City Lights<->Semi-Lit Alley Cat Roleplay [Open :3]

[duckteeth]

[I'm just going to go with Julian x3]

Julian hted this. He hated everything. Especially being hungry. The cat, once fat from being overfed, was now sickeningly thin. After the day his owners had gone and forgotten him-he refused to believe they'd purposely left him-he'd been on his own. As a cat born into a cushioned life, the street life didn't treat him well. Finding food was nearly impossible for the poor, soft cat and he was usually bullied out of any food he managed to find. And so, he was staving. Eyes half closed, he suddenly tripped over something soft and warm. "Shorry..." he muttered, opening his eyes enough to see what he had fallen over. He was suddenly aware of the sicky red liquid leaking from it an onto his paws. There was a recently murdered cat beneath him. A shriek ripped from his throat.

[free.]

Layla.
Though dozing quietly atop her throne, the she-cat suddenly flicked her eyes open, her ears pricked forward. Like she had been trained to, Layla slept efficiently, waking at the slightest sign of danger. And she hadn't imagined that scream. Slithering forward, she crawled out from under the blankets, and stood on one of the arms of the chair, looking below her. And then her deep blue eyes caught where the scream had come from. A frail tom cat, looking scared. Layla watched him quietly for a moment, then dropped her eyes to her paws. They were clean, good. No trace of blood. Her sweet scent lingered around her, and her washing had done the trick. Not a scent of blood was on her. Satisfied, Layla carefully slunk down to the bottom of the alley, and then padded over to the other cat, making sure to have him hear her. She slowed down a bit, edging close to the wall. "Who are you?" She asked abruptly, eyeing him warily. She glanced down at the dead cat before him and widened her eyes, appearing even more innocent. "Did you kill him?" She gasped. Oh Layla, Layla. Quite the little actor. She deserved an Oscar.

[duckteeth]

Julian was too busy staring in horror at the dead cat at his paws to notice Layla comig up until she spoke. Really, he probably wouldn't have noticed even if he hadn't been so transfixed by to corpse. Julain's sheltered life had dulled his senses. He didn't have the razor sharp hearing or eyes or, well, the razor sharp anything of a cat born and raised in the city. Besides his claws. The poor abandoned tom was lucky his owners had decided against declawing him.
Julian hopped back at Layla's voice. "I-I..." he stuttered, "I don't think I did. I couldn't have. I couldn't have killed him by tripping over him, could I have?" His voice was full of pleading. All he wanted was for Layla to saw, "No, of course not. It must've been someone else. You're fine."

[Wildmagic_warrior]

[Hey, everyone! I've been gone for a long time, but, I'm back now! Yay! Is it possible for me to jump back in? I had two characters, but they've been deleted from the character list in my absence. Turtle and Tuxedo Thomas.]

[duckteeth]

[It's probably more likely I never added them in the first place >.> But of course you can :3]

[Wildmagic_warrior]

Turtle was faced with a difficult conundrum. In front of her sat a tall-sided dumpster, originally blue but now gone gray with the years. The paint was peeling from the sides and a mighty stench rose from the open lid. Now, it would be easy for her to jump onto a wooden crate to her left and then up into the dumpster. However, therein lay the problem: she would not be able to see what was inside until she was right on top of it. Leaping onto the lid would force it closed, thereby eliminating any chance of getting inside. She could smell meat, but also rot, and there was no sense eating if you were only going to vomit it up later. The tortoiseshell female extended and retracted her front claws, then got to her feet and turned away from the dumpster. Too much risk and too little sure reward was no way to find food.

Crossing the alley, Turtle squeezed through a gap in the chain-link fence and went on her way, keeping to the shadows. It wasn't difficult, even though it was well into the day. The buildings on either side loomed tall, casting merciful shade. The city streets could get hotter than hot during the day, and burned pawpads were awfully painful.

When a scream broke through the quiet system of alleyways, Turtle's head shot up and she instinctively back up against the wall. Nothing could get behind her that way, and it would give her an advantage. Her fur was puffed out, shortened tail whipping back and forth. She stood this way for the longest time, but when no other scream followed she slowly let herself calm down. If somebody had been killed, it certainly wasn't her business. She certainly wasn't going to turn vigilante and start hunting down murderers- she would never be able to sleep if she did that. Cats died all the time, and usually it was for the better. If you were stupid or slow, you simply didn't survive. That was just the way things were. It was a cat-eat-cat world, sometimes literally if you were hungry enough. Turning back the way she had come, Turtle trotted in the opposite direction of the scream.

