Rancour Patrolling . . .

[Fernpaw]

A thin and mangy ebonite form slunk through the forest, the paw prints muted, and nary making a sound upon the hard-packed earth below. The inken form moved slowly, as two twin sickly sallow eyes gazed around, taking in the “view” around him, looking around and tasting the air, searching for the smell of intruders. His mangy pelt was matted, and he was skinny, but it was with no doubt that one could tell, that with more meat upon his form he could become a powerful and deadly warrior.

T’was then, looking down upon the ranges of terra below him that the brute did spot the form of prey. He melted into the shadows, hiding the the rabbit that so joyfully leaped towards him. When it was close enough, he leaped upon it, killing it with a yowl of triumph. His vocals were hoarse, and empty in a way…Rancour, the brute, stood, as if awaiting some response from the dead rabbit in his claws. The thin tom buried the rabbit and continued on his way.

[Spiderbreath||Soul]

((Wow...ebil kitteh xD))

"Nice catch."
The voice seemed to be coming from a tree at the tom's side, almost mocking and more than slightly sarcastic. Something higher up, in the leafy branches of the small oak, moved, making the thin, dry forms of spiked and rugged leaves fall softly to the ground in a rush of rustling and faint cracks. Twin pools, green as water that has layed still for many a moon, stared out of their rainbow-colored surroundings. It was almost as if the creature's face was made from the tree's branches, a freakish mutant of nature.

But this was soon shown to be false. Another rustling, and the eyes disappeared. The emaciated form of a black and brown-striped she-cat leaped out from its previous resting place, landing softly on the hard-packed earth underneath. Hardly a thin cloud of choking dust rose at the touch of her dull silver paws, and she touched down gracefully, though not as gracefully as a cat who had been eating more in the past few moons.

"Well? Aren't you going to say hello?"
Sarcasm again. This feline seemed to like using that tone. But there was also a hint of defiance in her voice. All in all, she looked quite mad.
"Come on, Rancour. Say hello to Agony."

[Fernpaw]

Rancour’s scarred nostrils flared slightly as the voice of the fae traveled to him on the wind. In truth, he had noticed her golden probing gaze long before, but hadn't said anything. It didn’t matter to him anyways.

Rancour began to lick his paws, bloody from all of his wandering. He gently turned his head towards the direction of the fea. She was large, about the size of the average brute, and just a little bit smaller than himself. But, also as far as he could see, she was not pelt and bones, meaning that if they were ever to fight, she would most likely come out as the winner.

As the sun’s shine was muted by a cloud, casting, for a few minutes a shadow ‘cross the land, Rancour stood, wincing a little at the pain in bis paws, and ambled over to the tree and looked up to where Agony lay.

He sat about two or three feet away from her when she leaped down, enough to be respectful, but no more than so. His sallow pools glared at her for a few moments longer, then he spoke, his tones ragged and raspy from dehydration and extreme lack of use. "'Ello." he said simply. It was simple, quick, and it got the greeting across.

As he spoke, the fea would be able to get a look at his teeth, yellowed, and in some parts blackened, disgusting was the only way to truly word it, and it was sickening how gross it truly was.

He blinked, watching the fea for any expression, and hoped that a true one would come before long, for waiting was not one of Rancour’s greatest talents.

[Spiderbreath||Soul]

"Good. At least you answered," the she-cat mewed airily, a faint smirk of satisfaction concealing the sarcastic sneer in her words.

She looked Rancour up and down, noting his crimson-stained pads and old, yellow fangs. She did not let a grimace cross her disdainful expression, but she retched inside her throat at the stomach-wrenching sight. To let him know she had noticed the poor hygienic state he was in, she spoke these few and simple words:

"Wash your teeth."

The brute didn't seem very patient, and probably wouldn't take her endless talking for long. But it wasn't as if she cared in the least. Her maw was always contorted in a rictus of sarcasm and quiet contempt, and it was one of the rare smiles she ever gave. You were lucky if she even glared at you. She did not take much notice of cats who were not of Nightclan, or at least of high rank.

