An Afternoon Snack |Stellar|

[wolf]

Like a smith is attracted to cold steel and the sound that resonates when hammer is put to heated metal, or like a miner who holds glinting, sparkling diamonds in his hand after a day’s hard work, so the cat was attracted the smell that had been carried to him on the soft breeze. The mouth-watering smell taunted him, daring him to follow. Like an angler fish, luring it’s prey within an inch of it’s jaws, and then, without the fish knowing what was happening, it was over. So the feline was attracted by the smell of warm, furry food. He could already see them, and feel their warm bodies as he pounced on them, killing them, then eating a warm meal.

He was hungry; He hadn’t had a proper meal in a while. He followed the scent of the many rats that he had picked up, being more wary this time of other cats sneaking up on him like on previous occasions. He was no fool when it came to learning his lesson. He stayed on alert now; surely the smell of the rats had attracted other felines such as himself to an easy meal? With all those rats bunched together in one place, it would be a massacre. And, by the end of it, his belly would be filled comfortably. Though, he could afford to stuff himself. He was getting a bit on the thin side, after all.

His tabby ears flicked once as he dismissed the matter. Too confident, as always, he was. Already counting his bounty before he had even laid eyes on it. He was sitting down now, and observing the barn that all of the smells were beckoning to him were originating from. Hunger gnawed at his stomach while he looked for the best possible way to enter the barn. Inside, he knew, there wouldn’t be much cover to sneak up on a rat from if he entered it where there was open space. He looked up at the sun, trying to determine which way to enter the barn where the most shadows would be.

He had no need to decide what he would do once he got in. It was simple; disgustingly obvious. Kill every rat, no? He was an experienced hunter; It wouldn’t be a problem. All of those rats in that one space were just pleading for death. Satisfied and comforted by the plan he had constructed to give himself some element of surprise, he got up from his sitting position and, soundless, deliberately, walked towards the barn.

When he had a purpose such as this, he completely stopped worrying about the other things bothering him. It almost made him feel guilty, not thinking about his problems. Not trying to solve them. Especially because they involved her. He stopped walking and took a breath. He didn’t need this distraction. He had to focus on one thing right now, and that was killing. This could wait until after he was finished filling his belly. In fact, he would force it to wait. He was way too hungry at this point to even feel guilty at pushing the matter aside for now.

Conscious of the fact that he had completely zoned out, he found himself directly in front of the entrance he had chosen to slip into before he even realized he was close to the barn. Shaking his head, he carefully walked inside. He waited a seconds for his eyes to adjust to the changed lighting before immediately identifying a sleeping rat very close to him. It was behind a wheelbarrow, but, as if he had x-ray vision, he stared at the wheelbarrow, at the exact point where the rat was on the other side.

Carefully and noiselessly, he crept around the wheelbarrow, low to the ground. He stopped when he had was in pouncing distance of the rat, and then, after quickly estimating the distance and how much power he would need in his spring, he pounced, and landed on the rat, killing it swiftly before it could make a sound. He took it between his jaws and exited the barn, eating his prey swiftly and quickly outside of the structure.

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar approached the barn... He was attracted to it, perhaps because he was a barn cat in his childhood, maybe he just had to get away. Stellar went with the last asumption. He needed to think about what he had doen with Indigo. She didn't love him. She had lied. Maybe she didn't though... Maybe she just loved Ash more.

Yes, she did, and Stellar could do nothing about it. Indigo was her own being, and Stellar couldn't say anything, nothing, to change her and bring her back. He was powerless, and he just had to accept that. But it was so hard, nearly impossible for him. He loved Indigo with all his heart, but Indigo loved Ash, not him, and he would never be able to tell her his feelings again, possibly.

He smelled a strong scent, a mix between rat, very strong, and another cat, male, faint. He opened his mouth slightly, getting another nostril-full, then lowered his head and fell into the hunter's crouch. He noticed a rat behind a wheelbarrow, but was alarmed when he saw another cat behind it. He had almost went over to take the rat.

