|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 22:27:07 GMT -5
plot ;; when their home is destroyed, muse a sets out on a journey to find a new home, and potentially find or form a new clan. when injured by a fox/badger, they end up in the garden of muse b, a kittypet who's tired of their old life. together, they leave and travel, learning new skills and possibly finding new friends along the way. it's a long walk to find home.
characters ;;
Sandyrose// 2.5 years old // AquaLux
- Sandyrose is a slender, pale reddish-brown she-cat with light green eyes. Her fur is mostly average length and kept neatly groomed, though she also has thicker tufts of darker coloured fur behind her ears and around her shoulders, giving her a kind of lion-like mane. Her tail is fluffier than the rest of her pelt, particularly from the middle to the tip. She is smaller than most adult cats, and she was often mistaken for an apprentice as a result when she was a MistClan warrior. She also has a couple scars; three faded lines on her left shoulder and a small tear in her right ear.
- Her most prominent feature is her sharp-tongue and spitfire attitude. Sandyrose gives the impression of a level-headed and serious cat when her mood is neutral. However, she's quick and easy to rile up and just as fast to retaliate with clever insults and copious amounts of sarcasm. She is very sensitive to comments about her size, reacting to them with a level of furious hostility so intense that oftentimes has others taking a step back. There is often no filter between her thoughts and her words, and she doesn't see the need for one. She's strong-willed, proud, and stubborn almost to a fault; the desire to prove herself is ever-present, and it never subsides. She has a kind heart at her core, though it can easily be overlooked at times.
- Sandyrose was the runt of her litter, which is why she's as small as she is. She was sickly as a kit, to the point that her apprentice ceremony was delayed by a couple of moons. Her mother thought she wouldn't make it, so in response, she distanced herself from Sandyrose so it wouldn't hurt as much when she died, which influenced Sandyrose's siblings to do the same. As a result, Sandyrose was a very lonely kit who often spent days alone in the medicine cat's den, with just the company of the Clan's medicine cat himself, an ageing, grumpy tomcat who wasn't much comfort to her - though he is likely a big contributing factor to her temper. During her time as an apprentice, Sandyrose was also treated as an outcast by most of the other apprentices because of her smaller size. They would tease her often, go easy on her during training, and would only invite her to eat with them/talk to her unless they were forced to by their mentors. This past is where her desire to prove herself stems from, where her hatred of her size originated. It's why she is the way she is, her flaws and strengths alike.
Vinnie // 3 years old // revali generally considered to be a very pretty tom, Vinnie is primarily white in colour with one black-tipped ear and some black markings on his face and tail. his fur is thick and soft and semi-long, and he has mismatched eyes; one amber, one blue with some brown. he's fairly dainty and light on his paws, with long legs but a smaller stature. with high stamina and speed, he's someone used to running. he's a former stray, later taken in by an old lady. recently, however, he was put into the care of the old woman's grandchildren as she passed away, and he does not like them. at all. he's fairly cautious and secretive, but he's prone to bouts of curiosity where he just has to find out what's happening around him. he's fairly passive and tends to watch explosions happen from a distance. though he's known for being highly truthful, he knows how to twist his own words as well as the words of others, which makes him difficult to talk to if information is required. he's quite strategic, knows how to look at things from various vantage points. he's someone used to making plans and having others follow them, rather than taking a beating. he's not too into the physical side of any sort of work, really. (pic in spoiler)
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 22:41:09 GMT -5
ty, ty. and yeah!! her old clan is all up to you <: no need to ask for input
|
|
AquaLux
Lover of anime, writing, and animals. Consistently weird. Just a little insane.
