Down in the Valley 1x1 with Ravenshadow17

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Rise role-play where Lightheart, as a loner, meets the cats of NocturneClan.

- - -

PLOT

It is early January and the clan is dealing with winter when a stranger joins their midst temporarily. This cat is Lightheart, a traveling loner. Only time will tell what will happen to these kitties. owo

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It was early morning when Nimblestar was nudged awake by a poke to his shoulder.

"Morning." Came a small voice. He blinked and let out a wide yawn, licking his paw, and wiping it over his face to clear his eyes, and flatten his ruffled fur. He squinted up at the cat waking it, and saw it was Blizzardstripe.

"Hhh morning..." Nimblestar mumbled, getting to his feet slowly. He still felt achy from trying to fruitlessly run after a hare in thick, new snowfall. He could guess what Blizzardstripe, wanted, however; the tom usually was the first to bring out patrols.

"Border patrol... I assume." He asked, stretching each leg in turn as he finished winking sleep from his eyes.

"Yup." Blizzardstripe said cheerfully. Despite the recent bought of hunger from the meager amount of prey, he still managed to keep up spirits. However, there was a second reason for his cheer.

"We're finally giving in and visiting that human fish market. Crimsonsparrow's back from town after helping Buzz with his recent influx of patients, and he checked it out. It's still up and those humans are still set on swapping their stuff for fish, so off we go."

Nimblestar cheered a bit himself at this. Normally NocturneClan took occasional trips to the fish market for extra food. It was clan custom, and not something frowned upon as it had been in his old clan. He liked that; it was practical. After all, they had a mother and kit to feed, not to mention a lot of tired warriors.

"Everyone else all set?" Blizzardstripe asked as they headed out. Edgewalker, Tempestcloud and Chickenpoppy were huddled together, sharing warmth. Edgewalker nodded as he noticed Blizzardstripe arrive with Nimblestar.

- - -

The patrol headed off with the sun. During winter, the clan's normally partially-nocturnal habits waned; it was at least a bit warmer in the day. They trekked through mushy and deep snow into the pines, Nimblestar and Chickenpoppy, being the shorter furred cats, doing their best to leap at the sun spots as they appeared within the forest clearings.

"It'll be a while till we reach it." Edgewalker pointed out as they walked. "We should stop and hunt along the way, possibly. Just in case."

"Shouldn't we just hurry?" Nimblesar asked, a bit impatiently. "If it's gonna take awhile, it's better we do."

- - -

The group continued to passively argue as they trudged along, and within the hour, were in sight of the city. It was a small, coastal town and the humans were used to the abundance of strays, so the little patrol was ignored as they leaped over the fence, and into the sidewalks of the town.

[Ravenshadow17]

Lightheart stretched her aching muscles as she awoke. Her legs had grown stiff from her taking up refuge in the tangled roots of a fallen tree. There had barely been any space for her, she was forced to crouch in a cramped corner. But at least she had stayed out the wind. Lightheart emerged from her temporary shelter and shook off her exhaustion. She began to continue her journey though the forest.

The tabby she-cat approached a small stream as she walked, and she couldn't stop the flinch that struck her. Her left leg was still slightly charred from the fire. Instantly flashbacks of the night she lost her clan overwhelmed her and the she-cat had to sit down to prevent herself from swaying off her feet and into the water. Lightheart shook her head to clear it. She had to move her loss to the back of her mind. Right now she needed to focus on her survival.

She glanced down at her injured leg. It was too numb from the cold to cause her any true pain, but the leg was even stiffer than her other limbs, causing a slight limp. This temporary handicap had made it increasingly difficult to hunt in a time of already so little food, and the obvious weight loss that Lightheart saw in her reflection worried her. She needed a solid meal, and soon.

At this point, Lightheart was desperate, and too weak to properly hunt. She scented the air around her hoping for anything she could scavenge. She was surprised to catch the smell of two-legs. Although she loathed going towards the creatures, she knew she would be able to find an easier meal. Turning to follow the water, Lightheart began to travel towards what she assumed would be a two-leg camp.