['Nice save,' Stellar thought, turning his attention to a rustle in a blanket of straw. He crept slowly, yet surely to the rustling, and then pounced. He snapped the rat's neck quickly, and brought it to a ladder's step, which was very thick, and jumped up on it, like a jaguar hauling his prey up a tree. He then sat and ate, cleaning it thouroughly, and then licked the bones over again. This was the best meal he had had in a while. Which was kinda obvious because he hadn't eaten anything in a long time.

After his meal, he went back to watching the other male, hunting the rat behind the wheelbarrow. He watched his position. 'Hunter's crouch, nice position. He should lower his tail just a bit, the rat my see the shadow,' he thought, like a coach on the sidelines. Only this coach didn't know anything about this male.

[wolf]

When Wolf was finished devouring his meal, he dragged what was left of it to the other side of the barn so that it was downwind. This way, the smell wouldn’t be carried into the barn and possibly alert the other rats to his presence. He padded back around to the entrance he had entered in before, and ducked inside. His ears twitched a few times as he focused his senses on finding more food… Where was the next rat bastard that needed to be eaten? He found it, not too far away, scuffling around in some hay. Actually, there were quite a few rats in the hay. Wolf crept closer, and found a good vantage point where he could watch the mound of moving stalks, waiting for an unsuspecting rat to come out so that he could pounce on it.

However, instead of finding rats, he found a cat. Surprised, he almost fell off of his perch on top of a stool. A cat snuck up on him again? He blinked a few times at this new arrival. How long had he been sitting there, watching him? And how could he not have sensed his presence? He hissed at his own stupidity, alarming the rats nearby and sending them rustling even more frantically. Yet again, he had put all of his focus into one task to complete, and totally blocked out his surroundings. He really needed to work on that.

Then, as he stopped thinking about his own stupidity and realized why this cat seemed to look so familiar to him. It was as if Wolf were looking at his reflection in a stream or pond. This cat had his same tabby markings; sable stripes that flowed down a brown pelt from ears to tail-tip. In fact, the only reason why Wolf knew he couldn’t be looking into the thing that humans’ called ‘mirror’ was because the cat in front of him had green eyes, not Wolf’s golden-brown ones. And, now that Wolf realized it, this new cat didn’t have a scar on his leg like he did.

He sized up this new arrival, trying to decide whether he was hostile or not. Surely he would have attacked him earlier if he meant harm? No, that wasn’t hostility in his eyes… Was it curiosity? He then noticed that the feline had the carcass of a rat between his paws. Wolf’s ears twitched in annoyance. And here he was doing his best to try no to alert the rats of his presence, and this new guy decides that he is going to eat in a place where all the barn could smell the fresh meat! The audacity of it all disgusted Wolf. Whoever this guy was, he didn’t like him already.

”Hello,” He spat the greeting as if he already had a grudge against this tom. He wanted to ask who the hell this guy thought he was. If he had been watching him for a while, couldn’t he see what he had been doing? Trying so carefully to keep his element of surprise. He made a very soft, nearly inaudible growl low in his throat that was almost canine-like which he had been named after, though it was distinctly feline. It would probably sound the most like a purr, but it came from deeper in the throat.

Wolf sat still as he glared viciously at this new arrival. What would he dare say to him? It would be dangerous to piss off Wolf even more. Who knew what he would do? He wasn’t a screaming sort of guy when he was angry, but that didn’t mean his anger was any less intense. In fact, but keeping his calm exterior while he seethed inside and anger radiated off of him, his way of ‘yelling’ at someone may even more deadly than actually raising his voice. But only time would tell if Wolf had to use this deadly weapon.

ooc:
Lol, I have a cat, and it actually did growl at me once! I swear! XD

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar cringed as he saw the look the male had given him. He wasn't in the mood to have another enemy. "I'm sorry... Did I do something wrong?" Stellar then realized the carcass at the door of the barn. He cringed again.