|
Post by AquaLux on Aug 20, 2017 23:15:42 GMT -5
( Alright, here she is in all her glory! Turned out pretty okay, I think. )
Sandyrose// 2.5 years old // AquaLux - Sandyrose is a slender, pale reddish-brown she-cat with light green eyes. Her fur is mostly average length and kept neatly groomed, though she also has thicker tufts of darker coloured fur behind her ears and around her shoulders, giving her a kind of lion-like mane. Her tail is fluffier than the rest of her pelt, particularly from the middle to the tip. She is smaller than most adult cats, and she was often mistaken for an apprentice as a result when she was a MistClan warrior. She also has a couple scars; three faded lines on her left shoulder and a small tear in her right ear. - Her most prominent feature is her sharp-tongue and spitfire attitude. Sandyrose gives the impression of a level-headed and serious cat when her mood is neutral. However, she's quick and easy to rile up and just as fast to retaliate with clever insults and copious amounts of sarcasm. She is very sensitive to comments about her size, reacting to them with a level of furious hostility so intense that oftentimes has others taking a step back. There is often no filter between her thoughts and her words, and she doesn't see the need for one. She's strong-willed, proud, and stubborn almost to a fault; the desire to prove herself is ever-present, and it never subsides. She has a kind heart at her core, though it can easily be overlooked at times. - Sandyrose was the runt of her litter, which is why she's as small as she is. She was sickly as a kit, to the point that her apprentice ceremony was delayed by a couple of moons. Her mother thought she wouldn't make it, so in response, she distanced herself from Sandyrose so it wouldn't hurt as much when she died, which influenced Sandyrose's siblings to do the same. As a result, Sandyrose was a very lonely kit who often spent days alone in the medicine cat's den, with just the company of the Clan's medicine cat himself, an ageing, grumpy tomcat who wasn't much comfort to her - though he is likely a big contributing factor to her temper. During her time as an apprentice, Sandyrose was also treated as an outcast by most of the other apprentices because of her smaller size. They would tease her often, go easy on her during training, and would only invite her to eat with them/talk to her unless they were forced to by their mentors. This past is where her desire to prove herself stems from, where her hatred of her size originated. It's why she is the way she is, her flaws and strengths alike.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 23:34:09 GMT -5
lookin good my dude!! do you want me to start us off?
|
|
AquaLux
Lover of anime, writing, and animals. Consistently weird. Just a little insane.
|
Post by AquaLux on Aug 20, 2017 23:36:24 GMT -5
( Thanks! Go for it! I'm feeling pretty dang hyped for this! )
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 23:56:14 GMT -5
Everything would have been fine. The piano would have been playing and he would have rested against it, listening as her fingers danced along the keys. When the clock's hands turned to five, she would have gone to make his food alongside her own, would have fed him scraps of chicken or fish, perhaps even something else if she was having it. Sometimes he'd even get a sweet or two, despite knowing it was unhealthy for him.
He knew that older humans were frail, and that she had been sick. He'd smelt it on her, sweet as anything. When she did not return, however, it was a cause for concern - and then he was shoved into a box and murmured quiet words that didn't make sense. Thrown into a living room with the human children; Mary's great-grandchildren, he supposed. That meant that this was her grandchildren's house, which meant that he was not home anymore. That he was not going home. He heard snippets of conversation - cat and death, streets and pound. None were good, but life settled as it always did, and he was sad. The grandchildren did not let him leave past the backyard, their children were loud and boisterous and pulled at his tail, and he was not treated with precious care that Mary had treated him with after saving him. No. Instead of having a quiet life with the beautiful piano in the background, he was given a life where he had to hide to sleep, where if he fought back then he would be screamed at by an angry woman.
His neighborhood was not the same. When Vinnie sat in the garden, the chatter was from human children. Some were cats, passing by on the fences - but they never stopped to say hello. Instead, he'd sit by the little pond and watch it. The surface was filthy and it didn't inhabit much more than frogs, but they weren't domestic. They were wild, would flee the second Vinnie approached them instead of let him poke at them. He was bored, and he did not like living in his new home.
Today was a particularly slow day. The children were in their school, the adults were out in their jobs and shopping, and the neighborhood itself was quiet. Vinnie was stretched out across the short grass, bathing in the sun. It was a nice day, he had to appreciate it somehow. Even if he was banned from going beyond the fences.
He missed being able to wander, really. There had been a cool place beyond Mary's garden, of old pipes and various metal objects that humans had thrown there. A junkyard, or something. It had smelled bad and some dogs had lingered, but he had been something of a respected figure there, he supposed. When he'd been a stray, it had been a place to hide. When he'd been a housecat, it was a place to dominate and claim as his own. That was how life worked. The privileged only got more privilege as time went on, and the lesser would either rise or die.
Vinnie sat up and looked at his murky reflection, ears perked forward. Something interesting was bound to happen; there was only so much time until something appeared or...or...something! Anything. He was tired of the same old routine, sick of the stupid house - but he held few reasons to leave. If he left, he lost his food source and warmth, was back to cold streets and an empty belly. He'd dreamed of going into the wild, at one point - but there were real wild cats there, cats that knew how to kill and protect their home. They were something of a fantasy story. Vinnie wondered, sometimes, if they had ever existed at all - the talk of them had come and gone so quickly.
