Reaching Stones Valley

[poppy]

Rain

Day 3204948 of searching for ThunderClan. The starving young tom had left the Twolegplace, risking being recaptured by Phantom to search for his family. But nope. Nothing. Cursing loudly, Rain kicked a stone, glaring around him at the impossibly symmetrical stones and faux flowers. Sinking into a crouch, he stared dully at the ground before feeling his lip quivering. Biting it, he straightened back up. The chimera had had a growth spurt, which made hiding harder but he was already the size of a full-grown cat at 9 moons old.

He was so tired of always being scared. So tired of always having to hide. Most cats would be angry, and he was, but he was mostly just exhausted. And hungry. And scared. And he felt so alone, so tragically and completely alone. He missed his mom. He missed his sisters and brothers. The thrill he had felt when he felt grass for the first time in his life had faded, and he gazed at the sky, eyes dry. He had cried enough for a lifetime, and was too weary to cry. So he just sat. This was a good place to stay; it smelled of sadness.

[ open! sobs in had had]

[Caspian]

Jaggedface had been walking around, desire to explore the outside of Thunderclan territory overwhelming her so much she needed to explore in order to rid herself of it. She paused, smelling a cat she didn’t recognize. She followed the scent, stalking towards it as she neared the cat who she smelt. She caught sight of this pitiful creature and immediately felt a pang of sympathy. The massive she-cat padded over, hesitant. “Are you alright?” she asked, feeling like she was tearing up at the sight of him.

Now, Jaggedface had seen a lot of sad things, but this one made her want to cry. A young tom, noticeably slim and starved, with eyes that looked glassy as if he were about to cry, or had been crying for decades, alone, just sitting down. Where was he going? Nowhere? She sat down next to him, if he’d let her. “Do you want some food? I can hunt for you if you want?” she offered. Jaggedface usually was the most aggressive cat on planet Earth with outsiders, but this one was far too young and weak to be a threat. Plus he looked like he needed a hug and some love

@poppy.
(Behold, a nice Jaggedface, very rare)

[poppy]

Rain

Rain thought he knew exactly what fear felt like. He knew what fear was like more than he knew what any other emotion was. But a new kind of fear struck him like a bolt of icy lightning when he realized that there was a cat nearby. Not someone from his family, no. Not someone from the Twolegplace. Not someone he recognized. A stranger. And if there was one thing Rain knew, strangers were not to be trusted. Strangers were dangerous.

"Yeah." His voice was broken with disuse (it had been a moon since he'd last spoken aloud, time flies when you hate your life, right?) and even though he was obviously lying, he refused to willingly show weakness. He wasn't about to get taken again. He wasn't going to be hurt again, by anyone. Ever. His natural reaction when she approached was to flee, but he was so beaten down and so close to giving up that he only flinched away from her if she got too close, looking at her as if her sitting beside him and having a normal conversation was the strangest thing ever. Did... normal cats do this? Be friendly? Kind? Talkative? He didn't even know.

"You would do that?" He asked softly in response to her, tempted to refuse and run as fast as he could away, but he was still a kid and kids had no willpower when it came to food, especially when this young tom in particular hadn't eaten in a week. So he would test the waters, still not sure about this. And something about this molly's scent had his memories, his deepest most treasured memories, activating. Maybe this cat knew his aunt Bumble or Auncle Muddy?

[ @Caspian ]

[Caspian]

She looked unconvinced that he was okay. He obviously wasn’t. She flicked a thick tail, not wanting to cause him alarm, she hid it. Who knew what cats thought of the flick of a tail these days? Nevermind that, she had food to catch. And if he was strong enough, a cat to teach how to hunt. She didn’t want him relying on her for food. No, teaching him would be better. After he ate, of course. “Yes, I would. You definitely need it.” she replied, her voice strong and firm.

Jaggedface wound up telling him to stay put, and that she’d return with prey. Jaggedface found a nice, lush place to hunt this random, starved cat’s food. She opened her jaws to taste the air and eventually caught scent of a rabbit. She trailed over, trying her best to sneak up onto the unsuspecting rabbit unheard. Once in a decent distance, she leapt at it, claws outstretched. She caught it. It was actually very plump. She returned with the rabbit in her jaws. She dropped it at his paws. “Eat up.” she said, voice soft as she settled down next to him again

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

A flick of the tail, and his eyes widened a fraction, but he stayed still, muscles tense and ready to flee. He wasn't a wimp. He wasn't trying to be a wimp, he was just trying to survive long enough to find his family. Then he could be happy. Then he could be a kid. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest as she left, anxiety whispering lies to him, such as she was going to find Phantom and bring the cruel creature here. The young chimera looked down at his paws, weary face tightened with nerves.

