it had only been a few weeks after,she had been chased out of her previous home dusk who was used to living in the twolegs town has had a hard time adjusting to living in the wild, she hasn't traveled far from the town in hopes of getting to go back there, but she knows going back there would be dangerous as the town has more dogs everyday and it's hard to avoid the dogs…
she had been trying to hunt her own food but in the past few days the prey has been harder to catch and more scarce than ever..she knew it was because it had been snowing more, making the prey find more and better hiding places under the snow…
<brr it's just getting colder and colder…when will the winter end?...> she thought as she walked in the path the twolegs had made in the snow earlier, <i should head back and get rest but i can't go to sleep hungry again..> she thought as she walked forwards, she heard something <it can't be- is that what i think it is-> she thought as she turned to look under a spruce tree a few tail lengths away from her, she noticed a mouse under the spruces branches <i can miss this chance!> she crouched down to the snows level, as she sneaked towards the spruce she made sure that the snow could handle her weight and that she wouldn't sink into the snow
as she was about to pounce to try and catch the mouse, a dog started barking a little bit further away, the barkings scared the mouse, she looked behind her only to see a big dog running towards her barking
<no no,no! > she thought as she started running to get away from the dog, she was sure that the snow wouldn't support the dogs weight so she ran towards where she knew there was more and softer snow, the dog had a little bit harder time to run through the snow but when it got the hang of it, it was again catching up to her
<what do i do?! what do i do!?> she was running as she tried to think of a way to get away from the dog, she didn't look where she was going, she fell down into a strongly flowing river, she tried to get her head up on the surface of the river but the current was too strong and she was pushed under the water again and again, she felt her strength fading away as everything became blurry, soon enough everything was blank
the rivers current became calmer the further away she was being carried
- at the same time with kestrelwing -
they had been catching fish to eat for a while now they had caught already two fish that's when they noticed something dark and fluffy on the river's surface, they quickly jumped into the icy cold river and swam towards the fluff, thats when they realized it was another cat, they started dragging the dark cat towards the shore, as they dragged the cat,they noticed she had a collar on her < i wonder where you came from?> they thought as they got the much smaller cat out of the cold water, they checked the cats breathing, and sighed in relief as they noticed the cat was breathing, “let's get you to my den…its not good to stay out in this freezing weather especially when you have been in the icy water for even a little bit” they spoke to themselves as they picked up the cat and quickly glanced at the fish they had caught < i'll come get those later> they thought before walking towards where their den was
- A few hours later-
dusk was waking up again,, before she could even open her eyes she felt something fluffy and warm next to her as she opened her eyes she saw a brown and white cat laying next to her, the cat was huge compared to her, she was confused, where was she?, who was this cat?
as they felt the dark cat changing her position a little they turned to look at her “are you feeling alright? Are you in any pain?” they asked with a small friendly smile’
“uh…i feel alright except for feeling a bit cold… who are you?..How did I get here?” dusk asked
“ oh! right sorry where are my manners, my names kestrelwing, as for how did you get here? I found you floating in the icy cold river. How did you end up in the river though, if I may know?” kestrelwing asked
“i um was being chased by a dog and i didnt look where i was going and fell in..thank you for saving me, my names dusk if you were wondering “ dusk responded as she yawned a little
“Do you need help getting back to your home?” kestrelwing asked
“oh..um..i actually don't have a home to go back to” dusk replied
“oh! i'm so sorry-”
“dont worry its fine, you didn't know” dusk said with a small smile
“well if you want you could stay with me until we find you a place to stay if you want?”
