Resisting the urge to smirk at her success at gaining pity, Firestream instead put on a grateful smile. She wasn't sure how comfortable she felt about finding refuge in a twoleg den where she was most likely unwelcomed but she didn't care much especially after making such a fuss about it. Oh, and she noticed the unsheathed claws though it was the least of her worries; she was a trained warrior and this was a kittypet, sure she wasn't the best at fighting but she was more experienced than this cat most likely.
"Oh thank you ever so much! You're so kind!" the pretty she-cat purred so sweetly it almost made her sick. She hated acting so foolishly affectionate but she had to keep it up for as long as she could if she hoped to survive this place...but she wasn't sure how long she could keep the rouse up before she showed her true colours.
Flicking her ear at the question of her name, the dark ginger and cream tabby held back a scoff at learning what the kittypet was called by. Coconut? What kind of a name was that? Firestream had no idea what a coconut was but she decided it was stupid anyway.
Silently making fun of Coconut as she answered, Fire let her artificial personality relax for a moment. "You can call me Firestream. Now where's this den of yours?" she asked, growing slightly impatient. All this talking was tiring her, and Firestream wasn't the sort of cat to put up with others for long.
Coconut
She\Kittypet\Outsider
"What? I actually like the rain. That's normal!"
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She pulled back her lips into a flashy little smile. "Just a few paces for here, they're not far and very affectionate." She purred despite herself. She was spoiled absolutely rotten in her nest, those twolegs sure did love her. If she kept the visitor and the downlow, perhaps they'd come to love... Firestream? Huh, odd name... As well.
"They gave me a whole area to myself, I'm sure you'll be quite cozy there."
She leaped gracefully up onto the tracks, her bell chiming in protest as she did. "C'mon, follow me, Fire. What a funny name... Pretty, but rather odd. Are all forest cats named like that?" She was genuinely curious. She'd honestly never thought of it before, she just assumed they had normal names like "Violet" or "Checkers", but apparently not.
Coconut finally noticed her unsheathed claws and was quick to hide them once more. Hopefully Firestream hadn't seen them, but it might've been impossible to miss as she noticed how the light caught onto them like stars. She smiled apologetically at the ginger cat. "Sorry! I'm just a bit hungry, that's all."
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❝And the cats kill one by one!❞
- Hartebeest by Yalokre
"they threw me out...to fend for myself...and so I did."
Crystal was laying down, his tail swishing back and forth as he watched ember play with some leaves that he found. crystal felt like he was bad at this, the caring for a kit he never helped make. he remembered the blood from the she-cat protecting her kit from a loose dog...and now he knew that the housefolk place was not safe, not for ember and not him. his ears flatted as he thought of moving. it was a hard thing...with so many cats already claimed places to live.
Ember
"I'll show you! i'll run like a windy ember and burn the forest with blazes!"
Ember played with a leaf crystal found, her paws batting at it as she imagined it as a rat. her paws swatted and slashed at the leaf, she tripped and rolled but got back up to pounce again. her eyes narrowed as she wiggled her hips and pounced, she fell again and kept at it. earning a small chuckle from crystal. keep at it!
Where was she? Splashleap had no idea! Delightful! That was exactly what she wanted, to have no idea where the heck she was! And to be all torn up to boot! How HAD she gotten so lucky? With all of her normal energy but with none of the physical capabilities to match the molly heaved herself upright, off of the gritty and pointy ground, and then made a leap for a wooden platform higher up as some sort of vantage point. Rather than gracefully landing on it, however, Splashleap hit the side with a bit of a crunch and landed back down on the gritty stuff again. Lovely! Also, her head was spinning. Even better! So perhaps getting up there was out of the question for right now. Perhaps she'd better hang here for the moment. Do a bit of an inventory of what was wrong with her rather than her initial answer of 'everything but I'm going to act like it's fine and jump anyway'.
