CLOSED The Boys

[Longstorm]

Icepaw was making his was somewhat nervously through the small twoleg place. He'd never seen a twoleg place look quite this small or old or... simple, he supposed, ever.
This place gives me the creeps. Icepaw heard a noise behind him and spun around, unsheathing his claws and spitting at the newcomer.
It was Jace.
The pale tom looked at the DarkClan apprentice cooly, mewing, "Yeah, yeah, you're scary and the she-cats love you. Great."
Icepaw sheathed his claws with a frustrated sigh. "I could have killed you," he snapped, unnerved by the City-tom's relaxed tone.

OOC: To be continued...


(OOC: I'm not gonna lie, I envisioned Cicely, Alaska when I wrote up this town - I mean from: only a little bigger.... and none of you know this show. Okay. I'M OLD. Anywho, this town would use planes to get around, too.)

[Longstorm]

Jace smiled. "But you didn't. Funny how that works."
Icepaw half flattened his ears. "Do you always have to be so... so..."
The city tom cocked his head playfully. "So... what? Come on, foresters have a vocabulary, right?"
The apprentice's ears flattened entirely, his fur bristling and his claws unsheathing. Icepaw let out a challenging snarl.
Jace responded by, in a fashion that could be called delicate, unsheathing his claw in turn. He turned his pale eyes on the apprentice, still cool.
The apprentice struck first, leaping at the thin CityClanner with teeth bared and claws outstretched. He collided with the pale cat, knocking him down. But Jace surprised him by flipping the two of them over, ending up on top, battering Icepaw's stomach with sharp claws.
Icepaw screeched in pain as he felt his flesh being torn to bits. He tried to get out from underneath the tom's grasp but it wasn't working so far. He jerked forward and sunk his teeth into the pale tom's shoulder, eliciting a scream of pain from the city tom. Jace stopped battering Icepaw but instead turned to bite the apprentice's ears. With Jace no longer planted to the ground, Icepaw used his strong hind legs to throw the tom off.
Jace went back, but turned it into a stepping back motion, bounding forward as Icepaw was standing up.
The toms went head over tails and collided with a trash can, the sound reverberating against the brick walls sharply.
Jace shook his head, having taken a trash bin to the face, and snarled as Icepaw clawed his cheek. The pale tom ducked another hit and swiped at the gray tom's legs. Icepaw danced back and rushed in for another hit. Jace was ready to meet him, taking him head-on. The two gripped each other, biting, clawing, and screaming in rage in a fight that may have very well been to the death.
If not for the interruption.

Sun that Shatters Clouds heard the yowls and screams of close-combat from nearby. She signaled to Brush that Hangs over Stream and the two of them bounded towards the sound. It was the first cat-like sounds beside themselves they'd heard all day.
When they'd reached the alley Icepaw and Jace were fighting in, the two tribe cats stopped to watch, surprised.
The way the two fought were similar, but it was obvious who had more experience.
"Stop this," Burnsky yowled as the fighting took a worse turn. She ran up to the fighting pair, her Flame Guard close behind.
Jace and Icepaw were going at it, Icepaw having once found himself on top, biting into the city cat's chest.
Brush hauled the clan apprentice off of the city tom, who was back up in a flash, eyes narrowed at Icepaw.
Burnsky stood between the fighting toms, glaring at Icepaw.
The yellow she-cat looked from the toms and hissed, "That's enough."
Jace broke away from the stare-down he'd been having with his opponent to get a better look at the she-cat.
"I know you," he mewed curiously. "You were at that meeting... why are you here?"
Even Icepaw was curious enough to calm down.
Burnsky looked at Jace. It was interesting to meet a cat who met her gaze levelly, without scorn or distaste.
"We followed MoonClan," she answered him.
The pale tom tilted his head, ears pricking up. "But you weren't in the avalanche." No question.
Burnsky shook her head. "No. We were a ways behind."
"Convenient," Icepaw muttered. Brush, still holding the tom, shook him sharply before letting him drop. The DarkClan tom hissed sourly at the Flame Guard, who responded with a rumbling growl.
Jace looked at Icepaw but Burnsky spoke first.
"Grow up, to-be." Jace felt himself grin, but he let it drop. Icepaw stepped away from the tribe tom, still sour about being shaken like a kit who'd been bad, and licked the wounds on his shoulders. He paused to say,
"I though city cats didn't fight."
Jace met his gaze in the same, maddening cool gaze he kept. "Just because we don't live in the forest, doesn't mean we don't have to fight to survive."

