Guilty By Association [Closed]

Copperfox wasn't sure what was going on with him today. He'd missed many of his hunts. He could tell that he was off a bit... sluggish even. He wondered if maybe he was getting sick. The thought crossed his mind to go to Beechface and ask if she thought he might be about to go under the weather and ought to rest, but he persisted on. If he started to feel actually fatigued, then he would go to her. For now he would try to bring in whatever fresh-kill that he could. The sun was about to go down. His own reddish, coppery fur looked warm and chocolatey in the sun's dying light. He spotted a mouse and pounced at it, only to miss the small creature as it darted down a nearby nest. Copperfox drew himself up with a loud, frustrated sigh. He was definitely off. He looked back at his ever-present, unwelcome company to see that they looked as bored as ever, but still unwilling to help out much.

Useless bunch... He thought to himself bitterly, before turning his attention back onto a nearby oak. He leaped up onto it, knocking snow off of it's ancient trunk and stared out across what was supposedly Thunderclan territory. It looked similar to Skyclan territory... except it had no damage from the fire that ravaged the land before Copperfox was born. He wondered about previous leaders before Wolfstar and how they would have handled the Asylum invasion. Would they have resisted like his dad had? Would they have surrendered like Wolfstar? What would he have done, if he had been Copperstar? Truly, he didn't know. The idea of violence scared him... ever since his mother was attacked by the fox. Would he ever find the courage to use his claws and teeth against Asylum cats? Maybe if I was attacked first... if talking didn't work...

Padding along through the undergrowth with her Asylum "companion", though Cherryblossom could never consider any of the intruders to be anything close, let alone the one cat that accompanied her today, the pair had taken a route close tot he border with SkyClan in search for some prey. Well, Cherryblossom had, she couldn't speak for Akhlut. Irritation boiled in the tiny tabby's gut, at having to be monitored constantly like a naughty kit, at the loss of privacy in her own home, and at the strangle-hold that the Asylum had on her Clan.

As the pair continued on their path near the border, Akhlut's ears twitched at the sound of claws on bark nearby, and turned her head to see a clump of snow land at the base of a recently-disturbed tree. Her gaze traveled up to see a cat perched on one of the branches of the tree above, and she called out to the pitifully small cat that she'd decided to follow that day. "Halt, runt."

She saw the ears flatten and the tail on the Clan cat lash once before begrudgingly heeding her words, stopping and turning to face her, mouth open to ask a - probably stupid - question. Before the tiny cat could speak, the large Nightstriker opened her mouth and called out to Copperfox.
"You. Tree-climber. Are you stupid enough to think that you can escape the watchful eyes of the Asylum up there? Where is your supervisor? Surely you'd have learned by now that being unsupervised is forbidden. Though, if your Clanmates haven't learned that by now, then I pity my fellow Asylum members for having to watch over a Clan so stupid."

Not that the one I'm stuck with is much better. she thought, rolling her eyes. "Though, I have heard that one of your lot was smart enough to join the winning team. A good choice, on his part."

A small grin had crept onto her face as she'd spoken, hoping that the venom in her words would anger the SkyClanner. Truthfully, since the takeover, things had gotten dreadfully boring, with little combat and action otherwise since. She itched to rake her claws through fur, to feel skin tear and blood well up between her toes, and to feel the adrenaline rush of a good fight.

Cherryblossom had watched on in near-horror as her supervisor started antagonizing a random cat that had been minding his own business, and while she didn't feel any real closeness to the cats across the border, she knew that picking a fight for the sake of a fight was wrong. She stepped forward, opening her mouth to speak once more.
"He was minding his own business. Can't we just hunt and get this over with so we can go back to camp?"

The Asylum cat ignored her as she awaited Copperfox's response.

Shira got frustrated by the cat, Copperfox if she was able to remember, very quickly.  It could not catch anything even as small as a mouse, or a squirrel, or anything she spotted that day.  Earlier Shira hunted and was no longer hungry so she thought she could let this cat hunt by himself.  Although, by the end of the hunt, she felt like catching something just to make having to follow this cat around at least somewhat exciting.  "Can you at least try to catch something," she angrily muttered to Copperfox.  She watched him climb the oak tree and wanted to do the same, but stopped, not wanting to fall and make a fool out of herself.  "Come down."

