[ti]Open[/ti]Take Two

[Fireflake]

[The Alliance are here to kidnap Dragon's Fidgetkit, a two-moon-old she-kit.

This thread takes place at the same time as the Gathering, just after "You Can't Catch Me". Rogue NPCs are allowed.]

Scorpio shook his fur out. His heart was still thrumming from the scuffle with the MistClanners, and he looked around wildly for a few moments to check who was still with him. When he was sure that it was only those he wanted with him, he calmed down and started to trudge toward RootClan's camp. Scorpio was limping quite heavily by now, but didn't seem to mind anymore. Once he had handed the kit he'd been carrying off to someone else, he could adjust his gait any way he liked, and it wasn't as if injuries were foreign to him.

Scorpio wondered silently, as he took the long way around to avoid MistClan, if this was more personal than professional. Any RootClan cat would easily be spotted among the rogues, with their unique body shapes, and the ordeal with MistClan meant it would be far safer to turn back with the two they had. But a RootClan cat had escaped from the Alliance's grasp before, and Scorpio didn't like that. Maybe some part of him just wanted to show them that he could take one of theirs. Whatever the case, he was quickly advancing on camp, planning to leave with a kit in his grasp yet again.

[Dragon]

Fidgetkit slept curled up in a ball beside her mother and siblings. Even in her sleep her tail constantly twitched and flipped. Her paws would scrabble from time to time. When she was awake she never stayed still, so it was only right that she never stay still in her sleep as well. I her sleep she dreamed she was chasing a rabbit. Everyone in the nursery had grown so used to the sounds of her fidgeting in her sleep any sound of someone entering the nursery would not wake them. But on this night Fidgetkit was awoken by what she wasn't sure. Getting up Fidgetkit stretched and looked around trying to figure out why she had woken. Maybe she just needed some air so she slowly headed out of the nursery where she sat and looked up at the full moon. The sky was clear and she could tell that no one was back from the gathering yet. Curling up she continued to stare up at the full moon until she drifted back to sleep in the cold night air.

[Broadwaykat]

He was growing so weary of full-moon meetings. He felt like his clan was constantly on the edge of shambles now, and everyone needed him here; he sent the clan members off to show as strong as a force they could, ordering rather than telling Brittlebark what to do. He knew the tom's father had been a strong leader; maybe the younger cat could pick up something through osmosis or lineage while he cared for their clan's issues closer to home.

Shadowfall was restless; he could feel like the muscles in his body would never relax, keeping him on his world-weary paws past regular endurance. As he patrolled around the camp - an old throwback from his former guarding days - he peeked into the nursery to look over the smallest cats. Fidgetkit was kicking her paws in sleep - no surprise there, after all, if any cat lived up to their name, it was her.

The world, for the time being at least though, was quite - despite the cool chill in the air. He had no idea of what could have been in store for them that night.

[fortsumter]

Spire followed Scorpio, her eyes flickering around in all directions. She was hoping to hide her fear, but she knew that the look on her face would give it away. She felt a tightness in her chest that made it hard for her to breathe without gasping for air.  Wow, she thought. I was so ready for this, and now I'm scared? 

She padded along silently, her paws growing heavier with each step. She could see the Clan's camp ahead, and she tensed her body a bit, and her fur fluffed out. She knew she was scared, but she also knew that her fear could help her run faster.

A shiver ran down her spine as she remembered how fast she ran when she escaped her old home. The terror that she felt. The way her heart buzzed in her chest and created the same tightness. The fear she felt now was similar, but she was able to keep herself collected. She narrowed her eyes and fixed them on the camp ahead.

This was the moment she had been waiting for. Why should she be scared now? 

[Fireflake]

Scorpio glanced back at Spire as he slowed to a halt just tail-lengths from RootClan's camp. This territory was even more foreign to him than MothClan's had been, but that didn't seem to be an issue. His gaze was confident. "There are two of us," he whispered to her, barely audible, "so we should be able to get two kits."
His eyes narrowed against the moonlight, wishing slightly that his pelt wasn't ginger, or that he'd at least thought to disguise it. Despite it being part of a scout's special skill set, stealth was not the tom's usual method of attack. He hadn't expected the cavern to be as bright as it was.

As his eyes skimmed the unfamiliar landscape that made up RootClan's camp, another orange patch of fur caught his attention. He padded cautiously closer and caught the little shape of a kit shifting slightly, out in the open. Instead of pushing eagerly forward, Scorpio flattened his ears and backed away. "It's not that easy. It looks... like a trap."
The tom stared ahead critically, darted a glance in the opposite direction, then shook his head. "But those MistClan cats would have gone home, and MothClan wouldn't have time to get here yet. We just have to be careful."

With that, he stalked low, on light paws, toward the clan kit.

[Dragon]

Fidgetkit fell into a deeper sleep and began to dream she was running through a forest. Her paws kicked on her body as she slept as if she was actually running. In her dream she spotted a rabbit and darted after it. She laughed and was having fun chasing it. She had no idea what was happening in the waking world or what was about to happen. Her tail twitched as she slept. Anyone would think she was awake with how much she was moving but she was fast asleep.

[Fireflake]

Scorpio kept all of his sense open as he passed into RootClan's camp, trying his best to stay quiet while looking like he belonged there. Hopefully anyone with their eyes half-open and clouded with drowsiness would neglect to realize that he wasn't a clanmate. Spire's quiet pawsteps nearby barely registered to Scorpio's ears, and the confident look that he usually wore returned to him. The rogue quickly changed it to put on the friendliest expression that he could as he approached the kit.

She looked quite young. Old enough to be off of her mother's milk, but maybe not old enough to notice that he was a rogue. As he drew closer, Scorpio saw that disguising himself and his intentions was unnecessary. For all her twitching and little movements, the she-kit was fast asleep. Scorpio's sense from before, that this might be some kind of trap, only grew worse as he came a few tail-lengths from the kit. Freezing in place, he looked quickly around the moonlit camp.

[Dragon]

All was quiet the few cats that were awake had no idea of the threat that was right under their nose. And one little kit who had decided to sleep outside that night was the least suspecting. From time to time she would fidget or toss in her sleep but other than than that Fidgetkit never awoke even as the cat stood right above her.

[fortsumter]

Spire stood about a fox-length from Scorpio, allowing him to make the move. She lowered herself to the ground, her long fur brushing against it. She was a bit nervous about how this would go, but her gut instinct told her that it would work out. Scorpio was a smart cat.

As they drew closer, Spire could feel some uncertainty about it, but she pushed it aside to focus on the moment. She feigned a friendly smile as she looked over at the kit.