Nothing Like The Dark? [OPEN]

[theassasindinosaur]

Vipermoon quickly sneaked out of the warrior's den to the small pile of stale prey. After picking out a frog, she made her way to an especially dark spot where the black cat could think to herself while enjoying a little snack. After all, one couldn't think properly while their belly is empty.

It was the middle of the night and almost everybody was asleep so the warrior focused more on keeping quiet than being hidden from sight. Hopefully, no one would be up or else Vipermoon's plan of peacefulness would be ended in a snap and she'd have to put up the act of 'perfect warrior' again. It was tiring to keep up the act and it put her under a lot of stress so all she really wanted was a few moments to actually be herself.

[ceilingwax]

Hiddenheart padded quietly into camp, taking in the familiar surroundings. Unable to sleep, the tom had decided to talk a walk in the moonlight, or rather the shadows the light of the moon created, and with the moon still high in the sky, decided to return and see if he could rest any easier. Honestly, the tom was not quite sure that the walk had helped him, for he felt more awake than ever. Alert amber eyes darted around the camp, and his paws carried him to the entrance of the warrior's den. However, he paused for a moment and turned back to face the empty clearing. Perhaps he needed to think; he had not had time to do that for quite a while, and he had uncharacteristically spaced out during his walk, letting his mind wander over inane things and his movements had been mechanical.

Picking out his favorite part of camp, Hiddenheart directed his midnight paws toward it, tail flicking low to the ground. It was always shrouded in the shadows and made a perfect hiding place for a pitch black cat like him. As he neared the area, he could have sworn that a figure occupied the space. Amber eyes narrowed and he slowed his approach, listening. Sure enough, he made out the sounds of an eating cat; now that he focused on it, he could see the outline of another feline, almost hidden in the shadows. Slowing to a halt in front of what appeared to be a fellow warrior, Hiddenheart nodded slightly, meowed, "Sorry to disturb you," hesitated, then made to turn away again.

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[theassasindinosaur]

"No, no. It's alright!" the black she-cat called "You can join me if you like. I wouldn't mind if you stayed. In fact, some company would actually be nice."

Vipermoon didn't want to seem rude to the other cat so she called him back to join her. Peace and quiet could wait until later. The mission came first.

"The mission, always the mission." Vipermoon thought to herself while flicking her gray tail-tip and slowly eating the frog "Why am I doing this? What cause is this for? Is it meaningless or does it serve a trustwrothy purpose?"

[ceilingwax]

"No, no. It's alright!" This made the ebony tom pause and glance back at her. "You can join me if you like. I wouldn't mind if you stayed. In fact, some company would actually be nice." An ear flicked and Hiddenheart hesitated. Initially, he had not sought out any cats company by coming over to the corner; he had just wanted some place to rest and think. Besides, the warrior tended to not seek out any other cats to talk to either, as he was not much a conversationalist. He would have been perfectly fine leaving and finding another spot to think. Idly, he wondered what she might want to talk to him about. That stray thought roused his curiousity, and he decided to humor her. Turning back around to face the she-cat, he moved slightly closer and sat, ebony tail wrapped around equally dark paws. "If you would like the company, then I suppose I can stay," He meowed, tone fairly light despite his quiet voice. "Did you want to talk about anything in particular?"

[theassasindinosaur]

Vipermoon finally paused from her thoughts and eating to identify the tom.

"Ah! You are Hiddenheart." Vipermoon flicked her gray ear to acknowledge the younger warrior "I have nothing too interesting to talk about. How about you? Why are you up so late in the evening?"

"Liar." the large she-cat dissapointedly thought to herself "You're just a spy for a dishonorable band of rogues who has infiltrated Shadowclan territory for over 10 moons. Yeah, nothing interesting."

Vipermoon's bold, dark gold eyes inspected her peice of food before she took a small nibble at the frog, suddenly not feeling too hungry.

"Hiddenheart, would you like to share the frog?" the older warrior asked "My appetite has decreased and I don't want good prey to turn into crowfood."

[ceilingwax]

A small smile almost graced his lips as she recognized him, and he took this moment to identify her as well, amusement bubbling up in him that neither had quite known with whom they had been conversing. However, while she spoke his name, Hiddenheart did not feel the need to say that he had only just recognized her as Vipermoon. Instead, he merely dipped his head in response to his name. Yes, I am Hiddenheart. "I have nothing too interesting to talk about. How about you? Why are you up so late in the evening?" An ear flicked as the tom thought over his response and quelled the slight irritation that had risen with her questions. They were perfectly reasonable after all, and he himself considered returning them; the warrior always became slightly defensive when asked questions. He replaced the dwindling irritation with another feeling of slight amusement at her choice of words: 'in the evening'. As it was around midnight, the tom considered it to be a little later than the evening, though he did not comment on it.

"I, too, have nothing interesting to talk about," Hiddenheart replied. "However, I can answer your second question very easily: I could not sleep, so I decided to take a walk in hopes that it would help." He still was not quite sure whether it had helped or hindered his ability to fall asleep. On an impulse, he decided to return her questions. "How about you? Are you up this late because you could not sleep as well?" Amber eyes watched as she examined her prey, and he considered offering to wait for her to finish before they continued to talk. However, her words cut off the offering that had been about to leave his mouth. "If you are finished with it, then I would not mind the frog," He replied after a moment. "Like you said, there is no point in wasting prey."