[free.]

Layla.

Her tail curled up, and she almost chuckled. The fool thought he'd killed the other at by tripping over him. Anyone besides a complete idiot would have realized there wouldn't be a pool of blood around the creature if they'd tripped over it. But she merely blinked her large blue eyes and looked woefully into the living tom's face. "I...I don't know. I don't think you did." She shrugged, sliding her gaze to the dead body. It didn't bother her in the least, of course. But she had to act like it did. Shuddering, she drew farther away from the dead tom, her nose wrinkling up. "The humans will come get the poor thing eventually. I would stay away if I were you. Or else they'll grab you too...and that'll be the end of the line for you." She nodded, her eyes round and wide as saucers. "I've seen it happen before." She gave a plainative mew. Glancing at him, she spoke again. "I wouldn't go out into the road until the humans come get him, if I were you. If you didn't kill him, then whatever was might still be lurking out there." She had a slight edge of fear in her voice. "Not everyone's so friendly 'round these parts..." Her voice had gone quiet. Shaking herself, Layla stood up, trying not to look at the body. "My name is Layla, by the way. If you would like, you can stay with me until the human's come and go. She swept her tail back to indicate the heap of dump behind them. "This is where I live."

[duckteeth]

Julian stared at the body, mortfifiedly. "Oh, I hope not. If I ever killed a cat..." Julian shuddered at the thought. "I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself." He shook his head, lashing his tail at the same time. The thought, just the thought, horrified him. He could never imagine his claws being used for killing. Maybe killing a pigeon or a rat but not another cat. "Humans aren't too bad..." Julian muttered, looking around. Maybe if he stayed someone would find him and take him home and feed him and...Julian sighed hopefully. "Why would it be the end of the line?"

[free.]

Layla.
She watched him, eyes widening in shock. Humans aren't to bad?.... Ugh, he must be insane. Layla was beginning to wonder if she should just kill him here and now, save herself from a future of being annoyed and fed up with what was obviously a not very well equipped cat. She had a feeling he'd once been a housecat. "It would be the end of the line because the humans that come pick us up kill you within a matter of days. We're seen just the same as rats to them. They'll be no cuddling or food for you." She told him matter-of-factly. Now Layla herself saw all humans as horrid creatures that deserved to die, and that were best to be left alone if one wanted to survive. Apparently he didn't though. She'd have to play to this. She tilted her head, her deep blue gaze reaching his."Humans are bad. They hurt. They kill." She said slowly, her voice sickeningly sweet. She was quiet and absolutely still, waiting to see what he would do. She needed to lure him away from the edge of the alley, to her, farther away from the outside world.

[Wildmagic_warrior]

Tuxedo Thomas heard a scream. This in itself was not unusual in New York; cats fought and died all the time. What did surprise him was that nothing else followed. Normally dying cats made more noise than that, didn't they? Getting to his paws, the black-and-white tom trotted down the length of the fence he had been napping on. At the end he crouched and leaped to a low wall, and from there down to the alley floor. Up head was the turnoff to the junkyard, but standing in his way were two cats. Between them was the body of a cat, obviously dead. There was also a pool of blood that looked like it had been there a while. So if this cat was long dead, who had screamed? Stepping closer, Thomas heard the cat whose back was to him say "Humans are bad. They hurt. They kill." Her voice was low and menacing, with a sweetness like rot to it. The cat she was speaking to looked terrified, but he wasn't a kitten. A housecat, then. He wouldn't last long on the streets, that was for sure.

As he neared the two- or three, if you were counting the deceased- Tuxedo Thomas made his approach undeniably obvious by drawling "Oh, they're not so bad. You just gotta know how to deal with 'em." He came up to the female's shoulder and grinned at her, adding, "How ya doing, sweetheart?" Then he looked at the terrified tom, and flicked his long white whiskers. "Adventure time's over, kid. Go home and let the mean old street cats deal with this." He gestured with a large white paw at the corpse before him.