Open PAFP Border Kittypet DARKEN YOUR CLOTHES ♖ potential joiners

[SUSIE]

Susie tromps through the grass with the same heavy-footed grace as always—if you can call it grace when every step is more like a stomp. The weeds snap under her paws, and she makes no effort to soften the sound. If anything, she leans into it, because if they're lost out here, some fox or hawk might as well know where they are and get it over with. She swings her head toward the little figure beside her, eyes narrowing. "Y'know, when you said, 'Let's go on an adventure!', I didn't think that meant, 'Let's wander into the middle of nowhere and die of boredom.'" Her voice comes out rough, almost a growl, and she bares her teeth in something that's not quite a smile. "Seriously, this is the dumbest thing I've done all week."

She pushes through a patch of brambles, not bothering to duck. The thorns snag her fur, pulling tufts loose, but she just grunts and yanks herself free. There's a satisfaction in the sting, a distraction from the gnawing sense that maybe, just maybe, she should've stayed home in her nest instead of letting herself be dragged out here. The air smells different now—less safe, more wild. Trees arch overhead, branches crowding out the sky. Susie pauses, tail lashing once, twice, her ears flicking as if she could shake off the strangeness. She doesn't admit it, but her chest feels tight.

"Okay, fluffy," she mutters, half under her breath but loud enough that he'll hear. "Where the hell are we, huh? You said you could get us there. You're supposed to be, like, smart or whatever. Right now all I see is trees and more trees. Pretty sure we've gone in a circle at least three times." Her claws scrape against a root as she digs them in, irritation bleeding out through the motion. She wants to turn back, to tell him this is a lost cause, but something stops her—pride, maybe. Or maybe she doesn't want to look like a coward in front of him, no matter how much she snarls about being 'forced' to come along.

Susie pauses, nose twitching. The air's different here—sharp with scents she doesn't recognize. Cats. A lot of cats. Stronger, thicker than the usual city-strays she's used to brushing past. Her shoulders roll, claws sliding out into the dirt. "…Tch." She squints out into the clearing, then flicks an ear back at him. "Hey, fuzzball. You smell that?" Her voice drops low, wary despite the bite in it. "Think we found 'em. Or they found us." She straightens up, every muscle taut, her spiked collar glinting between the shadows. A storm braced for a strike. If some other cats show up, she'll be ready—whether to snarl, leave, or shove Ralsei behind her and deal with it.


@RALSEI

 

[RALSEI]

A nimble gait carried the little kittypet alongside their companion, a brimmed hat atop of him bobbing duly to the beat of his paws. Today, the prince of a dark kingdom was off on a grand adventure! And what was an adventure without a party? Ralsei decided that he wanted to take on the exceedingly courageous task of finding the fabled forest-cats with none other than his fellow housecat, his trusted confidant, and his best friend. Susie trampled through the fiber-stemmed weeds, almost like a heavy-handed wight, more of a beast than the ghost that he was. She had always been more callous, more unabashed than he, as if she were crafted from barb and wire rather than down and fleece. He never minded, though, for her fangs and her claws never truly turned against his own flesh. "Don't worry, Susie! We'll be there in no time." Toothy grin shone along Ralsei's face, like a sportive spark of the sun, peeling away from greyed clouds. The tabby spoke with a low growl, a rumble of stray thunder, but it never perturbed the littler tomcat. He knew that, deep down within the layers of her tousled fur, lie a beating heart of gold. Everyone had that, he supposed, even if they were cruel and mean on their exterior.

The kittypet hobbled through the tangles, careful not to snag his hat and his scarf on the outstretched arms of brambles and the like. The pale-blue sepia had focused so much of his attention on not accidentally leaving his gaudy and unwieldy ornaments behind that he hadn't noticed just how far they wandered from home. Trees splayed wildly into the sky, bleeding into myriads of lone points far beyond where his muzzle could graze against them. Kittenish stare widened at how branches seemed to crowd the air above him, as heaven hung and dipped just beyond his grasp. Susie then snapped her jaws at him, as the thorns and roots tore at both of their pelts, like little blades lilting against their too-intrusive bodies. As much as his chest twisted with the realization, a hilt wringing into the crux of his body, he didn't want to admit that he had little clue as to where they were heading. Aw man, we really are lost, aren't we...? Fictitious eyebrows furrowed for a moment, before they returned to that saccharine sappiness that seemed to infest every part of the young kittypet. "Trust me! They've got to be around here somewhere, I just know it..." Cloud-colored eyes blinked as he spoke, almost in the manner of an innocuous lamb, with springy coils of wool and sprightly spindles of limbs. He had just been about to set off into the yawning wilderness once more before Susie stopped.

