TW: Sensitive Content Open Territory GIVE ME ONE GOOD HONEST KISS [DESPERATE LONER / JOINING]

Please review the more detailed TW summary at the top of the post.
This thread takes place outside the clan's camp in its territory.
2
0
Freshkill
15
𓆝 . ° ✦
TW: mention of blood & murder


A patriarch stands upon a rock, high and mighty as she always knew him; he looks upon her with tearful eyes, detesting the abomination he sees her as now. Deep beneath a scornful gaze, she desperately searches - could she find the fondness he held, mere days prior? If she apologized, could he still embrace her like he did before?

As grief-stricken words fumble from his mouth - grief that she knows is not for
her - she knows that the love between them had withered and died, like a meadow ripped by fire.

"You are a scourge upon this world," he croaks out for all to hear. Eyes bear into her, into her stiff posture and crimson-stained paws. "You are a plague upon
us. A bounty is now upon your head. You have ten blinks to escape with your life."

'One. Two.' Finally, she tears her gaze away, towards the war-hungry monsters that creep closer. 'Three. Four.' It is a mercy, that her broken flame gives her a running start, lest she be ripped to shreds. 'Five. Six.' But a greater mercy, her desired outcome, would be forgiveness for her sins.. for him to return to her, to embrace her knowing she had freed him from his shackles. Is it not what he wanted.. to be a true father to her kits, without the burden of his newly-late lover that he had promised to not truly love? Was she not what he wanted, after all?

'Seven. Eight.'

The molly takes in a breath, lashes her tail.. and with hounds of cats on her heels, she runs.




A couple of sunrises had passed her, now. Her pursuers had long since exhausted themselves. It is just her, and the vast unknown, now. Well.. her, and the little ones that kick her belly, as if they had naught else to worry about in this world but to simply be. She is exhausted as she walks, sore paws and spindly legs aching as she moves through the terrains, picking off at days-old scraps. There is no goal, no dream; only the sting of betrayal and heart-break. Where am I supposed to go? she had longed to say to him then, should he have spared her the chance to speak. Now, as she raises her narrowed eyes to the sky, the only thing she can wonder is the same. Where am I supposed to go?

She has stopped counting the time. Fear has consumed her brain - perhaps that is why, when she sees a burnt silhouette of an Upwalker structure ahead - she pushes forward to scavenge. She had never been fond of the strange creatures, as her colony had strictly forbidden contact with them. But for the safety of her unborn offspring, could she trust them, if just for a moment to feed?

It is not Upwalker scent that hits her nose when she leaves the treeline, gazing upon a vast expanse of prairie and heather. The smell is stronger, but familiar - her heart quickens, be that by horror or hope, and she quickens her pace into the moorland. They were here recently, she notices, briefly examining the worn path of grass. A colony. The molly raises her nose to the sky as she trots, feeling her lungs tighten with the effort to breathe. Where there is cats, there is food, there is rest, there is survival.
"Help!"
she gasps out, as if the cats sent to execute her demise, though long left behind, were still upon her. Her body only afford her one call, and some fox-lengths of distance, before the ragged queen buckles forward. Her head spins - for a moment, the sun seems too much brighter. Pawsteps sound at her hearing's farthest reach, and it is only them that keeps her head up, looking.. waiting.
"Help..."


° . . °
  • ooc: — hello...

  • PLAGUE — SHE/HER ・ 25 MOONS ・ QUEEN ; LONER ・ PENNED BY IXORA
    a complex and mysterious molly; timid and meek on the surface, what dwells beneath..?
 
'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

.


Cricketpaw could step wherever she pleased now, officially!! No more being shooed back to the nursery, no more waiting on the sidelines. She was an apprentice now! A real one! A WindClan cat of the moor, with her name and everything. And that meant the territory was hers to explore. Every cranny, every tunnel, every twitching blade of grass, fair game. Or, well… sort of. " Don't go too far, Cricketpaw. And do tell me what you see. "

Cricketpaw stopped mid-bounce, shoulders drooping slightly as she glanced back at her mentor. Blossomtail was watching her like a hawk, her expression patient but firm. Drat. There went her plan to sneak a few shinies into her stash without anyone noticing... Still, she forced a smile, ears flicking. " Yes, Blossomtail, ma'am! " she chirped, only a tiny bit dramatically, before trotting ahead with her tail held high once more. The grass whispered beneath her paws as she investigated the open stretch of moor. The wind tugged playfully at her fur, and the sky was so blue it made her want to sing. She was just starting to hum a song to herself when she heard a voice. Faint. Wind-woven.

