Staring.

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

Together as usual, two young kits of ebony hues sat side by side in front of the nursery entrance, a steady silence settled between the pair. They never talked for long, mainly because speech only caused them to enter and exit arguments again and again, a procedure that got quite tiring after the thirtieth or thirty-first time. And so they sat, alone and with each other, not a single mew or whisper of a phrase reaching outwards toward the other to break the calm, comforting time of quiet.
The soft, almost pleading gaze of piercing orange that the small, wiry female possessed was boring into the bruised platinum figure of the high and mighty moon, the unblinking stare making itself insistent as she continued looking upwards, petite features of onyx tones orientated towards the star-sprinckled heavens. If that silver facette crippled with holes had been well and truly alive, the ardent star of the young she-kit would have made it quail and glance away nervously, so intense was the fierce interest in the fiery depths of those molten orbs.
The quieter, more steely oculars of crystal-lined ashen pearl adorning the bigger, more muscular male's sockets wandered over the expanse of the camp, something quite far and wide compared to the tiny size of the youngest felines, pausing slightly as if hardly caring what the tom was looking at every few seconds on either a warrior, or the dark entrance of a den, of the deepening shadows of the camp's barrier as the night moved on in its silent vigil. Small face turned slowly and deliberately this way and that, taking in every detail of the male's surrounding with an absent, aloof expression on ebon features. It was as if he was trying to watch the world without looking as if he was doing it, spy on the birds in their nests or the mice in their den without them noticing him. Though not as prying as his companion's stare, his own cold, hard gaze made many unnerved.
And on they stared, moving slightly, tails flicking from side to side, like two miniature statues of crumbling earth. Waiting for something. Something to happen.

[Rosepaw]

Rosepaw had just finished a day of training and saw the two kits staring up at her. "Hey, kits. What's up?" she asked them. "It must be hard waiting to be an apprentice." Rosepaw knew from experience how hard it was to wait. "But you'll have a mentor before you know it." She sat down and studied the pair carefully. The smaller of the two, a female, was staring up at Starpelt with an almost wistful glance. "Looking at our ancestors?" asked Rosepaw quietly. "My father is up there." She thought she saw a flicker of interest in the she-kit's eyes, and so she continued. "He was killed. By a badger." Rosepaw blinked back tears. "I wasn't much bigger than you two." The bigger kit, a tom, was looking out at the camp with an almost vacant expression. "What are your names?" she asked the kits. Rosepaw flicked her tail as she waited for their answers. Kits were so cute! She really liked these two already, because they had patience she lacked.

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

At the apprentice's first questioning phrase, no feline made a move. They kept perfectly still, rigid as the stones rearing up from the ground in the center of the camp, silent as a deceased cat's grave. Cinder, the ebony male of muscled build, locked his cold, steely gaze upon a leaf drifting gently on a fresh breeze, following its every slight change, twirling, leaping, swooping through the air like a swallow in the clouds. The small piece of a tree's foliage finally disappeared from sight through the rushes surrounding the camp, vanishing inside the rustling stalks like a rabbit leaping into its den, or a hatchling creature of avian qualities sensing danger outside and lowering its head to peep from behind the rim of its nest. Disinterested in what was happening in the penetrable wall of stiff strands, the young tom turned his head away from their bending figures to stare instead at a snail slowly inching its way along at the edge of the camp.
Meanwhile, Darkness, the tiny she-kit of wiry form, went on fixing the moon high above her spherical head, both ears of onyx hues sticking up like quiet radars from the top of her skull, tiny paws firmly planted upon the ground with a vice-like grip, intent on ignoring the creature who had interrupted their vigil. It was a sort of... tradition for the two siblings, sitting her without a single whisper passing between them, still as stones, without moving a muscle - or, at least, not deliberately. And now this apprentice had come and crushed their ritual of that night into the ground. This did not make them especially sociable.
However, a continued stream of questions then escaped the older feline's maw, filling the silence once again, halting the thoughts of the two younger cats quite abruptly. Cinder cast an angered glare in Rosepaw's direction, a slight frown bending his brow inwards like an arrow inside the earth of his forehead. Darkness still fixed the sky, but her gaze was slowly changing its orientation, edging towards the newcomer with adequate speed for her rising temper. Both shadowed amber eyes then began fixing Rosepaw instead of the moon far away, their intensity difficult to get out of your mind, often making the one they settled upon cringe in nervousness. But still, younger felines had to respect their elders [even if they were not better], and so both kits gave a small shake of their head, still respecting their rules for the vigil until it was over. Which, to tell the truth, it would soon be. The snail they had spotted earlier was like a marker for the beginning and end of their ritual, and it had almost reached the edge of the camp. Cinder moved his gaze back from the apprentice to the slow creature, as if willing it to go faster so they could finally speak.
The rest of Rosepaw's one-sided conversation passed on until an unavoidable question came to. Names. What were their names? That was easy.
"My name's Cinder," the raven tom mewed suddenly. The snail had disappeared from sight. "And this is Darkness," he continued, waving a paw at his immobile sister, who was still intently staring at the older feline. Then he stopped his speech, tightly closing his mouth, and turned back to survey the camp. The female apprentice wouldn't be able to get much out of them.

