[ti]Private[/ti]What's Wrong With You?

[Meow]

Scorchpaw sometimes needed to escape from IvyClan.

His parents didn't know, of course, that he frequently went exploring outside of IvyClan's territory- Owlstar would probably kill him if she knew her son was breaking rules on a daily basis. Scorchpaw often used the excuse that he simply went hunting alone when his clan mates asked where he'd been, or tried to confuse them with his complicated speech until they simply gave up trying to understand him. He'd likely use a similar excuse for today's exploration, in which he was sprinting through the forest, his glorious mane waving in the wind as his heavy paws pounded against the earth.

Unfortunately, Scorchpaw was heading in a different direction on today's escape. He wasn't heading towards the nice kittypet dens he sometimes visited to get away from the clans. Rather, in his hurry, he was heading towards MothClan territory at full speed, with seemingly little regard for his own safety. It wasn't long at all until the young tom was hit with a wave of MothClan stench, his nostrils curling as he sent himself flying over the border. The tom closed his eyes as they began to water, his paws continuing on their own... until they stumbled over something soft. Something fluffy. Something feline.

Scorchpaw was sent rolling from the impact, letting out a cry of surprise as he hit the ground and left a trail of flattened grass behind him, only coming to a stop when his butt painfully made contact with a boulder. The tom then remained where he was, propped up upside down against the boulder as a grunt of pain left his lips, his eyelids slowly cracking open to see just what he'd tripped on.

[silverfang218]

Fattail was having the most glorious dream about soaking in the rays of sunlight. It was such a warm, peaceful dream, like his own personal happy place. And, as it usually is, it shatters into a million pieces as pain strikes his side, stomach, and hindleg. With a squeak of alarm, the dark tom hops up, hindleg that got a little bit trampled lifted up off the ground, before he is even really awake. His bleary blue-green eyes blink a few times to drive the sleep away as he tries to remember where he is. It’s the IvyMoth border. The tom must have fallen asleep in the long grass out here while he was supposed to be hunting. His eyes drift down onto a pile of fluff. He blinks again; the fluff seems to have little paws sticking out of it. A tail too, though the fluff’s tail is not nearly as impressive as Fattail’s own. A cat? But… where’s the cat’s face? A mystery indeed.

Fattail tests the injured hindleg and quickly finds that it’s not badly hurt. His side will likely be sore; Fattail is a small, slender cat who is easily crushed under the fluff of others. Sore, but not really hurt. He supposes this… fluff… was the one that ran over him. “You alright? You should probably pay a bit more mind where you are going; that hurt.” The tom’s voice isn’t necessarily angry, just tired. He himself has accidently tred over the tails of other warriors and it’s not a great surprise that the small warrior got stepped on in the nice grass.

Then he realizes something, something important. This pile of fluff, who he clearly doesn’t recognize as a MothClan cat, seems to have the scent of IvyClan. IvyClan… right. He must have crossed the border in his mad flight. “And you might end up getting hurt a lot worse if you stay here too long. MothClan cats tend to be a bit protective of their territory if you know what I mean, friend.” As a warrior, Fattail would also be expected to be ‘protective’ of their territory, but Fattail… just can’t quite muster up the will to fight. Peace is just so much easier than war, ya know? No need to get one’s tail in a floof just because one cat accidently crossed a border.

[Meow]

As Scorchpaw's eyes opened, a rather small, fluffy-tailed black tom came into focus. The apprentice let out a groan as he forced himself to think through the situation, realizing that this cat was likely what he'd tripped over, judging by the way he was holding one of his legs. As the stranger asked him if he was okay, Scorchpaw slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, an aching pain shooting through his back. With the momentum he'd crashed into the boulder with, it was likely he'd be hurting for a few days. He might want to visit the medicine cat for something to help the pain...

"I must request pardon from thee; mine eyes refused to observeth whither I wast going, and I hath happened to stumble upon thee," Scorchpaw apologized, finally taking a moment to look at the stranger. Like the land he was now standing in, he had no idea who this cat was. None. Then, as if this stranger could readeth his mind, he let Scorchpaw know that his own idiocy and carelessness had brought him over the MothClan border.

What was it that Rainfur always said about MothClan cats, again?

"Stayeth hence from MothClan."

Right.

The stranger's clear threat only strengthened his father's point. Savages.

"I doth not wish to square thee, cousin. I simply hath lost mine way whilst taking a stroll. if 't be true we must square, then I wilt not wend easy on you- so I caution thee to reconsider," Scorchpaw answered, his eyes growing serious as he completely misunderstood the stranger's words. Scorchpaw didn't know much about fighting, but he wasn't going to run away from a challenge. If he was going to become strong enough for Rivershine to like him, then he had to face everyone who wanted to fight him... even if he wasn't sure he'd win.

