Username: jester ;;
Cat Name: Thistlestep
Clan: xxxRank: Warrior
Gender: Tom
Age: 45 moons
Prompt: “What do you think it is?”
Mothstar turned to the apprentice peering out at the strange, wooden construct from behind the safety of a rock, rolling her shoulders back into a shrug as she eyed the abomination carefully. “If I’m being entirely honest,” she sighed, “then I’m not sure. It could be a beaver dam, but looking at it up close, it doesn’t look like any beaver dam I’ve ever seen before.”
Mintblaze stepped forward cautiously. “It could be a twoleg den,” she offered.
“No, it can’t be,” Ridgepaw immediately dismissed the idea. “It doesn’t have an entrance! At least... Not that I can see.” He padded towards the thing slowly, sniffing at it once he was a couple tail lengths away.
Mothstar watched with unease as the apprentice investigated, turning to face her deputy. “How long has this been here? Do you know?”
Mintblaze shook her head. “I just got word of it at sunrise,” she admitted. “Firegaze said she’d been out collecting herbs when Kestrelpaw stumbled upon it. They didn’t find much else around it — except some old crow food, Firegaze was telling me.”
Mothstar hummed thoughtfully. “Well this thing certainly did not erect itself overnight,” she finally announced. “Someone had to have built it, but who? And why on PeachClan territory?”
Ridgepaw looked back at the two higher ups, tilting his head. “Maybe they didn’t know?”
“Impossible,” Mintblaze scoffed. “Our border markers are all over the place. Whoever built this thing knew what they were doing and simply didn’t care.”
Mothstar dipped her head in agreement. “We’ll keep an eye on it for now — wait and see if anyone comes back to it. If nobody returns by nightfall, we tear it down.”
Just as Mintblaze was vocalizing her agreement, a wail sounded out from behind them. “Oh, I knew it wasn’t safe here!”
The clan cats whirled around to see a Siamese dart past Ridgepaw roughly, entering the construct through a hidden passage in the ground. They could hear him muttering to himself from the inside. “Stupid, stupid, stupid! They follow me wherever I go! Just after I’d finally finished building it! Oh lawkes, now I have to find another place to live!”
Mintblaze’s fur bristled as she rammed herself at the construct. “Come out now! You’re trespassing on PeachClan territory! Explain yourself, intruder!”
A shrill shriek came from the wooden abomination. “Please don’t hurt me! I’m harmless! I can’t even hunt! I’m pathetic enough as it is, I can’t die in the wilderness!”
Mothstar quickly intervened between Mintblaze’s assault. “What are you doing on PeachClan territory?” she asked calmly, holding the other molly at bay. “You don’t smell like a clan cat...”
“That’s because I’m not,” the loner whimpered from inside his den. “I’m just a pathetic kittypet, and I’ve been attacked by wretched clan cats for two moons now! I’m trying to keep my hide, you can’t kill me for wanting to survive, can you?!”
Ridgepaw blinked. “What’s your name, mister? We’re not gonna attack you.”
“Yes you are!” the pitiful tom wailed. “Clan cats are all the same! They hate kittypets and only want to keep their prey for themselves! Even from pitiful cats like me, who don’t even know how to hunt!”
Mothstar tilted her head and padded towards the construct, nosing around at it. “How did you build this?” she asked nonchalantly. “It’s quite impressive.”
Silence. Then — “R-really? Y-you think so?”
“Of course!” Mothstar purred. “I’ve not met a clan cat with such craftsmanship, let alone a kittypet.”
There was a scuffling sound before the cat poked his head out from the hidden entrance. “...Thank you,” he said softly.
“You’re welcome. What is your name?”
“Th-Thistle,” the tom replied. “S-sorry for intruding. I-it’s just — I’ve been attacked so many times, a-and I was afraid it’d happen again, s-so I-I built my fort.”
“No need to explain yourself, comrade,” Mothstar chuckled. “You don’t know how to hunt?”
“Y-yeah,” the tom admitted sheepishly. “I’m just a kittypet, see...”
“Very well,” Mothstar nodded. “You may join Mintblaze and Ridgepaw on their hunting patrol, if you’d like. As a peace treaty?”
Surprised, the tom shyly nodded. “I... I think I’d like that.”
(700 words)