We Got Trouble (open for RC, Important, Fish/Roo needed)

Shellpaw staggered into camp, bleeding profusely. A number of ragged scratches on her shoulders and back weren't the worst of it- a deep slash on her muzzle ran hot blood down her face, mixed with tears of pain and fear. She was still slightly winded from her hard fall, so she stopped in the middle of camp to take deep gulps of cool leaf-fall air. "Where is... Fishstar?" the apprentice gasped. "I... need to see... need to... to tell...." Shaking, tired from exertion and blood loss, Shellpaw collapsed on the ground. She had to tell the leader what had happened!

Sitting in a warm patch of sun, Petalpaw was enjoying the perfect day. The sun sat high in the sky, nothing crazy or out of the ordinary had happened, life was perfect. Well, until the scent of blood and fear hit her nose. Snapping her gaze around, she spotted Shellpaw not very far away and got up in a panicked sort of way. Running to her fellow apprentice, the cream colored she-cat nudged the injured she-cat with her muzzle. "What happened?" Petalpaw meowed in a scared tone. Who in StarClan's name did this!

Just having finished clearing the weeds and mud out of her den, Fishstar had planned to head over to the fresh-kill pile for a lunch break. Before she could take three steps outside of her den, however, the scent of blood hit her nose. Her fur prickled in alarm. What in the world was it now? Had someone been attacked? Then, as she turned her head in the direction of the odour, she spotted two apprentices - Petalpaw and Shellpaw - near the entrance of the camp. Shellpaw was lying on her side, her fur dyed a dark scarlet. Fishstar's suspicions suddenly felt very real. Worry instantly shot through the leader's body, and she rushed over to the scene. "What in StarClan's name..? Petalpaw, go fetch Cloudstone as quickly as possible!"

Crouching so she was eye-to-eye with Shellpaw, Fishstar asked in a soft tone, as not to stress the young cat out more, "Can you tell me what happened to you?"

A beautiful day tinged with the scent of blood.

Petalpaw and Fishstar's panicked voices carried across camp and made him glance up from the fresh-kill pile just as he plopped down a fish. For a heartbeat, he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing, until the sudden swell of alarm kicked in his chest. "Shellpaw!" Sleetpaw shot up and rushed to the other side of camp, blasting past Fishstar to his denmate collapsed on the ground. How in StarClan had this... had...

Morningfog had spent the day scooping out slimy mud and rotten leaves from the nursery send off the kits to find flowers and ornate stones. After pushing another pile of it out of the den, she heard Shellpaw, wailing and a very concerned Fishstar. She stood near the injured apprentice, ready to help when she was needed.

Shellpaw painfully nodded her thanks to Petalpaw before looking, startled, at the leader's face right next to hers. "I... I was walking in the t-territory," she started, voice quiet and strained. "I was near the border, and when I got there, there was a- a WindClan tom on our side of the border, and he was eating a piece of prey. A s-squirrel, I think. I t-told him he had five seconds to get off the t-t-territory." Maybe Fishstar wanted to know how the tom had looked- that might help her find him. "The tom was ab-about your size, I think. He had a fluffy golden pelt and amber eyes, and his claws were b-bloody. He was really strong and muscly. Anyways, when I told him to get off the territory, he said I was c-cute, and pretty, and told me that if I d-didn't leave him alone, he'd claw my f-face off. And he insulted my t-tail." The apprentice waggled her tail-stub faintly, wincing at the memory. Her heart pounded as Sleetpaw walked up to her, sounding concerned, and she relaxed slightly. Just his presence made her feel safe. But she wasn't in any state to move, and she needed to finish telling Fishstar what had happened. "Of c-course, I thought he was bluffing, and I knew he needed to get off our t-territory, so I attacked him. We f-fought for a while, and I finally managed to pin him down. He couldn't get out, so he went limp. I t-thought..." Shellpaw's damaged face burned with shame at her foolish pride. "I th-thought that I had won, so I relaxed my grip a little bit. Then he leaped up and th-threw me off of him. I landed on my back, and I c-couldn't move, and I was really s-scared. The tom walked towards me, and he just l-looked at me for a little while." The she-cat shuddered at the memory. "And... I might have been seeing things, but.... His eyes looked like they were red for just a second. Red as blood, red as his claws. Then he said, 'here's something to r-remember me by,' and he clawed my muzzle- and I th-think it'll never heal," she whimpered, tears leaking out of her eyes once more.

What kind of rogue...! A growl built in his throat as Shellpaw pushed herself through the memory, a pulsing fury that had him raking his claws through the earth by the time she'd finished. WindClan... Of course it was WindClan... "We have to get them back for this!" he hissed, tearing his gaze away from her bloody scars. They'd pay for all of it. He looked from Fishstar, to Shellpaw again, sweeping his gaze around the whole camp. A part of him wanted to rush to WindClan camp by himself and shred them all to mouse-dust. His fur stood on end as he dug his paws into the mud. "We should go to their camp tonight and give them some scars to remember RiverClan by." And drag that warrior out by his tail and fling him into the gorge. Then next time they wouldn't be so quick to forget the warrior code.

