come one and all [open]

[pepperpaw]

SO LONG SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
IF I HAD JUST ONE LAST WISH I WOULD LIKE A TASTY FISH

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They were everywhere! It was just that amazing. Pepperpaw giggled, splashing the little pool of water and watched the brightly colored fish darting in mad direction. They had nowhere to go. It wasn't like a river. RiverClan would be sooo jealous she found this place. And ThunderClan, relying on the forest for food... Puh-lease! Imagine bringing one of these fish back to the pile. Smallclaw would be so pleased. Well, first he'd be shocked and the whole Clan would think the fish ate a cat - they were huge! - but eventually they'd warm up to the idea. She didn't think anybody else knew the Twolegs were keeping all this free food lying around. Kittypets could have their dry food. ShadowClan can have the fish! In fact... the black she-cat sniffed the air, breathing in the disgusting stench of Twolegplace. This nest didn't have a kittypet in it. She would have smelled it before it even caught a glimpse of her. Nope, only Twolegs and the smell was faint. They must be like her, out for the day hunting.

'Course she neglected to tell her mentor, and anybody else and even her best friend Nettlepaw. But she'd make it up to Nettlepaw by bringing home this fish. Pepperpaw would then prove to her friend that giant fish are real. These fish were about the size of her. They reminded her of a calico. Multi-colored, patches of white. Heck they even had whiskers. Oh StarClan. They were cat-fish. Was she committing cat-cannibalism-but-not-at-the-same-time-since-they-were-also-fish?

Hmm, I'll leave it up to StarClan to judge me!

In reality, Pepperpaw had stumbled into a Twoleg garden. Nobody could tell her that these fish were koi and that Twolegs kept them to pretty up their backyards. She had found a medium sized pond full of fish, about ten or so, littered with waterlilies and a rare frog. The frog was absent when she decided to harass the fish. Her first intention was to hunt the frog but had hit a gold mine on those fish. Nobody could tell her ShadowClan didn't eat fish. She was so happy to bring back something for the Clan.

Now the problem was getting the fish. How? How was she to get the fish out of the pond? She did not think about that. She still did not think. In her eagerness, the ShadowClan apprentice did the first thing that flashed through her mind. She stuck the whole of her head in the pond, mouth gaping stupidly in an attempt to catch something. Koi swam by her, doing as much as they could to avoid this mad cat's jaws in such limited space. Pepperpaw needed air pretty soon. The lungs were not as developed as a RiverClan cat. Scattering water everywhere in a mad dash for air, she gasped loudly and dramatically on her way to the surface.

"Well!" she exclaimed, drawing in ragged breaths "that was a bust. But never fret, I have a million other ideas!"

Oh poor koi. The frog remained absent.

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[buzzardpaw]

Never had he adventured this far out of camp before! Of course he hadn’t wandered away from the clearing all by himself, no, he couldn’t take credit for that… but he had run off in the midst of the patrol, when all of their heads were turned. He didn’t even figure in the process the consequences afterwards; stupid move as everyone had been warning him about his mentors rigid conduct, Stormfang would probably lecture him endlessly about the importance of patrolling, blah blah blah… phish-posh! What was the worst that could come of a nice, afternoon escapade?

And with the most devilishly handsome and LionClan-brave company one could ever ask for? A glint of smugness entered his multi-colored gaze; he was too proud for his own good.

Ignorant of his location, the sandy tom was amazed to find himself planted beside rows of large structures; what were they? He wondered. The air smelled hot and sticky, burning the back of his throat when he inhaled. It tasted just like the Thunderpath! Yuck. He’d rather gobble down tree-bark than have that bitter tang in his mouth any day! Crouching low, he padded onwards curiously, eager to get in and out of this area, whatever these big large dens were; they must have just been put together. He’d never heard of or seen them before. In the distance, he noted a small black she-cat bent over a depression in the ground… it wasn’t until he had stalked for a closer look did he realize she was poking her head around the surface of a pond. When she stuck her head in, he was taken aback by her courage! Unless one was a RiverClan cat, they wouldn't be going for a gulp like that!

Frightful after a moment that she would drown herself, Buzzardpaw advanced-

to get sprayed by droplets as soon as she exploded, wheezing from its cool depths. Foxdung!

Well! she meowed suddenly, her torso soaked nearly to the bone, that was a bust. But never fret, I have a million other ideas! Oh, if that was just one of them, he'd like to see these million other ones; what in StarClans name was she trying to do anyway? "What are you doing?" he garbled, half disbelieving, half amazed; creeping along the edge of the water- "Oh wow, look at the size o-" And then he was scrabbling for a grip, his paws flailing wildly about his head, the scent of ShadowClan replacing the boulevard stench... into the water he fell.

