OPEN:: Bad Romance:: OPEN

[xx snakey]

Infectedsound sat in the clearing, acid green eyes scanning the cats around her. Arrogant, rude toms flirted with very *friendly* personty she-cats, older apprentices plummeled younger ones, elders scoffed and spit at tentative apprentices that look for flees. Where was the love? Buried deep within the bollows of the earth and no where to be found in the cold northren clan of the shadow. She didn't mind, the clan was as cold and lifeless as her heart, and she spit at any cat that came her way. She liked it like that, alone, no one to look after, no one for her to miss, or to miss her. But being alone took a toll on the she-cat. Her heart ache had frazen over with time but when she did see it, a spot of kindness, a blaze of hope for a young one, a display of affection between two lovers, it hit her like an icy wind, knocking her breath from her chest and tearing down her fragile sheilds. Sheilds she spent moons putting up. Maybe she was looking for love, one bad romance, a dya with a lover where it was just the two of them, a sunny spot and a whole lot of lust. Maybe that's what she yearned for. Or maybe, maybe, something more...

[whitefoot]

ooc may I join? c:

c u r v e CLAW--

[xxx]Curveclaw licked his chops like a hungry dog as he went sifting through the freshkill pile for a good eating. Finally, he had picked out a vole and a woodthrush and was trying to make the crucial decision of which, when he noticed Infectedsound in the center of the cap clearing. Not eating, not barking at an apprentice. Just sitting, rather serenely, gazing about her. Thinking something was wrong, he glanced about him as well. All was normal in camp; elders lecturing apprentices as they cracked fleas, warriors guffawing as they chatted with eachother, overly-friendly tomcats flirting around with she-cats. But for some reason, Curveclaw got the feeling that this normal camp-life bothered Infectedsound. The polite tuxedo cat peered at his choices of prey for a moment, selected the vole, and then casually strolled over to a clump of crisp, dried grasses near the she-cat.
[xxx]"Looked like you could use some company there," he said, flicking his ears in a polite greeting.
[xxx]He didn't mention how glum she looked, or how strange she seemed, just vacantly sitting there while there was still much to do in preperation for Leafbare. Especially since Leaffall was already here! oh, StarClan, how he missed the sun kissing his back and the fine breeze flying through his fur. But those were just the luxuries of Greenleaf, which was now long past. He couldn't afford to just lay around and think about what he could have had or what he used to have, nor could anyone.

[xx snakey]

ooc:: I wanted you to in the first place. tehehe

Infectedsound

Infectedsound looked over at Curveclaw, her expression emotionless. She twitched her ears once, her only acknowlegdement that he was there, and went back to watching. Her tail flicked irritably, over and over. This clan, this clan, it was falling apart! No cat cared about loyalty or pride anymore, it was all for their own selfish gain! All they wanted was for themselves. Toms lusted after she-cats to get lucky, She-cats longed for compainions, from any clan, apprentices fought desperately for approval from their mentors, and all for what? For them selves, their own satisfaction. She glanced at Curveclaw. Now what did he want? To flirt? To say hello? To eat infront of her when she hadn't all day. She huffed a sigh. "If you want to waste your time, you can stay... Some food would have been nice as well. Even if you say you haven't seen me move all day like everyone else, maybe you're smart enough to notice I hunt at night." That was the most she'd ever said to anyone other then Auramoon and Snakefang. But today, she didn't care. She was exhuasted, but her dreams were plagued with memories of her days chasing the badger, something that- now- no cat cared about. She looked at the claw she'd pulled from the brute, which was sitting at her paws. It was a sick reminder of her vengance for the Riverclan she-cat that she would have loved to call her sister. She nudged it with one paw, glaring quietly to herself. What had been the point? Was she proving herself to the clan? Or to herself? What had she really accomplished? A warrior name at a young age, sure, but nothing more, nothing less, but a few horrid nightmares. She looked at Curveclaw again, then nudged the claw over to him. "Do you know what this is?"

[whitefoot]

c u r v eCLAW

Curveclaw began patiently tearing out tufts of fur from the vole that, if they had been left on, would have given him a rather choking hairball later. As he did so, he couldn't help but note Infectedsound's annoyed twitching of her tail. Was she irritated at him for trying an act of kindness? Oh, well. You can't help how you are, just as Curveclaw couldn't help being friendly.
And he also couldn't help but feel a little offended at her words. "One is always wasting time, we just choose how to waste it." he meowed thoughtfully, swishing his tail in a rather calming manner. "And I do apologize, but I had no knowing if you were hungry or not. If I offered you this vole I predict that you could not swallow your pride enough to eat it. If you request a piece of prey, then I am more than capable to get some for you," he added, mild-mannered and truthful as usual. Silence settled between the two cats again, Curveclaw feeling that the hunting at night comment was rhetorical. He continued to slowly pluck the vole.
Suddenly, Infectedsound scooted a small object in his direction. He wondered how such a small claw could reek so hugely of badger, and he thought to ask her where she found it, but decided to wait for question. "Do you know what this is?" she inquired of him, and he knew the answer immediately.
"Of course. It is not hard to infer from the smell of it, that it is a claw from a badger," he responded, his voice low in tone.

