[Phoenix]

Whiteshade
my secret side
i keep hid under
lock and key

- - -

It was a matter of curiosity that brought him into the mountains that had once sheltered a nameless rogue infected with Rage Sickness, and it was that particular hunt that lingered in his thoughts as alabaster paws carried him smoothly away from his familiar territory. Even though sleepless nights had caused him to retrace his steps back toward the craggy peaks, that midnight expedition where he had been accompanied by Rookfrost and Nightstep, then Nightpaw, seemed like the last he had ventured into the unforgiving landscape simply because of how vivid it was against the dull backdrops of his other experiences there. A thrill had existed in that particular adventure that nearly all of the others had lacked, and regretfully, he found it safe to assume that it would be quite a while before he had the opportunity to participate in something as fun as that again. Still, as much as he liked to think of himself as the predator in control of all his faculties, he found himself falling victim to the harsh combination of hope and boredom, which drove him from LightningClan territory and back into the mountains once more.

That, as it were, was the genesis for this particular return, set at sunset rather than midnight like his previous trips. The glow of the fading sunlight illuminated his white fur in the partial darkness, and fully aware of how visible he was in comparison to a creature with a darker pelt, the senior warrior made no move to hide his presence. With confidence in himself and his abilities evident in his deliberate strides, he sauntered deeper into the mountains, keeping a keen awareness of his surroundings despite the air of nonchalance that surrounded him. Only other felines and the infamous lynx posed any real danger of a kind he could fight off, and he thought himself fairly experienced in dealing with the former, while the latter seemed more substantial in the consequences mothers promised their rowdy kits rather than this mountain range. Indeed, this slope seemed to be rather abandoned, any hints of life either too miniscule to notice or nonexistent at all.

Even as he prepared to move on, a scent drifted toward him on the wind, faint but familiar. With the particular instance which was the only other time he had caught the scent so far from his mind, it took him a few moments to place it. When he did, however, lips pulled back slightly in a grin of a malicious nature. Memory brought forth the image of a midnight she-cat with eyes as blue as his were red, agile and quick as she danced aside to avoid what would have been a fatal blow to the neck. Though it had lingered in his mind for the next few days, he had eventually forgotten about the encounter, and as he thought of the ebon she-cat, other peculiarities of their brief interaction came into the light. Among them was her lack of unease directed toward him after his attempt to cut her life short, and it intrigued him once more. Perhaps he should seek this feline out.

Before he made a conscious decision, his paws led him along the trail left by the scent. Part of him doubted that he would find the loner who had ventured into clan territory just as he ventured boldly into the mountains, but the only other alternatives he could see to this course of action were continuing to wander aimlessly or turning back and returning to camp. The latter was unappealing for multiple reasons, and the former held no promise of finding anything. With a scent, at least, there was something to do. As it turned out, the trail which led him deeper into the mountains grew stronger and easier to follow with every step. Following its lead with the patience of a hunter waiting for the right moment to pounce on an oblivious rabbit in front of him, the alabaster tom strode on.

- - -

i feel it deep within
it’s just beneath the skin
i must confess that i feel like a monster

Insidious

[Insidious]

Her strides held no significance, each step seemingly slower than the one soon to follow. Today's events were unplanned, the darkly pigmented she-cat unbiased as to how the hours wished to retire. She cared not for any of the clans as of now, having scoped their territories on numerous accounts prior, enough so that it simply failed to intrigue her any farther. This, of course, was pitiful. Without the possession of her blatant interest in the functioning of the clans there remained few, if any, ways of spending her days meaningfully. Arriving at a steady stop, she found herself taken with scenting the air, not realistically preparing to locate a source to put her sprouting boredom to rest.

With a soft sigh, her mental conclusion was proven true. There was nothing ahead worth traveling for, so all that was left for her to do was to turn backward and try again, perhaps upon a different route this time around. Decision finalized, Insidious whirled meticulously, muscles shifting beneath her slender frame to aid her balance while performing such an elegant motion. Black paws wearily pressed forward, pursuing the path formally trekked. She hadn't been expecting a scent on the wind to pique her interest, but such an assumption was proven wrong of her. Dazzling blue eyes were newly fond, her head held higher and her steps more purposeful. She knew not of what feline in particular awaited her ahead, though she remained pleasantly absorbed by the familiarity of it all. The back of her mind was able to put together the puzzle: a white frame cloaking vivid red eyes; a friendly charade wondrously disguising an inner essence of monstrous intentions. She, however, was not one to be dwindled down by the element of fear. She knew precisely what dangers potentially approached, though she cared not for the threats it posed. She had managed to escape the tom's claws – she couldn't recall his name, if ever she had managed to receive it in the first place – and she would do it again, if such turned out to be the case.

