Rules are for Other Cats (Slitherpaw)

[mystic]

Leopardpaw
^{I can resist anything but temptation}

Leopardpaw walked along, his eyes on the pebbles that were at the bottom of the brook. He knew his mentor had told him to stay in camp, that lazy scut of a tom was always telling him what to do. Leopardpaw was far too old for that, he was 16 moons already. By all rights he should be a warrior. He eyed the border, nose wrinkled a bit. Why, did he have to stay on this side of it? Just because some stupid dead cats said he had to? He didn't have to listen to any idiot dead cats. If they were really wise, they wouldn't all be dead. Slowly he stepped into the stream.

There was one thing that kept him from crossing the border right away. The thought of running into a MarshClan patrol. He knew that the other clan cats held to the code, even if it didn't mean a fig to Leopardpaw. If he stayed in the river, he was just on the border and wasn't crossing it. Of course, he didn't think there would be a patrol at this time of day. With a deliberate movement, he stepped over the border. And waited.

Nothing happened. Turning his face to the sky he laughed at Starclan. "Nothing happened, see, your fool code means nothing to me!"

[jayfeatherfan]

Slitherpaw trotted along through the marshy ground, feeling a bit sullen at the moment. She had failed once more to show herself a worthy warrior of Marshclan. SO she was still an apprentice. She was almost 14 moons old! She should be a warrior by now.
She wouldn’t dare break any more rules. She felt a small idea of the desire to obey the warrior code, but she simply didn’t get it fully. Why not make a new code? Why not make new rules, instead of one’s made by cats long dead? She flicked her ear in annoyance.
She had decided to take a little stroll along the Rainbow Brook today; she enjoyed the many different colors flashing in the water. She had a fluttery feeling in her stomach right now; she didn’t know why, she had just had some feeling about this since she left the camp. Not a bad feeling, not a good feeling either. She gave her head a shake, as she always did when she had to focus.
Right off the bat, something was different as she got closer to the border. There was fresh Breezeclan scent, as if there was a patrol about. A small patrol, she noted. But, why would there be a patrol out at this time? It surely was odd.
She heard the current interrupted; not a splash, it was as if someone was wading in. She listened carefully as the Breezeclan scent strengthened, hearing a cat step out of the water… On Marshclans side! An invasion?
“Nothing happened, see, your fool code means nothing to me!” She heard a voice she didn’t quite recognize echo gently through the trees. So, maybe it wasn’t an invasion after all. She listened carefully for signs of any other cats. There was none, so she crept a bit closer. She could see the cat now. It was a tom, not much older than her, to judge on appearance. A tall tom, with a spotted pelt.
She felt the breath leave her lungs after only one look at him. She started to lick her fur, about to go over and introduce herself. She gave it a thought a moment; he was Breezeclan. She was still training; she could not fall for him. But, wasn’t she just thinking about how the rules were out-dated? She abandoned thoughts of rules, and strode over to him, feeling confident.
“Hi, I’m Slitherpaw. May I ask what you’re doing on our side of the border?” She said, hoping it sounded like the right greeting. She didn’t want to sound hostile, but she didn’t want to seem to flustered either. She blinked her eyes and twitched her whiskers as she waited to see how he would respond.

[mystic]

Leopardpaw
^{I can resist anything but temptation}

The tall tom whipped around to look at her. Slowly he blinked then grinned. "I was seeing if StarClan would truly do anything if I disobeyed their idiotic code." he mewed, his eyes darting over her. She was a pretty thing. What did it matter if she wasn't of his clan. The tom's father had been a kittypet after all. Nothing bad had happened to his mother for mating with a kittypet. He flicked his tail a bit. Grinning at her he began to walk around her, his powerful muscles rippling under his pelt. Unlike any of the cats in the clans, the tom had true wild cat in his blood. It gave him his size, and his power.

Chuckling he sat down. "I am Loepardpaw. And might I ask what you're doing where a invading party of cats could do you damage?" he asked. "Or are doing the same as me, and not giving a badger's tail about the stupid old code?"