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"Just think, we'll have real, live fish again!" Cinderpoppy meowed as he followed- or rather slipped, as the sidewalk had a thin coating of ice- after Nimblestar.

"Well, not live, but true otherwise." Nimblestar responded with amusement.

"Let's hope the humans cooperate." Edgewalker pointed out grimly. "A few don't take kindly to having their fish snatched."

- - -

They headed a bit further before pausing by some bushes, where Chickenpoppy claimed some valuable roots could be found. They watched him with impatience as he dug deep into the earth.

[Ravenshadow17]

Lightheart continued traveling beside the stream as she headed closer to the two-leg camp. The scent of two-legs grew stronger as she traveled and soon she could see the outline of their bizarre camp in the distance. The she-cat slowed down as she approached and crouched in the shelter of some nearby bushes to observe the camp an check for nearby two-legs. There were some walking around and the scent of fish was in the air. Lightheart eyed the food eagerly and tried to come up with a plan to get the fish without invoking the two-legs anger.

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After Chickenpoppy pulled out the roots, the toms were off again, crossing a chilly road carefully. It took only a few more minutes to creep into the market, observing the bustling humans with interest. Chickenpoppy got a few odd looks from the humans as they spotted the roots in his jaws, but again, they were largely ignored.

[Ravenshadow17]

Lightheart watched one of the two-legs handle the fish. Waiting and timing their movements, Lightheart found a pattern. As soon as the two-leg turned their back, the she-cat raced forward, limping into an alley parallel to the two-leg. She paused once again for the two-leg to turn around again. As soon as they did, Lightheart quickly limped over to the stand, grabbed a fish into her jaws and sprinted as much as she could back into the alley. She paused at the end and waited to see if the two-leg had noticed. Given the silence, Lightheart was relived to realize that she had not been spotted. She settled down to eat her prize.

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Just as Lightheart was beginning to relax in the alley, the patrol passed just outside in, chattering casually, and not noticing what they would see as any other neighborhood stray.

"-and then, if you see the lady with the bright orange thing on her head," Edgewalker was saying. "Just... look interested. Smile at her. Walk just out of reach. She tends to give you whatever she has. Nice human, for, well, a human."

"I prefer the guy with fur all over his face." Blizzardstripe mewed. "He looks the most like a cat. Plus he fishes himself. Still, I think he might have left for the season, I didn't see him last time we came."

"I hope StrayClan hasn't been causing too much trouble." Nimblestar grumbled sourly, thinking back to the old tension between what was formerly Tigertial's gang. "Crimsonsparrow says they beg for food a lot here. May give up a bad name if they start en masse stealing all the time."

[Ravenshadow17]

Lightheart froze as the strange group of cats walked past. Their scent mingled in a way that spoke of long companionship. A group. And what's this about stealing? Lightheart glanced at the stolen fish at her paws and quickly gulped it down to hide the evidence. She turned around to leave when her stomach grumbled loudly. Her ears flattened in embarrassment and she prepared to run off before she caught anyone's attention. She didn't know friend from foe here and was in no condition to defend herself, trained warrior or not.

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"I'm sure Shadowleap is reasonable, he was very respectful of boundries and of everyone's well being, last we talked." Edgewalker said, sticking up for the young StreetClan leader, despite the bad blood between the groups. But, that was all over now, and the two clans were at peace.

"We should split up." Tempestcloud interjected. He'd sat down briefly to lick his paw, it being chilled from the snow. "There's five of us. Two of us can go together and the other three in another direction."

"Dibs on Nimblestar!" Chickenpoppy said jokingly, dropping his roots behind a barrel, intending to get them later. "He needs someone more sophisticated to keep him from beating up on the peoples."

"I'm never particularly eager to meet twolegs, no." Nimblestar agreed with a slight sigh. While he'd adjusted to the various names the new clan called them - people, humans, upwalkers, farmer, men, and whatever else - he still preferred twoleg. "Still I'll behave! Lay off!"

"I'll go with Blizzardstripe and Tempestcloud." Edgewalker mewed, rolling his eyes at the younger toms. "You two stay out of trouble while we're scouting! We'll meet back at the barrel in about an hour, I intend to visit Shadowleap while we're here. See how they're getting on."