Mousedung! Good thing it was shallow right there; but now he'd gone and scared all the fish away! Gasping for air, he spat out a clump of dirt, "I meant to do that!"

Mmm, of course he did.

[pepperpaw]

SO LONG SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
IF I HAD JUST ONE LAST WISH I WOULD LIKE A TASTY FISH

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Oblivious to the other cat, Pepperpaw made for poor apprentice material. Anything could sneak up on her. And anything just did. Smallclaw was so impatient with her attempts at hunting but she knew not. Her fighting was weak. She also just crashed through frolic instead of acting like a "proper warrior". Proper warriors went stealth mode. It wouldn't be hard at all with her sleek black pelt. She'd blend in, only having to worry at leaf-bare. No, no. Pepperpaw wanted to rush. She didn't understand why anybody didn't want to. Surely the other apprentices wanted to speed their training? No, no. They wanted to perfect everything. She wanted to grow up fast. Perfection was gained over time. Six moons of training was not enough time to be perfected. 'Course when you all ready are perfect there is no need for the extra mile.

Her nostrils flared taking in odd-scented water. Chlorine as Twolegs would call it but cats would not. They'd call it something weird. Unnatural. Pepperpaw swiped her tongue over her jaws, wincing at the strong flavor. She almost gagged. It was nothing she had ever tasted before. Maybe this was what the fish had to swim in to make them grow that big. Had to be.
"What are you doing?" Gasping, she whipped around to see another cat. Half-expecting it to be Smallclaw coming to collect his apprentice, she got surprised when a rather chunky looking cat entered her vision. Muscle. It was all muscle. Shrinking back, Pepperpaw's black fur ruffled in an attempt to make herself look bigger. It failed.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing? This is ShadowClan fish!" she positively yowled with indignation as the tom moved forward to look. Now she really wished Smallclaw was here. He'd chase this good for nothing cat away. Trying to steal her discovery. Hrmph! The chlorine still masked her ability to smell what Clan he was from, or if any. He may be a kittypet. Though, since when did kittypets get that beefed up?

"Oh wow, look at the size o-" Pepperpaw was about to protest again that it was ShadowClan's when the cat fell in. First she was summing up courage to spit at him, next she was staring at blank air. He was larger than her after all. She had to look up. Then poof! Vanished. Her head shifted wildly around, amber eyes wide and an open mouth completely her bewilderment. Where did he go? Splash! She was hit with even more strange smelling water. Looking down she saw the cat flailing for a moment and - ew! He had dirt in his mouth! The ShadowClan apprentice moved quickly away, disgust apparent on her features.

"I meant to do that!"

"So, uh. You meant to scare away all my prey. Annnd, fill your mouth with mud? Good to know" Pepperpaw's voice rose to a thin wail. She made no attempt to help the other cat out of the pond. It wasn't that she was scared of water - else she wouldn't have stuck her head in that pond moments ago - but the dirt. The dirt. Enough said.

What am I going to say to Smallclaw now? Sorry, teacher, some cat fell in a pond full of wonderful big fish that would have fed half the Clan? switching to anxious mode, she began to pace, that puffy tail bristling behind her. sorry, Smallclaw, I know I mess up but I'm telling the truth. It's true! She couldn't fail her mentor again.
"One of those fish would have fed half my Clan! Just one! I'm waiting for an apology!" she spat the last bit at the soaked tom cat, turning to face him.

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notes; whoaaa. pepper is mad.
words; 616
tagged; buzzardpaw and anyone else.

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[buzzardpaw]

Not like he had meant to do that, it was quite obvious he didn’t intend to go for a fishy swim. Now he smelled like a fetid RiverClan cat, how disgusting! Eyes conspicuous, he examined the depth of the pond, and noted the golden coy that swam away nippily, their bulging eyes even wilder with alarm. Though, they didn’t really have emotions, did they? Buzzardpaw must have just been imagining the fear – he hated water.

Here, he loathed its dampness and he was sitting in it! His fur – his fur was now soaked! Panic struck him as soon as revelation dawned, and he splashed around, trying to get free. Having almost forgotten about the ShadowClan she-cat, he was disturbed when he heard her voice from nearby, So, uh. You meant to scare away all my prey. Annnd, fill your mouth with mud? Good to know, Bah, what was she still doing here? And what was she doing to begin with!?