Good things came to those who waited, or so they said. He'd been waiting an awful long time.
[ im so sorry this is so short but im tired & also havent rped warriors in a bajillion years as i mentioned ;v; my posts will get better as we get into it ]
|
|
|
AquaLux
Lover of anime, writing, and animals. Consistently weird. Just a little insane.
|
Post by AquaLux on Aug 21, 2017 1:33:00 GMT -5
( Oh man, this took a while! XD Hopefully it's good though! )
Sandyrose couldn't recall a time when she'd wished her Clanmates were around more than right now. She had always harboured a certain amount of resentment toward most of them, ever since she had gotten old enough to understand what their pitying looks and gentle words meant. There had been a time when she thought that she hated them, even, pushing them away as a result. Her mentor had been among the worst of them all because he just hadn't understood. None of them had understood. It wasn't like she had chosen to be the runt of her litter, or like she had gotten sick by her own choice. No, her circumstances hadn't been decided by her. Never her. That was always destined to be out of her reach, it seemed.
Sandyrose had been born in MistClan, to a queen known as Emberlight. Foxfoot and Birchwind, those were her brothers. Her father, she'd been told that he died before she had been born. She wished she could have known him, maybe he could have been the one who actually made an effort to know her and be a part of her life. Instead, she was stuck with a neglectful mother and two siblings who were quick to forget she existed. Constantly sick and confined to the medicine cats' den as a kit, day after day was spent in complete boredom and suffocating loneliness - Shadepelt, the medicine cat, he wasn't any help. He was old and grumpy and always had an air of disdain about him. She learned to ignore his attitude, but some of it likely rubbed off on her anyway.
As an apprentice, she found herself even more miserable than ever, if that was even possible. Her mentor didn't treat her as other mentors treated their apprentices - in fact, he seemed rather put out by the fact he was stuck with her. Sandyrose had quickly grown to resent him as a result. Even if he never voiced his displeasure, she knew it was there. The other apprentices hadn't made it easy, either, because they had seemed to think she couldn't keep up with them. That was when she started training on her own during her free time, determined to make up for her smaller size and power. She could still remember the looks on their faces when she had beaten two apprentices at once during a training session - the feeling of satisfaction and self-pride had been so nice. It hadn't lasted long though. Instead of praising her, recognizing her as an equal, the other apprentices seemed to come to resent her for the accomplishment because it had drawn the attention of their own mentors and other warriors. She learned then, that she would not be able to earn the respect of those who were unwilling to give it.
Her warrior ceremony came and went. She kept on striving, pushing herself to be better. Ignoring the tiny voice in her that told her, "this is pointless. This isn't making you better; all you're doing is pushing yourself further away from everyone". She refused to acknowledge it, even though she knew it spoke the truth. If she stopped working hard, they'd start giving her those looks again. They'd start acting as if she were something to be coddled and pitied. She couldn't stand the thought of that. She'd rather be the cat everyone praised, but never truly knew or understood - than be seen as someone who couldn't stand on their own without guidance.
No, Sandyrose never truly got over the pain of the past. She never really let go of her resentment either, though these past few days had made her come to the conclusion that maybe she should have spent more time trying to break the wall between herself and them, rather than constantly one-upping them. Because she realized, that when she wanted them around the most, they were nowhere to be found.
It had happened so fast - too fast. She hadn't thought much of the thunderstorm until the beaver dam upstream of the MistClan camp gave way to the force of the wind and flooded the territory with water and debris. Over the roaring thunder, the rush of water hadn't reached the camp until it was too late. It was upon the Clan in an instant. The dam, located at the top of a slow-ascending slope - the camp, at the bottom of the hill - how had they not seen such a thing coming? It was bad enough that their camp tended to flood during the rains anyway - had they thought the beaver dam indestructible?
Everything was swept away that night - prey, trees, mossy nests. With it went moons and moons of history. The rock where each new leader left their claw-marks, dislodged from its home and carried off. The dens, carefully re-enforced and constructed by the cats of times long past, destroyed and reduced to nothing. The cats of MistClan themselves tossed around carelessly by unforgiving waters.
