You wanted to see me...us. {Spotted,Mudstripe}

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RunningPath couldn't help but flick her ears a bit. She felt anxious and worried. Mudstripe will probably mess this whole thing up, but she didn't really care at the moment.

She went to the Leader's den before Mudstripe did; she ran back to camp quickly, getting out of Mudstripes site of course. Although, the tom could still either be in the den, or just a minute behind her, right on her tail.

She didn't care, she just started speaking when she got to the Leader's den, well, inside it...

"Spottedstar? I have to tell you something," she slowly mewed, "I didn't want to tell you before the gathering, but then Mudstripe... he started to bicker with me... And said I wasn't loyal."

She was saying things rather quickly, as if this was going to save her life from something that was going to devour her. She started to talk a bit more, in the same fast pace.

"He saw me with a loner, and he was my kin. How do I know? I met him before, but I didn't chase him off, because he seemed familiar. Looked and smelled familiar. He looks just like me, and you know, I think I should be able to see him a bit more. Well anyways, when he saw me with him, it was when I was protecting him from Mudstripe. Like, mudstripe and crow were about to fight, and like, I got there, and shoved them both away from eachother.

It was all very interesting, actually, but of course, Mudstripe had to be a mouse-brain and start saying things that weren't even true. And while I was trying to tell him the truth at the gathering that's when he started thinking I was disloyal and stuff, so.... yeah, that's why we started to act like that, which resorted you into telling us to meet you. I'm glad that mudstripe isn't here yet, cause then I could tell you why i didn't chase Crow off and stuff," she talked like that rather quickly, so it most likely wasn't so clear all the way through.

She quivered her whiskers, and waited for SpottedStar's response.

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Spottedstar had been alone in her den before the warrior she-cat had come racing in. Not doing anything in particular, just avoiding the growing humidity outside. The heat of greenleaf reached even the darkest parts of the territory, nowadays, drying the marshlands and ushering prey into their hiding holes. Her den was one of the few places the leader could find a cool place to relax.

Runningpath's entrance had ended that. Her amber eyes flew open along with her ears pricking. "Runningpath?" she mewed, wondering what was so important while only hinting the irritation that came from having a warrior so rudely barge into her den like this. She didn't get the chance to say much else after that, as the black she-cat blew right past introductions and began speeding through her story. The leader's eyes seemed to narrow with each sentence.

She passed over the first bit in her mind, about the jeering comment between warriors. If that had been the reason, it wasn't worth her time. But as Runningpath went on mentioning a loner tom that shared her blood, an alarm went off in her mind. How could that have been? Runningpath had been with ShadowClan for as far back as she could remember. Spottedstar couldn't place her parent's names, however. Was one a loner?

The she-cat nodded as she spoke of the spat between Mudstripe and her brother. That was understandable. Clan cats had every right to chase a loner off their territory if they saw fit. If they didn't they would have loners hiding in every pine tree.

Spottedstar blinked when the warrior had finished, not responding right away. She readjusted herself so that she was now sitting up straight rather than laying on her belly and looked at Runningpath simply. "So if I understand correctly, you have a brother of loner blood, he and Mudstripe got into a fight, and now the fight is between you and him." The ginger and white she-cat blinked again. "Interesting, but questionable. For starters, when-" She found herself cut off when another familiar pelt barged into the hollow tree.

~~~~~

"Spottedstar!" Mudstripe came skidding to a halt before the leader's nest, his blue-green eyes wide. He'd been trying to keep an eye on Runningpath earlier, in order to make sure that she hadn't gotten to Spottedstar first, but he'd taken his eyes off her pelt while he'd munched down on a frog. Now he turned his head to glare at her in frustration. He'd been so stupid as to forget!

"Don't listen to whatever she's told you. She's a liar, she probably made up every word that came out of her jaws." He looked back to Spottedstar with insistence burning in his eyes. "Believe me when I say, this she-cat is treacherous, a betrayer of her own Clan!"

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RunningPath looked at Mudstripe, and couldn't help but narrow her eyes. She let the tip of her tail twitch back and forth. She wanted to leap at him and shred his pelt; he didn't even know a thing. All he saw was herself barging in their fight, trying to get him to stop.

"Like you know anything to begin with," she rasped, "I barged inbetween you and Crow fighting. I protect my kin, unlike you."

She growled lowly, and then calmed herself, sitting up straight. She looked over at SpottedStar with her whiskers quivering.

"Please continue with what you were saying, SpottedStar," she mewed softly, her ears flicking back and forth.

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[[Bahaha. Sorry for the post earlier, I had to do something, and I was tired earlier this morning. plus I HAD to make this thread. LOL.]]

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Spottedstar looked between the two warriors with narrowed eyes. Both were obviously at ends with one another. Both were standing strong. The leader took in a deep breath of air through her nose before speaking. "I have some questions for the both of you," she started off. "First, Runningpath, I want to know when exactly you first met this loner brother of yours. Then tell me how many times you have met up since then. And Mudstripe-" the ginger and white she-cat turned to face the warrior, "tell me when this fight between you and the loner took place."

~~~~~

Mudstripe glared and Runningpath with a hiss. She still didn't get it. But she wasn't even a real Clan cat! How was she supposed to understand anything? All the black she-cat was was a lie. Then he turned back to face Spottedstar, and spoke up quickly in order to be heard first. "I saw Crow trespassing on our territory on the new moon before the last Gathering," he explained, his claws sliding out to rake at the earth. "I attacked him for doing so, since he wasn't leaving fast enough, and then Runningpath came in between us. To defend him." The tabby glared at her again accusingly.

