meet me on the equinox +sacrifice

[Maple]

Stormpatch's paws ached as he slowly trod into the safety of the MapleClan camp. He had been out hunting since dawn; it was now well past sunhigh. In his jaw he carried two plump mice and a young squirrel, all fresh and warm. The morning had been as successful as it was long. Stifling a yawn, the warrior added his latest kill to the growing fresh-kill pile. His mouth watered slightly as the delicious scent of rabbit, his favorite meal, washed over him. A fat hare was lying only a few mouse-lengths away, tempting Stormpatch with its sweet aroma. Stomach growling, he forced himself to turn away and shuffle back towards the forest. He still had a hidden stash of prey to collect.

As he pushed his way back out of camp, Stormpatch felt the fur on his neck begin to bristle. The sudden feeling that he was being watched washed over him. He looked around with narrowed eyes, tail twitching in confusion. He tasted the air; no scent of an enemy Clan, or any cat for that matter. He was probably just imagining things, he was so exhausted. Shaking his head, he trudged on. A sparrow was buried only a few tree-lengths from the camp entrance. Stormpatch headed there first, scraping the dead leaves and dirt off the fresh-kill with care. Thank StarClan for this life, taken to feed our Clan, he prayed silently, picking the bird up in his strong jaws. The scent of food made his head begin to spin, but he knew he couldn't eat yet. The Clan had to be fed first.

I am a member of the Clan, Stormpatch thought crossly as he padded deeper into the forest where a vole and mouse were still hidden. He hadn't eaten since dawn, and he was weak with hunger. But he knew it was his duty as a warrior to bring back his catches before he could help himself. With a heavy heart, the tom scraped some leaves off of his second stash and picked it up gingerly in his mouth. That was the last of it. Eager to get back to camp, he turned around and began trotting back in the direction he had come. That's when he heard it. A rustling from his left, so quiet he had almost missed it. He dropped the fresh-kill at once and dropped into a crouch. There it was again; the feeling that he was being watched. Someone, or something, was creeping up on him. Ears drawn back in anger, Stormpatch turned to face his stalker. How dare this creature keep him from his meal! With a warrior cry, he sprang into the bushes and found himself landing on the back of another cat. Surprised, Stormpelt looked down and saw... "Oh great StarClan, what are you doing here?"

[» Sacrifice]

Having been up since the crack of dawn was starting to do something to his mind; probably because he had been keeping up this ritual for as long as he could remember. Camp didn’t hold anything for him, not since he had learned the truth about what he was, and what his father was. Maw drawing back into a silent snarl, he had almost ran smack into the warrior, only his last moment reflexes that kicked in saving him from having to deal with the other cat. The black and purple apprentice had been more then willing to have just let the other tom pass, until he saw what he was doing, causing his livid grey eyes to grow wide as he watched from the shadows, unseen and unscented.
That’s MY prey! I gathered it! I hunted it!
Well, at first it hadn’t been his prey. Having stumbled across the stashed food in his headlong race to just get away, he had been excited, and quickly dashed back with all the prey he had found, forgetting at first why he had been trying to get away in the first place. And then he had ran face first into his father Darksun, causing tendrils of hate to flicker to life, as all the hurt he felt flashed to life, and dropping his prey, he had once again chosen to flee into the forest, rather then confront his problems. Memories though, hadn’t stayed where he had wanted them too, causing a deep, bone breaking anger sorrow combination that had led the apprentice to hunting all he could, and putting the prey right back in the places he had found the others, something he now regretted.

Can he not scent ME on it? I didn’t think I was that invisible to the world.
Suddenly, the fur on the warrior’s neck began to bristle, and fighting the urge to suddenly appear, Onyxpaw was quick to back up, back into the shadows where he wouldn’t be seen. No. He would watch for a while before he acted, to see if perhaps this was just a blind stroke of luck that this cat had found his stash. Stepping backwards, he knew that if this cat had really found everything, the last part he would go to would be in the deepest parts of the forest, parts he knew well. It was where he made his solitude, watching the days go by, fearing that he was going to go insane, become a stark raving mad elder before he even had a chance to become a warrior first. He would become a legend, one that told of what happened when you worked yourself to hard, you went insane. You didn’t become a warrior. Do not pass go, do not collect your money. Go strait to the insane asylum, where you can spend the rest of your moons laughing and foretelling stories of doom and despair. A sort of hysterical laughter threatened to break to the surface, and until the apprentice tripped, he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to hold it in much longer. Flying forward, Onyxpaw landed strait in the dirt; just in time to see Stormpatch gather the last bit of prey, as well as rustle ever so faintly.

Barely having enough time to get to his feet, Onyxpaw saw everything in slow motion; just like you were suppose to right before you died.
No! A warrior will not kill another clan member!
With a sudden ‘thud’ Onyxpaw felt the intense weight of the older cat, and automatically rolled, flinging himself down and twirling fast to stay out of the range of any claws that may have been flying, his mentor would have been proud of that move. Panting slightly, grey eyes narrowed dangerously, Onyxpaw stepped forward, ears pressed against his skull, arrogance marking fine line of his body.
”I could ask you the same thing.”
Hissing, the black and purple tom danced just out of claw reach, moving in circles, his own claws unsheathed. He wouldn’t win a fight he knew, but he would go down trying too.
”Digging up the prey I CAUGHT. I’ve been up since dawn! And now this happens! I don’t need you to screw things up for me, I get plenty of that just seeing how I’m RELATED too! The previous prey may have been yours, but I CAUGHT THAT.”
Every ounce of the young tom seemed to tremble with rage, although surprisingly, he hadn’t jumped Stormpatch, something that the tom wasn’t known for. When he got angry, he usually got a bit defensive, be and it was usually through claws rather then words. With his anger though, came a sudden change in his pelt color. Where it was once purple with thin black rings around it, it seemed to have changed, now looking black with very thin purple rings around it. Quite odd, to anyone who had cared to observe that.