This time, she was not going into the charade unarmed. Although Insidious didn't own a physical strategy, she was now fully aware of the mind games he could very well play. And she, ever the quiet examiner, was entitled to a few mind games of her own. Should her decision of following the tom's scent to meet him somewhere in the middle end up claiming her life, it was nothing but a mistake on her part and one she would confidently admit to, at that. Curiousity was perfectly fine when found in small quantities, though for one that was haunted by a far larger amount... it had a tendency of leading her into rather sticky situations. Despite the risks, Insidious could not help but pursue the immense urge to hoard knowledge in all forms. The malicious tom approaching from ahead was one whom she had more difficulty cracking, and with this in mind, she was completely prepared to put in that extra work to ensure she did not leave him a mystery today. She had made that mistake once; horrendous should she make it again.

Just ahead she spotted the tom's features, he none too difficult to decipher from the background with his angelic colouration. Instincts screamed at her muscles to halt: to take to the sidelines and observe in security. She, however, had already managed to channel her urgency to receive knowledge upon the unknown concept. It was because of this that she had no desires to take shelter as once had, beyond helpless as to how much danger she was forcing her life to face. At a respectable distance, Insidious stopped, her hind limbs accustoming to a lady-like sit. Her head bowed neatly in greeting, piercing blue eyes fascinated with the depths of his crimson-red and therefore unwilling to withdrawal. “Fancy seeing you in my part of the forest this time around.”

[Phoenix]

Whiteshade
my secret side i keep
hid under
lock and key

- - -

Like a phantom, she materialized from the shadows spreading across the rocky slope scattered with foliage and trees, her black shape separating itself from the growing darkness around her. Upon catching sight of the loner, LightningClan’s alabaster devil drew to a stop, forepaws drawing together as he lowered his haunches to the ground in a fluid movement. Across from him, the she-cat mirrored his actions, and he returned the nod with a slight inclination of his head, red eyes not leaving their pale blue counterparts. Little seemed to have changed since their last encounter, but he had only obtained a modicum of information about her from their previous interactions that his judgment could have been completely wrong and he would not have been able to tell the difference.

It was she who broke the silence that had reigned while both collected their thoughts and composed themselves in preparation for this meeting, which, regardless of where it went, was bound to yield interesting results. As her words reached his ears, the ghost of a smile, which resembled a smirk more than a genuine grin, flitted across his features, and his white tail curled through the air behind him. ”Fancy that indeed,” He murmured in response, voice soft but words clear. With an ease that surprised even himself, the feline adjusted his speech – and thought – pattern to that which he had employed the last time they had talked. It was not often that he had a chance to play mind games in LightningClan, and as a result, his awareness and focus did not have to be nearly as high as they did when he conversed with this intriguing she-cat. To answer questions while simultaneously not answer them, and to hold a deep, intellectual conversation on nothing at all: both were important skills in this game, and he was not required to do either amongst the cats of his clan.

Like a moth to the flame, he was drawn to the implied challenge that seemed to linger in the air between them. Perhaps it would not take a violent turn this time around – not as quickly, at least, for now he was confident in his knowledge that she had the fast reflexes befitting of a feline who lived such a solitary lifestyle and relied on her own abilities to survive – but the information that could both be gained and lost over the course of a few moments, a wrongly-worded phrase raised the stakes to a level that he found rightfully intriguing. ”It appears as though these moons have not left you wanting,” The tom offered smoothly, extending the hidden compliment without a moment’s hesitation.

Disregarding the part of himself that had inevitably relaxed as he fell into the familiar situation, every other section of his consciousness remained alert and attuned to his surroundings. Red eyes caught the fading light which would give the loner the advantage should claws be unsheathed and blood spilled, and keen ears listened for anything out of the ordinary, any small shift in weight that could act as a moment’s notice to an incoming attack. He knew as well as any that a single second could make the difference between life or death, and he refused to allow himself fall victim to that difference that had claimed so many before him.

- - -

i feel it deep within
it’s just beneath the skin
i must confess that i feel like a monster

[Insidious]

Pale eyes considered the feline specimen before her thoughtfully: from his mirrored stance, to the slight inclination of his head, down to each tiny, near unnoticeable movement performed – if a mild breeze happened to slither passed and force a few of his stray albino hairs to dance, she was more than certain that even this she would notice. The fixation of her stare was remarkably intense, this a factor she was not bothered to hide. He could not blame her, after all, for being guarded. Their last exchange was not one easily forgotten despite the period of time that had withered by, the ebon she-cat still able to picture the swipe of his fierce claws dangerously close to her body as if it had been an occurrence of the day before. She contemplated the chances of the image never managing to fully subside, though this was not unnerving in the least, for it was in one's best interest to recall their near-death experiences if to properly avoid them. If to say they wished not to die, that is. For one such as the black, lean figured loner? It seemed as if she came running towards her pending death, even the most oblivious feline likely able to see this on their own given the bloody eyed demon she now faced absent of but an ounce of fear.

