everybody wants their own little kingdom.

[Thistle]

A stocky, gray tabby paraded around a small spot next to the wall, his tail waving in the air. A little pile of dead animals sat underneath a low ledge. It consisted of an old, gristly bat, some crickets, a half-eaten rat, and a tiny lizard. All of them, except for the crickets, had been scavenged from the ground, but Dullpaw looked as proud as anything. He drew a semi-circle on the dirt for his 'border', and leaped onto the ledge.

Now to make this place his place. In other words, make his territory 'official'. He cleared his throat importantly and meowed loudly to anyone who bothered to listen, "This land is now owned by meh, Dullpaw, an' 'oever goes across this bordah' will, I assure ya, be split open. Unless ya wanna join meh Clan. Thank ya very much and 'ave a good day."

This done, he lay down and lazily began to groom himself, taking care to lick all the dust off his dirty pelt.

[duckyaisha]

The sun didn't seem to know that it was the dark season during the heat of the day. Dingypaw's dark grey fur was burning up, and the fact that she would've killed for food (If she had the physical power to do so.) didn't help. Each step made her ache with exhaustion. She was definitely not a young cat anymore. Hunting was challenging, but hopefully she could manage to con some stupid cat out of their food.

Thankfully, she spotted a stupid cat up ahead and heard his words. A smirk crossed her muzzle as they sank into her head. Stealing from him would be simple. The ragged elder never thought she'd be glad to see Dullpaw, but in terms of brainpower he was about as intelligent as a squashed cricket. The perfect target.

Now was the hard part, the part that would make her insides recoil with disgust. She had to suck up to Dullpaw, make him think she was desperate and willing to join his Clan. She shuddered at the thought, but her rumbling stomach convinced Dingypaw to go through with her plan. She shook a little sand in her fur and pulled at it with her teeth until it looked unkempt. Adopting the pose of a cat in desperate need of pity and more importantly food, she dragged herself over the crudely drawn line that marked his territory.

"Dullpaw!" she gasped, thankful for the rasping voice that made sound as if she had was dying of thirst. "I have gone for days without food or water and I am desperately in need of both. Please let me join your Clan," she begged, staring wistfully at the pile of tempting prey.

[Darky [Megan]]

ooc
Bahaha, I couldn't stop giggling at Dingypaw's perception of Dullpaw's intelligence. xDDD -useless post is useless- That's one awesome elder. When I grow old I'm going to seize to opportunity to act like a classic cranky grandma.

[Thistle]

At the sound of someone's voice pleading for acceptance into his Clan, the tom thrusted his chest out and looked down onto the pitiful elder. Lucky for Dingypaw that he was unable to penetrate her veiled words. Grinning, he meowed, "'Course! As long as ya serve meh foreva', though. Ya can go inside the borda' now. 'Cept this ledge is fer meh onle', so dun' even think abou' tryin' to climb up 'ere."

How smoothly his plan to form a Clan of his own was going! A spunky kit had already joined, and now an elder! He only needed a couple warriors and maybe an apprentice, and the rest of his days would be spent lazing around, having the time of his life.

[duckyaisha]

"Thank you," she gasped, and crossed to the fresh-kill pile. The disgusting smell of ancient prey made her mouth water. Before Dullpaw could say anything, she devoured the rat and even forced herself to eat the bat. Real meat. The taste was so delicious, so much more satisfying than simply insects and lizards. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten a rat. Belly full, she decided to try and figure out a plan of escape. Dull-witted as he was, he could catch her if she tried to run off. She could always trick him, but not now. She had to rest for a while.

[Thistle]

"Hey hey hey! Whoah, ya can't eat all of meh prey without askin' the leada' furst, ya know." Dullpaw's eyes widened at the rapid reduction of his fresh-kill pile. "But, uh, ya can jus' sleep fer now. Then we can go huntin' lata' on, 'kay?" The gray tabby looked disgruntled, but promised himself that when the old she-cat had rested up, they would go catch some more prey together and hopefully recruit some more cats.

[duckyaisha]

"I'm sorry, leader Dullpaw, but I was just so hungry," she replied with false remorse, using the title of leader to gain some approval. She didn't want to hunt, but she was sure she could somehow get out of it when the time came. Or he would see just how useless she was at it and make her go back. It might be better if she went on the hunting expedition though. If Dullpaw got distracted, it would be easy for her to run away.

[Brain]

Shadowpaw wasn't very hungry for once. Now that she had a mentor, she was doing okay. Although Beetlepaw hadn't had time to teach her much...

What was that? Some cat standing on a ledge. Looking up, Shadowpaw didn't see the line that she was crossing. "W-what are you d-doing?" she asked.

[duckyaisha]

Dingypaw winced, knowing that the innocent she-cat was in for a verbal, if not physical, attack from Dullpaw. "Step back," she growled warningly. Though she was old and mangy, she was hopefully still threatening enough to scare off a young cat like the one who had unknowingly put herself in danger. She didn't want to intimidate random she-cats, but it was the only way for her to stop her from being attacked. "You just crossed Dullpaw's territory line. He'll start slashing at you if you don't back off."

[Brain]

Shadowpaw looked down to see a line in the sand. She quickly ran across it, then turned around and walked back until she was standing just outside of Dullpaw's "territory." "What are you doing?" she asked again.