Another clan cat came up accompanied by an Asylum cat who Shira nodded at.  Akhlut, the Asylum cat, seemed to be insulting the cat she wanted to insult or even hurt.  One thing Shira was never that great at was sharing.  The other one was saying some weird peaceful stuff that made Shira just want to leave that conversation right then, but maybe she could have some fun messing with Copperfox, she just needed to get the other ones to leave.  She turned to Akhlut, her face filled with anger, letting the cat know that she would accept a fight.

"This weak tree-climber is mine.  Now go find your own clan cat and leave this one to me.  Now you can leave and make this easier on both of us or you could stay and get me yelled at for killing one of our own Asylum members.  Which one do you choose?"

She hissed, confirming her threat.  She took a step forward.  She was a smaller cat, who did not look to strong, but she was fast and would not back down no matter what.  She was not what you would think of when you thought of a scout, but that made her threats even worse.  These cats that were supposed to be the kindest in all of the Asylum, making a threat was even worse than if a Nightstriker did it.

Akhlut and her stared at each other for a long moment, until Akhlut put her head down and walked away with the clan cat.  Shira smirked.  Then, she turned back around to Copperfox.  "Thank you," she said to him in a kind tone, with a good fake smile forming across her face.  "For wasting half of my day!" Her tone quickly changed to anger again and her face became in it's regularly annoyed expression.  "You saw what I threatened to do to them, right?  So just guess what I'm about to do to you."

Copperfox turned an irritated ear in the asylum cat's direction. He sighed, loudly, before turning his eyes to them as well.

"Sorry... do horizontal tree trunks intimidate you too?" There was a slight edge to his voice, one that was sharper than he meant. Before he could correct himself, another asylum cat appeared. He watched the exchange with some interest, though something about it sent a shiver down his spine. She had threatened another asylum cat... and that cat had just walked away and accepted the threat.

"My brother wouldn't be happy if you attacked me." Copperfox would do his best to make this a nonviolent confrontation, but he didn't want to just be pushed around either. He dropped off of the great oak and landed beside her, putting on the best bluff that he could. He too was a small cat, but he was thickly built and in no shortage of muscle. He noted the one slash mark on her shoulder and snorted, trying to look and sound far more confident than he felt.

"And he outranks you. He doesn't have any scars because he doesn't like them, but I've seen his fox pelt. There are three slashes under it's eye holes. Are you really sure you want to tangle with me, Shira?" Copperfox growled. His fur bristled, making him look entirely too massive for his shorter legs.

Shira chuckled a little.  "Of course a cowardly cat like you needs to run to your older brother to protect you."  She took a few steps towards him, letting him know that she was not afraid.  She stood tall and proud meeting the cats eyes.  Her gaze being a threat in itself.  She did not think the cat would stand up to her, but having an older brother in the Asylum must have given him some false confidence.

"And, why do you think your brother doesn't like scars?  Is he afraid of getting hurt?  Has he ever really gotten hurt before?  Also, I thought most every cat hated the Asylum.  Do you only like your brother because he provides you with some false thoughts of how you will never get hurt because he's there?" She would prefer to just fight and stop talking, but for this cat, for him to even put up a slightly good fight, he would need to feel that anger and confusion towards what she said.

"Dawnhawk does not care about anyone but himself.  He does not care about you.  I could kill you right here and right now and he would not even yell at me.  Although I don't fight weak cats, who don't seem to even know how to fight or even hunt.  So, maybe you're just a waste of my time." It was time for this cat to learn how to fight or to die at the attempt.

Copperfox remained steadfast throughout most of the Asylum cat's insults... though he felt a sharp pain in his chest at the word coward. It was an insecurity of his that he did his best to hide. He felt like he was... He shook his head slightly to banish the insecurity away for now. His claws buried into the earth. He wanted to leap at her with claws unsheathed... but no matter how hot his temper burned his paws would not move.