Getting swiftly bored by this dull and uneventful exchange of words, the fae snorted scornfully, flicked her tail at the tom in a sign of farewell (even though she didn't mind if he got killed or not), and scuffed the dirt with her sterling feet as she started padding away. Short conversations were not her thing, and she preferred even a good fight with an unworthy Clan cat than to speak of all and sundry to others. She was a cat who gave critique, but not one who took it.

((Gur. Bad post there >_>))

[Fernpaw]

Serrated ivory teeth left their interlocking status to allow fleshy tongue to skirt between canines. Lips peeled back, jaws opening ever wider, tongue curling. Ears teased back and blackened brow wrinkled. Aaaeeeeaaa escaped from lethal maw, a yawn born of impatience and anxiety.

Footfalls kept themselves silent, skirting the skittering leaflitter, fallen twigs and loose earth. Rancour turned his back on Agony, weaving through the ferns being careful to keep himself downwind of any Clan cats, keeping his scent to himself. Stupid Clans, he thought, Turning up their noses at rogues and loners because they think they're better! Ha! I'll show them. Rancour continued to rant mentally, forgetting the femme that he had turned his back on. Head remained upright, though tail hung listlessly at his hocks.

Heavy pelt displayed the mud-on-rock pattern, brown on black. Legs long and feet large, carried the feline towards the scent he'd aquired while catching on a rabbit. There were others here, some scents more stale than others. There was more prey, more than he could've dreamed of. If they wouldn't come meet him, like the last rabbit had done, Rancour would go to them.

[Spiderbreath||Soul]

Agony glanced over her shoulder at the departing tom, a smug grin coming over her face again. Green eyes wide with strange, crazy joy, she slowly, ever so slowly, turned around, paws alighting on the ground softly and without nary a sound. Shoulders and haunches tense in an attack position, dull silver paws set down upon the earth, whiskers quivering in anticipation, the she-cat prepared to launch herself at Rancour's backside. It was not that she felt playful. No, her 'play' was in deadly earnest. It was her very own way of testing the other cats of Nightclan, seeing if they were worthy to stay, if they were strong or quick-witted enough to survive in the Clan's harsh rules.

Kneading the dirt beneath her pads impatiently as she waited for the silent feline to be far enough away for her not to miss him, she calculated the distance and the strength she would need for the leap. Equations skimmed through her head like fish in a river, and she came to an answer good enough for her.

Muscles bunched and coiled, becoming harder as seconds passed, she released their pent-up energy in a long, flying jump, aiming to land on the tom's broad shoulders. Tail flying behind her like some floppy branch, ears pinned back to allow her to go at her fastest, she did not let a yowl of triumph or any sound of all sorts escape her tight lips, lest it signal to Rancour that she was appraoching.

((Sorry this took so long, but my corny idiot of a brother kept on complaining I was hogging the compy.))

[Fernpaw]

Rancour looked around, he saw a dark shadow rising behind him. The brute didn't stop, didn't hesitate. He hurled himself to the side, just as Agony landed where he would have been standing. He whirled, his lips curled into a snarl and his wickedly long fangs gleamed despite their ugliness. His eyes narrowed as his powerful hindquarters powered him towards the she-cat. He pinned her to the ground, then leaned down to hiss in her ear, his rank breath blasting her in the face, "So, that's how I get welcomed into NigthClan is it?" Disgust etched into his course features, Rancour's claws unsheathed themselves as he gripped Agony harder. "Too bad this will be the last welcome you'll give!"

[Spiderbreath||Soul]

"Welcome? Ha. Don't make me laugh. Or puke, by the smell of your breath. It could knock out a dog."

