Bear's Reign (open)

Bear leaped back in shock as Bouncepaw attacked him. The tom hadn't meant to provoke a fight, but clearly this little cat was bound and determined to destroy him. A snarl rose in Bear's throat and he darted forwards to knock Bouncepaw aside with a powerful forepaw. He kept his claws sheathed during the encounter, not seeing a need for them. The older and larger tom could have easily taken down the medicine cat apprentice, but chose not to. Instead, he padded over and pinned him to the ground using weight alone.

"Watch yourself, kit. Now is not the time to be playing hero," Bear hissed lowly into Bouncepaw's ear, just loud enough for him to hear. As soon as he finished speaking, he smacked his paw against the other cat's head once more before padding a few steps away and leaving Bouncepaw to lay there.

Occ: if any cat would be curious enough to talk to Bear, do it! He's got a backstory and does have some morals despite being a vicious kidnapper ;P maybe they could even start being soft around him or something. I dunno. But he's not going to truly hurt anyone unless they deserve it.

"I'm... no... hero," panted Bouncepaw quietly, "b-but it seems you've cap-captured the real ones." The medicine cat apprentice got up, eyes glazed over with pain. The laceration strapped across his pelt burned. He just walked away, bushy ginger tail coiling. "Mousebrain!" he hissed with uncharacteristic anger. "I was never trained for fighting." Bouncepaw took one last glance at Pansyface, to make sure she didn't care. She didn't. Bouncepaw limped away, to treat his wounds with more minor herbs than they should actually be, deliberately; he wanted to heal the other cats more. As he vanished into the den, the last thing seen was the gruesome crimson sparkle of a gash running from his shoulder, to his chest.

Bat watched with a plain face as Bear fought Bouncepaw. He made sure to send Pansyface a stinging glare for her insult and then watched the stuttering mess of a cat get up. "If you weren't trained to fight, don't fight rouge scum. We're hardier and our starved bodies make us think and harder to hit." he mused plainly as he followed Bouncepaw to make sure he wasn't getting robbed of his hard earned herbs.

Bouncepaw looked bewildered. "Ahem... wh-who are you?" he questioned. It was obviously a rogue, but his tone seemed flat, not threatening. His body was sore all over, but he ignored it, confusion whirling in his mind.

"I'm a medicine cat nobody." He said quickly as he watched a line of blood stream down Bouncepaw's shoulder. "Why are you here? Don't the clans have enough territory?" Bat added, passing up Bouncepaw with a frustrated huff. He shuffled through the herbs and stared at one in particular before pushing it to the side with a slender paw.

Bouncepaw bristled at Bat's hostility. "In-Indeed they do," he said, when he felt a teensy bit of fury rising up. He guessed this was just the rogue's natural response at strangers... which he had to admit, he would be too... if it wasn't for his stupid stutter! Bouncepaw respected that, and besides, Bat probably had some bad experiences with clan cats. "Uhm... the-these cats here ar-are from the clans." Bouncepaw looked down, then at the blood trickling from his shoulder. The dappled ginger-and-white tom stood back. "But... y-you're right. A warrior should've come, if no cat at all." Bouncepaw turned around, seeing the herb that Bat was prodding. It was only a small amount. He then pushed it aside. As much as it made the tiny medicine cat apprentice's fur tingle with unease, he couldn't challenge the slender black rogue. He was a tad humiliated, but there was still some bustle like an organized camp... were the felines of the clans safe here, or not? They couldn't be.

She had watched the exchange. Watched the whole thing, and something struck her. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, or why but she felt the anger and rage leaving her body. Seeping out through her paws like water. She blinked as a new feeling flooded in to replace the others. It swamped her, covering her and setting her heart to aching. She watched Bear and something changed in her. She still wanted to go home of course, but she needed to understand, needed to know why he felt he needed to take them. She was still fearful, and the pain in her shoulders reminded her what her bravery had gotten her once already. Yet, she still padded slowly forward wincing every now and then at the pain in from Bears claws. She dipped her head to the tom cat and paused opening her mouth and speaking in the calmest and most respectful tone she could. "Bear? Why are you keeping us here?"

The rogue's ear pricked in surprise as one of the apprentices came over and started speaking to him. Despite the fact that all of the clan cats aggravated him, Bear probably liked the apprentices the most. It was probably mostly because they were too terrified to speak up, but they complained the least. And there was more potential to train them up. The younger cats were not fully corrupted by clan ways and he assumed he could reform them. His claws kneaded the ground as he sat down, looking over Spottedpaw. Brave, He commented internally. None of the others had tried to hold a conversation with him. Most cats never tried.