"Hmm...?" Ralsei's tone ended in an uncertain point, and a blackish nose twitched in tandem with his trusted companion's. Unfamiliar scent wafted into keen nostrils, a thick musk interlaced with sweat and choler. It was unlike anything that he had ever encountered in the Twolegplace (granted, he never liked to walk too far away from his housefolks' cozy nest), and yet, he knew. The two of them had come to find what they sought all along, and happiness swelled beneath his woollen coat. "Oh! We found them! Hurrah!" Frisk-noted and boyish voice cheered, as if he were completely unaware of the dangers that came with announcing his position, especially to those that lurked beyond his own short-sighted vision. "Hello! My name is Ralsei, and this is my best friend Susie! Are you guys, um... Flyclan?" He continued to call out into the great unknown, as if he called into the abyss sharpened into pitch nothingness - but another presence would sooner reckon them than ignore his desperate cries.

COME FOLLOW ME INTO THE DARK

――✧˖° ♛ °˖✧――

WITH YOUR HEART AS THE ARK

• OOC:
• 

  RALSEI & HE/THEY & 06 MOONS​

  —— Kittypet of no clan / Mentored by N/A
  —— A pale-colored blue sepia with longhaired a pelt and Twoleg accessories that he is never seen without, including a large-brimmed hat and a long scarf around his neck.
  —— A kind-hearted, naive and selfless boy. Takes life in stride and joy, though has trouble separating himself from the perceptions of him from others.
  —— Penned by Tempest. Contact on Discord (naruk4mi) for plots and threads.

 

[SWALLOWBREEZE]

the great unknown is a pine woodland; trees touch the sky and the ground is littered with the occasional flower patch and your average bush. it's nothing special to the average clan cat, but they suppose they could understand why it'd bloom wanderlust into a kittypet's little heart. near the corners of the territory swallowbreeze pushes through the undergrowth, she notices the heavy shift in smell until it's too late. muffled voices echo a few tail-lengths away, one gruff and deadpan, while the other is high-pitched and excited.

the medic finds the wandering kittypets with ease. it was easier to follow multiple smells, two voices idly mingling while they awaited for some 'flyclanner' to appear. "pardon?" her ears angle to catch any last bit of conversation. "n–no, this is skyclan." only a young cat dressed in a cutesy hat and scarf could walk to skyclan's borders and not be immediately shoo'd away.

her eyes linger on the bodyguard's spiked collar, anxious to know how and why a cat would chose to wear such an accessory— maybe if it had been just susie on the border, she would've simply said no, thank you.

seconds tick by, and swallowbreeze forgets the question you're supposed to ask. "can i um, help you?"

 

[Fujimoto]

┍

It was as if the loss of Rosebelly had blossomed into a gift of potential, paws of unknown strangers cornering their border almost regularly now. Fujimoto would face it with kindness and caution, as he typically had. They were not cats of the other Clans, brutal killers that sank themselves elbows deep in bloodshed without hesitation. Or mocked their ways while wearing their names and gifts. These cats did not know of blasphemy, they could learn the proper way of a warrior.

Swallowbreeze is there to greet this pair first, and they are not far behind her tail. A small limp carried his gait closer while he assessed the two across from the medicine cat. They could not look any different from one another, and Fujimoto couldn't help but linger on Susie.

The Sun Guard swallowed, then nodded to his Clanmate's question. "R-right this is, um, SkyClan. D-d-don't, uh, believe there is a... FlyClan this w-way." He did think it curious how their Clan's name did happen to be so forgetful. He had heard ShyClan as another misinformed attempt before.