He clearly had angered this cat off more then he shouldv'e. He was looking at him like he wanted to kill him. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't know that you wanted to keep yourself covered. I was so hungry I just killed the rat and wolfed it down." He spoke innocently, not knowing that he had said the male's name, un-knowingly.

He cringed again (he had been cringing a lot lately) when he heard the growl. He smiled weakly, and laughed nervously. He had no intentions on hurting this cat more then he had intentions of stealing Indigo from Ash, which were very, very slim.

[wolf]

Wolf glared at him for the whole time he was speaking. He was always like this to strangers lately; all too willingly getting angry over any possible thing or being extremely rude to them. It was really just because he didn’t want to be hurt again. He thought by, if he put on this ‘I hate you’ front instead of talking and getting to know them, then it would save him from hurt in the long run. What Wolf failed to realize was that this possibly hurt him even more than what he feared would hurt him. Constantly angry and mean to other cats, that was so not the way Wolf Sharpstone used to be. But everything changed on that one faithful day.

He listened to all the cat had to say and took a shaky breath to get his thoughts together. It was ironic, he thought, that he had used such an adjective to describe his speed of eating. Wolfed it down. He actually laughed softly. He realized how much the cat was cringing but was afraid to ask about it, for reasons aforementioned. Deciding on what to do with this cat in front of him, he carefully wrapped his tail over his ways, not glaring, but looking carefully at the other male.

He was sure that the other feline didn’t realize that Wolf had tried so hard to make his presence unnoticed. And, obviously, it had failed anyway, but that wasn’t the point. He was all but ready to obliterate his anger, however… What would happen, then? This cat seemed a bit too friendly. Instead of being all defensive, he had innocently apologized. But then again, he hadn’t just announced his presence to Wolf and started introducing himself like other over-friendly cats did.

He didn’t really want to talk to this male. He just wanted to hunt. He sighed, coming to a decision. The fastest way to get back to hunting was to just dismiss this petty matter. ”That’s ok, I guess,” He said with as much indifference as he could muster. Could he push the situation any farther? Could he say anything more that could be considered as an o.k. to be al friendly and talkative. He decided to risk it. Maybe his perception of this cat was wrong…? ”Wolf,” He introduced himself curtly, trying to stop all conversation before it started. If he didn’t introduce himself, the other cat might ask his name, right?

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar relaxed when the mael's glare turned into a soft gaze. Not a loving gaze, not a friendly gaze, just a searching gaze. better then a glare, right?

He knew that this male was going to be pretty hard to deal with, seeing how he had reacted so far, so he just looked at him, watched him. Then he perked his ears once in a while to hear a rat rustling.

"I'm Stellar," the green eyes tom replied, his tone similar to the other tom's. He squinted slightly, and looked the male over again. "The name suits you..." He then realized how that might go to the male, so he added, "No pun intended." He looked at the small clan of rats gathering behind them. "I'm sorry for interupting your hunting..." Stellar motioned to the rats with his tail. "You're qite the hunter," Stellar complimented, smiling in a friednly way. He was going to help this tom. He seemed like he was a friendly cat before, but something happened to him that changed him... Maybe Stellar could change him. He needed something to do, and he wanted to help someone.

Though, maybe, he might be doing the wrong thing by trying to help him. Maybe he would end up hurting himself or the other male. he just hoped that everything would turn out alright. He didn't want to have another enemy.

He licked his paws, waiting for the tom to reply. He decided that he would wait for him to hunt a while, then when they were both full and happy, he would talk to him, if the male would ever be happy. Stellar sighed. That would be very hard to believe.

[wolf]

The record on the stereo plays
Her favorite song.
For two whole days.

Wolf sighed as the tom started to talk to him even more. All he wanted to do right now was hunt in peace. After that one rat, he was still quite hungry. Even though it was an average size. He let his golden gaze wander over to where he saw a rat’s tail sticking out from a hole in the wall of the barn. His paws itched to be over there, unsheathing his claws, and killing the rat, gulping it down, and moving onto the next unlucky vermin. But, for some reason, felines lately just wanted to stop him from doing what he wanted to do.

