~Let's forget the code~

"Maybe I'll see if I can find a nest on my way back and then pay it a visit tomorrow." Pinefury ran his tongue around his muzzle at the thought of prey despite not even being hungry. And he was usually hungry. "That is troubling, Littlestep." Sighing wistfully as he realized her worries echoed his own, he eventually added "Have you ever... Been in a relationship, though? Like, loved someone that wasn't kin?"

Littlestep nodded gently. "Of course, Birds are delicious. At least, when you catch one of course," she purred gently. Surprised to see the other deputy so happy to laze around and chat. "I've never tried fish. So I guess when I do, I'll know what your talking about," she added.

The she-cat awaited the tom's answer. Surprised he took a second to think on the response. Her ear twitched, giving him her attention as he spoke. She nodded in agreement with him, a soft purr of content leaving her. "I enjoy that also, it had been a while since I had last been able to do this. So I decided to come out tonight for a little walk through my territory. To check up on things, and to clear my mind." She said, watching as Pinefury stretched out. Nearly staring because of the muscle that rippled under his fur. She glanced away sheepishly, grooming her side gently. "Being a deputy is much harder than I thought. I expected to also have a family, but things have been getting in the way. Especially with Whitestar slowly coming close to the end of his leadership, I'm worried that I'd have to take over soon," she mewled lightly.

"Birds? Really?" Pinefury mrrowed with amusement, his eyes glowing brightly. "I've always preferred fish, a taste you can't get from any other meat, which is all too similar for my tastes."

When she replied with a question of her own, Pinefury took a second to think about his response, wondering what exactly he could say that might interest her and still be true. Arriving at a conclusion after a few heartbeats, he replied Honestly, it's a toss-up between just taking a hike through the territory and being alone with my thoughts and having an interesting talk with someone." The tom stretched, making himself even more comfortable, then sighed. "It's been ages since I've had that within my own clan."

The she-cat was pleased that the tom settled down for their conversation. Liking that they were both comfortable with talking. Instead of being hostile and weary toward one another. Her tail gently curled around herself. Ear's lightly twitching when Pinefury decided to speak up and ask a question. "I enjoy birds. They are fun to catch, after all." She hummed, eyes gently fixed on the other. "What would you do for a pastime when your not on duty?" She asked. Rolling onto her back lightly, stretching out gently. Liking that she was able to get comfortable and talk. Not having to worry about any danger or work that had to be done. And it seemed that Pinefury was enjoying himself also.

Pinefury laid down as well, a little closer to the border now, but still a good few foxlengths from the scent markers. He smiled softly across the invisible barrier to the other deputy as they settled in for a little conversation, the first Pinefury had actually wanted to have for moons. There was so much he wanted to know- did she occasionally resent her position the way he did? Did she feel like having a family would get in the way? Whenever he dreamt of a mate and kits, he wondered the same. For starters, though, he kept things simple. "Well, what's your favorite prey to eat out of anything in the territories?" he waited somewhat eagerly for the answer, still smirking in a friendly manner as he also awaited questions from her.

Littlestep was a bit surprised that the other deputy hadn't wanted her to leave so early. She soon moved to sit back down where she had just been sitting. She nodded lightly, tail curling back around herself. "Yeah, I guess so," she murmured. Though she was certain that Pinefury only just wanted to see her. But that may just be how she saw it. She decided to lay down and get comfortable. Knowing well this was going to be a while. Her tail curled and swayed gently while she laid there. "So, what do you want to know about?" she asked. Deciding to make this simple.

"You're not boring me." Came Pinefury's quick mewl. "Nothing better to do in camp than stress over dawn patrol anyways. Plus, I assume I'll be seeing a lot more of you if Whitestar has his way." The other tom sat down just across the border, tail flicking back and forth behind him as his gaze locked on hers. "Let's get to know one another."

"Duskclan hopefully would dig up our stores. But since sickness has been spreading through our clan, we need the prey. So I'm sure that our stores of prey are going to be very little." She said, shaking her head lightly. Letting off a weak sigh at the thought of not having enough food to feed everyone.

Whitestar had announced a plan to her about setting an alliance with Fireclan. She thought that was absurd, and didn't think it would happen. The whitecough he had gotten definitely had been making him think. Or possibly making him go a bit insane. Though it could be the medicine their medicine cat was giving him. Then he started talking about Leafstar actually agreeing with such a thing. She had gotten word from the other deputies that the she-cat had lost a life because of a tree-climbing accident. Which wasn't unheard of for a cat to die from falling out of a tree. Though, what surprised her was when Leafstar actually started swinging in the way of an alliance. She had always been hostile, never liking the thought of other clans helping. Guess something must have changed her mind. Littlestep's tall twitched gently, wondering if the other clan knew about what was going down. If so, how were they reacting?

"I'm sure the fox is gone. Though, it may come back for food sooner or later. Or possibly a place to mate and have pups. Guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said. Feeling Pinefury's gaze back on her again. And the gaze hadn't moved for a while. She stood up and stretched lightly, tail raised in content. "Well. I should get going, don't want to bore you too much." She hummed.

"Thankfully our buried stores are large, especially compared to last leafbare." Pinefury looked away, however, staring at nothingness even though his eyes were directed at the ground.