She blinked, ears perking, her body going still as stone. " Someone called out... " she muttered, gaze darting around. Blossomtail paused behind her, ears twitching. " Did they? I didn't hear anything. " Cricketpaw's brow furrowed. " Maybe it was nothing… maybe just the wind playing tricks... " she murmured, her voice uncertain. But something gnawed at her. Her ears were good. Really good. The best in the nursery, even! And if there was someone calling for help, and she didn't listen...! Suddenly, she sprang forward without a second thought, paws thundering across the ground.

" We're coming! " she cried, voice high and clear. " We're coming! " she shouted again, heart pounding. She heard Blossomtail's voice behind her, something about waiting, slowing down, but Cricketpaw couldn't. Not now. Someone needed her.

And when she finally skidded to a stop, chest heaving, dust clouding around her paws, she found a figure ahead. A molly. Dust-streaked and still. Cricketpaw took a cautious step forward, whiskers twitching, voice gentler now. " ...Hello? " she called, good eye wide with concern. " Was it you that called for help...? "

Speech, thoughts/emphasis


6 MOONS
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WINDCLANNER
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SONG
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bio
 
𓆝 . ° ✦
It is not long before a stranger finally reaches her - a sweetly considerate child, followed soon after by an older cat. Heralded by a clear call of her approach, the bi-colored tabby approaches with caution, cooing to the queen as if she were a kit. It is such an ignorantly innocent scene; did no one ever teach her not to talk to strangers? If she weren't so exhausted, the queen would have heaved a dry laugh. All she can do now is meet the molly's eyes, and - oh... eye..

She does her best not to stare, but.. oh, what a sad sight the apprentice was. What monster would harm such a young feline, leaving them scarred and half-sighted? Well, it's not as if the queen herself had been a saint. Perhaps it is the life within her that makes her heart ache so strongly for the young one.

She takes a moment to finish catching her breath, and then some, to formulate some sort of response. Such a display of kindness and innocence from this wild cat could not be met with the truth, no.. they would see her exiled just as quickly as her last group, had they known what horror she was really running from. A cunning reply comes quickly, and the lie rolls of her tongue just as smooth.
"Oh, I have just had the most.. terrible, horrible time.."
the queen mews softly with a hefty sigh. Well, perhaps that wasn't stretching the truth. The next bit, though? It is nothing short of well-rehearsed.
"Death is after me, little one. My old colony - treacherous brutes, all of them - they've been hot on my heels for days. They would see the demise of me and mine. I only just.. lost them.."


A frightened glance is thrown over her shoulder, into the treeline from whence she came. She hadn't seen their ugly faces for at least a day - but the wildcats didn't have to know that, did they? They'd take their sweet time to get her inside and fed, if they did. The queen snaps her attention back to the apprentice in front of her, then to the older one that had eventually caught up.
"I have been on my paws for three sunrises. I am hungry, exhausted, and.. my kits, oh, my kits.."
- she shifts onto her side, exposing her belly, of which there was no greater risk (but it was one she was willing to take to convince them) -
"...they will arrive by the end of the moon. I cannot go forward, for their sakes."


The queen sits up at last, although laboriously - her shoulders feel like boulders, and her paws ache something fierce.
"Please, you wouldn't happen to have a bite to nibble on, would you?"
She cocks her head, meeting the apprentice's gaze thoughtfully. The smaller ones have bigger hearts, after all.
"Or.. a safe place to rest? Just for the night? I will be on my way in a jiffy.."


° . . °
  • ooc:

  • PLAGUE — SHE/HER ・ 25 MOONS ・ QUEEN ; ROGUE ・ PENNED BY IXORA
    a complex molly; timid and meek on the surface, but what dwells beneath?