The Web we Weave, Intended to Deceive (Open, Ivystar Needed)

OOC: This directly follows this topic.  For timeline purposes, this is before the dogs left and before Scarletriver was named deputy.

Scarletriver sprinted towards camp.  She lost her path a couple times, head too clouded with what she had just did.  The weight of guilt was so heavy.  But there was nothing she could do now to change that.  Nothing she could do to stop or undo what had already been done.  Now she was just forced to play along in this horrible game that she had made.

Trails of tears were left behind her and were still in her eyes.  Her chest felt as if fifty unsheathed cat claws were hitting her all at once.  Now, she needed to do the next part.  Now she needed to tell all her clanmates what happened.  Now she would need to rush into camp and tell them the story.  And that's just what she did.

She ran into camp, accidently bumping into someone on the way.  She turned to them, water still dripping from her eyes.  "Where's Ivystar?"  She choked out, asking the cat who she bumped into.  She hoped that they knew.  She hoped so.  Even if they didn't, she would say something right now that would most like draw Ivystar's attention really quickly.  "Bluepaw's dead!"  She said fast, the loudest she had spoken so far even through tears.  "And... and he was killed by a Thunderclan cat!"

As Ivystar sat quietly with her head resting on her paws, she pondered whether or not attacking the twoleg camp would actually do RiverClan enough harm that it wouldn't be worth a shot. The twolegs had been occupying their territory for seemingly endless moons, and if this was to be their permanent resting place... It might be better for RiverClan to at least go down with a fight rather than starvation. Realistically she didn't plan to pit her Clanmates up against them knowing they had those treacherous broomsticks and mutts, but it was definitely a thought- one that she wasn't able to get very deep into before she heard the desperate sound of footprints and heavy breathing, just before Scarletriver burst into camp. Immediately, Ivystar was on her paws and rushing toward her.

"I'm right here, Scarletriver, breath." She mewed, attempting to remain as calm as she could. Before Ivystar even had a chance to fully comprehend what Scarletriver had said, her ears were pinned to her skull and a guttural hiss erupted from her chest. "Bluepaw's what?" The sheer anger in her tone was terrifying enough to send even the pack of mutts lingering within RiverClan's territory running home with their tails between their legs. "What do you mean he was killed by a ThunderClan cat, Scarletriver? Did you see it? Where is Bluepaw..." She hesitated for a moment before huffing, continuing with a frustrated, angry, and upset tone, "Bluepaw's body?" If what Scarletriver said was true, she, Ivystar, and a band of warriors would be marching to ThunderClan before sunhigh.

Ivystar came up quickly, much to Scarletriver's liking.  Still, there was no sign of enjoyment on her face.  Anyone who just cared to glance at her would know that something horrible happened.  This was perfect.  She did as her leader said and took a few deep breaths.  That calmed her down enough to speak without her feeling like she needed to breath in all the time to stop her tears.  She flinched at Ivystar's angry tone and just then the full realization dawned on her of how deep of trouble she would be in if Riverclan ever found out the truth.  So she was not ever going to let that happen.

Then Ivystar asked a question that she did not necessarily think she would be asked.  Of course she was gong to ask about the body, fish for brains.  But, without hesitation, she was able to improvise an answer.  "I don't know if the bodies still there," she exclaimed with both angry and sorrowful tones filling her voice at the same time.  "All that I remember is smelling the scent of a Thunderclan cat.  I thought that they were probably just on a patrol, so I did not think too much of it.  I went to go hunt my own thing and then I heard Bluepaw yell.  When I went back the Thunderclan smelling cat was standing over Bluepaw's limp body.  And I just stood there!  I was frozen in fear, Ivystar!  I'm so sorry."

Then she thought that she needed to get back on track with the original question.  "But it was by the river and I smelled a dog coming.  The dog probably took the body.  The cat just saw me and I was so afraid, I ran back without fighting back or anything.  I'm sorry Ivystar! I'm a coward."  Tears now flooded out of her eyes once more.  The dog part was purposely true, the best lies were the ones based on truth.

Flicking an ear impatiently and, admittedly, out of frustration, Ivystar huffed, "What do you mean you don't know?" As Scarletriver continued, Ivystar's emerald eyes smoldered with rage- partly for Scarletriver not doing anything, but primarily for Minkstar's thoughtless warriors killing a mere apprentice. To do such a thing to someone so young and so pure is a heartless action, and reflected the soul of whoever had committed this atrocity. Once Scarletriver was done, she rolled her shoulders back and shook her head. "Stop apologizing, I don't want to hear it. You saw this ThunderClan cat, yes? You and I plus a patrol of able-bodied warriors are marching to ThunderClan, now. I need you to tell me which rabbit-brained warrior of theirs did this, so that they will face consequences." With no deputy since Loonwhisper had gone missing, Ivystar was relying on her senior warriors to aid her. She'd select a band of warriors to go with them once she got confirmation from Scarletriver that she'd seen the pelt of the perpetrator.

Scarletriver's ears went back when Ivystar told her to stop apologizing.  Honestly, the only reason she was apologizing so much was in hopes of making the leader be less likely to suspect anything and to maybe even just tell her "it's okay."  So when she got the response that she did, she was a little bit surprised.

She ducked her head when Ivystar finished.  Her mind went wild with thoughts of how to blame this on someone else.  "I'll probably be able to," she said, hoping that did not make Ivystar more mad then she was.  "It is kind of a blur, but I think that I might be able to identify the cat's pelt."  She did not exactly want to blame it on one cat.  She wanted to cause something bad in Riverclan.  Something she could stop.  She did not want one cat to take the downfall for what happened.