A New Life (starts here) [Shortwhisker]

[riro44]

The old she-cat darted forward with surprising speed for her age. Her personality was also very surprising for her a cat her age, bubbly and friendly, but as she had never been around cats who would taunt her, she had an innocence about her that other elders just didn't have.

Sleetstream sat down on her haunches and rested her sore pads. She reflected on her past life, the one when her parents had been in it, protecting her from other harmful cats, as she had realized just recently. But now she would start a new life, one that she could control herself, and she would get to know every cat in the clearing.

Her head moved up slightly, as Sleetstream glanced around the enclosure for a near-by cat that she could talk to. She could feel her excitement bubbling over, almost overwhelming her.

[Ten]

A short, tuxedo tom ambled along through the middle of the enclosure, grumbling over his encounter with Darkfur. His head was low, his tail was low, and his voice was low. It was just one embarrassment after another for him, and there was nothing he could do about that. If only there weren't so many stoned cons, maybe he could have a better life. It was all their fault, and he wished more of them would die off.

Shortwhisker eyed the cats around him -- you never knew who was a con. They came in all sizes and colors. Anyone could be one. Even that old lady over there, grinning like an idiot.

"Hey!" he snapped. "Wh-what're y-you s-so happy ab-bout?" Growling, he approached her and gave her a hard stare. Ugh. She looked as cheerful as a kit. Maybe she was plotting something. Something against the Experiment. Against Spiderstripe. An infiltration. A coup. An assassination. There was no way he'd let her get away with this.

[riro44]

Sleetstream let her gaze wander to a tuxedo cat who appeared to be wandering in no certain direction. He saw her and turn his beady and fierce eyes to her and called, "Hey! Wh-what're y-you s-so happy ab-bout?" The tom approached her, glaring at her.

The gray-she cat shivered, all her happiness now vanquished. What was up with this cat, she wondered. Sleetstream looked up at the tom and gave him her angriest stare, which wasn't that angry at all. "What is wrong with smiling?" she asked innocently. She had no idea why the cat was behaving like this, all the other cats that she had ever met were nicer than this.

"What is your name anyway?" she asked lightly, her face returned to a more relaxed pose when the cat didn't jump down her throat again. "I am Sleetstream." The tom was probably wondering why a cat with scattered white hairs in her pelt that marked her age was behaving like this. In truth, Sleetstream didn't know either.

[Ten]

ooc| No need to recap what I posted, since it's right there above your post. And please don't post things like "her face returned to a more relaxed pose when the cat didn't jump down her throat again" because that's assuming he didn't, haha.

bic|


Shortwhisker stamped his foot. "L-lotsa things are w-w-wrong with s-smiling! You l-look like a c-cricket-b-brain, just st-standing there like th-that." He narrowed his almond-colored eyes and stepped closer to her, getting into her face. "You kn-know what? M-maybe you are a c-cricket-brain. Maybe y-you're a c-con. Are you? ARE YOU?"

[riro44]

occ; sorry it is my style. I won't do it anymore.


bic;

Sleetstream looked up to Shortwhisker, she couldn't even bear to look him straight in the face. Her expression was one of hurt, the way this cat was acting. "Smiling shows that I am happy and being happy is a good thing," Sleetstream whispered in her cowardly voice.

"And I am not a cricket brain. Or a con. I am a Clanner," the she-cat continued. She was a bit confused because she thought that the cat was a con, but he spoke as if being a con was a bad thing.

[Ten]

ooc| Thank you. By the way, it's ooc, not occ.

bic|


"A C-Clanner, huh?" he asked, as though suspicious that she might be lying. Her demeanor was unusual to him; Shortwhisker was so used to riling up anger and disgust that Sleetstream's drooped head gave him a strange sense of power. In the past, he had always played the opposite role -- timid, hurt, insulted, submissive -- to his mother's drills and accusations. Now he was in his mother's position. A position he didn't feel he deserved.

He eyed Sleetstream again, then lowered his hackles. "W-w-well t-try n-not to look like s-such a m-m-moron. We C-Clanners stand for g-great and noble t-tradition. L-look your p-part."

Taking a seat, he began to wash a white paw, wondering whether he should tell her about the Experiment. They already had plenty of cats, and they didn't need a stupid old elder. He couldn't resist commenting, "I b-bet I've done m-more for the c-cause of Clanhood in th-three days than y-you've d-done your wh-whole life."

[riro44]

Sleetstream guessed that she knew what he was talking about. She had heard a bits about the Experiment, and she guessed that this cat was part of it. The more Sleetstream had heard about it, the more she wanted to join the cause.

"I bet not," the she-cat replied in a teasing voice. "I am a full Clanner and my parents were to. In fact, I would like to join the Experiment. Do you know who I would talk to?" Sleetstream asked. "By the way, you never told me your name."

[Ten]

"W-w-well, you n-never asked m-me my n-name," he retorted, forgetting that she had, indeed, done so. He stood up and flicked his tail at her in peeved dismissal. "L-look, you p-prob-bably don't kn-know dirt ab-bout the Exp-periment, but if y-you're so int-terested, you c-can go t-talk to Sp-piderst-tripe or something. But w-we've already g-got enough eld-ders, okay? You're n-not exactly the w-world's f-future."

[riro44]

Sleetstream growled at his words, but was thankful that she now knew who to talk to. She turned to the tom, who still had not told her his name, and said, "Look I know I may not be the world's future, but I want to help."

Sleetstream then turned around, wanting to talk to Spiderstripe. Maybe this cat could take her to Spiderstripe, but probably not. The lithe gray she-cat turned around once more to face the tuxedo. "Look, maybe you could take me to Spiderstripe?" she asked excitedly, hoping he wouldn't turn her down.

[Ten]

"I c-could," he scoffed, his tone making it clear that he had no such intentions. "C-Can y-you ev-ven hunt? ...Look, I'm d-done w-wasting t-time with y-you. I n-need to find R-Redstream." As Shortwhisker stood and began to leave, he called over his shoulder, "And d-do yours-self a f-favor -- d-don't be a s-such c-cricket-brain."


ooc| Pot calling the kettle black.
Sorry this was so short; I couldn't come up with a reason for him to stick around.
They can meet again another time.