🦄 Complete Nonsense

The Road Home (Forum Friendly Ver.)

Prologue

    The wind howled through the trees as the downpour ensued. Leaves whirled around in natural fury and smaller dead branches began to snap and crack under the pressure as a soaked scrap made a wild dash on the forest floor below. Bright feline eyes seared with terror and fleeing, but not fleeing the storm.

    He wasn't even completely sure what his paws were carrying him away from, or towards. Minutes before, he had been what he thought was safe and warm in his log den until an uneasy and large shadow crossed the sky, but it wasn't clouds.

    He skidded as his paws crossed over slick oily sludge pouring out from a pipe jutting out of a human made wall, spraying his legs and belly with it's foul city odor and then rapidly becoming stuck. "Dammit!"

    Hissing in frustration, he struggled to get his hind legs free and claw his way to the bank of the slimy creek, ignoring the sharp rain now stinging his eyes. Suddenly there was a bright flash of white ligntning and pine exploded with a ferocious bang, sending shards of wood scattering through the air. The cat stared upwards in terror as a branch careened downwards on top of him, trapping him in the mud.

    Not far away, a much larger feline figure stood, eyes glowing with some mystic light. The shadow approached closer and cast over his face as the cat lost all consciousness, clumps of mud still caught under his claws. For his last waking moment, he understood again why he was fleeing, and what drove him to this forest to begin with.
Soul knew he could not run forever from his karmic fate, and now was weak, esposed, and possibly dying."This is your last chance." echoed in his head. Dizzy in the darkness of his own mind, he finally accepted. The etheric beast dissipated into nothingness as the storm died down to a steady drizzle.

    With new strength, he woke up, inching his way out from under the branch using the slick mud to wriggle himself free at the expense of further mussing his belly fur and pulled his way out back onto grass. He was no longer fleeing but felt sick, heaving and vomiting undigested remains of a mouse before shaking himself off of some of the city stench. His mind was certainly clearer now, but where to go from here was an uncertainty he was still left unwilling to face.

    But a promise was a promise.

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Chapter 1

    Alcoholic fumes puffed from the mouth of her human directly into Beatrix's face as he held the pregnant molly up by the scruff as she squirmed angrily in his grip. "Stop moving you fat worm!" he howled. She did not understand save for the anger in his tone, and her golden eyes crossed with disgust at the stench of fermented bread. With one quick motion, she decided she had had enough and swung unsheathed claws at his forearm.

    Her tormentor quickly dropped her to the floor and she landed hard on all fours, scarlet dripping down with her as he screeched in pain. She ignored his agony and sprinted out of the room and into the kitchen, hoping the cat door to the yard would be unhooked again.

    It was not.

    She then jumped from the floor, to a stool, and up to the messy sink counter to the window and turned around just in time to see him come back clutching a filthy t-shirt over his arm and a brown glass bottle in the other. She seemed trapped and her black and white fur stood entirely on end in equal anger as she stared hard back.

    The drunk finished tying the shirt and flung the bottle directly at her head. Her anger flashed to fear as she fell backwards in the sink, clamoring over wet dishes to avoid the object, which then broke through the window, completely shattering it's panes and providing a final escape.

    Without so much as a second thought, she took her way out as the human cursed behind her, presumably angry that he broke his own window in his irrational fit of rage.

    Beatrix jumped and scrabbled to the top of the fence and hurried along it for a while before finally turning, going along a different row of well-kempt white picket and jumping into another yard.

    "What got you so fluffed, Bea?" questioned a tiny gentle voice from a patio chair.

    "Humans are trash," was the taut, scratchy-throated reply. A tortoiseshell face peered from between the bars of the arm rest, offering a look of genuine concern which Beatrix ignored and flopped down on her side to groom as if nothing happened. The tortie decided not to press the issue further for the moment and hopped down.

    "Will the kits be okay? Aren't you due soon?"

    "Yes, yes, they'll be fine, Pursey. You don't have to always ask," Beatrix sighed, trying not to roll her eyes, "I've protected myself so far. I just needed to get away again. Humans are too pebble-brained and stupid to understand what it's like to be pregnant."

    "Oh I don't know about that. Remember when June's human got round for a while and then one day they came back with a human-kitten? I think it works the same for them," Pursey replied. Beatrix shot her a glare and she shuffled uncomfortably. Pursey understood that Bea's life and particularly her owner had not been kind and tried several times to no avail to change her mind on people. Even offered that Bea come and stay in her yard more often and could sleep on her chairs and she would share some of her food and let her owner pet her.

    Beatrix's only response was that she didn't need to be shared out like a dog to be petted and coddled by every human that she met. Only her human had permission to touch her, despite the fact that him being nice was a rare occurence. Pursey didn't quite understand that logic and winced whenever Bea decided to get snappy and call her puppy when she let someone aside from her human pet her. It felt nice, so what was the problem?