Was that the traces of a compliment her ears picked up? Light blue eyes narrowed a touch, being the tiniest altering of expression to indicate her momentary shock. It was the last type of thing she expected to hear from this tom-cat's mouth, though needless to say she didn't appreciate kind words when she came across them. “One must stay healthy if to properly please.” It was such a small reference to their previous encounter that she wouldn't find herself taken aback in the least should he fail to detect it. The predators held a notable preference for prey that was healthier and therefore, more satisfying to digest. From the actions this tom had taken at their last exchange, she couldn't claim herself to be surprised if he happened to consider her something closely related to prey. Not to say that she believed him of being one that gambled in the horrifying, twisted ways of cannibalism. Yet with how much it seemed she hadn't known about this tom, and still didn't know for the matter, she couldn't leave room for any more surprises.

A black paw shifted graciously, surfacing it from its rested placement upon the ground and allowing her pink tongue to lightly trace over the areas where her claws waited to be sheathed. In this moment she allowed her eyelids to fall shut, placing enough trust in the red-eyed warrior as to believe he wouldn't strike so soon. Yes, a part of the ebon she-cat was wary of the probability and keeping it upon the forefront of her mind. He had attempted to kill her once, so who in the right mind would be lead to believe that a similar course of action would not occur again? After just long enough to be lengthy though not long enough to be mouse-brained, black eyelids fluttered apart to reveal a crystalline blue stare still neatly fixated upon the LightningClan warrior seated ahead. Her raised paw returned to its former position, searching the male's features for an indication that his expression had shifted at some point throughout her movements. It was a mindful test of how cautious the tom was of her presence, wishing to be enlightened without a verbal request as to how driven he was to trust her intentions upon this meeting were not a reflection of his own upon their last. He needn't worry; Insidious was not physically inclined. But she was just as much a stranger to him as he was to her, so how would he hold such knowledge?

“You always seem to be alone, dear. I have my reasons, though is it safe to assume you anti-social?” A grin didn't crack her blank expression, her eyes widening a tad to display her arising interest for his reply. She wouldn't find such as being difficult to be true, given how lethal she knew he was capable of becoming. Though surely amidst an entire clan he had someone that would dare accompany him on such an outing? Pitiful if even a clan-cat was, to some extent, a loner.

[Phoenix]

Whiteshade
my secret side i keep
hid under
lock and key

- - -

If he had held hopes of some dramatic reaction to his compliment, he would have been sorely disappointed, but realistic cat as he was, he expected little more than the slight narrowing of her eyes. Perhaps it was a result of a life of solitude where the hint of weakness or surprise could make the difference between life or death, but she showed far less emotion than the average clan cat, retaining her composure with a skill nearly admirable even in the face of imminent death; for the inadequate amount of information he could recall about the midnight loner before him, that trait stood out to him simply due to its rarity. Their peculiar conversation was a close second, a fact of which he was reminded hardly a moment later with her cryptic words that hinted at a meaning far more significant than what the single sentence first presented. Instinct and experience from their past conversation warned him that something lurked just out of sight, as it were, not obvious but there all the same.

Despite the finality that seemed to ring with that line, hinting that that particular vein of conversation had been laid to rest and absolving him of all obligation to decode her message and offer a similarly enigmatic response, he was hardly one to turn down a challenge and refuse to figure out a problem simply because he did not need to. It was her word choice, he decided, that struck him as odd. To properly please suggested that she cared for his opinion, strived to live up to whatever expectations he had set, and that idea was so unrealistic that he discarded it immediately. To properly please…

Even as her voice echoed in his mind, its owner shifted and the movement immediately attracted his attention. As if she planned on grooming herself, the loner raised a single paw to her lips, delicately running a sandpaper tongue over the area where he knew claws, undoubtedly just as sharp and lethal as is own, lay in wait, hidden by fur just as dark as that on her back. The night seemed to be one of surprises, for he had hardly expected the pale blue eyes across from him to be closed for longer than the short instant they were for the occasional, necessary blink. Face remaining as composed and unreadable as the darker one before him, he studied the feline with a new curiosity. Where he might have doubted the intelligence of any other cat, the alabaster devil knew that it was not a mouse-brained decision that had driven the she-cat to perform that intriguing action. The only other, remotely plausible reason that crossed his mind was that it was a test, and the more he considered that particular idea, the stronger his conviction grew that that test was the motivation behind the odd trust she had placed in him.