Sandyrose didn't know how she survived it. The night had been long and the struggle to keep above water had been tiring. She must have passed out at some point, waking up far from anything that looked familiar the next morning. Her pelt had been soaked right through, and her muscles stiff and sore. She had tried to find a Clanmate or two, she really had. But after two days came and went, she realized that she was alone. There was no one left aside from herself.
She subsequently spent the next couple of days wandering aimlessly in a state of despair and grief. She didn't know where she was, or where she was going, but she knew better than to stay stationary in one place. Which in fact, brings her to present day...
"Ahh..." a gasp of pain tore out of Sandyrose's throat. Her pelt was torn and bloody, her limbs shaky and weak. A wound had been torn open along her left flank, and blood dripped down into her eye from a cut just below her ear. She was thin too, from malnutrition, and with each step, she looked like she was about to fall over. The good news about this whole situation? The fox responsible wasn't pursuing her anymore. The bad news? She was hurt, tired, and hungry, and she didn't know what was safe and what wasn't in this unfamiliar place. She could, just barely, register foreign structures in the distance just beyond the woods, and she mindlessly stumbled toward them.
In what felt like hours but was actually only a few minutes, Sandyrose's blind trek came to a halt when she came upon a strange, tall wall - a fence, though she was not familiar with the terminology of such things. Various different scents assaulted her nostrils, one of which was that of faded fox - which spurred her to make a split-second decision out of lingering fear of another attack. She bunched her hind legs and made a blind leap of faith. Her front paws scrabbled for a hold on the fence, but the moment she pulled herself up and over, her world tipped on its axis and she half-slithered, half-fell onto the grass on the other side.
She didn't quite have it in her to pull herself to her paws after that. The small she-cat lay in a haphazard pile at the base of the fence, bloodied and battered and completely exhausted. She hoped, that wherever she was, that she was at least safe from hungry foxes.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2017 7:51:34 GMT -5
In all honesty, there was nothing good about his boredom nor his tiredness. Maybe he would run away and find another lady who could play the piano. Somewhere calmer where his tail wouldn't be pulled, somewhere where he was fed nice food rather than the soft slop. Hell - Mary had even encouraged him to hunt. He'd found the mice in her basement and had chased around birds in the garden - it had been ideal. Now? He was alone, didn't have much motivation. He stretched his toes out idly and watched the sky from the corner of one of his eyes, sighed lowly to himself.
A sound near his fence did not make him blink until the sound became silence again, and, lazily, he lifted his head.
Strange cats in his garden was something he'd been used to with Mary, but not with her grandchildren. He blinked slowly at the mound of fur until he realised there was blood, at which point he stood and padded over cautiously, fur along his back rising as he approached. The wounds looked...bad, but fixable. The cat underneath the fur looked skinny and tired, and in a split-second decision, he knew that he was going to go in deep already. Vinnie's boredom was too much; saving a wild cat? It could be the death of him, he supposed.
He knew that she (he was rather sure that it was a she) was a wild cat due to the scent. There was a certain smell about them that screamed danger, but it was laid over by the stench of fox and blood and sickness, though it seemed to be more from starvation than anything else.
"Stay there," he paused briefly, "well. You don't have much of a choice."
Vinnie's voice was smooth and soft, and he darted away and into the cat flap. It was too small for him, made for a kitten that had not survived, but he didn't find it much of a bother. He was small enough that it worked, and a larger cat would not be able to make it work. He padded into the kitchen and looked around, finding the cloth that he'd been searching for - it took him a moment to grab the checkered cloth between his teeth and then drop it to the floor as he bounced up onto the counter (something that would've gotten him smacked at they been home), sniffing around carefully.
As suspected, there were some leftovers from the dinner the humans had had before. He grabbed the leftover chicken leg and squinted thoughtfully before tearing off some kitchen paper instead, wrapping up some of the meat in it before wrapping that up in the cloth, and carrying his bundle out to the stranger. This was so stupid. He was so stupid. This could get him killed, getting a wild cat back up to a workable health - but it wasn't out of some sort of misguided kindness, but rather out of a need for action. He dropped his bundle and pulled the fabric aside carefully, pulled the paper away from the food and nudged it towards the head of the stranger.
"Eat this. It'll taste strange, but it's pretty nice," he twitched his ears, "also, it's good for you. Gentle on the stomach, filling without being heavy. I'm going to look at your wounds, now."
