Ruined Feast }{ -Tag: Cai/Shadetooth

[spike]

With the weather growing colder, her fear grew tighter. She was beginning to wonder if she would ever find her father or mother. The she-kit sighed and looked into the water, tilting her head at the way the fish darted away from her shadow. Was her shadow that scary to them? Well, she had seen lots of cats come to this river and swat the fish out of the water, so maybe they had the right to be scared. Thankfully she had stayed out of the water and was dry this time around when wandering into RiverClan territory. The last time she was here, she could clearly remember mistaking that odd tom for her father. What was his name? She recalled that he had told her, but Eve had very little memory of what it was. All she knew was that those yellow eyes reminded her of her father but would never be her father. The she-cat left the water’s edge to turn towards a grouping of plants that lined the shore or came close enough to it.

Eve sniffed at a few plants, contemplating which ones would settle her stomach. She couldn’t hardly decide though. Some were berries, some were leaves, some were flowers with delicious smells to them. Surely one would be good to eat, wouldn’t it? Eve frowned and sat down, feeling no more the better at her empty stomach than her lonely situation. If only she had company. Well, best to worry about the first issue ahead of her. Food. She was no more of a hunter now than she was at birth so that was out of the equation. The little kit tilted her head at a plant, eyeing the red berries with interest.

Berries were food! She could eat some of these! The tortoiseshell youngster carefully pulled a few off and set them at her paws. “Well, I guess this is it. Food is food.” Her stomach churned at the idea of eating berries the rest of her life. After all, a cat had to have meat, not this. ‘When Blacky finds me, he’ll bring me a nice mouse to eat. Yes, then I’ll have a good meal!’

[/color] The little kit bent her head down to the small group of berries she had clustered and was prepared to take one, unaware of its true identity.[/blockquote]

[:c a i:]

One day, he would confront Mottledfur and her irritating habit of using up all the coltsfoot he possessed just to make her paw pads silky smooth. One day, he would demand she fetch her own herbs if she wanted to use up that much for such a banal reason, and good luck to her getting all the way to the waterfall. One day he would stop this nonsense.

Of course, Shadetooth knew that day was unlikely to come any time soon, because he just didn't want to risk the old she-cat trying to link her tail with his, or to wink at him when he was treating her for ticks. Or to lick his face when he wasn't looking.

Again.

Sadly, that meant he had to traipse out to the waterfall yet again so he could pick more of the yellow and white flowers before leafbare completely snuffed them out. Why couldn't that old bat just behave herself? Almost every cat in the Clan was too awed, or just plain afraid, to touch his herb supplies without permission, but no. She helped herself. So off he went, having grumbled his intentions to Ivypaw, and stalked out towards the waterfall without speaking to anyone else, his no-nonsense stride the usual picture of misanthropy and irritability. He collected what he needed efficiently, securing the plants in a tight bunch and locking his jaw around it, marching back the way he had come without delay. He was busier than ever these days.

Any memory he had of a small orange and black kit wandering onto the territory was long since buried in responsibility, medicine and stressful preparation. He had far too much on his plate getting ready for a bitter leafbare and the dark times that seemed to loom over all their heads to wonder whether lost strays got home safely. It was no wonder he had all but forgotten the odd encounter he had had not long before.

So when he saw a small shape nosing at a patch of bushes he had snappily declared totally, completely, utterly and wholly off-limits to everyone except me, it did not register as anything familiar or unfamiliar. All he knew was that ice slithered into his veins, and like the warrior he had once expected to be, he reacted like lightning. The coltsfoot was flung aside, scattering wildly, but Shadetooth cared little. He charged towards the small shape, rage and panic sweeping its way onto his face as he snarled "No!"

[/b][/color]

He was at the creature's side in seconds, swiping a paw out and striking, but instead of knocking the berries aside he hit the kit, bowling her over before she could take her first sip of death.

"You little fool!"[/color] he roared, inspecting the cluster of vibrant red berries and confirming that the wretch was about to unknowingly forge a path straight to whatever the kittypet equivalent of StarClan was. Disgusted, Shadetooth slashed at the soft earth beside the bushes and gouged out a furrow deep enough to thrust the deathberries into, covering them and concealing them from sight and smell. Only then did he take a look at who it was who had nearly cost herself her own life.

"You!"[/color][/i][/blockquote]

[spike]

Eve squeaked and watched in horror when a dark tom leapt from his place and cried out at her. His smack sent her tumbling backwards, hitting the ground on her stomach. The kit mewled in despair when her food was taken and buried hastily.
“My- my food!” she exclaimed out of instinct. Now her stomach was very much disappointed when it knew it would not get fed this way. The kit cringed back at the explosive tom’s voice, cringing back and lowering her head to avoid making eye contact with him. He was scary to her and she hated being yelled at. Orange eyes looked up, widening when she recognized that face and scent. Not Blacky but that weird cat. That tom… Shadow? Shade? Shade, yes. “I-I-I’m sorry,”

[/color] she stammered in a whisper. “I was hungry! I didn’t know that was your food!”

Why did Shade have to be so scary? Eve buried her nose into her paws, already dreaming back to when she was home. Then all she would have would be her mother, father, and siblings. A full belly every night. A warm bed. Why couldn’t she be there? “Please,”[/color] she begged, trying not to cry. She had to be strong in front of Shade. “I-I’m just hungry. I need food.”[/color] The kit raised her head slightly up to the giant tom before her, eyes shining with hopefulness that he would drop his frightening exterior and help. “I haven’t eaten in a long time… S-S-Shade…. Please?”[/color] She had used his name! The loner really hoped he wouldn’t be angry about that. [/blockquote]
(e_e Sorry for this bad post.)

[:c a i:]

"It wasn't my food, you stupid creature,"

[/color] Shadetooth snapped bad-temperedly, his glare still ferocious. "It's not anyone's food, except the stupid and the downright suicidal!" He sighed inwardly, knowing there was no point in shouting words she wouldn't understand. He eyed her with vague irritation, his lip curling as the immense bubble of anger slowly receded. Quite quickly he felt almost sorry for the little wretch, and rather guilty for yelling when she was sitting there looking so pathetic and terrified. But who did this kit think he was? Some kind of surrogate father? He had enough problems with the kits in his own Clan, as well as the nightmarish disasters that kept striking them all. This scrap of ginger and black fur was just another misfortune befalling him! StarClan be damned; what was he supposed to do with it? Ignoring her pathetic mewls about being hungry, he eyed her severely, a snarl reappearing at the use of the word Shade. He cringed inside, wondering how the little brat even knew half his name, since he didn't recall ever letting it slip. He hoped nobody else ever got wind of it.

"I told you not to come back to this land! Go back to your mother. Go back to your kittypet home. You don't belong here,"[/color] he growled, though his voice was significantly less loud and harsh now. He tried to curb the annoyance, reminding himself that it was just a midget of a kit who didn't know better, and that the fastest way to get rid of her would be to persuade her to just go home. And he certainly wanted to be rid of the nuisance before he ended up getting inextricably involved in its bothersome existence. "If you're hungry, then go home. This is not your world, kid."[/color]

This world was one that would eat a little lost kit alive. It would be better for everyone if she just went back to where she came from so he could pick up the scattered remains of the coltsfoot that now fluttered in the breeze and go back to camp. How would he ever explain it away if anyone realised he had met a lone kittypet kit not once, but twice, and failed to report it? No, he decided. It would have to go back to where it came from, or they were both in trouble.[/blockquote]