TICKING AWAY — mottlewish, sinclair

The trek had been a long one, and Ryland's paws have grown very sore from walking so far along concrete and thunderpaths, but he and his traveling partner (alongside a few Bloodclan NPCs) have finally made it to their old territory. Soloman had been deliberately vague about their reasons for visiting their old camp at first, only telling Creature what she had needed to hear and nothing more than that, but as soon as the two toms had gotten out of earshot of their guards, he'd revealed his full motives to Ryland. Rather than going back to get something they'd forgotten, which is what the businesscat had told their leader, they're evidently going to the Skyclan border to have a chat with Finchblossom; she's a cat who Ryland had actually met once before, but he'd never spoken to her about the fabled deals and business like his boss had.

As soon as they'd parted ways with the NPCs for a so-called lunch break, the two had made their way straight to the Skyclan border, where they now sit together, waiting patiently for their Riverclan-slash-Skyclan medicine cat client to find them. Ryland looks a bit worse for wear, with the slouch to his shoulders and the shadows darkly rimming the skin under his eyes—he definitely doesn't look as put-together and businesslike in comparison to the nicely groomed tuxedo sitting next to him. Trying to ignore his sleepiness though, he merely rubs at his eyes with one paw in an attempt to wake himself up without a complaint, before using the same paw to jab his friend. "Hey... What if somebody else shows up?" the tabby asks in a hush, squinting slightly. He's not sure if Soloman had entertained that idea yet. "What then? We're Bloodclanners, nobody's gonna trust us to talk to her alone."

.Mottlewish.   s. sinclair

Soloman's ignorance is pretty damn laughable, to say the least. He seems all but entirely clueless about the ways of the forest and the clans that reside within it, and Ryland smiles at him crookedly as he explains that he'd just assumed she would Show Up. Oh, he's got some learning to do about all of this, doesn't he? Maybe he can teach him a little about the stuff he's been learning. "I don't think that's how the clans work, Soloman," the tabby comments with a sleepy chuckle and a shake of his head, his ragged tail curling loosely around his white paws as he stares into the withered, barren forest ahead of them. "They go on patrols like we do... But sometimes they're alone. Like—" Crunch. Cocoa-tipped ears perk, and his words catch in his throat—someone is coming their way.

"Oh, shh... I hear something." He dismisses what he'd been saying before, his words instead fading to a whisper as the quiet crunching of pawsteps through snow catches his attention, and when their company reveals herself, his gray-blue gaze is pulled from his dark-furred friend to the diluted calico who finds them. She's definitely not Finchblossom, that's for sure. He can't resist giving another playful jab to Soloman's side to give him a quick I Told You So before he then immediately straightens up, trying to seem businesslike despite the exhaustion that makes his whiskers droop. "Hi-hi, we don't mean any harm or anything, but we just wanted to, um..." What even are they doing here? Can they tell this cat what they want? Helplessly, he glances to Soloman. "Well—I don't know, actually, heheh. He'll... Sinclair will tell you."

/ apologies for the late reply!

Ryland knows next to nothing about Bloodclan's politics. As someone who tends to walk to the beat of his own drum, the whole follow-the-leader thing that all of these clans have got going is pretty much entirely lost on him—he doesn't know much of his own clan's history or their alliances or enemies, nor does Soloman. After all, they are both mere ex-kittypets who joined Bloodclan for their own individual reasons, both being independently driven; and one of those reasons is his tuxedo friend's intense need for deals and business, which actually comes into play right about now. Though their original web-tangled Skyclanner moth isn't the one to show her face, this new unnamed butterfly does, and she even reveals her wings to them without a moment to spare.

Dancing along their web, she admits that she does in fact need something with Bloodclan—specifically, she needs Favors and Deals, which are two things that they actually have and can provide her. A spark flickers in Ryland's slate eyes, and he sends another quick glance to his boss, this time less of an "I told you so!" and more of a look that says, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" And of course, Ryland knows he is without even waiting for a response. He's always thinking about business, so there's no doubt that a lightbulb has already gone off in his head. "Oh, you're in luck! You've come to the right cats," Ryland comments effortlessly without skipping a beat, a smile spreading over his muzzle. Next to his friend's unsettling stare, he looks entirely harmless, friendly even. "Or... Well, we technically came to you, but- haha, ignore that. Anyway, what'dya need? What deals?"

Oh, they do deals, alright. Mottlewish had somehow accidentally found the perfect street cats for her job, and he nods enthusiastically when Sinclair meets his gaze. They're thinking the exact same thing, of course. "Yeah, we do deals," the ruffled tabby confirms with a sleepy smile, though his voice fades into quiet as soon as Mottlewish launches off on a sort of lengthy speech. This is a bigger deal than they've ever gotten before, from the sound of it. She, a forest cat, needs... Gems. For what reason, Ryland has no clue; but she wants them to be pried from the paws of the upwalkers who guard them like dragons over piles of gold, and apparently she knows a few cats who will help them, those being airheaded kittypets.

Ryland tilts his head, about to respond with a parting of his jaws, but Mottlewish is not done yet. This plan seems to have been thought through long and hard, as she continues on, keeping Ryland in a polite silence as he listens rather than interrupting her. She wants the precious gems on strings, and she wants them delivered to her paws without anyone knowing. Well, they can do that, but it won't be easy. "That sounds like a lot of work." The comment slips from his mouth before he can stop it, but he masks his laziness with a chuckle and a smile. At least she seems to have taken his words as if she now needs to offer payment. He's not entirely sure what Soloman wants, so he looks toward his tuxedo friend, lifting invisible brows alongside a brief flicker of the dark tip of his tail. "What do you think, Sinclair? You think that trade's fair?"

/ sorry for the late reply (again), been busy!

As Sinclair works out the details of the deal they'd been offered, Ryland lifts a bony hind leg, itching at a scratch inside one of his ears in a brief lapse of attention. The drone of the conversation is growing increasingly tiring—or maybe it's just him being exhausted as always. Either way, they don't have much time before their clanmates come back from their lunch break to return to Bloodclan, meaning he's about ready to wrap this whole thing up and tie it with a nice bow, then go home. "So you're saying- you want to be our connection to a whole bunch of kittypets, upwalkers, and forest cats... A middleman of sorts," he murmurs thoughtfully after the two of them quiet, leaving a brief silence in the conversation. It sounds fair to him, personally, so far.

He seeks to summarize the deal so that everyone can think on it, and make sure that Mottlewish knows all the ins and outs of dealing with Bloodclanners in order to get what she needs. "We call those spinners. You're saying that you wanna be a spinner for our Web—I just wanna make it clear that if you want to be part of our spider web, you've got to put in the work for the spider here." He lets his hind paw rest back on the ground, then gestures to his friend (and boss) with a brief jerk of his head, eyes still settled onto Mottlewish. "And that means you'd be indebted to us for a while. If you work with us, we can call on you for favors whenever we want for payment—is that alright with you? You'd be fair game until we get all of your gems, at least." If it's going to be a long process to finish every aspect of this deal, then Sol&Co is going to get their use out of it. It's only fair.