I said, wake up! (a short post)

[spike]

The tom had been awake for a short while now. He cursed himself inwardly at his lateness but he was awake now so why not set to work? His tan-ish, gray tabby pelt was freshly groomed and, for once, he wasn't as grumpy. It was a nice morning, wasn't it? That didn't mean Slatepaw was getting out of training. The tom stuck his head into the den and cried out for Slatepaw.

When there was no answer for a second, he growled and called again. No answer. Finally, with a strong voice, he shouted, "I said, wake up! Slatepaw, are you coming to training?"

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Brackenpelt stalked out of Willowstar's den, a growl still in his throat. He held his head low and his eyes were narrowed, obvious tell-tale signs of agitation. Angry that Willowstar had humiliated him like she did, the only thing that calmed him down was knowing that no one else was probably listening in on them. Either way, Willowstar had disregarded everything he said and he couldn't stand thinking about it any more.

His dark eyes saw a familiar pelt, that of his brother, by the apprentices' den. Hmph, so he was trying to find his apprentice? Where was Rainpaw, Brackenpelt thought with another wave of irritation. Approaching the apprentices' den, Brackenpelt looked into the darkness and grumbled, "Is Rainpaw in there?"

[:c a i:]

Slatepaw emerged with a rather baffled expression on his face. He regarded his prickly mentor with wide eyes, wondering why he was being yelled at already. He had heard Falconeyes the first time he called, but in the twenty seconds it had taken him to get to the entrance of the den, Slatepaw found himself confronted with his mentor booming at him. Frowning, he looked up at him.

"Er... Hello, Falconeyes." He began. "I... Well, I don't think Shadestripe wants me to do too much... Not while my shoulder's still-" He gestured at his shoulder where the still-fresh wound was still stinging rather a lot. It wasn't too bad and he could still move about perfectly well, but he didn't think it was a very good idea to do serious battle training today. He could probably handle a light hunting trip or so, though he didn't think Falconeyes would be too happy about having any of his plans thwarted.

Looking sideways, he watched Brackenpelt searching for Rainpaw and decided it would be best to speak up and risk his ire. "I saw Rainpaw go out somewhere with Silverstripe." He meowed helpfully before he looked back at Falconeyes expectantly. Knowing him, he would probably still make Slatepaw do some kind of training since it wasn't like him to be soft on his apprentice.

[spike]

Falconeyes gave a short bow towards Brackpelt before his eyes landed on his apprentice. "You see fine," he muttered as his eyes examined his apprentice. "I don't see why training would be difficult. But you're lucky I'm in a good mood today. I was planning for hunting training in the first place. Some fishing wouldn't be a bad idea. But if you seem fine to me, don't think you're getting out of training that easily."

Glancing at his brother, Falconeyes gave another short bow. "Good bye, Brackenpelt," he muttered. It was his brother, probably one of the few cats that he felt were equal to him. Giving a look of determination to Slatepaw, the tom turned and started walking towards the camp entrance. "I'm not waiting for you," he called over his shoulder sternly.

[:c a i:]

Slatepaw looked at Falconeyes helplessly whilst thinking that Shadestripe would surely whack him round the ears if he tore open the shoulder wound again, but he was much more worried about what his mentor would do to him if he didn't train. So he padded after the grumpy tom haplessly, deciding to thank StarClan for small mercies and just do what he could with his shoulder. After all, he wanted to be a warrior, didn't he? Warriors didn't sit and lick their wounds all day. Some fishing would be good for him.

"I'm coming!" He protested, scampering to catch the big warrior up. He had nodded a brief, polite goodbye to Brackenpelt, being his mentor's brother, and found that he could move as he normally would, perhaps with a little more stiffness than usual.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Rainpaw wasn't there? She was with Silverstripe? Brackenpelt had to resist another frowl of frustration. "Yeah. Bye." he managed in a low, rough voice, glancing as Falconeyes left with Slatepaw. Great, he had nothing to do and he still couldn't find his apprentice. Lashing his tail, he padded away from the apprentices' den. No use in trying to find her. Only StarClan would know where she would be with that tom. She had to return sometime eventually. Brackenpelt lay down near the edge of camp and rested his head on his paws without a word.

[:c a i:]

((*Ahem*, how're Brackenpelt's heart-to-heart skills? Not good? Excellent. =D I'm imagining a scene of Dewleaf randomly forcing him to listen to her problems here... Exactly what he doesn't like. Muhaha.))

Tail drooping miserably, Dewleaf moved dejectedly through camp. Her pelt, once shining from a meticulous grooming earlier, was ruffled and sticking up from her constant, stressed licking and shifting about. Eventually, she had made her way aimlessly towards the edge of camp, head down so she couldn't see where she was going. It wasn't sensible, but she was too depressed to care about much. It was so unlike her to be in this state that she imagined she was nearly unrecognisable.

"Oomf..." Dewleaf collided with something solid and looked up disinterestedly. Oh. Brackenpelt. Any normal day and she would have been falling over herself to apologise, but today she just felt drained. Some part of her acknowledged that the tom didn't look to be in a much better mood than she did. Who had caused his irritation? "Brackenpelt. Sorry." She meowed gloomily. "Hope you're not looking for Rainpaw. Because you won't find her. Because she's with Silverstripe. Because she's a rotten, two-faced, best-friend stealing piece of..." Dewleaf trailed into a yowl of frustrated insults. "I mean, how could he do this to me? ME, of all cats! It's not like it's me who's got a problem. It's him! Do you know what I'm saying?" Not waiting for a response, Dewleaf continued in her rant.