[Maple]

Stormpatch glared down at Onyxpaw with an intense feeling of dislike. Something about the apprentice had always seemed off to him; the way he always seemed angry, like the world was out to get him. If Stormpatch had been in a bad mood before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. "Does Allurestrife know you've been out this long?" he demanded of the younger cat. He couldn't shake off the feeling that Onyxpaw had been sneaking off on his own, for what he assumed was not the first time. "And you should show some more respect to your elders. I should claw your ears off for speaking to me that way, but lucky for you I'm too tired at the moment. As for the prey, let's have a look, shall we?"

Tail lashing angrily, Stormpatch padded over to where he had dropped the fresh-kill, motioning for the apprentice to follow. He was certain that it belonged to him; he could fit his teeth perfectly into the indentations on the vole's flank, and his claws matched the marks on the mouse's back perfectly. "Go ahead," Stormpatch growled, flicking the vole in Onyxpaw's direction. "Take a whiff. If you can detect your scent on any of these pieces of fresh-kill, I'll eat my own tail." How dare this little scrap of fur try to claim my catch? he thought angrily. Is this the kind of thanks I get for serving my Clan? "I'd be happy to help you search for the prey you're so certain you caught and buried, but I assure you, this is not it."

Stormpatch sat with his tail wrapped over his paws, his gaze intense. Onyxpaw was and always had been a mystery to him. If his strange markings weren't enough, his attitude was far beyong anything Stormpatch had seen in any apprentice before him. Something must have happened to the young tom to make him this way; no cat was born so angry. "If you're quite done arguing, now, how about helping me get this all back to camp? I don't want to hear any more about who caught what. If you don't believe me, so be it. Fresh-kill is fresh-kill, and I'm sure the elders will appreciate that mouse no matter whose claws slayed it. You can collect your catches when you've finished with that." Ears twitching with irritation, Stormpatch picked up his sparrow and continued on his way.

[» Sacrifice]

Tail lashing vigorously, Onyxpaw could only glare at the other tom. Letting out a soft, somewhat mocking and bitter laugh, Onyxpaw seemed to find something that the other warrior had said incredibly amusing.
”Please. Nobody knows how long I’ve been out here; and yet I doubt they even care about how many hours I put in. Its not like I have gone out of my way to make friends here.”
Instead of sounding remorseful, the black and purple apprentice seemed to be almost….pleased with what he had done to alienate himself from the others, creating a wall between him and anyone who had tried to become friends with the tom. He hadn’t always been this bad; but ever since he had been able to get out into the forest, he had been seen less and less these moons. Some thought he even lived there, he knew the layout that well. Panting slightly, eyes narrowed and ears pulled back, Onyxpaw was no longer snarling, but the impression that he would be if he wasn’t listening was there.
”Go ahead. You may be older then me, but I have something you don’t; youth. Plus, as you said, your exhausted.”
Grinning a fanged smile, Onyxpaw watched as the other tom walked, no stalked over to the prey. How he enjoyed making others so angry! Reactions were a big highlight of who he was, and what he was doing when he encountered anyone.

Following Stormpatch, a smirk flickered to life on Onyxpaw’s maw, his grey eyes dark, challenging, daring, just waiting to see what exactly this warrior was going to do. They were all different; but this one had proven to be most interesting. And for a while, as Stormpatch pushed the prey over toward him, it seemed almost as though the apprentice was going to calm down, he taking the vole and
carefully scenting it, pretty much ignoring the other tom. It wasn’t going to be for long though.
I'd be happy to help you search for the prey you're so certain you caught and buried, but I assure you, this is not it.
Every muscle went stiff in the tom, as he turned to stare at Stormpatch, something glittering in his eyes, and for a long moment, he just stared at the other warrior as though he had simply grown wings and started speaking in two leg.
”I. Don’t. Need. ANYONE’S. Help.”
The small apprentice spat, eyes blazing as he took a step forward, toward Stormpatch. Claws digging deep into the earth, Onyxpaw basically threw his next words at the tom, as though offering to help had been like an insult to him, which in a way, it was.
”Just because your older, you think that your so much better then me. ‘Oh, little apprentice can’t find the prey he ‘allegedly caught and buried here.’ Oh my, I must help him or else he’ll be out there all night. Better come up with a good excuse or else he’ll be suspicious.”
Maw curling up, it seemed that Onyxpaw was focusing on doing all he could not to jump the other warrior. A battle even now he knew he wouldn’t win; he didn’t have the experience to win.
”Guess what? This little apprentice isn’t as idiotic as they think him to be. You want the prey? FINE. I’ll just go hunt EVEN MORE. You go and enjoy your little clan camp with everyone all around you; I suppose it makes you happy. Good for you. All that closeness, it just makes me sick.”

Whirling, Onyxpaw turned to stalk off, although he stopped when Stormpatch started talking, once more. Fighting back the urge to whirl and leap, the apprentice instead focused on the mental images of something, at least to him, far more pleasant, but not totally ignoring the other tom.
”Its ‘your’ prey. You caught it, you take it back.”
Voice cold, Onyxpaw turned and continued to stalk off, moving toward a direction that others thought impossible to cross. All they needed was some imagination though, for with a single considering glance, Onyxpaw sprang up the fallen tree, and jumped to the other side, knowing it was possible for the older tom to follow, and daring him too. There was a reason he had gone this way; soft moss lined the banks, and it looked as though his place had once been used for tussles before. A want to fight something, someone, burned at his paws. Even if trying to fight an adult warrior was suicidal. It didn’t matter right now; anger had clotted the reasonable part of his mind.