“That would be nice.. thank you” dusk replied as she looked at them “may i ask why do you have two part name? of course it's fine if you don't want to tell”
“oh! it's actually a name i got from my birth clan, and i just haven't wanted to change it yet” kestrelwing answered with a small laugh
“wait- what's a clan?” dusk asked
“you don't know?” they looked surprised
“nope” dusk said confused
- after a while of explaining of clans, kestrelwing doesn't know anything about starclan so they haven't told anything about it -
“ooh clans sound nice…i wish i could have been part of a clan “ dusk said as they though how much easier it would have been being in a clan
“well we can try to find you one or you can start your own” kestrelwing said
“oh! i would love to start my own but i dont think im suited to start my own as i don't know much about leading or being in a clan yet “
“I can teach you!” kestrelwing said excited that they had met someone new who was interested about clans
- after about month and a half dusk had renamed herself to duskshadow and kestrelwing had teached her everything they could about clans and leading them, at the same time they both had gotten to know each other better and have started to consider each other as best friends -
“So have you thought of what kind of biome you would like your clan to live in?” kestrelwing asked duskshadow
“no i haven't, i don't know what kind of biome would be nice..” duskshadow replied with a sigh, the thought of not having kestrelwing around them made them feel sad “But i have thought that maybe my clan could travel around the world at first at least.. but..”
“but…?” kestrelwing asked confused, tilting their head
“oh uh.. it's just that i'm going to miss you when i go” duskshadow said, turning to look away a little “ but there's still time left to spend with you before the spring comes so lets have as much fun as we can alright?” she said with a fake smile on their face
kestrelwing nodded, noticing right away the smile was fake, but they didn't want to say anything as they didnt want to pry too much into duskshadows stuff,as they wanted her to be as comfortable as possible
as the days went by,kestrelwing and duskshadow were each falling into love with each other without noticing it
soon enough it had been already 3 months since them meeting each other, they had had so much fun that they hadn't noticed that the spring was late
as the two cats laid next to each other looking at the sunrise together and grooming each other, they felt the sun's warmth little by little warming them
“hey you know...you could always stay here with me, i'm not making you leave if you don't want to “ kestrelwing said as they stopped grooming duskshadow to look into her eyes
“yeah, i know but...you have already done so much for me, i can't stay here bothering you” she answered as they looked at kestrelwing with a small smile
“you're not bothering me…<i love your company>” they answered, saying the last sentence in a whisper nobody but them could hear
“...” duskshadow stayed quiet turning to stare into the horizon
“I really would love to stay..but I want to travel around the world.. and maybe even start a family someday” she said a little bit of sadness in her voice, she then sighed and got up
“ill go get us some food, ill be right back” she said before walking out of the clearing towards the shallow stream where there usually was squirrels and mices near
kestrelwing stayed there, looking at the sun rising from the horizon <why can't you see…that i love you..> they thought with a sigh
<i love you but..i dont want to lose you to my stupid feelings..im sorry..> duskshadow thought as she tried to look for prey to leave in kestrelwings den as a gift before leaving
- about three hours later -
kestrelwing had fallen asleep to the warmth of the sun, they were waking up from their nap, as they opened their eyes they noticed it was midday already and duskshadow hadnt came back, they got uup thinking that duskshadow was at the den.. as they arrived at the den they saw a few mice and a squirrel in their den but duskshadow was nowhere to be seen
they started trotting around their territory in hopes of finding duskshadow.. but they knew deep inside that duskshadow had left them.. they couldn't stop looking for duskshadow all day, when the darkness of the night came and they returned to their den without duskshadow they felt empty, <why did you leave me?..did i do something wrong…> they thought as they fell asleep
- 6 weeks went by -
duskshadow had traveled already far away but they couldn't stop thinking of kestrelwing...she hadn’t gotten much sleep these past weeks because they knew that she had done something very stupid