"I've always had to come and cheer him up when he's being all grouchy. Why is he being so childish? Why?" Of all the cats Dewleaf could have managed to find to force to listen to her Silverstripe-troubles, Brackenpelt seemed one of the least likely. But she was on too much of a roll in letting off this steam to stop and realise that he would probably either run away or claw her ears off. "And now he's off with Rainpaw. Rainpaw! He doesn't even like her! He's just using her to get at me! What kind of a foxhearted piece of dirt does that?" She was almost hysterical, having had plenty of time to build up this frustration and finally letting it out.

((HAR HAR. Sorry, Brackenpelt. :3 Let's see how you handle her.))

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Brackenpelt was pulled roughly from his wandering thoughts as Dewleaf collided with him. Startled, he bared his teeth in the beginning of a hiss. But he didn't have a chance to respond at all before Dewleaf launched into a long vent. Something about her being mad at Silverstripe, but he didn't understand most of what she was talking about. He looked away, slightly paying attention. How he wished he could express himself like that. To let it out all at once. But that was something he didn't know how to do, nor wished to do, in some way.

As he indifferently listened to Dewleaf's rant, he confirmed that Rainpaw was with Silverstripe. That thought made him all the more aggravated, that she purposely avoided him even knowing he wouldn't be pleased about it. He didn't care to look for Rainpaw now. When she got back to camp he would deal with her. When at last it looked liked Dewleaf had begun to stop, Brackenpelt shifted his position and glanced at her through amber eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. Issues between his Clan mates about things like this were far from his field of interest. Frankly he only concerned himself with conflicts with other Clans and left the gossip and drama alone. "But if you see Rainpaw- or if you wish to go looking for her for that matter- tell her I want to talk to her." He said this, of course, assuming Dewleaf would just take what he said and walk away. He didn't know if she would leave yet for sure.

[:c a i:]

A funny expression made its way onto Dewleaf's face. Her brow twitched worryingly and she started to become rather bug-eyed as she stared at Brackenpelt, looking as if she was either trying to lay an egg or was about to explode. The latter occurred a few moments later as her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"GO LOOKING FOR RAINPAW? Were you listening to one single word I just said? WHY IN STARCLAN'S NAME WOULD I GO LOOKING FOR RAINPAW? Other than to claw her ears off for being a tom-stealing rat! You don't know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about Silverstripe being a mousebrain and Rainpaw being a piece of crowfood! Fat chance of me talking to her in a million, billion moons! In fact, we might as well just pretend I don't even know of a Rainpaw. Rainpaw who? I don't know Rainpaw. Psh! Rainpaw's just... So... And Silverstripe... Ugh... He... Ugh! Toms! Why are they all so dense?" Dewleaf half-shouted in a startlingly shrill voice. She then squinted at Brackenpelt and added in a slightly more normal tone. "No offence."

She paused for breath before resuming with as much gusto as before. "Well? You're a tom, aren't you?" Stupid question. "Well? You should know. Do you march around with bees in your brain all the time? Do you ditch your best friend in the world for random apprentices called Rainpaw? Honestly, did you know Silverstripe could be so... Ugh! It's not like I've done anything, is it? Is it? I didn't do anything! It's all him!"

Poor Brackenpelt. He was now faced with an adolescent she-cat in full rant about tom troubles. Presumably, he hadn't been expecting this when he had woken up, but Dewleaf had simply assaulted the nearest thing which resembled a pair of ears to listen to her woes and so had no intention of leaving the older warrior alone. Oh no, not until all her problems had been laid out and Brackenpelt offered at least one piece of advice. And it had better be good advice.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Brackenpelt closed his eyes and a low growl came from his throat as he was forced to listen to Dewleaf as she continued on. Deep inside, he felt the anger in him rise, little by little. But he settled with getting more and more annoyed instead. Listening to a new warrior's rant about whatever troubles she had wasn't enough to set him off but he didn't want to be sitting here taking it. She still wasn't leaving him alone, and Brackenpelt didn't know if she was mousebrained enough to think he would care about whatever she was angry about or if it was something else. But if she wouldn't let him be, he would make her.

"Leave me alone," he growled, sitting up. "Complain to someone else. I can't help you." Nor was he going to. Dewleaf could just as easily find another that was willing to help, another she-cat or something. Brackenpelt didn't care to get involved in that. He looked at her firmly, daring her to be stubborn enough to keep pushing him. He was just as stubborn, if not more.

((Haha, poor Dewleaf. Brackenpelt's being his usual mean self. xP ))

[:c a i:]

"See! That's exactly what I mean!" Dewleaf screeched, completely ignoring the obvious signs that Brackenpelt wanted her to leave. Or be swallowed up by the ground. She wasn't planning on doing either and rounded on the tom, her small frame stretched out as she glared at him. "All toms are so... So... Fluff-brained! You never see a tom coming up with good advice. Three of the four leaders are she-cats, so what does that tell you? That toms are mousebrained." Eye twitching rapidly, Dewleaf looked enraged enough to start a forest fire.

"That's it, I'm never going to have a mate. Ever. Who needs toms? Psh. She-cats would be happier without them. All they do is let you down and eat your fresh-kill." With a huffy sniff, Dewleaf glared even harder at Brackenpelt, as if he were to blame for all her troubles.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

It was surprising Brackenpelt still had some patience left, for he still hadn't lost it. Or maybe he knew better than to explode on a Clan mate who hadn't done anything to him and was only annoying him. Letting out another heavy, irritated sigh, Brackenpelt merely rolled his eyes and looked away from her, watching Puddlepelt and Spottedfur enter camp. He smelled blood; what had happened? Shadestripe would probably be coming out soon, he guessed, having seen the medicine cat go into Willowstar's den earlier. Now resorting to only acknowledging Dewleaf with a flick of the ears, Brackenpelt stayed laying where he was.