Races (open)

[**Liz**]

Darkpaw's face lightened, he would have smiled broadly, had it not been for Stargazers obvious sadness.
He stood still, fluffing himself out against the wind, and to make himself look even larger than he already was.
" Dante, I suggest you get out of here, before I am forced to rip your fur from your damned skin."
He growled, turning to lean his head against his friends shoulder.
" I'm sorry Stargazer..."

Dante sighed sadly, lying down and placing his head on the mossy ground. " I understand, you-you hate me! I get it. I failed them, they're dead they're all gone and its... all-my-fault..."
His eyes watered slightly, he felt the familiar knot in the back of his throat and made a quaint choking noise. His ears lowered and his tail curled around his nose, as if he were trying to hide from the world.
" I only wanted to help them, I gave them a choice! They could have left but when I killed Rojor... they were so grateful, they called me their savior. I only joined the pack a few moons ago, but they thought I was sent to save them, to make their lives better. I only made them worse." He managed to make himself feel like total jerk. He was, but he didn't want to admit it to himself.
" Star, Rojor was becoming an old cat, he couldn't have stayed leader for much longer, if he hadn't had such a big influence on the cats, he would have been killed long ago."
Dante shook his fur, and sat, maybe a little prod...
" I know you don't believe me, Rojor was obviously your god."

[Sasha]

"Do not hurt yourself, sir," she breathed, turning to stare at him, her eyes narrowed curiously. "I cannot find reason to hate you." Stargazer glanced at Darkpaw, but her gaze was back upon Dante in an instant. She shook her head, nearly believing every word but not letting herself, Darkpaw's bitterness wouldn't let her. He is lying, she thought. Lying.

"Darkpaw, shall we--"
The gray warrior's eyes narrowed to slits, claws digging deep into the soil. He'd hit a nerve with those words. "Rojor very nearly killed me," she said slowly, each word almost a sob. "He is not a god, sir. Your ignorance is heartbreaking. Darkpaw," she said quickly, "we shall leave him behind. Deadly or not, no cat like this is worth your strength, comrade." Stargazer turned to leave, walking past Dante with hardly a flick of her tail, pausing just a few steps away from her friend's brother to wait for Darkpaw.

Stargazer could feel her legs shake, her shoulders slump. She was holding it all in, just as she always did. From any angle, she looked tiny, weak, insignifigant. She took a breath, not looking back.

[**Liz**]

As if the world had slowed, Dante rose, advancing on the she-cat.
" No!"
Darkpaw launched himself through the air, the currents flowing over his fur and ear tips. He wondered a split second if he could take on the older rouge, but if it were for Stargazer, he'd take on the whole of the forest's most tyrannical warriors if he needed to.
This pent up fury, this anger and frustration powered his descent on the tom, his claws slowing unsheathing themselves in mid air, his pads stretching as he extended his paws and bared his teeth, a chilling hiss like growl threw itself through his serpentine fangs, now parting into a full forced battle growl.
Although his penned back ears, his scrunched up hissing muzzle, and blazing claws forced him to look wild and unruly, he felt at peace with his new found aggression, he felt in control and powerful and...good-
The force of Darkpaw throwing his entire weight at the other tom, not only knocked him down, but twisted Dante's paw at an angle that could only but have broken it as he hit the floor, yowling with pain and shock and fear.
He struggled to get up but Darkpaw maneuvered himself so he could push his 'big' brother over onto his back, using his front paws to knock him back to ground and crush his heaving chest.
Under paw, his cursed heart bled for mercy, flooding those damned eyes.
Darkpaws claws dug deeper into the chest fur, as if to clutch an crush the bleating thing.
Such power he'd never felt before, and once again, he was his father.

Dante's leg crumbled beneath him, but he was ready. He moved to fall with Darkpaw, not bothering to try and stand his ground for that would surely injure him.
He knew what he was doing, his target was Stargazer for the moment, but to get to her he needed Darkpaw, and to get to Darkpaw he needed Stargazer.
A web he had already mapped out.
He yowled, knowing that the pair would expect it of him, and let Darkpaw push him down, chocking pitifully as the young tom clutched his chest.
" H-help me! Stop please, stop! I-"

Darkpaw wanted none of it.
His voice dropped into his bowels as he spoke.
" Enough!" He pressed harder, causing blood to flow freely from the puncture points of each of his claws. " Why are you here? Tell me!"


" I-Can-t-brea-eath!" Dante gasped, thrashing around with only a quarter of his strength. He could easily throw this joker off, but why ruin the fun?
He turned his eyes to Stargazer, pleading and begging, the whites bulging and red now. His voice weakened, softened and with every word disintegrating. " Please, help me?"

[Sasha]

Stargazer hadn't seen any of it, and the only thing she saw as she spun back to look at them was Darkpaw digging his claws into his brother's chest. Her eyes widened, and while she only took a step forward, she shouted at them.
"Darkpaw! Comrade, what did I say?"

