Ferretstar felt the situation escalating, and naturally ends up deciding to confront Froststripe and Sootfang.

"That's enough," Ferretstar says, raising her tail with an authoritative edge.

Sootfang glances over at her with a frown, and Froststripe stays silent.

Ferretstar always noticed how they treated them. Even though she'd never been that close with Toby, the other queens didn't have the right to say whatever they want just because they were elders.

"This is exactly why I came over here in the first place," Ferretstar continues, "Toby is an elder of this clan too, and deserves just as much respect as any other."

Sootfang narrows her eyes. "First Toby lecture us, and now you? I'm telling you Toby was telling Lostnose-"

Ferretstar cuts her off, keeping her voice steady.

"I don't care what they said. They clearly don't want to talk about it and neither do I. I'm not going to let you keep bullying them."

Sootfang sighs in resignation, though her tail still swished.

"Fine then. If that's all you had to say, then you can go now."

"Don't make me have to bring this up later then," Ferretstar says coolly.

Suddenly it began to rain.

"Have fun at the ditch," Froststripe murmurs dryly.

- ::

- :

Mousepaw felt his brother's huge paws collide into him hard, sending him rolling across the yard as easily as swatting away a fly.

The little tabby yelps in pain, feeling his head slam against the ground. He winced, fast realization of just how strong Specklepaw was.

"Hey!" The white cat suddenly shouts, "Just what do you think you're doing?!" They quickly clear the remaining distance between them to give Specklepaw a shove.

Mousepaw's heart raced in fear of this escalating into a bigger fight, but surpringly, Specklepaw backed off easily. He still seemed dazed from missing his target... And hitting his brother.

"Leave the little guy alone, you big bully!" The kittypet continues, fluffing up agressively. Despite their smaller size, they seemed ready to unleash unbridled fury.

"W..wait.. Wait- I'm... He wasn't..."

As Mousepaw shakily tries to sit back up the kittypet quickly comes to his aid.

"Hey, hey, take your time," The cat says softly nudging his side. The kittypet seemed to be shifting their attention from Mousepaw and Specklepaw carefully as the helped him up. "Don't worry, I won't let this bozo get you," Mousepaw awkwardly murmurs a small word of thanks.

From the tone of their voice, and being able to see them more clearly at this distance, it was clear that the kittypet was about his age. Maybe a moon or two younger.

"Are you alright? My name's Allura." Allura asks, smiling a bit now.

"Y..yes, I'm okay-t..that cat he really wasn't trying to hurt me." Mousepaw explains, fidgeting nervously. He glances over Specklepaw, who was also looking back at them silently.

As Allura makes eye contact with Specklepaw, and look at the distance between them they blink in realization. Suddenly it pieces together that Mousepaw had only gotten in his way.

"Wait a second... You were trying to attack me?" Allura snaps indignantly, "What did I ever do to you?!"

"Sorry," Specklepaw mutters and shuffles his paws awkwardly.

"You better be!"

Mousepaw takes a deep breath, "I..I think he mistook you for someone else- for uhm..."

"My old man," Specklepaw finishes quickly, not wanting to have to make Mousepaw say it.

"Are you kidding me?" Allura laughs in disbelief, "Do I LOOK like your dad?"

"Uh."

"W..we've actually never met him before... He left before we got a chance to meet."

"He's got white fur." Specklepaw shrugs.

"I've never been more insulted in my life," Allura huffs, settling down a bit, but then getting riled up again. "What's he like twenty or something- you're the one who could be my dad!"

"I'm not that old!" Specklepaw snaps back.

"H..he's the same age as me-"

"Eleven!"

"-we're brothers."

"Huh... Didn't see that coming," Allura blinks, taking a step back. They squint and tilt their head a bit. "Can kind of see it now though. Anyway- What are you guys doing here in the first place? Who the heck are you?"

Mousepaw glances at Specklepaw, who seemed to be getting increasingly impatient with the whole situation.

Mousepaw takes in a another deep breath, hoping he could get this over with, without any further trouble.

"I'm Mousepaw, and that's my brother Specklepaw. I only wanted to take a few plants, I'm sorry we caused you so much trouble."

Allura swishes their tail, looking between the two of them with a bit of a frown.

"Flower boy, huh? Aren't there any in your garden?"

"We're not kittypets," Specklepaw hisses.

"W..what he mean is we're not from here! The plants we need don't grow by the river."

Allura narrows their eyes again, "You're forest cats?"

"No, we're RainClan." Specklepaw interrupts again.

"It's past the forest. By the rumblepath. B..but yes, we're uhm.. 'wild' cats."

Allura stares hard at them for a moment longer before letting out a sigh. "Man, how's a sweet little dude like you get mixed up with a bunch of brutes like him?"

Specklepaw bristles. "What was that?!"

"You heard me," Allura says flippantly, "And I guess you're about to prove my point too."

Specklepaw flinches as his brother tries to step between them again.

"H..he's not- there's no need to fight. He was just worried about me is all." Mousepaw says hurriedly.

"Whatever. If he was so worried he's actually find someone nice to take care of you. You don't really seem like you belong there."

"I can take care of him just fine!" Specklepaw growls.

"I'll believe it when I see it. For all I know you're just going to bully him again as soon as I'm gone."

"What?! I never do that!"

"Well it's the first thing I saw," Allura snorts, "Go back to the wild if you want, but I'm coming with you."

"No way." Specklepaw says.

"Yes way."

"No."

"Yes."

"Never."

"Yeeesss."

Mousepaw realizes this was probably going to go on for a while if he didn't say something.

It didn't seem like they were going to get rid of Allura so easily, but maybe he could get them to warm up to eachother somehow?

He decides to...

Original Poll Options:

37 Votes

1. Ask Allura for help carrying the herbs - If Specklepaw sees how helpful Allura is, maybe he'll calm down? Besides you can carry more with three cats... : (48.6%)

2. Ask Allura if they know Bacon - Since this whole fight started from Specklepaw mistaking Allura for his father, then maybe he'll feel better if Allura knows anything about him. : 24.3%

3. Convince Allura to stay - It's against the code for warriors to even think about the soft life of kittypets... RainClan warriors won't be happy to see a kittypet in camp. : 16.2%

4. You take care of yourself - You may just be a medicine cat and don't like fighting, but they're both being a little too overprotective... Hopefully they won't get even more mad. : 5.4%

5. Leave without saying anything - If I just get the herbs without saying anything, Allura and Specklepaw can just figure it out on their own... : 5.5%