Don't Let them Fool you [Open]

While the rogues haven't done anymore damage to the camp other than the first night they had arrived, Flowerthorn didn't trust them. Even as her kits grew from that night and opened their eyes and started to move around she didn't trust them, and she was going to teach her kits the same thing, now that they were fully capable of leaving the nursery and finally capable of not bothering her or Foxfire for all hours of the day.

"Alright you four don't bother anyone too much, and don't go inside any dens that isn't the nursery." She told them as general rules, looking at her four young kits sitting just in front of her. She bent down a little lower, so she could make this clear to them, her voice turning into a rumble. "And don't trust the rogues or Dawnhawk, got it?" They were a threat. She didn't want her kits to get hurt by these strangers or the traitor, no matter what.

Mistykit looked up to her mother in confusion. Dawn..hawk? She breathed in a small breath, then glanced outside. She didn't know what to do with that information, not knowing entirely what it meant, nor what rogues meant, she nodded. But in her mind, she was as confused as she had been when she had just begun to walk. Like that, though, what they meant would become second-nature to her as she grew and was forced to face them.

"Rules are no fun, mom." she mewed, sticking her tongue out and making a "meh" noise. Her multi-colored pelt shown as a mere dot of a kit to any outsider who may peer into the den in which she called home, but to any stranger, was there really anything to be afraid of? Mistykit felt strong and powerful. "I am big, I don't need rules." she whispered under breath as she puffed her chest out confidently with a purr.

Leafkit sat swishing her fluffy tail, huffing at her mother's orders. "But Mom! Are you serious right now?"

The little calico felt herself raising her hackles out of sheer irritation. "Great StarClan! I could name every piece of grass in here. It's so boring!"

She quieted down when Flowerthorn talked about the rogues. Leafkit remembered her mom mentioning a life before the Asylum cats, but she had never lived it. And Dawnhawk too was just one cat in the background to Leafkit.

"I bet Mistykit and I could take him on!"

Flashkit had a mock hurt expression on his face. "Us? Bother anyone? When have we ever done that? I remember no such thing!"

He snickered, although his face grew grim as she spoke of the rogues. He didn't fully understand what was so bad about these cats, all that had happened was before he was born, and he only knew of it from stories he was told. But he knew well enough that his mother despised them, so they had to be bad.

When Leafkit mentioned her and Mistykit being able to take the one called Dawnhawk on, he smirked, headbutting his sister playfully. "You won't be taking him on if I get to him first!"

Sparkkit, ever the calm, obedient kit, nodded in agreement with Flowerthorn. Despite not quite grasping what she was telling them, or why for that matter, he would try to comply with these new rules. He didn't voice his opinion, however, and cast a curious glance toward his littermates. They were arguing about who could beat this Dawnhawk cat. His whiskers twitched and he looked up at Flowerthorn, his still blueish eyes wide. "Why is Dawn...erm...Dawnhawk bad?"

He somewhat understood what was bad about the rogues, but Dawnhawk had a warrior name. Didn't that make him a good cat, like Flowerthorn or Foxfire? And he'd not seen any bad things happen yet. Maybe Flowerthorn was confused? That happened to him all the time, in fact, he was very confused right this second. Because surely there was no way any cat could be so bad that his mother wanted them to stay away from them. Right? He'd only met nice cats so far, like Leafkit, Mistykit, and Flashkit! They were super nice to him most of the nice.

Rift didn't enjoy watching cats, he craved battle. These cats wanted to fight, it seemed and they tried. Luckily, this tree clan knew they were outnumbered and knew the Asylum wanted to help. Rift was sitting lazily in the centre of their new camp. While Rift looked around, he heard noises from the kit den. It sounded like their mother was teaching her kits some key things, like the nursery being the safest place. He shook his long brown fur and walked inside. "Teaching your kits something?" Rift asked, he was slightly suspicious of the mother's face being so close to the kits, but decided to shake it off.