Instead of rushing to the toms and ripping Darkpaw away, she gave him a hard smack on his shoulderblade with her paw, claws sheathed. "Darkpaw, stop! He is not a true bother to us, leave him be! Leave him be!" she repeated, her eyes narrowed to slits. She wondered if, maybe, Dante had done something to provoke such an attack, something she would have seen had her back not been turned. The thought was erased, and she felt her eyelids loosen to a more pleading look. "Dante," she said slowly, the name bitter on her tongue, "leave."

[Sorry I powerplayed. :C She realy didn't hurt him, though, but I'll change it if you want me to. <3]

[**Liz**]

Dante struggled meekly against Darkpaw's crushing force, or he convinced himself it was crushing. He let Stargazer free him, shocked really, at how she treated Darkpaw. They do take hierarchy seriously in these clans, he thought they didn't.
The more you know, I suppose.

Darkpaw hissed, not at Stargazer, but at Dante, pinching the toms skin before letting go.
"Fine! Dante, I swear to Starclan that if I ever see your mangy pelt on this side of the territory marker, you'll be joining your precious little prize Rojor. Understand me?"

Dante rose, ever so carefully, testing his weight on his hind leg and yelping with pain.
He cowered under his brothers shadow, looking quite pitiful.
" Brother, please! I know you're upset but- I have no place to live, and I am in desperate pain! Please, just this one night. I was attacked, by a pack of rats-" He parted his fur on the left flank to show a blistering infection, looking up to the she cat and the tom, pleadingly " I need help."


Darkpaw paused, looking to Stargazer for guidance. He was mad, but was he this mad? He had no idea Dante was in trouble like this, and, come on, he was still family. Maybe he changed.
No, cats like that don't change.
" Stargazer," his voice dropped below Dante's hearing, " What do we do? He's in a lot of pain... we can't just leave him like this, he'll die. It's un-warrior like."



{ It's okay, he deserved it And it is kind of hard to not powerplay it, I don't mind it wasn't anything major.}

[Sasha]

"I agree, comrade," Stargazer breathed. She sat for a moment, debating whether or not to do this, or that, or this and that combined-- if it hadn't been Darkpaw's brother, she would have given him a cut across his brow, blinding him before leading him to Thunderclan's heart. Since it was, however, she decided that if Dante really cared to know where the dens were, the scent would make it easy to find anyway.

She nudged Darkpaw gently, her voice low enough to keep from Dante's hearing. "We'll take him to Leopardfire's den, and see how long she wants to keep him." Stargazer paused, staring hard at Dante. "However. If you cause any trouble, sir, you shall be dropped back outside the land with more wounds than you arrived with.
"Lead the way, comrade. I'll follow behind."

[**Liz**]

Darkpaw nodded solemnly.
"Yes Stargazer. Come on Dante, you'll be okay."
His whiskers shivered with frustration at his soft nature as he turned his back on the loner-rouge.
His pace was brisk and stiff, with no regard to his brothers ailments, toward the camp.

Dante struggled pathetically to his paws, whimpering quietly, although trying to keep his head held high. His paw hurt a little compared to some injuries he'd had before, but he knew that it was more than enough to keep him in the den for a few weeks.
Fluffing out his fur against the wind, he followed his younger brother, struggling against the pace.
He was almost there.

[Sasha]

Stargazer walked behind him, keeping right on his tail. Right at the camp entrance she raced up beside Darkpaw. "Pause here for a moment, comrade," she said quietly, and slipped into the camp.

It was a somewhat calm, mostly scattered day. Some cats were talking in hushed voices of Windclan and their whereabouts, others went about their daily work. There was a tenseness in the ar that reminded her of the Gathering, and her claws dug defensively into the soil. Leopardfire'd den, she thought. It's just like taking a pris--

She glanced at the medicine cat den, spotting a small opening into the forest outside nearby. Slipped her head through, she called softly out to Darkpaw. "Through here. We won't cause much commotion if we go through here."

"'Ey, Star! Star, what's up?"

Stargazer hissed, spinning to face her friend. "Go away, Silversun. Please, comrade, we don't need any help."

"We?"
She glanced at the hole, then at Sargazer, then at the empty spot next to her. "You feelin' alright, Star?"

"Be gone, Silversun."

"What for?"

"Darkpaw and I--"

"Oh, to Hell with you. For sure I'm gonna stay now."[/b][/size]

[**Liz**]

"Yes Stargazer."
Darkpaw watched his first good friend leave him behind, with a killer. Great. She's out to kill me.
He couldn't help but smile with that thought. Stargazer kill anyone? Especially a friend? Ha!


"You like her?"

Darkpaw turned on his elder brother.
"You have no right to speak brother, I suggest you keep your tongue, and your claws, in line."

Dante smiled, shuffling his feet in the grass, looking around him and acting like a huge A-hole, to be general. A few moments of siting in tense silence, he asked again. "I don't blame you, she's a fine specimen-"

"She-cats are not specimen's! They are cats, just like you. No, better. There are she-cats in there who'd tear your fur right off in a second and I swear to Starclan if you say one more thing like that I'll tear your fur off."


