Is It Bad I'd Like to Live Again?

[Ten]

"Dottedfoot, do not be ashamed for revealing this to us. I too thought that Frozenheart -- my brother of which I spoke -- was raised to know better. However, I doubt he will try to talk to us any time soon," she remarked, with a chuckle at her own inside joke. "When cons convert, though, we shall welcome them."

She turned her attention to the tom. "Warmth is a commodity, Littlestorm. During the night, Clanmates will share it with Clanmates, as they do with prey. This does not require taking a territory or setting up boundaries -- only when the cons create trouble enough to leave no other option will it come to that.

"Now I would like to answer your question, Dingypaw, in saying that I do not know any cats I hate beyond belief, but if I were to, I do imagine I should enjoy knowing I would no longer hear their voices directed at myself. I will do as you say, and not worry about cons. You are right. They will come to understand."

[Cloud]

"I'm not ashamed, I just...I don't know." She muttered, orange eyes looking at the sand. She never really had quite worked out how she felt about having a half brother who was a con. There was the surprise, of course...but she was over the surprise now. It was almost unreal somehow...she remembered, whenever she saw Drabheart, her full sister.

Nightfur. But he was nothing like her beloved sister, nothing at all. He was a con, she had not grown up with him, she barely knew him at all. Yet they were kin. He was younger and fit, she was old. They were so alien to each other...yet connected on a fundamental level. Dottedfoot could see in the tabby tom the same drive and ambition she and Nightfur had once had - except for the wrong reason.

Maybe because of that, she could convince him to become what he had once been. The elder began to see how it might be done.

[duckyaisha]

"We need to somehow convince the cons that having a leader and working together isn't such a bad thing. Now, some'll be easier to convince than others, but they'll all come around eventually. We just need to tell them what they're missing. Talk to their stomachs. Tell them about the food benefits. Working together means we'll- well, the warriors, not me- hunt more large prey like rats. No one'd turn down an offer of a rat every day! At least, I wouldn't," Dingypaw meowed as loudly as she could, though it was still a ragged croak.

Actually, she had another motive for trying to get cons to join the Clan, one that was more selfish. Most cons were young and strong; they'd have to be to survive on their own. They were excellent hunters and skilled fighters. If more cons joined the Clan, there'd certainly be more food to go around, and more for her.

In fact, if the Clan hadn't traditionally fed its elders, she wouldn't have become a Clanner in the first place. It may have been selfish, but it was for survival. In her mind, it wasn't that she wanted to join a Clan, it was that she had to join a Clan. Dingypaw had been barely surviving for more seaons than she could count, and each time the weather changed, her hunting got worse and worse. She became weaked, more fragile. If a Clan wans't formed soon, she might not see the next dark season. What was driving her words, what was driving her to help bring this Clan to life, was her survival instinct. Dingypaw was good at surviving, and she would take every opportunity she could get to keep on doing just that.

[Ten]

ooc| Continued here.