Civil Paws Unclean [semi-closed]

OOC: For the people who signed up. If you want to hop in, ask first.

IC: The sky was gray as flint, masking a dim Leaf-fall sun.

Sleetpaw slipped out of the river and onto the opposite shore, not even bothering to shake the water from his fur. A light breeze, crisp and wet, stirred the leaves along the border, twitching his tail at the faint ThunderClan scent wafting downwind. He cast a glance up at the clouds, so low they looked like they'd scratch the treetops if they sank any lower, the overcast sky reflected in his murky green eyes. "Great day for sunning," he murmured under his breath with a low snort, padding toward the border. With training done for the day, there wasn't much left back to do at camp except sit on his tail with the elders. The restlessness had gnawed at him from under his fur like his pelt was full of ticks, and he'd paced the rocks half a hundred times thinking to himself before it felt like his head would burst from the agitation.

Before that could happen, he'd sprung the question on the cats penned up in the makeshift apprentice den. A chance to slip out of camp, a chance to explore. If anyone asked, it was a border patrol. That was half-true, at least; he'd been wanting to check out ThunderClan territory again for the first time since he'd ventured into the woods as a kit, away from the prying eyes of the warriors at camp. Nosy badgers, if I've ever seen any...

He cast a glance behind him, toward his makeshift little patrol with a purr, and then turned back toward the ThunderClan treeline, peering into the darkness, eyes brimming with insatiable curiosity.

OOC: Hey Sleeps! Just so you know, I don't exactly plan on killing Ripple per say, but at least gravely wounding him would be a nice perk if possible. So that way we can still reek some havoc with this fight. o vo)/)

IC: Ripplepaw had peered over and noticed a certain, pesky little trouble maker slipping away from the camp. Rolling his eyes at his usual antics, Ripplepaw followed the sneaky apprentice and remained right on his tail 'till he noticed he was following Sleetkit to the border of River Clan and Thunder Clan.

"Sneaking out again, Sleetpaw?" The curious tom asked in a teasing, sarcastic voice. The playfulness could still be noticed in his tone, for as this apprentice wasn't as capable of the language of snarky sarcasm as another kit both Ripplepaw and Sleetpaw knew of.

Shellpaw padded around the territory, enjoying the beauty of leaf-fall. After running and chasing yellow leaves, she stopped and watched as a few fell onto the river, then followed them downstream, where she saw two of her denmates. "Oh, hey there!" The mottled she-cat blushed when she saw Sleetpaw.

Fallowpaw had decided to patrol the river. She joined Sleetpaw, Ripplepaw, and Shellpaw. The experienced apprentice prowled up a slope, before joining the apprentices confidently below. The sun shone brightly across the stream, making it seem like a ray of liquid light. Her shoulder blades rippled, and her pelt gleamed. "Would be," she muttered distastefully to Sleetpaw. She had gone out alone, or at least, she had intended to. She blinked at all the apprentices.

----

Mottledpaw leapt down a small peak. She was a mottled red blaze in the air, before landing. She could almost catch sight of Fallowpaw, an older apprentice, across the span of the river, but her careful gaze swapped too quickly. She kept her eyes fixed on her paws, still on her side of the border. She wasn't anywhere near close, and she was doing no harm.

Icepaw hadn't been out of camp yet and she specifically wanted to go to Sunningrocks. "Can I join you guys?" she called out to the clump of apprentices while she padded over to them.

Fallowpaw could feel the cold air seething through her thin pelt. She suppressed a very obvious shudder. "Ask Sleetpaw." Fallowpaw grunted simply, tail-tip flickering slightly.

Seeing Fallowpaw's annoyance she immediately felt as if she wasn't welcome. Icepaw quickly shook that feeling away and turned to Sleetpaw to ask to join them. "May I join you on the patrol?"

"Ah jeez, you're going to chase all the prey away." Otterpaw sighed, swatting a pebble away in annoyance as a shrew that he'd been eyeing fled for the safety of the woods. He wasn't going to risk entering ThunderClan territory of a dumb rodent, so instead he sat down and looked distinctly unhappy at his fellow apprentices.

