Introducing Dainty

[Dewdrop]

Dainty could hear the faintest sound coming from in front of them. She could smell cats; quite a lot actually. These scents smelt intimidating; she hesitated for a moment. Then she hurried after Nightstar. They went down into a shallow scoop in the earth and Dainty gasped.

She'd never smelt anywhere else that had such a stench of cats. There were so many cats here and she could smell toms. And there was another gorgeous smell; Dainty looked around eagerly for its source. It was then she saw the freshkill pile. Yes! It's like everything I've ever dreamed of. And soon this will all be mine for the taking! Dainty thought, a greedy look coming into her eye.

However, she remembered just in time she was meant to be a helpless, scared cat, escaped from the Upwalkers. So she cowered down and opened her eyes really wide. She looked at Nightstar and then at Silvertongue.

"So what happens now?"she whispered to Silvertongue. She hoped that, whatever was going to happen, it would happen quickly.

[Quick Fox]

the Cat* Winterwind
the Noted* New cats?
the Number* 202

Winterwind padded around camp. He caught wiff of an unfamiliar approaching cat, and took an offensive stance. As he took in the sight, he stood up and softned his stature. It was Nightstar, leading a helpless-looking kittypet into camp.

He looked at Nightstar quizzically. She had said that all cats on the territory would be taken prisoner, but it seemed as if they were letting more cats thatn any other clan.

He flicked his tail, slightly irritated, but put on a happy face. He nodded to Nightstar and the small kittypet, erasing any doubt on their part. Hopefully they wouldn't notice his annoyance. The cat was small and young, with a slight limp in her step. He wondered what had happened.

He looked around again. Why was Windclan becoming so soft. Snowpatch he could understand; she should have been let in. But that young Shadowclan Dustpaw should have stayed with her family, not come here. And he saw this new cat smirk, and thought What does she think this is?

He padded up to Silvertongue, who had arrived behind the two others. He hissed in a low voice, so that no one else woould hear. "Silvertongue, what's going on?"

[Shadewing]

"A new cat!"

It was probably the first male voice you expected to hear when a new female came into camp. Orangesky strut out of his den, and looked at the new she-cat. She was kind of big, almost the size of Orangesky. Her markings were exotic, and instantly made him want to get near her.

Orangesky looked at Dainty. "You're a kitty-pet, aren't you?" Orangesky said playfully, taking a whiff of her. "Don't let any of the kitty-pet haters get to you though, plenty of non Clan cats have been great cats and role models, so don't sweat it!" He was a few yards away, but as he spoke, he slowly walked towards her. Hopefully she liked the boy who stood out from the rest of the crowd. Orangesky, as he was only about two tail-lengths or so away from her, commented: "Long legs, you'll make a great WindClan cat!"

[Silky]

"Orangesky," Silvertongue warned her nephew. "Stop flirting and do your duties as a warrior." The she-cat purred gently, pawing at the ground. "Nightstar and I were out hunting when we caught her scent. Nightstar's being hostile, but I'm sure with a little persuasion a compassionate side can come out of her." Silvertongue nodded, watching Dainty with Nightstar. "However, I'm not sure she'll be able to survive the oncoming Leafbare; could do, but she could be too soft." She continued. The first Leafbare she had experienced in the wild had been hard on her too.

[Dewdrop]

Dainty smiled at Orangesky; he was nice, muscular and looked like he would be able to look after her, so she decided to make friends with him. "Uh yeah, I'm a kittypet. I'll try not to let them get to me. Thanks," she said, looking at him. She flicked her tail and turned to Silvertongue.

"If I get trained and fed, I'm sure I could survive. I'm sure he could train me,"she said, noding towards Orangesky. "He seems capable of it." She smiled at him; but she did wonder if he would volunteer to help her. She didn't know if this would matter; Nightstar would probably not allow it, and she was obviously important. Which did annoy Dainty a lot.

Dainty looked around her. There was another cat there. He seemed slightly annoyed. She looked at him, trying to make him think she was an innocent 'kittypet'. She shuffled her feet and winced. She needed someone to do something with this thorn in her foot.

[Silky]

Silvertongue shook her head. "That would not be wise. You do not know of the antics my inexperienced nephew gets up to." Silvertongue said. "I would be better teaching you. Myself, Leafsong the medicine cat, and her kits, Orangesky, Spotleg and Hollythorn, were all kittypets once. We are fully trained warriors now, but it is up to Nightstar who is your mentor - IF she allows you to stay as her mother allowed me." Silvertongue said. The she-cat was not putting a good show of being inncent. She leanred in closer. "Trust me this; the life of a warrior is not as soft as a kittypet, and you cannot expect to lay around in kitbirth every six moons." She mewowed. Silvertongue had wanted to be a mother again but had not found interest in any males of the clan, so decided to keep to herself.