His leader, Leafstar, hadn't been herself since losing a life in a tree-climbing accident a matter of sunrises ago. Lately, Littlestep's own leader had been speaking some sort of drivel about 'uniting the clans' and 'standing together' against 'outside threats.' There hadn't been threats to the survival of the clans in over a generation beyond the usual stray fox or dog, and most of Fireclan had brushed off the other leader's talk despite their persuasive ability. After her accident, however, Leafstar had begun to spout that nonsense herself, and only yesterday had trekked into Littlestep's territory to ally herself with the other leader. The clans had mostly held one another with stand-offish respect, but now that they were to work together to 'unite the clans' by whatever means were necessary, Fireclan had become weary, and the mood in camp changed from peaceful relaxation to tense waiting. Nobody had any idea what Leafstar and the other leader planned to do to accomplish their means, but it might be ugly.

"Hopefully this fox has exited the territories." he muttered, finally looking back up at Littlestep, finding himself secretly admiring the beauty of her markings.

Littlestep nearly jolted when a voice sounded behind her. Tail twitching sharply when she realized it was the deputy of the other clan. She wondered why he was out alone on a night like this. Then again, she was also out alone. So there wasn't really any room to argue about anything. Though, she did feel a bit weary with the other deputy. He was stronger than her, that was prominent in his build. But what made Littlestep a good deputy was her confidence, attentive nature, and how swift she was. She was probably one of the quickest in her clan. And that was define toy something to be proud of.

The she-cat soon settled down on her side of the border. Her ice blue eyes fixed on the other. Making sure to keep her expression calm and soft. Not wanting to start anything with the other deputy. "of course it is, I came out for a little stroll. And caught the scent of a fox. But I made sure to know where the scent markings were," she said. Moving her head down to lick at her soft fur. It sometimes got a bit ruffled, it was a bit long after all. Her gaze were still fixed on the others features. The last time she had seen Pinefury was at the last meeting the clans had. Now Littlestep could observe him and take in his features. The tom wasn't a bad looking cat, that was a true fact. Her tail curled to wrap around her paws neatly. Finally settling down so they could share a few words.

"fine night, isn't it?" she replied back. Looking toward the star filled sky for just a moment. Before glancing back down toward the tom before her. "prey? We're doing well. But leafbare is coming. And I'm worried that things aren't going to go well. Especially since there are quite a few queens having kits," she said. Littlestep knew that she couldn't have kits. They would get in the way of her work. Though, she sometimes yearned to have some. So she would regret her status as a deputy.

"I sure hope that's all you're doing." Came a sudden reply from behind her, a gentle breeze carrying the scent of Pinefury, deputy of Fireclan, to Littlestep. Notorious for his stalking and tracking ability, Pinefury had picked up on the other deputy's scent ages ago, following it on his own side of the border until it ended up here. Similarly to the she-cat, Pinefury had ended up near the border tracking the fox's path in reverse in an effort to find its den and ensure it wasn't on Fireclan territory. That is, until another, more interesting scent had caught his attention.

Padding up until he was just across the border from Littlestep, but keeping a respectful distance from the strongly-scented marker, he sat down, his tail flicking side to side as the moonlight illuminated his muscly body. The young tom gazed at Littlestep with intense amber eyes, a nicked ear and strong features complimenting the stare. His pelt was a soft white color with brown splotches save for his right front forleg, which was instead a dark brown hue with tabby markings. The male altogether gave off an imposing figure. Indeed, Pinefury was also well known for having pretty poor anger management skills, which were fortunately not on display tonight.

"Greetings, Littlestep." Pinefury dipped his head to the other deputy, the ambitious tom knowing how badly each desired to climb to ranks to leader and respecting Littlestep greatly because of it. "How is the prey running in your clan?"

Name ;; Pinefury
Rank ;; deputy
Gender ;; tom
Age ;; 3 years
Status ;; Has given/received oral sex, but beyond that has not mated or had a real relationship.
Relationship ;; single

Name ;; Littlestep
Rank ;; deputy
Gender ;; she-cat
Age ;; 2 1/2 years
Status ;; virgin (can be in heat if that's what would attract the tom!)
Relationship ;; single[/i]

Plot ;;
Littlestep is the deputy of a Clan (could become leader) when she begins a relationship with the deputy/leader of a rival Clan. Though they are both loyal to their own Clans, they never consider breaking off (Most likely a romance or a friends with benefits/lust scenario). Chaos ensues when their Clans want to go to war with each other or they move both Clans into alliance and endure suspicion and outrage. Could have half-Clan kits to make it all the more dramatic.

It was a cold night out in the forest, as well as one that was pretty quiet. A brown tabby she-cat walked the woods alone, her pace steady and relaxed, but her senses alert for anything abnormal. The night was pretty quiet, broken only by the sounds of night creatures: owls hooting, mice shuffling in grass, and even a bat passing overhead. Littlestep was out to simply get a breath of fresh air and some time to herself. Being deputy was a stressful position, and with Whitestar growing old and frail, she was beginning to take on some other duties, particularly now, when the tom was ill with whitecough.

Littlestep paused along her walk, alerted by the unwelcome scent of a fox. Cautiously, the she-cat tracked the trail towards the border of a neighboring Clan, not far from the border when she realized the scent was stale. Perhaps 2 days old? It might have been the fox that was chased out of the territory. It seemed there wouldn't be anything to disturb her solo walk through the woods.

Or, well, no predators to disturb her walk, that was. Busy following the scent of the fox, Littlestep didn't realize she was being watched from the opposite side of the border until she was basically right on top of it, and she looked up, glancing nervously towards the rival territory. She normally wasn't so tentative, but if she met a patrol alone and they decided to pick a fight, she could be having a bit problem on her hands. "Someone else out as late as me? I'm just following a stale fox track, I'm not going to cross the border ... "