[jayfeatherfan]

Slitherpaw barely suppressed the shivers that threatened to shiver down her spine as the large tom circled her. Leopardpaw… so he was also an apprentice? Fantastic; Slitherpaw could feel herself abandon all pretense; all regard for the rules was gone.
“Well,” She started, in regard to his question, “I wasn’t really planning an attack. I heard you come across the brook, I was curious to see who it was.” She thought carefully about his comment on the code. She took only a short moment to think of a truthful answer. “And, to be honest, if it weren’t for the endless punishments I would break the rules all the time. One can only run mindless errands and do dumb chores so many times, before it gets to be a bit much.”
The breeze blew gently, and the sound of the stream reached her ears. This was wrong; very wrong. She was NOT supposed to be talking to cats of other clans, much less falling for them. Then again, the code meant nothing to her anyway. And besides, how bad could any punishment be? And, no one ever had to find out about it anyway. She was old enough to make her own choices.

[mystic]

Leopardpaw
^{I can resist anything but temptation}

Leopardpaw smirked at her. "So, you think like me." he said. "The code is useless." he chuckled. "Or is it like the rumours say and most of MarshClan could do without the code?" he asked. "Or that's what my idiot mentor says about MarshClan." his black lip curled a bit and both his ears flicked back. He looked at her. "Slitherpaw, eh?" he said. "So, what did you do that ended up with you being stuck an apprentice?" he paused. "I'm stuck one because the clan just sees pleasure in holding me back. I could be a great warrior if it weren't for their rules." he snarled a bit, tail lashing. "But no, my mentor doesn't think I'm ready to make warrior yet. He is a fool, and I have no need of him." The tom's voice had an arrogant sound to it and he sat up tall. "Do you have the same story Slitherpaw? Clan holding you back? The warrior code holding you back?" He smirked a bit and lay down, eyeing her. He was sure that this pretty little thing wouldn't attack him. In fact he was sure of it. Slowly he licked his lips and flicked his tail, then lay it still in the sun. He knew that his tresspassing wouldn't be caught, not with him so close to the border.

[jayfeatherfan]

Slitherpaw nodded. “That’s about right. My mentor says I’m too selfish to be a warrior. Says I don’t ‘understand’ the code. I do think just like you. I could be a good warrior, if I was given the chance.” She watched as he laid down, sprawling out in the sunlight.
She hoped no one came along patrolling; if anyone caught them, they would BOTH be in trouble. Slitherpaw heard the slightly arrogant note in his voice. She had always hated arrogant cats; they always looked down upon her. She felt as if Leopardpaw was different. Or, maybe it was her imagination. It didn’t matter to Slitherpaw.
She tried to come up with ways to impress him.
“So, a suppose your sneaking out as well then?” She asked. True, she was slacking at the moment. She was supposed to be in camp doing some chore or the other, and she would be in deep trouble when she got back. She often sneaked out of camp; she didn’t like being so cooped up all the time.
She searched the toms face for any signs he was feeling the same way as her, hoping against hope that he was falling for her as much as she was falling for him. She had long ago pushed aside the rules anyway, so it didn’t matter to her what clans they were in, did it now? She felt confidence for once, without someone around to tell her what she was doing wrong. It was unnerving, but freeing.

[mystic]

Leopardpaw
^{I can resist anything but temptation}

He grinned at her. "Exactly. We both could be great, but no. Apparently only cats who play by the rules become warriors." he said, his voice scathing. "you know what playing by the rules gets you? It gets you dead, or maimed. Because rogues out there don't play by the rules, predators don't play by the rules and two-legs don't play by the rules. In fact, the only ones who play by the rules are the clan cats." He lashed his tail a bit, then eyed her.

"Yes, my mentor told me to stay in camp. But all that lazy sack of bones does is lay about and waste space. So I left camp, he was sleeping I think. That idiot's lazy enough that he should just turn to being an elder. All he does is sleep all day anyway." He wrinkled his nose. "Maybe I'd be a warrior by now if I hadn't been trained by him. But he just holds me back, all the time. I could be great, I really could." He whined.

