It's So Violent (OPEN)

[Sunstripe]

[bg=brown][atrb=border,7,true][atrb=height,300,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=bordercolor,maroon,true][atrb=width,500,true] ALMOND The calico she-cat stared through her cloudy green eyes. Beaten day upon day after her capture she had finally been forced to surrender just to avoid being hurt, but on the inside she had plans going. She had plans that involved her children and the children of an EastClan she-cat who had also been captured being involved in a rebellion. She would not let what had happened to her go, all the treatment that she and Brodie and her young ones were put through. "They'll know the meaning of pain when I'm through with them," she hissed vengefully. She was no longer the skittish and shy she-cat she had been when she was young, now she was a bitter mother who sought revenge against the ones who had wronged her. Her ears pricked as she heard the sound of another raider approaching her, and she growled lowly. "What do you want?" she snapped.

[sil]

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[atrb=width,350,true][atrb=background,http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g171/Sillvy/Kbg1.png] Kite had been moving about Raider’s Run, trying his best to avoid being seen. The other Raiders were all anxious and restless. It was as if they could sense something big was going to happen. He could see it. Kite didn’t want to be on the bad side of a claw-happy Raider or older apprentice who was too eager to do something violent. It was hard for Kite to sneak around their territory, what with his limp and almost ever-present wheeze. Regardless, he had been successful so far. The young calico tom pressed on, following a familiar scent—a scent that was probably the only comforting thing he knew. His mother. Truthfully, it was a bittersweet comfort. Almond and his sister Red were the only cats who even bothered to notice his existence, who strove to protect him from the violent Raiders. From his own brother. And for those reasons, Kite resented them. Just as strong as the beatings he received, their fawning and worrying over him was nothing but a constant reminder of how weak he was. Except Koschei. Koschei saw his true worth. Kite narrowed his frosty blue eyes as he approached Almond. She heard his advance and surprised him with her reaction. Instinctually, Kite fell back with a sharp wheeze. It had been long ingrained into him to flinch when a cat reacted hostiley toward him. He could feel the dreaded heaviness rattling around his lungs, making it difficult to breathe. The Fledgling panted a brief moment until the surprise wore off and his breathing steadied. “Mother,” Kite greeted neutrally. “What are you doing out here by yourself?”

[Sunstripe]

[bg=brown][atrb=border,7,true][atrb=height,300,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=bordercolor,maroon,true][atrb=width,500,true] ALMOND Her ears went back when she recognized her son. She should have known by the sounds but she could never be too careful. The last thing she wanted was for a raider to sneak up behind her and start a fight. But she knew that mostly the raiders kept good relations with one another. It was the fledglings who had to worry about the beatings and the pain. Her sons and daughter all suffered during their training, though she cared very little for Talon. She couldn't save him from the raider brainwashing or his own insanity, or from his sadomasochistic ways. Kite, she wasn't sure about. She tried to protect him because he was weak but she wasn't certain of his fate. She could never tell whose side he was on and sometimes she caught his dismayed glances after she or Red defended him over something. "Kite," she acknowledged. "I came over here to think. What are you doing?"

[sil]

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[atrb=width,350,true][atrb=background,http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g171/Sillvy/Kbg1.png] Kite padded closer, his gaze roving over his mother. As young as he was, his flinty blue eyes missed nothing. He was forever calculating, appraising, watching, waiting. Another fledgling, Ethereal, had once told him that she could tell when his mind was working. She said that his eyes became like two splinters of ice, capturing the world in his gaze. Well, she made the comparison before she pounced at the command of a Raider, adding another scar to the many that were scattered across his calico pelt. So Kite could tell that something was bothering his mother. He knew that she was a different she-cat than the young, warm, and protective mother he and his siblings were born to. The change was understandable, and Kite hoped that maybe the time had come when Almond would share whatever thoughts she’d been having. The calico Fledgling pointedly evaded her question, as he didn’t want to admit he was sneaking around to avoid a beating. He lay down beside her, eyes never leaving hers, and curled his crooked tail into his body. “What’s on your mind?”

[Sunstripe]

[bg=brown][atrb=border,7,true][atrb=height,300,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=bordercolor,maroon,true][atrb=width,500,true] ALMOND Almond always noticed that Kite was a little different from most of the other young cats. He always seemed like he was processing something, like there was a lot going on behind those blue eyes of his. But she like many others could hardly read it. Her son was different, and he was also fragile. She knew he would hardly be any use to her in her plans to fight back against the Raiders. "It's not very much your concern, Kite," she meowed. She didn't want him to think that she was singling him out because he was weaker than the others, but that's exactly what she was doing. "I've just been thinking about the future." She didn't want to say too much just in case other raiders were listening, or in case her son decided to blurt out too much. Loose lips sink ships.

[sil]

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[atrb=width,350,true][atrb=background,http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g171/Sillvy/Kbg1.png] Kite was silent a moment, his mind jumping from thought to the next as he tried to figure out the meaning behind his mother’s vague answer. ‘It's not very much your concern, Kite.’ The tone she used was an achingly familiar one; the same voice she and Red both used whenever they were trying to protect him from something. His eyes narrowed to hard slits and his twisted tail drummed a steady rhythm into the ground beneath them. He hated that he constantly needed protection. Kite knew he was weaker than the other cats—did the two she-cats constantly have to belittle him with their pampering? For all of his intelligence, Kite was blind to the idea that, really, he would have been killed a long time ago without Almond, Kite, and Brodie. But anger would get him nowhere in this situation. The calico tom decided to take an amicable approach to figuring his complicated mother out. “Well, if it’s bothering my own mother, it should certainly bother me also,” he meowed and cocked his head to one side. Kite glanced around the area to assure that they were alone. “Please, share your burdens with me. You’ll feel better than keeping them to yourself. Tell me what’s troubling you.”

[Sunstripe]

[bg=brown][atrb=border,7,true][atrb=height,300,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=bordercolor,maroon,true][atrb=width,500,true] ALMOND Almond observed her son through narrowed pale green slits. She saw the steady tapping of his kinked tail against the ground. He seemed insistent on knowing what she was thinking, all of her grand thoughts of rebellion against the ones who had captured her. But she kept reconsidering telling her own son. She tossed it back and forth in her mind. Maybe it was Talon's betrayal of her that left her wary. The way he'd taken after Anubis. His merciless, sadistic ways. He turned against his own family. And Almond didn't want to think the same of Kite, but she couldn't be too careful. Finally her motherly instincts returned to her and she exhaled a sharp breath out her nostrils. "This life is all you've ever known, but there's better lives out there. The Clan cats aren't the dumb, savage barbarians that they teach you they are. Once I was a part of them, for a very short time. I can tell you, I will do anything to destroy Koschei and his kind and free myself, and you and your sister from this tyranny." She neglected to mention Talon. She practically disowned him.