‎┙

 

[Quailstep Quailstep]

​

QUAILSTEP

Quailstep's paws tread the now-familiar ground of SkyClan territory alongside Swalloowbreeze and Fujimoto, their little patrol sidetracked by unfamiliar scent. Two kittypets, with notions of some... FlyClan?

Quailstep can't help the giggle that erupts from her mouth, softening the laugh with a purr.

"My companions are correct - I've never heard of a FlyClan in these parts!" She looks to her companions before addressing the kittypets again. "My name's Quailstep. What brings you here, Susie and.. Ralsei?" Such strange names Twolegs gave their feline friends!

Tagging

 

[SUSIE]

Susie bristles the moment she hears pawsteps ahead—her body a taut wire, every hair standing on end. When the voices break through the trees, her ears pin back. Her claws flex against the pine needles, head lowering just slightly, as if daring any one of them to come closer. The spikes of her collar catch a stray shaft of light, making her look even sharper than she feels. "FlyClan? Really?" she mutters, shooting Ralsei a look that could peel bark off a tree. "You couldn't even get the name right?" There's no heat in it, though—it's all bark, no bite. She flicks her tail hard enough to snap a twig. "Great. Now they think we're idiots."

When Swallowbreeze asks if she can help, Susie snorts, the sound loud and derisive. "Yeah, actually. You can tell us why your whole forest smells like a nursery stuffed with cats and herbs." Her tone is edged, but her eyes flick between the three SkyClanners—sharp, measuring. Fujimoto's limp, Quailstep's giggle, Swallowbreeze's hesitation. Not predators. Just cats. Still, she steps half a tail-length closer to Ralsei, almost unconsciously putting herself between him and the strangers. "Look, fuzzball here thinks you guys are—I dunno—heroes or something. A big deal. Me?" Her lip curls. "I think that's a load of crap. But since we're already out here, at least tell him a story or something so it can be worth the trip," she huffs, glaring down the SkyClan cats as if they're the ones who dragged her on this trek.

 

[RALSEI]

"Oh! Skyclan! That's it!" Ralsei cheered brightly. The ornamented housecat paid little attention to how her carved-iron gaze seemed to dig itself into his own skin, or how her daggered voice dragged itself onto his character. It was just another way of expressing love, he knew. Some were born of mellowness and cotton (like him), and some of sharpness and steel (like her). The boy had little time to think upon it, though, as the shuffling of needles and leaves underfoot signalled the arrival of another. Two wild-cats approached the kittypets, though there lie no malice within their gentle frames and words, as if it rang of boundless opportunities rather than spiraling peril. The first, of plush snowdrift and soft sands, wondered how she could help the lost souls that happened upon her land. The second, of quilt-patch reds and blues, only incredulously uttered the confidently-wrong name that Ralsei had doled out. "Me and my best friend really want to join this Skyclan of yours! We heard about it, and I think we'd be great fits! I'm really good at building morale and helping others, I promise!" Ralsei chirped, his excitable tone like a raft bobbing up and down upon the sea's waves, crooning up and down with each beat. Naivety clung to the toothy smile that lie upon a downy-furred visage, for he had little idea of the traumas and the tribulations of the wildcats' lives. To him, it might as well have been another game to play, another feather-toy to catch. He hadn't known anything else.

"Don't say that, Susie! Skyclan isn't a 'load of crap.' You're heroic, brave, and compassionate! I want to be like that, so I want to join Skyclan! How do I do that? Maybe there's a test of some kind, and we have to pass it to be let in? It's probably, like, a test where you don't expect the answer! 'Cause the best answer... is nothing at all. I think." Ralsei babbled, his point-tipped tail swishing about in palpable animation. A third Skyclan cat - with bark-hued stripes of tigrine nature - padded up to them. Ralsei nodded to her, his large-brimmed hat lolling along each shake and crest of the little tomcat's body. "We also need a name like yours, Quailstep, don't we? I wanna be... Ralsei... Uh, I can't think of anything! Well, I can take whatever you think is best, Skyclan." I'll be... Ralseistep. Yeah, that's a pretty good one. And Susie can be... Susiestep. I'm good at this!