He didn't trust her. She seemed nice, but all liars could be nice if they wanted to. He wanted to look inside her heart for evil, or search her actions and words for the true intentions but he was unable to do so, so instead he just paused and stared as she left, sliding into a slump and staring at the ground. Just when he was about to run far away out of pure precaution, she reappeared, with a- what the hell was that thing? Looking down at it, then back up at her, his eyes were wide and there was a tiny, almost unnoticeable spark of child wonder- or maybe it was confusion. "What's this?" He didn't know what manners were, and he'd be much more polite if he did, but being rude on accident was the least of his worries.

[ @Caspian - for context, rain spent his whole life stuck in an alleyway, so he doesn't know what prey animals are bro only knows how to fight and that's all ]

[Caspian]

She tilted her head. “It’s uh.. it’s food. See?” she said, tearing a piece off of the rabbit to release the wonderful scent. She pushed it all to him, not minding the rudeness in his tone. She might teach him manners, too. “My mentor used to be Windclan, but she joined Thunderclan and taught me how to catch rabbits easily.” she said, trying to spark a conversation. She drew in the sand with a claw, a cloud with rain pouring out of it. ”My name is Jaggedface.” she added.

She dared not take a piece, knowing full well that outsiders didn’t know the concept of sharing like clan cats did. She continued to draw in the sand, thin lines making details in order to make it more realistic.

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

His eyes widened as he watched her tear off a piece of the rabbit, initially repulsed by the thought. He had been eating literal trash his whole life, and the wild cats were out here... eating dead animals? Well, he assumed that the food he usually ate (with a few exceptions) were dead animals, but not like... freshly dead. He had eaten a rotten rat once, but that was all. But he crouched down, his desperate hunger overriding his need to be careful, and took a bite. His eyes widened. Oh. It was pretty good. Much better than he had expected, at least. The ragged young tom's catbrows raised as she mentioned a 'ThunderClan'. Oh? Was she from around there? "My mom used to live in ThunderClan." He mumbled around his mouthful, realizing too late that maybe he shouldn't have shared that.

He watched her drawing as he ate, filling his empty stomach with the rabbit. His stomach wasn't used to having so much food, and he'd probably throw it up later, but whatever. It was food. Silently, he nodded to the rabbit, unsure if sharing was just a thing that cats had to do when there was no food around. "I'm.... Hound." He used his mother's name, not really wanting to be spreading it around that he was still in the area, for fear that those damned cats would come to find him again. So using the name of his mother and auncle was the closest thing he was willing to give to his real name.

[ @Caspian ]

[Caspian]

She eyed the cat who introduced himself to be Hound. His mom was from Thunderclan? Really? “That means your of Thunderclan blood.” she said, a bit shocked as to why he wasn’t in the clan. “So.. Hound.. are you up for a hunting lesson?” she said. Helping him to hunt would help him survive. And he’d need to survive to do whatever he wanted to do. He obviously had some goal, or he wouldn’t be mindlessly wandering around.

She got up, lending a paw to him to help him up after he ate his meal. Afterwards, she stalked over to a bush, deciding to hide when she scented her prey. She opened her jaws and the dull smell of vole was the first thing she tasted. No good, it was a stale scent. “Open your mouth or sniff the air.” she instructed

@poppy.

[poppy]

Rain

"I guess." The young tom nodded, deciding to try to ask her if she knew his family. Or at least knew if they were alive. "Yeah do you uh... know a Bumblebreak or Mudhound? My... my friend used to know them and I was just wondering if they were still around." That way he would know if it was even worth traveling back to ThunderClan. She looked shocked so he didn't mention his mom's name, considering how Houndspirit had been born and raised in ThunderClan and then bled out in the clearing. She was probably at least a familiar topic to some. Couldn't risk it. This could also be one of Phantom's cats just pretending to be from ThunderClan so they could see if they could get him to admit who he was.

Following her, steps uneven and shaky but determined, the frail tom narrowed his eyes, watching her movements. "Is hunting a fighting move?" He asked, unknowingly sounding like a complete moron, but that's all he had even been taught to do; fight. He sniffed the air, eyes narrowed in confusion, but his nose twitched. That smelled... that was a new smell. It kind of smelled like the rats in the alleyway.

// @Caspian

[Caspian]

Jaggedface was.. admittedly surprised by this question, but willing to answer it nonetheless. “I do. But Bumblebreak is Bumblestar now, she became leader. And, yes, Mudhound is in the clan.” she replied, mainly focused on hunting instead of answering this cats questions. Which she could tell he was prodding her for some kind of information about Thunderclan, given the question Hound asked.

But the next dumb question caught her off guard. “Er— no, it’s how I got your food.” she explained, kind of confused at his lack of knowledge about how to catch prey. And mistaking it for a fighting move was.. actually quite understandable, but still. It was not going to win him most educated cat of the year award. Yellow and blue eyes narrowed as she caught sight of a mouse. “Watch.” she said, demonstrating a hunting crouch whilst she crawled over. She jumped at it and gingerly broke its spine. “There.” she said

@poppy.