The tabby tom shrugged as the other cat praised him. ’Just as I thought,’ He sighed inwardly, ’Yet another friendly cat.’ They just seemed to be attracted to him, for some reason. Like he was the negative end of the magnet, and they the positive. Fitting, actually, that he described it like that. Positive friendly cats were attracted to him, the negative, unfriendly cat.

Then, as he started to get bored of the conversation, his mind started to wander. He started thinking about Daisy again, the female cat who’d he been so close to, and even ended up loving. Yeah, hard to believe a cat like Wolf could love someone, right? And even harder to believe, be loved back? Pretty far-fetched. But, believe it or not, it had happened. And he still loved her, and he hoped she still loved him. Wherever she was.

He often wondered where she was. Wolf had been lucky enough that, after they had been captured and relocated to different human homes, he had escaped. Had she done the same? Will he someday see her again? His heart throbbed. To see her face again… That would be… He couldn’t even finish the thought. Instead, he jumped down from the stool, and padded quietly over to where the rats where. He dropped into a hunter’s crouch, and crept forward, but he didn’t place his paw softly enough on the ground, and the rat bolted.

He cursed. He was still distracted by his thoughts of Daisy; Daisy Sharpstone. He hadn’t had all of his concentration on hunting at all. His ears twitched again in his annoyance, and his tail lashed once to the left. Instead of immediately going after another rat nearby, he sat down and ran his tongue over his paw a few times, thinking, and trying to get into a hunting mind-set. But he just couldn’t manage it. Thoughts same around in his head, preventing him from focusing. He cursed, again.

Lyrics: Champagne’s for Celebrating (I’ll Have a Martini) by Mayday Parade

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar nodded to the male as he walked away to hunt. He watched him as he tried to get a rat but missed.

'Too bad,' Stellar thought. He had only seen that much when he strated thinking about her. Was what he had done right? Telling her that he could never have her back, and then doing what he had done? He was practicing hyprocrisy quite a bit, and he wasn't too happy with himself for it. 'What will Ash say? Will he reject her? I can't bear to think that... Indigo is far to weak right now to bear a litter of kittens. Oh, what have I done!'

Stellar lay his head on his paws, sighing. 'Well, if he does reject her, she knows where to come. She know's that I'll always take her back.' Stellar sighed. 'But what if she blames me? No.. She wouldn't do that. She wouldn't have let me mate with her if she would blame me... Or would she? We were so intoxicated with each other, nothing really seemed to exist until we touched each other. And even then, we seemed to be the only ones who existed...'

Stellar's mind was twisting and turning... Should he feel happy of guilty for breeding with Indigo? He hadn't know he would, until he touched her again... Oh, what had he done? Putting Indigo through all his pities for himself, and then mating with her?

Well... He had done it. And at least he had done what he wanted to.

Actaully, he hadn't. He wanted to be with Indigo forever. Now he would never see her ever again.

[wolf]

Wisdom always chooses
These black eyes and these bruises[/I]

Wolf sat down, his gold eyes wandering over to where the other brown tabby was. He watched him indifferently for a little while, wondering what was going on in his head. He looked kind of depressed, actually… Wolf wondered why he didn’t look as depressed as he did. He sure did feel depressed… He had been suicidal not too long ago, actually. But, could people tell that he was so depressed? Could they watch him and say that he was depressed? This scared him. He didn’t want other cats finding out about his problems.

He sighed again. He didn’t want to think this through again… He had thought this through countless times before. And then, with a sickening feeling in his stomach, he realized that the best way to get his mind off of the thoughts that had been haunting him for weeks now, was to talk to this tom. His ears actually went back at the thought. He didn’t want to though… he didn’t know why he didn’t want to, he just didn’t. He was so anti-social lately, and he had no idea why. But he had to talk to him. To get his mind off of her.