"I hunt just fine. I'm not going to attack you. It won't solve anything. Stop trying... go back to whatever hole you crawled out of." His voice choked off closer towards the end. He did his best to seem as strong as possible, but his heart was thunder in his ears. He tried to put his mind somewhere where he did not feel afraid... by his mother's side perhaps.

He desperately tried to hide the fear-scent that might start permeating through the air. His throat was dry. His tail tip twitched. He had no doubt that his pupils were probably as wide as saucers too...

Be brave for once in your life Copperfox! He mentally scolded himself. Still... his body would not obey him. He couldn't bring himself to strike...

She watched Copperfox as he began to feel hurt by what seemed to be the word coward.  She smiled, realizing how she could hurt him more.  He seemed to be trying to be brave... and failing.  Definitely, failing.  She could tell by his movements how nervous he was.  Being threatened by the thought of Dawnhawk being mad at her for hurting one of his family members, was something she was done with being afraid of.  Normally, anything the Asylum told her to do she would listen too, but Dawnhawk was not any sort of leader in anyway and it would actually be a pleasure to her to fight Dawnhawk.  Because then she could prove that she could win and then she could be the one in charge of all the rest.

"Get out of the hole I crawled out of?" she said, followed by a laugh.  "Do you even know how many of the Skyclan cats would want to tear mine and every other Asylum cats fur off?  Even the ones who are innocent and just following the orders of those above them?  The ones who don't even have a choice?" She stopped and took a deep breath, thinking about if a clan cats attacked one of her sisters.  "Now, I'm about to teach you a good lesson about life.  No one truly cares for you.  In this world you have a couple choices.  You can kill or end up killed."

She charged at the other cat.  Shira continued to smile, although her expression soon changed to anger.  She scratched Copperfox with all the force she could and she smirked when red drops hit the ground and made her white paws look crimson.


Shira used Upright Front Paws, causing -14HP in damage and using 20SP

Shira
75HP / 180SP (-20SP)

Copperfox
31HP / 160SP (-14HP)

Copperfox finally managed to force his stone-heavy legs to move and got into a proper fighting stance. He did not want this to become a contest of claws and teeth, but it might. "I'll never kill anyone for as long as I live! I don't to take someone else's future from them! It's not r-" She charged. He froze. His voice left him, choked out by the surge of icy fear rampaging through his body. Her claws came down on him and raked through his flesh with a fury that shocked him. As the pain snapped him out of his paralyzed panic, he started to fight back. Everything was a blur. It was like the training that he had learned from his last fight was entirely gone.

Copperfox used Rear Up To Slash, dealing 11 damage and -15SP

Copperfox
31HP / 145SP (-15SP)

Shira
64HP / 180SP (-11HP)

Shira leaped back, but was a second too slow, as she notices when the cold leaf-bare wind caused the scratches on her side to sting.  It hurt, but she learned how to tolerate pain.  Especially because she knew that she would not die from a few scratches.  She needed to take her rage out on someone and this cat seemed like a good target, although for a moment she thought about whether or not Copperfox actually hated the Asylum cats.  She did not remember seeing him doing anything that would hint that he hated them.  Unlike the cat that the clan cats called a "medicine cat" and, honestly, most other cats in the Asylum.  Am I being like all of those Skyclan cats?  Judging one cat because of what some are like?

She stopped thinking about that, pushing it away from her thoughts as much as possible.  She liked how Copperfox gained the courage to actually fight her.  At least it would be a good fight and this cat would have a honorable death.

Shira leaped up and dug her claws into Copperfox's back and pulled him to the ground.  She forced him to the ground and hard as she could.