[Dewdrop]

Dainty giggled quietly. "He can't be that bad a teacher, can he? I wouldn't mind it if you taught me but I guess it is Nightstar's decision after all," she said abjectly, then continued in a whisper. "Is she like the leader of this place then? Because I don't think she likes me and I don't know if I should stay here if the leader doesn't like me." Dainty glanced over at Nightstar, trying to work out if she was close enough to hear her.

Dainty looked at the ground, trying to seem a bit upset. She was quiet for a few moments before quietly telling the cats assembled around her,"My foot hurts. Could someone please help me with it? It really hurts." For effect, she whimpered as she moved it. "There's a thorn in it, as you can see. I think it must be really big; it's so sore," Dainty said, grimacing.

[Twilight]

"You'd think she never had a thorn in her paw before. I can tell you this now, Dainty. If I decide to let you train in the ways of our code and life, there will be some instances were you will have to deal with a thorn and not complain about it. Like in a battle, for instance. But, I doubt you will ever be involved in one." She turned around to walk to her announcing spot, and as she was walking muttered under her breath "Because I really don't plan on letting you stay."

She reached the spot, and turned to face her clan, which was already gathering. Her voice rose above the loud murmurs of the crowd. "Quite! WindClan, you all probably know that Silvertongue and I have brought a kittypet into the camp. She says her name is Dainty. We found her while out hunting, limping over the moors like injured prey. The time has come now to deide her fate. There are three options- One: We let her stay, and risk her getting herself killed or even worse taking all of our food while we -try- to train her. Two: We can kick her out. And finally three: We can kill her on the spot for even setting foot on our territory. We have that right, seeing as FireClan seems to have invaded every aspect of our lives and she could easily be a spy pleeing innocence. In lighter news, I think it's time we gave Dustpaw her warrior name. What do you think? She is a part of our clan now, and she has learned quickly under every cat's tutilege."

[Dewdrop]

Pah,'You'd think she'd never had a thorn in her paw before.'Who does she think she is? Sure, she's the leader here, but she should lighten up. What a horrible cat. Y'know, maybe it would be better if I left here. There's bound to be other cats here; ones without horrid she-cats as leaders. Ugh, Dainty thought, a flicker of annoyance passing over her face.

She looked at Nightstar and then looked around the camp. She wondered if she'd be killed. If she was killed, how would they kill her? Would they torment her, torture her, make her death a slow, painful thing? Or would it be quick; a swift blow to the head or a bite to the neck? And would Nightstar do the deed herself? She doubted it. She probably had underlings to do that for her.

Anyway, what would it be like if she was allowed to stay?
She might not survive through leafbare; she might not even survive through leafall. But there would be that lovely food and there would be cats she could befriend; maybe Silvertongue or her nephew. Or she might have to leave. Then she'd have to go somewhere else and most likely go through all this again.

Dainty hoped she'd be killed quickly or be allowed to stay. She couldn't survive more nights outside, alone, with no food. She was too fragile and dainty.

[Shadewing]

"You were a kitty-pet once, Silvertongue. My mother was a kitty-pet once. Me and my siblings were raised in FireClan and WindClan," Orangesky told her, obviously a little annoyed at the she-cat, who seemed to be kicking him down a notch. "I am perfectly responsible, Silvertongue!"

Dainty said a few things, and Orangesky just nodded. Then, Nightstar called a meeting. Orangesky settled next to Dainty, and watched Nightstar's speech. When she brought up what to do with the kitty-pet..

Orangesky put his head down when Nightstar discussed what could happen to Dainty. "I hope they let you stay. If not, there's three other Clans, and a horseplace with twolegs." Orangesky said under his breath, gray eyes traveling over to Dainty's face.

When she brought up Dustpaw, and making her a warrior, Orangesky's fur prickled. She was so wary and talked a lot of FireClan and ShadowClan. She needed to calm down. "Dustpaw still has a lot to learn, Nightstar! You know we can't make her a warrior this quickly, after a few moons of training in ShadowClan and a few moons of training here! She's ShadowClan build, she won't be able to run and chase prey as fast as us without more training!" Orangesky blurted out, knowing that Dustpaw likely wouldn't like him for it, even if Nightstar decided to make her a warrior. "You've just sent a forest cat into the moors. A forest cat who was trained to hate exposure. Age doesn't mean dirt, she's been born and raised ShadowClan." Orangesky added, a little quieter. "My mouse-tail on the matter, Nightstar." he added respectfully, with a bow of his head. He knew that if this were the earlier generations, he would have his mouth sewn shut unless he was deputy. Thank StarClan are terms are looser..