From the dryness of her tongue (it tasted like she'd swallowed a cottonwood seed many times over) and the general wooziness, she was probably dehydrated. Also, she was skinny, obviously, and when she did get to her paws in a more controlled manner it was not without a noticeable wobbliness which had nothing to do with a lack of balance and everything to do with a general lack of energy to run what remained of her muscles. Small cuts and larger bruises were also noticeable as she started to move, pulling and complaining as Splashleap ambled slowly (elegantly limped) along the gritty gorge she was in, in hopes of an easier exit. Because like it or not, stubborn or not, she wasn't going to be making that jump anytime soon.
After what felt like an eternity but was probably only five-odd foxlengths, access of some sort to higher ground presented itself in the form of some strange twoleg object. Rock-like, but not. She didn't care that much, and slowly clambered onto it and then the platform, finally getting a bit of a chance to look around. Nothing much to be seen, just twoleg stone in a massive twoleg cave, with gorges like the one she'd just escaped littering the ground. There were more piles of rock everywhere, dusty and crumpled, and the occasional spike of something rock-like but not so solid. More pointy, albeit a brown-red color that didn't look intimidating at first sight. And, importantly, no exit in sight. An exit was what Splashleap needed, but with no memory of how she got here and none clearly available, it looked like it was going to be a long slow explore through the cavernous space, or she would be stuck in here for a while.
The first call to order was water, if she was going to be trapped, and that at least was readily available. One of the piles of stone was beneath a patch of sky, and while there was no hope to climb out of it, rain had collected beneath the portal to the outside world. Dirty water, nothing like the clear river she was used to, but water nonetheless. Splashleap didn't dare drain the small basin dry in case no more was found and it didn't rain before she could escape, but even what she did drink made her feel significantly better. Next on the agenda was, ideally, food. She could hear the squeaking of diverse rodents, but had never been a good hunter of anything that wasn't fish and also wasn't sure she would come out on top if forced to tangle with a rat. She gave it an attempt anyway, stalking what seemed to be mice a few times, but they invariably escaped her poor lunges and disappeared into the walls or floor or under piles of stones she couldn't hope to excavate.
What she did find was crowfood. Some poor bird had probably flown in through the patch of sky and become trapped like her, for it now lay dead on the ground in some state of decomposition. But beggars couldn't be choosers. Splashleap was definitely a beggar. So it was consumed, albeit with some half-retches and the sinking sensation that she might see it again a bit too soon. For the moment she debated a brief explore, but chose to stumble back to the sky-window and slump into sleep, seeing as it displayed nought but the stars. Vaguely, she wondered if the stars were watching her. If they were amused by how far she had sunk, from Riverclan's deputy to a failed deputy to this. Probably. She'd laugh too if she were the stars. But Splashleap was also in the business of being ornery, so she'd throw any laughter right back in the stars faces if, no, When, she got out of this stupid twoleg cave.
This resolution did not get off to the most auspicious start, as her prediction of a revisit from the crowfood came true early in the morning with a lot of retching and a stomachache. She was left feeling worse off than she'd started, hollowed out and empty, and drank what was left of the water just to feel like there was something inside of her. Then back to her feet it was, stumbling about in search of either an exit or food, whichever came first. In the end it was neither, though Splashleap did make a full circuit of the cave and find a small passageway. All that passageway led to was another chunk of cave. But at least she was moving somewhere, so she flopped down when a new sky-hole declared it was night.
That night, peace was not on the menu. The previous night she had slept undisturbed, but this time the cave had other plans. A sudden rumble, and then a sudden avalanche of weight, stones striking her flanks and ribs as Splashleap tried to curl up and protect herself as dust filled the air and more weight pressed down upon her. She squeezed her eyes shut. And then it was over. Not really, for what felt like the weight of five cats pressed heavy on her side which had been towards the roof of the cave as she slept, but the noise and impacts had stopped. The scent of her blood was in the air again, and for a long moment she lay stunned. What else was there to do? She was practically immobilized, not dead, but cocooned within a cast of rock which she doubted she had the strength to fight free of.
