A Bad Day at the Office [open]

[Coal]

Flatnose
Deputy of NewClan

Flatnose usually enjoyed border patrols, but on this particular evening he had to admit that he was glad when the scent of the NewClan camp, which smelt more and more like home every time he noticed it, washed over him. The patrol had started at dusk, but Flatnose would not have been surprised if it was now closer to dawn, and he was cold and hungry, his long fluffy pelt knotted from his pushing himself through brambles and gorse such that it would take him far longer that he cared to think to groom all the cobs out. He often felt jealous of his short-haired sister Smallear, who never had to deal with such things. That aside, it had also been quite a trying patrol, for two of the participating warriors had come to NewClan from opposing Clans and had begun the patrol by bickering pettily. Flatnose had eventually lost his temper, asserted his authority and cowed them both, but they had been sulky for the rest of the evening and Flatnose had little patience for it. He would have to get them to apologise to each other at some point, which would be less than pleasant, but in the meantime, tempers had to cool.

And so everyone on the patrol, from the two squabblers to Flatnose to the innocent bystander that had been the other warrior on the patrol, were all very glad to be home. Flatnose dismissed the patrol as they approached the cave entrance, and with an irritated sigh, and a shake of his head, made his way to the freshkill pile. There was quite a selection of freshkill to choose from, which improved his mood slightly; he was so used to famine that the abundance of prey here still seemed a marvel to him. At length he chose a plump rat (he felt he deserved a sizeable meal after his ordeal) and tucked in, hoping that someone would be awake in the warriors' den when he went in later; he needed someone to help groom those cobs out of his hair. Hopefully one of his siblings or close friends would be about, but failing that he supposed he could scowl at a younger warrior until they agreed to help him out.

[Ashheart]

27 moons Female NewClan Leader

Ashheart Camp

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[Coal]

Flatnose
Deputy of NewClan

Absorbed in his dinner, Flatnose paid little attention to his surroundings. Minding what was going on around him was something that he reserved for patrols and battles, and it was nice not to have to worry about it when at the camp, trusting his Clan-mates to warn him of any danger that might threaten him. For that reason, although he was aware of the sound of padding footsteps somewhere nearby, he didn't give it any thought, and it was only when the young she-cat (at least, young compared to him) actually approached the freshkill pile that the stocky white tom bothered to see who it was.

Recognising NewClan's elected leader, he flicked his ears in greeting, responding to her purr with a brief one of his own, then snorted as she commented on the state of his pelt. Leaving his rat for a moment, he craned his head around to scan his own back and flank, and flattened his ears when he saw the extent to which his fur had become matted with thorns, grasses and burrs. “Oh, I thought something was a bit itchy” He mewed with a grimace. He scratched half-heartedly at his shoulder with a hind leg, and succeeded in dislodging a twig, but then gave a bit of a shrug and took another bite of rat. There was no point him making a proper effort to remove the bits and pieces now, with his oddly short muzzle all over with blood; he'd just make himself pink.

After chewing and swallowing his mouthful, Flatnose glanced again at Ashheart. “Some of the younger ones are still squabbling.” he informed her, meaning the younger warriors from rival Clans. He felt it important that the leader be informed of tension within the Clan, however small and petty that tension may be. “I almost had to cuff one round the ears on my last patrol.” He said it gruffly, his displeasure in the situation evident, but that was not unusual for him and he wasn't acting any more grumpy than usual.

[Ashheart]

27 moons Female NewClan Leader

Ashheart Camp

[/b] She sighed and admitted, "I'm afraid we are soon going to be divided and at war again. Even the kits in the nursery aren't getting along. It seems like no one is even putting forth an effort to forget the past." Ashheart couldn't understand why they insisted on continuing the old arguments; the terrors of the past seemed a lifetime ago to her, but now they were bringing it back. It seemed silly to fight now that they lived in a lush land full of food to fill their bellies. It seemed, to her, selfish for those that bickered to ruin the peace for the rest of them. Their selfishness is going to drive us back to the way we were before."I mean really, where's the point in fighting over old territory boundaries?"

She took another bite of her bird, remembering, as she chewed, times when a cat could scarcely get a single bite from their food, either due to the fact their prey was slowly starving as they were, or another cat came and snatched it before one could finish eating. "What do you suppose we could do to stop it?" She didn't mean to sound resigned, but she was beginning to think that there was never going to be an end to the rivalry. She hoped that if anyone had advice on the matter, her clever deputy would.[/ul]

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[Coal]

Flatnose
Deputy of NewClan

Flatnose twitched his whiskers in gratitude when Ashheart pulled a burr from his fur; that was one less thing to worry about later. He ate quietly while the leader digested his words, then tilted his head to gaze at her when she spoke again. He was a little surprised by how deeply concerned she was by the tension within the Clan, for it seemed more of an annoyance to anything else to Flatnose, but then perhaps Ashheart had seen more than he had of the in-fighting. Besides, he guessed it was more worrying to the young she-cat, who, as leader, would be more prone to worrying where others might be more laid-back.

