Open The Farm NO GRAVE CAN HOLD MY BODY DOWN ᯓ [ A STRANGER ]

[Solace]

♰ Her parting words to her children were hushed, hurried, whispered to too-young ears. Too young to flee with them, too young to be scapegoated yet. Yet. He wished he had more time. She prayed that even if they could not understand yet, that her words would find a hiding place in their consciousnesses, that they would return to them in their dreams when the time came.

"You are not safe in this place. These watching eyes do not have your best interest in mind, they are waiting for you to stumble, and they will bear false witness against you. Not now, and perhaps not soon, but they will turn on you." Traitors begot traitors, they could hear the snarls now. Solace knew that his mate's pull would buy them some time, but he would not risk trusting that their children would remain unharmed here forever. Better to leave when they had the chance than be torn apart waiting for their parents to return. She tried to shake away the image of their too-shallow graves. He could only spare a singular moment more, pressing a nose to their small faces and committing their images to memory, "I love you dearly, we will meet again."

They fled into the night, and she was unable to even glance back toward the place they remained until the end of a full day of running. He'd accepted that it was in all likelihood that the day they all were together once more would be when they met in Death, of course he did. It was a consequence of the circumstances they were forced to reside under. He should have been more careful at concealing his practice, he should have tied his devotion to any other cat in the world... But should they have? It was no fault of hers that her heart sings the way it does, it was a mere arbitration that demanded she suffer, that asked a queen for a payment in blood.

None of that mattered, though. He had nothing, now.

Resentment seeped as deep as their regret as paws carried them aimless on their journey to nowhere. Bitterly, it crossed their mind that perhaps their father would have been quite proud of them. Near-martyrdom for their devotion, exiled in infamy for fear that they'd lead them all to doom, O Wicked Temptress pulling their ruler astray. Paws crunched rhythmically upon dirt and snow, the wind whipping whispers of Death, His promise to welcome her in should she decide to lay there and let the snow fall upon her. It was easiest to hear Him between the beats of silence in the season of snow, it used to be somewhat comforting to know this. Now, Solace just twitched an ear and huffed, continuing his torturous trudge across this damned field of snow.

It'd be a rare meal that had her pause, a crow too young or too stupid to fly away against the buffet of leaf-baring wind, in between bites a glance toward that structure in the distance. The clean lines suggested a twoleg den, something he'd seen enough of on this cursed pilgrimage to immediately bring to mind their bear-like shuffling and odd pelts. The scent on the wind suggested cats, multiple, alongside a hodgepodge of unrecognizable scents he nearly wanted to turn around and skirt away from.

Was it loneliness that brought him closer?

It was a day, and a night, and another day of distant lingering, watching cats move in and out and around the place (it was huge), and from the outside, it seemed nearly... peaceful. Of course, he would be the last cat to trust these strangers blindly after a day of observation, but with frost chewing at his toes and hunger gnawing at his belly, he made a decision.

It was twilight when she approached proper, and even still she lingered atop one of the skinny stumps of wood bordering around the large den. If it was meant to be, someone would be around soon enough, she figured, and her instincts were correct. Ocean-dark eyes peered sharply down at the first stranger to approach, squaring his shoulders and speaking smoothly as if there were not ribs jutting beneath his layer of fur, "Hello, you. Do you live here?"

♰ THERE IS NO BAD. THERE IS NO GOOD. I DRANK ALL THE BLOOD I COULD.

• ooc: knock knock ! new guy in the building !
• ♰ solace- barn resident - 32 moons - she/they/he - a handsome stranger with a ghost-filled past, a longhaired fawn point of average build that looks soft around the edges despite the hardship of leafbare. their dark blue eyes have an unnerving, too-watchful quality to them.
  
  - solace seems relatively polite, if cagey around questions of his life before his arrival. in any case, he's patient with the kittens and doesn't rile up any trouble around the barn, so the other residents don't mind her hanging around for the season.
  
  - speech in "A87C7C" , attack in underline, penned by eezy
• 

 

[harefoot]

Harefoot blinks, looking up to see a cat he has not seen before, or that he has perhaps forgotten– although if it was someone he'd seen before, they likely would not be asking if he lived there. The stranger's fur did well to hide the malnourishment, although you could see it in the dark sunken eyes, if you knew what to look for. They did not seem malicious, merely defensive. A sort of sharpness was in her that Harefoot knew well– one of somebody who has been alone for a long time.