[silverfang218]

Ah, so the big pile of fluff is indeed a cat- sort of. He manages to find what he believes to be the IvyClan tom’s face. To be fair, this creature actually turning out to be a cat is much less strange than if an actual ball of only fluff rammed into him as it rolled down from IvyClan territory, particularly since the fluff held IvyClan’s strong scent… doesn’t mean it ain’t weird though.

“Why in the name of StarClan do you speak that way. I know IvyClan cats don’t talk like that; I’ve heard you leader speak at Gatherings. You can talk normal with me, no need to impress. And I can’t really understand you.” Fattail huffs. Though after a moment, he blinks. “Are you imply you want to fight me? I think you misunderstood, or else I did: I want to go back to sleep. Now the other MothClan cats, should one come along, might think differently. They’d probably take that chance.” To emphasize his point, Fattail flops down onto his side- not the side that got stepped on, the other one. He curls his fluffy tail around himself as he looks at the fluffy cat. “What is your name? I’m Fattail.” His tone was friendly; friends are much more pleasant to have than enemies.

[Meow]

Scorchpaw's serious look was quickly wiped away with the MothClan cat's response, almost taken aback by how blunt he was about Scorchpaw's way of speaking. Most cats only went along with him, believing that he was a bit special in the head, but this stranger didn't seem particularly amused with his speech. Then, this... Fattail seemed a bit displeased by Scorchpaw's assumption that he wanted to fight, instead establishing himself as being absolutely no threat to the IvyClan apprentice. Rather than fight, this cat seemed to want to... talk? How... strange. Shouldn't he be trying to rip his pelt off by now?

Scorchpaw let his fur relax as Fattail introduced himself, and, for a few moments, Scorchpaw was silent. The apprentice seemed to be quietly debating something as he semi-nervously shuffled his paws- and then, finally, he responded. "No, IvyClan cats don't talk like that, I just... I talk like that. Sometimes." Scorchpaw cleared his throat, doing his best to ignore how drastic his shift in speech had been. He'd never interacted much with cats outside his clan before. "I'm... Scorchpaw. It's nice to meet you, Fattail," the apprentice murmured, the completely normal sentence feeling a bit strange on his tongue. "I've always been told that all MothClan cats are vicious and bloodthirsty, so I thought you might be threatening me. Sorry."

[silverfang218]

“It’s nice to meet you too, Scorchpaw. That other way of talking you have, it’s interesting. It’s just a little hard for me to understand is all; I’m kind of mousebrained most of the time.” Fattail chuckles at himself. It’s not untrue, but Fatty’s stupidity is usually caused by a lack of effort rather than an actual lack of brainpower. One could argue that a lot of his shortcomings are just caused by a lack of effort, really.

Fatty’s fluff of a tail waves off Scorch’s apology. “Whoever told you that will usually be right. I’m kind of a rarity around here. Fighting is a lot harder than sleepin’ or talkin’, so I’d rather make friends and sleep and talk than fight, ya know? No need to apologize; I’m sorry, I can be a bit grumpy when I wake up.” Fattail chuckles. He’s quickly waking up enough to not be a grump, so everyone is safe now. “I was just saying before that if any other MothClan cats find ya here, they’ll probably want to fight. As long as it’s just me, your safe though. You’d probably win anyways.” Fatty’s tone is still very friendly, a bit of amusement in it now. Despite Fattail being a fully grown warrior, Scorchpaw might very well be able to beat him senseless. With that in mind, there’s definitely no desire to fight on Fatty’s side, nope.

[Meow]

Scorchpaw frowned a bit at Fattail's comment that he was too mousebrained to understand the apprentice's usual way of speaking. If he was being honest, Scorchpaw sometimes barely understood himself. Heck, sometimes he even spoke fancy gibberish if he wasn't sure how to respond to one of his clan mates. Hopefully, he could do a good job of carrying on a real conversation without talking like a medieval knight. At the very least, this cat was from MothClan, so he didn't have to worry so much, right?

As Fattail explained that he had no desire to beat Scorchpaw up and that he'd much rather relax than fight, the apprentice thought that he sounded a lot like his father, Rainfur. "Well, that's a relief," Scorchpaw responded, seeming to completely relax at the reassurance. Scorchpaw would have fought him, but he really didn't want to. Rivershine wasn't even around to see him fight, so what would it have mattered? Scorchpaw sat down in the grass, his poof of a tail coming to rest on the ground next to him, eyeing the warrior curiously as Fattail continued on with his warning.