"Well, I plan on taking the forest. And that's something I cannot do on my own. I need help," Bear explained simply. His tone was mild. He thought that he had explained it to them already, but with the amount of cats he had spent time capturing, the tom couldn't be sure who he had told what. A growl rumbled softly in his throat as he considered what he would say next, "I've lived my entire life starving in the twolegplace, raising myself, and losing my family to the clans. If anyone deserves this land, it is me and any cat who fights beside me."

Bat looked at Bear. "My mother was my only family, I had a pampered kittypet for a father who thought we weren't good on his little reputation. She got caught hunting in clan territory and was hurt." He lashed his tail. "No longer able to hunt, she starved while trying to hide my kit self from no good twolegs and dogs. Clearly something split our paths " he said with a flat tone. "You'll rise for a second, then the clans will come slaughter us where we stand and take their cats back. Unless you shuffled us all into the twolegplace. Then, we'll all starve."

Bouncepaw looked utterly shocked at this tale. No words he managed to pontificate, no words about the savage ways of the clans. He just couldn't believe that they killed... for no reason. I am a medicine cat! I always will be. I will never fight foolishly. he vowed; the outcry there had been since Bear bowled him over. The clans would take back their members with only a warning, right? Had their trust been rapidly waxing, or otherwise? Bouncepaw seemed fearful for a moment, but that flash soon disappeared from his eyes as the rogues stared each other down. He looked ready to snap, but an ersatz emotion—respect—attacked him. He had to, or else he'd be slain.

Pansyface let out a quiet gasp of relief when Bear stepped off Bouncepaw, but she didn't approach the RiverClan tom. That is not my place anymore, he should mean nothing more to me than any other cat. Still, why did he come here? That was a foolish move, bursting in through the doors like that; I know he's smarter than that. Now he's a prisoner... Against her good judgement, the patched she-cat wandered near where a small group of cats had gathered, Bouncepaw included, and tried to beacon him over with her tail. Why did he come here? Was it for....me? Then how did he know I was here?

Bouncepaw tried to ignore the she-cat, pretending not to know who she was, but his heart ached. Bouncepaw picked his way through, brushing past Pansyface with an unseen flicker of his tail. Once they were gone—no cat would notice, right?—he rounded on her. "O-Okay, what's up?" he snarled, though his stance was brusquely perked. His embarrassing stammer seemed to fade when he was angry, although it didn't now... he wasn't truly mad. He was thrilled by the unmitigated sight of Pansyface, but hid it delicately. He kept checking to make sure no one was there. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You-You're going t-to ask how I fo-found you, right?" he guessed flatly.

Pansyface followed the tom's lead, keep an aloof, uncaring air about her until they had made their way away from the group.  After taking a moment to suppress her emotions, she turned to speak to her former lover but was met face-to-face with a snarl.  The small tom looked and sounded infuriated, and seemed to predict her own question.  She guessed it was a testament to how well they knew each other now, but her brief feelings of longing for the tom melted away to be replaced by annoyance.  

"There's no need to get snappish about it, it's a simple question."  One that I never actually asked....  Eyes narrowed, she once again met Bouncepaw's golden gaze, but this time was different.  She didn't feel the familiar flutter of infatuation or wave of blissful happiness.  Her body was tense and rigid with quiet fury, not pointed at the tom but at herself.  I let him go for the sake of my clan, yet sacrificed the best thing I ever had.  Am I loyal, or foolish?

Lichenpaw watched everything for a moment after speaking with Bear she went off by herself. She looked to the entrance contemplating an escape. She wanted to go back to her clan...to her friend Leopardpaw. She flicked her tail briefly conscidering the idea of escape but how far would she really get.

Bouncepaw's gaze seemed to soften for a moment, and his body nearly turned away. Sighing, he held his head up but his eyes seemed to want to look downwards. "It's stupid. E-Everything about me is st-stupid! A-All of it!" Bouncepaw paused to suck in a deep breath. "Loo-Look. I... I can't... like, I-I..." he said, erring his words with anxiety. His voice was scarcely more than a whisper. Bouncepaw could barely even hear it himself! "I... Pans-Pansypaw... you must be some-something else now..." he added, a fortuitous guess, "I... st-still love you! I kn-know you d-don't... I'm sorry, but I still do! I've bee-been trying to get it out of my mind..." Bouncepaw whimpered, finding himself with merely a plea for her to... hate him? Love him? Bouncepaw was still uncertain. He then arranged his posture, turning away to glance at his paws. "I came because I had a... s-sign? Prophecy? Medicine cat stuff that wou-would have been more useful if Cl-Cloudstone received it." explained Bouncepaw, veering off topic nervously.