PLAY WITH FIRE | p, marigold

: CITLALI :

Shadepelt was... well, a mess.

It seemed like he was being put through one thing after another. His leader had gone completely crazy, apprenticing kits, giving Shellpaw a disgusting name and exiling Pumpkinstrut, then his dad had 'died' and then one of his closest friends had gotten injured. It had all happened in the past moon, and Shadepelt was tired of it.

While the young male had spent a lot of time sulking, he had soon come to the conclusion that it had only made him a thousand times worse. He probably needed to distract myself somehow, to entertain himself one way or another.

His bright eyes then rested upon a pale golden shape - Marigoldpaw. He didn't know the young she cat well, he wasn't even sure if he had ever spoken to her. They didn't even share a den anymore, as Flamestar had promoted Shadepelt to the warrior rank despite his young age. But right now, Shadepelt just needed to talk to someone. He couldn't see any of his friends in camp, and he just needed someone, anyone, to take his mind off the living hell he had managed to get himself trapped in.

The black furred tomcat padded towards Marigoldpaw, mind desperately searching for something to say to her as he walked. Usually, conversation came so easily to the confident young male, but right now, he was struggling. He hadn't spoken much since Crimsoncry's death, and all his words were painfully lodged in his throat.

"Do you want to practice some battle moves or something?" He spoke casually upon reaching the she cat's side, glad that in the end, he'd been able to say something. Shadepelt would probably do a pretty great job at teaching Marigoldpaw anything that she needed to know - he was good at hunting and excellent at fighting. Hell, it seemed the only thing that he was bad at he was keeping the cats he loved from leaving.

Don't think about that. Just focus on this random apprentice. Just focus.

"that's just what gangsters do."

She was down. Good. Hopefully Marigoldpaw would be decent enough of a distraction. "Sure," the young tomcat answered, his emerald gaze then flicking towards the camp entrance. "Let's go." The small warrior started to head towards the camp entrance, walking slowly so that Marigoldpaw would have enough time to catch up with him.

Shadepelt knew that he needed to make conversation. He was a naturally sociable cat, and there were few occasions where he wanted to be quiet. "So, how's your training going?" the shorthaired feline asked, green eyes resting upon his companion. It was a pretty standard question - nothing interesting or out of the ordinary, but he was sure he could make up for it later. "You haven't been training for that long, have you?" Shadepelt generally didn't pay much attention to his Clanmates or what they did, but he was working on that. It wasn't because he gave a crap about the majority of his Clanmates, but more because he thought it was useful to have as much information on the cats around him as possible. From what he remembered, Marigoldpaw had been just a kit not too long ago, though of course, he perhaps was completely wrong.

"that's just what gangsters do."

A generic question deserved a generic answer, he supposed. Shadepelt half wished Marigoldpaw had told him something juicier, such as confessing her secret hatred for her mentor or something. That would have been a fun thing to talk about.

As the young molly spoke about her mentor, Shadepelt felt a pang fiercely hitting him in the heart. He loved his mentor too - or his former mentor, more like. Pumpkinstrut meant so much to him, and yet Flamestar had exiled her from ThunderClan. Shadepelt couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Marigoldpaw - it seemed that her mentor wasn't going anywhere.

I hate Flamestar. He didn't know what had happened to her, but she had done a great job of pissing him off to no end recently. Making kits apprentices early, giving Shellpaw a disgusting name, exiling Pumpkinstrut... the only thing she had done which he was happy about was making him a warrior.

At the apprentice's joke, Shadepelt snorted. This was pretty much the first time he had spoken to Marigoldpaw, and so he didn't really feel anything towards her yet. She seemed friendly, which was good he supposed, but that didn't mean that he felt positively towards her. Since a young age, Shadepelt had struggled to care for other cats. He felt a strong attachment to those he was close to, but towards most cats, he felt nothing. Marigoldpaw would need to befriend him before he actually felt something.

But of course, the obsidian warrior could play a lot. "Of course," he answered smoothly, brushing his tail along his companion's shoulder, a playful gleam in his green eyes. "And why did you agree to tag along with me? Did you realise how cool I was too?"

