@
Jackpot
Badgerbranch listened to Eveningmist as the tom spoke, his ears pricked. This was a serious time; dedication was all that mattered now. The tom stood stiffly, every muscle in his body rigid. The leader hadn't replied to him, although he had answered his question. Apparently, RiverClan wasn't to blame for any of this. Lionstorm was. The tom took a deep breath. A part of him wanted to take it all out on RiverClan - to prove and show that he had nothing to do with his birth Clan, with the Clan who he shared half of his blood from - but then again, would that be the smartest option? Badgerbranch forced his fur to lie flat and let out a hefty sigh, mainly to himself, and shook his broad head.
His claws scraped against the ground, though, as another thought occurred to him. Lionstorm wasn't RiverClan's leader anymore. But he still held influence, right? If Lionstorm had done something bad... then what if he told RiverClan to do the same? What if RiverClan decided to jump on their already clear tensions with ThunderClan and act on them? Badgerbranch wondered if these thoughts might come from his desperate attempt to prove himself free of his RiverClan heritage, but then he pushed those thoughts down.
Stop thinking of yourself as a RiverClan cat! Even a former one who shares their blood! he scolded himself. He had to stop having these traitorous thoughts.
"Eveningmist, if I may speak up," Badgerbranch meowed, making his already deep, somewhat gruff-sounding voice louder so that it could be heard over the crowd of cats.
"Even though it was Lionstorm who commited the crimes, and not RiverClan, do not forget that they are already hostile toward us due to the whole coyote situation. Also, Lionstorm was their leader for a long time." Their leader, not mine, he told himself silently, before continuing his talk.
"He probably has influence on them. And who knows? Lionstorm was most likely injured, and that would be even more reason for RiverClan to attack us. We must take action as soon as possible, because who knows what they might do to us? Tensions are rising and we cannot avoid them. It is clear that RiverClan is not willing to listen to us; I thought that Buckstar mentioned the coyotes at the Gathering, from what I heard about it afterward. Were we just ignored?" His dark brown tail, with the white stripe running down the top of it, began to lash from side to side.
"If they aren't going to listen, then we must make them listen," he finished in a half-declaration. Then he went silent, waiting to see if Eveningmist would respond. Or any of the Clan, for that matter.