It was just as well that he had little intention of attempting to finish what he had started in their previous meeting.

However, solving that puzzle had led him to the conclusion of the previous one. As any self-respecting predator would, he preferred healthy prey to weak, scrawny excuses hardly worth his time. Should claws be unsheathed and blood fall in this encounter, he would much rather face a feline as sound in body as the one before him. To properly please... It was a curious statement, but the truth in it could not be denied. With a barely detectable shift, he inclined his head ever so slightly in acknowledgement of both her test and her words, assuming that, by remaining seated as he was, he had passed.

”If it would comfort you to believe so, my dear,” He responded silkily to her inquiry as to his social habits. ”For reasons not entirely foolish, the mountains can strike fear in all but the coldest of hearts; however, should you desire a third party to these meetings, then perhaps I shall endeavor to find a companion.” It wasn’t to say that his clan was lacking in those with hearts of ice, but those who would follow a red-eyed devil into the mountains at sunset with little hesitation numbered far less. And even of those select few whom he would even consider as company, he had little desire to seek out their companionship, for the solitude of his thoughts was preferable even to them. Though he felt it a waste of breath to confirm his theory, he was confident that she was intimately familiar with a healthy appreciation for seclusion and privacy.

- - -

i feel it deep within
it’s just beneath the skin
i must confess that i feel like a monster

[Insidious]

She had, admittedly, taken a suitable amount of displeasure in the lacking of the white tom's response to her test. She regarded him cautiously, alight in the very back of her blue gaze but the smallest trace of careful plotting and consideration. This clan-cat had no ties to her previous encounters, his similarities to the majority of forest-dwelling felines wearing thin if to exist at all. She hadn't yet fully decided whether or not to consider such as being an appreciated challenge, or a mere annoyance that so happened to irritate what she formerly presumed a knowledgeable, perceptive brain. She would not doubt herself so soon, however. Although he was difficult to properly comprehend – his bloody eyes caging no apparent gateway to his inner sentimentality, being void of all emotion, this even able to cause her skin to crawl if she wasn't too preoccupied in her immense need for insight to retain any fear – she didn't believe such as being of any true impossibility.

His response earned a light flicker of her black ear nearest him, momentarily skeptical of his clear announcement regarding his own heart as being cold. She knew not of why he'd present any drive of disguising this commonly recognized factor, having so blatantly revealed it through attempting to claim her life at their last meeting. He had done well to conceal this side of him, Insidious having been oblivious enough to allow it to extend as far as it had. Yet she remained alive to this day, seated directly across from the albino warrior as breathing proof, therefore she saw no reason to think lowly of the choices she had made. “You speak as thought you suspect another meeting will follow?” She peered upon the warrior intently, having believed that his reference to bringing a third party member if she desired such of him as being an indirect implication that they would once again happen to cross paths. There was no way to predict these events, though she could not claim it to be impossible either. After all, this current exchange hadn't been planned – it was just as likely that the improbable would suddenly shift probable if it so pleased. Despite such logic ringing loudly in her ears, she continued to pursue her existing trail of thought, having located a touch of amusement behind attempting to pass such as so. “Unless you plan on seeking me out on a later date, I don't believe that will be necessary of you to do.”

Her ebon shoulders increased their height a tad, her head soon left to follow this inclination. A soft, near inaudible purr sounded from the base of her muzzle, portraying her doubtful, yet entertaining thesis nevertheless, as being precisely what she assumed his intentions to mirror. Perhaps any other would be frightened if to consider, for even a brief moment, that a devil such as himself sought to meet again. Insidious, however, was rather fond of him – as fond as one could grow towards their attempted murderer. It was more plausible to phrase it as her being fond of their mind-boggling exchanges, each clinging to the others words to savor them and soak in their true meaning, so thoroughly hidden beneath the surface. As a loner, she more often than not was left to her own thoughts – thoughts of which she already considered superior, having contemplated each singular, scientific notion on numerous accounts until the point it grew tiresome. This was why she took great care for the encounters she shared with this creepy-looking tom, having at long last located a suitable portion of contentedness toward sharing such regal, organized thoughts and opinions – games – with another.

