Open Territory RC I saw you standing in the middle of the thunder and lightning || Joining?

[Poseidon]

POSEIDON
I KNOW YOU'RE FEELING LIKE
YOU JUST CAN'T WIN, BUT YOU'RE TRYING

.

Sonja had started packing. Poseidon knew this day would come eventually and already a few twolegs have left the campsite. Already a few kittypets have left alongside them too.

Poseidon knew this day would come, yet he wasn't not sure he wanted it to. He had made friends here, he had discovered a life he didn't even know was possible until now - a life full of adventures and thrill and.. and freedom. What awaited him back home? Sonja leaving again, forgetting about him? Empty, lonely days stuck inside their house with nothing to do but laze around or chase shadows? Poseidon wasn't sure he could return to that kind of life anymore. Not after meeting Thunderpaw, not after she showed him what it was like to be truly alive.

Would Sonja even notice he was gone? Would she even care? She had brought him with her on this trip, yet she had not paid him much attention, besides giving him food when the sun has already set. Perhaps, he thought, he deserved better than this. Perhaps he deserved to be surrounded by ones who cared for him, who appreciated him - even if he was too round to keep up with them as they walked. Perhaps, in time, he would learn to be like them.

And if they were to turn him away, despite what Thunderpaw had told him, he would walk away. He would come back. Sonja wasn't leaving just yet, not tonight at least. Or perhaps he would become a loner, though he wasn't sure just how capable he could be on his own - his paws were too soft, his frame too round, his pelt too fluffy.

Poseidon shook his head. He didn't need to figure out how to be a loner just yet - he hasn't been rejected by the clans yet. Should he say goodbye? He pondered for a moment, then decided; he couldn't. If he stopped now, if he stayed a while longer, it would be that much harder to leave, yet he knew he was making the right decision. Okay, maybe not knew, but he believed so at least. Hoped. On steady paws, or at least as steady as they could be right now, he walked out of the campground, not looking back. He knew the location of RiverClan's camp, but he didn't want to just march right in, not without an invitation... and so he just wandered in the general direction of the camp, hoping to meet a friendly enough patrol.

The breeze ruffled his coat and with it brought the scents of the cats - wet fur and flowers and fish meat. And that unmistakable smell of dandelions and thyme - "Thunderpaw?" Poseidon raised his tail high in greeting. "I.. I want to take you up on that offer..."


OOC: @Thunderpaw but no need to wait

 

[Thunderpaw Thunderpaw]

———————————————— A drag path, etched in the surface. ✦

She had found herself more willing to join patrols in the last few nights, but Thunderpaw still found herself distracted. But so it turned out, befriending someone new who didn't see her only as her grief made everything just that little bit more bearable.

Raising her nose to track a nearby bird, her fluffy tail bristling as she tried to find where it was flying, something else caught her attention. Kittypet scent in the air, her expression sinking a little at the dawning realisation. She had noticed the two-legged families beginning to pack up.

Not all had left, but some of the kittypets were gone, and she never had the chance to say goodbye. In some quiet fear, she didn't know if she wanted to. Too many times had she lost cats without getting to say what she needed to, but what was there to say? She didn't want to let any of them go.

Bitterness clung to her tongue as that telltale torbie pelt came into view, Thunderpaw's stomach turning at the sight of him. Was this goodbye? Was his twoleg taking him back to wherever their nest is, leaving Poseidon in a home he felt unloved in? Oh, Starclan, it made her nauseous.

But, she faultered as their gazes met, Poseidon's tail raising a smile crossed purr's maw, the words he spoke making the cinnamon molly take pause. "Wait? Wait really." She spoke in an air of disbelief, like the rug would be pulled under her paws, but the smile that reached his eyes made her chest swell in joy. "You really want to stay? With us??" Thunderpaw paid little mind to the patrol, padding towards her friend as her tail swayed behind her, eyes sparkling as a smile stretched across her own maw.

—————— As evidence

I left there on purpose. ——————

• 
  Thunderpaw
  ✦—Riverclan apprentice | 12 moons
  ✦—She/Her
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A stocky cinnamon sealpoint molly with long curled ears and cold blue eyes.
  #C08969

 

[Poseidon]

POSEIDON

.

As Thunderpaw's dappled face came into view, Poseidon breathed a sigh of relief, his paws already feeling a little lighter.

You really want to stay? With us?

Poseidon wasn't sure if she was happy or shocked or both at the news, but purr hoped she felt just as excited as he would soon. "If you'll have me..." the young tom smiled sheepishly at the apprentice, not paying attention to her companions. No one could outshine a storm anyway. "I would... I would like to learn to be wild and free like you. To hunt and patrol and... and care for one another. To love." At that last part, purr averted purrs gaze, though only for a moment.

He meant what he was saying after all - to be given a chance to live with the wildcats, to be one of them, it felt like a dream. He knew, of course, it would not be easy nor perfect, but he was ready. Ready to shed his old life behind and emerge as a new cat alongside the wildcats. He hoped they would say yes and welcome him. He would train diligently, he would focus and listen to all the lesson he needed to. If only they were to give him a chance now.