Too Proud for Help, Too Scared to Die (Open)

Luna had been on her own for most of her life. Once she was old enough to hunt and fight well enough to survive alone, she ventured off like the rest of her siblings. It was the way it had always been, and it was the way it always would be... or so the she-cat thought. She had been taught that the only the strongest survived, and that another mouth to feed was not worth the trouble. That meant kits too, but another adult cat was a different matter. Luna learned early on that all lone cats that didn't belong to group were only out for themselves. She had been bullied and stolen from when she was young, but she learned that she couldn't lie down and let other cats have their way. She learned the best hunting areas, away from other cats. She knew where it was dangerous to go, and where the safest places to sleep were. She had survived fine on her own. Of course, some leaf-bares were harsher than others, and sometimes cats moved into places where she usually stayed.

She hated fighting other cats, hated drawing their blood, so she usually ran if she was able. If it meant survival, she would fight, and she would give everything she had to make sure she stayed alive. Apparently this didn't amount to much. This leaf-bare had been especially harsh on her, as she had to slowly stop hunting and let her mate do all the work. With prey becoming so scarce, it was hard to feed both of them. After the death of her kits, Luna had been so distracted by guilt and grief that she couldn't hunt well enough on her on. Her father was right, extra mouths to feed weren't worth it.

Luna had again been trying to hunt when she hadn't noticed the scent of a fox nearby. She caught the mouse she was after, a scrawny thing still so close to leaf-bare, but she also attracted something else. The fox came out of nowhere, and grabbed her by the hind leg. She managed to turn and scratch at its eyes before it could do much worse damage, and as soon as it let go, she ran. She ran and she ran, long after the fox gave up chase, if it had even chased after she scratched at its eyes. Each time her leg hit the ground, it sent pain through it and up into her body. She ignored it, worried that if she stopped that fox would be right behind her.

She never even noticed when she crossed the border of the clan that lived in this area. She had heard of these clans from multiple cats she had met throughout her life. They protected their land fiercely, especially to lone cats and rival clans. The stories varied wildy, from these cats being vicious and blood-thirsty, to helpful and kind. Luna was inclined to believe the former, as she had seen numerous cats with injuries running back across the borders. After running for so long, and barely having eaten, the she-cat stumbled and fell, sliding on the ground a bit. She looked back the direction she came, and scented the air, looking for any sign of the fox. After nothing came, she scented the air again, and realized that she was deeper into clan territory than she realized. She could faintly scent a few cats, which told her they were clan cats. She tried to stand to head back, but collapsed again when her leg couldn't handle the weight.

She was too weak after running like that, and she had lost a good amount of blood. Luna looked at her injured leg to assess the damage, but it was too covered in blood to tell anything useful. Her mind raced as she tried to think of some way out of this. There was no way the clan cats would help her if they found her here. In fact, they might just kill her outright, seeing as she was relatively defenseless. If she rested for long enough, she might be able to regain enough strength to make it back out. The real question was, how far in did she come, and how far were the closest clan cats.

Padding through the territory, Quaildock kept his ears perked up, his eyes scanning the terrain. Even after the Asylum left around two moons ago, he was still wary. Wary that they might come back, and terrorize the clans again. And he most definitely didn't want that his clan to go through that pile of Fox Dung again.

As Quaildock sniffed the air, giving an occasional glance to the other cats he was on patrol with, he scented something odd. Something familiar, yet not. Like a cat, but not a cat scent from another clan. A cat, but not the horrid scent of an Asylum cat. It was cat, who had an unfamiliar scent. An unfamiliar scent, mixed with the scent of blood.

The fur on his back spiked up, as Quaildock looked back towards his companions. "Do you guys smell that?" He asked, his voice wary and alert. "We should check it out!" Quaildock then bounded off, towards the origin of the smell, not waiting for his clanmates to respond. Because waiting around, like he did when they fought against the Asyum, wasn't going to help. And he wasn't waiting.

He ran over to the center of the scent, and quickly found an unfamiliar cat. An unfamiliar injured cat. An unfamiliar cat, collapsed on the ground. Huh. This wasn't what I was expecting. Quaildock thought. He slowly approached the injured, unfamiliar cat, remaining wary as he did so. "Uhh, are you okay? Like do you need help or something? Oh and also what are you doing here in Thunderclan territory?" A sudden slew of questions then escaped Quaildock, as he stared at the unfamiliar cat. He needed to know if she was okay, and what she was doing her. You know, just in case.

Luna had her eyes closed, resting, when the sound of rustling came to her ears. It was loud for a cat, but not loud enough for a big predator. Luna raised her head and looked in the direction that it came from, watching as a cat entered her view. It appeared to be a tom, and he approached cautiously, which was strange to her. She was injured, and wasn't much of a threat. Especially if he kept his distance. The she-cat tried to hiss, but it was weak, and definitely non-threatening. She watched him closely, prepared to react if he tried to attack her.

But the tom did no such thing. He instead asked if she was okay. As if it wasn't obvious. "Does it look like I'm okay?" Luna spat out the words, motioning with her tail to her injured leg, and the blood that had started to stain the ground. As soon as the words had been said, Luna internally berated herself. If I'm not careful I can start a fight talking like that. She thought to herself.

Luna tried to move her leg, and winced at the pain in response. This injury could kill her if she either let it bleed, or if she was unable to hunt. She had injuries before, thorns and such, that made it difficult, and she didn't see why she wouldn't be able to hunt with an injured leg, but a seed a doubt took place in her mind. Keeping her eyes on the stranger, she scented the air, trying to pick out his scent, which was a bit difficult as she could smell her own blood. She could really only smell clan cats, which didn't necessarily mean he was a clan cat, but he did ask what she was doing in ThunderClan territory.

