"ᴴᴱᵞ ᴴᴱᵞ ᵞᴼᵁ ᵞᴼᵁ, ᴵ ᴰᴼᴺ'ᵀ ᴸᴵᴷᴱ ᵞᴼᵁ'ᴿᴱ ᴳᴵᴿᴸᶠᴿᴵᴱᴺᴰ, ᴵ ᵀᴴᴵᴺᴷ ᵞᴼᵁ ᴺᴱᴱᴰ ᴬ ᴺᴱᵂ ᴼᴺᴱ."Michelle wandered through the thick, black snow, the smell of ashes and smoke stinging her sensitive nose. Moments before, she could’ve sworn she had everything. A warm place to sleep, family who cared for her, free food… now back to phase one. There was nothing she could’ve done as the forest fire clashed into her house and took the twolegs with it, leaving nothing but black snow and the wet ashes that used to be hers. It’s incredible that terror is so greedy, taking everything you love or need without a second thought on the outcome of what it could do to those who live upon it. Her paws had burn blisters and pupils began to slit, tears drying along the black tabbies stripes on her fluffy cheeks, previously groomed and washed to perfection.
Michelle was lost, emotionally and physically. The forest of ashes always looked the same, as if it went on forever. Why? What did I do to deserve this? Her thoughts were swarming with hatred for the natural environment that stole all that mattered and was worth something from her, in an instant. Before she even had the time to react. Michelle knew there was a human town somewhere, she had been there before when she accidentally ate a bad piece of fruit out on her daily harnessed walks. Now to be free without the comfort and soft voices of her twolegs cooing about… it was all extremely dim. As if there would be no light at the end of this tunnel, which, unfortunately, had felt quite accurate.
Although Mischelle felt empty, lonely, and quite famished, there was no time to pity herself and question the purpose of life. She had never been an outside cat for one reason and one reason only. The faminine. Her stomach kept burning and growling with hunger as her bleeding and numb paw pads trotted across the ground. Everything hurt and all her bones were exhausted themselves, which made sense considering what she had endured the hours after the fire. Luckily, though, a soft scent began to touch her nose. One she hadn’t scented since the senior cat that her twolegs had adopted before her, a scent she hadn’t smelled in ages, one she couldn’t recognize so quickly.
She couldn’t go any farther though. Surely she’d flop onto her side and wake up in her old home once more? As she did whenever she had a scary dream. But… no. This wasn’t the case. Michelle awoke the next day, her stomach angrier than ever although her bones did feel rejuvenated. She took a moment to groom herself and get herself in order, gathering her thoughts with a mist of carefulness swarming her head like buzzing bees. The morning’s light evaporated into the sky as the dawn arose through the cloudy sky, waking our lost kittypet from her slumber and immediately awaking the sense of confusion and fear that rumbled along with her stomach.
Michelle had to arise from her small leaf bed, grunting in frustration at the confusing notion of emotions and surroundings overwhelming her. After a while of walking, the comforting scent hit her once more. Smelling of prey and… other cats it seems. Sand began prickling her paws as she entered the nicely shaded forest, the sky becoming slightly cloudy as she trekked forward towards the intricate scent. Michelle didn’t think to crouch in the bushes to spy on whatever was causing the bushes to shift, no, she simply strut forward and hid every doubt she had swelling in her mind. “Who’s there?” A grumpy sounding she-cat called to her. Michelle hurried to the voice and crashed clumsily through the bushes.
Michelle crawled forward through the bush and shook the leaves off her pelt, seeing a white and blue-ish gray spotted she-cat standing over a freshly mauled mouse. “What are you doing within the borders of-” The tom standing beside her held a dove in his jaws. He was a dark gray and black tabby with a plain expression, quite handsome in her opinion. He set down the dove and began padding forward, gently resting his tail on the she-cat’s shoulder and nodding slowly. Michelle unsheathed her claws instinctively and bushed out her short, fluffy tail. “I don’t live here, I’m just passing through. Do you know where the twoleg place is?” The tom exchanged a glance with the she-cat and as he was about to answer her with a grim expression, a albino snake slithered over to the tom and made its way toward his leg.
“EEK!” Michelle leaped in fear and took several steps back, “Careful! That
thing will bite you!” Raccoon looked boredly down to his leg and smiled slightly in greeting the snake. Instead of biting the cat, the snake simply climbed up his leg to wrap around it. “Oh Ramen?” The word ‘ramen’ sounded very familiar to Michelle. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly. In fact, he eats small prey and insects. So, he actually would hurt a fly.” Michelle stared at him suspiciously and narrowed her eyes at the snake. The she-cat lost her patience and took a menacing step forward, “Alright! Enough games, you’re going to be coming back with us.” Michelle kept her eyes on the snake but shook her head. Before she knew it, the handsome tom couldn’t stop the grouchy she-cat from shoving her forward in the direction to this mystery place.
After a bit of walking, Michelle paw pads began bleeding again. Every step cost a good chunk of her remaining effort to continue on to the twoleg place. “Psst.” She whispered to the pretty tom leading her outside of the forest and onto the shore. “Where are we?” She asked, curious to know if she recognized the area. “We are just outside of my clan’s camp. Don’t worry, we don’t
usually bite.” Usually? Michelle didn’t have much energy or time to escape as they clambered onto a wide stone ramp leading up to a brightly lit cave system. Michelle wandered forward beside the tom, shrinking immediately at the sight of
so many cats. She quickly stuck close to the tom who had brought her here, the she-cat carrying the caught prey to a seemingly food stockpile. “What’s your name?” The question poked through her worrying gaze as the thoughtful tom peaked his question.