[Rosepaw]

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, Cinder and Darkness," said Rosepaw, blushing slightly under Starpelt's light. These kits seemed so distant! Had she said something wrong? Rosepaw sat brooding for a while. Why were they so distant? Summoning up her courage, Rosepaw dared to ask them, "How come you two don't want to talk? Did I say something wrong?" She watched them carefully, and decided maybe they didn't like her. She had nearly talked the ear off of her mother when she was their age! Maybe there was something wrong with the kits... No, Rosepaw decided that maybe they were just quiet. "How old are you?" The question hung in the slightly chilly and damp night air. Rosepaw sighed. Would she ever get more than a few sentences at once? How did they just sit there like two bumps on a log? So still, and so quiet, for kits. They would probably make good hunters when they grew big enough.

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

Darkness blinked quietly in answer to Rosepaw's new greeting, one of the two eyebrows adorning her features ascending slowly up the lithe she-kit's stony forehead, a questioning expression of slightly scornful proportions replacing the insistent blankness that had taken over her facial appearance for a few fleeting moments as she stared at the apprentice's babbling maw. Then she turned away suddenly, cranium flicking to the side to gaze upwards, dark orange oculars once again placed upon the spherical form of the silver moon in the dark indigo hues of the great heavens. The other female didn't interest her any more.
Meanwhile, Cinder had shifted another time, cocking an eyebrow at the oldest feline of the three as a new inquiry left her open mouth. He transfered silver-blue oculars back to the camp, as if pondering what to answer to the she-cat's excessive amount of questions, and then swiveled around sharply to face the one who had intruded upon their strange ritual vigil. Jaws parted smoothly, revealing the sharp studs of new teeth poking from the bright pink gums of the young tom, as tongue flowed back and forth, or side to side, against the roof of his mouth to form the syllables and consonents that would direct the cat's voice into understandable speech.
"Yes, you did. You said many things wrong. Good enough?"
Ebony head tipped to the side, a strange mixture of obvious displeasure and curiosity clearly displayed inside the shining platinum depths of his sterling oculars, the young tom-kit went silent again. Rosepaw would have no respite from this stubborn quietness until she went away and came back at a better time, where the two siblings would not be busy with their rituals and daily matters. Not a peep would escape neither of the two's mouthes unless the question or statement asked was one they could answer with sarcasm or mock, and even then Darkness would probably not let a syllable pass her lips. She was one of few words already, and even less to the felines who annoyed her.

[Rosepaw]

Rosepaw's patience had just about worn thin. "Sorry!" Rosepaw snapped at the kits. She flicked her tail angrily at them. "When I was your age, I liked to have visitors." She glared at the two conceited kits. How infuriating could kits be? They were so rude and distant. She would hate to be their mentors. She could tell that they wanted her to leave. And she was not about to let them win. She planted herself firmly next to the kits and glared at them through icy blue eyes. This was a battle of wills, and Rosepaw knew she would come back day after day until these kits learned some manners! She thanked StarClan that at least it was not too cold out. All she needed was for these kits to see her shiver and think it was from fear rather than the cold. They would, and Rosepaw was not quick to judge other cats. But she did not like these kits very much at all.