The joke left his maw easily, and yet it hurt him a little. Deep down, Shadepelt didn't think very highly of himself. He wished that he cared for cats more, he wished he didn't have such a nasty temper, and he wished he wasn't such a massive coward. But the small warrior wasn't the type to share such insecurities with others, especially those he barely knew, such as Marigoldpaw here. A few lies and jokes here and there were good enough - nobody needed to know how he actually felt.

"that's just what gangsters do."

Shadepelt felt... slightly upset when Marigoldpaw referred to him as 'dark and mysterious.' Usually he would take it as a compliment, and he still did to an extent - besides, she was probably right. But with everything that had happened lately, Shadepelt felt less 'dark and mysterious' and more broken.

Marigoldpaw had referred to him as a warrior though, which made the small tom feel better. He knew that a lot of his Clanmates didn't see him as a true warrior as he was only nine moons, being one of the cats Flamestar had promoted early. But Shadepelt had embraced this early promotion, and was thrilled to be sleeping in the warriors den. While Flamestar was wrong about a whole lot of things, making Shadepelt a warrior was the one thing she was right about. It had been a little disheartening to see so many cats disapproving of Shadepelt becoming a warrior just because of his age, so it was nice to see that at least Marigoldpaw saw him as a warrior.

"Honored?" he nudged Marigoldpaw, admittedly feeling quite pleased that she was showering him with compliments for whatever reason. It would help him feel better about himself at least for the next few minutes. "I'm flattered." His emerald eyes rested upon the golden she cat for a few moments, his usual smirk upon his face, before turning to face their destination - the Great Sycamore.

In response to the younger cat's question, the ebony tom answered, "Well," he began to swish his tail backwards and forwards, his bright eyes fixed upon Marigoldpaw again. His tail seemed to move faster and faster, betraying his excitement to get started. Despite the crappy mood he had been in recently, sparring was something he greatly enjoyed, and getting to show off his skills made everything even better. "That depends," his tone was gradually becoming more playful. "How many battle moves has Poppytuft taught you?"

"that's just what gangsters do."

It felt nice... really nice, actually, to be looked up to. Shadepelt knew that he was talented considering his young age, but still, Marigoldpaw's words filled his body with warmth from ears to tail tip. It was nice to her to actually refer to him as a warrior, considering that so many cats seemed to be against him becoming one due to being quite young.

"Well, I'd like to think that I know a lot," he licked a paw, drawing it over his torn ear, emerald gaze still resting on the apprentice. "So..." he paused for a moment, continuing to preen at his black pelt, trying to think about the best way to practice battle moves with Marigoldpaw. In a way, it sort of felt as though he had an apprentice of his own - although there were only a few moons difference in the ages of the young cats. Figuring out what he wanted to do, the small male then spoke again. "How about this - we spar, and that way, we can get a better look at eachother's techniques. After that, if there's any moves we want to teach eachother, we can do so."

Perhaps this wasn't the best way to go about training an apprentice, but Shadepelt had to remind himself that he was no mentor. He had invited Marigoldpaw to practice battle moves with him, not for a training session. Shadepelt knew that he was still just a child himself. After all, this was the way Shadepelt liked to practice battle moves - leaping straight into spars rather than through talking. He was a cat who learned through experience more than anything else, and sparring had been one of his favourite activities for as long as he could remember.

While waiting for the golden she cat to respond, the small cat took a few steps away from her, bright green eyes fixed on her, already prepared for a spar. Even if she attacked now from out of nowhere, he stood a good chance of being able to dodge her attack thanks to his eyes already being on her. Shadepelt was secretly terrified of real battles, but what he did know from the few experiences that he had had was that watching the opponent, even when they didn't appear to be anywhere near attacking, was important.

"that's just what gangsters do."

The young warrior watched as the golden she cat raised a paw, giving him enough time to dodge. A smirk appeared on his maw as he realised that he had been tricked, with the apprentice switching her weight to her hind legs and hooking her other paw around one of his legs. For a moment, his leg was knocked out from underneath him, but he quickly recovered, firmly planting his other three paws on the ground, giving himself enough time to regain his balance.

