𓆝 . ° ✦
The girl had shown up a mere few sunrises ago. From the lands beyond Highstones, she had traveled, fueled only by the whispers of those she shadowed for scraps of food. Safe to say, it is not.. quite what she had imagined, when she thought of a 'colony' of cats.These cats work together in a way she'd never seen before. Once, perhaps, from the nomad group she had been born into - but dubbed a curse, she hadn't quite been lucky enough to take part in their community. Her siblings seemed to work together well, but in her own self-loathing, she excluded herself from their pitiful scrambling. In the outlands, where the rogues roam, she had lived off of the sympathy of whatever empathetic few could leave a bone and scrap behind for her after their meal.
There's never been anything quite like this. As much as she'd like to think she's acclimating well, she really isn't.. at all.
Her arrival had been casual and sparse in drama. She had weaved her way into the outskirts of this place as if she'd always been there - and within the shadows, she stayed. Quiet, watchful, opportunistic. To any cat that may have noticed and questioned her, she introduced herself as 'Haunt' in a scratchy, unused voice, and skittered off into the tree-line where she felt she belonged. She was content, being all on her own, and the safety of a collective group and food to share was a good bonus.
It was all going as she wished it would, until..
As Haunt creeps up to a pile of food meant to be shared communally, she raises her wide gaze to see two faces so familiar that it runs her blood cold, and sends her stumbling back. She remembers her youth - the troubles the litter faced through fear and famine, the subsequent dismissal of their mother, dubbing them cursed. How.. angry she was, to be cast aside, that she too had cast aside her own siblings, in the blind hope that she could set herself apart, become part of the group that had shunned them. How wrong she was - for they never accepted her, even as she rose above.
Haunt never thought she'd see them again. She thought they were dead. Perhaps word got around to them before they got to her, after all. Whatever it is that brings them here, they are undeniably here.. and they must recognize her. Haunt shrinks back, feeling the burden of her past weigh onto her shoulders like a tackling feline. For all the words of hate, fear, and only a mere sliver of regret that shrouds her mind, she cannot find the words to stumble out of her mouth as she opens it, closes it. It is all she can do but to freeze, staring at her two littermates that have not seen her in many moons, now standing right in front of her, stronger than ever. As fate would have it.
✧ ° . ✶ . ° ✧
