Palepaw's Prejudice.

[shadowmidna]

Palepaw slumped against a warm patch of wall, relishing the fact that today's hunt had actually been sucessful. The ginger she-cat had managed to catch a scrawny lizard; not much, but her belly was full.

Relaxing, and soaking up the warmth of the wood-and-rock wall on her back, Palepaw began to mutter the names of the many cons she had heard of in the enclosure. These were the cats she held in high regard.

"Darkclaw...," she muttered, "Mebbe Mothfoot... Frozenheart, Shadestream, Rainstripe, Beetlepaw... Grimykit."

Palepaw could not help but chuckle as she mumbled that tom's name. As she thought about these cons, her thoughts drifted toward what her father had apparently done, so long ago, to keep the Clanners in check. The she-cat felt sudden contempt toward the Clanners; she had an urge to go out and just do something about them.

"I should be out there..." she muttered, lashing her tail.

As she muttered to herself, a rather stupid cricket had wandered in paw's reach of Palepaw. Palepaw noticed the creature mid-sentence.

"...squashin' them Clanners like bugs!" she hissed.

As if to further accentuate her point, Palepaw brought a scarred paw down on top of the insect. It crunched under the force of her blow; the creature died instantly.

Chuckling to herself, Palepaw began to lick the dead bug's twitching remains off of her paw.

[Ten]

Passing by, Shortwhisker bristled as he heard her words and stopped in his tracks. "Wh-what d-did you j-just say?" He had to clarify, as what he thought she said was more than disturbing.

[shadowmidna]

Palepaw stood up, hackles raised at the passing tom who had questioned her. She glared at him with amber eyes as pale as her pelt.
"What does it matter what I says?" she questioned back, squinting at him. "You're not one of them Clanners, are ya? Huh?"
She willed him to answer her question. Because of her abnormally full stomach, Palepaw felt over-confident.

[moddy]

"'What does it matter what I says'?" The scrawny, dark brown tabby chuckled to herself, repeating the pale cat's own question, padding towards the two cats now. "Well, if I do say so myself, it does matter what you say. Unless you're a nasty, dirty, cricketbrained, stupid Clanner," she added, making sure to use her colorful vocabulary.

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe froze when she heard the voices of cats yelling about Clanners. Normally she would've run away, but maybe Beetlepaw and Frozenheart would come here. Maybe these cats were some of their other friends! There were three of them, a pale she-cat, a black-and-white tom, and a dark brown tabby she-cat. She would ask if they were part of the rebellion- they all seemed to be against the idea of a Clan, with the possible exception of the tom- and if they weren't, she could recruit them! That would surely make Beetlepaw and Frozenheart happy. But first she had to introduce herself to them. "I agree with you about those Clanners," she meowed, "this place would be better off without them!"

[shadowmidna]

Palepaw spat visciously at the newcomer. First, she had mocked her, and then she had practically accused her of being a Clanner. But, she had insulted the Clanners, which made Palepaw instantly interested in what this scrawny she-cat had to say for herself.
"I's no Clanner," hissed Palepaw, lashing her tail, "And by the ways ya just insulted them cricketbrains, I's gonna suppose you ain't a Clanner, neither." Palepaw nodded, as if agreeing with herself. "What's ya name, then?"

[moddy]

The brown tabby nodded towards Rainstripe. "Of course it would be," she said to the she-cat, who was, as a matter of fact, a familiar face - a cat from the Rebellion, no doubt. "But, hey again, Rainstripe," Beetlepaw said flatly; she had never been good with greetings.

"I didn't think you were a Clanner," the she-cat said smoothly, before ruining the maturity in the statement by added another comment, "duh. But, yeah, I'm not a Clanner, either, obviously." She hesitated before answering the next question, pondering something, but then nodded. "'M Beetlepaw. You?"

[Ten]

"Y-yeah, I-I'm a C-Clanner!" Shortwhisker whipped his head around to glare at Beetlepaw. "A-and it's c-cons who are all of th-those things, n-not Clanners!" He jumped and spun towards Rainstripe. "The enc-closure would be b-better off w-without you, lizardf-face!"

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe was startled; she hadn't recognized Beetlepaw until the she-cat had revealed her name. Well, at least Palepaw could be recruited. Embarrassed, she turned her attention to the black and white tom. "What's so good about a Clan, huh? Some cats may be scrawny, but at least everyone gets some food. With a Clan, the Clanners would get all the food they want which means there'll be less food for us. We who don't want a Clan would starve simply because we have different beliefs. It doesn't sound like an ideal lifestyle to me," she replied. Normally, such a speech was unheard of, but with Beetlepaw there, she didn't feel so intimidated by the strangers. Besides, the tom was stuttering, which either meant he was scared or had speech problems.

[shadowmidna]

"I's Palepaw," said Palepaw, replying to Beetlepaw's question. The ginger she-cat glanced at Rainstripe, then back at Beetlepaw. "It's good stuffs to meet cons like you kitties."

Palepaw nodded her approval to Rainstripe's speech. After the she-cat had spoken, Palepaw stood up and glared at Shortwhisker. She decided to show off her own little speech to this Clanner.

"Rainystripes, or whatever she's called, is right, ya know," she started. still glaring at Shortwhisker, "Clans is stupid things. Besides th' fact that us cons would get no foods if one was started, cats like meself would be treated like elders cuz of little problems like this!" Palepaw turned so Shortwhisker could get a clear view of her missing leg. "Yous Clanners would stuff cats like me with th' elders and forget about us!" She narrowed her eyes and hissed, obviously upset.