A Thief in Your Midst

[Ten]

It was a great day to be alive. Grimykit ambled with his tail in the air, having no place in particular to go. However, the smell of rat meat attracted his attention. He knew the kill must be recent, but he couldn't determine if the hunters had left any scraps or not. Why not find out? So the tall tabby swaggered right into the experiment's gathering, which Woodstripe had drifted away from, and nosed around for the loot.

[duckyaisha]

Dingypaw saw a young tom swaggering over to the rat kill and immediately knew what he was doing. She, of course, couldn't really do anything besides try and scare him away by pretending to be a corpse or something. But she was in the midst of a group of strong, able bodied young cats who'd want to protect their meat from a thief as much as she did. Hissing, she raised the fur on her spine in an attempt to look more threatening. Then she turned around and beckoned to Patchfur, who was pacing and muttering to himself.

Upon recognizing Grimykit, Patchfur dashed over to Dingypaw's side. He couldn't leave the elder to fight Grimykit; it'd be a slaughter. Standing firmly in front of the kill, Patchfur snarled at the tom. "What do you want?" he asked, though he knew perfectly well what he wanted.

[Ten]

ooc| o-o How does he know Grimykit is a murderer? It's not far-fetched to assume a roguish-lookin' guy like him would be trouble, but Patchfur acts like he knows his past. Maybe he's heard of him?

bic|

Grimykit blinked his working eye as he raised his head from the ground. Wrinkling his nose, he stared at the defensive little tom. "Um..." He paused to yawn. "I dunno. Tha's wunna them big questions in life, ya know? Oh, I 'spose I'd like ta have every rat and every molly in the walls ta m'self," he decided, using molly to mean young she-cats. "Yup, tha' sounds good. An' how 'bout you, Patches? Wudda you want?"

He sidestepped Patchfur to leer at Dingypaw. "Well, you ain't so young as ya usedta be, na'arya? Watchu doin' 'ere? Moochin' and beggin'?"

[duckyaisha]

Ooc: He meant that Grimykit would easily beat Dingypaw in a fight. Like if Michael Phelps raced me, it'd be a slaughter because he'd beat me so badly, the way Grimykit would beat Dingypaw. It's a metaphor.

Bic: Patchfur sighed, flicking his tail in irritation. "No, what I mean is what are you doing /here./" He swept his paw around to indicate the general area. "More specifically, what are you doing here looking like you're about to steal our rat!" Yellow eyes flashing with anger, Patchfur took a step forward, ready to fight, but Dingypaw held him back. "Let him make the first move," she mumbled in his ear. After all, when the leader came running, she didn't want Patchfur to be seen as the reckless one who'd attacked first.

A small smirk crossed her face; it would've been full-blown laughter years ago, but a smirk sent the same message and was easier. "If you think you're too proud to beg, well, then you're too stupid to live. Everyone's gonna be down on their luck eventually, and they're gonna haveta beg or starve. It ain't makin' me proud to do it, but you bet I'll beg if it means I can survive just one more day."

[Gosh]

Spiderstripe spotted the gathering of Clanners and quickly headed toward them. Had she been gone too long? She hoped no one would think badly of her. She was just a little late, that was all. And besides, it seemed that Redstream wasn;t there either, so she wasn't the only one. But maybe that wasn't a good thing..

She shook her head, trying to calm herself down. She was just being paranoid; nothing had probably happened while she was gone. As she got closer, she slowed her pace. It seemed there was a newcomer, which was good news. The first Experiment hunt had been a success, and the Experiment was still attracting more cats!

She padded over to greet the newcomer. "Hello there. I noticed you're new - are you thinking of joining the Experiment? I'm Spiderstripe, the leader," she meowed, smiling benevolently.

It was then that she noticed Grimykit. Not a good sign. She meowed apologetically to Dottedfoot, "I'll be right back," then quickly padded toward the con to see what he was up to.

"Excuse me," she meowed, a bit sternly. Unaware that Patchfur had just asked the same thing, she continued, "What do you think you're doing here?" The loathsome cat seemed to be missing an eye; well, he deserved it.

[Ten]

Grimykit titled his head at Dingypaw. So she thought he was being condescending, huh? Well, how simple-minded of her. He was better than that. He looked down his nose at her for her patronizing little anti-pride speech and decided to spite her, then and there.

"Spiderstripe!" the tom yelped, throwing himself at her paws. "Look at me! I ain't nothing but a boney lil' one-eyed boy, ain't asking fer much, but Patches and the ol' lady won't give me nothin'! They's actin' like I wuz gonna steal it er somethin'. All jus' cuz a this nasty scar, I bet! I can't help not having one eye," he pleaded, widening the green eye that remained. "Really, is it my fault I gots myself jus' one eye?"

[duckyaisha]

Dingypaw narrowed her eyes and glared at the blurry form of Grimykit. She assumed it actually was his fault he had one eye; one thing she knew was that scars were usually gained from vicious battles, battles that any cat with good sense would've retreated from before it got dangerous. She had lost her ear in such a fight, back when she was a hotheaded youngster. Her mate had managed to pull her away from the fight after that; lucky thing too, or she might've died.
"You probably lost it doing something stupid, like taking on a cat twice your size or running into a rock or a stick." She flicked her tail dismissively and moved on to another topic, "And we aren't going to give you any of this rat whether you have one eye or three eyes."

[Cloud]

OOC: Should I post here as Dotted?

[Gosh]

ooc| No, I'm the one who needs to post here. *shame*

bic|

Spiderstripe knew she had to choose her words carefully. If she was rude to Grimykit, he would probably make her out to be some kind of cruel leader - yet being benevolent would be just giving in to his begging. "Unfortunately, Grimykit," she meowed, "I know from experience that you have stolen meat that isn't yours before, so they have good reason to be suspicious. And I'll have you know that members of the Experiment, including myself, caught this rat for the members of the Experiment. I think you are probably able to get your own rat, Grimykit. Do you have a good reason why we should give you a bite of ours?"

[Ten]

ooc| Gosh returns~
...And poor Spiderstripe is trying to make a logical argument against Grimykit.

bic|

"Pfff. Ya dunno frum 'speriens nothin'," he scoffed, looking her over. She didn't look very old to him. "Now lookee here, I ain't done no stealin' and you ain't got no proof a yer wild ah-qu-za-shuns. Jus' what kinda Clan're ya runnin' here?"