to smack the bell, but he refrained. He at least knew enough to know that maybe reaching out and touching things that weren't his was frowned upon in social situations.

Harrierpaw did, in fact, feel bitterness towards the twolegs for taking her toes and forcing her to live in filth and eat kittypet food. But to be honest... Being back home almost made up for it. Almost. Her main goal was to never let anyone know how broken and defeated she had been during her time away. Especially not Leopardsun. Especially not the slightly disturbed tom before her who seemed way more into their conversation, and not in a concerned way. Something slightly more sinister, but she just couldn't put a paw on what it was.

The bell jangled as she turned her head to give the red tom a better look. "It's obnoxious, actually. It makes it hard to hunt when it makes noise with every step!" She looked disgruntled. Not once had getting rid of the collar crossed her mind... Not until her gaze lingered on the mutilated corpse of Redice's forgotten meal.

"Do you... Think you could help me get rid of it?"

Redice stared at it and wanted to touch it, but refrained. At least, until Harrierpaw mentioned wanting it off. A puzzle! His ears perked up and he stepped forward, examining the collar. It looked like... maybe with some help he could pull it off over her head. He could understand why a cat on their own would struggle with it.

"You know, I just may be able to!" He stepped forward and looked at it closer. It wasn't attached to her flesh so that made it easier. He supposed if he needed to saw away about of skin to get it loose, he could have done that, but there seemed to be no need.

"Try pulling backward with your head once I say so." He lowered himself down and fastened his teeth around the collar as best as he could by her throat. An uncomfortable position to be in when cats so instinctually guarded their throats from teeth, but Redice hadn't even thought about what she may be feeling. There was a task that needed to be done, and she said she wanted him to do it. She shouldn't feel anything but grateful.

The red tom nodded once, hoping she'd understand, and he gave a sharp yank backward at about the time that she would pull against it. The jingling of the collar was in his ear which only made him want to smack it. Would it come loose?

That was great news! "Fantastic! Go right ahead. I'll try anything to get rid of this twoleg trash." She nodded enthusiastically, tilting her neck to the side to allow room for Redice.

Had Harrierpaw been in a real fight before or even been threatened in her life, the sharp teeth that grazed her neck would have made her flinch. But the apprentice was trusting. Relaxed. On the red warriors nod, Harrierpaw pulled backwards.

...And nothing happened. "Try again." She pulled backwards once more, her long claws digging up the earth as she did. Snap! The she-cat tumbled backwards, head over tail. Dead quiet for a brief moment as she got to her paws, assessing the damgage: the purple collar was successfully split in two between the jaws of Redice. She could barely containing her delight, forgetting for a moment that Redice had previously been dissecting prey and, in general, being weird, she headbutted him in the shoulder. "You've done it! You can do with it what you want, I just want it gone." The clasp was still in tact, meaning it was still functional. But at least it wasn't around her neck anymore.

Redice failed the first time... and then he felt a flare of rage at his failure. His jaws clamped harder and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He yanked again, throwing his body weight into it... and staggered backwards as the collar snapped. Managing to keep his footing, Redice's rage fell away in an instant. He flicked his head a few times to hear the bell out of curiosity and turned to say something to Harrierpaw... right as she headbutted him in the shoulder.

The gesture was a foreign one to him, though he'd seen it many times before with other cats. He blinked once before returning the gesture, mimicking it to the best of his ability. When he felt... nothing... he wondered why cats did it in the first place. ... Ah well. Back to the bell. Jinglejingleinglejingle! He whipped his head around like a dog killing a toy for a few heartbeats before he finally spat it out on the ground in front of him and he chuckled.

"I like this. It amuses me." He said simply with a small smile. Whatever she didn't like about it, he couldn't really agree. Hunting was easy. Did such a simple, foreign noise really make it so difficult? Ah well, it was his now.

"I appreciate the gift, Harrierpaw. I'll have to find you something soon." It wasn't a request. He was now indebt and he intended to repay it somehow. "So... what do you like? I'll need ideas." Yet another game... how fun! He was really beginning to like Harrierpaw.

Harrierpaw had not expected Redice to return her gesture, but she said nothing about it. So he could do things like that too? Maybe he wasn't all that weird... Is what she would like to think, but the red tom started jingling the bell on purpose, the shrill sound making her ears press back against her head. His laughter and the silly moment she witnessed did bring a smile to her face, though. What an oddball.

Gift...? She supposed it could be a gift. If he liked that sort of thing. "Uh, sure! I'm glad you like it." It was slightly unsettling to see the tom smile, only because his face was still stained with blood.

What did she like? "We'll, I suppose I like mice? Flowers are nice, too."