Old Cat, Old Tricks

[Smokeleaf]

ooc: Sinistermask, you mean? Hmm... I feel bad about you making another cat... Maybe I'll scrape something [else] together (posted Lemmingpaw and not only did he fail, but no one paid any attention to him, so he poofed. Poor Lemmingpaw).
It's from "Anne of the Island," by LM Montgomery, or "Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel," if you prefer movies. (= The quote, I mean.

[[[ShAdYCaUStI]]]

ooc;; Maybe if I make more cats then SOMEWHERE I'll have somewhere to post! lol yah. I thought the quote might be - yay, another Anne of Green Gables fan! haha hence the "idlewild" location thingy. Yah. So I'll post.... in a minute. Because I've been gone so long that I forget where I was.

[Molten]

ooc// Can Fang and his army of snakes pop in? Lol, if you don't want him to pop in then you can just delete this post or something..

bic// Fang lowered his small body to the ground, and let his long tail drop to the ground. It waved as he walked. There were two snakes by his side, and about four or five following behind. He hid behind a rock, but his army of snakes had no need to hide. Their scales matched the ground.
Fang tasted the air, expecting to find food. But he wasn't close enough. But he did find cats. Since he had horrible eyesight, and so did his army, none of them saw what the cats looked like or how many. Fang wondered what they were meowing about. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but just looked at their facial expresions and tone of voice. The snakes who raised him said thats how you understand the language of other animals.
Fang silenced the other snake, exept for his assistant, which was a big dark brown diamondback.

[Smokeleaf]

ooc: YOU LIKE ANNE?!?!?! *feels so connected* I was Anne for Halloween, and nobody understood except this one lady. She was like staring at me, then said, "Oh my gosh. I have read all the books, I have seen all the movies! I've been to Prince Edward Island! It's so pretty! I've seen her house! Are you Canadian?" It was so random. (= No, nice lady, I am not Canadian.
MOLTEN! THANK YOU!!!!
Crud I forgot the last thing I said, it's been... what, two months? Three? Yikes. This is bad. I'm too lazy to go back and look, so here goes.

"Do you smell something?" Ravensoul asked suddenly, tasting the air and ignoring Sinistermask altogether. "There's another cat nearby... Ugh, if you can call that cat! Great Flaming Eternal, what is that?"

ooc: Great Flaming Eternal; that is quite a mouthful. That's also a really short post. Anybody care that it's not the required five-lines long?

[[[ShAdYCaUStI]]]

Sinistermask glared at the cat in his way. Jadedtail. She was always in the way; always had been since the day she was born. Deputy of the clan - bah! That any she-cat - especially his sister could claim a higher rank than he irked him, touched his pride. He had never liked Jadedtail, with her too-cheerful manners and her refusal to be subdued. Perhaps he would teach her a lesson - but no, there was Ravensoul. He supposed he would have to desist; Ravensoul didn't seem to like his mate anymore than Sinistermask did, but in this case the priviledge of mauling the she-cat a little was the leader's, and he was known to be jealous. So Sinistermask contented himself with a snarl at the cat before dipping his head a little in Ravensoul's direction.

"I smell it," Jadedtail said quietly. "It smells like snake to me; like adder. It smells like poison." The black cloud engulfing her mind seemed to writhe with the forms of hundreds of serpents, weaving a net around her. She pushed the dark thoughts away. Sinistermask was snarling at her. She tried to ignore him; she was used to his animosity. It never hurt her; it had always been. It simply was, and she tried to avoid him. Usually her sunny disposition helped; today her thoughts were depressed and weary and frightened, and she could only try to look past him with a sort of worn determination. There was no doubt about it now; the smell grew stronger. She smelled adder - but also, as Ravensoul had said, cat. She couldn't recognize the scent. It confused her. She tried to analyze it, but couldn't.

ooc;; Slightly muse-less post, but I posted. We need to get the Phantom plot going, really.