[Silky]

Dustpaw whipped around, tail fur sticking out like she had been struck by lightning. "I WAS NOT RAISED IN SHADOWCLAN!" She yowled. "FireClan took me away before i barely knew anything about hunting frogs and things. I hate that stink-hole; full of horrible cats that think they have the right to mate with any female; left right and center! At least your a male! You don't have to go through the pain of having to carry those damn kits and give birth to them, knowing any females will die at their paws!" She spat, wanting to claw the stupid tom's face off.

[Shadewing]

"Nightstar! She lacks respect for cats in the Clan, and you know it! She's not yet matured and healed enough to become a warrior! She is not ready!" Orangesky glared into Dustpaw's eyes. "You are still a foolish apprentice, Dustpaw! No matter how much you've been through, I will not allow Nightstar to make a cat I don't think is fit to be a warrior become a warrior without my opinion on the matter! To make one as unready as you a warrior would put a dent in you, and in WindClan!" Orangesky's fur prickled further, and he unsheathed his claws. Some cats were surprised at his hostility towards this apprentice. "Deny it all you want, Dustpaw! You were born in ShadowClan, from a ShadowClan mother and father! StarClan's name, your father was the leader! Does that not mean that he was stealthy and a very fit warrior, which he passed to you?! You cannot become a warrior just because of you have learned it all, you must have some skill: Which will take you more time than the average WindClan cat!"

Orangesky ended his rebuttal with his fur going down, and slowly resuming to sit down, unsheathing his claws. "Do not disrespect your more senior warriors. You seem to have forgotten that." His voice was still prickly, but he was trying to calm himself, clearly.

[Silky]

"At least I was born in a clan! Jeez, half the bloody cats in the whole territory are probably related to you thanks to damn Crueleye!" She flicked her tail. "You know, this is why I bloody left ShadowClan; cats who thought of themselves so highly they didn't know when to shut the hell up. You're not the deputy, not the leader. Heck, when you're Orangestar you can decide who can and can't be warriors, but until then, you've gotta know your place like every other furball in the clan, from the kits to the elders." She said, flicking her tail over at Gladefeet and her children when she said kits, and the elders when she said elders.

"Sometimes Orangesky, I wish I was never born, because of the hell I went through in FireClan, because of cats like Crueleye and Redeyes, I'm still afraid of most of you toms." She meowed quietly, staring at the floor, but, no matter how much Dustpaw wanted to claw stupid Orangesky's ugly face off, he had a point, but Dustpaw couldn't take being an apprentice any more; she wanted to be a warrior now. "And Orangesky, I've not been a forest cat for a long, long time. I had to sleep in the cold and open with the Harem. We had to huddle up for warmth, and they stank. We all did thanks to the toms. Some of us were lucky; you died in kitbirth or you managed to escape. Most of us had to stay, for fear of our lives."

[Shadewing]

"I am not saying I don't have any empathy for you," Orangesky said, staring into her eyes. His voice was somewhat calmer now, though his tail was swishing around like an annoyed cat. "I along with a good percentage of cats can put ourselves in your paws. No matter what traumatic things you have been through, it does not make you any more fit to become a warrior. I am happy that you joined WindClan, but I would never let a cat become a warrior out of pity without at least throwing in my own opinion. You have trained long and hard, but I, personally, can't see you as a warrior yet, Dustpaw." On the word 'pity' Orangesky seemed to spit it out, but he resumed the rest of his speech in a calm manner, though a little bit faster than the rest of the words.

"You certainly are ShadowClan, and rude to match. You have proven that to me by insulting me and my kin's heritage. And last time I checked, nobody died and made you leader. In fact, right now, you are still an apprentice!" Orangesky's somewhat annoyed tone through those words was controlled for a while; until he burst out at apprentice with a loud hiss at Dustpaw. His hackles raised for a moment, and then they slowly fell back down.

[Silky]

"And no one else died and made you leader either!" She flared her nostrils angrily, her green eyes burning with anger and hatred for the tom cat before her. She flexed her claws, unsheathing them for the moment. 'Stupid pile of foxdung!' She hissed inwardly, digging her broken claws into the ground. THe snow was getting harder, and then and there, Dustpaw decided.

"Tell you what, if I can bring back five rabbits by tommorow morning, by my own steam, will you lay off my back and let Nightstar make me a warrior? Because, to be brutally honest, I'm old enough to be a mother, and that's what I want. I want to be a mom, because that's all I felt like I was put on this earth for; to lie around giving birth to kits left right and center. But if I prove you wrong, if I prove that I'm strong and I can survive out here on the moors, will you shut the hell up and leave me alone?" Dustpaw asked, her tone and voice deadly serious. If she died, they'd laugh, if she left, they'd laugh. She'd have to catch as many rabbits as possible, and in this weather too.