Laughing harshly, the striped she-cat lunged at Rancour's face, gripping his skin with her dagger-shaped fangs. Snarling fiercely, she twisted the matted fur in her mouth, aiming on making the ragged tom yowl in pain. Her legs bunched again, bending towards her belly and launching out at his belly, throwing him off of her at the exact same time she gave up her grip on his features.

She rolled to her side, barred pelt picking up dust as she went, and jumped to her feet as easily as if nothing had happened only a moment before. Hissing sharply, gleaming ivory fangs bared in their full lethal splendor, hackles raised like a barrier of black, brown and silver fur, ears pinned back to her head in the exact same position they had been as she streamed through the air, she took a menacing step towards the tom.

"I wouldn't have killed you, no. I'm not a cat who kills her own Clan, especially when her target is strong. I'd only have judged you by how you reacted."

The harsh fury pounding through her veins seemed to disappear as if it had never been present, and the sarcastic smirk was there once again.

"And since you were fast enough to dodge my attack, smart enough to catch me before I could injure you andstrong enough to do so, I consider you my equal. I won't say peace, since that word does not even exist, but I will say partners."

She raised a dull sterling forefoot as an offering, not of true peace, since, as she said, it did not exist, but of xompanionship in the Clan. It was the only way you could get on her good side. Be accepted by her judging skills, and she will be loyal to you, will consider you as an equal to herself. Be denied, and she will step all over you like a doormat until you scream for mercy and get killed or you finally pass her test.

((I love fighting scenes between our cats xD))

[Fernpaw]

Rancour sat a few feet away from Agony, his yellow optics gleaming dully. He nodded his head once, then stretched out a massive paw to hers. They knocked together briefly, then the tom turned and padded away. Doubt they'll be any rabbits left after all the racket Agony made, he hissed to himself. What a pain! Could've had two, maybe more rabbits, to bring back but noooo. She just had to pull the tough guy act and try to kill me. The brute snorted, Looks like I didn't miss much from Clan life when I was wandering. The mangy feline flicked his tail in goodbye to Agony, and continued on his way. If he were polite, he would've asked if she wanted to come with him. But Rancour was not polite, he was deadly. Politeness would get you no where, especially with a cat like Agony.

[Spiderbreath||Soul]

((I found tons of typos in my last post. Not yours, no no, but mine. Such as xompanion instead of companion xD What a corny idiot I am.))

And what he thought was exactly right. Silver paw retreating as soon as Rancour knocked his own pad against it, she stepped backwards, as if the tom was about to attack her. She may be mad, but she was cautious. Nodding in turn, she watched the tom pad away silently, probably mulling harsh thoughts about the striped she-cat in his head. The smirk was still there, just as it always had been, the gleaming tips of thorn-sharp fangs cut out from the brown and black face like the moon in the background of the night sky.

He's a good addition to our ranks.
Ya think so?
Yes, I do. Now shut up.
I've only just begun talking, and you're already spitting at me? Temper temper.
You can't spit at a voice.

When it didn't speak again, a conqueror's grin replaced the old, smug smile. She'd won once again. And she knew that someday, someday, the voice wouldn't come any more. It would simply disappear from her mind, just like the fog disappears when it rains. No more supernatural being or whatever controlling her life. Nothing to stop her doing what she wanted. Nothing at all.

Remembering where she was, Agony took a quick glance around herself, green eyes taking in any movement in her surroundings. When she was sure nothing was there, not a creature, cat or other, was watching her in turn, she whirled around herself, tail whipping the air, and left. Her paws made no sound at her departure, and the only visible sign that she had been there moments before was a faint cloud of dust rising in the air as she leapt into a tree. Another day, another victim, as her motto always said.

[Dawnstorm]

[[EWWWWWWWWW!!! Atleast we know it isn't OUR Loudthunder! YOU IDIOT IMPERSONATER, LOUDTHUNDER IS AN ELDER YOU SICK PERV!

TO: Spideh and Ferneh, sorry for interuptting.]]