[ti]Open[/ti]Moth to A Flame

[sabs]

BRACKENFALL >>

    The newly appointed deputy dug his claws into the hard soil, feeling the dirt give way underneath. Taking a deep breath, he peered back over the fields that the group of cats had just crossed. Judging by the scent, the MothClan cats were getting very close to IvyClan territory. This was Brackenfall's first patrol as a deputy, and of course, he got to lead it. Over the past few days the tom had grown quite comfortable in his new position of authority, though he still felt the weight of his Clan leader's doubt on his shoulders. The dark tabby shook his head. Maybe a successful patrol would help sway Mothstar's opinion more in his favor. 
    
    Once the patrol got closer to the border he waved his tail to signal the group to a halt. The deputy opened his mouth once again to pick up the scent of their neighboring Clan. The IvyClan border seemed to be not nearly as strong as their Clan's. Brackenfall smirked. MothClan prided themselves on keeping their borders strong, after all, they had just established themselves, and any possibility of expanding would be taken advantage of. He surveyed the trees that scattered in front of them, marking the start of the other Clan's territory. He could see birds chattering noisily around the small forest, some swooping to the ground below to gather nuts and seeds. The tom, being formerly IvyClan, knew this area well. Giving a snort, he turned to his Clanmates "It feels like the other Clans gave us the leftovers when it comes to territory."

[Firefly]

Feathercrest nodded his head slowly in agreement.
"I can't see myself knowing as much about this place as you do, brackenfall, but I can assure you these cats certainly aren't doing a very good job asserting that the land is theirs." He said with a twinge of annoyance.
Now that he thought of it, Mothclan did seem to have a poor selection of hunting areas, the fields doing no good, and the forest not nearly as extensive as Ivyclan's, nor as full of prey. His large ears swiveled to the front of his head, listening for prey on the other side of the border. He wanted to see just how much Ivyclan did have compared to them, particularly during Leaf-bare. He peered up at the slender trees of Araios Woods. He wondered why they called this forest thaht.
Araios Woods... What a peculiar name. He thought, watching the bare branches sway with a light breeze.
His ears, in this time, picked up a slue of different sounds, including birds, something burrowing in the ground, and cats, which he assumed were patrolling, as well. Feathercrest wondered if they were headed this way. It was possible, as this border needed refreshing. He looked at Brackenfall to check if he had noticed.

[Cosima]

SMOKEGAZE - -

Once again, Mothstar had selected someone else to be his deputy. This made Smokegaze feel displeased, as he felt he had shown utter respect to his leader since the clan's creation. He was unsure how he felt about this tom. They were very similar in values, but he was rather rowdy. He would have to spend more time with him for Smokegaze to believe he is worthy of his position.

He had been chosen to join the deputy's border patrol. Smokegaze was going to use this time to judge the new second-in-command's actions. As they were moving along, he was slowly realizing how close they were to the Ivyclan border. Once the patrol had reached the border, it was easily noticed that the border was weaker there than in other spots.

"It feels like the other Clans gave us the leftovers when it comes to territory." The deputy snorted, and he couldn't agree any more. "You're absolutely right, Brackenfall. Ever since the move, Ivyclan and Mistclan have picked away the meat from the prey and tossed the bones and scraps to us." His claws sunk into the earth below him as he spoke. Mistclan was his home prior to Mothclan's creation, not Ivyclan like Brackenfall, but he was well aware of how soft they were. They were all for accepting Two-leg pests into their clan, something he highly despised. Then, Feathercrest spoke up. "I can't see myself knowing as much about this place as you do, Brackenfall, but I can assure you these cats certainly aren't doing a very good job asserting that the land is theirs."

"Exactly, Feathercrest. How do you feel about that, Brackenfall? Do we run back to our camp with our tails between our legs, or shall we put a paw down and claim something that should rightfully be ours?" He grinned widely at the deputy as he began to persuade him. "You've seen how well-fed those Ivyclan cats are. Don't you want to catch a plump squirrel for once?"

(OOC: Just going to put this out there: Smokegaze's thoughts are not mine! I hadn't even applied for him to be deputy, he is just an angsty boii who feels obligated to have power because he's strong and witty or something of that matter.)

[Alex]

Rainflight's tail swished lightly behind her as she followed Brackenfall. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment upon not being deputy, especially with someone so young being chosen, but she pushed it aside. That didn't matter now. They were on a patrol, and there was no time for such silly thinking. Brackenfall would make a good deputy, surely. And if not, well, Mothstar would be able to tell.

She looked out over IvyClan's territory. Brackenfall wasn't the only one who used to be loyal to IvyClan - she was too. As the deputy spoke, Rainflight flicked her tail. "Definitely. We've hardly got enough to feed our clan." She watched as birds swooped in and out, and felt a pang of longing for the forests she once hunted in. Her gaze flicked to Feathercrest as he spoke. She didn't say anything to that, staying silent as Smokegaze spoke.

Her eyes narrowed at his words. While she did agree - the clan needed more territory if it was to feed all its members - it would also involve breaking the warrior code. They would be trespassing, after all. But it was for a necessary cause. They needed the territory. And it should rightfully be theirs, as Smokegaze said. She turned her words over in her mouth, trying to decide how she should phrase what she wanted to say.

"Smokegaze is right. We need this territory. I know exactly how well these woods can feed a clan, and I'm sure you do too. If we're going to be a full clan, we need as much territory as we can get. We need more than just the scraps left to us by others."