And he continued like that. He studied the wound on the she-cat's flank first, considered it carefully before picking up the checkered cloth between his jaws and setting it over her, pushing his paws onto the wound and wincing. He didn't know if it hurt, but he wasn't going to be gentle if he was going to stop the bleeding. As he did this, he looked at the other wound that he could see and frowned thoughtfully. There were some herbs in this garden that were supposed to help with pain, or something like that - but he'd have to go away to pick them. He'd rather stop the bleeding, first.
"What's your name, wild cat?" he asked, to see if she was even conscious. What if she wasn't? What if she was dead? That would be unfortunate. He'd have stolen chicken and bloodied a perfectly good tea towel for nothing. His ears half-flattened at the thought, but hey. Maybe he'd get lucky and she'd survive and be on her merry way. "Mine's Vinnie."
|
|
AquaLux
Lover of anime, writing, and animals. Consistently weird. Just a little insane.
|
Post by AquaLux on Aug 21, 2017 11:18:53 GMT -5
( Ah, a bit short this time around. Sorry, haha. -.-' )
Sandyrose found herself drifting in and out of consciousness. Nothing was clear to her, her senses were muddled and dull with pain and exhaustion, and anything that would have been a cause for alert had she been fully coherent was but a distant worry now. Had she been awake and on guard, she would have been on her paws the moment she landed on the other side of the fence, prepared for whatever may lie in wait - for StarClan's sake, she would have actually landed on her paws, not her back end! She would have been graceful and threatening in the presence of a threat, entirely willing to dish out a beating if she had to.
There was nothing graceful about Sandyrose in this situation. To be honest, she was mostly deluding herself anyway, as she'd always been more wild and aggressive with her actions than graceful. That was beside the point though (she could argue that she was just tired and hungry later on, and that was the cause of her clumsy entrance) because her situation as a whole was obviously the more pressing matter. There was a strange cat looming over her, and her ear gave the slightest of twitches at their voice. It was them speaking that actually roused her from drifting into unconsciousness too deeply. One green eye, the one without blood in it, cracked open ever so slightly in response as something odd-smelling (there was also something pleasant about the scent, strangely enough) was placed near her nose. She had half a mind to push it and the stranger away, but her belly seemed to have other plans.
Carefully, she pulled the bit of meat - it smelled like meat under the stench of twoleg - closer with a shaky paw until she could sink her teeth into it. Its flavour flooded her mouth, unfamiliar and slightly overwhelming. In the instant that it touched her palette, her hunger flared back full force, and she mindlessly surged forward for more. Bad idea - the rough movement it required paired with how long it had been since she had eaten, caused a flood of unpleasant sensations. She was only just barely able to keep from retching the food back up as she coughed and sputtered. She opted to eat it at a more civil pace, seeming to have learned her lesson from almost spewing the contents of her stomach all over the stranger (rogue, loner, kittypet? She couldn't really tell at the moment) who had been thoughtful enough to bring it to her.
She wasn't prepared, however, for the sudden jolt of pain that sent her senses into overdrive. Sandyrose's entire body jerked back at the pressure applied to her flank, but she couldn't go anywhere with the weight of them pressed down on her and the fence that was at her back. A feral hiss tore from her jaws, and the paw that was still on the piece of meat loosely flailed about. Eventually, the pain subsided into something more manageable, but she remained wide awake. She tried to blink the blood out of her eye to focus on them - him, she realized now - but it only seemed to make it worse so she quickly stopped. She propped herself up as much as her current predicament allowed.
He was well-groomed and appeared to be well fed, already the complete opposite of her ragged self. His eyes made her pause for a moment, caught on how odd they looked. None of the cats in MistClan had eyes like that - she had only heard stories of cats sometimes being born with two different colour eyes, but she had thought it to be more of something like a myth. Staring at the real thing face-to-face, Sandyrose almost wondered if she were dreaming (the thought only crossed her mind for a second, the pain was much too real for this to be a dream).
She almost made an insulting comment about his name when she heard it. Then she remembered her own situation, and that immediately sobered her into complete seriousness.
"... Sandyrose," came her reply, her voice scratchy and uneven. She flinched at the sound of it, hating how weak she sounded to her own ears. There was nothing she despised more than appearing vulnerable to others. It was all too easy for them to exploit such things, as she had learned very early on. She preferred to not even give them the chance to start.
