TunnelClan Planning Page

Finished

Pain shoots through the back of your skull, and you give a little whimper, curling into a tighter ball and squeezing your eyes closed even further. Very little is coming back to you as you struggle to remember where you are and how you got here. Even your own identity is missing from the cavernous thing that you call your brain.
After several minutes of lying on your side, the throbbing in your head begins to subside, and you decide that maybe it is safe to open your eyes. One at a time, you peel open your eyelids, wanting to see what is happening around you.
You are greeted by black.
Panic shoots through your entire body, and you lurch to your paws, giving a distraught cry. Why can't you see anything? You frantically turn in a circle, feeling your whiskers brush something cool and damp. Slowly you begin to take in everything that you can feel without your eyes, and you start to count off the things you register to try and calm yourself.
It smells cold and damp, very earthy, like you are somewhere below the surface, like a cave. In the distance, you can hear a growling sound, but it isn't animal. Scent tells you that it is, in fact, water of some sort. You can't tell much other then that at the moment. Your whiskers are brushing the wall on one side, and you take a few strides away from it before bumping into the other wall gently. It's not small, where you are, though it isn't large either. Your paws on the ground tells you that the terrain about you is rocky and slightly wet, though there are patches of softer stuff that might be dirt.
You perk your ears, hearing a different sound now. A faint echoing, tapping methodically. Pawsteps, probably. Suddenly even more on edge than before, you crouch down, teeth bared, a small, pathetic growl rising in the back of your throat.
"Easy, newcomer," a voice rumbles, coming from the direction that you heard the pawsteps from, "I'd prefer that you didn't attack us when all we are here to do is help."
It is only now that you realize that there was more than one set of pawsteps heading towards you. There are cats down here? Where are you? This makes no sense to your addled brain. What happened exactly?
"Take a step towards us," offers a different voice this time, this one more soft spoken and gentle, coaxing you towards them, "We aren't here to hurt you."
You take a very cautious step towards the voices, and the closer you get, you begin to notice that your vision is clearing up a bit. Fuzzy corners are showing around you, as if you're seeing rock walls, and there is a very faint glimmer of light just a step ahead. Excitement rolling through your veins, you pick up your pace, stepping into the light and looking around for a source. Far, far above your head is a hole in what appears to be the ceiling of a tunnel, casting minimal light downwards.
Unnerved, your turn your gaze to farther down the tunnel that you are standing in. In the pale, faded light, you can see a small group of cats sitting calmly, though you can't see much else other than their sizes. One of the cats is absolutely massive, and exceptionally fluffy. In the very center of the group is a very small cat, not just in height, but also in stature. They look like a bird, fragile bones, dainty ears, and lush, thick fur, longer around her tail, ears, cheeks, and legs. On the far side is the cat who's in the middle of the group, slim and pretty with a rather small build, though still a bit larger than the center cat.
The center cat opens their jaws, and calls, "Come on, just a bit closer now, newcomer. You'll see us better in the dark."
Deciding that you're going to die in the tunnels anyway, you might as well try talking to these cats. You step closer, and now you can make out the cats much better. They weren't lying. The large tom is mostly white, with big blotches of dark brown tabby on his back and head and tail. The smallest cat is a she-cat, her pelt also nearly pure white, with small patches of light grey patterning her body. The middle cat sitting on the other side, well, she's now on her paws, and is a silver tabby.
"Stay still, would you?" The silver tabby says, her voice drifting between an order and a question, "I've got to try to help with that head wound you've got there." The lean feline moves towards you, and you notice the most significant thing about her. A severe limp caused by a twisted hind leg betrays her weakness.
You told back the question as to what happened as she sits back, using her paws to gently feel around your skull.
"The good news is," she mews, "that you didn't break your skull open. You'll survive. Can you remember anything?"
You shake your head, probing back into the depths of your mind again for good measure.
"It'll come back," offers the deeper, more commanding voice of the smallest cat, "I've never seen a cat who had amnesia last for longer than a moon or two, and it's never too permanent. Besides, you'll be glad if you can't remember the surface."
The large tom nudges her harshly, and she recoils, standing up, and staring you down. "My name is Skystar," she meows coolly, "Birdswoop," she flicks an ear at the large tom, "Found you here and came to fetch us. Slipsteam," she nods at the silver she-cat, who offers you a smile, "Is the resident medicine cat. Up on your paws now."
Birdswoop sighs, and looks at you, "I shall explain better," he rumbles slowly, his deep voice much more calming and welcoming, "There is yet to find an exit out of these tunnels. Skystar fell down here a long time ago, longer than you'll want to think about. I welcome you to try and manage on your own, but just understand that even Skystar nearly went insane from the dark before long."
"We created a clan, a place of safety for all those who fall down. TunnelClan. Come with us if you want to learn the ways of the tunnels," he finishes, nodding at you.
"You must understand," adds Slipsteam, "that this clan is built upon trust and putting aside our differences. If you ruin that, there are cats here who would kill without thinking." Though her voice holds warning, it's also welcoming. "Come along if you want, otherwise, just leave us be." She smiles slightly, and gets heavily to her paws, hobbling over to the two other cats.
Skystar deftly presses against her, providing the larger she-cat with a bit of relief from her three tired paws. Step by step they begin to head into the darkness.
It is up to you now, will you follow them, or let the darkness consume you?