“Michelle.” Michelle paused for a second. “Yours?” He blinked slowly, “
Raccoon. My snake buddy here is Ramen.” Ramen teasingly flicked his tongue out. Michelle couldn’t help but blink slightly, smiling just barely, something she hadn’t done in days. Before they could continue their conversation, a red tabby stalked towards the both of them. “Michelle, huh?” She chuckled slightly before standing in front of her. “Nice to meet you, I’m
Tansystar. I’m the leader of Ocean Clan… you’re kind of standing in the heart of it.” Michelle held a confused and scrunched up face as she blinked slowly, “This is crazy cool...” She surveyed the clan before drawing her gaze back to Raccoon and Ramen who now sat near her, calmly licking his paws and grooming himself.
After a tour and much explaining, Michelle told the leader of the clan what she was doing in their territory, apologizing here and there. “Ah. I see, I’m very sorry for your loss.” Tansystar mewed, bowing her head in a sort of mourning manner. “But you are welcome to stay as long as you need. In fact… we had these two kits recently who were found in our territory. They need a caretaker but currently we only have you and another cat available. Maybe after you stay for a bit and prove that you’re trustworthy… you could be appointed for the job?” Michelle agreed and quickly began learning how to hunt and fight with the other clan cats, Raccoon becoming her main mentor. They spent hours every day chatting and practicing vital skills of a wild clan cat together.
Michelle, however, realized she’d begun catching feelings for the handsome tom. But she hid it. For several reasons… but the main one being she was too afraid to speak about it, even when her new friends teased her about it. Soon, Michelle’s name was changed to Berrysnow in honour of her change of plans to request to become a member alongside her crush and friends. Berrysnow walked over to her friends,
Mothrunner and Raccoon waved at her in greeting.
Mothrunner? She was surprised to see the quick she-cat sitting beside her friend.
Odd… Raccoon stood and Ramen flicked his tongue out a little. “Hey!” Raccoon greeted her.
Berrysnow blinked and smiled in acknowledgement before Mothrunner spoke, “Hello. I best get going, it’s time for me to finish what I was doing, see you later, Raccoon!” She darted off, just as fast as she had come. Berrysnow followed her with her gaze until she disappeared, chuckling in a confused manner, “What… was that about?” She asked him slowly. Raccoon shifted slightly, “Well, we were discussing some things and she thinks you like me?” Berrysnow had a brief anxiety attack mentally. “What makes her think that?” She mewed, her tongue sharp and making her voice sound defensive. Raccoon looked surprised and slightly hurt but he held his feelings together as well, “Nothing.” He stood. “Ready for the walk?” He asked, trying to change the subject. Both of them had a flurry of blush surrounding their faces as they left the clan entrance and walked into the sandy forest.
On the way out, Mothrunner returned quickly and carried a massive rabbit. Raccoon smiled and gasped, “Wow! How on
earth did you catch that?” Mothrunner showed it off to him and winked, “Hunter’s secret. If you come hunting with me someday I could show you.” Mothrunner locked her gaze with hers and her smile grew taunting. Berrysnow unsheathed her claws and furrowed her eyebrows.
Oh now I see… so be it then. Now her dilemma with her crush became a barren battlefield, both she-cats constantly being passive aggressive to each other. Berrysnow, over the past few days, began practicing her hunting and fighting moves alone, ready to challenge Mothrunner to a race, even though it sounded illogical, our lovely protagonist had a well thought out plan to win him over and prove Mothrunner wrong.
Around a week or two after she began her solo training, Berrysnow did what she planned. Approaching the giggling Mothrunner and Raccoon, she smiled confidently, proud of the plan she had created. “Hey guys.” Mothrunner tried ignoring her but Raccoon turned and smiled slightly in greeting to his best friend. “Hey! What’s up?” He asked her, Mothrunner giggled awkwardly, agitated that she succeeded in taking his attention away from her. Berrysnow was tired of her irritating challenges and rude attitude, “I want to race Mothrunner.” She said, turning her gaze to Mothrunner. Mothrunner immediately grinned, pretending to be sweet. “Aww, that’s cute.” She said, rubbing her paw over Berrysnow’s head. “You’re legs won’t be able to-” Raccoon cut in, just as Berrysnow had hoped, “Don’t be a mouse-brain, Mothrunner. Just because she’s small doesn’t mean she isn’t fast.” Raccoon nodded to her as she nodded to him in thanks.
The race was set in an empty lane of bushes and scrub, obstacles like trees, hedges, bushes, thistle, rose bushes, and more in the way of a clear path. Although there wasn’t much clear territory, there weren’t many rules and the whole clan had come to watch. Everyone was betting on Mothrunner but Berrysnow had planned every paw step of the way, even some backup
tricks in case it got rough for her small legs. A yowl from Waterquiver indicated it went time. She immediately took to the trees, clawing her way up swiftly and bouncing from tree branch to tree branch, avoiding nearly all of the obstacles and making Mothrunner assume she was very far behind when in reality she was several tail lengths ahead of her.
One… last…. leap… She panted, leaping over the finish line after dropping right in front of Mothrunner, winning the race swiftly but panting hard. Raccoon had been waiting for the girls at the end of the race.
“You did amazing! That was incredible!”[2,057 words]
flirt????