“Where am I?” Her tone was far from demanding, though it gave the impression that demanding had been exactly what she had been going for. It was a bit hard to sound powerful and serious to someone who was currently preventing her from bleeding out too much, but StarClan, did she try. She suspected he was a kittypet, now that she was more aware. The thought filled her with disdain. Kittypets were something to be pitied back in MistClan. Something apprentices made fun of, something warriors scoffed at.
In other words, kind of like herself.
She was better than a kittypet though. Wasn’t she? She had freedom, whereas they did not. Her life as a warrior had more purpose, she at least had something to fight for and believe in!
… rather, she used to. That was all gone now.
Suddenly the loneliness and emptiness felt so much worse than it had ever been back in her Clan. Everything was gone – even the family she had thought she hated. Alone and lost in a strange place, Sandyrose wasn’t sure if she even wanted to go on living. There didn’t seem to be much of a point anymore. She’d spent her life trying to prove herself to cats who were gone now, lost to the relentless waves of fate. She’d wasted her time on cats who were destined to die while she survived.
Sandyrose rested her head back down on the grass, staring at nothing.
What was she supposed to do from here?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2017 19:22:24 GMT -5
As he watched the blood seep through the cloth and watched the tense and clearly painful movements, Vinnie wondered why he was trying to save this wild cat. He could easily walk away - hide away mixed human and cat knowledge, but instead he chose to try to help. After a few moments, he moved his (now slightly bloodied) paws away from the she-cat's flank and studied the cut on her head - it seemed to be better than the other one, even if it was bleeding into her eye. He blinked and looked down at her when she spoke, twitched an ear lightly as a bird darted overhead, eager to escape the commotion below.
"What a strange name," he mused lightly, standing up. "Well, Sandyrose. Give me a moment and I'll be back with some help for your pain."
The grandchildren of Mary were proud of their garden, and this much he knew rather well. Memories of when he had been a kitten came flooding back; the knowledge gifted to him by his mother. He'd never been very good at forgetting, always remembered far too much, and it was something he was glad he knew. His mother had been a stray, too; taught him the things that bound wounds for wild cats, the herbs that could help with pain if found. They weren't often found in city streets like where he'd once lived, but the grandchildren lived in the country, where it was a little easier. He nosed in around for a little while as he hunted what he was searching for.
Wrapped in a larger leaf, he returned with his herbs and got to work - using the cobweb to bind the wounds (and moving the now-bloodied cloth), mixing a poultice of marigold to stop any possible infection, some comfrey to alleviate some of the pain, some goldenrod to aid with the healing process.
"I don't want you to fall asleep, so I've only put one poppy seed on the leaf. Do you think you can eat it?" he nudged his little leaf of tricks towards Sandyrose, flicked his tail back and forth lazily. "It'll help with the pain. I would've liked to use horsetail, but the humans don't grow it. You're lucky we even have this much, considering how lazy they get with taking care of the plants."
He narrowed his eyes at the question. Where am I?
For a moment, he considered it. He didn't know the town name, but that probably wouldn't matter. She was wild - that was just how it was. He rolled his shoulders in something akin to a shrug and sat a little ways back to assess his handiwork. His mother had told him, once, that he would be a good healer. She would've liked him in her gang. He wished he'd taken her up on the offer, but those were times long gone.
"What's it you wild cats call it? Twolegplace? That," he nodded solemnly, "you jumped over a human fence and you're in a garden. Uh, don't drink the water, it's gross," he turned to look at the pond and squinted.
Vinnie took a moment to breathe and looked down at his paws, flexing them briefly. They were dainty and the claws were small but sharp, petite, much like the rest of his body. But Sandyrose seemed equally as small as - if not smaller than - him, and that was just fine with him.
He held doubt that she was going to stay. Wild cats never did - he'd heard whispers of it being banned, or something, but in the end? He knew nothing. Only snippets of what his mother had told him, and that had been alongside the medicine and fighting. The training that would've come in handy if he hadn't been picked up by Mary. She had saved his life, really. He had liked it for a long, long while. He didn't like it any more - which brought the thought to mind.
"You're going to leave, right?" his tone was hushed, head lowered now as he watched the she-cat through narrowed eyes, "take me with you? I can hold my own weight. I just don't want to stay here. And! You should tell me about your name. Why is it two parts? Sand...y? And rose? Sandyrose. It just doesn't make sense."