[Longstorm]

OOC: I just wanted there to be a break...

IC: Jace looked away from Icepaw to speak to the Burnsky. "I would ask why you were following, but I would say it was because you'd gotten bored."
Burnsky felt surprised. "Why would you say that?"
Jace shrugged. "It can't be very often that a bunch of strangers show up to whisk away an entire clan. I probably would have done the same."
The yellow she-cat felt almost... impressed. He was very blunt and assuming. She didn't see that enough.
"...Right..." She looked around. "Have you seen the rest of your group," she mewed.
Icepaw and Jace spoke at the same time. "Haven't seen anyone," and, "I was following a scent," respectively.
Icepaw looked at Jace in shock. "How the hell did you follow a scent in this two-leg muck?"
"I was born in two-leg muck," he replied dryly. "I'm best in places like these than a peaty forest."
The sky rumbled and rain began to gently fall.
"We should get out from the rain," Brush mewed in his deep voice.
Burnsky nodded briefly, still looking at Jace, then she slowly turned away. "Come on," she mewed, "I saw an open space a ways back."

[Longstorm]

The strange 'open space', as the Burnsky had called it, was in fact a flight of metal stairs. A fire escape, Jace knew. Icepaw seemed to be familiar with stairs as well. Jace suspected the DarkClan apprentice had rogue origins, but he wasn't itching to get under the tom's fur at the moment.
On the other paw, the two Tribe cats looked at the stairs in wonder. "Such a strange, well formed path," Burnksky noted.
Jace shrugged. "They're pretty normal for a city." He began to walk up slowly, his fatigue starting to take toll.
Sun saw the tom trying not to stumble and padded up the path to walk next to him, pressing her yellow fur to his pale fur.
"Thanks," Jace murmured. He wasn't used to receiving help so willingly, or without him having some ulterior motive. It was... Nice.
Icepaw walked up with Brush. Brush was a strange specimen to Icepaw. The way he was built, his height, his stance, his accent.
StarClan, that accent. It was so strange, seeming to hug every vowel yet dance away from the Tribe cat's mouth as he mewed them. (OOC: I like Welsh accents.)
The apprentice looked away quickly when the brown tom looked at him strangely. Don't want to start a fight with this cat... The wounds Jace had given Icepaw were stinging.

When they'd reached the top of the stairs, which lead all the way to the top of a flat-roofed building, they found a corner to huddle in.
"Well, it'll keep the dogs away," Jace commented, thinking back to a part of the stairs that had fallen out, all but a very thin path that seemed made for the balancing power of cats.
Icepaw's fur bristled at the mention of dogs. He hated the mangy creatures.
Burnsky nodded. "Indeed," she mewed quietly. She flicked her tail to Brush and he nodded, leaping to the top of the ledge and looking out over the 'city'. The nearly full moon had begun to rise in the night sky and the city seemed quiet. But the Flame Guard would keep watch. It was his duty.

[Longstorm]

Later into the night...

Icepaw had quickly fallen to sleep after cleaning his wounds. Jace hadn't, Oh, sure, he'd dozed for a bit, but there was nothing conclusive to be found there. Only visions of blood and mutiny and a strange, gray tom. It made him shiver.
The pale tom rose from his sleeping spot and looked up to see Burnsky sitting on the far ledge, away from everyone else.
Jace considered the fact that maybe the she-cat wanted to be alone. But he was curious, so he padded over to her. "Hello."
The yellow she-cat looked down at him, her amber eyes glowing bronze in the moonlight. "Hello, Jace," she mewed down to him.
"I thought Brush was keeping watch." Jace joined the she-cat on the broad ledge. "In fact, I know he is... So why aren't you asleep?" The she-cat's whiskers twitched in amusement as the tom mewed, "This isn't some Tribe leader thing that forbids you from sleeping, is it?" The two looked at each other and laughed softly.
"No, no," she mewed quietly. "It's just..." Sun wasn't used to speaking her thoughts to... anyone.
"This place." The she-cat looked at Jace, surprised.
"Yes, precisely." The tom flicked his tail dismissively.
"It's normal. There's not a single forest-born cat that didn't feel uncomfortable their first night in a city."

