-:Cause Tragedy Thrills Me:-

[Amberstar]

<sub>The young she-cat sat daintily on a rock, but her expression was all but her posture. Bluerage.. She quite lived by her name. Her tail swept over the slate grey boulder as she watched the band of murderers arive. Ah, there they are. She was about to call to her clan, but speaking of which, they slunk out of the brush like the shadows of assasins. She let her voice out as a silky purr, a sneer across her fine muzzle. A deal, Bane? Do not deny that you have killed. You have sinned, by the definition of Starclan. How are we not innocent, if we live by a simple code, and not kill for pleasure or enjoyment, or rape for the hell of it?

The comment from the cheeky she-cat.. It enraged Goldenblaze. What was once an innocent clan member was not a blood thirsty murderer. Do you have proof that we have ever killed /innocent/ lives, she-cat? Do you have proof that it was ever US who started any blood spilling? Revenge is in every cat's blood. Do not brand us with the words murderer or cold blooded because we choose to show ours freely. Retaliation! Do you think we'd let ourselves we trodden upon, as others pick fights or INSULT us? I DIDN'T THINK SO! He roared, jumping to his feet. But he moved not a single inch. He lived by Bane's law, and Bane's law only. He did not give the word fight. He wanted a deal. If it was anything to get his kit back, he'd do it. Not shedding blood seemed like a fair deal, even for this vengeful father.</sub>

[Hiddenwrath]

A deal?

Pretty hues watched both sides from the, well, side, near Risingclan. Those hazel hues flicked.

A trap?

That was the first thought to flit across the young queen’s mind, and she rose to her paws, silently padding even closer to her clan, ready and willing to go fight and die for Kestrel.

This was her calling. This is the life her father sought, and she lived it for him.

Ah, her father. Although a ripple of pain attempted to tear across the she-cat’s senses, she gritted her teeth and fought it away. She found herself standing near a tom, one with claws reinforced by canine teeth.

She didn’t know him. Hiddenwrath knew none save for Kestrel, but that fact no longer mattered.

The orange and white she-cat was watching for a trap to be laid, for anything hidden behind the Boneclan leader’s words.

[Kestrel]

You'll never ^take _me alive

"Proof? ...Evidence?"

The words hissed out, and though Kestrel spoke in a mere cold whisper, her words could reach the ears of those across the plain.
She walked, her eyes fierce, barely controlled chaos raging in her mismatched eyes.
Her self-control was flawless.
She brushed Fallingsky with her tail. "Rape," she hissed. "This she-cat is the product of rape. She was meant as a reminder to her mother that the world is not a nice place." Her eyes flicked to Bane's for one meaningful second.
Oh yes; Kestrel knew.

She stepped away from her Clan. She stood alone on the plains, fearless, cold as ice. "Bane!" She called.
"Do you not remember when we met, so many moons ago? We discussed the future. We discussed this very tim, when our paths would cross again.
Do you not remember what you said? You said, '"Rogue Clan does need a heirarchy. To the clan cats we look like fools, sitting in our Meadow doing nothing with our time. Don't you wish to put fear into their hearts at the sound of your names? Don't you long to serve a purpose in life? Well you can have a purpose. StarClan is for fools. It is a kittypets tale and a weakness to all those clan cats. The Rogue Clan won't follow their petty rules - and despite our no nine lives, we will make up for it with immense strength, stealth and wits. We will grow our claws to immense size, we will learn not to have friends or emotions - just more weaknesses that the clan cats have. Does that not appeal to you? A life where you are essentially leading the forest, due to the fear you put into the clan's minds?'" Kestrel chuckled softly, as though at the words of a young, thoughtless kit. "Yes fear is not something an innocent cat spreads, Bane. And emotion separates us from the prey we hunt and the brush in which we make our home. Thought without emotion is impossible. It is pointless to even try."
She tilted her head back, calling words back from the abyss, from the shadows of her depthless memory.
"'"Worthless murderer, thoughtless killer, homicidal assassin - in the end they all mean the same thing. Call me what you want, I'm glad it's finally sinking into other's heads. I was brought up where pain and fighting was the only way to survive. I tasted my sister's blood at a sincerely young age - and they say once you taste your own kinds blood, you get addicted. Don't like it? Tough luck. I'm just feeding my addiction.'" She looked back at her own Clan. "Does this sound innocent to you? These are the words of BoneClan's leader. And his warrior..."

She turned her gaze to Goldenblaze. "Revenge is not in my blood, BoneClanner." She said the name with more scorn than most would believe possible. "This is not about revenge."