COME FOLLOW ME INTO THE DARK

――✧˖° ♛ °˖✧――

WITH YOUR HEART AS THE ARK

• OOC:
• 

  RALSEI & HE/THEY & 06 MOONS​

  —— Kittypet of no clan / Mentored by N/A
  —— A pale-colored blue sepia with longhaired a pelt and Twoleg accessories that he is never seen without, including a large-brimmed hat and a long scarf around his neck.
  —— A kind-hearted, naive and selfless boy. Takes life in stride and joy, though has trouble separating himself from the perceptions of him from others.
  —— Penned by Tempest. Contact on Discord (naruk4mi) for plots and threads.

 

[SWALLOWBREEZE]

swallowbreeze frowns at susie's question. "i don't— i don't know why, no..." her voice trails off, assuming that it probably wasn't a real, genuine question. she wasn't a fan of the young cat's attitude so far, but upon seeing how young and excited her companion was, she came to the conclusion it was all juvenile snark.

two nervous wrecks and a level-headed quailstep. there couldn't be a more strange trio to meet these potential joiners. this wasn't in swallowbreeze's jurisdiction, but the pair seemed harmless enough. "it's um— it's nice to see that you're so... eager, to join." was she doing this correct? diplomacy? her eyes dart towards fujimoto, quailstep. "being in a clan is a lot of work, though. you'll be expected to pull your weight... hunt and fight... st–stuff that a housecat wouldn't really do." hawkstar would like this one, probably. squishy, cheerful, perhaps shapable into an interesting warrior of skyclan.

 

[flowercloud]

Flowercloud was always punctual. Even when her mind warped, she was always doing things every day at the exact same time. But, it wasn't like joiners were planned. Her large body moved through the branches, green eyes watching carefully as she inspected the young cats on the border, and the few skyclanners. She missed most of what they were saying, but caught the tail end of a how she just wanted ralsei to hear a story, and how she wanted to move along- while the other was determined to want to join. They both looked relatively young, and of course, Flowercloud had a large heart for young cats.

The amber molly pushed her paws off the branch, gliding down to the forest floor where green eyes were bright and friendly towards the others. Her tail swept over loose leaves that had slowly started to fall, before pulling over her toes as she sat down. "So you've heard about us? Yes ... My friend is right, but there's a lot of fun being in a clan as well." She started, her expression and voice warm compared to the previous months where it had been near a growl, more on edge. But she felt free. "I am Flowercloud. Deputy of Skyclan, and I have a few stories... But, a short one for now. Maybe I will tell more later, if you wish." She purred.

"Fujimoto, Quailstep-" she looked at the two, smirk on her face as if she was planning something. "Remember on our old territory, we raced to climb the side of the gorge. It was huge," she emphasized, paw drawing up in the air as she reached as high as she could- but came back down to shake her head. "Even taller than I can reach. Maybe as high as the clouds." Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration , but they wouldn't know that. "But we spent all day climbing, laughing, having fun- you could learn to do that. Be able to climb as high as you can see. Any one of these trees," she raised her paw and waved it to show. "There will be hard work, but you two, you look young. And we will help you every step of the way. You will learn to hunt, to fight, and of the warrior code, and you will be treated like family. If you want," she purred, the amber molly settling back down.

flowercloud - 37 moons - skyclan deputy - mentoring none

 

[Quailstep Quailstep]

​

QUAILSTEP

Quailstep purred as Ralsei mentioned wanting a name like hers. Oh, to be a young apprentice again, excited by the potential of everything to come!

"Well, if Hawkstar allows it, and you work hard, you'll get incredible warrior names of your own."

They looked up at Flowercloud's mention of the gorge - with a pleasant memory on the mind, the pang of missing it felt a little sharper. Still, she remembered the day Flowercloud mentioned - little paws scrabbling against stone, tiny muscles bunched just before a risky leap, breathless laughter as they pulled each other up when they slipped and raucous cheers when they finally reached the top. It had been many moons since her apprenticeship, but the memory was still as fresh as if they'd lept to the top of the gorge just yesterday.

"Flowercloud and Swallowbreeze are both correct," she mewed with a smile. "It will be hard work, harder than the life of a kittypet - but it will be rewarding and freeing. There's truly no other way I could imagine living."

Tagging

SPEECH

THOUGHTS

OOC: The idea that -step is just an automatic warrior name KILLED ME