[Phoenix]

Whiteshade
my secret side i keep
hid under
lock and key

- - -

”That is the question, isn’t it,” He murmured, the corner up his lip curling upward imperceptibly. ”It is easy to offer speculation as to what opportunities will show themselves in due time, but to accurately predict what the future holds is all but impossible.” With the thrill that came with merely resting unsheathed claws across the jugular of his prey – simply touching, hardly more, with the gentleness of a mother tending to her kit – and feeling the responding tremble, it was far too easy to fool himself into thinking he had the power of StarClan. Indeed, when he looked into those fearful eyes with a small smile across his features, so similar to the one he had offered his companion a moment before, and they both acknowledged with a clarity found only in that particular kind of situation that he held both their fates in his claws, he did have the power of StarClan. He had more than the power of StarClan, for it was he who could decide on a whim whether or not the flesh quivering beneath him would be stained red. For all the power he held in those precise moments, for the number of times he relished the control, he did not pretend that his power extended to that of becoming omniscient. Even to a predator as practiced as himself, the future kept its many twists and turns a secret, sheltered by the impenetrable mists of the unknown.

Indeed, he thought it safe to hazard a guess that no third meeting would follow this one. Despite the amusement she seemed to feel toward her conjecture, he had no intentions of seeking out the midnight feline’s company. If one lived by the odds, this meeting should never have occurred, for the mountains were vast and the life of a loner was a nomadic one. ”Then it is just as well,” The alabaster devil responded, inclining his head slightly as his tail came to wrap around his neatly placed paws. ”A third member would have broken the pleasant symmetry that exists in a meeting of only two.” He paused only briefly before adding smoothly, ”As courtesy demands that conversation should be at a level in which all can participate, any discussion could be seen as less stimulating than the ones we have had thus far.” He had little doubt that the subtle combination of an insult to his clan members and the sign of his appreciation of their exchanges – purring had never been an action with which he had familiarized himself, nor did he have any plans to – would go unnoticed by the shrewd she-cat before him.

Conversation dwindled as his voice trailed off into silence, and he found his mind recalling with vivid imagery the last time an excursion into the mountains had resulted in a find as intellectually gratifying as this. The hunt for the feline infected with Rage Sickness had temporarily satiated the monster within him, fulfilled the desire to see the brilliant red splattered across his alabaster fur. But if that had not been the only creature to fall victim to such a violent, wonderful disease…? A feline with observation skills as keen as hers would no doubt have noticed a cat – or perhaps some other kind of beast – frothing at the mouth and so clearly infected with some disease. He had no intention of enlisting her help should more of these unfortunate cases exist, but, at the very least, Rookfrost would appreciate another chance to study such a specimen. There was little harm in posing the question. ”I wonder,” He began, tone delicate, ”if by chance, you have seen something odd around these slopes as of late. By that, I mean an infected creature, unusually violent and with foam around its mouth.”

- - -

i feel it deep within
it’s just beneath the skin
i must confess that i feel like a monster

[Insidious]

She had been listening intently to each word poured from the malevolent tom's jaw, as if it was all but a separate string hanging delicately from an overall thread, woven of the most mysterious, incomprehensible material. Blue eyes flamed with an intense element of trickery, a grand satisfaction surging through her slender body as the warrior fed back, with equally apt skill, precisely what she found herself able to dish. She had been about to respond, having formulated a thoroughly calculated, logical sum of vocabulary to, in turn, compete fairly with his own. She, however, found herself pausing abruptly in favour of noting his next words soon to follow.

An infected creature? Unusually violent and with foam around its mouth?

Insidious was curious of what drove the male to request insight as to whether or not she'd witnessed this creature, though she found herself lead to consider it absent of his reasoning behind it. Her crystalline blue gaze narrowed substantially, not due to anything wrongly stated on the albino warrior's part but instead to indicate her thoughts collected over the past few days as being readdressed in hopes of surfacing something upon this unusual topic. Surely enough, she could recall having examined this creature from her own perception, having taken shelter in the higher depths of a tree as to avoid the dangers she knew it of possessing from mere glance. She had been intrigued by its existence, wondering how it had came about and precisely what it was doing wandering so mindlessly in her domain. But she had known better to approach – not without experience, of course. Naturally, curiousity had gotten the better of her, forcing her black limbs to descend the tree during one of her first observations of the odd creature. She had been wary of the danger present – foaming from the mouth was something only a true moue-brain would overlook – but she had required a face-to-face encounter with the raging feline to satisfy the knowledge intake she had desired. Having been sent back up the tree was not one of her proudest moments, but she had gotten close enough to peer upon it with a moment's thoughtful analysis. That was all that had been important to her.

Insidious nodded, at long last inclined to answer the tom's question. She didn't believe that this topic in particular was based around mind games, therefore she saw no reason to play them, wishing to get straight to the point in hopes of him being equally as straight-forward with her in exchange. “Yes,” she stated simply, knowing to elaborate further as to properly fuel whatever longing had caused him to bring up the creature. “I watched it over the course of a few days. Its violent behavior was beyond interesting; I had hopes of discovering precisely what had gone wrong with the specimen in particular.” Her shoulders hunched, voicing aloud the words she chose not to speak: her hopes had not been successful.

