GRAVELLY WAYPOINT ☆ OPEN

[nyme]

[JUSTIFY]

I HAVE MY SHADOWS AND MY COLORS
AND THERE IS THE SMELL OF TIME PASSING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ☽ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

JIN . 20 MOONS . HE/HIM . LONER
BEWITCHED

"Poor, poor Snake."

Jin can no longer help but voice his pity, extra saccharine and doting like he's soothing a fussy kit. He's drawn his forepaws in, tucked them neatly under his broad, downy chest. Black eyes have only left Snake to blink—and even those come rarely.

"Snake," he continues, suddenly sounding all chipper as though he's just come up with the best idea. A real award-winner. Something to really knock Snake's stripes clean off. "You should stay here. Then you can have me. I'm someone. I'm Jin. You know me." He presents the notion with a smile that he thinks must be charming, but it's all wrong around the edges. Not really a smile; just teeth.

"It's safe here. You saw. It's good here. Here's a home. Your home, if you let it. I'll share. You'll be so happy." He continues, all dreamy, awkward enthusiasm. Jin's swaying to the beat of his own hushed words, rocking in place like he just can't stand to sit still. Like all the excitement's just too much to bear motionless.

"You want that, right? You're lonely. You were lonely wandering anywhere and nowhere, so you came somewhere to meet me. Right? You're home now, Snake. Isn't that nice?" Jin sounds like he's made his mind up for the both of them, or like he's carrying out a conversation with someone who isn't there. Silly! Snake doesn't need to say anything, Jin already knows they're delighted to be here with such a gallant and generous host!

"Do you want to nest here? You can. There are other places too though—should I show you?"

@Idiotic.Bean101 ; SNAKE

☽

Jin flinches and falters at the sound of his own voice. Where did that come from?

He's grave-silent for the beat that follows, stunned into a long moment's hesitation. He has already been reminded once, today, that he has nowhere to run and very few places to hide. Once is enough. Jin does not want this guest to be a danger to him but there'll always be the awful part of him that knows better. But he hadn't wanted to be alone, and now he isn't, and that's what has to count. So he pretends he hadn't heard what he knows that he did, chalking it up to fatigue and nerves. Besides: when she talks again, it's most certainly not with his voice. So...so, it's good. It's okay.

Jin plays at bashfulness because he doesn't want to explain what got him so grimy-looking, but he doesn't want her to think less of him for it, either. Naturally, he's got another lie spilling off his tongue to excuse his state: "Someone...needed my help. In the mud. So I..." Jin peters off, hoping his guest gets the gist of his tall tale. He's not sad and dirty, he's a hero. So there.

Jin eyes the ember-bright sky for a moment. He doesn't want to go to the speeder shed, despite that being where he'd typically sleep if the world weren't burning down. He doesn't want to bring a guest into the tunnel-drain either, though. Jin throws a long and pensive glance into the dark, down the tracks. Through the distance and gloom and brambles, he can't make out the unnatural edges of that shelter. Maybe it's hidden from the fire, too.

"This way," Jin beckons, shaking off and sparing a half a second to cleaning his chest and his paws and his face. It's hasty and barely effective, but he hopes the gesture is appreciated if nothing else. Then, in the interest of winning this visitor over with his unquestionable politeness and charming demeanor (he does seriously believe this), he adds, "I'm Jin, you know," as he leads the way into the dark, over the tracks.

@Rose ; SWEETBRIAR

[Idiotic.Bean101]

Snake-He/They
15 Moons


————————


Poor poor Snake?
He isn’t a little kitten that needs pity.
He’s been perfectly fine on his own for this long.

He then felt disbelief at Jin’s offer.
Stay here?
Permanently?

Before he could even answer, Jin started blabbering on like Snake had already agreed.

How was he meant to go about this?
If he said no, Jin might kick him out, and he wouldn’t have a place for the night.

Hm.
“I’ll stay tonight, see how I like it.” Snake stated “And even if I don’t stay, maybe I’ll visit you. You seem to feel more lonely than I do.”
Best offer he could give right now.


@nyme

[nyme]

I HAVE MY SHADOWS AND MY COLORS
AND THERE IS THE SMELL OF TIME PASSING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ☽ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

JIN . 20 MOONS . HE/HIM . LONER
BEWITCHED

Jin's disappointment is palpable, as real and as earnest as a cutting edge. He looks at Snake like they've struck him, and then he looks at the ground. The sense of betrayal sours quick; his next glance up at Snake is withering, accusatory.

"You won't come back." There's no honey in the way he says this. No hate or malice either—not yet. Only frustration. Jin paws at his face, scrubbing his cheeks restlessly. For that moment he is dull and charmless and tired, and he's silent as though Snake is no longer in the shed with him. He has to think positively about this but he doesn't want to. Isn't good at it. He needs to think: what can he say, and what should he do, and what will keep Snake here?

Tufted ears twitch. Violence occurs to him, but it hasn't ever worked particularly well in the past. Few things do but some have, at least for a time. He has to think, is all. He just has to think. Jin clears his throat and straightens up and pretends to have not missed a beat.

"Alright. You'll stay tonight." He confirms cheerfully, not bothering to address what Snake had said after that. "Where will you nest?"

@Idiotic.Bean101 ; SNAKE

[Idiotic.Bean101]

Snake-He/They
15 Moons


---------------------


'You won't come back'
Who's Jin to say what Snake will and won't do?
Now he will just out of spite of that comment.

He's about to let out a snarky reply, but Jin just continued, as if that hadn't happened.
Snake looked around with his eyes at possible places to nest.
He couldn't decide on one.
"I don't know." He replied bluntly "How 'bout you pick."


