Abandon all Concern [CLOSED- for Cays]

Chatsworth didn’t know how long she could live off of trash. Every bite of it was so, so disgusting. The stench, the terrible cramps after eating it, the taste. It was all horrid, nevermind the fact it wasn’t filling in the slightest. But all that she could eat in the city was rubbish.

So she left.

It was her second or third day of traveling now. A normal cat could have crossed the distance she did within a day, but Chatsworth was starving and weak. The stray was in no shape for running, and ever few steps she had to stop and rest. It didn’t help that each day she was getting weaker from her starvation. Chatsworth swore that she coughed up blood earlier in the morning. She missed the days of food. She missed the bland kibble and alley rats and the trash. But then again, she didn’t. Every time she ate, she would bleed out for days. The calico decided that starving was worse than going through that all again.

She had tried cutting straight through the woods, but there were all sorts of terrifying things there, and the scent of feral, deranged cats. Thus, she had to take a detour through the hills, going trough rather difficult terrain. As Chatsworth pondered over this, she saw a fuzzy shape arise from the hill in front of her. What was it? She couldn’t really tell, not with the state of her eyes. The loner summoned what little strength she had to get to the top of the mound, before collapsing in exhaustion. Here, from the top, she could see what it was clearly.

“A house!”

It wasn’t one she was familiar with, but the structure was still there. Suddenly filled with a new vigor, she trot-walked as fast as she could, almost desperately. Houses meant people. People had food. But most importantly- people likely knew what was wrong with her. As she got closer, she felt more and more energized, her mind full of grandiose rescue. Her walk turned into a canter, into a full on run. The door was right there (they even left it open for her!). She sped through the opening, as fast as she can, they will help her, she will be—

No one was there.

The world crashed back onto her shoulders. Chatsworth curled up onto the cracked, dusty floor, holding back sobs. All of this, for nothing. She was going to die here, alone and starving and tired. The barn was obviously empty, it looked like it had been for lifetimes! To add insult to her injury, she could see the decaying body of a cat near the corner, it’s rotting body mocking her. ’you’ll die here, just like me,’ it’s skeletal head seemed to imply. She turned away from it, not wanting to face what was most likely the inevitable truth.

After a long period of time, still curled up, Chatsworth heard a pebble flick. ’it’s probably nothing,’ she reassured herself, but then she heard it again. It was somecat walking. The calico didn’t have the willpower to get up from her defeated position, but she still decided to make herself known. ”Hello? Is someone there?”

Ridgelight had been many things before…

… alone was a first.

Leaving the clan’s territory had been easy. She had done it many times, to explore the other territories. This however… this was the first time that she had left, realising that she couldn’t return. For once, the clan once behind her, that would have helped her… wouldn’t.

It was a painful realisation.

She padded wearily through WindClan’s territory. Her ears flicking at every sound. Her nose working overtime to catch any hint of a scent that might signal a patrol. Her hazel eyes caught sight of a rabbit. Plump and grazing not far from her. She licked her lips as she stalked forward, taking the chance.

It continued to graze as she crept slowly through the long grass. Lunging towards it as its ear twitched for a moment. Her claws found it’s flank as it tried to bolt. Blood was already dried on it’s flank. Her heart pounded as she brought it’s end swiftly, then bolted with her prize away from the grasses.

A large structure rested in the distance. The rabbit’s weight heavy on her jaws as she carried it in through the askew door and dropped it on the ground. Panting heavily, not even hearing the other cat as she turned to look towards the direction she came from. Eyes working to see if any cats had followed.

Then, she heard her. Ridgelight’s head whipped around to see Chatsworth, swallowing nervously, she laid down by her stolen prey.
“Hello...” She offered in response. “I’m Ridgelight”. She paused, looking at the rabbit, then back to the other cat. She didn’t seem to be any of the sleek windclan cats. “Who are you? Do you live here?”

For a moment Chatsworth thought she was only hallucinating- why would anyone else be in this decrepit old dump? She closed her eyes and sighed, preparing to accept the fact that she was going to die, far away from everyone she ever loved.

”Hello... I’m Ridgelight.”

The scarred calico’s eyes shot open. Someone was here! She pulled herself up into a sitting position, turning around to face the newcomer. She was a calico, though her markings were much duller and were all shades of ginger, unlike Chat’s saturated fur. Ridge Might (or whatever she said her name was) seemed a good deal plumper than her, but was still leaner than the housecats she had seen in her travels, and had a weird scent of cobwebs. A more notable feature, however, was that her belly was distended, in the same way that mothers who just gave birth looked. Did she have kits? If so, where are they? Those questions didn’t seem awfully important to Chatsworth, so she pushed them aside.

“I’m... Rot,”  she nervously introduced. She never gave her actual name to anyone before, so this was no different. The nickname suddenly reminded her of her condition, and she scooted back a couple steps just to make sure Ridge Might was a safe distance away. ”I don’t.... live here, I just wandered in a short time ago. I don’t really have a home. I had, I had a home once. My mother, my siblings, and later on... a no-fur.” Chatsworth didn’t mean to talk about her history to a complete stranger, but ages of isolation meant that the words just spilled out of her mouth. ”They abandoned me once they found out about my... problem.” She stepped out of the shadows to elaborate. All across her face were large, blistering lesions and scabs, and random patches of fur were missing. Her eyes were partially covered by scar tissue, but a sad glint was still visible in them. ”My skin grew too much and my fur too little, and every time I ate I would bleed. So my mother decided she didn’t want me... my no-fur decided he didn’t want me,” the stray monologued. ”But that’s enough talking about myself,” she continued, motioning with her paw towards the rabbit. ”I haven’t eaten in a awfully long time, do you mind if I have a piece of your food?”