“Naturally, I wasn't able to stay with it for long enough to gain any significant insight – I wasn't able to locate it again, after having lost it in the night.” Blue eyes fixed within the depths of the tom's own crimson-red, her head cocking to the side to portray her as having a question on the tip of her tongue. “May I ask what has drawn you to bring up this creature?”

[Phoenix]

Whiteshade
my secret side i keep
hid under
lock and key

- - -

Where he might have snapped at an apprentice for taking too long and wasting his time, here he simply waited with the patience of a mother teaching her kit to walk. Having expected no less from the feline in front of him, he showed no sign of approval or pleasant surprise when she revealed that the presence of an unnaturally violent feline – if it could still be categorized as such – so obviously diseased had not gone unnoticed by her keen gaze. Features remained frozen in his expression of polite interest as she briefly described her own interactions with the creature, which appeared to have ended in a fashion completely the opposite of his own: disappointment. It was the brutality of the creature that had ensnared his interest as well, for the pure savagery did not appear to be born of a blood lust similar to his, but rather a loss of cognizance. Conscious thought seemed to have diminished so much in it that it lived outside the moral boundaries that held the majority captive.

”Naturally,” He murmured in agreement, meeting her gaze evenly though not quite seeing it as he recalled his own memories about the creature. ”It would have turned on you, would it not? Snarling and snapping like the beast it was.” The words were spoken quietly, as though he were merely thinking out loud – or perhaps, believed in superstition, as if by speaking of it, such a creature would appear out of the darkness, eyes crazed and the tell-tale foam flying from its mouth. A matter of peculiarity that did not go unnoticed was her mention of having lost the creature’s trail. Could it have been that the trail simply vanished because its owner’s existence had been cut short? By the time they had completed their task, the night had been long, for they had started well past darkness. It was simply intriguing to think that had they lingered longer or perhaps turned in a slightly different direction, his trail could have crossed with this she-cat’s once more and brought the total number of their meetings to three.

To her question, he responded in a similar, straightforward manner, his speech shifting to that which one could decipher with minimal effort. ”Simple curiosity,” He offered lightly. ”I, too, encountered this crazed creature, and the conclusion of our interaction allows me to assure you that you will not meet this particular specimen again.” The corner of his mouth quirked upward in the slightest shift of expression, and stark against the pitch black, crimson eyes glowed with something akin to satisfaction of a nature far bloodier than the color of his gaze; after all, much to the disappointment of many of his peers, he was sure, simple glares could not kill. ”My intention, however, is to inquire as to whether you have seen any more creatures infected with this disease – Rage Sickness, as it is called. I am led to believe that, like every other malady, it is contagious, and I would hope to prevent an epidemic.” Entirely amused by the irony of such a statement, he allowed emotion to play across his face for the first time in his interactions with the she-cat. Slowly his lips curled upward to form a macabre grin, ghastly simply because it belonged on the solely face of a creature within the gentle embrace of death yet it seemed to fit in so naturally on his own features, which were still very much alive. To take lives to save others; life had such a morbid sense of humor.

- - -

i feel it deep within
it’s just beneath the skin
i must confess that i feel like a monster

[Insidious]

Yes, of course it would have turned on me. Her thoughts were not voiced aloud, believing the albino warrior of possessing enough common sense as to already know the answer to his question. A black tail neatly swept across the terrain, the tip curling upward before folding atop her small paws. Normally, she would have spoken up in regards to what she presumed signs of stupidity. Although, she knew better than to mistake his questions as such. Their conversations were never anything less than interesting, and she knew from precisely how stimulating they were that the LightningClanner seated ahead was far from mouse-brained. It was due to this logical reasoning that she dismissed her earlier point, knowing all too well that it hadn't been a stupid question as much as it had been a commonly known factor brought to the forefront of their topic. “It did,” she mewed casually, as if recalling the unexpected catastrophe that had followed her approaching the rabid creature was not one to fret over. It was only her life; she had put it on the line so many times prior that it no longer seemed to be of importance when she did. “though you should know better than any that I am quite apt at narrowly avoiding death.”

She tuned in to what was left of the tom's speech, finding her eyes instinctively conceal the majority of the crystalline blue hue due to the hidden, yet unmistakably obvious, statement lingering within his words. She confirmed that the warrior had, in fact, killed the crazed feline – she was unable to decipher his words as meaning anything else; the grin that cracked the edges of his lip only aided in proving this thesis as true. She was unable to help herself: eyes skimmed the tom's frame, searching for a disguised element of bulk to make this execution in particular more realistic. It would have been pure luck, surely, had he managed to kill it on his own, therefore Insidious was lead to assume otherwise. She knew not of who would have wished to accompany him on such a hunt, though the sudden outburst of thought brought her back to his previous words upon having spoken lowly of involving a third companion in their meetings. Perhaps, LightningClan had plentiful a secret. If so, she'd simply have to spend more time lurking at their borders, sitting in patient yet thoroughly concealed wait to discover the others that perhaps found themselves taken with a sadistic art-form similar to what had mesmerized the albino.