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

Cinder, still sitting there with an insolent smirk upon his fuzzy features, flicked his tail savagely back at the apprentice, intent on smacking her across the leg with the little stumpy thing, even though he knew he wouldn't succeed. He slipped his tongue impudently out, ebony maw wrinkling upwards as he bared the gleaming tips of new fangs, hissing fiercely at the she-cat. Darkness, now extremely interested in matters with the older feline, turned her cranium round to face her just as she had moments ago, intense orange eyes boring into the female's rounded skull. The hint of an amused smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she watched her brother getting all spitty and hissy at the opposing cat, knowing that he was always too short-tempered for his own good. Then, deciding to intervene and finally speak to that unworthy apprentice, but making sure that an obvious and impressive amount of sarcasm and mocking scorn was making her voice drip with despise and complete loathing, the lithe, sly-eyed she-kit opened an onyx-hued maw, letting words slip past her ivory-white milk-teeth for the very first time since the beginning of their exasperating encounter with the eldest female.
"When you were our age, we probably weren't born. What's the point in saying something if it doesn't add to the current point? We're not you, just if you hadn't wanted," she added, being careful to add an extra dose of extreme contempt to her already jeer-filled tones, raven audit twitching casually on the top of her skull as she let the disdainful pronounciation escaped her mind and sounded out into the nocturnal air. Even if this annoying apprentice kept on coming every night, she would keep on making her angrier and angrier, baiting her just to see her seethe with rage. It was great fun, observing at a cat who looked as if the top of their head was going to blow off and steam would soon be spouting out from their ears or something, and was actually one of her chief sources of entertainment.
As soon as the older female plonked herself next to the two youngest felines, Cinder settled back down into a relaxed sitting position, ashen gaze staring as intently as his sister's at the she-cat's head. They wouldn't give up, even if it meant stopping their rituals for a few nights.

[Rosepaw]

Suddenly, Rosepaw had an idea. "I'll be right back," she said. She ran over to the Warrior's Den. Amberwind was sharing tongues with another warrior. "What is it, Rosepaw?" she asked as she looked up at the panting apprentice. "It's these kits, Cinder and Darkness," answered Rosepaw. She blushed slightly as her mentor gave her a puzzled glance. "You should come see them." Amberwind nodded. She stretched and left the other warrior, who was retreating to his den. Rosepaw ran back to the nursery. Amberwind easily surpassed her apprentice and settled down where the kits would not be able to hear them at all. "What is it about these kits?" Amberwind was curious to know why her apprentice looked so flustered. "They're really rude," said Rosepaw. "I was trying to talk to them, and they would not answer. So then I asked them if I said anything wrong. And that Cinder said, 'Yes, you did. You said many things wrong. Good enough?' So I decided I was not going to let them win. And I decided to come and get you." She looked at her silent mentor. "Is that all right?" Amberwind sat silently for what felt like forever to Rosepaw. Rosepaw was just wondering if maybe her mentor had fallen asleep. But then Amberwind asked a question. "Why are they so annoying? They're bored." She sat up and looked at her apprentice with mischief in her eyes. "I want to meet these kits." She stretched again and nodded to Rosepaw. "I would have been mad, too." Rosepaw felt relief stretch from the tip of her tail to her ears. "Let's go," said Amberwind. Rosepaw ran over with her mentor. The kits were still sitting in front of the nursery. Rosepaw felt an introduction was needed. She took a deep breath and nodded to Amberwind. "This is my mentor, Amberwind." What else could she say? "She's fought in many battles." The kits did not look interested. This was harder than she had thought. Would they be rude in front of a warrior and break that part of the Warrior Code?