"I live here," Harefoot replies, speaking softly. "Many cats live here. The barn is warm and full of mice," a beat. He looks at the stranger for a long moment, then tilts his head. "What haunts you, stranger? It does not seem to be here, or you would not have come," and then, answering his own question before even giving the stranger a chance, he says, "no matter, no matter. We are all haunted here, by one thing or another. The barn is warm, and nobody chases anybody here, only mice. It is a good place to rest before running, if you intend to continue being chased."

 

[Pebble]

pebble

you are not always to know where you are headed

Pebble peered out from behind Harefoot with wide, curious eyes, watching the newcomer intently. Her presence was a mystery to him, much like Coyote's had been, but there was something different about this cat... Something he couldn't quite place. She was unfamiliar, and his curious nature was piqued. Where did she come from? Why was she here? His tail flicked with quiet curiosity as Harefoot questioned and then answered his own questions, he blinked a few times. Though Harefoot's way of speaking had him confused for a moment, his big turquoise eyes lingered still on the stranger.

When Harefoot finished his own explanation, Pebble stepped forward, his eyes bright with eagerness. He tilted his head slightly, ears flicking as he looked the newcomer over. He wanted to make her feel welcome, even if he didn't fully understand her story yet. After all, he knew what it was like to be hungry and unsure. He could help with that.

" Hello, I'm Pebble. " he mewed cheerfully, giving her a quick once-over before continuing with the enthusiasm he couldn't hold back. " I've been hungry before too, but then Mama Alder found us. Are you hungry? I can hunt a mouse for you! I'm really good at hunting mice! "

His tail twitched with excitement as he offered the promise, hoping his eagerness to help would brighten the stranger's mood. He wanted her to feel at home here, just like he had when he first found this place.

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[whorl]

whorl

She'd once been a new face here.... Whorl had spent a fair chunk of her lifetime exploring the world, venturing in and out of danger's reach and ultimately one too many near-death experiences had encouraged her to settle amongst kind faces. Others have of course filtered in and out themselves... guests for a day, maybe two, before pursuing distant pastures. The few that remained, that became part of their little community... well, Whorl had no reason not to call them friends!

To behold another undergoing the same journey, the dusty-furred she-cat bounces forward with a smile warmed in greeting. Pebble has kindly, considerately, offered a meal, to which the queenly molly purrs, "That's very polite Pebble..." It may not be an instant gift... given the youth's need for practice... Harefoot too, offers only shelter and kindness.

"Stick around for awhile, stranger... We won't bite! I'm Whorl. What's your name?"

 

[sassafras]

SASSAFRAS, 25 moons / barncat mouser
a pale blue tabby with scraggly fur and a large shoulder scar
sister to honey, mate and parent to none
a scrappy cowboy who feels he has something to prove. stupidly stubborn but gentle and kind
Tagging person here

---

"You lot would sooner wake up without your tails if y'keep trusting every stranger that shows left 'n right!" Sassafras huffed stubbornly at the smiling faces of his fellow barncats. Pebble was a child, so maybe he could afford the leniency of naivety before it bit him in the face. For Harefoot and Whorl, however, they earn the ire in his squinted gaze. The barn was full of mice for mousers, and if this weirdo couldn't keep up then there was no use letting him take from the maws of hungrier mouths to feed.

The cold wind made his fur prickle, and his head lowered while sizing Solace up. "Yer not goin' anywhere just yet. Harefoot's gotta point- what're you hidin' from? You bringin' trouble our way? 'Cause I'll give your sorry hide up if y'do." They didn't need anymore trouble than what they already have! With those fancy Colony cats whining and blubbering whenever he took prey they couldn't catch, and the weak crops not drawing in as many vermin for them to catch, they had enough on their paws already.

 

[Solace]

♰ She hummed as the stranger explained their situation. This place (the barn, it was called) was described close to what he assumed from his brief spying of it. That was, warm, rodent-ripe, and home to a trickle of residents both temporary and permanent. The odd tom speaks softly, and Solace notes that all this time, he's staring right back at him. Those dark amber eyes remain fixed as he tilts his head and asks her to speak of what haunts her.

They still, and blink once, slowly. They want to to bristle, to curl their lip and hiss like a prodded serpent, 'is this amusing to you?' To know that this lanky creature with ears as wide as the moor behind her could spot the ghosts clinging to her tail and had the gall to rake them across her face within moment of their meeting made her simmer. And then a chilled wind cuts between them, digging claws into his flank and he is reminded then that realistically, this may have been his best chance at getting though the blizzarding season. A small voice reminded her that it was cowardice that turned a cat's muzzle away from their rising moon of fate, to ask a fellow mortal to save them. But the odd tom offered their shelter so readily, and then he was joined by a youth and a she-cat with equaling levels of hospitality. Imagining meeting Death out there, alone in that uncaring darkness, make his throat constrict with dread.

