Freefalling [open, TC]

Cherrypaw was determined to be the best climber in all of SkyClan. And that's when he got the idea- he'd climb the Fallen Oak before sunrise. And maybe hunt a bird on the way down! He would be a great SkyClan warrior. Even if he was very short and not at all intimidating. "I can do this, I can do this..."

The tom bounded from the base of the branches, back and forth. He turned his head, watching the sun barely poke above the treeline. The trees glowed orange, as if on fire, and the sky turned a rosy pink. Clouds skipped in the sky like pebbles on ponds, little wisps adding texture to the horizon. Cherrypaw grinned. So close!

He was almost at the top. He needed one more branch-- then he would be at the top! Cherrypaw couldn't wait to tell Burrpaw. And Tuftwing!

The tom flicked his bushy tail before springing upwards. The apprentice snatched the branch with his front paws, holding on for dear life.

SNAP!

The SkyClan apprentice felt himself go limp as he hit one of the branches on the way down. The tom careened into a foxhole by the base of the Fallen Oak, falling into the nest head-first.

THUD!

---

Where... where am I?

The tom flicked his eyes around the hole. It reeked!

"What kind of cat lives here? It smells gross..."

He could barely discern the trees from the blue sky. The tom's head pounded, as if seized by a hawk's talons.

He hopped out of the hole, walking shakily towards a thicket of trees.

The land looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't place it. The kit-sized tom felt his paws shake underneath him, and he lowered himself to a crawl. He dragged his shaky legs as he smelled a somewhat familiar smell.

I know this from somewhere...

He narrowed his eyes, but the thought he wanted did not occur to him. He laid on his belly, sprawled out, covered in the stench of fox.

Shrikesong had wandered away from her patrol, as seemed to be the norm recently. Perhaps that meant that she had energy to move to other places, which could be a sign that she was healing. The sprigs of green began sprouting up wherever the brown she-cat looked, even on SkyClan's side of the border. The clan seemed to be recovering splendidly from the fire, which was always something that she liked to see.

Suddenly, the she-cat heard a thud coming from ThunderClan's side of the Fallen Oak. Running to the Oak, the brown she-cat wanted to see what - or who - fell from the skies. When the brown she-cat got closer, she noticed a ginger tom padding away from the oak before collapsing. "Are you okay?" she gasped, dashing to the kit-sized tom. What's someone as young as him doing here? When she got closer, she could smell the stench of fox on the tom's pelt. Did he fall into a foxhole or something?

The ginger tom didn't seem like he was malnourished, but he seemed to be hurt in some way. "Hey," she said. "My name is Shrikesong." The brown she-cat wondered what had happened to the young kit. Maybe he tried snooping around a fox-hole, just to fall down into it by mistake. And he must have used all of his energy to get out of the hole, which explains why he collapsed. "What's yours?"

His head pounded, his heartbeat palpating in his ears. He opened his eyes to a very bright world, and a very nice she-cat.

What’s my name?

What’s... my... name?

Name...

The ginger tom scrunched his face.

“I don’t know if I got one,” he murmured, still processing where he was. He was slowly becoming less dazed, feeling his paws as more sure under his body.

“Nice to meet you, Shrikesong... where am I?”

Shrikesong blinked. He... didn't have a name? The brown she-cat didn't know how or why that happened, but he was asking her something. He probably was abandoned at a very young age and was snooping around Clan territory. "This is the Fallen Oak. It serves as a border between ThunderClan and SkyClan." The ginger tom seemed to be standing well now, which was nice to see. "Come with me, little one. I'll take you to ThunderClan. It's a safe place to live. We can teach you how the Clans work, and we can take care of you until you've made your decision on whether you want to stay or not." Now that she thought about it, Minkstream also seemed to have amnesia problems from time to time. Maybe he could talk about his problems to the ThunderClan leader sometime soon.

He nodded as she spoke. Fallen Oak, eh?

The Clan names seemed foreign to the tom, but the cat in front of him seemed nice enough. A safe place to be? Was it... unsafe? He figured that it would probably be at night. Luckily it was sunhigh.

He blinked back at her, considering her offer. He smiled at the kindness. “Okay, I can come with you! Thanks!”

His bushy tail flicked behind him, twitching as he walked. Perhaps the strange she-cat could help him. He opened his mouth to smell the air. Earthy notes from the dirt, dusty pelts of something, it was an all-engrossing experience. His ears twitched back to his company, and he followed suit to ThunderClan.