kestrelwing had left to find a new place to stay in..trying to forget duskshadow but they couldn’t
soon enough duskshadow arrived at a bigger town of twolegs or city as she had heard the other cats call it, she had met a cat who called themselves splash, splash had showed her the way around the city, duskshadow had told splash her quest of creating a clan and finding a good territory for the clan to live in.. splash was quickly interested in joining her on her quest and so they did
kestrelwing had unknowingly arrived at the same city as duskshadow, they had met splash who had helped them find food, splash had mentioned a cat who they were traveling with that wanted to create a clan, but kestrelwing thought nothing of it
but soon enough duskshadow was being talked about by the other city cats, kestrelwing had listened to the other city cats a few times, the thought of the cat being duskshadow had crossed their mind but they didn't believe that it really was duskshadow who the cats were talking about until one day
they saw splash talking to duskshadow on accident, at first kesrelwing thought it was someone else because the duskshadow they knew didnt have scars but when they heard duskshadow’s voice they were shocked
“it…it cant be… “ they whispered to themselves, as tears fell down their eyes they let out a few sobs,
“do you hear that?- theres someone listening to us!” duskshadow said as she walked towards kestrelwings hiding place
when she saw them- she was shocked
“kestrelwing- how-”
when kestrelwing heard duskshadow say their name they felt something snap in their mind
“HOW COULD YOU!? YOU- YOU LEFT ME! YOU LEFT ME AND DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE!” they yelled as they sobbed
“kestrelwing calm down- i didn't-”
“YOU WHAT?! DIDNT THINK ABOUT HOW I WOULD FEEL?! OR MAYBE YOU DIDN'T THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH IT WOULD HURT ME OR-” they broke down crying
“kestrelwing…im so sorry for what i did..but i just couldn't, i couldn't-” duskshadow felt tears forming in their eyes
“WHY- WHY … why didn't you see- i- i loved you…” they said as they sobbed
“you-”
“yeah! I loved you- and you just left me there like I was nothing-!” kestrelwing said as they sat down
“please…just listen…i- i loved you too, i just didn't know what to do- i hadn't felt like that ever before…and i thought you didn't love me..i thought you would hate me if i told you about my feelings… so i thought leaving was my only option but now i know…that it wasn't wise nor right…a-and i think…- i think i still love you” duskshadow said as they looked down at the ground
as the world fell silent around them both,duskshadow couldn't say anything anymore, she stood there in silence
as for kestrelwing..they just wanted to run away but they knew they couldn't..they knew that they still had feelings for duskshadow but. did they really know duskshadow anymore, she seemed so different
splash knew that the two cats had to solve their problems on their own, so he just stood further away in case anything bad would happen
“can- can we start over? Can we become what we were back then? Can we get to know eachother better?” kestrelwing finally spoke as they wiped their tears away with their paw
“do you really want to start over?” duskshadow asked as she looked at kestrelwing
kestrelwing nodded, as they got up and hugged duskshadow with a smile
“i missed you so much” they said as they let go
duskshadow let a small smile come to her face again, as kestrelwing hugged them
“I missed you too…”
- a few days later-
duskshadow and kestrelwing had decided to leave the city with splash to start the clan duskshadow had wanted to start ever since she knew about the clans. splash received the name tinysplash for always thinking they were little enough to fit into places which were clearly too tight or tiny for them to fit
kestrelwing had forgiven duskshadow and now they both were on good terms with eachother again even if it sometimes was a little awkward
[ 2447 words]
-- cats on patrolDuskshadow | she/her | HP 100% | HUP 0 % | Sick: NKestrelwing | they/them | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
[size=80]Tinysplash | they/them | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
-- custom predators / prey
No
-- level3
experience: 154/400
-- items in inventory used
-- opted in to death?
no
-- inventory
scraps | 1 FP | x4
Bugs| 1 FP | x3
Mouse | 2 FP | x5
Small fish | 2 FP | x1
Squirrel | 3 FP | x3
Rabbit | 3 FP | x4
Eagle | 5 FP | x2
Owl| 4 FP | x1
Ragwort | x2
Mallow leaves | x1
Chickweed| x1
Blackberry leaves| x1
Honey| x1
Chamomile| x1
Catchweed| x2
Daisy leaf| x1
Wild garlic| x1
Catmint| x1
Holly berries | x1
Borage leaves| x1
Lungwort | x2
Dandelion | x2
Cobwebs | x2
Alder bark | x1