    She quickly changed the subject, "That storm yesterday sure was something though," she started, "June had to come hide over here with me because they locked her cat door by mistake when the rain started."

    "They probably did it on purpose."

    Pursey ignored her comment and flicked her tail, "She just went back home this morning, her humans were looking everywhere and finally knocked on our door and were relieved to find she was safe. I think she's still inside though because I haven't seen her out since."

    "Locked her up for running away."

    "Will you stop that!?" she spit, "You don't have to be so negative all the time!" Beatrix grunted and mumbled something that sounded vaguely apologetic. They sat in silence for a few moments before the sliding patio door opened and they turned to look as Pursey's human, an elderly man with a face full of peppered fur, hobbled out shaking a dish of dry food.

    "Oh, I have to go! It's dinner time," she said, licking her lips and trotting up to greet her master with a happy chirp as he put down the bowl and cooed back.

    Beatrix stood up, looking on in a fit of jealousy before deciding her stay had been exhausted and going back over the fence. Pursey glanced up in-between mouthfuls, watching her leave and hoping she would be okay on her own in passing thought before going back to enjoying her meal and her human's wizened, shaky hand stroke down her spine.

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Chapter 2

    A solid black tom lounged on the hot lid of a trash can that wasn't his. In fact, nothing was his and everything was his at the same time. The life of a stray was entirely his and the only thing to his name. A name that changed frequently depending on what human crossed his path, Shadow, Blacky, Get-out-of-here-wait-that's-my-hot-dog-you-can't-take-that-come-back-here...whatever. To the other cats and to the old owner that left him here though he was Caspian.

    The sun was beginning to droop low in the sky and no longer warm his smelly metal throne. He stood and stretched out his legs before hopping down. It was time to retreat to the alleyways before there were no scraps left to be picked at and he'd have to fight to get anything in his belly.

    As he turned the street corner a familiar husky brown shape lumbered along the other side of the wall in front of him whos rear smelled of fish and deli meats. Caspian's jaw quivered with saliva at the thought of eating that well.
"Spoiled brat!" he hollered ahead. The other cat turned in surprise before realizing who it was and stopping for Caspian to catch up. "Buttering up the butcher again, Hank?" he chuffed.

    "Hello, Caspian," came the even, orotund voice of Hank the cat, a vast contrast to Caspian's loud squalling. They continued down the street next to each other.

    "I haven't seen you in days. You don't show to the alley much anymore and you always come around smelling like a spoiled purebred siamese. What's with that?"

    Hank shrugged, "The man and woman at the meat shop like me it seems," he chuckled a little, "Don't act as if you haven't played cute for food before."

    "Gah! That's disgusting. You're going soft, kitty. Soon you'll be sitting in their laps being petted," he teased, being half-serious,"But you're right. Any chance I can weasel my way up to them too? All I found was a drowned rat earlier."

    "Oh, no. 'Fraid not. They closed their doors and locked up only a short while ago. No way in after that. Believe me, I've tried," Hank replied before they both crossed the street and under a wire fence into the Alley.

    The Alley was not a nice place, and frequently full of less-nice felines and mongrels. It was a bit of a constant war between them over the leftover human food in the dumpsters or whatever rodent had the misfortune of crossing it. That was to be expected as cats looked down upon the dogs and dogs had the brute strength over the cats. Still, there was more of an order and heirarchy amongst both species that was acknowledge and respected despite rivalry simply to avoid complete descendence into chaos. A grown cat would not, for example, steal from the mouths of pups nor a dog from a kitten. Elders were usually pitied on both sides and thrown scraps from time to time, but that would only be assuming any of them got that old without being Pounded or killed.

    There was also King and Queen, the acknowledged 'leaders' of the cats and dogs, respectively and their band of underlings they used as protection and soldiers against rival sides. King was gray, and likely part maine coon, while Queen was, surprisingly, a chihuahua of all things, but still a terror to many.

    Caspian was one such underling. Hank on the other hand, was not. Though still granted passage simply because many knew him from kithood to have been born and grown up there, though his pudgy stature and polite disposition wouldn't have shown it. Several placed bets on when he'd become some owner's pet.

    Caspian waved his tail to signal 'one moment' and slid behind a collection of rusty dumpsters known to be where the felines communed and scrounged.

    Hank sat outside, surveying the area a bit, knowing his belly was satisfactorally filled and was surprised to find Beatrix worming her way through the underside of the fence. Her claws scrabbled against the concrete as she tried to get by with her pregnant belly in the way. She looked distraught and in pain somehow, but made it through. Hank came over to greet her and was cut short.

    "Get out of my way! Find Caspian!" she spat breathlessly before falling over against a wall. Hank rushed and was about to ask if her owner had done something bad to her before the smell of milk hit him in the face. He scrabbled into the dumpsters to search for her mate.