He glanced at the kit that was asking why Dawnhawk was bad. "Er, what exactly are you teaching them?" As far as Rift knew, Dawnhawk was a friend of the Asylum and would gladly join them at any chance. "And yes, why is Dawnhawk bad?" He flexed his claws, pretending to knead the ground.

As much as her kits antics would probably under normal circumstances would make her chuckle, at this point in time that was the case. As soon as the rogue approached the nursery Flowerthorn straightened up and let out a low rumbling growl as a warning. She didn't care if they out numbered them, if they as so much got to close to her kits they would be missing their tail.

She ignored the new tom not even bothering to acknowledge him aside from the warning growl he got. "Dawnhawk is bad because he lead these cats here. He put some strangers before his clan, before us. So he doesn't like you little ones." She said to them. "True warriors put their clan first and remain loyal to their clan which Dawnhawk didn't do. You want to grow up and be true warriors don't you? Like me? Like your Father?" She asked, keeping a close eye on the rogue. If he made any move she would put herself in the way that was for sure.

Leafkit returned the headbutt to her brother. She crouched down, as if prowling for prey, shaking her furry tail in the air to ambush Spark-kit. She was about to jump when a strange tom entered the nursery. It startled her so badly that her little hind paws came out from under her, and she bowled over to the side.

The calico turned her head to her mother, listening to her speak. "He doesn't like us?" Leafkit wrinkled her face as if she licked mouse bile. "What's his problem?"

She could tell her mother was very worried. "Don't worry, Mom. We'll be the best warriors in all of SkyClan! We'll be just like you and Dad."

Spark-kit's ears flicked back a little at Flowerthorn's blunt words. He started when Leafkit went crashing to the side, likely startled by the new tom in the nursery. He pondered over his mother's words for a moment before responding. "Oh...that's not very nice." Spark-kit wanted to think that this might be some sort of misunderstanding, but there was no mistaking the serious tone in her voice. He smiled at Leafkit, tail beginning to thrash from side to side.

"Yeah! We'll be just like you!" He easily got excited when confronted with the idea of being a warrior like Flowerthorn and Foxfire. He looked at the tom, smiling and totally oblivious that he was from the Asylum. "Are you a warrior like our mom?" He didn't notice Flowerthorn's distaste for the older cat and easily padded toward him so they wouldn't be talking from all the way across the nursery. Spark-kit paused after a moment, hesitating. Huh? This cat didn't smell like him and his littermates. Or Flowerthorn. Was it because he was out of the camp recently?

He glanced at the brown and white cat, admiring her aggressiveness. Rift let her talk about Dawnhawk being 'bad', he really didn't want to leave a bad impression on the cats of Skyclan, if he really wanted them to join the Asylum. He smiled at the kit who said they'll be the best warrior of Skyclan. Kits with that amount of spirit could make decent Nightstrikers, if they were strong enough.

He noticed that a kit was twitching their nose. "Are you wondering why I smell different?" Clearly that kit didn't notice their mother's glare at me. Rift thought, looking down at the kit who approached him. "A warrior?" He was unsure how to answer that, would he be honest? Surely that's the best option to not get on their mother's bad side. "No, kit. I am an Asylum cat, a proud Asylum cat. Despite your mother's words, not all of us are mangy rogues." He chuckled a little at the last part. Rift thought of some of the weaker cats of their group. They would be fitting of the 'mangy rogue' title.

Spark-kit nodded, agreeing with the new tom's assessment. He had been wondering about that smell! Was it that obvious? He narrowed his eyes slightly when the tom stated that he was one of the Asylum cats...one of the rogues Flowerthorn had told them not to trust rogues. Rogues and Dawnhawk. His tail swayed from side to side, low to the ground, and he backed up. Spark-kit looked back at his mother, silently asking her what he should do. Should he be nice and continue to talk to the rogue tom? Technically, he didn't have to trust the tom to be nice to him.

