A Bad Time™ (OPEN)

(Continuation of this topic.)

Having awkwardly drug Asterspark across the Thunderpath and through the territory with his jaws clamped around the warrior's ear, Tinystar began to grow somewhat tired, though he didn't loosen his hold on the warrior. After the behavior him and Sparrowpaw had exhibited during their fight, he would've simply demoted both of them, but knew that Scorchstar had a say in the matter, seeing as though one of the cat's was from his clan.

Having finally trudged across the marshy territory, the trio reached ShadowClan's camp. Entering, he made his way to what looked to be the middle and let go of Asterspark's ear. Opening and closing his jowls, the bones popped from being so stiff and giving his pelt a shake, he shook off mud and much that soaked his entire underside, seeing as though he was almost neck deep in parts of the marshy lands. Great StarClan, he never though he'd have to drag some cat by the ear, but there was a first time for everything he supposed.

"Scorchstar!" the tiny leader yowled as cats began to gather. His anger had begun to subdue itself, but he still wanted to have a chat about such behavior, even though he absolutely hated having to confront other leaders about what seemed to be such trivial matters. Beggining to shiver from the wetness that clung to his pelt, Tinystar waited for the dark pelted leader to appear.

At the sudden yowl from a cat whom he did not recognize right away, Scorchstar stepped out from the leader's den to see just what the commotion was all about. Once he saw the abnormally small white tom standing between an apprentice he didn't recognize and his son Asterspark, he recognized him immediately to be Tinystar of SkyClan. Stars, he looked so peeved. And Asterspark looked rather guilty. What on earth had happened?

The large ShadowClan leader approached Tinystar, feeling very discomforted by being stared down by such a small cat -- no offense to the SkyClan leader, of course. He shifted his gaze to Asterspark, who seemed to have caught his eye on accident and looked down at the ground very quickly. Then, he looked back up at his father with a wide, nervous grin. "H-Heh... Heya, Scorchstar. Um... how are you doing on such a fine afternoon?"

Scorchstar narrowed his eyes, clearly not amused. "Asterspark, why is SkyClan's leader in my camp? What did you do?"

Asterspark gulped and looked away again. "U-Umm... W-Well... M-Maybe you should let him tell you. After all, h-he wouldn't have come here if he didn't want to tell you himself. Otherwise... what would be the purpose? ...Right?"

Giving a frustrated huff at his son, Scorchstar turned his attention back to Tinystar, his gaze softening drastically to show he did not hold any aggression against him. "What has happened to have made you feel the need to come to my camp, Tinystar?"

Sparrowpaw padded slowly in behind Tinystar. A sharp note of fury in her gaze each time she looked at the small tom as he dragged the larger cat towards ShadowClan camp. His words rung sharp in her ears, confirming her suspicions. She would never be a warrior. Not in SkyClan. The mereled she-cat stalked silently, part of her wondering why she even bothered. Why try so hard for a clan that wanted nothing to do with her? Her pelt twitched, ribs flashing briefly beneath her coat. The ominous feeling of ShadowClan loomed over her like a shroud.

She didn't like it here. Small wonder how Asterspark was such a rat heart. Being raised in the dark canopy of ShadowClan probably half rotted it away, just as the rivers had worn RiverClan down. Her teeth ground together as she stopped silently behind Tinystar, ears flattening at his demanding tone. Even though she felt highly unappreciated, her pelt still bristled to see Scorchstar so close to Tinystar. In his own camp... with ShadowClan cats sniffing everywhere, gleaming eyes watching. She took a deep breath to quell her nerves, then stepped forward. Green eyes hardened.

"This rat-brain crossed SkyClan's border." She growled, positioning herself beside Asterspark as her gaze fell on the tom as if she expected him to attack again. To resume the battle ended far too early for her liking.

Watching as Scorchstar approached, the small leader forced himself to stand up a little straighter, even though all he wanted to do was curl up in a ball in his warm nest. Upon Sparrowpaw making yet another needless remark, he snapped his head towards her and let their gazes lock for a few moments. "And you were too much of a mousebrain to know when to stop fighting," the small leader hissed through chattering teeth at his clanmate. Letting out a sigh in attempts to relieve himself of some of the stress, he turned back to Scorchstar, who was noticeably taller than him, though that was the case with most cats.

"I apologize for such an intrusion, Scorchstar," he began politely, giving a respectful dip of his head to the younger leader. Casting a glance at the cat named Asterspark, he concluded there was no way to really sugarcoat what had happened. "Unfortunately, what Sparrowpaw said is right. Your warrior deliberately crossed our borders, that are well marked, mind you. He attacked an apprentice and even upon me entering the scene, refused to stop fighting," he mewed, looking up at the dark tom. Just thinking about such stupidity made his blood begin to boil again, but he managed to kept his anger contained, not wanting to be a brutish leader, like Jaystar or Brindlestar.