Frogpaw, on the otherhand, strutted over to Otterpaw with a fish in his jaws. Every now and then, he had to readjust as it slipped a little more out of his jaw but it was manageable. Plopping it on the ground, he called out to Fallowpaw. "Don't look so down, Fallowpaw. There's a decent spot near a mint bush if you want to catch some sun still. I wouldn't mind showing you." He twitched his whiskers, looking a tad too interested in the she-cat.

Sunpaw, silent as ever, looked amused at Frogpaw's display as he walked over to his brother. Intertwining his tail with Sleetpaw, he made it clear that he knew exactly what his brother was thinking, and that he didn't half-mind the idea.

Fallowpaw purred. "Sure!" She mewed, and looked around. She giggled at the twitch of Frogpaw's whiskers. She stepped forwards, padding across the somewhat damp ground, until she saw a fenced off patch of sunlight. "There?" She asked, flicking her tail towards the sunny patch.

"Always, Ripplepaw." He wasn't going to be wound up as tight as Otterpaw over a few scent markings. Wasn't it a good thing to know their rivals' territories as well as they knew their own? Sleetpaw purred with a glance at the others, entwining his tail with Sunpaw's. "I'm not Fishstar, he answered Icepaw with a hint of amusement. "You don't need to ask. If you want to join, join. We could always use another pair of claws." This was a patrol, after all. Sleetpaw matched Shellpaw's gaze with another purr of greeting, all too oblivious.

He padded past the others, closer to the border, not noticing the ThunderClan cat on the opposite side. "Show some teeth, Otterpaw. You let that one get away too easy." ThunderClan wouldn't miss one more shrew.

Shellpaw nodded in agreement with Sleetpaw before seeing the ThunderClan cat on the other side of the border. "Sleetpaw," she hissed frantically, gesturing at the ThunderClan apprentice.

"Wait up, Mottledpaw!"
It was Halfpaw, who had been on a hunting trip with her friend and Clanmate, Mottledpaw. She leaped down the small peak that Mottledpaw had leaped down as well, landing beside the other apprentice with a soft thud. However, her amber eyes didn't wander around aimlessly. She stared straight ahead at the other side of the riverbank. One of them was getting strangely close, and Halfpaw didn't like the sight of that. She had heard from Mistywater that RiverClan was currently residing in Sunningrocks, but that didn't give them the reason to stealthily creep and crawl around crossing borders without a care. She nudged Mottledpaw's shoulder.

"Look!" Halfpaw whispered into the other apprentice's ear, before looking back at the RiverClan cats on the other side. There were a lot of them, but they didn't look old enough to be warriors. At least if there was a fight Mottledpaw and Halfpaw wouldn't be completely destroyed by any older cats. However, that many cats versus two would result in a loss for ThunderClan. With a stone hard glare at Sleetpaw, she took a step forwards, but she didn't dare to cross the border. If nobody went too far, nothing too terrible would happen, right?

"Thanks!" Icepaw said flooded with relief. She padded along the riverbank looking for the carp fishing spots, and there it was the pool full of swimming carp she dived in grabbing a carp and going back up putting the fish on the bank and broke it's neck by a blow to the neck. She caught 2 more and left them in a pile beside her watching her clanmates.

Mottledpaw hissed at Halfpaw, glaring at the older apprentice. She barred her tail over the tortoiseshell apprentice's chest, eyes glittering with fury. "Are you mouse-brained?" Mottledpaw asked with disbelief. "You're gonna get us both killed!" The red she-cat's eyes grew wide with anger. She unsheathed her claws.

----

Fallowpaw glared across the border. "ThunderClan." She spat, rearing up. "Get back!" She shouted, half to herself. Fallowpaw's fur was ruffled with fear and fright.

"Get away from the border!" Icepaw growled. "Don't you dare cross the border!" She only had just spotted the two apprentices with her ice blue eyes, she tried to look menacing by baring her teeth and glaring.