Clan Meeting - TreeClan Plot Thread

[Squirrelbite]

Dogfang sounded exactly like his namesake with the way he kept barking on and on about the past, rattling off names that meant absolutely nothing to Squirrelkit. If these cats were so important, then why didn't Squirrelkit recognize them? They were old and dead, and while Squirrelkit thought it was sensible to learn from the past, it didn't mean that change had to be shunned. 

He's clinging to the past like a kit clings to their mother. It sounded to Squirrelkit that Dogfang was simply scared of doing anything different. Did he not believe Treeclan was strong enough to survive on it's own? How weak and cowardly of him. If Arrowstar agreed with Dogfang, then Squirrelkit didn't think that a cat like that was suited to be leader. Leaders should focus on the future, not babble about the past like an old elder.  

"Perhaps," Squirrelkit murmured, her voice low. She didn't want to attract any attention to herself, but she couldn't help but give voice to the thoughts swarming around her head like bees. "We should only take in outsiders of exceptional merit, and even then, they should be watched with a careful eye instead of being put up on a pedestal." Of course, kits could be taken in without question, because kits had no loyalties. But this level of tolerance, for any cat of any age... It seemed weak.

[Galelight]

Galelight huffed. Clearly, Dogfang had wildly misinterpreted his words. Which led to his current tirade, which... Was rather rude. However, since they were arguing... He supposed it wasn't misplaced. Cats were going to be passionate and high strung. 

"Excuse me if I'd rather not dictate the actions of the present based on the past." His tail lashed. "What, you just going to repeat everything that's ever happened, since that worked out so well for you? Well, I'm afraid the world doesn't work like that." He could tell, even without his memories, Dogfang was much older and more experienced than him. Did he particularly care? Not really. He wasn't going to let up. "You know, you have a real talent with twisting words..." He remarked. "But I suppose anyone can spin a statement to their sides. You're putting countless disrespectful statements in my mouth. Did I say forget the past? No. I simply believe we shouldn't be constantly relying on what has been to say if we go for choice A or for choice B. How do you know this isn't some huge mistake?" He suddenly growled. "No one here really knows if Arrowstar is doing something that's beneficial or will end badly for us all. Forgive me if I'm not willing to bank on the chance that we don't let in some maniacs into the clan."

He snorted. "Me? If you don't know me, then maybe you should check where you've been living. Under a rock perhaps...?" Actually, he couldn't really answer the question since he didn't remember... But... He was fairly sure he'd lived in Treeclan immediately before his memory loss so... Really... Was there any excuse for him not to have been recognized...?

He didn't seem impressed with Dogfang's next rant. "Uh huh. Well, I was banking on basic logic and common sense. But according to you... That's rather lacking in Treeclan." He tilted his head. "I'm surprised you think so little of our clanmates' intelligence. Pretty rude and disrespectful of you." He noted. Then he folded his ears back. "The ones who live here obviously have earned their place here. I don't like the idea of adding a bunch of strangers who haven't into our clan."

He sighed. "I'm afraid you mixing up cats we know as our trusted clanmates and total strangers. They are not one and the same." He stomped a forepaw down. "I think you should rethink your tactics of guilt tripping every cat here into singing your tune! I think we have a right to an opinion that as far as we know, isn't anymore justified than your's! Unless, you'd like us all to be mindless beasts, only capable of obedience?!" He snarled openly.

Then Dogfang's attention was off him. He huffed. This was one of the rudest cats he'd met.... Well, so far. Dogfang had set the bar pretty high, though.

Though now... It seemed like Dogfang had wandered off to talk to Arrowstar. Tch.

[Yellowburr]

The first to speak up was an apprentice, and, although he was young, he was intelligent. Soon, more cats stood to share their opinions, some agreeing with me, some not. A malicious smile wormed its way up my cheeks as all hell broke loose below me. This would definitely be going down in TreeClan's history.