@nyme

[nyme]

I HAVE MY SHADOWS AND MY COLORS
AND THERE IS THE SMELL OF TIME PASSING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ☽ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

JIN . 20 MOONS . HE/HIM . LONER
BEWITCHED

Jin can pick? They're leaving it to him? Do they like him that much already?

Snake...oh...he must want to stay, he must. Maybe it's that the poor thing is just shy. Jin can't fathom being shy, really (social butterfly in a jar that he is), but he knows that plenty of cats are. Maybe Snake has grown so accustomed to their solitude that they've given up on hoping for something better, so maybe Jin just needs to be patient.

There..there might be hope, after all.....

Jin's smile is all sunshine after that. All triumph. Perhaps he won't even have to lie or hurt them or anything at all. He just needs to be sweet and patient, that's all. Which is fine; Jin can do that, no problem. He knows all about waiting.

"This is the safest spot. The nicest and the coziest," he gestures around the shed. That it is also where Jin keeps his neat and thus the easiest place for him to keep tabs on Snake during the night is just a pleasant coincidence. "So you'll sleep here."

@Idiotic.Bean101 ; SNAKE

[nyme]

I HAVE MY SHADOWS AND MY COLORS
AND THERE IS THE SMELL OF TIME PASSING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ☽ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

JIN . 22 MOONS . HE/HIM . LONER
BEWITCHED

Gravelly Waypoint glows in rust, in gold, in the warm withering of the late season. Piles of leaves hide the tracks from view and the twolegs that venture this far often come in those bulky, peculiar winter-pelts of theirs, all bundled up snug while their dogs' breath mists the air.

Jin does not like the cold. It means he must be vigilant, now, and that there is no longer any sense in entertaining guests. He'll be lonely, yes, but he knows how to do that. He's practiced. When the days grow long again and the forest thickens with lush growth and there is, once more, prey to spare—then he can be sweet. Then he can dote on his visitors.

In the meantime...the massive tom is already learning to be hungry, again.

GRAVELLY WAYPOINT is OPEN...but watch out.

[Shade.]

@nyme

A name means a lot in warrior culture. It signifies your age and rank. It signifies something about you. Maybe careless leaders go off of appearances and mouthfeel, yes. But ThunderClan's leader had not been careless with Roseraven. Because now, as she was traversing this territory, away from home, there were still many ravens after her. Were they the same ones? Did she just attract all the ravens in any given area? Unclear. But there were a few. They stared at her with their beady eyes, waiting for her to trip or fall or get hit by something. She still didn't know if they were a warning for her or just making fun of her. We're they on her side or there to ward off other cats? We'll, if it was the latter, then there was no point. Roseraven was alone now. She had been, for a while. She needed to find something. Or someone. Anything. Anything to make her feel like she could go back. Anything that wasn't Albatrossflare and his dark teachings, that wasn't the StarClan that he killed on behalf of. Anything to feel ready to have a home again.

The small tabby was bleeding from several minor injuries, though she blocked them off with cobwebs. Roseraven was always injured in some way or other. She prefred those minor accidents over the big ones. Falling over sucked but it was, better than accidental murder. Right now, she had stopped to rest for a bit. She glanced up at a raven, which was circling her overhead. At least she was never lonely.

[nyme]

I HAVE MY SHADOWS AND MY COLORS
AND THERE IS THE SMELL OF TIME PASSING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ☽ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

JIN . 22 MOONS . HE/HIM . LONER
BEWITCHED

Something other than autumn clouds darken the sky before settling on the naked branches of the few trees around that have shed their leaves, and Jin's black eyes are drawn to look. Rarely would they not be; any change to the Waypoint is a thing worth staring at. Novelty is rare in this place. Ravens are not—common birds that they are—but ravens in this abundance, out of the blue...the strangeness only matters for a moment to Jin before his mind turns, instead, to what a stroke of luck this is. He could catch one. Two, if he's quick. He's had plenty of time to learn to scale the trees out here (whenever the left-and-right limits of his territory start to feel too constricting, he takes satisfaction in knowing that there doesn't seem to be any evident upward boundary; Jin can climb as high as he pleases, and it is almost freedom), and more than enough practice in birding.

Jin slides down from that perch atop his shed, a descent done many times, to be done many more times, and creeps forward until he smells it—the blood. Faint, but alarming enough to set a prickle in his scruff, down his back. The meal circling circling overhead doesn't have his interest anymore. Jin's staring at Roseraven, now that she's come into view, head lolling doglike to one side as he contemplates what to do. The poor thing, she's hurt.

"You poor thing." And here he goes, voicing his thoughts in that deliberately soft and childish voice he uses—the sweet one, the one that paints him as something nonthreatening. Something to be kind to. Something to stay with. "You're hurt." He doesn't move any closer. She's hurt and, to him, pitiful, but Jin is already cross with himself for not chasing her off quickly like he knows he should. If he can't make himself do that, then he can at least refuse to let himself coddle the stranger.

@Shade ; ROSERAVEN

[Shade.]

@nyme

In unison, several raven heads and the face of Roseraven snapped rapidly to the side to look at the newcomer with a startles expression. The small tabby's eyes darted between the birds, trying to sus out whether this encounter was another bad luck experience or not. She wondered if the ravens could reflect that somehow. The stranger's words seemed kind and concerned, but Roseraven knew better than to believe they were genuine. Still, attacking someone over nothing would be irrational. Roseraven had somehow become a decent fighter over the years, mostly from her, Dark Forest training. But when her bad luck struck, not even her skill could save her.

"Oh, these are just minor scrapes, I know how to patch myself up. I'm not invading somebody's territory, am I?" Her words were polite, but there was a steadiness behind them, as the small cat refused to display any kind of nervousness or anxiety. She was also keenly aware that mentioning her own medical skill in innocuous ways was shrewd, as it made cats less likely to attack her if they saw use in her.