Not that Scorchpaw planned on leaving right now. This cat seemed friendly, so surely there wasn't really a reason for him to need to leave. If anyone showed up, Scorchpaw would just try to fight them, too.

"So you won't care if I stick around for a little while longer, then? I'm trying to get away from camp for a bit, but I don't really have anywhere to go," Scorchpaw confessed. Owlstar kept such a close watch on her children that it was sometimes difficult to break any rules around camp. He couldn't even tell his siblings about his escapades out in the territory because someone would certainly go to Owlstar or Rainfur about it. Cats outside IvyClan were the only ones he could tell anything to... well, them and Rivershine, though he was sure Rivershine only listened because she was nice. "We could chat for a while if you have the time?"

[silverfang218]

“You can stick around for as long as you like, as far as I’m concerned. And company would be awfully nice too.” Fattail chuckles softly. He can certainly understand needing to get away from camp along with all the cats there. Fattail didn’t have any escapades to hide, but sometimes the disapproval from all his clanmates gets to him. It’s not like he doesn’t hunt and patrol every now and then, and he tries to make up for it by not eating much unless he hunts that day, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Any cat who wants to spend their time in their dreams is simply worthless to MothClan; he can’t blame them for thinking that way but it’s just… the only cat who looked at him normally left for MistClan, leaving him with no friends and a clan who thinks he is better off dead.

Anyways, Fattail gives a nod at Scorch’s offer to sit and chat. “I’m in no hurry to get back to camp either. What would you like to talk about, my friend?” Fatty’s tail curls up around himself as he faces his new companion. He was pretty grumpy about being woken up in such a sudden and rough manner but he’s starting to think maybe being woken up is gonna be worth it. He might just walk away with a new friend today.

[Meow]

Fattail was really nice.

Scorchpaw wondered what he should talk about. It wasn't very often that someone wanted to hear him speak- his clan mates usually couldn't understand him very well, and he'd become somewhat of an outcast. Well, as much of an outcast as the leader's child could be...

"Do you ever just feel like everyone's just tolerating you?" Scorchpaw's voice was quiet as he questioned the warrior, skipping whatever light small talk cats usually used to pad their conversations. If he was going to voice his insecurities to anyone, he'd want it to be this random MothClan warrior who wouldn't be able to do anything with his secrets. "Sometimes I look around at my clan mates and think that I don't really know any of them, and none of them know me. They just think I'm weird." Scorchpaw's honey-colored gaze was somewhat troubled, though his voice remained as flat as ever. "That's why I was talking to you like that earlier- that's how I speak with my clan mates. They thought it was cute when I was little, but now I'm just 'that weird apprentice'." Scorchpaw sighed at his own words, wondering just what he was doing with his life. "Even being Owlstar's son can't save my reputation now... I'm apparently 'too far gone' to ever be a good warrior."

[silverfang218]

“I have a feeling every clanmate of mine wishes I was dead. One less mouth to feed is how I imagine they’d look at it. I don’t know how many would understand that feeling of being only tolerated, so you might very well have found the only cat that can relate.” Fattail chuckles, though there isn’t any humor in it. After all, there’s nothing funny about their situation. “Pretty sure I could kill a bear and drag it back to camp and I’d still be looked at as a the most worthless warrior who ever lived.”

He glances at Scorchpaw sideways. “You sounded like you were pretty ready to fight an enemy warrior by yourself though. I probably don’t look like too much of a threat, but that still seems like the mark of a fearless warrior to me. I’d have to agree that I’ve never heard a cat talk like you were and that’s probably why they think you are a bit strange… but that only means they are mousebrained like me and can’t understand you. Your words sounded pretty when you twisted them like that.” I mean, Fattail understands why both of them are outcasts; Fattail is pretty lazy though he does his best to make it fair, and Scorchpaw has an odd way of speaking… but if none of his clanmates wanted to try hard enough to understand Scorch’s speech then that is on them.

“I’m not the son of any leader or anything, but from watching some of Mothstar’s children it almost seems like it’s easiest to not be related to any great cats. Less expectations of greatness that way. That’s how I see it.” He isn’t surprised at all to hear that Scorch is Owlstar’s son; most of the smoky cats in the clans seem to be related in some way or another, even if Scorch is more fluff than smoky. He also doesn’t seem surprised at skipping the small talk and starting with the ‘life is a lie’ talk. This has happened to him before, so Fattail is rarely surprised anymore.