With this realization fresh in his mind, he stood up and jumped back onto the stool which he had occupied earlier. He wasn’t quite sure if he even knew how to start a conversation anymore… It had been so long since he had had a decent, good-length conversation… Months… And it had been with Daisy. He bit his lip so hard that it bled, to get his thoughts off of her and on the pain now coming from his bleeding lip. Focus on talking.

He realized that having a bleeding lip during a conversation probably wasn’t the best idea. So he waited a bit until the blood flow had stopped before collecting his thoughts. Right. What was he going to say? A subject he knew… Maybe hunting? After all, the other brown tabby had shown interest in that particular subject earlier. Yes, he would try to have a conversation about hunting. That would probably be the best bet at a decent conversation. He shrugged, and mentally prepared himself.

There was an awkward silence as he struggled to think of something competent to say. Then, quickly, he said, ”Do you hunt here a lot?” Wow, great, real genius. Well, that was what he got for not talking to anybody for a while. Not being able to start a decent conversation. Not even when it was completely necessary, like now. Oh well. He would have to work on that.

Over the heartache that they say
Never completely goes away.

Lyrics: Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet by Reliant K

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar mind drifted into a far away land, where he could be with Indigo as much as he wanted. He and Indigo were the only ones who existed. And then he saw him. Ash. He came as a roaring lion, tearing him and Indigo to pieces, and then tearing the little kittens, too.

Stellar shook his head. Thank goodness that wasn't how it was right now. He looved over at Wolf, who was also deep in thought. he decided that it wouldn't be the greatest to ask if he was troubled, he clearly was. His miond wondered what he was troubled about. Maybe a female?

Stellar's mind drifted back to his female. Indigo, the most beautiful female he had ever seen, and now... Ash had her. With his kittens, in Indigo's womb. What would Ash do to them? Were his thoughts trelling him something? Or was it just something that Stellar paired with his dislike for Ash?

Stellar, deep in thought, didn't hear Wolf talk. His head jerked up, and he looked over at Wolf. "Hunting? I don't hunt here much, I was a barn cat when I was young, though, so I have experience." He spoke in a monotone voice, though there was some sort of emotion in it... Pride? Possibly. He smiled weakly, and then waited for Wolf to reply.

[wolf]

This was a bad, bad idea. A really bad one. Not only was he so incompetent that he couldn’t converse with another of his own species, but the conversation had taken a turn for the worse now. It had just started, too. Now Stellar’s words reminded him of his own past… When he was young. Would he have done everything the same, now that he knew how it would turn out? With himself, alone and lost. A faction of what he used to be. He didn’t even know himself anymore. Would he, then, if given the chance, do everything exactly the same way as he had? Would he alter his life?

The answer was simply no. Even if his past experiences had chewed him up and spit him out, leaving him with totally and completely nothing… No, not nothing. He still had memories to hang, cling, onto… Memories of Daisy. He had to cling to them… Otherwise, he would have nothing left. And what would he do then? What would he do then. A question that Wolf didn’t want to face, because he didn’t have to. He was still clinging, right?

Ugh, he felt so pathetic. So weak. He couldn’t move past this stupid she-cat? He would never see her again, and yet, with that in mind, he still couldn’t let go of her. He still had a flame of hope deep inside of him, that somehow, someday, he would see her again. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know where, but he would. End of story. And yet…

Wolf remembered the ‘conversation’ he was trying to have with the tom who had pissed him off earlier. He thought about whether or not he should just blow off the conversation and try to go back to hunting(he was still hungry), or try to continue this sorry definition of a conversation. Well, he might as well try the latter. He wasn’t quite ready to go back to hunting yet. ”Where else is there to hunt around here?” He asked, and seemed genuinely interested in knowing the answer. He had found this place and the woods… There might be other places within walking distance that he should know of.

I don’t mean to be a bother
But have you seen this girl?

Lyrics: Remembering Sunday by All Time Low

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar looked at the tom, waiting for him to say something... Anything. He was obviously deep in though. Perhaps he had said something wrong. Sometyhing that would anger the beast that stood before him. He looked at him through his green orbs. Something was ailing this tom... But Stellar had no idea what it was.

