A Little Bit Of Help Goes A Long Way (For Buttercup)

Mange laid against a vent on a twoleg den, the warm air that blew out of it was a relief to his thin pelt and cold bare skin. His tail curled at his side as he tucked his paws under his head. The tighter he could coil, the warmer he would stay. With a yawn, he shook himself awake, not wanting to sleep in the openness of the alleyway. Scenting another cat, his gazed lazily toward the back of the alley, squinting when he couldn't see the source of the scent.

The orange and white she-cat lashed her tail slowly behind her as she padded through the alleyway, searching for any Twoleg scraps to eat. She never learned how to properly hunt, and she had been ultimately driven out of ShadowClan's Carrionplace. After the confrontation with one of the Clan's cats, she still felt a little beaten down from the skirmish. She felt utterly ashamed of herself for giving up so quickly, but she knew it was a battle she couldn't win.

Mange stood up, the small tom gave her a curious look. She seemed a bit roughed up, and more than that, sad. He couldn't just lounge about with someone feeling that way. The young cat trotted towards her, giving a snaggletooth smile in her direction. "Hey... Are you alright?" He meowed as he approached.

Mobile, sorry if my posts get short)

(OOC: I'm on mobile right now, too, so don't worry. XD)

The she-cat glared hostilely at the tom for a few heartbeats, then sighed and looked down at her paws, deciding to ignore his question directly. "Tell me, where can I find food?..."

The young tom crouched against her glare before smiling against the situation. "Twolegs give out scraps sometimes, never to me but, I think they just run out before I get there. I always find things near roads, squirrels must be blind and deaf to not notice those giant things coming towards them... Maybe we can look together? I don't think sifting through rubbish is a good first choice."

The rogue nodded in agreement. Seeing how friendly and kind this rogue was being to her, she figured she could put aside some of her pride to make room for good manners. "Thank you... I am Buttercup. What is your name?"

The kit dipped his head, "I'm Mange, and, no need to thank me, it's not as fun alone out here anyway." He meowed, glancing back at his haven of warmth he had just discovered. He'd find another, he assured himself. Right now he had to cheer up the she-cat and help her find something to eat.

Buttercup narrowed her eyes at Mange. "You look awfully small, unless there isn't much food around here. Exactly how old are you?"

"Five moons old," he tilted his head, "maybe six, I'm not entirely sure, why?" The tom asked grooming a paw before rubbing it over a large ear.

Buttercup had lost all her kits to leaf-bare's merciless cold, and her last surviving kit had been taken away from her. She thought she would never feel the same joy or urgency to care for another kit again, but now, as her motherly instincts kicked in, she bent down and roughly licked Mange's fur. He felt terribly cold under her warm tongue.

Mange wasn't sure why Buttercup was doing this but, he wouldn't complain. He was pretty cold in the leaffall weather. The tom shuffled his feet and sat down next to her. Even being near her was warming him. He wondered if everyone felt as cold as he did.

Buttercup brought him closer with her tail and curled up around him. "You're absolutely freezing! Yet look at you, offering to help me when I should be the one helping you. I... I've already lost all my kits to death - one to those nasty Clans - but I won't let another kit die! ...Where is your mother?" Buttercup lifted her head to look around.

"You lost all your kits?" he cuddled up next to the she-cat as she brought him closer, ears folded back at the thought of what happened to her kits. A clan took one... He was glad his meets with clan cats were relatively pleasant. When she asked about his mother he simply shrugged. "My mother's a kittypet but I don't know where she is. The twolegs took my siblings to new homes but, I wasn't picked so..." he smiled with a little laugh, "Here I am! This is way better than being in some boring den."

Buttercup frowned sympathetically and licked between his ears. "Oh, you poor thing... Well... If you wouldn't mind, perhaps I could look after you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I abandoned you to live out on your own like this. Tell you what..." She curled her warm fluffy body around the kit with a soothing purr. "Tomorrow I'm going to meet with a ShadowClan warrior by an abandoned Twoleg den and he's going to teach me how to hunt properly. Perhaps I could hunt for you and teach you how to hunt for yourself once you grow big enough. How does that sound, Mange?"

Mange grinned, " That would be great!" He just knew that would help! If he could hunt like a forest cat, he'd be able to find food easily, and it wouldn't be carrion from the roads, the smell had driven him insane as of late. Then he thought for a moment about what she said. "Hey... I'm plenty big!" He mewed, with a slight pout. "I've caught lizards before." Night had said to not judge on size, he wanted to upkeep that.