Wandering Rat [Open]

Rat padded low through the forest, his eyes scanning the surrounding trees as he moved with a clear caution. The forest he was in was strange to him, so young and having grown up behind a twoleg fence, the change in environment was odd and nearly disorienting to the kit. Compared to the constant noise of the twolegs with the constant noise of monsters, buzz of machinery, and at night the sounds of cats in alleyways and barking dogs, the forest was a strange constant silence, only broken by the occasional chirp of a bird or screech of a distant animal.

Yet for the kit, taking in this new environment all at once was disorienting, leaving his ears flicking towards every sound, and unknown to him, making his movements clumsy and sloppy, and making his presence obvious to any cat who wandered nearby.

Having been making his way through the territory towards the ThunderClan border, Tinystar, Tigerleaf, and Spottedpaw enjoyed their simple, quiet patrol, until the rustling of some leaves caught the small leader's attention. Stopping in his tracks with ears perked and fur beginning to stand on end, he put his tail up as to signal his company that something was up. Crouching down, Tinystar began to stalk forward, keeping his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, but upon making his way around the corner of some shrug, he wasn't expecting to see what stood in front of him; a kit.

Tilting his head, Tinystar looked up from the kit to see if a queen happened to be around, but it didn't look as if anyone was lurking, which was odd. "Who might you be?" the tiny leader mewed, turning his gaze back down to the stranger.

OOC: transient and sun are going to join this patrol btw. I sent them dms with the link.

Spottedpaw followed after his leader, mind wandering and steps perhaps a little too loud. The older apprentice stopped suddenly when his leader halted in place, almost bumping into him because he was still lost in his thoughts. What had Tinystar seen? Spottedpaw followed before glancing around the small tom and saw the kit, at first not making the connection and then realizing that this kit shouldn't be out in the woods alone. "Oh. Where'd this come from?" He meowed aloud by accident, recognizing that this kit was not from the SkyClan nursery. He looked pretty lost. He probably didn't even know.

For the first time in what seemed like too long, Tigerleaf was finally able to leave the camp. The young she-cat had never been more grateful when Mintwhisker had declared her fully healed. The cast had been taken off her foreleg just the evening before. Being trapped in camp for a whole moon, with nothing to do but rest, had caused her spirit to toss and turn in restlessness. As she strolled through the forest now, she didn't even mind the company of Tinystar and Spottedpaw. She kept one eye on her companions while taking in the sight of the familiar surroundings that she had missed during her confinement. She was free again, and Lichenmask had not taken over the clans. Her mood could hardly be any better.

When Tinystar stopped short, her bright gaze snapped to the stout tom. "W--what is it?" She asked, alarmed by the sight of the bristling leader. Just as the words left her mouth, she scented it too--the foreign scent of an intruder. Instantly, her eyes narrowed. Tinystar stalked forward, and she followed right behind him. At the sight of the unfamiliar kit, she could only blink in surprise. What was a cat so young doing here? Her patrolmates seemed just as perplexed as she was. She watched on in silence, twitching one ear with unease.

The kit jumps when he hears Tinystar, his short fur bristling as he turned, as if expecting a predator. He relaxed once he noticed they were just other cats, yet still seemed nervous as he processed what the short cat had asked. “What did-“ he stopped himself, realizing, “Oh, uh, Rat...” he mumbles quietly, turning quickly to pad away. When he went into the forest he didn't expect to run into any other strays, so whatever these cats were up to, he wanted no part.

OOC: Sorry for short, cellphone

Looking around once more to make sure no Queen was lurking, Tinystar turned back to the kit. "Well, uh, Rat... I'm Tinystar, leader of SkyClan," he mewed, though part of him doubted that the kit even had any clue on what the clans were. "From the looks of it, you seem to be just passing by, so we'll let you continue on your embarkment. But, we will make sure you make it safely through our territory and accompany you to ThunderClan's borders," he mewed.

Well, this was certainly an interesting situation. Spottedpaw glanced at Tinystar, an expression of disbelief on his face. "Tinystar, I don't want to contradict you, but..." He paused briefly. Maybe this wasn't his place. Still, he had to make sure he heard this right. "Aren't we supposed to, like, take care of lost kits?" The apprentice cut off awkwardly. He probably shouldn't have said anything, but having some rogue kit wander around their territory was probably not something they were just supposed to ignore. Were they just gonna drop the kit off for ThunderClan to snatch up?