His work was almost done.
"Okay-okay." He waited a moment again, smiling wily.
"So, she's taken then, or are you just not good enough?"

Turning on his older brother Darkpaw pounced, biting and scratching and yowling as if his whole clan depended on this one death.

Dante yowled loudly in pain, loud enough to be heard throughout the whole camp fully, in hopes that Stargazer would hear, and maybe even a few other warriors as well. "Help! He's gone mad! Help!"

[Sasha]

Stargazer spun at the yowl, catching Silversun's eyes with her own. Her friend's eyes widened, and the thin gray warrior leaped through the hole in the wall as the spotted she-cat ran for the camp entrance.

Silversun arrived to them first, leaping at Darkpaw, trying to get a hold on his scruff and pull him roughly off of Dante and to the ground, spitting in his face.
"Y'see Star, y'see I told you how he is an' you--"

She shook her head, and Stargazer stepped between Darkpaw and Dante. "Hush, Silversun. I'm going to get Dante to the medicine cat's den before he's killed." she glanced at Darkpaw, nudging Dante to his paws and motioning for him to follow her.

The spotted gray warrior glared at Darkpaw, leading the large tom back into camp. "You've got a temper," she hissed over her shoulder. "But anyway, who's that?"



"Leopardfire?" Stargazer called softly, peeking into the den. "We need your help with this cat, he's hurt. Badly, I'm afraid."

[twilight]

Leopardfire could smell the blood. She grabbed a few herbs that might help and raced out to meet the two cats. "Oh my, what happened?" She began to walk in a circle around the tom. "Dante, are you okay?" She knew he wasn't but this might get him talking. She began to clean his cuts waiting for an answer.[/size]

[**Liz**]

(I don't think Leopardfire knows Dante, he's a loner & Darkpaws brother ((he's the bad guy)) Just so you know )


Dante hissed and whirled on the medicine cat.
It was like she came from nowhere and just started healing him. It was kind of irritating. Laying his hackles flat, he bowed his head, purring with pain his eyes wide and ears pinned back.
"Sorry miss," He said sweetly. "No need to fuss, it's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine..."
His paw was swelling horribly, and his wounds were like burning flesh.
He felt nothing, but faked the pain. This was nothing.

Darkpaw stopped and looked toward Silversun, his voice dark and rich as he spoke.
"Temper? I acted out of prudence." He explained defensively. "This-this cat is nothing but a badger in winter, as useless as crowfood! He's the dirt we make under the pine tree- nothing but a fowl tyrant. Think what you want of me, but him...he's the one you should be watching."
He looked at his paws, averting his eyes.
"Silversun, I worry..."

[Sasha]

"Whoo, boy," Silversun whistled through her teeth, glancing at Dante. "Don't you worry, kiddo, I'm watchin' him more than you. You can be sure a' that."
Her muzzle still pointed toward the other three cats, her eyes wandered to Darkpaw. "What'd he do, then? T'make you so ruffled up, I mean. He doesn't smell of clancat." she added, somewhat prodding.

Stargazer shifted on her paws, watching silently as Leapordfire approached. Dante's sudden spin made her take a quick breath, her ears snapping flat to her head. The whole thing had her tensed, nearly excited as if she were apprentice-age again, awaiting Rojor's signal to attack, or to feast, or to play. She narrowed her eyes, breaking into her thoughts with a question for the medicine cat:
"He is a lone. Darkpaw bid me to help him. Leapordfire, how long shall you keep him?"

[twilight]

Leopardfire looked at the tom, she might not know him. Still he was a cat and he needed help. She walked in a circle around him looking at the wounds. The one he was refering to was very large, she needed more marigold and cobwebs. She also wanted to watch the cut to make sure it started to get better. "I think I would like to keep him here for a night. He looks like he needs it." She went back into her den and came out with cobwebs and a little more marigold. She began chewing in to a pulp and licking the juices into his cut. She placed some cobwebs over top and then frowned at his paw. "Now how did you do that?" She walked to stand in front of him and glanced at his paw again. It was very swolen.[/size]

[**Liz**]

Darkpaw lowered his head sheepishly, swishing his tail from side to side, angry and frustrated with himself.
"Ruffled up?" Dark meowed contemptuously, looking up at Silversun for a moment.
The wind gently ran its fingers through his fur, over his muzzle and across his eyes, calming him. He wished, a moment, that he could explain in three words what he had to say. Instead, he looked to Silversun, and asked tiredly
"Would you care to listen, if I cared to say?"

Dante looked down at his paw, looking back up at the she-cat and groaned as he attempted to put weight on it.
"I-it's fine. Honestly, I-"
Suddenly the pain was 'just too much', and he stumbled, apparently blacking out for a moment.
Crawling back to his paws, panting, he looked up at Leopardfire and said "I twisted it fighting with Darkpaw..." He said pathetically.