chosen family [c]

The sun slowly rose over the horizon, covering the leaf-bare sky in dark pinks and purples. In general, the weather had done little to improve, but at least with the harsh temperatures sometimes came beautiful sunrises. A dusting of snow covered the ground, although it had been a few days since the last snowfall. Somehow, Aoife was still struggling to appreciate the beauty as she paced in the direction of Twolegplace, not really a destination in mind.

With each passing day, it felt like another one of her siblings slipped through her grasp. First there was Apollo. Despite the battle, violence had done nothing to make his death hurt less. Instead, she carried memories of the fight as scars on her face, a reminder on how it did nothing to bring her brother back. His and Aphrodite's deaths definitely stung the most, but also there was the case of her kin who had joined Thunderclan and those who would soon be born into it. She was proud of Atlante for getting a real mission, and knew that she would be level-headed enough to carry it through successfully. On the other hand, there were her two sisters who had gone there without permission. Part of her wanted to march into clan camp to warn them of the dangers. It would be fine one time, but if they were stupid about it... well, she didn't want to have to mourn another loss.

As the solo guard of camp, she had a lot of work on her shoulders, and yet somehow it never felt like enough to keep her distracted. Sometimes it was nice to get away from camp.

The walk to Twolegplace lasted a while, especially with the inconvenience that was clan territory getting in her way. Hunting there was never amazing, but a change of scenery would be good. Part of her just wanted to go on a bit of an adventure.

She was wary of her surroundings the second she entered the chaos, cautious of predators and other cats alike. She could fight if she needed to, but was trying to avoid doing so unnecessarily. It would be an extra painful walk back injured. Focused on staying away from Twolegs, she kept to smaller alleyways, nothing yet to alert her other than stale scents of different animals and the metallic scent of general Twolegplace. That was until she heard a rustling nearby and whipped around, poised to strike at any moment.

"Hello?" She called out into the darkness, where the sun had not yet risen high enough to illuminate the shadows of the alley.

Clementine let out a huff, rolling his green-grey eyes as he, once again, unsuccessfully attempted to overcome his challenge. What was this challenge? There was a wall blocking his view. There were four walls blocking his view to be exact, and he wasn't tall enough to get over any of them. Not tall like his mother, anyways. Every time he'd attempt to climb the wall, he would try his hardest to sink his tiny claws into the sides, but his attempts were futile, and he was starting to get tired... and hungry... and cold... and lonely.

His mother had kept him here in this box as long as he could remember, ever since he could open his eyes- which wasn't very long at all. She'd feed him here, and love him here, and play with him here, and sleep with him here, and sometimes they'd go outside the box together. But one day, after she left to go catch mice or whatever, his mother just never came back. It'd been three days since Clementine had seen his mother. He couldn't help but feel a faint sense of worry and fear. Both for his mother, and for himself. So, what would he do? He would leave home and look for his mother, yeah, he'd find her. She probably just got lost on the way home from hunting. He'd go find her and bring her home, and she'd be so proud of him and she'd play moss ball with him until the sun went back down, and then they'd sleep, all warm and happy in the box together.

He threw himself at the box wall once more, in a determined attempt to get out. Although he wanted to find his mother, he also wanted to find food. His stomach growled.

It seemed he had made too much noise, though. A voice broke the silence. "Hello?" It called. Every instinct Clementine had told him to retreat within the depths of the box and stay silent, the words of his mother repeating over and over again in his head, about "Not trusting strangers," and how, "They could hurt you." But the hunger that clawed at his stomach and the overwhelming fear of being alone pressured him to return the call, relying on the possibility that this cat would help him. And so he called back. "Hello?"

Somehow Aoife was surprised to hear a reply, and shocked that the voice sounded more like that of a kit's than the vicious alley cats that often prowled near here. She crept closer, noticing now the scent of other cats coming from a cardboard box, the kind Twolegs often used to carry things in. Torn between investigating and keeping her distance, the guards youth got the better of her, and she neared just as another voice whispered.

"I won't hurt you," She said in her least-threatening voice. She would make no promises on whether that was true or not - especially if one of them attacked her, she wouldn't show mercy. The sides of the box were high, preventing the two kits from climbing out, despite Clementine's best attempts. Using the strength in her back legs, she reared up, placing her front paws carefully on the side of the box so she could peer in. There were two kits, one a very pale whiteish-cream, the other bright ginger. She had no idea how old they were: the only kits she'd ever come into contact with were her siblings when they were young, and so many of these memories were blurred now.

"What are your names?" She asked gently, not mentioning she already knew one of them. It would be more interesting to hear what they had to say. "How long have you been here, is there anyone to look after you?" From the looks of it, they probably hadn't eaten for a few days, but with the weather like this that was almost expected.

"Shhh, It's fine." He huffed, rolling his eyes at his brother. He hated it when he questioned him. But even now he was worried about what would happen next. The voice called back, and he regretted ever answering- not that he would admit it.

When a face peered over the box's edge, Clementine backed up and hid behind his brother. "Gah!" He poked his head out from behind Peach when the she-cat spoke. He jumped back in front of his brother in an instant, puffing out his chest. If Peach had tried answering, he had certainly talked over him. "I'm Clementine. And that's Peach." He gestured to his brother with his tail. "We've been here as long as we can remember. Our mother disappeared a few days ago... But we've been fine on our own, we're big and strong!" He didn't want the she-cat to think they were weak or anything... but he was getting hungry.

It was clear the two kits weren't very willing to accept help, but Aoife could tell that they were clearly hungry. "Wait one moment, I'll be back soon." Whoops. Maybe she shouldn't have said that - their mother wherever, she may be, dead or alive, had probably said the same. She didn't want to think that a queen would abandon her kits like this out of choice, but as the guard was starting to learn, not everyone valued family as much as she did.

In the harsh leaf-bare, it took a little time to find prey, but once she did, she caught it easily, bringing the skinny mouse back to the hungry kits. It wasn't much, but if it really had been a while since they'd eaten, they would appreciate it regardless. "Here you go. Try some, it's not poisonous, I promise." She passed her catch to them, resisting the urge to take some herself. There was no code to stop her like the clans had, but Clementine and Peach needed it more. However, she didn't help them out the box yet, in fear they would run away and meet a far worse fate then hunger.

Clementine tilted his head curiously when the she-cat walked away, now leaving they two kits by themselves again. The she-cat had promised she would return. "Do you think she'll really come back?" Clementine asked, casting a glance at his brother. "Not that I'm worried or anything." He quickly added.

Moments passed, each stretching on an eternity until they heard pawsteps approaching.  "Mama? Is that you?" He called out, instead finding that it was the new she-cat from before. "Oh... Hello." The tone in his voice briefly dropped before he picked it back up. "Ooh, watcha got there?" He asked, mouth watering at the scent. The she-cat had dropped it in the box with a reassurance that it wasn't poisoned. At this point Clementine would have eaten it without a second thought, but he supposed that having a good mouse is better than a poisoned one. He scooted over to make space for his brother and dug into the mouse, the flavors exploding on his tongue. It was so good to have food again. He sheepishly looked up from the prey and expressed his thankfulness to the she-cat with a wide grin. "Thank you... random lady."

He continued munching on the mouse until his belly was full. "That was sooo good!" Now that they had finished eating the mouse the she-cat had brought, Clementine was left with one question: What now? "Thank you for the mouse, lady! We're gonna wait for our mama to come back now!"