As the other cat came closer, Ridgelight could see her thin frame and scarred up face. The descriptions made her wince but also intrigued. How did it happen? How could a cat be born with skin that didn’t seem to work right? Her head tilted curiously, then down towards the rabbit between them. It was large enough.

“Sure. Don’t forget to pluck the fur away first.” She smiled up at Rot, then began to tear away a small patch of fluff. “I’m from ThunderClan, in the forest back there.” she paused, then frowned sadly. “Well, I was.” her voice lowered as she paused to take a few bites of the meal. Her tongue felt clumsy and the normally delicious fresh kill tasteless.

She had stolen it. Doing so had felt wrong, but so did being outside ThunderClan with no hope of return. It hurt her more than she thought to realise that now, her path was so unclear. There was too much to see, how would she do all of it? Would she ever see Hailpaw again? Her chewing paused. Hazel eyes widening.
She could. All she had to do was sneak into RiverClan. Not the easiest thing, but she could at least see Hailpaw again.

Though she struggled at the thought of it being the last time she saw her beloved sister.

OOC: I literally had to rewrite this three times, I give up

Chatsworth felt a weight lift off of her chest as the other cat agreed to share her food. It was a plump, mice rabbit, a creature she had only seen rarely before. She crouched down a short distance away, copying Ridgelight, and began tearing away the fur. A though wormed it’s way into her head. What was she doing? She can’t eat meat! If she did, she’ll start bleeding and scratching, and all the cats would not want to talk to her again! She pushed it aside. She had already spent long enough without eating to no avail, and if she didn’t eat for another week, she will starve. Plus, there were friendly cats here, evidenced by Ridgelight, who will understand her condition. Hopefully.

Chatsworth bit into the hare. It was the tastiest thing she ever ate. A rich, meaty flavor flooded her senses, and sweet-metallic blood oozed out of every bite. Her tail curled around itself in contentment. ”I must thank you for this delicious rabbit,” she purred, completely oblivious to the mental battle happening inside her companion. ”Do you mind telling me about this... Thunder Clan? The woods must... must be pretty nice, I imagine. Are there other “Thunder”s as well?”

“Sure… I can tell you about ThunderClan.” Ridgelight affirmed as she chewed a piece of rabbit slowly. Her thoughts churning.
“Well, there’s the leader, Leopardstar. He’s a big golden tom. He’s fair and kind, a good father… ” She paused. Wondering briefly if Beartooth would have been a good father… or was going to be.

“Then there’s Marshstorm. He’s the deputy, he takes charge when Leopardstar can’t so the clan can always rely on at least one leader.” Her face clouded a bit at the memory of Marshstorm. How his anger seemed to echo in the oncoming storm. Not unjust, she knew that the reason for his anger had been justified. What she had done…

“Pricklebush is the Medicine cat, and my brother. He’s a bit of a harsh tom, but it’s alright. He’s like that with everyone. His apprentice Mosspaw is less like that, more inviting.” Though it hadn’t stopped Mosspaw from looking at her like she was a monster…

“They’re pretty great… I guess. I can’t go back though.” She confessed slowly as she moved away from the rabbit with weary paws. Dejection in her posture as she stared out towards the clans. “I… I want to see the world. They’re all content to stay there, but I just want to see more than this forest, or the lake near it. I want to see what’s beyond this barn, highstones, and beyond.”

Chatsworth listened to her companion explain “Thunderclan”. “That seems... confusing, but acceptable,” she commented. She took another bite of rabbit. The calico continued: ”I travelled a lot before... for the past two years, I think. There’s a lot... a lot of land out there, yes.” She closes her eyes and relived the various wonders that she had seen. While she was on the brink of starvation all her life, that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate the beauty there was. ”There was a massive no-fur den, where those tall, naked creatures lived in massive grey trees. It was very smelly, but filled... filled with cats. Friendly and lazy ones behind invisible barriers, and mean, n-nasty ones on the street. Also... a massive, windswept field, with no trees for as far as you can run. And the entire area was filled with these strange, hard, white trees. They were taller than anything I’ve ever seen. They had three big white leaves that— oddly... oddly enough— spun around like a tail. I have no idea what those were.”

”But the most beautiful... beautiful place was a massive lake,” Chatsworth confessed. ”There was a forest on most of it’s banks, and a massive meadow in the last quarter. These big, high mountains stretched across one side, and a rolling plain... on the other. It was truly beautiful. When you looked through the water, you can see the sun dazzling on the lake floor. The trees were so big you could fit an whole clowder in one. Unfortunately, there were these... nasty dogs around, and they would bite you if you went too far in the forest. Oh, and.. and some vile house cats that call you nasty words and claw at you... they lived near the lake.”

Chatsworth paused for a second before realizing she was rambling. ”Whoops, you got me rambling,” she laughed, ”What I meant... meant to s-say was this: follow your heart. It sounds cheesy, but it’s... true. If you want to explore, do so. Don’t feel chained to cats who, who don’t want to change. You might find whatever you were looking for.”

OOC: I can’t decide on Chatty’s text color, sorry~