[Smokeleaf]

Ravensoul's pelt bristled in frustration. Oh, great. An invasion. An invasion of cats and snakes all at the same time. This could be dangerous - the Clan could be at stake! - and all he had was a stupid she-cat and Sinistermask.
Not that Sinistermask wasn't a good warrior; Ravensoul just wished he had someone a little less... how to put it? Terrifying? Jealous? Crazy?
Ravensoul wasn't too fond of Sinistermask; he wasn't too fond of anyone in SootClan, really. He only protected it for his dynasty, for his power. No Clan, no leader, and then where would he be? Another Clan? A loner? A kittypet? Oh, Flaming Eternal, no. Dying would be better than that. And death was not a thing Ravensoul took lightly.
In fact... Ravensoul was almost afraid of death. He couldn't picture himself, the great cat that he was, lying crumpled and broken with shameful scars and a stench so loud BlazeClan could probably smelled it. And they lived in the volcano! He couldn't die; it couldn't happen; especially not now, in an ambush of stupid loners and adders, and all because the only cats around him were too stupid to fight.
Suddenly the stench grew, bitter on his tongue and swallowing him in a darkness of disgust. "Good grief! That's not TimberClan!" he groaned. It was worse; much worse; he had thought nothing could be worse than those stupid StarClan cats. Suddenly, he realized that there weren't two different groups, but one. The smells were intermingled, so closely intertwined that they had to be working together.
"Cats and snakes?" he spat, obviously troubled. "How is that possible? Come on, let's go check it out. And whoever it is, they won't get away with it."
His claws unsheathed, desperate for the feeling of fur between his toes, and he sped off in hot pursuit.

[[[ShAdYCaUStI]]]

Sinistermask was snarling at his sister and trying to look slightly respectful for the benefit of Ravensoul - and then the stench hit him. It was a scent strong enough to curl his tongue, and he spat without thinking.
"Adders," he said unnecessarily, and received a look of wry sarcasm from Jadedtail. "Adders and cats." He needn't have said anything. Ravensoul was already streaking off toward camp and Jaded was following. Irritated, he padded along behind them, trying to keep pace and at the same time appear nonchalant and careless. He wouldn't want it to look as if he were actually trying to catch up with them. The nasty scent was growing stronger and he laid his ears back and hissed a little. He could practically smell a fight coming on, which would help a little to ease the restless feeling that had been growing inside him lately.

Ravensoul was right, Jadedtail thought, automatically turning to run back with him. Cats and snakes, all together at the same time, and coming toward them. Great Flaming Eternal - who had ever heard of cats and snakes together? The trees and underbrush flashed past her as she followed her mate's tail, toward the intruders. A fight. Unlike many of the clan, she did not welcome any sort of fighting; it was bloody and painful and cats died. She was beginning to dread this day; it only seemed to get worse and worse. Thankfully, Ravensoul seemed to have forgotten their long and strenuous arguments in his sudden surge of excitement over the cats and snakes. Cats and snakes... It wasn't right. Nothing was right.

[Molten]

((haha i love confusing peoplez charries lol))

Fang had no idea what the cats were talking about. His cat instincts had completely vanished. But by the slits in their eyes, he could tell they didn't look too happy. Fang was somewhat scared, but couldn't let that show. These cats were huge compared to him. The cats' heads were half the size of Fang's body, including his tail. So looking brave meant allot to him at this time. He ordered his snakes to be like a body guard, then the rest would fight if the other cats attacked.
Fang hissed, and his hiss was fierce and more extreme than the cats he saw in his lifetime. He forced his hiss to be terrifying, though, just to make him look threatening.

[Smokeleaf]

Ravensoul stopped suddenly, fur bristling in the thrill of the moment. "Show yourself!" he demanded. "You're messing with the strongest, fiercest cats under the Flaming Eternal! Show yourself before I make you!"
There was a bit of silence, the epinephrine pumping and his heart pounding in his ears. What was that? A hiss? And cat voice - that he could tell - but not cat tongue. What sort of language was that? It sounded like snake! Cats speaking snake? Cats and snakes, working together? For what? What in the Sam Hill was going on here? Oh, Flaming Eternal, help me! he pleaded, confused and anxious. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Leafbare had only just ended, so not only was prey scarce, but medicine. Precious medicine. If anyone got hurt here, especially with that sharp scent of poison, there would be no going back.

[Molten]

((Your right, this IS an interesting charactar to play lol))

It seemed as though Fang understood what this cat was saying. He stepped foward, thinking that would help him see Ravensoul better. And of course, the other cat could see him too.

Fang was a cat, but he sure didn't look like one. He was small, way smaller than the cat in front of him. His neck was longer than usual, and his legs were short. He had a long tail, twice as long as his body. His tail was muscled well so he could wave it as much as he wanted. He had so much control over his tail that if he wanted to, he could whack anything near it. But of course he never wanted to. Fang looked like a snake. No wonder the real snakes accepted him.

