{you don't have to make a sound}O

[bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i41.tinypic.com/3535pgh.jpg] [scrolly:h(368),w(315),sy] IT was mid-morning, quiet, calm, pleasant. For the first time in several days, even the sun was out, drying the drenched city. With a soft breeze ghosting between abandoned buildings, it was a completely unassuming day. There weren't any howling dogs prowling for a meal of cat and all the cats had their own assignments to attend to. It was quiet, peaceful, at ease for now. That was, until... AN ear-splitting crash destroyed the calm of the morning. The air itself seemed to vibrate with the noise of it as, in one of the many alleys weaving between Hexsol's streets, metal trashcans were sent tumbling and old planks of wood clanged off of them, bouncing onto the cracked asphalt. The narrow alley in question was filled with a cacophony of sound. Amid the noise, a single streak of silver and black flitted among the tumbling crates, trashcans and other assorted garbage. On light paws, the slender housecat ducked and wove his way through the mess, bounding in easy leaps over piled up garbage and forgotten refuse. Just behind the fleeing tom, booming barks bounced off the alley walls, strands of drool dripping from the black and tan dog's chops as he blundered after the cat. Oscar, for his part, probably should have been alarmed. Here he was running back to the Iris border after blatantly going out to trick some stupid lone dog, and now he was running for his life from said dog through a narrow alley. Too bad Oscar didn't like normal. He was having the time of his life, heart pounding, lungs burning and paws thudding on the pavement as he ran. It was fabulous, much better than chasing down some frightened rabbit or stalking birds. SPYING a dead end rising up at the alley's end, Oscar grinned wickedly. Flattening his triangular ears against his skull. Behind him the dog let out another barrage of booming barks that made Oscar's ears ring. Narrowing his amber eyes on the pyramid of crates piled up against the alley wall, Oscar bunched his muscles and leaped. His claws gripped the wood and quick as a flash, Oscar was climbing, leaping up the crates as the black and tan beast behind him skidded to a stop at the base of the wall. Almost to the top of the pyramid, Oscar glanced down in time to see the dog rear up on its hind paws and knock one of the supporting bottom crates out from under the others. Giving a yowl as the pyramid pitched, Oscar sank his claws into the old wood as the pyramid shuddered. As it began to tumble, Oscar made a wild leap, nearly leaping over the wall that blocked off the alley. SWAYING for a second to catch his balance atop the wall, the silver tom looked down as the pyramid of crates crashed into the alley. Smirking, Oscar reclined on his haunches and wrapped his black and gray tail around his paws, watching as the black and tan idiot clumsily dodged the falling crates. A glancing blow from one tumbling cube sent him staggering, head swinging right into another crate with a satisfying smack. Snickering, Oscar rasped his tongue several times over his front paw, dragging it back over his left ear as he watched the dog in the chaos. Rolling his eyes at the hopelessly dumb creature, Oscar turned to groom the striped fur of his shoulder, overall a bit ruffled from his morning dash. It was barking that had the young hunter turning back to look down at the dog, distracted from his mid-morning grooming. Peering down at the canine as it stood barking up at him, obviously furious, Oscar couldn't stop from snickering again. "STUPID dog," Oscar sneered, twitching his tail tip. "Go run on back to that carrion dump you call a home. This is Iris territory now you idiot." STANDING up he turned away from the idiot dog and walked along the wall. With the barking echoing after him, not quite unlike his mother's yelling when he got in trouble as a kit, Oscar leaped up onto a nearby rooftop. Tail swaying behind him, he loped along the slanted roof, far too used to such terrain to be in danger of falling. Flushed with his victory over the stupid canines that lingered in the sparse portions of the city not claimed by pack or pride, Oscar practically pranced over the sun-warmed tiles. The farther he walked though, the more distracted Oscar became. It felt sort of pathetic that he had to disobey pride rules and go beyond the borders just to get a little action in his day. The best he ever got was screwing with lone dogs and occasionally irritating the whiskers off of one of his larger pridemates. Ever since he'd been stuck as a hunter, considered too small to fight and too skilled to not be providing for the pride, Oscar had always entertained such thoughts. He wanted to sink his claws into a few canines, be the, well, pride of the pride so to speak. WARRIORS always got the glory, at least that had been his experience. Ever since he'd been a kit, merely considered an alley cat, Oscar had heard about warriors. He could remember his father, Riptide, telling him stories of great battles and border scraps that, at the time, it was unlikely Oscar would ever witness. Riptide and Lily hadn't wanted any of their kits to become warriors or hunters or anything remotely dangerous. The mere idea of such a mundane existence still made Oscar's tail twitch. PAUSING at the peak of an old house's roof, paws barely a whisker's width from the edge of the roof, Oscar looked out over the rooftops of his home. Morning sunlight glanced off the concrete of the buildings and gathered in shadowy alleys where Oscar normally spent his days hunting. Over the rooftops, the sky was impossibly blue, as though it hadn't just stormed the day before with black clouds and glancing lightning. All of this was Oscar's home, a home he felt the burning desire to protect. Too bad they considered him nothing but a tracker and hunter. Of course, when she'd said it, the leader had phrased it more delicately. Only a little. It was still painfully obvious that he was just a food supply route, bringing a bird or rabbit or mouse or whatever from the alleys or outskirts to the hungry mouths of the pride. It was an important job, don't get him wrong. Oscar used to look forward to the hunters coming around with stories of their more entertaining or impressive kills but in general Oscar had waited with baited breath for the warriors to come around. Even a glimpse of them when he'd been a kitten had felt like a privilege. SITTING at the edge of the roof, curling his tail around his feet, the amber-eyed tom sighed. He should get up and start hunting. There were a lot of cats to feed. For some reason though, Oscar just couldn't make himself do it. He just wanted to do something worth while but apparently he wasn't allowed just because he was on the small side. Curling his lip at the idea, Oscar lowered himself into a crouch, tucking his front paws under his chest and wrapping his tail tight against his side. Hunting could wait a few more minutes. That decided, Oscar let his bright amber eyes roam aimlessly over the landscape of Iris territory. Tagged;; Open Word Count;; 1314 Background Song;; "Everybody Loves Me" by OneRepublic Notes;; open to all [/scrolly]