Kestrel, the reigning cat of RisingClan, took another step forward. "There is nothing you can possibly give me and mine, Bane. You care for your Clan as I do mine; I see that, but I have compromised enough of my morals in taking that kit away from your Clan. I will not make a deal with the devil."
What a good choice of words. If Bane wasn't the devil himself, he was certaintly the devil's right-hand cat.
"I am not innocent, Bane, but I do not kill for pleasure. I do not deal in revenge. Justice is an entirely different thing.
This kit-- she'll be safe, and I daresay the Queen will heal herself. After all, she has three stronger kits to take care of."
Kestrel's face was impassive. The mask was well in place.

^I'm alive

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[Bane]

Keep calm, she'll come around soon.

"I never stated my innocence, Kestrel. I stated that innocence does not exist, therefore I never kill innocent lives."

Self-control was something Bane had, something he knew very well. Inside he was burning, but on the outside he appeared calm, almost as though laughing at the situation.

"So long as we're quoting eachother, here's one for you. "...What I do ask is peace. If you choose to head your clan, so be it, but keep your Clan's claws sheathed when they walk among cats of my Clan. I will keep mine civil as well, and maybe we can avoid needless killing. I won't stop you if you wish to destroy the Clans, but I will not help you either."

Is this peace? Is this civil? I've left your clan alone; I've held my end of the bargain. The only lives I've taken are rogues that do not belong to either of us, or pitiful clan cats. I never once stepped past the border to RisingClan, and neither have any of my clan!"

The gate was beginning to open, the anger wanting to escape. Bane stood also, beside Goldenblaze. He looked proud; he was proud.

"And lets not forget what we all are, here! We're are cats! Everyone here was born into the world a feline - we all live by the same rules. We are the same! You would not deprive one of your clanmembers of one of their kits, would you? Then why do it to ours! I don't wish to launch into the battle because I respect you and your clan; I do not underestime your skills.

So I offer one final time; name a fair trade for that kit, and I shall give it to you."

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[Kestrel]

You'll never ^take _me alive

Kestrel smiled, and though it was not at all an evil one, it was flawlessly cold.
She had expected this.

"Priorities change, Bane. Lies become truths. I spoke lies, but trust me when I say that I have always cared about my fellow cats."
Her eyes flickered strangely, as did the pitch of her voice when next she spoke. "I even care about that kit, as much as it must anger you to hear it. We have not harmed that kit; she is alive. She is warm and safe. We do not, did not, and will not willingly harm her. She carries BoneClan blood, but that does not mean she will share the ideals of a BoneClanner."

Now her eyes narrowed. "I have within my Clan the child of a cat whose mother was raped. Imagine the pain and sadness the mother must have felt because of that. I have witnessed, even from my side if the border, BoneClan's disreguard of other's lives. When I first met you, Bane, I had not even imagined a Clan full of killers like this. I went back on my promise, only because I had not yet known what would come. Now, now that I have seen the blood and heard the cries of pain, I feel I cannot allow this to go on. Innocence or not, killing like you do is a crime against life itself.
Life is not a contest to be the most feared, the most powerful."

She raised her head and her voice now. "I don't want the Clans and the loners of this meadow to feel fear as they walk past your borders. I don't want to hear about a cat who raped another just to prove the world isn't nice. There's no reason there. RisingClan won't kill a kit or rape a she-cat, or kill thoughtlessly; BoneClan already has a record of such deeds. There is no deal you can give me that can undue the fear and the pain and the hatred your Clan spreads. The fear and pain and hatred your Clan seems to enjoy spreading."

^I'm alive

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[Bane]

"A leader, who does not stick to promises, is not a leader at all, dear Kestrel."

Bane's head had lowered, his eyes glaring at the dark space beside his paws. His body shook with violence, spasms of anger that, as he had been unable to let it burst, was now raging inside of him. And he couldn't do it anymore. He snarled viciously, and ran a few metres in front of his clan, until only a metres or so away from Kestrel. He wanted to strike, but he had to deny himself that honour just yet. His white eye seemed to pulse with the frustration, the pure hatred he now had for this cat. She was but scum.

"Alright! I raped! I did you a favour, as you now have one extra member of your clan. I killed! I am, afterall, Bane! Kittens quiver at my name! I am proud of the fear that we penetrate - it is the sign that I am indeed fulfilling my duty here on earth! I can admit what I am, and am proud of what I am - you, however, cannot admit that you have stooped as low as us! You are scum! You take a kit of another clan and think that oh, well because they were mean to all those poor, pathetic kittys, it's okay! It's not okay! You think we've stooped low by killing? You've stooped a thousand steps lower. And don't make out that I am in the wrong, Kestrel. I am, afterall, only trying to get back what is rightfully ours!"

He was pacing like a wild dog trapped within a small cage. He wanted death to stain his fur.