Fang stared at Ravensoul, trying to detect his emotion. Fang saw blurrily, so he stared long and focused. Then he noticed a slit in Ravensoul's eyes. Anger and fear, Fang thought. Fang was afraid that Ravensoul would attack, so he ordered his bodyguards to defend him by making a low, silent hiss. Then those two unusually large snakes slithered on either side of Fang. The rest of the snakes didn't move, just watched and waited for a reaction.

[Smokeleaf]

Ravensoul tensed. This was not a pretty cat; that was for sure. But the fact that he had snakes under his control - not even in his company, but under his control - made him a serious threat. Alone, he was small and meek. Alone, Ravensoul could take him easily. But right now, with those adders on either side, he didn't dare take a step forward.
"You're trespassing on SootClan territory," Ravensoul warned, keeping his voice low and steady. His claws itched to attack, but he didn't dare; not alone. Where were those mousebrains? But then, perhaps it was better Sinistermask was not here; he was much too impulsive, and that would only get them in trouble. Still, he was ambitious, and should be the first to arrive. Where were they? "What do you want?" he added, licking his lips perhaps nervously. He didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. What was wrong with this cat?

[[[ShAdYCaUStI]]]

ooc;; of course it would be bad if anyone got hurt - not only are there very few herbs or whatever around, we have no flippin healer! SOMEBODY MAKE A HEALER! lol

bic::
Ravensoul had stopped just ahead, and as Jadedtail reached his side, she understood why. A cat - a small, weak-looking thing, ugly and puny, with bad eyesight, by the way he squinted and stared - a cat surrounded by adders. It was hissing like a snake itself and the serpents around it seemed to follow its lead - as if it directed them in that disgusting snake-tongue it seemed to speak. Ravensoul didn't seem quite certain what to do - but very few cats would have seen that unless they lived day and night around his unpredictable moods. She didn't have to wonder at his uncertainty; she wouldn't have known what to do herself. An army of cat-led adders was a danger that must be routed from the clan's territory, but how was that to be accomplished? The snakes had poison in their fangs and she knew very well that even at the best of times a healer cat might not be able to save anyone bit by those slithering beasts; and these were not the best of times. There was no doubt that if any of the clan were attacked by the snakes, they would die. How were such enemies to be engaged in combat? Anything the clan had learnt about fighting had never included snakes. Cats, owls, the occasional odd predatory mammal - these they had learnt to fight. But snakes? Snakes had never been fought. They avoided the adders when they came across them and the adders left them alone for the most part. There had never been anything like this - cats and snakes together. Great Flaming Eternal, protect the clan, she prayed silently, wondering if the Great Flaming Eternal even existed, and if they did - would they do something to intervene? Sinistermask had reached them; his expression altered abruptly as he pulled up on the other side of Ravensoul and stared at the enemy ranged before them.

"Adders led by a cat?" he hissed, disbelieving. "How?"

[Molten]

Fang studied Ravensoul as he spoke. He heard those word before. "You're trespassing on SootClan territory". It sounded so familier. Then he remembered his split ear. It ached so badly. He knew this would probably end up in a fight.

Fang opened his mouth a bit, revealing bloody fangs. Below his tongue he had poison, a gift from the snakes. Then he tasted the air, trying to pick up the scent of food. Then he smelled it. He extended his neck as high as it would go, then rotated his head to face that smelly fresh-kill pile. "That," he hissed, "is what I want."

[Smokeleaf]

ooc: Haha take the fresh-kill pile there's only three cats to feed anyway.

Ravensoul tensed. Could that be cat blood on his teeth? Barbaric! Yet... effective. Even Sinistermask seemed afraid. He didn't like that feeling.
What was that he was saying now...? He followed his squinting gaze to their fresh-kill pile, scrawny but well-earned. He unsheathed his claws, but just kneaded the ground impatiently. If he attacked, they would all die, and they didn't have nine lives like those stupid StarClan cats supposedly had. (ooc: they had ten. (= ) How in the name of the Flaming Eternal could they get out of this? Fight and face certain death? Or let them take whatever they wanted and show weakness?
Ravensoul bristled. Weakness was not an option. He, at least, would die trying.

[Molten]

(( Yes I know this is a short post, but I couldn't think of anything else hehe... ))

Fang just sat there, waiting. He was growing impatient. He noticed this cat was very scared. Probably weak. He just stole the food from the fresh-kill pile and fed it to some snakes in his army, leaving a big fat mouse for himselves to eat. He and his army needed that, since food is what created poison in the first place. Fang didn't chew. The poison beneath his tongue burned up the food, then he swallowed. Besides, his fangs were too long for chewing anyway.