( beh dude this is a more manageable length and im lazy luls )
|
|
AquaLux
Lover of anime, writing, and animals. Consistently weird. Just a little insane.
|
Post by AquaLux on Aug 21, 2017 21:42:54 GMT -5
( I totally get you on the lazy part, haha. Plus I'm a procrastinator as well, so... XD )
For a few moments, Sandyrose merely lay there in silence, breathing in and out at an even pace. Each time she inhaled and exhaled it brought a twinge of pain to her side, made worse by the pressure applied by the kittypet. She had enough sense not to complain, though - the treatment she used to get from Shadepelt was in fact, quite a bit less gentle than what she was getting now, and she was long used to the pain of the healing process anyway (plus, the elderly medicine cat was never really a comforting presence either. Nothing about being in his den was ever pleasant, but he at least knew what he was doing).
Thinking about Shadepelt made Sandyrose even sadder. As irritable as he had been (he was probably dead, like all the other MistClan cats), he'd been the only cat who even vaguely resembled a parent figure to her. He'd practically raised her in a sense - she'd spent so much time in his den as a kit, that by the time she was made into a warrior she could probably say with confidence that she knew him better than her own mother and brothers. Part of her already missed his sarcasm and grumpiness.
Missing whatever the tomcat had said while she was busy reminiscing about her life in MistClan, she felt a bit caught off guard when he returned to her side and started mixing herbs and applying poultices to her injuries. The scents of the herbs were familiar - marigold, comfrey, goldenrod... she recognized them from her days as a kit. She used to watch Shadepelt sort and mix herbs and treat injuries. Maybe in a different life, she could have been his apprentice... Sandyrose quickly shook this thought from her head. As much as this kittypet was reminding her of her old life and what it could have been, she knew that dwelling wouldn't get her anywhere.
"You remind me of a medicine cat," Sandyrose mumbled as she carefully lapped up the poppy seed. She carefully arranged her body into a more comfortable position, making sure not to disturb the applied herbs. "I wasn't aware kittypets knew this sort of stuff."
Then again, it wasn't as if she knew a lot of kittypets. Back in her Clan, most of the intruders tended to be rogues or loners. Twoleg-owned cats were quite uncommon, seeing how far their camp was from the nearest Twoleg-place. For all she knew though, kittypets were taught this kind of stuff on a regular basis. It seemed unlikely, but if one kittypet knew it, who's to say others didn't as well? The thought struck her as odd, to be honest.
"Twoleg-place..." she mused out loud, closing her eyes for a brief moment to collect her thoughts. "I'm so far from home..." she couldn't stop the pain and loneliness from creeping into her voice. She opened up her eyes again and stared into the garden blankly. If she kept her eyes closed for too long, images of that night started coming back to her. She was almost traumatized by the idea of swimming now - she'd never liked it to begin with, but after the experience she had, she would never look at a body of water or a beaver dam the same way again.
Sandyrose took a moment to gather her emotions back together. She didn't want Vinnie to think she was weak and helpless, even if that was exactly what she was. She thought about his question for a moment. Indeed, she wasn't planning on staying in Twoleg territory for very long. But where was she supposed to go? What was a Clan cat without a Clan? It was very unlikely that anything remained of the MistClan camp. She didn't want to go back that way anyway, out of fear that she may find the bodies of her lifeless Clanmates in the aftermath. She was positive that she would not be able to handle a sight like that. She was barely keeping it together as it was already.
Reluctantly, she swivelled her attention back around to focus it on Vinnie. Seeming to weigh her options for a moment, she finally replied, "My name is that of a traditional Clan warrior," at least her voice seemed to be regaining some strength at last... "the first part is always the same from the moment we're born, decided by our mothers. The second part changes as the cat becomes older and more experienced. Each name is unique and special to each individual cat. The Clan leader decides which ending best fits based on different factors, such as the warrior's skills and personality." It felt strange explaining this to an outsider. She herself had never stopped to think why she was named the way she was. It was always just natural to her.
Sandyrose had purposefully avoided the first part of his question. Because how could she take someone along with her when she didn't even have an idea of any sort of destination? She wasn't certain of anything anymore, and it showed on her face quite clearly. She sighed, resisting the urge to curl up and just sleep her problems away. Instead, she forced herself to tell him, "I suppose if you want, you can tag along." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "But if you're hoping for some sort of grand adventure and a reward at the end, then you probably won't get it. I don't even know where I'll be going. Just that it's somewhere far from here."