If Wolf was anything like Stellar, having someone taken away from him, or making things worse by doing an act of stupidity, in an attempt to keep someone in one spot with him. Stellar shook his head. As he had thought he would, he was feeling guilty. Terribly guilty. What had he done? He knew what he had doen. He had made everything, all of it, worse. Everything between Indigo and him.

What if Ash beat her? What if he killed the kits, as Stellar had imagined? He had to tell her to have them with him. He couldn't trust Ash with his kits. Their kits. He just couldn't. No matter what Indigo told him, no matter what Ash told him, he just couldn't. It wasn't, and never would be, possible. As if he was Indigo's mate, he wouldn't let anyone come near her who seemed to be offensive... Even if that someone was Ash.

Oh, why was he being so protective? Indigo wasn't his. She was, for two minutes, and he had given her up. He hadn't had her taken away. He had gievn her away... To that grey tabby... That Ash. Stellar's eyes flamed. He had said when he had left Indigo that he wouldn't want to fight for her... Maybe now he did. Maybe now he wanted to have her back enough to get hurt, maybe even killed in the process. But no... He wouldn't do that. Not to Indigo... Not to himself. Not to anyone. What would it be worth if he was dead when he was trying to get her back? What would that do? The kits would have to grow up as thinking of Ash as their father.

Stellar shook that thought away quickly as he heard Wolf speak. Another place to hunt? He closed his eyes, running his eyes down a list of everywhere he had been.
"Well, I went fishing with a fea once. It was winter, but we could fish at the stream. It's not very far from here, just through those trees." Why did he have to tell Wolf about that? Why had he just told him about Indigo?

Stellar settled. Atleast he hadn't told him her name. And how he felt about her. He didn't want Wolf to have anything to hold over his head. And Stellar didn't want anything to hold over Wolf's head.

[wolf]

Oh, so this tom knew how to catch the fish? He had tried earlier, but had been stumped by the sparkling, darting creatures that sped through the water, flew through it, like it was nothing. When he had tried to catch them, he had been nearly quick enough, but he lost the momentum he needed to hook the fish when his paw went underwater and the water had pushed back at him, slowing his paw and harmlessly poking the fish with a claw. The fish, as if laughing at him, swam around his paw before darting off down the current.

He sunk his claws into the rotting wood of the stool as he remembered his frustration at not being able to catch such a dim-witted creature who only knew how to do two things; Swim and make felines angry. And it did both of those things well. It had had a lot of practice in doing both, after all. They could in fact, do both things simultaneously, as Wolf had recently discovered.

Oh, and then that orange tabby had come and made him think he was going out of his mind. What was that she-cat’s name? Oh yeah… Indigo Wintersomething… The one who thought that he should belong in an asylum. ’Let’s not go over this again; you’re not crazy,’ He said to himself mentally, which probably wasn’t a good sign, because only crazy people talked to themselves, right? Hmm… Should he ask him how to catch those damned fish in the stream? Stupid things.

”I’ve been there before,” He said, still trying to keep the conversation going. ”There was a cat there named Indigo who mistakenly thought I was crazy,” He told Stellar, surprised that he had said so much, and surprised that he didn’t have to think about what he was saying, as he had to do before. Maybe he was getting back into the rhythm of conversations? Practice did make perfect, after all, and he had gotten it down perfectly before… Perhaps, as humans said, it was like riding a bike. Once you learned, you never forgot how to do it.

His ears twitched very slightly as he made his decision. He was obviously not going to catch anything here; He was too distracted. Maybe a little walk would help? To breath some fresh air instead of the smell of the barn? Just to get outside, and then get his mind fixed on trying to spear one of those fish and let them know who’s boss? It actually sounded refreshing. ”How do you catch the fish?” He asked, and felt stupid for having to ask. He should’ve been able to figure it out himself. It was probably something obvious, too.