Cowardice, it is then.

"You are all too kind..." he dips his head, and they were, and it make him wonder if they were aware of their own vulnerability, "However, I will not steal your supper, little Pebble."

The gray-striped cat that blusters in on a whirlwind of his own makes them pause, but his words, brash and twangy, were wise. She meets his scowl with a wan smile of her own, before glancing to the others in the group as well, "My name is Solace, it is a pleasure to meet you all. But, your friend is not unwise in his wariness, there is plenty of cruelty to be found in the world outside of this barn of yours." He fixes his gaze onto Sassafras to address him directly, "My hauntings, so to say, are mine alone, I can assure you they have no interest in any cat other than myself. I can give you my word that no trouble will befall your community by my paws. Of course, the word of a stranger should mean nothing to you, so I will not ask you to trust me entirely... But, should trouble fall our your way, I will offer my hide myself."

She finishes her short plea deal with a tap of a feathered tail to the wood planks below. It was.. near embarrassing to admit so readily that there was no one coming after her. Unless, of course, her beloved had changed her mind on taking her head for her betrayal... In that case, the scruffy young man here would have a clear idea of who to hand her pelt over to, then.

♰ THERE IS NO BAD. THERE IS NO GOOD. I DRANK ALL THE BLOOD I COULD.

• ooc:
• ♰ solace- barn resident - 32 moons - she/they/he - a handsome stranger with a ghost-filled past, a longhaired fawn point of average build that looks soft around the edges despite the hardship of leafbare. their dark blue eyes have an unnerving, too-watchful quality to them.
  
  - solace seems relatively polite, if cagey around questions of his life before his arrival. in any case, he's patient with the kittens and doesn't rile up any trouble around the barn, so the other residents don't mind her hanging around for the season.
  
  - speech in "A87C7C" , attack in underline, penned by eezy
• 

 

[harefoot]

Harefoot nods, if a bit vaguely. He's not entirely sure why the cat– Solace– had gotten so defensive. Hadn't he been nice? He looks at Sassafras, whose words are sharp, his eyes equally so, and doesn't understand this either. The barn was big, and they had more mice than they could ever hope to eat for leafbare. What was one more cat? And besides, Solace seemed to be… interesting. There was something in her gaze, some weight on his shoulders. They had a story to tell, and Harefoot was fond of stories.

He listens to Solace's words attentively, and then, before his slightly hotheaded friend can interject, softly says, "we should move this conversation inside, I think. I feel a blizzard coming on the wind," he looks over at Sassafras, "I'll put my hide on the line too, if it helps. I'm sure he's only looking for someplace safe to weather the winter– I was once standing in her pawsteps. I was shown much kindness, then," and then looks back at Solace. The other cat would not know it yet, but Harefoot has not a disingenuous bone in his body– he does not lie, maybe he doesn't know how. Never learned, never saw a point. "Come. Warm your bones and rest your paws. The cold is not a kind companion– it takes without remorse, quiet as the night. And now that I know you, your death would lay heavy on my conscience indeed."

 

[Pebble]

pebble

you are not always to know where you are headed

Pebble's enthusiasm was like a burst of sunlight, warm and unhindered, even under the weight of the tension hanging in the air. He was too kind-hearted to let worry sink its claws into him, at least, not for long. His happy chirp at the sight of Whorl was met with a quick greeting before his attention snapped right back to the stranger. He beamed up at her, eyes glistening with curiosity. What stories could she tell? What adventures had she seen? What distant lands had her paws wandered?

But then, Sassafras' voice cut through his thoughts, startling his whiskers into a twitch of embarrassment. Was he being scolded? Oop. His ears flicked back, a sheepish grin creeping onto his face as he cast a glance toward Sassafras. He hadn't meant to be careless… but trouble coming to the barn? That was hard to imagine. This place was safe... Wasn't it?

His attention flicked back to the stranger as she finally spoke. Solace. That was her name. " Soh-las... " Pebble echoed, tilting his head as he rolled the name over his tongue. There was speaking of hauntings and cruelty. Of trouble chasing her paws. More words swirled between the older cats, words he didn't fully understand but could feel in the weight of the moment. Still, kindness won out in his heart.

With a firm nod, Pebble puffed out his chest, stepping forward with a determined gleam in his eyes. " Inside it is! I'll catch you the biggest and plumpiest mouse ever! " he declared.

Then, with a few playful hops toward the barn, he looked back with a beaming smile, as if this was just another normal day. As if kindness was as simple as offering shelter and a meal to a cat in need.

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