[xx snakey]

Infectedsound

She smiled slightly. So he wasn't like the others, polite, and restrained, not teasing or flirtatous. It was... nice, to have a civilized conversation. "Care to know how I got it?" She asked, forgetting about being hungry. She hadn't told the badger story in a while, and truly, she was sad so many forgot. She scooted closer to him, then flopped over on her side, stretching her legs out. She'd been sitting in the same posistion since dawn. She took a moment to lick the ruffled fur on her shoulder and to pull burrs from inbetween her toes. Her white paws seemed whiter then normal today, and she realized she'd been frequenting the center or camp to watch so often that her fur hard gathered dirt, not noticably, but it was darker to her then her paws. She'd was while she told him the story, if he bothered to want to know. She began grooming her front legs, moving up toward her shoulders and over she side. She wasn't normally this dirty, but long nights out and long days in made for a soiled pelt. The bronze flecks in her fur weren't visible on her flanks and the brown patches seemed to be almost black in the dim gray leaf fall light.

[whitefoot]

c u r v eCLAW

Curveclaw sighed as he finally stripped his prey of it's mantle, which had already started to thicken for the snowy winter months ahead. He sank his yellow teeth into its flesh, and found it to be rather gamey. The tom stifled a gag and lashed his tail. The lean meat made him shudder, but he ripped off a chunk and swallowed it anyway. The meat filled his limbs with strength, no matter how stringy it was. Now that Leaffall's settling in, everything's getting thinner, he thought matter-o-factly. And although he hardly noticed it, he was becoming leaner as well. His hips were beginning to jut out away from his body, and stick-like ribs were just starting to become visible.
Curveclaw raised his greenish-yellow eyes to look at Infectedsound. Had he seen what he thought he'd seen? There! Perched on her muzzle like a bird, small and open, but also ready to alight and fly away at the first signs of someone watching. It was a small smile. He hastily stared back down at his food, and took another large bite, cramming his cheeks like a chipmunk with acorns. Had she noticed him looking? No, apparently not, for then her melodic voice filled his ears, asking him if he wished to hear her retell her account of how she came to get the claw.
"Only if you care to tell me," he replied coolly, swallowing a string of the vole. He glanced up again, rather keen to hear this tale, even though he had never much been interested in stories, even as a kit with the elders.

[xx snakey]

Infectedsound smiled, pausing in her cleaning to settle more comfortably onto the ground and took a minute to look over Curveclaw. He was a nice tom, she liked him. And that was a miricle in it's own. Infectedsound took a deep breath, and prepared to deliver the story.

"There is this she-cat in Riverclan that I am friends with. Just during Gatherings, but I would hate to run into her in battle. We look alike, and she's beautiful. Her name is Auramoon, have you heard of her? Probably not. Anyhow, she was attacked by a badger a moon after getting her warrior name, and it blinded her." Infectedsound paused, letting that part sink in. "At the time, I was still an apprentice. When I heard of the whole ordeal, I was furious. Auramoon had so much going for her, the potential to become Leader, and it was taken away. Now don't get me wrong, I'm loyal to Shadowclan, but something like that made me furious. And then they didn't kill the beast!" The silver she-cat bristled just for a moment, then let her fur lie flat and continued. "If Riverclan couldn't get rid of this monster, I decided I would. I left the clan, only to hunt the beast that could blind one of us, or steal our kits. By the information I got from Auramoon, I tracked the beast, all the way into the edges of Windclan territory, then back towards Riverclan. I attacked in the dead of night while the badger was sleeping by the gorge. He was terrified to see me, since they have sure poor eye sight all he could see of me was a silverish blur, I believe, and the glow of my eyes. And I was screeching with all the fury of Tigerclan." She puffed out her chest proudly, loving to tell this story. She loved the way cats reacted, when hearing about her battle.

"We fought all night, I would run in and attack and then slip away before the slow brute could get to me. It was a battle of endurance, something I have alot of. It lasted three or four days, I believe until I finally drove the beast into the Gorge. I followed it's body down river to make sure it was dead, and when it washed up on shore, I took this claw as a suvenier. I also got my warrior name after that. That's why I keep this claw, I'm proud that I could rid all the clans of a terror like that." She finished with a lash of her tail and looked at the claw, fondness in her eyes. She wished the clan had valued her more, thought more of it when she told them, but she thought few believed it. She could have plucked the claw from a badger that was already dead. But she hadn't, she'd killed that badger for Auramoon, because it had taken from her everything she could have had. She glanced back at Curveclaw, curious of what he would think.