One cat caught my attention in particular -- Dogfang. I had heard of him before, as he'd been around for quite some time, and others seemed to be leaning in the direction of his argument. My head whipped towards him, smile widening, tail flicking slowly behind me. I leaned down on the rock, bending my forelegs so that our heads were only a few feet away. "Aw, hey big boy," I cooed softly, tilting my head. How wonderful it would be to rip at his pelt.

"You know what I find.. rather amusing?" I raised my eyebrows, chin tilting downward again. I made sure to speak loudly so that the others could hear. "You were the one that followed his brother here like a little duckling, aren't you?" I paused for a few moments, before nodding. "Yeah. And I know that's the only reason you're here. Isn't it hilarious how you have such a big, important opinion when you were only here because of your little brother?" I pouted. "And that you're only arguing this point so that you don't get thrown out of the Clan? That's a little selfish, isn't it? Perhaps.. if you were clan-born, you would care more about the wellbeing of this Clan, instead of yourself." I straightened up. "Hilarious, right? Ha, ha, ha."

I turned to face the Clan again, leaving the large tom to argue with Needlepaw. I was done with Dogfang for now -- but once fighting broke out, and I had every intention of a fight if it came to be, I'd be sure to remember him. 

"In fact, it's even better that everyone in agreement with Arrowstar isn't full blooded!" I laughed loudly. "Hm, it says something about this whole situation, doesn't it?" Even the kits and apprentices who argued against me were descendants of loners -- it was pathetic, really, Arrowstar's only followers were non-clan cats. They were really only looking out for themselves, and it was painfully obvious.

"Aw, c'mon bestie, scared of a little fun?" I said with one of my maniacal grins, turning towards the leader. The two of us certainly had history. "Oh, go on, run away with your little loners -- its all you've got!" I laughed again, the sound eerily bouncing around the clearing. Of course he had chosen to conference with the two former loners, of course.

I turned back to the growing crowd, raising my chin. "You all need to wake up!" I shouted over the arguing crowd. "Sure, some outsiders have helped in the past, but that certainly doesn't mean they won't turn when things get rough for them! To many of you loners, TreeClan is just somewhere you're safe. You have no loyalty to us, no reason to fight for us except for the easy stash of food and roofs above your head!" My gaze swept across the clearing. "They have turned against us before, left us, and what's to say they won't again? If they decided to do such, no one would see it coming. Those of us that realize this are holding our breath, waiting for something to happen. And that's just with the outsiders we're harboring now -- what happens when we allow worse individuals to live with us? It's only a matter of time before it happens, and then what? Shouldn't safety of our Clan come before safety of loners? Rogues? Cats from the other Clans? Isn't that what we were taught? To serve and protect our Clan? That's what we need to do." I looked around the clearing again, eyes narrowing challengingly. "Wake up!"

[Crystalbird]

Crystalbird almost wanted to tune out the angry voices flying back and forth. She didn't, because they deserved to be heard. Their words heeded. Weirdly enough, she actually understood both sides. She wasn't exactly the kind of cat to welcome a stranger into her home with open arms...

But she didn't want to shut out anyone that wasn't in Treeclan already. Far from it. 

She sighed, as Arrowstar call her to the side, while beckoning Dogfang to join them. She appreciated the somewhat disrespectful brown-furred warrior coming over, even if he seemed somewhat ill-tempered about it.

She felt... A bit out of place with everything that was going on, being incredibly new to Treeclan in comparison to everyone else... And yet she was the deputy. She didn't really know why Arrowstar chose her. She hadn't questioned his decision though... Yet.

She coughed as she joined Arrowstar and Dogfang, off to the side of the crowd. "Well. Yellowburr seems like a real piece of a work." She remarked.

[Foxstrike]

[[ catch these paws yellowburr ]]

Foxstrike hadn't expected what seemed like a simple announcement to end up so chaotic. Left and right, voice bickered, of all ages, and each voice seemed harsher than the last. He felt the fur on the back of his neck raise defensively as more and more voices broke out, invalidating him and his heritage, undermining his loyalty and that of so many others around him. He bit his tongue as apprentices younger than he claimed he was a threat, just because his blood was different.