Moving a single paw required mountainous effort, and she didn't even know which way to go to escape. What was the closest way out? No clue. Would she just shift things and collapse them on her further, crushing her completely? Maybe. But Splashleap was nothing if not slightly overzealous and overoptimistic, and so started trying to wriggle her way out. As she shifted new cuts added themselves to the menagerie of small lines across her pelt, and dust clogged her throat in a manner that left her wheezing for air. But finally, her nose touched fresh air. Out of the pile. The rest of her was left to follow, battered and bruised beyond even her previously weakened state, and curling in on itself as she coughed and coughed and tried to clear the poisonous dust from her lungs.
It was still night, but Splashleap saw no point in trying to keep sleeping. As far as she could tell there was no way she would get better by sleeping, it would probably just allow the new aches to set in, so she might as well get moving. After three days in the purgatory of the twoleg-cave her ribs were easily counted, and the bruises and cuts which would have been concealed by a healthy coat were obvious as her once thick fur began to dry and fall away. She was a ratty shell of a cat, staggering through the twoleg-cave with little prospect of escape, or surviving long if she did get out. After all, a fox would easily pick her off. Even a few rats would stand a chance. Another cat would surely have no trouble.
The stars, having opened a new hole in the twoleg-cave directly above her and causing her to be trapped in the rock pile, seemed finally to smile upon her. To give her a break. When morning came, Splashleap was free of the twoleg cave, emerging into full sunlight and to a morning dew. For a moment she collapsed, letting the grasses coolness soothe her pains somewhat, and was tempted to sleep. But some instinct pushed her onwards. Perhaps the knowledge that, as beautiful as it was to be outside, sleeping might be the end of her. Who knew whether she would have the strength to wake back up, or would get surprised by an unknown foe? No, she needed water and food and shelter and fast.
Once again, water proved doable. There was dew everywhere and it had collected in places. Her thirst temporarily slaked, Splashleap tried out her hunting crouch. Just as it had in the twoleg-cave, it failed her. Abysmally. The closest she got was lunging onto a Thunderpath in hot pursuit of a mouse and being forced back, eyes wild, as a Monster came roaring past. The grassy area outside the cave was small, and thunderpaths were everywhere. With nothing else to do, Splashleap set off along one at a slow pace. Well, as fast as she could manage, but abjectly slow.
The Thunderpath led her deeper into the Twolegplace, with buildings crowding up on either side of her. She slunk about in the shadows, not wanting to be seen by the twolegs that bustled here and there. No food to be seen. Nothing she could catch anyway. Until a lump at the side of the Thunderpath caught her eye. It wasn't immediately obvious as nourishment, but on closer inspection it was clear that it had once been a rat. It was dead, but relatively fresh albeit black and crusty in places. It seemed safer than the bird she had eaten, though not by much, and Splashleap took the chance to gnaw away at the unscorched flesh. It tasted delicious, and before she knew it the entire thing was gone. Not that she had planned to leave any behind regardless.
With this Monster-kill as a potential food source, she continued along the Thunderpath, finding a crow in due course and, again, scavenging what she could. It was horribly degrading, but Splashleap was mostly happy to be alive at this point so she wasn't going to complain. She was vaguely aware that she had become the kind of cat no one wants to be, a wretch depending on twolegs for handouts and skulking about stealing in twoleg places. Desperate, always hungry and thirsty. Violent, at times. The true definition of a rogue. Splashleap was fairly certain that, if it was a winnable fight, she would attack another cat for a shot at some normal food. Not that the opportunity seemed likely to present itself, at the minute she would be the one getting beat up, fighting skills or not.
What she did, finally, find was a place to stay for a bit. A twoleg rubbish pile which stunk to high heaven, but was sheltered and she was confident enough it wouldn't collapse on top of her. She didn't think she would have the will to crawl out again if it did, let alone the strength. She felt a bit better after eating the crowfood, but she was still thirsty and hungry and oh so tired after as much walking as she'd done that day. Splashleap flopped down on the ground tired, and had no plans to get up anytime soon.
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All hail the Rat Queen's!!
Shrewstep has Silver Tongue and Mind Reader purrks
Pit has Just a Scratch and Beefed Up Tier 2
Re: Desolated Tracks
