Looking for Home (OPEN West Shore topic)

The floodwater thrashed Acornfall, and her jaw gripped the log with the last of the strength she had left.  She wasn't strong enough to reach a tree, and the usually strong climber couldn't muster enough power to reach the tree nearby. The flood would take her somewhere, somewhere that Acornfall didn't know about.  She felt water in her mouth as she struggled to get it out.  Her paws were splashing frantically, trying to send her a different direction.  Fatigued, she passed out from all of the stress she had clenching the log and paddling at the same time.

She woke up on a beach shore, coughing water up.  She looked around, seeing cats of all clans on the shore.  However, some of the cats that were washed up - namely Leafpaw, who was the only one that she was paying attention to - wasn't here.  Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, she thought.  Perhaps Leafpaw may have not survived.  Either way, I have to get through this.

Hex opened her eyes. Was the torture finally over? It felt like hours she'd been holding onto the branch. Now there she was, sprawled out on the shore of a sandy riverbank. It felt soft beneath her matted fur. Above her shone the bright sky, almost blinding her through the bare canopy. All around her were other cats. they smelled like the clans. Without thinking she jumped up and dove into a bush. Immediately regretting her decision, she laid back. Her muscles ached, and she landed awkwardly. She wasn't used to being on solid ground, for when she was on the river she had no use for her legs. They were terribly cramped. She stretched, opening her jaws in a wide yawn and poked her muzzle through the outside of the bush, peering out.

She saw other cats, fur matted, dirty, stained a dark grayish brown, laying on the beach, some off talking to others. Hex scanned the clearing, and spotted a cat who was a bit further away from the others. Slowly and hesitantly, she crept around in underbrush and approached the clan cat. From the smell of her, she was skyclan. "He-hello?" She asked, frankly a bit nervous. She didn't usually talk to cats, much less ask them for help. Before the cat could attack her, Hex spoke. " I'm sure you don't want to be here any more than I, but While were all here, I would like to make sure that i'm not here to start trouble. If any of us are to get home or to survive, we need to work together and get along."

Crowfur groaned and shook his pelt to rid of the heavy water. The wave had let him off not too long ago. He had passed out due to the exhaustion and finally awoke. He looked around and spotted many cats of all clans. The dark-furred tom decided to have a look around.
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Birdflight gasped when she finally was on dry land. She shivered and quickly looked around her. She was dazed but after seeing cats scattered about, alive, she calmed down. The she-cat speedily made her way to the nearest group of cats, hoping to join in and find shelter.

"Hey t-there! Where do you think we are?" asked the she-cat to nobody in particular.

Acornfall nodded to the she-cat.  ”You’re right,” she replied to the non-clan cat.  ”We have to put our differences aside and work together.”  The ginger she-cat realized the outsider’s suspicion, but they didn’t have time for that.  They had to get out of here, fast.  Acornfall gazed at the cliff, seeing something interesting.  ”I see a cliff over there.  Maybe I can climb it.  The forest up there looks unscathed by the flood,” she told Hex.  ”Also, what’s your name, before I forget to ask?”

~

Larkfeather didn’t realize what was going on until he saw cats.  Not just RiverClan cats, but cats of all clans - and some cats who weren’t part of a clan at all.  When he heard one cat ask a question, he felt like the right thing to do was give his opinion.  ”I think that we’re near a lake, and that we are very far from home,” he replied to the experienced warrior.  The brown tabby thought that Birdflight was a ThunderClan cat, although it was hard to tell due to the scant being partly washed away by the flood.

OOC: Larkfeather doesn’t know Birdflight’s name

Murkpaw's blood-shot eyes had almost drifted fully closed by the time his log finally ground against something, tipping him off unceremoniously into shallow, mucky water. His numbed brain abruptly awoke in time to yowl something incoherent as he splashed, trying to get his footing. Eventually he realized he wasn't going to drown in half a leg-length of water and shot up to a standing position, nearly pitching over onto his nose as his paws slipped at the movement. StarClan curse this stupid mud!

He stalked his way out of it, mind half-falling asleep again as the adrenaline faded from his system. His paws and legs felt stiff and sore, his claws aching like he'd just ridden an extremely disobedient log that had anger issues and irrationally hated him. Which he technically just had. He barely noticed as his limbs collapsed underneath him, twitching slightly in an effort to move again before falling still. Mud pressed against his cheek, but he didn't care, the wet soil blending in with the rest of his pelt.

It was some time before his mind registered the annoying buzz of cats chatting, and he groaned, moving to cover his ears with his paws as he tried to curl deeper into his nest. He found only mud, other asorted muck, and perhaps some other unidentifiable squishy thing that could have been a decomposing fish. Since when does WindClan keep mud in its nests?! He shuffled into a crouch, hissing under his breath as he looked up from what was beneath his paws to the cats not too far away who were talking. And found himself on the middle of a marshy beach among a whole lot of bits of trees and twoleg junk, as well as some decomposing stuff.

The smell suddenly hit him and he resisted the urge to retch at the multi-layered stench of rotting things and foul water, curling his lip. What in StarClan is this place?! He lurched to his paws, trying desperately to ignore the stench of everything as he walked up to the chattering mousebrains who had apparently mistaken him for another bit of mud. "Where in Silverpelt are we and who in StarClan are you?"

Hex followed the she-cats gaze. "It does seem like the water didn't touch the land up there." She mewed. "and by the way, i'm Hex. Maybe we should find a way up the cliff." Looking around, Hex saw that that across the beach there were crumbled stones where there was once a wall. "We might be able to get up somewhere over there." She meowed, pointing her tail to the crumbled rocks. "It looks a bit dangerous though. Maybe theres a fallen tree somewhere around we could climb"