An Eye to Listen

[Gosh]

ooc| The Other? Clearly I've been missing something.

bic| "So.." Nightbreeze trailed off, glancing at the she-cat for a moment before clearing his throat. "I understand your ideas.. kind of," he meowed, still not wanting to be rude. Still hoping he could get this cat warmed up to him, convince him that one Clan was a better idea. "It's certainly nothing I've ever heard before. It sounds to me like you want there to be.. well, more than one Clan, with different ideals and different leaders. Did I understand you right?"

[Cloud]

OOC: I think, eventually, Darkfur actually will be persuaded into becoming a Clanner. He won't be any less annoying, though. -sighs- I hope someone kills him eventually, because he ticks me off.

Oh, and the Other is the violent and mean side of Rainstripe. ;-; Blame Grimykit.

TO BE EDITED:

BIC: This was going...somewhat well, actually. Not that he'd really achieved anything, but still, the fact that this cat was being polite and not immediately trying to chase him off, attack him, etc., was good.

"Well...you've got it almost all down, but you understand more than most cats ever bother to, thank you." The brown tabby said gratefully.

"I don't really want Clans...though I guess you could call them that...I just want cats to be able to live in peace and to be to listen to each other, but each group with its own code of morals, instead of a general code. The only permanent rule would be that killing was forbidden."

Darkfur was surprised to find the words had slightly more meaning than they'd had before. He found he did care - a tiny bit - about whether the cats around him were happy or not.

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe stayed crouched behind Frozenheart as she listened to their replies. Glaring at the Other in her mind, she stepped forward slowly, to present her ideas instead of its. She found herself terrified by the prospect of speaking in front of cats she didn't know. What if the Other took over while she was speaking? Hopefully that wouldn't happen, but just to make sure, she waited until it retreated into its mental corner to speak. "Well," she began in a wavering, terrified voice, "I don't think it's right to give one cat power. For one thing, power is very dangerous. Those who get it become crazed and maniacal and those who want it will do anything to get it. I think that if there was a leader they would spend a lot of time bossing us around, and even if they were a good leader, some cat would eventually want the position enough to kill them. And I don't think I could take any more killing." The last sentence was said in a barely audible whisper. If someone else got killed, she might lose her mind to the Other altogether. Just thinking about it made a chill run down her spine.
"Also. cats don't need to live in groups unless it's temporary, like a rat hunt. We aren't kits anymore. We don't need our mothers to take care of us, so why would we need other cats? It's better to live alone or with your family."

[Gosh]

"Well, rat hunts are a prime example of cats who may not know each other that well working together for a common cause," Nightbreeze began. "Now, I don't mean to assume things, but in my lifetime there have been many cats who assume the worst: that if a Clan - or Clans," he added, nodding at Darkfur, "were to form, their leader or leaders would be corrupt, or there would be fighting over the leadership position. But what I see many cats failing to realize is that yes, there may be risk, but the potential for greatness is too big not to try! If we're too scared to try to improve our society, then we will never get anywhere." After a moment, he added, "Though I have heard rumors of an experiment to test the wonders of a Clan. I definitely would like to find out about that."

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe thought that this explanation made sense, but a Clan was a completely different thing than a rat hunt. "A rat hunt and a Clan are very different things. In a rat hunt, cats work together to bring down large prey, and they bring the food home to their families. One cat always takes control, and the other cats allow this because they know that soon they won't have to follow that leader anymore. In a Clan, that leader would be leader until they died. Even in the best case scenario, a leader would always make some mistakes. Are we supposed to follow a cat when we know they're doing something wrong? And while a rat hunt may be a good temporary alliance, many cats are dangerous and can't be trusted to join a Clan. They might harm other cats, for one reason or another." The she-cat was shocked as she realized that she was, in some way, talking about herself. Of course, she'd never wanted a Clan but even if she had wanted to join there was no way she would expose vulnerable kits and elders to a ferocious, horrible thing like the Other.

[Cloud]

The brown tabby watched all of this with amusement, but calculation also filled his head. "But isn't it better to keep dangerous cats where you can see them?" He mewed. "Huh, an experiment. I have heard rumors of a rebellion to stop the experiment. Frankly, I would judge the Clanners to be the losing side, fortunately or unfortunately. See, that's why I like multiple leaders. they could keep each other in check and make sure none of them were becoming corrupted."

[Ten]

At the mention of his sister's stupid experiment, Frozenheart stiffened. He sent Nightbreeze a glare for taking interest in it and was disappointed when no one made a direct effort to dissuade the black cat from joining. Talking Clan was bad enough; more proactive attempts at forming one would be worse. He nodded at Rainstripe's words, but when Darkfur mentioned the rebellion, the large tom gave him a brusque shove with his shoulder, shooting Rainstripe a nervous look. He then smiled in a no-one-would-believe-that way, as if it were too good a rumor to be true, and hoped that if Nightbreeze did meet up with Woodstripe, he wouldn't pass along what he'd heard.

[Cloud]

Darkfur noticed that the strange white cat was smiling...why? Was he a con, or a Clanner? He'd almost forgotten the silent tom amidst all the discussion, but found himself becoming curious about him. He seemed to understand what cats said, but he could not speak. Strange...

"Excuse me, er....well, I don't know your name." He looked the white tom with slight embarrassment. "But I'm sure it's a good one! Anyway, what's your opinion on all of this? Do you believe in a Clan? Or are you a completely opposed con? Maybe you even believe in something different, like me." The brown tabby chattered excitedly, but stopped, anxiously hoping that the tom would respond.

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe looked nervously at the cats, shifting her gaze from one to the next. Only half of her mind was focused on understand what had been said and coming up with an intelligent sounding reply; the other half was focused on containing the Other, who was quite angry about all this Clan talk, especially the experiment. It paced her mind looking for a way to escape, but she blocked it firmly with a mental wall. /Please just go away!/ she cried, but it ignored her. It was something she'd have to put up with until it became uninterested. "He doesn't want a Clan," Rainstripe meowed, her voice quivering with a mixture of anxiety and fear, fear that she could not contain the Other or that Frozenheart would get angry and provoke it. "He's kinda like me in that sort of thing, a Clan just doesn't make sense it's like what I said..." her voice trailed off as the words stopped making sense even though they sounded good in her head. She had to stop trusting her mind, it was where the Other lived after all.

[Cloud]

This was annoying...why couldn't he get a word out of the tom, yet Rainstripe insisted upon blathering on? He wanted to talk to the white cat, not her. "How do you even know? He hasn't said a thing this whole time. Can he even talk? I mean, I've been perfectly civil and zilch. Zip. No words from whitey here about a-ny-thing. Not that he's not a nice cat, it's just...exasperating." Darkfur knew he was probably being rude, but he couldn't help it. This was just so weird, and gosh darn it he would know what was going on if it was the last thing he did.