Reaching Stones Valley

[poppy]

Rain

"Oh." He didn't know what the name changing or leader thing meant, but that surely was a good thing? Rain decided not to ask any more questions. He wasn't going to make his interest any more obvious. The chimera watched her move, still slightly confused. You had to learn how to catch food? Like their food ran away from them? That was weird. The food back at "home" wasn't even alive. It was mostly trash, to be fair, but still.

"That sure looks like fighting." Or at least the fighting he knew. The comment was accompanied by a small, humorless chuckle, a halfhearted attempt at... something. He didn't know. Maybe he needed lessons on joking later. Or how to laugh without sounding like it was a cough or a gag. Green-ish blue eyes narrowed and catbrow cocked as he watched her snap the spine of the little rodent. It was definitely killing, which is what he was accustomed to watching. "Do I try now?" He asked after a moment of silence, looking at the small body. Hm. Interesting.

"Do um... do cats kill each other a lot in ThunderClan? What's it like there?" Maybe he was being obvious, but it was okay. She didn't seem to suspect anything- or at least, she didn't ask any questions about his interest, so it was close enough.

[ @Caspian ]

[Caspian]

She ignored him stating it looked like battle. Because it did. She nodded at his second question, backing up. “Try to smell another piece of prey. Then do what I did.” she explained, definitely getting a bit impatient with him, but bothering to hide it. She was slowly but surely losing her patience. A ticking time bomb, if you will.

She blinked in alarmed surprise as he asked if cats.. killed their clanmates. “Oh Starclan, no, Hound! Clanmates don’t hurt each other. Cats from another clan sometimes, but not often.” she said, her voice adopting a sort of confusion and shock mixed. Then came the question what was it like, then she calmed down more. “It’s nice.. the cats are all pretty decent and we are pretty stable. We hunt for one another, talk to each other, and other things.” she said

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

He could sense her losing her patience and the survival instinct told him to flee. From a young age he had learned to gauge other cat's emotions very well, so he could tell if someone was impatient or getting angry. So he could act accordingly to diffuse the situation. "'Kay." He murmured ducking his head and then lifting it again, trying to taste the air for scents, fluffing out his fur a bit, not in a way that exposed many of his scars, not that he was really trying to.

As he tried to search the air for scents of the little animals, he listened to her response, gaunt frame visibly relaxing as her response was more than satisfactory. "That... that sounds nice." He said softly, using the excuse of the scent of a mouse nearby to escape having to explain why he had asked. Crouching down, heavily scarred ears flicking to and fro as he readied himself, he crept forward, his frail form making him quite clumsy but lighter on his paws. Once the mouse was within reaching distance, he leaped forward and pinned it down, snapping it's neck and killing it instantly. Oh. Yeah. This was basically fighting, then?

// @Caspian

[Caspian]

She noticed the scars for the first time ever. Hm. This kids been through some stuff. But before she could say anything, the tom simply ran away. And she didn’t know why until she opened her mouth the call after him, the scent of mouse was all she could taste. That definitely wouldn’t give her a difficulty finding home later..

She followed him, stalking and watching, pretty surprised, pleasantly surprise, though. Why? Because she watched him kill a mouse with ease. “Horrific job!” she purred, congratulating the frail cat as she emerged from the shadows. “You’ll be an amazing hunter in no time—“ she cut off, remembering he wasn’t in the clan.

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

Squeaking softly in surprise as she re-emerged, his fur bristled slightly before her recognized her again. He hated the dark. A small, proud smile wormed its way on his face, and for a second, he was just a kid who had caught his first prey. A kit who was being praised by someone he didn't despise, or wasn't terrified of. A flash of the happy go-lucky kid he could've been, then as the smile faded, the darkness of reality shadowed his face, and he lowered his head, offering the mouse to her. "Do you want this? I'm full from the rabbit." Slightly awkward, but apparently nice cats shared, so he was going to share, then!