Shira used Jumping Strike, dealing 14 in damage and using -20SP

Shira
64HP / 160SP (-20SP)

Copperfox
17HP / 145SP (-14HP)

Copperfox yowled as pain exploded across his back. The she-cat tried to force him to the snow, but he at least managed to hold his footing. Being short and stocky had it's advantages. He took that moment to wrench himself away from her and her claws, adrenaline roaring through his veins. He hated this feeling. He hated the rage, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, the tearing of flesh beneath his claws.... what a horrible way to live. Still, Copperfox knew that if he didn't do something he was going to die.

He jumped back at least a fox length, his rather hefty weight for a smaller body making a decent thud on the ground. He hissed, his breath a cold mist billowing from his maw. Copperfox kicked hard off of the ground, feinted a head-on attack and leaped onto and off of a nearby tree toward his adversary's side. He was hoping to pin her and hurt her enough to maybe reconsider her idea of attacking him.

I hate this... He thought to himself as he sailed through the air toward the other cat. I hate this with every fiber of my being... As his claws came down on her and her flesh tore away beneath his claws, he inwardly winced.

Copperfox used Leaping Bound, dealing 7 damage and -10SP

Copperfox
17HP / 135SP (-10SP)

Shira
Stunned for 1 Turn
57HP / 160SP (-7HP)

OOC: I checked with Grizz and they said Skyclan moves can be used in contested territories like the Fallen Oak etc.

Shira hated feeling like she could not move.  She hissed loudly at Copperfox pinning her.  She lashed her tail and attempted to get out of the hold.  She could feel that she was escaping, but wasn't out yet.  Maybe if she could get Copperfox to say something, he would loosen his grip and she could escape.  "Why do you all think that the Asylum are so bad?" She asked.  "Besides me, did any of the other ones actually hurt you?  Aren't you hurting yourself more by being so mad at us all the time?"

Copperfox had a growl rumbling in the back of his throat as he pinned her down. He could have gouged her further with his claws. He wanted to. But there was a part of him that held him back. She began to speak and he hissed again. "You have me and my sister confused. I don't hate anyone! I just want you all to leave!" He released her, but not before giving her another quick strike with his claws. He wasn't so foolish enough to think that she would just leave him alone. He wanted to appear threatening and strong, but the truth was that he was still shaking from the intense emotions that racked his body. Fear. Anger. Resentment.

Copperfox used Front Paw Strike, dealing 9 damage and -10SP

Copperfox
17HP / 125SP (-10SP)

Shira
No longer stunned
48HP / 160SP (-9HP)

Shira hissed at Copperfox when he let her go and the hit her again.  She listened to his response to her question.  "The so called medicine cat?" She said.  "I was there the day you were trying to talk to Dawnhawk and all the other cats came.  Didn't you see how easily she turned on those who had a different opinion than her?  By the way she talked, it sounded like if you did not have the same opinion as her you may as well be dead to her.  At least the Asylum cats care about their family!"

With that, Shira quickly went closer to Copperfox, but stopped right before she reached them.  She stood on her back legs and, with all the force she could, hit her paws on the top of Copperfox's head.  Blood gushed out of the wound.  He slowly lowered to the ground from the force.  She ran a sharp claw down his side, causing extra blood to run.  Without much time passing, Copperfox's fur looked more crimson red than it did copper and white.

Shira lifted her paw to claw the toms throat out, but something stopped her.  She couldn't bring herself to kill this cat, for a reason she did not know.  Although she was fine with fighting other cats, she had never actually taken someones life from them.  She put her paw down.  For a moment, she felt guilty for what she did to Copperfox.  She put her paw up again, but this time to set it on his stomach, making sure that he was still breathing.  Come on, Shira.  You should just kill this cat right now.  He doesn't deserve your sympathy. She thought, but still was unable to kill this cat.

Shira was about to drag this cat closer to the Skyclan camp were she knew someone would be able to find him.  Suddenly, she heard a branch brake.  She turned her head to see what looked like the medicine cat and the other large grey cat who had come to talk to her that one day.  "I'm sorry," she whispered into Copperfox's ear, even though she was pretty sure that he could not hear her.

