Posts by COAL.

He took the sudden halting of Shadepaw's onslaught to be a victory. Despite Coal's overblown aggression, the apprentice's concession calmed him somewhat; at least the little shit knew when to stop, unlike that irritating red bengal he'd met at ThunderClan's border.

Now, their scuffle hadn't exactly been a crowd-awing victory for Coal. He'd been a bit too hesitant to hurt someone so young, and by the time that he'd realized Pepperkit fully deserved what he had coming, Pumpkinstrut had stepped in and threatened retaliation en masse. But the truth of their admittedly unimpressive encounter did not preclude a more glamorous lie.

"I put the vermin in his place," he beamed coldly, swiping a tongue over vampiric fangs. "What an uppity creature he was, in my most humble opinion. I only regret not relieving him of his consciousness. So don't tempt my claws in the same way, little shadow." His head tipped thoughtfully, an odd grin twitching at the corners of his mouth. Perhaps the boy, more agreeable to Coal's circumstantial superiority than any clan cat he'd met thus far, could be of some use. His ivory talons still formed a protective cage around the mouse, a bargaining chip in the strange game they now played.

"Of what interest was the bengal to you, boy? A littermate? One should think every one of you clan apprentices was born from the same nest of rats, if similarity in behavior is any indication." he sniffed poshly, regarding Shadepaw with a raised brow.

i want your gold

but you want my life

He fancied himself quite the nomad; all this exploring had finally taken him to the ends of the earth, for here the familiar floor of grass and greenery dropped away, and a hellish path of cruel concrete began. Coal had never been to the Twolegplace, but it truly was his sort of place: grimy, alien, foreboding. The harsh, unnatural shapes of Twoleg constructions afforded no sense of warmth or familiarity; these were not lands that coddled or cared. This was a warzone, a battlefield where every life was pitted against an indifferent world.

He reveled in its mercilessness, willing himself farther down unfamiliar paths for the sheer thrill in resisting their hissed commands to leave this place, for it was not his. But he couldn't risk losing himself in the labyrinth, only daring to touch the very edges of this new beast. No matter. By some instinct, he knew that this would not be their last encounter. One day, he promised himself, he would find his way to its heart.

But for all that fantasy, he was still now only a stranger, intruding yet again on a territory not his. Expecting no challenge from unmarked borders, he sauntered with an obnoxious confidence through the city's corridors; as if, by virtue of arrogance alone, he was already their king.

IVORYMOON !!

i want your gold

but you want my life

Coal felt as though he'd unlocked the world, finding himself again on ShadowClan territory after his first, disastrous attempt to join their ranks. The journey he'd taken the through the forest territories was certainly of impressive proportion, an ongoing endeavor since the fabric of his old home had turned to dust and the bitter demon was loosed on the world.

But he had given up on the prospect of joining for now -- how foolish he'd been, to think that he could fit into a society of these irritating mongrels. What had brought him here was nothing but aimless arrogance, the conviction that he could walk where he pleased and take whatever he desired. It was a neat compromise; a lifestyle which provided the freedom of the wilds, an outlet for his rancor, and enough encounters with other cats that the solitude would not yet drive him to madness.

Speaking of, he supposed that this would be his entertainment for the day; a wayward little girl inexplicably sniffling into a mound of dirt. "Dry those tears, love," he purred, the words devoid of warmth. He hoped she'd heard the story of the scary black-and-white loner their warriors had encountered at the border; how he loved being known. "What does a little thing like you have to cry about?"

i want your gold

but you want my life

"Don't patronize me, boy, I can hunt just fine," he purred coolly. "But in these times of scarcity, I'm not opposed to doing what must be done. That's called survival. If you were smart, you'd do the same." Although his words were nothing but debatable opinion, he spoke with a confidence that suggested these beliefs were utterly factual. Narcissism, that great flaw of cats of his creed, had a way of making one believe their own dogma.