"You broke a deal, Kestrel. You broke a solid promise, and so I feel it's only fair that I break mine. BoneClan is no longer going to be civil towards you, just as you have not been civil to us. My warriors will not hesitate to slit the throat of a RisingClan cat! You are not safe anymore, Kestrel. Like the mouse that chews ignorantly on the wheat, before the eagle sweeps down and breaks it's neck, feeding upon it's insides rabidly. I promised the mother of that kit that I would get her back - and now I say to you, that I will die trying!"

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[Kestrel]

You'll never ^take _me alive

Kestrel, every bit Bane's opposite, and at the same time, his equal, merely watched him with eyes fierce as the light of the sun, cold as winter, not at all surprised.

"We do not need your civility any longer. I am no fool; I expected war. I instigated this war. I am ready for it."

She padded back to her Clan, wondering vaguely if their opinions had changed of her.
Looking over her shoulder, her pretty face showing defiance, scorn, but surprisingly little hate. "Your opinions of me do not matter. Neither do my opinions of you. It is natural for both sides of a war to believe themselves right, and that is what this is: War.
It seems our Clans have reached a new status."

She neglected to point out that most eagles killed for food, not pleasure. Or to defend themselves. It was a moot point.

With that, she melted back into the ranks of her Clan, moving to stand at the back, to survey the whole battlefield.
Stealing a kit is bad. Killing and raping without need, for pleasure, is worse.
Especially if Kestrel intended to keep the kit alive, to raise her, help her grow strong...

No, RisingClan did not kill kits. The BoneClan she-kit would not become some some twisted muderer.
Thus was their mission: to purge the world of BoneClan's evil.

RisingClan, do you still stand be me?

^I'm alive

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[Juniper]

OOC: Did she say the "do you still stand with me?" thing out loud?

Dogclaw stood stolidly behind his leader. He'd done bad things in his life; these cats had done worse. He was fully prepared to do what he had promised himself he wouldn't do again: on this Day of Scars, Dogclaw would wet his thrice-cursed claws with blood.

[Juniper]

Pride

Every single fiber in Catalyst's body strained towards the BoneClan cats in his Clan's territory. Insulting them. Threatening them. Dishonoring them. Only his superb training kept him from leaping at all the BoneClanners without his lady's command. And that Bane! Saying Lady Kestrel wasn't a leader! He wanted to claw his face off. But he couldn't, because Bane was Lady Kestrel's personal enemy. At that moment, Catalyst gave himself a task. One he would stick to no matter what. He may not be able to fight Bane himself, but any cat that tried to interfere with their duel would have to answer him, Catalyst, son of Apocalypse VI. Trained by the best of the best.

In the blood legacy
Prepare yourself

OOC: By the way, do you want Juniper to pick up the thread with Undead, make it at the camp? Sort of a "meanwhile, back at the ranch," intercut.

[Kestrel]

|ooc| No, Kestrel did not say that out loud ^^ And yes, will Juniper please head to the Undead thread?

[Crisp]

Crisp growled as menacingly and loud as he could, so as to strike fear into any younger cats in BoneClan here to fight. His long, hooked claws scored the ground, leaving tiny piles of earth behind each forepaw. His eyes, lighted with the fire of battle drawing nearer, skimmed over the BoneClan cats, hatred flaring at each underpawed piece of fox-dung.

The black tom longed to spring at one of them, and could see that Catalyst wanted to do the same. The RisingClan warrior wanted to sink his teeth into one's throat - and the only blood that would give him pleasure of tasting would be Bane's.

But he knew to leave Bane to Kestrel. He hadn't really been listening to the conversation; now he jerked his gaze away from the murderous rogue Clan to look at his noble leader.

'It seems our Clans have reached a new status,' she was saying. Crisp dug his claws into the ground to stop himself from yowling a battle cry and leaping at BoneClan.

[Goldenblaze]

<sub>The hiss rumbled deep into his throat before he let it out, chest filling out and mouth wide as he caterwauled a deep, tiger-like roar. His ancestors burned inside him, beside him, for him as he layed a determined eye upon the band stretched out across the horizon before him.

You shall pay in blood, whether it be yours or your followers, for your ignorance, your foolishness, for your bast*rd deed!! Bane has given you the choice to back down before our teeth, our claws, before we dig them into your pitiful flesh and skin. We hope to hear you scream as our bloodthirsty maws sink deep below your bones!!

His voice grew prouder, stronger, more agressive as he went on, and by the end he looked to Bane for permission to charge forward, to let Risingclan feel the weight beneath his paws.

The heart of a father.</sub>

[Bane]

((Hokay. Can we say Bane and the BoneClanners then return back to BoneClan? This thread was merely the two clans chatting/arguing. For the real battle, whenever that shall be, I'd quite like to start a new thread. Would that be okay?))

[Onyxdart]

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[Kestrel]

|ooc| -salutes- I'll edit a few posts and wait for the real battle~