Her snow-balling thoughts were momentarily paused, blue eyes averting back toward his own vivid red as he addressed her with a specific question. “I haven't seen any others, no.” She wasn't required to think about it for long, the answer having been upon the tip of her tongue before he had even requested such insight. There had been a singular specimen that she had carefully observed, one that had apparently had its lethal doings brought to an untimely end by one equally as lethal, and perhaps company. She would not lie to the tom, had she actually crossed paths with another feline that showed similar signs. But as of now, she had no points of interest to report. Her information upon the unusual creature was limited, though it remained likely that she held more than the majority – being of the few that had probably approached in the first place.

[Fawn]

⇒Medicine Cat of LightningClan⇐

---

Of all the times he could've encountered another feline beyond the boundaries of the Clans, this had to be one of the less sinister times, though nevertheless driven by an unending pursuit of knowledge. That all devouring curiosity both the fuel and the fire that kept him at his post of Medicine Cat and over all, scientist, was presently chewing up some sort of petrified carcass of a newly deceased animal that was wholly unidentifiable in it's current state. He had his theories, and had resolved to see if they carried any truths to them – and intended to do so within the privacy of his hollow.

It was upon detection of a familiar, masculine tone that was nothing but politeness with underlying, sinister inflections that Rookfrost stopped; it was difficult to tell anymore if the unnerving layer of darkness in the speech patterns of LightningClan's devil were imagined or actually there. Being somewhat more in the know than the other cats in the forest, Rookfrost could simply be reading more into the tone and word choice then was necessary, given how much he knew of Whiteshade's...abilities. The other voice was indistinguishable, undoubtedly female, and could not be assigned to any she-cat he had come across before. Of course, he was particularly negligent when it came to the names and faces of the cats encountered throughout a long life marked more by the dead than the living; which was to say he did not recall ever hearing that voice before, and was obviously needing a reminder as to whose face it belonged to if he had previously heard it.

The topic rather than the topic discussants what caught those black tufted ears like a fish on a hook, Rookfrost's gaze abruptly swiveled, sharp senses pinpointed their exact positions even without seeing them – a long stretch of sedge and gorse bushes in addition to a fox length what separated he from them. Considering his activities were perfectly within the moral boundaries of this society – if anyone asked what he was carrying, he could simply respond that it was not feline and thus they had no reason to worry or brand him a murderer, despite having been one on several separate occasions – Rookfrost made no attempt to stash his peculiar looking specimen. Fording the distance between himself and the two engaged in conversation, the black feline set down his prey, appearing as though he had materialized from Whiteshade's memory banks – as he no doubt went paw-in-paw with this particular topic.

Rage sickness.

It wasn't at all surprising that there had been a few witnesses amongst the outliers of the forest that were the loners and rogues, so the small feline's knowledge wasn't at all unexpected. What was unexpected, however, was the oh-so-obvious fact that she wasn't lying in a puddle of her own blood, gurgling out her last breaths with a look of utter betrayal in her eyes.
Rookfrost glanced to Whiteshade, icy pools seeming to instigate a conversation solely for them: Playing nice?

He bothered to neither announce himself or offer as much as a hello to either creature – Whiteshade didn't need it and he was not in the business of befriending loners unless he needed to extract something from them. Thus far, the female loner was not falling into that category; how very lucky for her.

Though...in all honesty...surviving an extraction from him would be a slightly more pleasant experience then the feel of Whiteshade's claws all over her person, ready to make her indistinguishable from a chunk of raw meat.

[Phoenix]

Whiteshade
my secret side i keep
hid under
lock and key

- - -

It came as both a relief and a disappointment that she had not seen any more of the infected creatures, for he had thoroughly enjoyed himself on that particular hunt. His opponent had been a feline whose mind had largely deteriorated in both mental capacity and cognition, but where it lacked the ability to plan ahead and try to outmaneuver him, it seemed to be missing any sense of its own mortality. Fighting a creature who was not afraid of death - even if it was because rational thought had all but disappeared from such a disease-ridden consciousness - was an experience he did not get to enjoy very often. Without an awareness of the looming proximity of its own death, the infected beast had been far bolder than a feline who was perfectly aware that he was looking death in the eye. And, if he had found himself growing bored of it, there was the added challenge of avoiding the snapping jaws, and while he generally made an attempt to do so while fighting, the consequences of failing in this particular aspect in that particular fight would have been far more permanent.

