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it was easy to see himself falling asleep right here, with the salty sea breeze tugging at his fur and the gentle sound of waves to soothe him. but if he nodded off he'd miss his patrol and, well, that just wouldn't do. the tom contemplated the results of his potential folly. he'd return to camp after nightfall and then nectarfang would probably show up and start screeching at him and... no, missing his patrol for the sake of a sea-side nap would be a huge mistake. he cringed at the thought, mouth pulling back into a grimace. 'the last thing i need is to have my sister chattering in my ear all night.' 

' "crowstep, you loafing badger, how could you come strutting into camp all well rested and satisfied when you MISSED A PATROL?!" '

he could practically hear her growling in his head. crowstep snorted, giving his head a shake. now wasn't the time to mar a beautiful scene by thinking about his littermate. the sun was close to touching the horizon, and he didn't want to miss any of the sunset. which was why, when he thought he heard something behind him, he just twitched one ear and dismissed it as the sound of wind rustling the grass. 

the next thing he knew he found himself being rushed by an orange bundle of fur that slammed gracelessly into him with a yowl that pierced the otherwise peaceful setting. surprised, he let the relatively light blow knock him down into the grass. that "boo" he'd heard was anything but threatening, which meant he could afford some silliness. "sweet starclan, i'm beaten," he exclaimed from where he lay on the ground. "please have mercy on me, oh powerful enemy -" at the sound of spluttering he stopped, lifting his head curiously to look at his assailant. he sat up, head tilting to one side. "eating grass? are you a cat or an orange rabbit, tansyflight?" it was a wonder the she-cat had managed to sneak up on him, making such a mistake as to slip at the last moment. the black and white tom snorted at tansyflight's casual greeting. "no, no, i hope you're not thinking i'll just let you pretend nothing happened." he reached out with one paw to brush a stray bit of grass from the she-cat's orange pelt.

it looked like tansyflight had recovered from her blunder rather nicely. back up and at it in no time, good for her. crowstep grinned at the she-cat's mock tackle, smile only growing wider as she executed the jump without any blunders this time around. "sure, you did the jump well this time around," he meowed, unimpressed. he scrunched up his noise when tansyflight flicked him with her tail, sniffling at the tickle of fur. "yeah... you're the definition of merciless who am i kidding?"

the tom held back at another grin when he saw his little jab ruffle the she-cat, even if it was just for show. "y'know, you've always struck me as more of a 'rabbit' than a 'tansy'." he looked thoughtful as he spoke, giving a slight shrug. "maybe we should ask ruststar to change your name?" he faked a sincere look, mouth tugging into a thoughtful frown. 

when the she-cat glared, crowstep smiled anew, a laugh threatening to bubble up from his throat. "me? let someone off the hook that easy? who do you think you're talking to?" he sprang to his paws and stepped closer to give tansyflight a playful nudge. he wanted to make sure the she-cat knew he was saying everything in jest. it was obvious - hopefully - but it never hurt to make sure. "what are you doing out here anyway?" he continued after a moment. "i know you don't like earth's edge all that much. oh!"  he jumped back, squinting suspiciously at the other cat, a teasing note to his words. "you followed me here, didn't you?"

crowstep knew better than to actually try and mock tansyflight. anything coming from him just wouldn't be taken seriously. his jabs rolled too easily off the she-cat. not that he'd want to be seriously insulting. where was the fun in that? "oh you're quite welcome i'm sure," he smiled when the orange tabby took his words as praise, even if she was more than a little sarcastic about it what with her saccharine tone. he really wouldn't expect any different.

he nodded swiftly in agreement with her comment on rabbits and the precise colour of their fur. "they're veeeeeery rare, special rabbits, i'm sure, but there's gotta be orange rabbits out there somewhere. in fact!" his face brightened suddenly, ears twitching in mock excitement. "i recall eating a vibrant, distinctly orange rabbit once as a kit. i'm almost sure of it." now he was just starting to err onto ridiculous territory. too late to pretend like he hadn't said anything. oh well. he raised a quizzical brow at tansyflight's comment about their new neighbors. "i guess they do look more like rabbits if you think about it," he conceded with a small twitch of his tail. "but calling them freakish? wooooow, harsh." the new group of cats were on the strange side, crowstep supposed. still, if they kept to their side of the border then it didn't really matter did it? 

the tom watched with his trademark lazy smile still fixed on his maw as the other warrior proceeded to make a showcase of clumsiness yet again. "see? that's what you get for being rude." he said in a singsong voice. crowstep pouted slightly at the name, giving a small snort and pointedly turning away from the she-cat to resume staring at the sunset again. "maybe i should just call you grassyfur? i mean, since you seem to be rolling about in the grass all the time anyway right?" he glanced over his shoulder at the she-cat, yellow eyes following the butterfly's fluttering path. he smirked when the insect fluttered safely away from the windclanner's ginger paws. the tom sniffed. "so mean. that's why you didn't catch the butterfly."

the tom blinked in surprise at tansyflight's sudden change in demeanor. what had he said that was so...? oh - right. the cat winced at his own thoughtlessness; it was too late to take his words back now. 'good going, crowstep. wait to speak before you think.' he took a deep breath, dipping his head apologetically. "right. your sister. that's..." 'certainly something you shouldn't have forgotten about.' crowstep grimaced. "i didn't really think that through." he tried to put on a grin, giving up when he realised how fake it probably looked. "sorry." he said simply after a pause. he was watching the she-cat carefully to gauge her reaction. 

crowstep scoffed at the lithe she-cat's accusation, pulling his ears flat against his head in distaste. "you seem to be forgetting, you're the rabbit here. if anyone'd be sneaking a nip of herb from the medicine cat's den, it'd be you tansyflight." he turned up his chin proudly and hid a smile as the energetic cat danced. 'all that bouncing around... she might as well be a rabbit after all.' tansyflight's energy was infectious. he almost wanted to be up and moving too, matching the other windclan warrior step for step. it would look silly to any outside viewer, but he'd pretty well established already that being considered silly wasn't all that important to him. "crowbutt?" he faked a tone of confusion, turning to look at his rump in surprise. "nnnnnoope. i don't see any feathers. try again," he mewed. the tom smiled triumphantly at the tabby.

at the next nickname tansyflight gave him, he could only snort. "'assfur'," he echoed with an eye roll. "see, now you're just straight up stealing from me. take out, like, three letters from the name i gave you and you end up with 'assfur'." crowstep nodded sagely at his own words. he gave her a sly look, one that quickly disappeared at her next jab. he leapt to his paws, glaring. "now just what are you trying to say about my personality? i am the suavest, nicest cat on all the moor thank you very much."

well, maybe not so suave after all. he cringed at her angry look. yep, he'd done it this time. there wasn't much he could say about such a glaring mistake as forgetting about the accident that had befallen tansyflight's sister. he took a tentative step forward, he still lowered. "you sure it's fine?" he asked. she didn't sound too mad anymore, but even so he felt bad. "my mentor always said i had a knack for running my mouth at the worst times. guess she was right. ha..." he tried to laugh, grimacing as it rang hollow in his own ears. he didn't want to permanently spoil the evening.