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

As Rosepaw padded off to the warriors' den, the two siblings exchanged a conspirative glance, snickering quietly as insistent gazes kept fixed upon the retreating figure of the apprentice she-cat. It had been the wrong move to do, running to older felines to solve her problems and looking like both a complete idiot and an utter coward, something which was considered quite lowly by the ebony pair, and now Cinder and Darkness would have plenty of things to tease the female with, and prod her anger into a blaze once again. Especially since they could both see her now, leading a warrior [That's her mentor, Amberwind, if I remember right, Darkness thought to herself, smirk getting larger] to a place where they could be unheard. That whiny little piece of pathetic fur was probably going to complain about the 'terribly rude' kits, jabbering on and on about how they were mean, and stupid, and annoying, et cetera. Or, at least, this was the thought present in both the cats' heads, ringing like a bell of good omen through their minds.
Both were slightly surprised when, only a moment later, the apprentice and the mentor slipped back from their spot, heading towards them, though they did not let it show in any section of their now blank features, wanting to be ready for anything that could be said next. And, sure enough, it was Rosepaw who spoke first, introducing the feline training her in a way that sounded slightly like boasting, but may also seem threatening. Fought in many battles? That was like a plain menace to the little felines, inexperienced in the art of battle. But all that Darkness showed was complete disinterest in the situation, rolling her fiery oculars in their sockets as she stared off in a new direction to point out that she was now going to entirely ignore any feline speaking to her, including the mentors of irritating female apprentices, and Cinder only raised one onyx-hued eyebrow over half-closed orbs in an obvious gesture of impatience. A silence settled between the small quad of cats, two kits, an apprentice and a mentor, while the youngest pair kept their maw tightly closed, and then was broken by the words dripping scornfully from Cinder's vocal chords.
"So, she's not only an exasperating cat, but also a coward. Pha. If she was my apprentice [and I know she isn't, so no comments on that, please], I would be ashamed. Can't even take care of her problems by her own self. Pathetic," he finished, spitting the word out with distaste, as if it had been a rotten bit of prey lodged between two of his gleaming milk-teeth. Darkness has turned again, both eyebrows raised as another smirk spread upon her sly face, plainly scorning the apprentice facing them. Not a single pronunciation about the warrior passed their lips, so they were not truly showing any disrespect to the eldest female, but, in a far-off way, they were not being entirely nice, either. Hinting about an apprenticeship not being trained rightly was not a compliment. But still, Amberwind couldn't directly acuse them of discourtesy, which was something the siblings were very satisfied with.

[Rosepaw]

Amberwind saw immediately what had bugged Rosepaw so. "She is not a coward!" she hissed, refraining from calling the two kits mouse-dung. Rosepaw sat in silence. The kit's remark had stung, as she was sure it had meant to. These kits were shrewd, there was no doubt about that. But there had to be a way to defeat them! "Rosepaw is both clever AND polite, which is more than you two could ever say." Amberwind paused to let her message sink in. "And you are supposed to respect cats older than you." Rosepaw twitched her tail in sullen anger. "Or do you two have no respect for the Warrior Code?" Amberwind glared at the pair of kits. "Because if you do, I shall make sure that Taintedstar is aware of this." Rosepaw sighed. Amberwind was doing her best to defend her, but she knew the kits would think of something else rude to say. Like, the weak apprentice has to have other cats fight her battles for her! She had to think of something to say to those kits, and fast. But what could an apprentice say that would make these cats listen? Suddenly, Rosepaw was struck by inspiration. "Do you two really think I'm a coward?" she hissed silkily. Amberwind sat silently. The warrior hoped that her apprentice really knew what she was doing. Rosepaw was brave, clever, and polite, but she was also a bit headstrong in surrendering. Rosepaw paced around the two kits. "I'm not a coward." She decided to let loose the bomb. "I'm just cleverer than you two. I know, as you do, that you can't insult a warrior. Well, that's what I brought Amberwind for. She can see you two jeering at me, and she can tell Taintedstar without sounding like a mouse-brain." Rosepaw purred in triumph. "I'm not a coward; I've never been a coward; I'll never be a coward!"
OOC: Could they maybe become friends as both sides realize that the other won't give up?