    Caspian was not far into his scrounging or the dumpsters when he heard the commotion and yowling of Beatrix and quickly decided he wanted no part of it, scrambling out of a rusted hole on the other side and down into a sewer pipe just as Hank pushed his head out the same hole and looked frantically around, calling for him.

    Beatrix was a mistake. A poor one-night stand he thought was great at the time only to find out what a wretch she really was, always griping about this and that, acting as if a house life was the worst in the world and then refusing to leave with him for the Alleys saying she didn't want to fight for her food. Complaining and lazy.
Not to mention when she was in a good mood, she'd go on about loving him, which frankly made him very uncomfortable considering how many other she-cats he'd been with but she was determined to be clingy when nothing was there. It was just a natural order. Mate and move on.

    He didn't put into perspective that with all the rain the night before the pipes would be flooded and no one else would be down there. He quickly found himself slipping and sliding through them, colliding into a couple walls and leaving scratchmarks in the oily muck behind him.

    With a few turns and a few more bumps into walls than he would ever admit to, he slipped and careened out of the pipes and into a puddle back to the dusk outside in an unfamiliar part of town lit by streetlamps.

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Chapter 3
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Didn't actually finish this story, but here's the notes I wrote at the bottom of the page for what happens next:


Beatrix: female, black and white, yellow eyes, snappy and hot tempered, abusive male owner, negative and overprotective, 8 years old
Pursey: female, tortoiseshell, blue eyes, gentle and curious, elderly male owner, inquisitive and sensitive but a little apathetic, 2 years old
Hank: male, brown and white, amber eyes, husky, no owners/husband and wife who run a deli and fish shop, caring but a little slow, 9 years old
Caspian: male, solid black and scrawny, yellow eyes, Alley cat, shows little in the way of caring about anyone but himself and a bit of a coward, 5 years old
June: female, brown seal-point with white jaw, owners are husband and wife with a baby/toddler whom she loves, 7 years old
Marty: male, white and brown tabby, green eyes, owners are two young college boys, very blunt comic relief, frady-cat, 3 years old
Lilith: female, calico, green eyes, mysterious but clearly strong and gentle tempered, presumed forest cat, unknown age seems both young and old
Jake/Soul: male, brown tabby, bright almost glowing green eyes, secret holder, erratic between conscious and unconscious selves, forest cat, 6 years old or older
Maizy: female, solid black, blue eyes, Beatrix's kitten. 0-1 year
Jojo & Felix: male & female, black and white, Beatrix's kittens, 0-killed by raccoons.
King: male, gray maine coon, Alley King, hot tempered, only semi-relevant side character.
Queen: female, dog, chihuahua, Alley Queen, vicious, irrelevant side character to be killed by raccoons.

June in childs room, exits house, Talks w/ Pursey abt Bea, sees Caspian in distance on street but don't know it's him. June goes to follow, Lilith's first appearance with no dialogue her watching them in a pool in the forest.
Time skip Chapter Marty meets Jake in one of the following mornings, asks a lot of questions, begins to show Jake around town including past the houses where others live and the deli where they see Hank with a big meat in his mouth and follow him curiously to the Alley where they watch the goings on Jake feels compelled and stays with Hank and Bea.

Marty goes home, sees a bunch of racoons out of nowhere, hides inside.

Backtracking, Caspian wandering the woods comes across Lilith, get into a fight that end up collapsing a racoon den. Both escape the angry racoons in different directions. Raccoons decide to get revenge and follow Caspians old scent to the Alley. Fighting breaks out, dog/cat temporary alliance. Queen dies, several irrelevant casualties. Raccoons start breaking into dens. Hank fights while Bea and Jake flee but not before one kills 2/3 of her kittens and Bea kills it in revenge while Jake escapes with Maizy.

Lilith was watching this and crosses paths with Jake, stealing Maizy away and bringing her to Pursey and June's houses with no warning. Pursey finds Maizy first the next morning mewling for food followed by June. They wonder what to do.

Jake refuses to face Bea and tell her her kit was lost and instead disappears but first finds Hank and lets him know. Bea and Hank search for the kit and run into Pursey and June with her. Bea accuses Pursey of stealing her kit and argue until Jake and Marty show back up. Marty meets everyone and says he saw a cat that looked like Lilith in and out of the woods a few times.

Bea wants to go but none of them will let her with the kit so she and Pursey stay behind while Hank, Jake, June, and Marty go to the woods. They find Caspian. Hank and Caspian fight first over Caspian's escape and then over his fight that released the racoons with Lilith. Hank and June go back with Caspian to make him apologize.

Maizy has a dream about Lilith and Jake and a number of images of the forest before waking up to Bea and Pursey telling off Caspian for being a terrible father/mate while he passes it off as nothing. Maizy gets scared and hides ending up in June's house with her.