[theassasindinosaur]

"Well... I guess you could call it that." Vipermoon answered akwardly "Let's just say that my mind was full and when my mind is full I tend to have nightmares..."

The she-cat used her sharp, powerful claws to rip the frog in half and gave one half to Hiddenheart. She then took a large bite of flesh with her sharp teeth, her appetite getting a bit better. Vipermoon preferred to eat with some company especially when her mind was full.

"So... Well, this is kinda akward." Vipermoon commented, finding the long period of silence uncomfortable "You have any topics or anything? Or maybe any other questions?"

[ceilingwax]

Hooking his claws around his half of the frog, Hiddenheart pulled it closer and bent his head. He sniffed the piece of prey once before taking a few bites. An ear flicked as she spoke and he raised his head again, licking his lips as he found himself agreeing. Though he had felt no need to mention it, the warrior had noticed the situation getting steadily uncomfortable. He did not necessarily want to talk to any other cat, and as the conversation, or lack thereof, drew on, he thought that he sensed the same feeling from his companion. "You have any topics or anything? Or maybe any other questions?" The ebony tom shrugged. Nothing particularly noteworthy had happened recently, and he felt no desire to elaborate on anything personal. Not that anything interesting and personal had occurred either. "I do not have anything else to say nor any questions. Shall I leave you in peace, if we have nothing else to say to each other?"

[theassasindinosaur]

"If that is what you wish, Hiddenheart." Vipermoon spoke softly "But let me just ask one thing. In your opinion, what makes a cat evil or hated?"

The black she-cat had no real reason in asking Hiddenheart what she asked. Even if there was, she didn't know of it. Perhaps she was preparing herself for the hate her clanmates would give her once she's have to tell them that she was a spy. A traitor.

"Well, I guess we must find someway to sleep now." Vipermoon commented, finished with her meal "I have dawn patrol and I don't want to be slacking off for that."

[ceilingwax]

"But let me just ask one thing. In your opinion, what makes a cat evil or hated?" The question struck Hiddenheart as odd and it flew at him completely out of the blue. What did make a cat evil or hated? Evil cats tended to be hated he knew that, but what made a cat evil? It was all in the eye of the beholder, was it not? For evil cats never really thought themselves as evil or bad; they always had some, possibly twisted, justification for their actions, did they not? A feline did not go around thinking 'I am evil, what shall I do next?'. And perhaps evil was too harsh of a word; perhaps it was a word coined merely because the 'good' did not have something generic to call those whom they faced. This question required some thought, and it would be hard to follow a single train of thought and not branch off and mentally ramble as Hiddenheart occasionally found himself doing.

However, before he could even consider formulating a decent answer, Vipermoon seemed to want to leave the conversation there. Hiddenheart nodded in agreement; "Yes, it would probably do us both well to get some rest before dawn." Then he hesitated and added, "If you do not mind me asking, why did you ask that question about evil and hatred? What are your own opinions on it?"

[theassasindinosaur]

"Honestly, I don't know why I asked." Vipermoon replied, choosing her words carefully "Personally, I think that an evil cat is..."

The black and gray she-cat didn't really know what she thought of the matter so it took her awhile until she could think of a good answer.

"Well, I think an evil cat causes unnecessary blood shed and death." Vipermoon started to say slowly, chewing over her words "A few harmless fights are fine but not killing or causing unneeded tension. When I was a rogue, I used to have lots of nice fights. It got me hurt, yeah but not gravely hurt. I even became friends with a few cats I fought against. Also, a hated cat is usually one who seriously betrayed another cat's trust. Don't you agree?"

[ceilingwax]

Hiddenheart clenched his jaw slightly at the mention of betrayal, his thoughts immediately flying to his sister, Fawnflight. Vipermoon stumbled upon his deepest fear by mistake, though he did not show it; the ebony warrior did not want anymore hated cats in his life. He already had one too many. However, for all his thoughts on evil cats, Hiddenheart found himself nodding slightly at Vipermoon's words. "I agree to most. But what if that bloodshed and death was necessary for what that evil cat wanted to accomplish? What if they somehow justified their actions in their head; perhaps he was trying to form a peaceful forest and, ironically, the only way to do so was to kill those that opposed him? Does calling a cat evil have to do with perspective; does it depend on who's perspective from which you view the situation?" While the questions on perspective still lurked in his mind, Hiddenheart found himself agreeing that a cat who killed just to kill was evil. Ironically, that cat would probably end up being killed himself, as punishment.

"As for hated cats," the tom continued after a moment. "any cat can hate another, regardless of the reason, I think. Yes, one can become a hated cat due to betrayal, but for others perhaps their hatred was born of a rivalry gone too far? Or perhaps it is the generic hatred one cat has for the whole of the clan, with no basis whatsoever..." He let his voice trail off as he considered her words some more. Idly, Hiddenheart realized that he was enjoying this conversation. It had been a while since he had spoke to a cat of anything that required this much thinking; usually conversations consistered of small talk, and even then it was the bare minimum.