Rat--it seemed that the kit was not from the clans. He was probably a loner's kit that had just stumbled into SkyClan territory. Tigerleaf glanced about, looking for any sign of a companion. The wind did not bear the scent of any other cat. Surprisingly, Rat was alone. She looked to Tinystar, eyes growing wide at his words. Where had Rat come from, and why was he alone? There were still many questions that ought to be asked regarding the kit. Tinystar did not seem to care. There was an intruder in the territory, and he just wanted Rat to get out. Was he trying to leave the responsibility of caring for the kit to ThunderClan? The young warrior shifted uncomfortably from paw to paw. Although she did not openly express her views, she agreed with Spottedpaw.

"Where are your parents, little one?" Tigerleaf asked softly, her golden gaze fixed on Rat.

Rat shows no visible acknowledgment of the cats words as he continued padding along along with his head down and ears perked. Thunderclan? Territories in the forest? Tiny-‘star’? As curious as the small cats words were, interest in another cats business usually leads him to trouble.

Yet why did the younger cat addressed ‘Tinystar’ that way? And whats with the brown Molly’s question about-

He stops moving as he realized what the molly asked, his ears perking and tail rising as he processed Tigerleaf's words.

-Parents?

“My parents?” He closes his eyes as he ponders on the question he asks himself often.

“I…” he tries to recall the memory of his mother. Her smell. Her kind touch. Her words. Yet as he tries to recall her face, the imagery fades, leaving him only able to let out a sigh as the idea goes blank.

“I don’t know,” he responds, shaking his head to clear of the thoughts, “I never met a fence-cat that really does.” He resumes his trek, now paying an odd amount of attention towards the trees around him as to distract him for pondering to long on forgotten memories.




OOC: eeeeexpoooooooosiiiitiooooon
:P

Turning to Spottedpaw, Tinystar's blank gaze met the apprentice's. While he'd once thought the same, over the years, the small leader had learned better than to willy-nilly accept cats into the clan. Listening to the kit, it became obvious that they weren't of clan blood. "Not when they're of Rogue blood. For all we know, this kit's mother is looking for him right now and I don't want SkyClan to be in the crossfire when she comes looking for him," he mewed simply, shaking his head. Not to mention, with Leafbare just around the corner, the last thing they needed was another mouth to feed, seeing as though they needed to focus on growing stronger with RiverClan's threatening presence looming overhead... While he understood the apprentice's worries, he wasn't about to change his mind and hoped that Spottedpaw didn't continue to question his decision.

"Well, Rat... let's get you to ThunderClan's border before it gets dark. They'll take good care of you," he mewed, tilting his head in the direction of their border, his pelt growing tense as the sun sat lower and lower in the sky, and the air became colder with every passing second.

Spottedpaw's gaze dropped to his paws when Tinystar addressed him, feeling embarrassed for blurting out his thoughts and questioning the leader. "Of course, Tinystar. You're right." He meowed meekly, eyes rising to follow the kit called Rat as he wandered away. What a strange encounter. The apprentice began to consider how this rogue kit would be more of a burden on SkyClan in these cold months, anyway, and decided that Tinystar knew what he was doing. Spottedpaw trotted to the kit and circled in front of him to prevent him from going any further into SKyClan territory, wordlessly gesturing slightly in the direction of ThunderClan territory. They could afford to deal with a rogue kit on their land.

Tigerleaf wasn't quite satisfied with Tinystar's explanation. Was this not technically a breach of the Warrior Code? A protest welled up within her and sat right on the tip of her tongue. However, as her bright gaze flickered to Spottedpaw, she ended up swallowing her words. No good would come of arguing with Tinystar. If the short leader had made up his mind, he probably had his reasons--like the approaching leaf bare. Rat would be ThunderClan's problem. They were escorting him to their border; thus, it wasn't as if they were abandoning him completely. The tiny voice by the name of "conscience" continued to nag, but its stirring was squashed down without much effort. Rat wasn't her problem. Since when had she cared this much?

Rat was certainly a strange young one. He had no idea who his parents were; he likely did not have any. What was a "fence-cat" in the first place? While any other kit might have shown more interest in the strangers, Rat continued to wander along in an absentminded way. "Come on, Rat." She meowed, as she stepped into his path. He couldn't continue like this. "Follow us, okay?"