The other two cats walking up, spotted them.  She sighed and ran away from them.  Shira hoped that the little coward that she had fought would be alright.  She did not know why she did not just kill the cat and why she suddenly cared if he was okay, but she did feel good that she won, even against a cat who was afraid to fight.  Maybe I taught him a lesson, she thought, trying to lift her spirits.

Shira used Upright Lock, dealing 16 in damage and using -25SP

Shira
48HP / 135SP (-25SP)

Copperfox
1HP / 125SP (-16HP)

Beechface had intended on looking for herbs, and so had decided to bring Ashstorm along with her. She wasn't comfortable being alone with Asylum cats, and having a clanmate along felt nice. Ashstorm was her sister, and regardless of their disagreements, Beechface preferred her company to not having any at all that wasn't one of those stars-cursed rogues.

Beechface kept an eye out as the pair made their way through the forest, though given it was the middle of leafbare, there was precious little to find in the way of growing, green things. A few scant poppy seeds was all she had to show for the day's haul.

Something that definitely wasn't the scent of herbs caught Beechface's attention, and instinctively the medicine cat's fur rose along her spine.

"Ashstorm, do you--?" She began to ask, but as they broke through the trees, the source of the scent was obvious. A cat had turned and ran, and Beechface grimly made note of the scent. The fleeing cat was Asylum, she was sure of it. But the fleeing cat would have to wait. The scent of Thunderclan was in the air, likely a recent patrol's scent brought by the wind. So long as they hadn't trespassed, Beechface didn't really care. She was more concerned by the bloody form that lay on the ground.

Copperfox. Beechface bounded forward, skidding to a stop next to him, struggling to make sense of the wounds and blood staining his pelt.

"Cobwebs, if you can find any, and we need to get him back to camp." Dropping the leaf containing the poppy seeds next to Copperfox, Beechface spared no thought to whether or not Ashstorm would follow the hastily-given order, instead turning to the trees to find cobwebs herself. At least they were always easy to find. A few poppy seeds would help dull the pain Copperfox had to be in, too. The few she had picked up earlier wouldn't be making it back to the den, it seemed.

The medicine cat struggled to force back the snarl in her throat, returning to her younger brother's side with cobwebs held on one outstretched paw. Carefully, she began pressing them to the wounds she could reach. Ideally she'd have had marigold and some goldenrod, but they were back in camp. She'd do what she could for the bleeding here, then they'd focus on getting Copperfox home.

"Eat these, what did you get into? Who attacked you?" Beechface unwrapped the leaf that had the poppy seeds next, nudging it toward Copperfox. Her tone didn't quite manage to avoid the snarl that had been threatening since she'd spotted the warrior. Whoever had done this would pay.

Beechface used Heal on Copperfox for -15sp.

Copperfox
6 / 45 hp (1 + 5)

Beechface
85 / 100 sp (100 - 15)

Copperfox didn't like the way the asylum cat talked about Beechface. His sisters had their disagreements with him sometimes but they still cared for eachother. It had been a small hiccup in their relationships that was already smoothed over. "I'm not arguing about this. It's pointless." The she-cat then brought down a powerful blow on top of the copper tom's head. The scent of iron overwhelmed his nose and his ears rang from the blow. Maybe there was blood at the back of his throat too. He couldn't quite tell. He hit the ground and lay there as his head pulsed in time to his heart.

The next thing he knew, Beechface was there, asking him what had happened. The asylum cat was gone. "Shira." He muttered softly. His unfocused eyes finally made sense of the leaf beside him. Poppy seeds. He gingerly licked them up, though even that tiny movement of his head brought waves of pain through his body. He lie still and grit his teeth as he waited for the pain to pass.

"I didn't start it. She attacked me first." He would have added not to tell Dawnhawk, for fear that his older brother might get mad at him for fighting back instead of coming straight to him, but the asylum cats watched everything and reported everything to him anyway. Copperfox hadn't even meant to fight back... he just had. Violence wasn't something he enjoyed and it was for this reason: Pain. Pain for himself and pain for another.

"I didn't want to fight..." His voice weakly croaked out. After that he was silent, a glistening in his eyes that wasn't there a moment before.