Dirty Blood [Closed]

Once again, Cicadakit was bored. He felt he always had to be doing something, usually training, but anything but being idle was preferred. His thick, messy coat protected him from most of the leaf-fall chill, giving him no issue as he trotted out of the nursery. It was morning, dawn patrol already back from their jaunt around the territory. A bite of jealousy nipped his stomach as he envied the warriors that could leave camp whenever they wished while he was stuck until his apprentice ceremony. It was soon, he could almost taste it, but not yet. He would just have to find some other ways to entertain himself and train until he could do so officially.

His amber eyes scanned the camp before falling on a fawn-colored, dappled tail flicking not too far away. He didn't care who it was attached to, as it had become prey in the split second his brain took to recognize it. He crouched, excited to hunt something that could actually hear him for once, rather than the odd stone or leaf he tormented. It was a proper chance to practice his skills.

He crept forward, smart enough to keep to the shadows of camp but not to soften his footsteps or calm his lashing tail. Once he deemed himself close enough, his muscles bunched taut before launching himself forward, determined to catch the tail in his paws.

Dappledpaw lay near the edge of the clearing, trying to warm up in the weak Leaf-fall sunlight. She didn't want to lounge around in the apprentice den, since that wasn't productive at all! She kept her ears pricked for any cat calling her name name and her tail slowly flicked side to side. She felt a sudden pain in her tail and instinctively pulled it closer. She turned around and was pleasantly surprised when she saw a tortoiseshell kit. "Hello little one, what's your name?" She purred to them. It was amusing to her that the kit was practicing their hunting with her tail.

He growled with triumph as he successfully snagged the tail in his tiny claws, only for it to be tugged back to the safety of its owner. He half-expected some anger, but was met with none. Instead, the young apprentice simply looked down at him and purred a question. A verbal confrontation would have been fun, but he wasn't going to complain when a cat was compliant with him. He continued batting at the she-cat's tail as he answered her question. "Cicadakit. Who are you? I should know about my prey before I eat them." He giggled, nipping the tail for emphasis. He was feeling merciful though, keeping his nibbling light as to not break the skin. She was still a clanmate after all...

Dappledpaw suppressed a laugh as the kit continued to bat at her tail. “I’m Dappledpaw,” she mewed in response to him. She let him play with her tail some more and had an idea for a game. She leapt up and playfully meowed, “RAWR! I’m a fox and I’ve come to steal your prey!” She placed on paw on her tail and waited for what he would do next.

Cicadakit grinned, narrowing his eyes in determination. Oh, so this was how this was going to go. His tail lashed behind him as he snarled. "I'm not afraid of no foxes!" he declared, crouching and bunching up his muscles before launching himself forward. He wrapped his paws around her forelimb keeping her tail from him, nipping at her playfully.

Dappledpaw watched Cicadakit jump at her foreleg and wrap his paws around it. She let out a small mrrow and shook her paw, trying to make him lose his grip. She placed her paw back on her tail with a grin and batted at him with the other. While he was knocked back, she turned to run away. Dappledpaw meowed as she did, "I'm going to get away!"

Cicadakit gave a quiet oof as he was knocked back, landing heavily on his rear and giving Dappledpaw enough time to start staging an escape. "Oh no you aren't! No roguish fox is going to get away with my prey!" He hissed, bounding forward to attempt to snatch her tail in his jaws, light enough not to tear anything but firm enough to hold on. If he was going to be the mighty warrior of Shadowclan he was destined to be, he couldn't allow anyone to take his prey, even foxes and dogs.

Dappledpaw felt a tug on her tail and suddenly stopped in her tracks. She flopped onto to her side and meowed, “Oh no! You’ve caught me!” She went limp and lay there for a few heartbeats. She got up after a little and smiled at Cicadakit. “You’ll make a great warrior one day!” She meowed to him.

Cicadakit purred in pride as the she tumbled, clearly due to his superior might. He puffed his chest out, prancing around his first successful battle before Dapplepaw eventually stood again.

"Of course I'll be the best warrior, I've been practicing! Someone's gotta protect the clan from foxes and rogues," he declared. "The clan has been getting lenient on the code." His words were clearly mimicked, having heard it from his parents far too many times and being too young to think critically about what was being said to him.

Dappledpaw listened to Cicadakit’s words and was startled at the last remark. Why should a kit be saying things about rouges? She worryingly thought to herself. Dappledpaw tentatively mewed to him, “Not all rogues are bad. I was born as a rogue and taken in as a kit, and I’m not causing trouble.” She hoped that this didn’t back fire and cause problems. She had enough trouble with Burningwing already.

ooc: Sorry for this being so late

Cicadakit blinked at Dappledpaw's statement, the gears turning in his head as he tried to rationalize it. "You were a rogue?" he asked, shocked that he didn't see it before. Well, there weren't any signs of being a rogue that he knew of, but he was sure there was some somewhere! There had to be! He backed up, looking the light brown she up and down but she just looked... normal.

W-Well you were brought here as a kit! Of course you didn't do anything weird because you were taught better by clan cats. Besides, why are you defending them? You're not one of them anymore!" His fur fluffed up in irritation. There were a bunch of rogues right now terrorizing camp, how could she start defending them now?

The question Cicadakit brought up was confusing to her. Not in the way that she didn’t understand it, she just…didn’t know how to answer. She contemplated this for a long time. “I…I don’t know,” she softly mewed, still lost in thought. Was it because she had rogue family? Or that she had some unexplainable connection to rogues? She thought about her mother for a bit. Was what she did the right thing? It must of been. She was much happier in ShadowClan. But why did a small part of her miss her mother? All these questions suddenly appeared in Dappledpaw’s mind, with none of them having a clear answer to them.

Cicadakit couldn't help but stare in disbelief. Her loyalty was faltering and she didn't even know why? "Maybe it's just the rogue blood. It shifts your loyalties just by existing," he hissed. This is why his parents were so against rogues, because a drop of their blood could make a cat sympathize with them. How gross.

"If you like them so much, why didn't you stay with them? Or did they leave you? That seems about right for rogues." If Cicadakit was being hurtful, he didn't quite care. Verbally attacking this rogue made him feel like he was attacking the ones outside threatening his clanmates. He was confined to camp, so this was the most he could do for the cause.

“In a way, my mother brought me to the clans. A ShadowClan patrol found me and I joined. I don’t think that she really left me,” she meowed. She decided not to comment on any of his other remarks. His words kind of stung, but she didn’t let it show on her face. “Well, I should get going. I have to go on patrol soon,” she half lied. She hadn’t been assigned to any patrols, but she was sure that she could find one to join.

Cicadakit grumbled, but did not argue with the cat. The rogue. "Fine with me. Mother said I shouldn't talk with rogues anyway." If she wanted to sympathize with them so badly, she could be one for all he cared. She may have a clan name, but that was superficial. Every clan cat knew being a warrior was more than just following the rules and having a prefix and suffix. It was in their blood, their entire being, and this cat didn't have it. He turned and trotted off, hopeful to find an actual clan cat to play with this time.