These Bad Habits, They Die Hard [O]

The sun was high in the sky when the mid-day patrol left. Falconmoon led his patrol through the trees, not daring to be on the ground after what had happened so recently. Typically, Falconmoon had had a pleasant demeanor and friendly smile and nod for everyone he passed in camp. Today was different. The tom's eyes were hard and cold as ice. His expression was stone-faced and his movements were swift and decisive like a striking snake. Dogs couldn't climb trees, so they would be safe where they were as long as no one fell at an inappropriate time. Not that that was ever a good time to fall from the sky.

Falconmoon used the sun at his back as an advantage, blinding anything that tried to look up and see what the noise was. The tom's grief had gone from shock, to denial, to bargaining... and now he was angry. Falconmoon conceded to Dawnhawk's vicious desires for vengeance, the two that were whole, agreeing more than they ever had before. They were just out on a patrol, sure... but he would love nothing more than to brutally slaughter the creatures responsible for his kits' deaths and those of his other clanmates.

"There must be a better way than fighting them outright. We've got to stop charging head first into impossible scenarios to avoid this from happening again!" He growled, spat, even hissed his words. His claws dug deep into the bark of the tree limbs he leaped onto and off of. Rage boiled the tom's insides, each movement more furious than the last, shaking pinecones loose from their branches as he kicked off of them. His cold, hungry eyes scoured the ground, hoping to find hide or hair of the dogs, but so far, nothing.

Graywind trailed after the new deputy, leaping carefully from branch to branch. The idea of just being out in the territory made her uneasy, though logically she knew they should be safe in the trees. Golden eyes still scanned the ground as well as the trees, and not just for signs of prey.

"Getting them hit by a monster might solve the issue. Getting them to the thunderpath without getting our own warriors hurt, though?" Graywind shook her head. "...Would a monster even be enough? I've heard the dogs are huge." And they had certainly taken out enough of her clanmates.

"Dogs can get very big." He confirmed to his sister, hopping from branch to branch with him. His mind flashed back to the hairy monster he and Beechpaw fought as apprentices. "They need to be weak by the time we fight them next if we are going to stand a chance." A flash of color below snapped Falconmoon's attention to the ground, but it was only a few rabbits. The birds and squirrels were out, doing their thing like normal. Perhaps the dogs had gone elsewhere for the time being. If only they would eat some twoleg trash and get some kind of block in their-

"Wait a moment... Graywind!" Falconmoon stopped on a branch large enough for both of them. An idea hit him... though it would require the assistance of Thymelight. He hoped he could convince her to help, given the brutal nature of his plan. "What if we left prey around for them full of deathberries? Dogs are stupid! They'll eat anything!" Was he crazy for thinking the idea might work? He hoped Graywind would either confirm that it was a good idea or offer some kind of alternative.

"We wouldn't have to risk the Thunderpath that way, and our patrols would know not to touch the poisoned prey." Though he certainly hoped the dogs would just eat enough deathberries to drop dead where they stood. What else could he convince Thymelight to give them that would make their deaths painful, as revenge for all of the Skyclan lives that they took?

Don't think like that. That's not a rabbithole I need to go down... But it didn't make it any less tempting...

Graywind nodded quietly as her brother spoke. If the dogs on their territory were even half as big as those fearsome wolves were... Graywind would not say out loud that she didn't think Skyclan had a chance, but at full strength and with nothing slowing the beasts down? Not a snowball's chance in the dark forest.

Graywind leapt to the branch her brother had stopped at, giving him a questioning look. This time he didn't make her wait for an explanation of his idea though, and golden eyes narrowed in thought. "You couldn't find me enough feathers for my nest to go near deathberries. But Thymelight's a medicine cat and could handle them safely... Right? And I think most things are better than risking cats near the thunderpath." And left unsaid, the sooner these beasts were dealt with, the better. Skyclan had lost far too many cats to them in the last few days, and the memory of that wretched fox corpse she'd found with Sunfire had stuck in her thoughts despite her attempt to focus on anything else. That her brother was now gone - probably at the fangs of those filthy beasts even if no body had been found... Graywind would do anything she could to help stop them.