"Shellpaw? A WindClan cat did that to you?" Tawnystorm hurried over, hearing the commotion. "And even worse, a WindClan cat on our side of the border, trespassing? Over the gorge?" She glanced over in the general direction of WindClan. She was fuming, her eyes lit up with anger. How dare they come across the border, and so savagely attack an apprentice? It disgusted her, and she desperately wanted to march right over there herself and give that scum what they deserved. She returned her attention to the crying apprentice. This was where she comforted her, right? The warrior had never been great at that, but she supposed she'd try. "Shh, shh, it's alright. It'll heal, I think, but I'm no medicine cat. But anyway, it's fine. It looks....tough." She wasn't lying when she said that. Shellpaw had survived what had sounded like a brutal attack, and that itself showed she was strong. "And trust me, we'll go over and give WindClan what they deserve."

Fallowpaw was calm. As calm as the she-cat could manage to be, but this was insane. And, not to mention, infuriating.

As soon as she saw the scars on Shellpaw's face, once beautiful, now ravaged - but it didn't matter. WindClan did this, those moor-loving, fox-hearted mousebrains! Fallowpaw rushed to Shellpaw's side. "Shellpaw!" Fallowpaw cried with disbelief. "Wh-Why...? Do you know anything else?" Fallowpaw was choking through tears, and she knew that this tomcat sounded familiar. But she had only ever seen flashes of other clans.

"Hush, Sleetpaw, Tawnystorm. It'll do no one any good to get fired up like that. Sleetpaw, go help Cloudstone get any herbs that he needs to treat, Shellpaw. Tawnystorm, take a patrol with you to check, and recheck our borders. Make sure that no WindClanner is still on our territory." Her heart thudded at the sight before her, a young apprentice soaked in blood was no pleasant sight, but she had to push through and ensure that the clan kept going. Fishstar could handle their next choice, to decide whether they went to war or not, but till then, she would ensure the clan didn't fall apart. "If I hear that any member of the patrol crossed the border seeking revenge, I'll have words. Understood?" With that said to her daughter, Ivyfall moved back to give the apprentice space.

Otterpaw watched in horror from the sidelines. His love, Shellpaw, sweet, beautiful Shellpaw was marred so horrifically with blood and open wounds that showed the bone underneath. It was wrong, almost sickening to see her like this. He felt ill, like he was going to retch up the sparrow that he'd eaten this morn. "Sh-Shellpaw, oh StarClan. Shellpaw." He didn't know what to say, only managing to weakly whisper similar sentiments as Tawnystorm. "Cloudstone can fix anything. You'll be fine. You still look pretty as always."

Fishstar raised her tail as a request for silence as the chatter of the concerned apprentices rose. "That's quite enough out of all of you for now." Her eyes swept over the group of cats who had gathered at the scene. Once the clamor quieted significantly, Fishstar sucked in a deep breath. "There will be no marching into WindClan camp and attacking, or anything of that nonsensical sort. However, I am not going to let this slide." The leader's eyes drifted back down to Shellpaw's battered and bleeding form.

Her stomach felt as if it were tied in knots, and fury coursed through her veins like liquid fire. She had never liked WindClan. Anyone who had the nerve to ally with ThunderClan would find themselves on Fishstar's bad side, but she'd never quite expected something as senselessly violent as this from them. It was downright sickening. Shellpaw was so young, and she was now disfigured for life. What sort of cat did something like this..? "I'm going to confront Ashstar about this at the next Gathering. This is totally unacceptable."

OOC: O calm dishonourable, vile submission!

IC: Sleetpaw felt his hackles rise, bristling under Ivyfall and Fishstar's sharp glances. 'Fired up?' 'Nonsensical?!' They'd crossed into their territory, stole their prey, and attacked their clanmate! And now Shellpaw... How could they just lay down and take it? They had to do something now. There was a time for words, and there was a time for claws. If they didn't act, WindClan would think they could do it again. Letting them get away with it didn't make them any better than kittypets. "That's—...!"

He couldn't say anything, not to his leader or his deputy, but the anger and discontent flashed clear enough in his eyes as he whirled around, rushing back toward Cloudstone's den, tail lashing irritably behind him. For now, all he could do was help his denmate recover. For now.

Tawnystorm nodded at Ivyfall's instructions, trying to hide her somewhat sheepish expression as she realized her temper had gotten the better of her. "Alright, understood. I'll make sure nobody crosses the border." She turned to the crowd of apprentices. "Otterpaw, Petalpaw, Fallowpaw, you'll come with me." Giving one last sympathetic glance to Shellpaw, Tawnystorm began to lead the three apprentices towards the WindClan border.

Shellpaw smiled her thanks weakly at Tawnystorm and Otterpaw. "I hope so," she murmured. She looked back up at Fishstar. "But- but Fishstar, what if Ashstar d-didn't know? What if it was just that one c-cat?" The tom had hurt her horribly, but Shellpaw was kind by nature. She didn't want to hurt many cats just for the sake of one.

Fallowpaw simply nodded, staying quiet and respecting the leader's orders. She swept the ground normally with her tail.