She finally had a name to put to the clan that lived here. It was taking some strength to keep her head up, but she managed to keep her eyes on the tom, and answered the tom's third question. "I was running from a fox." She kept the answer simple, but shame filled her. She had just admitted to running from something, like she was a scared little kit. Who cares what he thinks. She thought, as she waited for the tom's response.

"Mmm no, your right. Stupid question." Quaildock responded, as he looked at the injured she-cat's leg. Yeah, the more he looked at it, the worse it looked. He began wondering why he asked that question, but then remembered that it was best to ask that question in case a cat was stubborn. And it looked like this stranger wasn't stubborn!


The she-cat's simple answer threw Quaildock out his thoughts. A fox. Well that's both of his questions answered. His eyes quickly glancing the surrounding area. He didn't smell any fox, minus the she-cat's leg, seeming as how that was where the fox striked. He turned his gaze back towards the injured stranger, taking her again. "Well it doesn't look like your a threat if you were trying escape a fox, so uhh do ya want help?" He asked.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the tom's response, not sure if it was an insult or just a statement. Luna tensed, as she always did just before a fight, but when a small amount of pain reminded her of her injury, she relaxed and sighed. Insult or not, the tom was offering to help, and she didn't see any other options. However, before she placed any amount of trust in the tom, she knew there must be other clan cats nearby if this one was here. "Where are your friends?" The she-cat asked quietly. She had enough of a brain to know this was rude, to avoid answering the tom's question, however she didn't like being alone with any cat, let alone a strange tom.

Quaildock tilted his head. "My friends? Oh my clanmates are probably still back there. Looks like they didn't follow me. Here let me go get them!" He then turned around and started walking towards them. But before he left, he turned his head back to the strange cat. "Stay here, okay?" Quaildock asked. Just in case.

Luna watched as the tom went, and laid her head back down. She made a noise that was halfway between amusement and disbelief. She wasn't able to really go anywhere any way, so she would wait and see if he even returned.

Minkstream was summoned and landed in the middle of the forest for some reason. He couldn't really remember how he'd gotten there, but he was probably part of the patrol that his son was leading, and almost ran into him as they tried to follow where Quaildock had disappeared to. "What's going on, Daris?"

"Oh, dad! There's an unfamiliar cat I found. She looks injured!" Quaildock meowed, a bit unsure of when his father got here, though maybe his memory is just acting up. But right now that wasn't important. "Here, follow me. I'll show you to her."

Minkstream squinted at him. What? An injured, unfamiliar cat? "Loner or Clan?" He asked as he followed the other, stepping with practiced ease through the undergrowth around them. The younger tom's answer slipped from his mind, unfortunately, but once they got there it was clear she wasn't from another Clan, her scent bearing the ambiguous undertone of a loner. And she was injured, too, a nasty mess of blood and the vague sent of fox that sent a chill down his spine. He eyed her. "That's not good." For a moment he hesitated - she was a grown cat, not a kit, but they couldn't leave someone injured like this to die. It wasn't like she'd be a lot of trouble in a condition like that, anyway. Making up his mind, he asked, "Can you walk?"

Luna looked at the newcomer, unsure of what to think about not just one clan cat, but now two of them. And both were toms too. Great... When asked if she could walk, Luna blinked and then moves her leg again. It didn't seem to hurt as bad as before, so maybe she could walk. "Let me try." She didn't want to spook the two cats, but she wouldn't be able to answer truthfully without attempting to at least stand. She slowly worked her way back onto her paws. She gingerly touched her injured leg to the ground, and started to put her weight on it. She inhaled sharply, and instead tried to take a step forward using her working three paws. She managed to make it that far. "I think I'll be able to get somewhere." She answered, examining the new tom.

Minkstream nodded and stepped back, giving her room to rise painfully to her paws. Clearly it hurt. How had she been injured that badly? The scent of fox lay faintly under the stench of blood, a bit of which had already crusted around the wound, and sent another tingle down his spine. Hopefully that's not on our territory.

Once she'd gotten to her paws, he twitched his whiskers in acknowledgement, knowing better than to tempt the ache in his head to blossom into a full-bore throbbing session. "Great. Think you could make it to our camp?" He gestured to her leg with a paw, adding to allay her mistrust, "We have a medicine cat who can look you over and heal that up."

Luna was concentrating on standing up enough that it took her a moment to process the toms words. She wasn't familiar with the term medicine cat, but the tom was basically offering help. She wouldn't be able to hunt or survive on her own with her injury. It took too much effort to think, so she just nodded, hoping he understand she was answering both questions. She took some steps towards the toms, hoping they wouldn't perceive it as a threat, and waited for them to lead her.

She nodded, and Minkstream glanced at Quaildock, gesturing him to lead the way. Technically he knew the way to the camp, but they couldn't really rely on him not to abruptly lose focus and forget what they were meant to be doing. A spark of frustration lit in his stomach at that, one he forcefully pushed back to simmer where he could mostly ignore it. "Alright then, let's go."

(ooc: we can pretty much end it there and then we can have a topic in camp where Dovefrost comes in if you'd like, but otherwise welcome to ThunderClan!)

((OOC: I'll put a last post, just for the sake of remembering that this is done. I'd like Luna to meet Dovefrost since I'm going to apply for her to be TC's MCA when it's open.))

Luna followed the tom's back to camp, focusing on putting one paw in front of the other until she made it to their camp.