Perhaps, in an odd way, it was fitting that the midnight shadow who had been present on that night appeared before them as he revisited his memories. Crimson eyes flicked briefly from the she-cat’s pale blue to meet a cold gray, and his features betrayed none of the surprise flickering through him at the sudden materialization of the medicine cat and his burden. With slight interest visible in their scarlet depths, his gaze landed on the body resting at the other tom’s feet, mutilated to the point where it was unrecognizable. Knowing Rookfrost and his macabre habits, it would have been understandable for him to accuse the medicine cat of this crime – murder, perhaps of a feline – but he was hardly one to talk when it came to such gruesome arts; and because he was not harboring some noble idea of turning in a murderer and gaining justice for the victim, who appeared to have died a rather painful death, he had little reason to care whether the tom before him was guilty of endings its life.

The question in the medicine cat’s eyes did not go unnoticed, but instead, was simply ignored. It was clear that he was, indeed, playing nice, though that was not to discredit the she-cat of her honed survival instincts. She was, as she had put it nicely moments before the medicine cat’s arrival, quite apt at narrowly avoiding death.

Perhaps he ought to offer some explanation as to the unexpected arrival of his clan mate, though there was little he could say that had not already been made obvious to the astute she-cat in their midst. Like the tom beside him, he made no effort to make excuses for what must have been a curious sight; she was already aware of some of his actions, and the fact that Rookfrost had not hidden the body of his most recent acquisition made it clear that the medicine cat cared little of what the loner thought of his odd habits.

”You appear to have had a successful night,” He commented idly by way of greeting, with the same casualness he would use if he were to converse about something as the weather. Very few qualities about the medicine cat surprised him, and while this sight might have made others pause and run in the opposite direction, he merely took it in stride. ”I find it safe to assume that your overheard our talk about Rage Sickness. Anything you would care to add?”

- - -

i feel it deep within
it’s just beneath the skin
i must confess that i feel like a monster

[Insidious]

A momentary element of surprise glistened in her pale eyes, keenly averted toward the similarly hued shadow that had emerged from the bushes, an unidentifiable specimen at his paws, mauled to the point that she was unable to decipher precisely what species it had belonged to prior to its untimely exchange with the feline that smelled of LightningClan. Perceptive as she, a quiet stare was able to determine a secrecy, or perhaps a commonality, shared between the cold gray and vivid red exchange. Although she knew not of what thoughts were being mentally shared between the pair, it did not provoke any fear or uncomfortableness in regards to what it was she could not label on her own. What it did provoke, however, was her unlimited curiousities.

This new addition to her and the warrior's most delightful conversation didn't seem bothered with the ordeal of greetings, therefore Insidious did not feel obligated to offer one either. The majority of her attention was not upon him, factually. Although her interest for his arrival had been piqued, she was far more inclined with her observations of his... doings. She knew not what he had planned for the carcass at his paws, and she was curious to be enlightened. It was clear that the conversation was meant to be steered in a different direction – the albino warrior proving such by immediately requesting his input upon this, as they called it, Rage Sickness – and she'd simply follow along with it.

Perhaps, any other would have done so in hopes of such sparing their lives. Insidious, however, wasn't unsettled in the least by the seemingly ominous doings of her company. Each, in their own unique way, seemed driven to receive insight upon this topic in particular. Insidious, too, was driven by this shared quality. She would never take to receiving such knowledge in a matter of violence, as it seemed these two toms would perhaps be more indifferent towards, though she was not quick to judge. Violence or not, it was insight they were after. Ending her life did not, from what she could tell, seem to be topping their list of priorities. Relieving as such was, she knew better than to believe it was anything to do with her person in particular as much as it was for what contribution she could be to their knowledge capacity upon said topic. As utterly used and manipulated as her presence was, it did not spark the expected annoyance. After the pair of LightningClan toms possessed whatever it was they likely wished to gain from having Insidious present at this meeting, they could dismiss her so they pleased; she would not fret.

It was not like she would be dismissed empty-pawed in terms of her own insight, now was it?

The pulling of her black ears forwardly was the only sign offered to indicate they had her attention, crystalline blue eyes awaiting a response from the creepy addition to their discussion. She had yet to be addressed, therefore she would remain silent. Such was far from being problematic, for it was no secret that Insidious preferred to develop her own brand of knowledge in quiet analysis as opposed to verbal involvement. Of course, she was open to speaking when it was required of her – even she, one as uncannily oblivious to how closely placed she lay to her possible death-bed, understood when the odds were not in her favour.