[jayfeatherfan]

Slitherpaw was surprised by the whining tone of his voice. She was also surprised how well the two of them got along. This was proof that clan didn’t matter, anyone could be friends. Or more, right?
She was not surprised to hear he was sneaking out. No big deal, if his mentor was as lazy as he claimed, he wouldn’t even notice if he was gone.
She thought she should get back before her own mentor noticed she was gone, if se hadn’t already. Something kept her paws from taking her back to camp, though. She made a mental note to hunt on the way back, so she wasn’t out without a reason.
She reached into the depths of her brain for another way to keep the conversation going. What was she supposed to say? Something about her mentor? His mentor? Family members? No, she decided against family members. It could be a touchy subject for some cats.
“My mentor is Crowstar.” She said, hoping to grab his interest. “Who is yours?”

[mystic]

Leopardpaw
^{I can resist anything but temptation}

He was grooming his paw and looked up at her. "The lazy piece of mouse dung is Wolverinemask." He mewed, blinking slightly. He wrinkled his nose. "He is useless, as far as I am concerned. Maybe I'd be a warrior by now if I had a real mentor to train me." He added. "Instead of him." A slight curl was on his lip. "So, you've got the clan leader as your mentor, eh?" He asked. "Sounds pretty tough, must put you though a whole dark forest of training I suppose." He added, eyes narrowed a bit. "Wish my mentor was the leader, then he wouldn't be as idiot to hold me back." The tom shook his head. "And I'd be a warrior now, like my siblings." The tom sighed a bit and lay down. Then he looked up at her. "Say, we should meet and train." He said. "But somewhere we won't get caught." he paused. "like close to the old two-leg nest. But far away from the rats. I don't want to go explaining any rat bites to my clan mates."

[jayfeatherfan]

Slitherpaw fought not to show too much excitement. He wanted to meet her again! To train, sure, but still! Now, the two-leg nest… that was such a great idea! She kept her voice steady, but still allowed a hint of enthusiasm to creep into it as well.
“Sure, sounds great!” She said. “When?”
While she waited for him to answers, she laid out on the ground as well, relishing the warm sun on her flank. It had been ages since she had had the chance to relax, and this was nice. Not only was she relaxing, she wasn’t alone for once. She hated how everyone in the clan tended to avoid her, like she was a sickness they could catch.
She rolled to the other side, dismissing the thoughts. Right now, she was happy, and she wouldn’t let herself ruin it.

[mystic]

Leopardpaw
^{I can resist anything but temptation}

He paused and flicked his tail a bit as he thought. "Mmm... say... tomorrow night and moonhigh?" he asked, grinning. "That way, no one will even notice we're gone. They'll all be asleep." he said, grinning quit a bit. "What do you say to that? I'll be waiting on the little hillock." he added. "You know the one, right?" he mewed. "I'll show you some of my moves." he looked at her. "Hey, you know Shadowblaze in your clan right?" he asked. "Is he really as much of a brute as the other cats say he is?" The tom sounded idly curious about her clan mates, though not in a bad way. Just talking, like one would ask how a certain sort of prey tasted or if they thought another cat was pretty.

(*pokes total muse failure*)

[jayfeatherfan]

“Sounds great to me!” She said, sitting up and flicking her ear. She thought over her next answer carefully. Shadowblaze… she didn’t know him very well, the only time she talked to him was if he was sending her out on patrol or something. He did seem a bit ill-tempered, but not all together bad. “Shadowblaze is ok, he’s just easily aggravated, I think.” She said.
She looked up at the sun, which seemed to have moved quite a ways across the sky since she had left the camp. She was in trouble now… but it was worth it. Nonetheless, she hated to go back, but if she was gone much longer someone would come looking for her.
“Well, I guess it’s about time we both be getting back then.” She said, “But I’ll see you tomorrow night, at moonhigh.”

[Bear]

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