"Strength comes from experience." He was quite enjoying talking to the apprentice, actually -- this one had some more brains than the rest of the Clan rabble he'd run into, and it was nothing short of gratifying to assume such a dominant persona. "It takes a cutthroat upbringing to make the most powerful of cats." His head tipped curiously for a moment before he spoke again. "Tell me your name, little shadow." A casually spoken command, not a request. It was a non-sequitur, but Coal thought that this one deserved a bit more cataloguing in his mind, identifying information to store for later. Just in case the boy would come to be of any notability -- which was doubtful, of course, he thought arrogantly.

i want your gold

but you want my life

"At least I can respect the honesty, kid," he huffed. Most of these do-good clanners would never admit what he felt was nakedly true; that any one of them was likely to drop the moralizing as soon it was their own tail on the line. It was easy to claim righteousness when one's virtues had never been put to the test.

"Shadepaw," he repeated. "This mysterious prey thief is called Coal. Tell all your clanmates, if it pleases you. I'd be happy for the name to be spread," he winked, chuckling darkly to himself. But he supposed the kid wouldn't be such a good messenger for his cause (whatever that cause even was) if he hated his guts. For all of Coal's venom, Shadepaw had proved himself both surprisingly intelligent and possibly of some value to the loner's schemes. That was worth at least one little mouse, he thought.

Hooking a claw into the hostage prey, he paused for a beat to catch the apprentice's emerald gaze with his own frost. Then he clicked his tongue dismissively, and suddenly the game was forfeit. The mouse landed with a barely audible thump before the belligerent apprentice, Coal's expression indicating no trickery. It was Shadepaw's.

"It's been a joy and a pleasure," he rasped, an inscrutable grin breaking across his features. "Someone like you has more potential than can be realized in the clans alone, little shadow. Please do let me know if you ever find the courage to take a different path." He stood, ready to leave, but would wait to see if Shadepaw would have an answer to this final proposition.

i want your gold

but you want my life

// sorry for the late reply!!

"Who am I? Does it matter?" He purred, bemusedly. Honestly, what was the fascination with one's name and business around here? He was bad news, they could all tell that from a single glance into his glacial eyes, from the way he walked and talked and laughed with the stinging bitterness of cheap absinthe. They didn't need his name or his business to know that they didn't want any part of it.

"ShadowClan land, ThunderClan land, DarkClan land... " Rugged, graceful paws carried the loner closer, and his head craned down to observe the apprentice on her level. Shoulder muscles bunched at his back, he looked like a coiled viper, swaying its head curiously before its prey before lunging for the kill. "Once you stop considering borders, life earns a much greater degree of freedom, little one." He was a loner. What significance was the fact that this was ShadowClan land supposed to hold for him?

"I want what any cat wants. Food and water, shelter, entertainment... it keeps the mind from rotting away," His poised tone suddenly turned to a darkened hiss, any possible hope of good intentions lost to dust. "Now tell me why you're crying." It didn't sound like a request any more; it was a command. His terrible narcissism demanded that every cat bend to his will, no matter how insignificant they were. Any brazen enough to defy him therefore had consequences to suffer.

i want your gold

but you want my life

// sorry for the late reply!!

It was almost beginning to be laughable how every clan apprentice seemed to act of one mind, how they all thought themselves capable of halting a grown adult's vicious will on their tiny lonesome. Almost. More importantly than that, he found it unbearably irritating.

The little one may have had no words, but Coal often had enough for two cats besides. Speaking with someone so narcissistic could hardly be called a conversation, anyways, the words of the other drowned out by the fanfare of his own thoughts. This encounter with Nettlepaw, then, was likely to go the same way as the rest.

"Hiss, hiss, little snake," he purred, venomously. His serpentine silhouette slithered in the beginnings of a wide arc about Nettlepaw, the awful loner moving with the lazy grace of molten gold. "Here to defend your territory all on your own? My, you're brave." His icy glare narrowed to wild slits, staring down at Nettlepaw with utterly convinced superiority. "Arrogant, too. Do you think yourself stronger than all the rest who have attempted to oppose me?" His tail lashed, a black viper, before stilling. The slightest hint of the evil hunger that lurked beneath his poise. He was quite sure that this one, too, would not back down. Just like the rest. They were all so confident in themselves, the poor, foolish things. A lifetime of coddling must do that to a cat, he thought. It was a good thing for them to encounter someone like Coal, someone who could illuminate the truth about their place in the world.

i want your gold

but you want my life