“I knew ShadowClan were dubious but I didn’t know they fished!” He spat, making certain his mouth was clear of sticky dirt. It tasted foul… vinegary, like the way crowfood smelled. One of those fish would have fed half my Clan! Just one! I'm waiting for an apology! He heard her yap again, and he didn’t have to be a mousebrain to know she was unhappy. Though… he cared so little. “I’m not apologizing to you,” he smirked, dragging his heavy mass from the tarn, the weight of his fur thicker now in clusters.

“You’re stupid to even bother, fish tastes gross – that’s why RiverClan can have them! Go find yourself a nice, tasty lizard instead. Won’t get your dainty priss paws wet that way.” He retorted, curling around himself to lick away the brackish smack from his tail, ears flattened. He hardly doubted she would have successfully gotten a single morsel from that mere – he glanced at her for a second, his pink tongue licking around his jowls, was she so desperate for a meal she would resort to twoleg scavenging!? That’s what this was, wasn’t it? A nest? Out of nowhere, he laughed, connecting the dots easily for once.

“Yeah, you’ve been wasting your time here.” He leaned to take a lap at his back.

[archback]

The light brown tom angrily limped out of camp. He was sick and tired of how some of his clanmates would look at him. He was tired of being stared at and silently judged. It made him so angry that he wanted to jump on them and rip off they're fur to show them how it felt when they looked at him like that. Archpaw sighed as the pain in his back throbbed. Even sometimes his leg hurt from the awkward way he had to walk. He tore at the grass with his dark claws. He dug his claws into the hard ground of the WindClan. He found himself wandering, the eventually was unsure of where he was. He wasn't in WindClan territory anymore. He flicked his ears and scented the air. He had yet to be taken out of the camp with his mentor, he didn't care if he would get in trouble or not, he just knew he had to get out of camp. He let his paws take him where ever. Then he smelt an odd scent. His ear twitched and he heard a splash and some talking. He followed the noise. And he saw two cats sitting above a pool of water. Curiosity over took him and he slowly walked over. He sniffed seeing a bunch of large fish in the water. "What are you two doing? Aren't you stealing the Kittypet's food?" He felt slightly shy now, hoping they wouldn't look at him funny like most of his clanmates would all the time. He scented crow food from the she-cat and forest from the tom. He assumed they were from ShadowClan and ThunderClan. He flicked his slightly crooked tail.

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[D e a dGAZE]

Let's all die tonight.

__x. Deadgaze was in an all to good mood, patroling his clan, thinking about doing a little hunting. Thinking to himself about his clan. The beautiful sunlight glistened through the trees, making his body hot due to his long pretty coat. He had been absent mindedly staring at small paw prints going through the pud. Deadgaze realized he had been following them. White, yellow eyes took a look at the surroundings, he was nearing the Twoleg place he realized quickly. "I'm guessing this is either a very bad clan cat, or a loner." The smells of the Twolegs wafted towards him in strong gusts with the growing wind. Pawstep after pawstep he was going closer to a place he hated being. "Why does ShadowClan have to be so close to these damn stinking creatures!" Deadgaze spat in disgust as nasty flavors flooded his mouth. He felt like he could smell almost every clan from right here. Wrinkling his nose in disgust he neared a clearing, where in the distance there was a large white Twoleg den. It was Twoleg territory, that ment annoying little kittypets would be around here trying to talk tough because he was on there land. Snorting he came to the last bush before the clearing, instictivly he had lowered his body into the crouching position, just incase. Peeking his head over the small bush he seen an asortment of cats. He quickly realized there was one of the ShadowClan apprentices. Deadgazes eyes darted to the other cats as he inhaled deeply. ThunderClan.... WindClan... What was this she cat doing meeting with the other Clans in private?!

__x. Deadgaze flattened his ears in disgust with this scene. The large tom patted the ground with his back paws, getting his hunches ready to launch him. Letting the stress off his legs he sprang easily over the bush. Neatly landing near the ShadowClan apprentice, he realized all the cats here where small, to small to be Warriors, still, this was unacceptable. Glaring at his clan mate he asked in a slight hiss, "Can i ask what your doing here?" Looking at the other cats in the clearing he flattened his ears to his head, his body looked bigger then ever and the hidden muscles under his long pelt rippled with anger. "Someone better start explaining this, right now if anyone of you want to keep there pelt for longer then the next few heartbeats." Deadgaze just couldn't believe this. It was just baffling. He huffed and waited for someone to answer.

