A dull morning

[blowingwind]

Darkspirit sat at the entrance to the Warriors' dens, observing the camp lazily.
A few kits were playing next to the nurseries. The black tom glanced at them sparingly. They made far too much noise.
Didn't they know that kits were supposed to be seen and not heard?
He half-closed his eyes in boredom. The warriors present were very few; most were out, supposedly hunting, but more probably, sitting in the sun and doing nothing.
Darkspirit lowered himself into a lying position, his eyes closing a little more, and becoming nothing more than reddish slits. He would probably go for a hunt himself, very soon.
The tom yawned very widely. His night had been broken continuosly by a wailing kit. He supposed it hadn't been feeling well, since the cries had been far too close to be coming from the nurseries, and sounded like they were next door, in the Medicine cat's den.
Or maybe, the kit had a loud voice, that was all.
Either way, the black cat was tired, so he rested his head on his paws, keeping his eyes only just open enough to keep on watching the camp.

[::Fawn::]

"Good morning."

A fawn colored she cat submerged from the shadows of the warriors den, and sitting down about a fox length away from the strange cat. "Are you new? she queried. "I haven't sen you here before." Then noticing that the black toms eyes were directed towards the touseling kits, she said, "Aren't they sweet? Those are Mistshine's kits, Bluekit and Thornkit."

OOC: Mind if they talk about your kits Streamy? It's just they are so sweet.

[blowingwind]

"New enough for you to not remember me." Darkspirit replied to the she-cat, not shifting his gaze from the kits.
After a moment he closed his eyes, snorting when the she-cat commented on the sweetness of the kits. It was such a female comment. No-one would ever catch him saying kits were sweet.
When he opened his reddish-yellow eyes again, he shifted his head only very slightly, to have a proper look at who he was talking to.
"You may find them sweet, but I find them noisy."
Darkspirit had no intention of sounding rude, and he certainly didn't stop to ask himself if the she-cat had thought he had.
The black tom had always been a solitary character, and lacked a few social skills such as a kind tone of voice and a smile.

[::Fawn::]

Fawnpelt glowered at Darkspirit. "if you touch those, kits, I will flay you till there is nothing left!" Sh hissed menacingly.

[blowingwind]

"Then you can put your mind safely at rest, and never let such a far-fetched thought cross your mind again." Darkspirit remarked, not worried by the warrior's sudden aggressiveness.
She-cats. They completely lost their heads when it came to kittens.
Admittedly, it had crossed his mind to make the kits shut up, but he wouldn't really have attacked the small ones.
There would have been no honor in it, only shame.
Fighting those who were clearly weaker had never interested the black tom, and he certainly wasn't going to become interested now, especially with cats of his own Clan.
Closing his eyes again, he spoke.
"So what are you doing here at camp? Have you no apprentice to train? Don't you have to go for your daily hunt?" he asked, quite surprised at his talktativeness. Darkspirit was used to not speaking till he was spoken to, and even then, answered as shortly as he could.

[STREAMY ?!]

Mistshine padded up to the two warriors. I heard you guys, and Darkspirit, my kits are not noisy! As Fawnpelt here says, they are very sweet. Maybe you'd like to excuse yourself now? The she-cat was bristling and anyone could see she was enraged. Before you insult any cat, including kits, think about what you're going to say, all right? Maybe she was exaggerating a bit but she had a reason. No cat, NO cat, could insult her kits and get away with it.
ooc: how would you like to mentor one? you can mentor thornkit if you want... fawn is mentoring Mousekit...or is she rping him?

[blowingwind]

Darkspirit barely opened one eye to look at the queen.
"They may be sweet....but they're noisy." the black tom repeated, getting tired of the topic. He wishes he'd never said anything about the kits in the first place.
He debated about arguing further, but shrugged. Better forget the whole thing.
As for apologising.....he'd just pretend he hadn't heard the she-cat.

ooc: I wouldn't mind, but I don't know if Darkspirit would like the idea.....I'll convince him, though.

[Rayvn]

''Don't you have anything better to do besides insult kits? They are perfectly sweet.''Blackpearl padded over. ''If you have any issues with them, keep'em to yourself.''

[blowingwind]

The black tom didn't roll his eyes, though he felt a lot like it.
He merely flicked his ears, and pulled himself up in a sitting position, looking at none of the cats, just staring in front of him with a bored expression.
"I understand. You prefer to disguise the truth with niceties, and render yourselves pleasant to others, instead of saying exactly what you think."
His tail twitched towards the squealing kits.
"Try denying they're noisy. And if you do, you must be deaf." Darkspirit said, for the first time allowing a hint of irritation to filter through his tone of voice.

[Rayvn]

''Yes, well if you insist on going on like that, news flash, pretty much all kits are noisy, that's a good thing.It lets you know they're healthy and alive.''Blackpearl, matching the irritation in his voice.''I have no reason to 'disguise the truth with niceties' as you so eloquently put it, fact is fact.I just said what i thought. No disgusing anything''

[blowingwind]

"Then, if fact is fact, you admit that saying kits are noisy is not an insult, but the truth." Darkspirit said impatiently, standing up. Really, they were going to go round in circles all day.
Had he been a more sociable tom, he'd have retreated, and nicely asked what were the three cats' names. But he wasn't a sociable tom, so he simply stood, red eyes half-closed, observing the she-cats, and waiting for them to speak first.
He was half-hopeful they would change topic, and let the kittens be, but queens were queens, and if they heard anything against kits, they would gnaw and gnaw till there was nothing left.
The black cat resigned himself to the probable fact that he hadn't heard the last of the 'noisy kittens' discussion.

[::Fawn::]

Fawnpelt hissed at Darkspirit, her green eyes burning.

[blowingwind]

"You should calm down, Fawnpelt; I'm not threatning you or those kits. Merely wasting a little of my time. This morning has been very dull indeed." Darkspirit remarked, hiding well his amusement at the she-cat's fierceness.
If looks could have killed, he would have been on his way to Starclan.
The tom stood straight, facing the three Riverclanners and wondering if the small dispute was over.
Not that it really mattered to him; but he wouldn't have minded spending the rest of the morning in peace, with no further discussion.

[::Fawn::]

Fawnpelt was taken aback. she took a couple steps backward and sat down, twining her long red tail in the air.

[blowingwind]

Darkspirit settled back into a sitting position, reddish eyes still half-closed.
He was pretty tired. Better not mention why, though, the discussion would just have broken out again.
Lowering himself so his whole body rested on the ground, the black tom observed the sky. It was a fine day, he would enjoy hunting later.
Just as he thought everything had settled back to normality, he realized the she-cats weren't speaking at all.
He wondered if it was his fault. Quite possible. Though he hadn't meant to.
Darkspirit risked a glance at the warrior named Fawnpelt, to see if her expression would tell him what was keeping her silent. It didn't.
He quickly turned to look at something else, so as not to be seen staring at her.