It wasn't right. His mother may not have been clan-born, but her blood ran through his veins as much as his father's did. TreeClan was his home.

The voices were too many, too loud. They grated on his nerves, until studdenly Foxstrike whirled to face the one who had started it all.

"And where do you suggest we go, then? And who, exactly?" he snapped at Yellowburr, hostility uncharacteristically bleeding into his words, as much as he tried to hide it. "Just the outsiders? Or will you throw out anyone who isn't full-blooded, even if they've been here since birth, just like you?"

"I was born here. I've been here longer than most of you who would seek to throw me and others out. I've lived here my entire life. This, TreeClan, is my home, and I have known no other." He straightened his spine, making more of an effort to control his temper and keep his voice cool. They would get nowhere if he made himself out to be more of a threat than they already thought he was. "Am I not your clanmate simply because my blood is less pure? Does my heritage define me more than my own life does?"

[Beechroot]

(*Beechstar points a shotgun at Yellowburr* it's high noon)

Beechroot sat in silence as the scene unfolded. His normally empty body seemed to filling with something. Rage? He thinks it was called. The warrior felt his claws slid into the earth. His lip curled back with a growl. "If you're such a pure, great clan-born cat, then why don't you know the warrior code? A kit knows that the leader's word is law."

"Cloudclan chose Arrowstar and granted him his nine lives." Beechroot rose to all fours. "And if you do not trust Cloudclan with their decisions, I do not trust you." The other warrior's name slipped off his tongue like poison. "Yellowburr."

[Deleted]

"That's just plain out stupid Needlepaw." she responded. "The cats outside the clans are much more prosperous than those in. They can survive on their own. They don't need other cats to survive. Without other cats you would die. The clan supports us as they don't need support. If anything, they're stronger."

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelkit looked at Fallenpaw with a look of disgust. While in general, she was open to listening to different cats arguments, what the apprentice had to say was just plain stupid. 

"You think that being a rogue is easy?" The she-kit spoke up, hissing. "Why don't you leave Treeclan and see how well you fare on your own? Without other warriors to help protect you, and a medicine cat to heal you." Squirrelkit challenged, her tail lashing. "I bet you won't do it, you're all talk, aren't you?"

Squirrelkit felt that if Treeclan was raising cats this incredibly dense, then it was clearly doing something wrong. "Go on then, leave. No one will make you stay if you don't want to be here."

[Littlepaw]

littlekit bristled at squirrelkit's words. they had some truth to them, but she didn't like the way she was talking to fallenpaw. her sister. "i would make her stay," she retorted, sidling closer to the identical she-cat, before coughing quietly. "uh, fallenkit - paw. she does have a point. not all outsiders are survivors." she straightened up, pale brown eyes blazing. "i'm clanborn, so that automatically makes me better than all you outsiders," she sneered. "i'm a kit, and a runt at that. but i'm clanborn, so i'm above loyal treeclan warriors that have loner and rogue roots. that makes sense, right? me, a kit, better than cats that just happened to be born in another clan? where's the logic in that?"

[Deleted]

Fallenpaw rolled her eyes as literally everyone got her point wrong. "That is the exsactly opposite of what I said. How is saying that Treeclanners are soft the equivalent of saying we are stronger than rouges and loners? I was telling Neddlepaw" she spat the name, "How Loners are strong. You don't have to be a complete patriot. Doing so only hurts yourself."