He was quiet until she asked for his advice, then tilted his head back for a moment while he thought. “Make them work together would be my suggestion.” He said, licking his lips to remove a little of the blood. “They might not like it and it might be difficult at first, but they'll get used to it. Any that don't and cause real trouble will just have to be kicked out, or they'll keep stirring things up. Most of them aren't so stupid that they'd rather try and live alone out here.” He paused for a moment then, thinking, before adding. “Over time it'll sort itself out though. The next generation of kits will grow up never experiencing Clan rivalries first hand and will form friendships without prejudice. Just make sure only the calmer, less-biased warriors apprentices. Another idea might be to try to give apprentices to warriors from another Clan. I find the bond between apprentice and mentor to be very strong, and I think it could over-come any trivial historic rivalry.” He stopped there to take another bite, wondering what the leader would think of his advice. He guessed she might not like the idea of kicking the worst offenders out, but Flatnose was nothing if not honest, and he truly thought it would be best if the problem continued to worsen.

[Ashheart]

27 moons Female NewClan Leader

Ashheart Camp

[/b] She purred good-naturedly, and leaned forward yet again to remove another piece of grass from his fur.

Then she continued, "Maybe I'll take a couple trips to the nursery, and attempt to get them all to play together. You're right about the next generation of kits, but it concerns me that our current kits are still growing up with prejudice. And though I'd hate to kick anyone out of the Clan in a territory we know so little about, I guess I'd have to resort to that if things get worse." She shook her head as if to rid herself of worrisome thoughts, and took another bite of her bird. She hoped she was worried for nothing, and the problem would fix itself, but she knew she had to take some kind of action. Already she'd spoken out every time when she heard someone say something to raise tensions, but she knew she wasn't always around when it happened, and so couldn't always set things right.
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[Coal]

Flatnose
Deputy of NewClan

Flatnose nodded along when Ashheart agreed to his plans of encouraging integration of cats from different Clans. It would be slow-going, for Flatnose knew that the old grudges between the forest Clans ran deep, but hopefully with time everyone would come to see the NewClan cats as their true family. Flatnose had been raised by his mother to love ShadowClan, but to respect all the Clans, and to fight out of honour and never out of hatred, but he knew that not every Clan cat had had such a level-headed upbringing. Sadly it seemed that there were some cats with very long memories.

When she called him brilliant, Flatnose straightened “Well, some have noticed in the past, yes.” He replied in an aloof manner, but his eyes sparkled with humour and after a moment he chuckled, “Nah, I'm not brilliant, I'm just old; I've seen enough cats in my life to know how they work.”

He cocked his head at her suggestion of visiting the nursery to encourage the kits together, thinking it a good plan. A lot of the problem was the queens teaching their kits to dislike those from other Clans, and if Ashheart could take them away from that for a while by organising some group activities for them, perhaps some bonds could be fostered between them. He nodded, then added, “Sure, and if any of them don't listen to you and keep causing problems, let me know; apparently kits seem to find me quite scary, I'm sure I can give them a good telling off.” He was only half-joking; “Be good or I'll get uncle Flatnose” had been a common threat his sisters had used on their litters when they had become unruly, but that was way back before the famine.

[Ashheart]

27 moons Female NewClan Leader

Ashheart Camp

[/b] She joked; she knew full well the effect her deputy had on other cats, and she knew that he knew it as well. It was one of the reasons he made a great deputy, in her opinion: nobody wanted to cross him, so they promptly did what they were told, or at least made like they were going to. It certainly wasn't often that she saw someone deliberately going against him, that was for sure. She could easily imagine how a kit would get intimidated by him; though she wouldn't say so aloud, there was in fact a time when he unnerved her just as easily. Of course, that as before they spent time together and she got to know him better. Now his prickliness, as she thought of it, didn't bother her nearly as much. "If I find any particularly ill-natured kits, I will certainly send them to you." She promised, laughing again. "I'm sure you'd set them straight in no time."

This being said, she quickly finished her bird, and scooted closer to her ally. "Shall I help you with cleaning your fur? You'll never be able to get all this on your own." She offered helpfully, eyeing a thorn that would be sure to give him trouble soon if it failed to be removed shortly. Briefly, she was thankful for her own short fur, which although occasionally collected dirt and grass with was easily visible against its cream coloring, was never much of a bother to her.
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