Being nice and trusting someone didn't have to go paw and paw, did they? Spark-kit was unsure. He took a deep breath, supremely uncomfortable. "Well...I'm Spark-kit...wha-what's your name?" He didn't want to upset Flowerthorn, but he also didn't want to make the rogue angry, despite his previous claims of not being 'mangy'. The white and ginger kit shuffled his paws. He just wanted to play with his littermates. Why did they have to be wary of cats in their own camp? Why couldn't these rogues just go away and leave them be?

Flashkit looked at Sparkkit with wide eyes. He had to be joking, right? "What are you doing, Sparkkit?! Mom just told us not to trust these mangy rats, and already you're being all buddy-buddy with one??

The large tom gave a contemptuous snort. He loved his brother, but he could be such a mousebrain. He gently shoved his naive brother aside, standing firmly in front of him. Although this rogue was, er, very big. "Don't worry, I'll protect you guys!" He was addressing all of his family, although his voice was shaking with fear. Perhaps this was a mistake?

"What do you want from us? We don't like you!" Flashkit spat at the rogue, fluffing his fur out. Yup, this was definitely going to be a mistake.

"I brought some prey!" Foxfire had just returned to the camp with a small patrol - it was strange to be out hunting with new eyes watching him but...As long as everybody was safe, he couldn't really complain. He had managed to catch a rather fat squirrel - a gift for his lovely mate and darling kits. He however came to an awkward stop near them, suddenly catching that something was up as Flashkit was snapping at one of the Asylum cat. "Whaaaat is going on," he questioned past the fur of his squirrel, picking up his pace to reach his family.

He stepped past Flashkit to reach Flowerthorn, dropping the squirrel at her paws and taking a moment to nuzzle her before he glanced at the kits and the Asylum cats. "You guys aren't being mean, are you?" he questioned, tilting his head. "That is no way to treat anybody - even if we don't 'like' them," he meowed, giving a nod of his head. "Only trouble comes from disrespecting cats, no matter if you agree with them or not. They aren't doing us any harm despite...Everything."

Leafkit shifted uncomfortably as her brother stomped his way in front of the Asylum cat. He's really gone and lost it now, hasn't he? She was about to interject when she saw a familiar tom.

"Dad!" Leafkit chirped, rising to her paws. "Did you catch that yourself? Thank you for bringing it over!"

She walked up to Foxfire, giving him a head bump and nuzzle. She sniffed the squirrel and got a toothy grin. "I can't wait until we get to catch prey and walk outside the nursery!"

Spark-kit puffed his fur out, indignant at being talked down to by Flashkit. He frowned, fuzzy tail lashing as he narrowed his eyes at the larger kit. He opened his jaws to retort before being pushed aside, albeit gently, but nonetheless pushed aside. The ginger and white kit stumbled a little before catching his balance and growled lowly. He wasn't acting 'buddy-buddy' with the rogue, he was just trying to remain on the large tom's good side. It was a tactical move on his part, one that he shouldn't have been reprimanded for!

Spark-kit padded away from his brother, not needing (or wanting) his so-called 'protection'. He had half a mind to march up to the rogue and apologize for Flashkit's rude behavior despite not even liking the rogue. The angry look on Flashkit's pushy, rude face would grant enough satisfaction for him to not mind going against Flowerthorn's order to stay away from the rogues. Spark-kit huffed, forcing his fur to lie flat. That would just make everyone upset. Himself and the rogue excluded.

Luckily, just as he was about to storm away, Foxfire entered the nursery. Spark-kit brightened up almost instantly and he trotted over to his dad, wide eyes glittering as he noticed the squirrel. It was huge! He dismissed it, however, in favor of talking to his dad. He rubbed his cheek against Foxfire's leg, purring slightly. "I was trying to be nice until Flashkit-" He gave said brother a pointed glare, "-barged in and interrupted me." Apparently, Spark-kit was aptly named; calm until something came along and ignited him.