OOC: To be continued...

[Longstorm]

Sun cocked her head. "These... cities. Are there many where your companions are from?"
Jace shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I mean, there's one that's right next to the territories... And I know the Thunderpaths lead to others. But my city is the only one I've known."
"You mentioned living in a place like this. Are all cities the same?"
Jace shook his head. "No. Some are big. Some are small. Some are filthy. Others are shining. Kinda like people, when you think about it." The pale tom felt like smacking himself. I sound like some old forest coot.
Sun raised a cat eyebrow but went on. "I imagine you're able to manage this city since you were born in one?"
The city tom nodded. "Yeah. Guess."
The tribe leader could see that Jace was the type of tom to keep to himself, much like herself.
"What's it like? In your city, I mean."
Jace looked at the yellow she-cat. "You know, I'm giving a lot and getting nothing." A smirk was creeping onto his face. "If I answer a question, you'll answer a question?"
Sun realized she was acting like a chatty To-Be. She nodded a tad more subdued. "..right."
"'Kay. In my city, there's a clan of sorts. We call ourselves CityClan, would you know." He scoffed. "Anyways, we have a Chancellor, who's kinda like a leader... but he's more of an adviser, if anything. Not a very good one, either." He flicked his tail in contempt. "Then there's the Council. Twelve cats who advise the adviser..." Jace was beginning to see just how ridiculous his Clan seemed. "There's also Gatherers and Distributors. The Gatherers find food for the cats of the clan. The Distributors make sure the right food get to the right cats. There's also the Mothers, who watch after the kits, and we have apprentice-type cats called Younglings, the cats who haven't chosen what they want to work in when they're older... but not everyone works in my clan." He shrugged. "That's about it."
Sun felt disappointed. She wanted to know more about the city this tom came from. Were the buildings taller? What was this 'Chancellor's' name? Why wasn't he a good adviser to his clan?
But Jace seemed to be finished talking about his clan.
"My turn," he mewed, taking her out of her reverie. "Tell me about these 'tribes'. Doesn't sound like any group I've ever heard of."
Sun nodded. "We're... new and old. I mean, the Tribe cats have been around forever. Since the sun first rose, some elders say. The Tribe of Raining Dust is the tribe the Tribe of Burning Streams comes from. I know there was a dispute that caused the Tribe to separate many seasons past, but I'm not sure what it was over. In my tribe, I am leader. Young cats don't get to choose what they'll be when they're grown in my tribe. That is chosen when they are born by their parents. You'll either become a protector, a Flame Guard, or a hunter, a Quick-Flare. All cats, though, have the chance of becoming a Flame Starters, those who will train the same of their craft. We have a star-speaker, called a Storm Eye. Sometimes a Storm Eyes will take an Ember, and that Ember will be called the Wave Seer until that cat becomes Storm Eye. I have a second in command called a Blaze Keeper. He will lead my Tribe should I die without having appointed an Ember Sky... that's a kit I will choose to become the next BurnSky of my tribe. It would usually be one of my own kits, but I have none." She flicked her tail dismissively.
Jace looked at her. "You make it sound like you're old. You can't be that much older than me, BurnSky. There's a lot of time between the time you can have kits and the time you'll die."
Sun shrugged. "My tribe... The toms... They are all brave and strong, but..."
"You haven't any prospects," Jace supplied.
"No, I haven't."

OOC: To be continued.

[Longstorm]

Jace nodded, mulling that over briefly.
"What about you?" The tom looked at the she-cat, surprised.
"What about what?"
"Have you any prospects?" The Burnsky tried to make her voice sound less curious then she really was.
Jace shrugged. "Nah. I'm young. Doesn't really matter right now. Besides, my clan holds more than enough."
The two fell into a silence that was laced with wonder for the future and, more importantly, the now.
"...What do you think of your Chancellor?"
Jace didn't look at the Burnsky. "He fails where he should not."
The she-cat waited for him to say more. When he did not, she pressed, "Do you believe you would not?"
Now the city tom looked at her, an unspoken question in his eyes.
"The way you slip into a conversation. You wield your words in such a way that you can set your own idea in the minds of other like tricking a snake into poisoning itself. You want to be leader. You would succeed. So why don't you?"
Jace laughed softly. "There's a way about it...I am not eligible. I haven't the right blood, nor the trust of certain characters." He leaned closer to the she-cat. "I think they know me," he whispered "That little voice in the back of your mind, that little urge to do things regardless...." Then he was back to his original position. "It hasn't come up. I don't mind." Jace just brushed off the entire matter with his tone.