She prayed that he wouldn't ask why she just didn't decide to go home.
She'd rather not explain that she didn't really have a home anymore.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2017 11:36:02 GMT -5
There wasn't much else that Vinnie could do - the herbs would stay in place due to the cobweb, and he'd tried to get most of the blood away. He couldn't really use the water from the pond; maybe he'd try to find something later. There was a river that ran behind the fences - he could probably jump over to...somehow gather that. Something herblike could pick up water, right? His mother had never told him due to a constant supply of water. Oh well. He'd find out eventually, through trial and error.
"A medicine cat," he repeated lightly. "Ah, y'know. I wasn't always a house cat," one ear twitched lightly as the dog from a few doors down started barking, but he ignored it with ease. It always barked when humans passed by, but he doubted they were 'his' humans, so it wasn't going to be an issue. "Used to be a stray. Sorta had to learn some stuff," he didn't really wish to mention his mother, so he didn't. "Humans have this thing for growing herbs, so garden-hopping is fun to do when you're bored. Picking herbs used to be a hobby. I'm probably not as good as a medicine cat," he could get an idea of what it was from the title; it was simple and to the point, "but I think you'll live."
She seemed, at least, to be a little livelier. A little more talkative; and talkative, in Vinnie's book, was good. There were some cats who just weren't the sort to speak, and he understood that - but it was better for them to speak and show that they were alive and conscious than for them to remain silent and thus cause concern.
I'm so far from home. Those words were not a surprise (he hadn't heard of many wild cats around here), but he angled his head to the side anyway and narrowed his eyes. Hm. He watched her for a moment before turning his gaze away and instead watching the pigeons perched on the rooftop of his home, deciding to give Sandyrose some degree of personal time. He didn't want to stray too far lest her wounds proved to be worse than they appeared, but he didn't enjoy intruding too much.
"That's..." he blinked owlishly. He hadn't thought that there were too many customs - had heard tidbits here and there, but life in a town or city was far different from that of a wild cat. A Clan cat. That sounded important, but he decided not to push on it. "That's interesting. My name is just short for Vincent, and that's because humans are lazy and don't wanna use my fall name," his whiskers twitched with amusement. "You have history behind your name. That's interesting."
Mary had taken to calling him Vincent. Then, it had become Vin. Slowly but surely, it had become Vinnie; and now, here he was. Feeling rather...small for his name, taken from humans, compared to the wild cat's name that seemed to hold a firm history behind it. Named at birth and then given another part one they were...a warrior? That seemed to be the theme. He looked down at his paws and exhaled slowly.
Being accepted to tag along was a surprise - he'd expected to be told to go away, or something like that. Vinnie flicked his gaze back to the she-cat and twitched his nose (the smell of herbs took over the smell of blood; a pleasant change), and then nodded. He hadn't expected a reward or an adventure.
"That's fine," he said truthfully, "I just want to leave this place."
No reasons were given to her, because they were personal. The grandchildren were not kind owners, their children were less so. It made sense to him to leave; they would get over it soon, because they hadn't really wanted a cat. Mary had wanted the best for him, but this was not it - he would move on and take on a new life. Being wild couldn't be that different from being a stray; one lived in the forests and mountains, the other lived in the cities. Both hunted, both had...uh, customs? Strays didn't really have that. It was sort of kill-or-be-killed. If there was a naming system within Clans, then he doubted that they killed each-other for survival. Or maybe they did! He had too many questions, curiosity flaring up; but this cat was injured and he didn't want to push her too much.
"You should rest for now," the tom said eventually, standing up, "I'm going to sit by the pond. Call me if you need me."
True to his words, he padded away lightly and settled by the edge of the dirty pond, dipping the tip of his paw in carefully. It came out clean, so, after a couple of seconds of hesitation, he submerged both of his forelegs to remove the blood. Admittedly, something that looked like algae stuck to him, but it didn't take long to wash it off (he spent a moment trying to get it off his tongue, after). He chewed on the grass beside him to get rid of the foul taste, and finally settled down to bask some more in the sun. Sandyrose seemed like a strong cat - he didn't doubt that she'd be okay to rest on her own.
( ahah, i'm like 'wow novel posts 10/10 fun' and then i rp and im like 'so im lazy heres this terrible mess' )
|
|