[pepperpaw]

SO LONG SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
IF I HAD JUST ONE LAST WISH I WOULD LIKE A TASTY FISH

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“I knew ShadowClan were dubious but I didn’t know they fished!”
"We take what we get!" Pepperpaw flashed back at the chunky cat, oblivious to the meaning of the words. A smarter person would have thought about shouting that sentence - no, hissing it - at a cat below them, livid with indignation. Cheated out of her meal by a clumsy oaf! Her Clan cheated out of that meal... By far the worst this dummy knew where the food was. The cat spoke again. Her amber eyes flickered to him. She'd been staring at the fish past his head, willing them to jump out of the water by the cheer force of her gaze. Wouldn't that be something to tell her mentor? No, Smallclaw, nobody has to kill anymore. By will alone you can make the prey drop dead! Ha ha. "You will!" The black she-cat took a step toward the muddy tom. Her voice had raised to shrill levels; the sign of childish behavior, though the fierceness in the eyes didn't let down her Clan. Smallclaw would be proud to say she had, for a brief second, let down her pacifist personality and was one whisker away from shredding this brat. "You will or I'll push you back in! Then we'll see if you have any RiverClan blood in you!"

“You’re stupid to even bother, fish tastes gross – that’s why RiverClan can have them! Go find yourself a nice, tasty lizard instead. Won’t get your dainty priss paws wet that way.” the cat went on as if she hadn't protested. He refused to apologize, which brought out her earlier outburst, and now he was downright insulting her. Pepperpaw got nerved when others refused to be polite. Impolite people tended to resort to violence. But she couldn't help it! Her temper was flaring.

"I stuck my whole head in and then who gets squeamish when the water isn't even up to their shoulder?" she nearly echoed the words, she was so shocked by the stupid logic. ThunderClan cats! All they thought was that RiverClan ate fish, ShadowClan ate lizards and WindClan ate rabbits. Only they were allowed to eat all sorts of stuff. ShadowClan ate what they wanted - and besides, lizard was gross. Why limit yourself to one thing? Pointless. The ShadowClan apprentice didn't want to go even though this other cat was giving her a hard time. She found a good supply of food and even if she had to put up with the other, she'd stay. She had to. It was so hot outside sometimes even the marsh was dry and the warriors wouldn't hunt because it was hot. When they did it was exhausting. That pool had all sorts of food.

"What are you two doing? Aren't you stealing the Kittypet's food?"

No! Not another one! her small head turned around at the voice, picking up the scent of grass and moor. WindClan. Great. They didn't eat much fish. It was beyond the point! The less people knew about it the better. Now two Clans knew. I'm sorry, ShadowClan. I can't fight at all.

"It's not kittypet food! They eat pebble things" she responded, a little sharper than she intended. Realizing she was taking her frustration out on the newbie, Pepperpaw hung her head. This cat didn't do anything wrong. "And this is ShadowClan fish! I found it so they belong to my Clan." she looked positively thrilled. Imagine Hawkstar himself coming here to hunt and organize patrols to take the territory and make it ShadowClan's simply because she happened to be stalking a frog? Well, she was getting ahead of herself.

"Hawkstar--" but what exactly the ShadowClan leader would do remained unknown. She sat, her mouth open before a startled shriek tore the air. The she-cat hadn't noticed the fresh scent of her Clanmate, hadn't bothered to check the surroundings. Too intent on the two unknown cats from 'enemy' Clans, she ignored everything around her. It was a big shock when a cat landed so close to her she felt fur brush against her side. Then a voice hissed in her ear; "Can i ask what your doing here?" She jumped, claws out and ready on instinct to hare away when she finally caught wind of scent.
"D...Deadgaze! You scared the fur off of me!"

[/b] she stammered, a relieved sigh shook her skinny body. When she looked at his face, her breath caught. He looked livid. What did she do?

"Someone better start explaining this, right now if anyone of you want to keep there pelt for longer then the next few heartbeats."

"I was hunting. See? I found lots of fish, look how big they are!"[/b] she flicked a tail under Deadgaze's jaw, trying to lead him toward the pond. "They're huge! One of them can easily feed ShadowClan for a day!"

She did leave out how the other cats came into the picture, because she was not so sure of it herself. One just arrived, the other argued and called her stupid. Stupid. Pepperpaw's belly did a flip. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She didn't like to be called stupid. She wasn't stupid! Stupid meant she was flawed. She wasn't flawed. She didn't have anything wrong with her.

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notes; apologizes for the late reply; I didn't have Pepper muse. D8 Still don't. PS Rainy; Pepper doesn't notice Archpaw's handicap since she's facing a different way. All she saw was a crooked tail and that's hardly worth mentioning.
words;
tagged; buzzardpaw, archpaw, deadgaze
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