Marigoldpaw was smart. That had been a good tactic, especially considering that she had only been recently apprenticed. Shadepelt would make sure to compliment her on it once the spar was over. Great, I'm really thinking like a mentor now. I feel so old! Pushing that troublesome thought aside, Shadepelt reassured himself that he would win this spar without a doubt. Yes, Marigoldpaw had started off the spar with a smart move, but he was more experienced than her, and he knew that he was strong for his age. Shadepelt firmly believed that there had to be a reason why Flamestar had chosen him as one of the cats to be promoted to the warrior rank early. He had a feeling it was due to his advanced capabilities.

Facing the molly, Shadepelt took a few moments to think through how he would attack her. He was gradually getting better at thinking before acting, though he knew that he was often still too impulsive, which was one of his weaknesses in battle. After thinking, the black tom shot towards Marigoldpaw, aiming to ram his head against Marigoldpaw's own head, hopefully knocking her to the ground or dazing her. If she was knocked to the ground, he would attempt to place his front paws on her throat, hopefully pinning her.

"that's just what gangsters do."

The young male was impressed at how Marigoldpaw at least partially managed to avoid his attack. It probably would have hurt her more if I had hit her head. But still, the golden she cat ended up on the ground, with Shadepelt pinning her. At the sight of Marigoldpaw's playful wink, he was already prepared for her to try to escape from him or something, so while he playfully smirked at her back, he focused even more, ready for whatever the apprentice would try next.

Despite being prepared, Shadepelt was unable to avoid Marigoldpaw kicking him in the stomach. He was knocked off of the she cat, though he managed to recover quickly, standing firmly upon his feet, perfectly balanced as he faced Marigoldpaw, noticing the way that her eyes glowed. Excited? Triumphant? She's doing pretty good, but I know that I can do better. Still, he allowed a casual compliment to escape his mouth. There was nothing wrong with being nice, and besides, perhaps the comment would catch Marigoldpaw off guard and distract her. After all, every cat liked compliments, Shadepelt included. "Not bad." Despite being knocked off of Marigoldpaw, the mischevious smirk remained on his face. He was still confident that he was stronger than Marigoldpaw, even though she had been doing pretty good so far.

Immediately after speaking, Shadepelt shot towards Marigoldpaw, rearing up on his hind legs before slamming his body downwards, aiming to bring his full weight down on her.

"that's just what gangsters do."

The obsidian furred warrior grinned triumphantly as he pinned the golden she cat, though he found himself very briefly thrown off as his opponent complimented her. Perhaps Shadepelt should have known immediately that it was a trick, but, getting caught up in the moment, he let his guard down briefly. A paw slammed into his chin, knocking the small warrior's head up and allowing Marigoldpaw to escape. That was a cruel trick! I approve of it.

Perhaps the reason why Marigoldpaw's compliment had distracted him was because of his low self esteem. While Shadepelt could playfully boast about himself as much as he wanted to, he didn't actually like himself very much - and he didn't really see himself as handsome, either. Shadepelt was smaller than the average cat, with a nasty scar upon his muzzle and a torn ear. He also wasn't especially muscular, which he knew was a trait which many cats found attractive. Shadepelt didn't believe that he was ugly, he just didn't believe that he was handsome. Due to his low self esteem, Shadepelt adored compliments, hence why he had been thrown off briefly by Marigoldpaw's. But there was no time for thinking about that now. One of Shadepelt's few weaknesses in battle was that he sometimes he couldn't stay fully concentrated, but he was trying to work on that, and he wouldn't allow himself to get distracted again.

Marigoldpaw would probably expect the young tom to attack immediately, but instead, he took several steps back, an idea forming in his mind. Bright green eyes fixed on Marigoldpaw, he purred, a charming smile on his face, his voice as sweet as honey, "I'm flattered, Marigoldpaw," his eyes remained fixed on his opponent, watching for even the slightest movement. "But I think you look pretty from any angle." Shadepelt hoped that he might be able to confuse Marigoldpaw a little, and perhaps have her slowly let her guard down. Besides, messing with his opponent just made the spar more fun.

"that's just what gangsters do."