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

[They might, if Rosepaw proves to be smart enough not to fall under their insults. They're like that :333
I think they're supposed to become apprentices soon.]

At Amberwind's first statement, both kits rolled their eyes in unison, snorting in a scornful way of saying 'that's complete farg'. To them, this Rosepaw was as weak as a newborn kit. She had to go and find a warrior to take care of the complicated bits of her life [in other words, to make sure she won any arguments while opposing simple kits]. The next comment about the apprentice nearly made them alugh out loud, and they had to hold their breath and even clamp an ebony paw over their mouthes to stop the snickers from escaping and perhaps offending the she-cat warrior before them. They knew about respect, though they did not use it much. But the next phrase was too much.
"Respect cats older than we are? Whoever spoke about discourtesy? And it's not as if... Rosepaw is all that much older than we are," Cinder mewed, spitting out the female's name just as he had the word 'pathetic' moments before as he criticized her inability to not go complain to her elders. "And we respect the warrior Code. No need to threaten two poor, helpless kits. Or we shall make sure that Taintedstar is aware of that, too," they ended in unison, knowing each other's thoughts. Menacing felines so much younger, inexperienced and weaker than yourself? Now that was pathetic. Big time.
And then Rosepaw began speaking, probably thinking her comments were making the conversation go her way. Right after the first sentence escaped her maw, the two knew she had made a mistake. Sniggering quietly, glancing slyly at each other, the same word rang like a stricken gong through both of their heads.
Yes. Coward.
Intense orange gaze and silent, insistent oculars of pearly ash followed the apprentice as she began pacing around the two ebony felines, boring into her form with the force of a charging bull. A disinterested flick of her ear obviously told that Darkness was bored by this conversation, and an exaggerated sigh emphasized this point. However, they let her speak, just to see her fall even harder.
A snicker finally escaped Cinder's maw as the female announced she was more clever than they were. His chest jumped in and out at he began gaining speed in his laughter, until he was rolling around, small paws hitting the ground in hilarity, eyes closed tight to stop them from popping right out of his rounded head. The thought of a cat saying they were smart because they had brought a warrior to solve their problems was just too stupid to think about. Darkness retained herself, though only just; she was fit to bursting already. Finally, not able to keep the words she desperately wanted to say inside her maw, she yowled out a single pair of pronounciations.
"Prove it."

[Rosepaw]

OOC: This will be shorter.
IC: "Okay, I'll prove it." Rosepaw spoke before she thought. Amberwind sighed. There she was again! Opening her big fat maw, and the kits would not be easy on her. But how to outwit them? She could wait for them to name their task. But they would mock her for helping them. Rosepaw was on her own for this one. Rosepaw realized the same thing. She knew she could do it. She was Rosepaw! She was older! She was probably smarter. Rosepaw sat up and dug her claws down in anticipation. This was a challenge. This was war! And Rosepaw would not surrender. She was in her element. "Name your task." Rosepaw stated these words coldly. Better to let them think they were winning.
OOC: I van get on once a week now.