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RunningPath stared at SpottedStar, letting Mudstripe speak. When she answered, she said it rather slowly this time. She was choosing her words carefully, for she didn't exactly remember when she first met him.

"I can't remember when I first met him, but..." she licked her lips slowly, letting the fur down along her spine flick, "I've met him about three or four times, not including the time I stopped them both fighting."

Now that got her thinking, maybe Crow was actually shadowclan blood, but he got lost from the nursery.

"Spottedstar, when me and my litter was born... was there any missing kits?"

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Spottedstar listened first to Mudstripe. It certainly was suspicious, the way the tom had put it, for Runningpath to intervene in a territorial defense. Kin was kin, but should she lax the rules for that? Mudstripe should have been right to chase him off, after all. And when she turned to listen to Runningpath's side of the story, the first bit seemed to be in Mudstripe's favor. Meeting up with a loner so frequently was not something to be looked well upon.

At her question, however, Spottedstar allowed herself to rethink the matter. Was it possible that this loner was of ShadowClan decent? The ginger and white she-cat willed herself to think back as far as she could, to the times of when she was just a young cat herself, just a kit. But it was to no avail. "I cannot say," she admitted, giving her head a slow little shake. "That was such a long time ago. Perhaps it is possible, but I can't be sure."

~~~~~

Mudstripe hissed in disbelief. "Spottedstar, you can't be serious! It's obviously all just some sort of excuse. At least one of her parents was probably a loner themselves." His tail lashed out behind him as he snarled. "I think at least one cat would know if there had been a missing kit or not. And if you don't, who would?"

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RunningPath sighed, and looked at Mudstripe. She couldn't help but snap at him; this was a serious matter, and he seemed to not care for facts.

"Mudstripe, shut your muzzle for a moment, and listen! You do not remember that far back either, do you? You don't know who my parents were! So just shut up!" she screeched, but while she did, tears slowly pooled out of her eyes, "You're just making it worse! I wouldn't lie about kin; I wouldn't lie about anything! All I care about is ShadowClan and kin, but this is a serious matter, and it's odd! I was curious is all, and if he IS kin, then what am I supposed to do?!"

She just stared at him, while her legs now started to shake. She looked like a helpless kit, but this really was freaking her out. She wanted to know if he was really kin, if he was part shadowclan after all, if she was even a loner to begin with. That was the part that scared her the most, was she really Shadowclan?

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Already having been irritated and now fed up, Spottedstar stood and growled loudly, "Enough!" Her amber eyes burred as her neck fur began to puff up. "Both of you!" The leader looked sharply from one warrior to the other with her ears a little fallen back. "I understand the situation, and you two clawing at each other's throats like this isn't going to solve it any more than what we have now."

Rolling her shoulders, the she-cat tried to force herself to be calm. She forced the fur on the back of her neck to fall flat, and her snarl to be suppressed. Spottedstar then looked between them with more rationality. "Mudstripe, you're doing no good here. All this pointing claws isn't going to make a difference until we know more of the past and the parents. I don't want to hear of you trying to start anything more- do you understand?"

The leader then looked to Runningpath, her voice a little less rough. "And Runningpath. If you feel you have to look further into this matter, then do so. If this loner turns out to be a lost ShadowClan cat, then we can see if he wouldn't mind a place in our camp. But until that is proven, I don't want the two of you meeting within ShadowClan boarders. We can't have loners feeling as if they are all welcomed here. You can meet up with him to try to find some truth to your parents in the neutral lands, but I don't want you spending more time than you have to with him. You're place is here, in ShadowClan. Remember that."

~~~~~

Mudstripe growled lowly in anger, but said nothing in rebuke and just looked away. Fury came from his pelt in waves. How could Spottedstar pass this by? It was much more serious than this! Runningpath didn't even deserve to be in ShadowClan camp. She was probably a pure bred loner, who's mother decided to smuggle into the nursery when no cat was looking. It was possible.

The tabby stole a glare at the black she-cat and lashed his tail again. At least Spottedstar had seen some sense by not letting the loner inside the boarders. But it wasn't enough. Nothing close. They needed to make sure he never came within a tree's length to the boarder. And if Runningpath decided to see him often enough, then the same should go for her. He didn't want her in the camp.

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RunningPath dipped her head, and smiled softly at her afterward. She suddenly frowned.

"I should be able to see him once more, though... to tell him that we have to meet in the neutral lands. I think you would understand that," she mewed softly, and looked over at Mudstripe.

That should show him, she thought to herself with a purr. She flicked her tail, and looked back at SpottedStar for an answer. It would change everything if he was a ShadowClan cat...

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Spottedstar flicked her ear as a sign of agreement. "Good. Now, unless there is anything else forming knots in your pelt, the both of you can go. And remember-" she mewed sternly, casting a stone-hard gaze between the two warriors, "I don't want to hear anything more about you two fighting." That was the last thing ShadowClan needed on top of this mess. The she-cat would gladly take another warrior if he proved to have good, ShadowClan blood, but there didn't need to be constant arguing between another pair.

~~~~~

Mudstripe bit back a growl and refused to make eye contact with either Runningpath or Spottedstar. He wasn't going going to sit back and take this, even if Spottedstar was! This isn't over. I won't let it be over. He's a loner, and Runningpath is, too! I know it. I'm not about to let any more filth make its way into the Clan. Muttering something under his breath, the tabby warrior stood from his place, turned, and quickly exited the leader's den, stalking off in the direction of his nest in the warrior den.