OOC: To be continued...

[Longstorm]

The two sat in a prolonged silence, the funny moon slowly taking it's course across the cloud-speckled skies.
Jace was feeling slightly ruffled. He never spoke about himself. He never told others what was in his mind. He was only to speak what others were thinking. To learn about others.
Telling was a weakness. Telling would get him killed.
But she knows you, Jace. She knows you as you know others. The tom fixed his pale eyes on the far, dark horizon, his thoughts moving slowly, gracefully, each inch of silky matter filled with a thousand bits of information, instinct and knowledge, formed into sound and image in his mind.
He was calculating, designing - but it all fell apart in his head. There was a new factor, a new strand of information that broke all commands.
The tom sighed, coming out of his thoughts.

Sun looked over at Jace and his stoic expresion, wondering what he was thinking about.
Have I offended him? He's been silent for some time. It wasn't often the she-cat wondered that when she interacted with others. She was the Burnsky, after all.
But for the first time in a long time, she found she had respect for someone outside of the higher-ups of her own Tribe.

If she hadn't felt this way, she never would have said;
"I'm sorry."
Jace looked over at her and flattened his broad ears. "Don't apologize. Not you."
Sun saw the fires in the tom's eyes but pressed on. "I want to. I value your company more than any other's and I wish to keep it."
The she-cat wasn't ashamed of her words, her eyes daring Jace to look away (OOC: and the keyboard daring me to make this mushier than it is - MWHAHAHAHA.)
The tom's ears slowly came back up. Instead of turning away to brood at the open skies, Jace held Sun's gaze as the sun crept over the mountains.
"And I yours. There is nothing to forgive."
The two slowly blinked in the coming light and turned to look at the bronzing light together.

OOC: To be continued....

[Longstorm]

During the time before sunrise they had spent together that ledge, Sun that Shatters Clouds and Jace had remained exactly where they were, a fair tail-length apart.
From an observer's viewpoint, they would be seen as two colleagues watching the sunrise.
But the two both knew that everything had changed drastically between them. To one such as observant as the two sitting there were, one would notice how the two were leaning towards each other, or how their tails, laying neatly behind them, were just touching.
They didn't need to speak. That wasn't how these two were made. They were content in silence.

The silence was not to last.

Brush rose from where he was half-sleeping and nudged a groaning Icepaw awake. He spoke in his strange accent, one that the former rogue-apprentice had a hard time getting used to.
"What," Icepaw grumbled.
"It's time to wake. The sun has risen and the streams are burning. It's time to wake."
The DarkClan tom sat up groggily, raising a cat eyebrow. "Do you always speak in song?"
The dark brown Tribe cat cocked his head. "This is how I speak."
Icepaw felt like he might have insulted the cat - a feeling that was surprising to himself - and his ears drooped. "Sorry..."
Brush shrugged. "I didn't think anything of it."
Icepaw sighed as the tom turned away, wondering after the stories the tom with the lilting voice might be keeping behind his foreign eyes.

Sun slowly turned her head from the rising sun and stopped when she saw Jace was turning his head too. The two just looked at each other for a few, endless moments before they fully looked back at their own traveling partners.
"Where from here, Burnsky?" Mewed Brush.
Sun looked at Jace and he murmured, "Icepaw and I need to find our Clanmates."
The she-cat sighed softly in a short burst before mewing to Brush, "These toms need to find their party. We will help them."
Brush bowed his head, accepting his leader's words.

Icepaw looked between the three cats. He and Jace would be finding the others again; so why did Jace look...Dismayed?
Icepaw's ear flicked when he heard a slight noise not too far away on the same roof. "Hey," he hissed. "I think someone's there!"
The tom slowly creeped towards the noise...

OOC: I elect playing gay characters. It's not like we have a rule against it. Bitter's (Mender) gay. Icepaw's probably bi-curious. Makes sense, with a former City cat.
This is actually fun, wondering after how living in a particular part of the Outcast world affects an animal's sexuality... I am a strange person...

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