"Now, my apprentice is also to blame, for she has trouble controlling herself when in battle, but I still am disappointed that your warriors do not know better than to cross obvious borders and attack apprentices," he scolded Scorchstar, his ears flat and tail flicking back and forth every once in a while. While part of him absolute hated bringing such trivial incidents to the neighboring leaders, he knew that if he didn't, their warriors could become too big for their britches and start taking advantage of SkyClan's borders, which was the last thing he wanted to happen.

Scorchstar’s ears were burning so much they were practically on fire, he was so embarrassed! Being scolded in front of his entire Clan by another leader over a ridiculous decision made by his own flesh and blood. He shot a furious glare at Asterspark, who cowered and whimpered softly, before looking back to Tinystar, offering the small leader an apologetic dip of his head. ”Tinystar, I am so incredibly sorry for what has happened. You can rest assured that something like this will never happen again.” He glared at Asterspark again, his fur beginning to rise with such lividity towards his own son, almost feeling satisfied when he saw him flinch and set his gaze firmly on the ground. At least now he knew how much trouble he was in. ”Would you like an escort back to SkyClan territory, Tinystar?”

Morninpaw felt slightly alarmed when she heard Tinystar's voice inside the camp. The young she-cat quickly left her sorting and exited her den to see what the commotion was about. She listened and watched from quite a distance away. She let out a sigh and shook her head. 'Oh Asterspark.' Morningpaw's muzzle formed a tiny smile and she retreated back into her den. It seems like the troublemaker in some warrior hasn't left.

"I stopped didn't I?" Sparrowpaw growled in annoyance. Her tail flicking as she glanced towards Morningpaw with flattened ears. "I wasn't about to just hand him prey and let him waltz in as he pleased. He needed to learn a lesson." she turned her glare to Asterspark as Tinystar continued to speak. Her annoyance doubled as he insulted her.

"I do not have trouble controlling myself in battle!" Sparrowpaw protested as she glared over at Tinystar. "I can control myself better than any cat, let alone most of these cats." she hissed, then gritted her teeth. Finally she concluded to just look away from him. A sullen expression on her features as the tone of apprentice hit her like a monster. How could she ever expect to get stronger and live meaningfully in a clan that seemed to reject it?

Glad that neither of them seemed to have a problem with each other after what he'd shared, Tinystar gave a dip of his head to the taller tom. "Thank you. And I will make sure my warriors and apprentices know when to stop," he added light-heartedly.

Shooting a glare at Sparrowpaw who was now looking away from him, he opened his jaws to speak but shut them, decided that he'd deal with her when they got back to camp. While she was still willing to fight what he said and needed to be disciplined, he wasn't going to squabble with her anymore, especially not here. Hopefully after today, both her and Asterspark would be taught a good lesson.

"Yes, if one of your warriors wouldn't mind leading us out, that would be great," Tinystar purred, turning back to Scorchstar with a somewhat forced smile. While he didn't necessarily need an escort out of camp, accepting one was the polite thing to do, seeing as though he was in their territory, and the last thing he wanted to do was cause any suspicions about him and Sparrowpaw's doings after they left. Better safe than sorry, he supposed.

Having silently listened the entire conversation with curiosity, Ravenmist stepped forward at Scorchstar's question, tilting her head in her brother's direction, a puzzled expression on her face, in the meantime. "I can do it, if you don't mind, father." More than anything she didn't want to be in camp to hear the punishment being dished out. She knew Asterspark probably deserved it, if he had caught SkyClan prey like it sounded, but she still hated to hear her siblings being disciplined.

Scorchstar looked over at Ravenmist and offered her a kind smile, though she wasn't able to see it, but he knew she knew he was smiling anyway due to how it carried through his voice. "Thank you, Ravenmist." He looked back to Tinystar. "Ravenmist will escort you and your apprentice back to your territory. I will not bring this up at the next Gathering, rest assured, as I'm sure you won't wish to, either. May StarClan light your path, Tinystar." Allowing his daughter to lead the SkyClan leader and apprentice out of camp and towards SkyClan's border, knowing fully well she would be able to handle the task despite her blindness, he let out a soft sigh. Then, he turned on Asterspark with a glare.

Asterspark, in turn, grinned nervously and sunk down to the ground. "H-Heh... Um... So, how're you doin', Scorchstar?"

"You. My den. Now." Without another word, Scorchstar turned to stalk towards the leader's den, expecting his son to follow behind, which of course he reluctantly did.

"May StarClan light your path as well, Scorchstar," the midget leader mewed, giving Scorchstar one last thankful nod. Turning to the she-cat whom they called Ravenmist, he followed her out of the camp with Sparrowpaw in tow. While he could've scolded her more on the way back, he decided not to, seeing as though she was in enough trouble already, and he'd deal with her back at camp, no matter how much he hated having to do so.