[Willowleaf]

Willowleaf came into camp, two squirrels hanging limply from their jaws, green eyes flying wide when the tabby saw the chaos that had ensued while they were gone. A strange tom was standing on the leader's rock, and it seemed like everyone in the clan, including apprentices and kits, were at each others throats. They quickly dropped their hunt in the fresh-kill pile, listening to the argument with worried curiosity. Are they arguing over whether or not we should allow outsiders into the clan? Willowleaf thought, getting that impression from the words that were being thrown around. Personally, they believed that TreeClan should have stricter rules on which kinds of cats should be allowed in. Of course, the tabby didn't want to stop letting outsiders in completely, and they defiantly didn't want to exile any former non-TreeClan cats that had proved their loyalty! But Willowleaf didn't think that letting just any cat into TreeClan was necessarily smart, and agreed that TreeClan should be a little more careful about who they let cross their borders. 

Willowleaf blinked in surprise when he saw they apprentice in the fray, pushing their way over to her. "Hey Fallenpaw," the gray cat mewed gently, nervously watching the crowd, "careful what you say around here, some of these cats look a bit hostile," Willowleaf looked pointedly at Needlepaw, who looked ready to attack at any moment. The warrior put their tail on Fallenpaw's should, in a both comforting and protective manner. "I'm not sure how comfortable I am with you being out here..." they looked sympathetically at Fallenpaw, thinking that it might be hard for her to walk away from a fight, "maybe you should take your friend," Willowleaf gestured to Littlekit, "and head to the apprentice's den?" It'll safe there, "It'll be easier for the clan to talk things out once everything has settled down." At least they hoped so. Willowleaf really didn't like all this fighting. 

[Deleted]

Fallenpaw narrowed her eyes at her mentor. She knew the mentor was trying to protect her, but she also knew it was safer for her twin if she was out to protect the smaller yet other wise identical cat. Sure she didn't nessisarally know hot to fight, but she knew how to dodge attacks and scratch. Combined with a few bites, she was sure she would survive. "I don't trust them. If they get into fights, I'd rather be there too." she responded after a moment, casting her mentor a slightly understanding glance, as she did get the older cats point.

[Thornwatcher]

Thornwatcher was just going to sneak away and leave these stupid cats to argue, even though he did somewhat agree with Yellowburr. As he turned around he heard his name called out. Shaking his head he grinds his teeth, whipping around he spits "Don't you DARE bring me into this!" Even though the cat he was speaking to had gone to talk with Arrowstar he shouts those words to make sure Dogfang heard them. "Even if I was HALF-rouge" He puts emphsis on the half, "Why is someones birth what matters? It's not really a problem for kits to be born into a clan, but it's when those who carry sickness, or those who DO have malicious intents. Besides how would we know if they had other reason to enter our clan?" He shoulders past the hoard of cats to stand besides Fallenpaw. "When kits are bon they can be molded they are easy to suggest ideas to, they believe ANYTHING. If I said 'Did you know that some foxes could fly?' Some would believe me! But, those cold, hardened rouges who have no idea what clan life is like, we could try but we NEVER know what their ideas are, what if one of them were working to inflitrate Treeclan to spy on us? We would have NO IDEA BECAUSE OUR LEADER IS ALL GOODIE-GOODIE!" Panting, he steps back knowing the words would fly like water droplets when a kit jumps into a puddle.

[Willowleaf]

Willowleaf gazed down at their apprentice with pride. The tabby was glad to have an apprentice that cared so much about her clan. "Alright," they gave in, although still a little apprehensive about being near all this conflict, "we can stay, but you must not stray from my side," they looked around at their clanmates. It felt strange seeing them attacking each other so viciously, even if it was only with words. "And if a fight does break out I want you to help me get the kittens back to the nursery. I don't want you involved in any battling unless it's absolutely necessary," Willowleaf looked at Fallenpaw with uncharacteristic stern. They had seen battle, a gruesome battle between TreeClan and DeathClan, and they did not want their apprentice anywhere near that until she had been properly trained. She may be able to defend herself, but battling against experienced warriors required a skill that only came with moons of training.

[Deleted]

Fallenpaw nodded greatfully, as she knew she would have to go back to the den if it was directly said by her mentor. "Thanks. I will." she said, her gaze turning on the cats, although she had nothing to say at the moment.