He decided not to mention that his time learning how to literally fight, maim, kill and track was quite helpful considering hunting was like that only more peaceful and smaller-scale. Because that's not how you make friends. As she broke off suddenly, he looked up at her, slightly questioning, before deciding not to push. She broke off for a reason, and if he didn't want her not to push or ask questions, then he couldn't do the same to her. It wouldn't be fair.

[ @Caspian ]

[Caspian]

She was actually very surprised, but happy, definitely, when Hound smiled at her praise. But as his smile faded, she realized this cat had gone through some things, and was callous. She blinked in surprise when he offered her the mouse. “Sure, thank you.” she made her tone more friendly, as she was definitely feeling more kind to Hound.

She saw his questioning look. “I-I’m sorry.. you remind me of Shatterpaw, my apprentice. I remembered you weren’t in Thunderclan.. I’m sorry, Hound.” She explained, assuming he was questioning why she had cut herself off and dipping her head apologetically. She plopped down onto the ground and took a bite of the small carcass

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

Maybe he was overthinking, but she didn’t seem to think very highly of him. He also wasn’t the most educated cat, but that’s what spending his whole life in an alleyway did to someone. The large, young tom felt a shy smile grow on his face as she took it, and it felt good to share. If he knew more about taking care of himself, maybe he could share some more.

His eyes widened slightly as she mentioned him reminding her of this… Shatterpaw cat, and just nodded. He didn’t know who that was, so he didn’t know if that was a nice thing to say or not. “Oh, that’s okay. You kind of remind me of my mom. She was really nice but she was also really tough.” Tough until it mattered. Tough until all she had to do was survive. He wished he could be mad at her for dying, but he couldn’t. He knew she had done the best she could. Sometimes the best wasn’t enough.


[ @Caspian ]

[Caspian]

She smiled back to him. Jaggedface gestured for him to settle down next to her. “I do? Hmm.. I like this Mom character, then.” she joked stifling a laugh. She took another bite out of the mouse. Eventually it was all gone and dusk was approaching.

She stood up and reached out a paw in a gesture to help him onto his feet. “It’s time for me to head home.” she said. Suddenly, she realized that might be triggering. He didn’t seem to have one. “Uhm.. you seem to be interested in Thunderclan. Just follow how I smell and you’ll find your way.” she explained

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

"Y-yeah, I like her too. She's great." He mumbled with a small smile, unwilling to use the past tense. His mother had been dead for 7 moons and he still missed her. And his family. He missed his family. He wanted to find his home.

He gingerly, hesitantly, took her paw and stood, his large, starved frame hunched over. Oh. She had to leave. "Okay. Thanks for... for talking to me. And feeding me." Alarm flashed in his body as she mentioned following her if he wanted to find ThunderClan, and he stiffened slightly. What if it was a trap? What if she was going to lead him back to Phantom and- Trembling slightly, he shook his head and stepped back with a small wince. "T-thanks." He mumbled, stepping back once more. "Um... could you uh, tell one of my friends friends in that Clan... the uh, two you mentioned earlier, um... that... actually, nevermind. Sorry." He nodded to her, satisfied with his thanks, and he turned and ducked into the bushes, and the second that he was out of sight, he ran for his stinky Twolegplace dump of a home, the muddy, gross hole under a building, praying that she was a good cat and wasn't going to follow him. (he still sprinted as fast as his malnourished body of his could go, just to be safe.)

[ @Caspian - would totally have the boy follow her back to camp but since me and rani have a plot set up where Mudhound will come find/rescue the boy, I'm having him scamper off o7 feel free to have jag try to follow or just leave and be like 'i just met the strangest kid today, fam']

[Caspian]

Jaggedface was slightly confused. “Goodbye!” she called after him.

She left for home

@poppy.
(Sorry for short post, also, I think Jagged is going to chill in camp and gossip about a strange cat, lol)