by zoocyte » Sun Aug 13, 2017 11:52 pm
- - - - - - - - > p a t c h p a w < - - - - - - - -
• • clan » flatclan • • rank » apprentice • • location » gathering • • tags » lilynose • •
Trudging through the sparse, moonlit grasslands of Flatclan territory, Patchpaw's mind was occupied with uneasy thoughts of the possible outcome of tonight's gathering. Gatherings weren't really his cup of tea - he's never been one for mingling and chattering away with complete strangers, especially if meeting those strangers on the other side of a battle field was inevitable. He hardly ever talked to his own clanmates, let alone rival cats. Often times he'd opt to remain in camp instead, however he couldn't bring himself to do so this time around with the issue of the unclaimed land still hanging in the air.
Oakclan would want to hog it all to themselves, naturally, despite the fact that Flatclan was definitely in much greater need of it, what with having the more meager share of the hunting grounds. The possibility of his clan managing to claim it all for themselves was a far-fetched dream, so he hoped at the very least that they'd be able to snag one of the more prey-rich portions. At its worst, the clans might resort to full out fighting to solve the dispute, if the conflict managed to go severely out of hand.
Patchpaw shuddered to dwell on the thought of any bloodshed erupting out of this, knowing that his lanky frame wasn't adequately equipped for combat. He'd seen the burly brutes that Oakclan had in their arsenal in the last few gatherings he'd attended, and his prospects of escaping a brawl with them unscathed were minimal. Patchpaw prayed that the clans would be able to keep their heads about this issue - in no way was it worth a full-scale war. In that case, they'd have been better off with the twolegs simply keeping that stretch of land to themselves.
As the troupe of Flatclan cats traveled at a brisk pace, Patchpaw's lime-green eyes were trained on the stark-white pelt of the cat he was trailing after: Lilynose, his mentor. He still wasn't familiar with some of the Oakclan cats, so he figured that he might as well ask her to enlighten him a bit. Any information he could gather about their rivals might serve to be useful someday. Though he knew it would probably be better to simply talk to them directly, he didn't trust in his abilities to keep a conversation running smoothly. They would probably wrap up in an awkward silence once he ran out of things to say, and he'd like to avoid humiliation as much as possible.
As soon as they finally arrived at their destination, he began to slink around the outskirts of the brittle stones that they had congregated on, keenly observing the different mish-mash of pelts and light-hearted chatter that filled the area. He had little interest in delving in it himself, since he had came here with just the intention to witness the result of the territorial dispute.
After lingering idly in the same place for a few moments, Patchpaw steeled his nerves and plunged into the throng of cats. He flinched rather unsubtly every time an unfamiliar pelt happened to brush against his own, and he scrunched his nose in disdain from having to be hit by the full force of that distinct Oakclan scent. He wandered about aimlessly until he spotted Lilynose hanging around the edges of the crowd, along with Rosewhisker. Glad to be able to get away from all the hustle-bustle for a bit, he approached her with an inward sigh of relief.
Patchpaw was about to open his mouth to speak when he was swiftly reminded of his mentor's impairment. Her deafness had made communication a bit troublesome when he had initially started training, however over time he'd come to improve his skill at relying completely on body language, so it no longer served as that much of a problem anymore. In fact, he'd come to be rather comfortable with it too, since he didn't have to struggle to find the perfect words he needed to properly express whatever it was that he wanted to say.
After nodding a quick greeting to the two warriors, he flicked his tail to gesture at the Oakclan cats and inquired, What are they like?
He'd heard a couple of things about them here and there from gossip that he'd manage to listen in on, but overall Oakclan cats were still a mystery to him.
- - - - - - - > c a m p i o n c l a w < - - - - - - -
• • clan » oakclan • • rank » warrior • • location » gathering • • tags » --- • •
Campionclaw's gaze swept across the mass of Flatclan cats, expression twitching into that of a mixture of disdain and contempt. Seating rather stiffly, he swept his brush-like tail around himself tightly with his head held high, not attempting to mask any of his distaste for the rival clan. There was no way he was going to play friends with their most despised enemy, definitely not, never, not in a million moons.
On their first excursion to the new hunting grounds, - the soon to be Oakclan hunting grounds, he was sure - Campionclaw had been anxious to start marking the new borders as soon as possible. All those rolling tracks of land laden with prey...How could they not simply jump in and take advantage of it right away, before those Flatclanners did? Unfortunately he had to resist due to Burntstar's command to hold off setting boundaries until they could be discussed properly at the next gathering.
This discussion over dividing territory and what not was a load of mousedung to him - why negotiate with our competitors, when with Oakclan's strength and numbers, we could simply lay claim to the whole land for ourselves? If any of those cowards in Flatclan had anything to complain about it, we'd talk back with tooth and claw. Beat them to the ground like the curs they were, and watch them run back to their camp with their tails between their legs. Oakclan deserved to own every square inch of that land, and he was willing to pour every fiber of his being into cementing that into a reality.