[Stellar Snowpaw]

Stellar's mind went imediately back to Indigo after he had spoken. Maybe he should just forget about the whole thing... He wasn't ever going to see her again. Even if someone said he would, if Indigo said he would, how would he? It was impossible.

Stellar looked at Wolf as he heard something that sounded like Indigo's name. It was Indigo's name. And the way he had said it made him quite angry. "If you don't mind, I love that cat. And I hurt her terribly." His eyes flamed as he spat the reply out. He moved his tail in a flowing motion; as he said the last part, though, he settled, and returned to his thinking mode. Indigo had met Wolf?! What had he said to her? What had she said to him?

Whatever, it was one of his business anymore. He had to forget about Indigo, just for a while. He couldn't feel guilty for the rest of his life. It just wasn't right, and he couldn't fell guilty once the kits were born. Once the kits were born, he would be much more relieved. Relieved of the pain that Indiugo had gone through, that it was over.

But... What if Indigo died in birth? What if he would never be able to see her again? Stellar felt a tear streak his tan and dark-brown fur; he quickly shook it off. He didn't want Wolf to see him crying. Especially over something he knew nothing about. "You just sit patiently with your paw in the water, wait until a fish comes close enough so that you can moved your paw fast enough, and then unsheathe your claws and get the fish. It's easy enough for a kit to do, atleast one who is properly trained." He squinted angrily at Wolf. He had insulted him. Moer then tat, he had insulted him because he had insulted Indigo. He sighed. Maybe he was just angry for anyone but him saying Indigo's name...

[wolf]

Wolf sheathed his claws, only meeting slight resistance as they got themselves out of the stool. They slid neatly back into his paws, constantly ready to be unsheathed, for whatever reason… It had been a while since Wolf had fought a cat, but he remembered it clearly. The stupid kit had insulted his Daisy. He didn’t care if it was a unfair match, or if the cat was a year, or five years younger than him. He still made him regret ever approaching them. Ever even laying eyes on them. Maybe he had been a little harsh, but he felt it necessary to teach the scrap of fur a lesson.

He blinked his gold eyes in surprise at Stellar’s response. He loved that orange tabby? The one who thought he, Wolf, was crazy? And then, he hurt her? Wolf couldn’t imagine himself hurting Daisy for any reason… He didn’t want to image. He could only see himself protecting her from being hurt. No matter what happened to him, she would be fine. Then, he winced as he realized that he had hurt her. By failing to help her escape from the humans. They had both been hurt at the same time.

How had Stellar hurt her, he wondered? Surely not physically. Well… It could be a possibility, however unlikely it might be. But, where was Wolf to judge how likely or unlikely that was? He barely knew this cat. And, because he barely knew him, perhaps he shouldn’t be trying to figure out things about him? And yet, Wolf was curious. He wondered what problems other couples had, to compare them to his own… Well, he wasn’t really a couple with Daisy anymore, was he? He hadn’t seen her, talked to her, in more than a moon. Did they still count as a couple?

While he was thinking this, Stellar started speaking again. ’Good, now I’ll know how to catch fish,’ He thought as Stellar began explaining. He was about to say some curt form of ‘thanks’ when Stellar insulted him. What? Some nerve! He was comparing Wolf’s intelligence to a kit’s? His claws immediately unsheathed again, sinking into the stool threateningly. He almost wished that Stellar was the stool at this moment.

It was completely uncalled for, insulting him like that. And here he thought that Stellar was one of those nice, friendly cats that would rather die than say a mean thing about anyone. His gold eyes narrowed. ”A kit, huh?” He hissed, and sheathed his claws before jumping off of the stool, his tail raised threateningly. ”Then you wouldn’t mind showing me?” He said, more as a demand rather than a question. Was he unconsciously trying to make a competition out of this? Or did he just want to see the tom fail? Or, perhaps, if he really wanted to, maybe he wanted to push the tom into the stream? But what good would that do? It wasn’t that deep.

No, he would settle for a little competition.