[silverfang218]

Barkfur had been hunting by himself near the border, though he wasn’t having much luck. Despite typically being a rather good hunter, his dark pelt stood out from the white snow cover. It was beyond frustrating, to say the least. As he neared the border, Barkfur decided to take a break from the hunting to check the scent markers. He figured there would be a patrol up here today to renew the border, but it wouldn’t hurt if he just strengthened it himself. Sadly, Ivy’s scent was quickly weakening, having likely not been checked for a while due to a lack of warriors. Barkfur’s tail lashed at even the mere thought of the illness that had taken so many warriors from all clans and had nearly taken his adopted brother.

Barkfur made his way along the side of the border, renewing it as he goes, until his nose alerts him to the stench of MothClan warriors. Luckily, he didn’t hear those comments (thank StarClan), yet anger swells up in him at the mere sight of the traitorous warriors. The rowdy young warrior pushes his temper down though and continues working his way down the border as if the MothClan cats didn’t exist. Don’t acknowledge them unless they step over the border or until they address him, that’s how Barkfur is gonna deal with this.

[M'Lady]

Firechaser was leading a hunting patrol not far from the border, but definitely a little ways away so that they were unable to hear what was going on. Instead, he cast his molten gold gaze back to view the cats with him on the patrol, and addressed them. "With new kits in camp and the last of the frost to deal with, we'd better make this patrol a good one," He commented, his fiery pelt glowing bright against the otherwise brown and white toned world around them.

He was a bit worried, and since he never got worried, this was a first. Mothclan was getting more and more aggressive, and Ivyclan had been hit hard by both the sickness and the blizzard, their warriors were tired, this leafbare had been the most difficult one he'd seen since he was a kit. Hopefully things would look up soon, he refused to let anything happen to his clan while he was still living. It was the reason he stayed behind when there were Gatherings, it's why when he wasn't busy, he kept vigil outside the nursery or the medicine den. He'd already lost his first family, he refused to let anyone take his second.

"There have been quite a few squirrels out and about now that it's been getting warmer, see if you can find any digging up nut stores."

[sabs]

BRACKENFALL >>

   
    The winds shifted, bringing a new scent to the deputy's attention. He turned to his warriors and signaled them to be silent. "Enough." It seemed that there was a cat close by, obviously IvyClan. Peering down the line of trees, he noticed a torti tom, patrolling alone. Brackenfall rolled his eyes and purred in amusement. "I guess the IvyClan cats aren't too concerned about their borders if they send one lone cat to mark them. It's almost as if they're giving them away." The displeasure of his fellow Clanmates rang in his head. At least, even if they didn't quite believe in him as a deputy, they agreed that their territory borders were unfair, to say the least. He weighed various plans in his head, trying to decide the rational choice to go from here. He stood quietly for a moment, then announced his decision. "If they aren't going to take care of their territory, then they obviously don't deserve it."

    Making sure that his patrol was behind him, the tom took confident pawsteps over the border, stepping underneath one of the trees of his old IvyClan home. Brackenfall marked it with his scent, then flicked his tail. He wasn't worried about one young IvyClan cat, if he had even noticed the patrol at this point. If he was mousebrained enough to try anything, he was vastly outnumbered and they would outmatch him. The MothClan deputy took one final glance over to the young tom, then continued to mark a new border.

[Firefly]

Feathercrest cautiously followed Brackenfall. He was majorly concerned about this idea. It did seem realteively safe, but why just one cat? It could be a trap in order to expose Mothclan cats as thieves who didn't follow the warrior code. He tentatively added another marker to the new border.
"You are prepared if more cats come, we may have to fight, correct, Brackenfall?" feathercrest meowed, casting a nervous glance to the deputy. Feathercrest kept his ears alert to Ivyclan territory, wary of any more cats. He wasn't really the rebellious type. For whatever reason, he felt slightly obliged to do this because not only did he think it was unfair, Brackenfall had started already, so there really wasn't any turning back.

[GnawingOnIce]

Timberheart was on patrol with a few other Ivyclan cats, the lead being Firechaser. He was looking around near the border with Mothclan, checking if any squirrels had strayed there. He caught Mothclan scent, which cast a concerned gaze across his face. He trotted along, searching for where it was coming from. It was getting stronger. He saw pelts, tabby and dark. He gasped, but silenced himself. The cats were bigger than him, Timberheart was just a newly made warrior, plus it looked as if there were maybe three or four of them.

He shook his head and sped off toward Firechaser and the rest of the patrol, all the racing with Maplespring seemed to have paid off. "Firechaser! Intruders! Mothclan!" He panted, coming to a stop beside the fire-colored warrior, who had much more experience than him. Hopefully Timberheart would do well if a fight broke out.

[Alex]

Rainflight grinned as Brackenfall agreed to take some of the territory. She followed him, her head held high, and helped mark the new territory. She paused at Feathercrest's question, and glanced at Brackenfall briefly before turning to Feathercrest. "If we have to fight, then so be it. We deserve this territory. We need this territory. And if IvyClan isn't going to patrol it well enough, then they're basically giving it away."

The words of the warrior did cause the fur on her spine to lift, however, and she couldn't help but wonder if someone had noticed them. There could be another patrol that was coming up soon, and would then see them. But she was ready to fight if she had to.