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

Cinder had righted himself, sending his thin, fluff-covered chest outward in an opposing manner as he faced the apprentice again, clearing his throat to stop the laughter from returning to his lungs. His sister was smiling slyly to herself, half-closed eyes increasing the scornful way they were staring impudently at both females opposing them, the cruel twist of a smug curling the corner of her mouth upwards into a sour grin that revealed the gleaming tips of ivory fangs beneath ebony lips. This was such fun. An idiotic apprentice with a brain no bigger than a nutshell, and an over-protective warrior who, however, lets the cat she is training stick herself into trouble too big for her paws. Oh, yes. This would be an amusing night.
And Rosepaw spoke again, once more not thinking about the consequences of her words before she let them streak out of her big mouth like fish in a stream. How stupid could she get? There wasn't much lower than this particular feline in the two kits' minds at the moment, and that was quite an insult. Prove it, prove it, prove it. Oh, yes, she'd prove it. She better had.
Both cats snickered quietly as the apprentice sat up taller, almost as if she was telling them she wouldn't back down from the challenge, whatever happened. Stubbornness in the bargain. now this was one rock-headed bundle of fur, it was. And a task. A task...
Cinder grinned in Darkness' direction as the same thought crossed their sly heads, and the younger female was the one who answered the statement with her own special dose of heavy sarcasm and mockery, looking as if she would stick her tongue out at her opponent at any moment, even though she wasn't kittish enough to do such a weak act.
"You already failed the first one," she mewed, pronouncing each syllable carefully, as if she considered Rosepaw to possess such a thick skull that nothing but the slowest speech could ever penetrate that idiotic brain of hers [which, all in all, was entirely true to the tiny she-kit]. It was obvious that she was referring to the act of cowardice the apprentice had plainly shown by bringing a warrior into the fray when she could have done just fine by her very own self. "And, anyway, we wouldn't be that easy on you. You've got to show you're clever, as you said so yourself, by finding a way to convince us that you don't have the weakest heart in all the combination of the Clans," she finished with a flourish, raising onyx-hued eyebrows while lids stayed firmly planted in their place. Either Rosepaw would win, or she would lose. Anyway, it would turn out fine for the two siblings.

[ilovewarriors7793 (Rosepaw)]

"Okay." Rosepaw spoke with defiant certainty. But on the inside she was quaking. What was she supposed to do to do that? Suddenly she had an idea. "I'll leave the camp. By myself. Tonight, when the moon is at its highest point." Amberwind shook her head no slightly. It was dangerous after dark settled over the land. But there was her apprentice, showing not even the slightest bit of fear. "Yes. I'll go to Fourtrees." Rosepaw's voice sounded confident and firm. "To prove it, what would you like me to bring back?" She knew that if she just brought whatever she wanted the others would laugh her out of the nursery. If she got what they wanted, maybe they could become friends. She admired their guts and cunning and hoped that maybe they would be her friends. Amberwind sighed. There was no way she could help her to back out of this one without losing face. She was on her own. Rosepaw knew this too. But her heart knew that she would prevail if she tried hard, and one thing Rosepaw knew how to do was listen to her heart.
OOC: They're probably apprentices by now, but just in case!

[Flintpelt [Spideh]]

OOC//Yup, they are ^w^

Though Cinder was quite stumped for words, except for the thought that he should start burying the juvenile apprentice under a pile of insults and names for even trying to think the terribly stupid idea of going out alone at night [and at Fourtrees to add to the insult], Darkness was quietly pondering again, raising an inner eyebrow at the she-cat's boldness and bravery [even though it was obviously lacking in common sense]. She might have struck a chord there. She would make them decide so that they could not laugh at her and say that she had never done those things, had just stuck around on the outskirts of the camp and picked up a random object from the ground. That had already made her rise slightly higher in the wiry female's estime, and Darkness was putting slightly more thought into the task of telling what the thing she brought back would be. Then an idea came to the tiny she-kit, and a bright, sinister smile darkened her features.
"Oh, I've got a different choice," she murmured, half to herself, and settled her rump more comfortably on the hard-packed earth of the camp's inner clearing. She swept a calm tongue over the length of her foreleg, making the heavy silence endure ever longer, and causing her brother to become slightly fidgety as he waited. Once his sister started talking, he had learned to keep quiet and not disrupt her sly, manipulative thoughts.
"The Thunderpath."
The single spoken word had sent shivers up her older sibling's spine. He himself hated the thing, its smell, its sound, even though he had only yet been told of it. He would have protested if the smaller female had not had such a strong grip on his will, but stayed silent anyway, waiting for the next section of speech.
"Go over there, cross it, and take something from the ShadowClan side. Something... recognizable. Mud, crow feather. I don't care."
This particular test had many sides. Depending on Rosepaw's answer, Darkness would judge the amount of mentality and courage she possessed. And so many were wrong, it would be hard to hit the right note.