The Place Where I Belong [Open]

How good it felt, the grass under his paws and the well-known scents of the pine forest and the clan he called home. He never thought he would find himself longing for them so terribly bad.

On his neck, he still felt the leather of the cursed collar, from which still hung part of the darned…whatever the twolegs called the vine-like thing they used to tie him up after only the Dark Forest knows how many times he destroyed their den in futile attempts to escape. They seemed to have grown tired of trying to soften him and turn him into another one of the pampered fat cats they loved to have around, and for once he wasn’t locked inside that cold space with water everywhere instead, probably because he broke the white smooth thing with a whirlpool of its own inside…he never had seen so much water come out from such a tiny object, that’s for sure.

That gave him a chance, and he wasn’t about to waste it. He chewed and clawed at the vine-like thing all night, he could taste his own blood from his injured gums and feel the numbness on his teeth and claws thanks to how long he spent on said task. He would need to find a way to rid of the collar later on.

So tortuous were the moons spent stuck in that den, and he wouldn’t be surprised to hear his jaws and claws were too worn down and injured from what he had done to escape for him to return to his duties as warrior anytime soon, but he couldn’t care less this time. He was back, and that was all he cared about.

He walked rather slowly in camp, his paws too numb and tired still to allow him to give the secure and prideful step so characteristic of him. He took a deep breath, eyes closed as he finally allowed himself to relax “I’m home…”.

Foxfire pushed himself from the warrior's den, giving his pelt a shake as he took in a deep breath. He hadn't sure how being a warrior again would feel, but it was...Nice. He was free, in some sense. He was content with just doing his daily patrols and the simper duties that was expected of him. It wasn't much but that was the point - nothing was on his shoulders anymore and it was glorious. He let out a soft yawn, before movement caught the corner of his vision. A stranger stood in the middle of the camp, seeming content with a collar around their throat. A kitty-pet. He nervously started to approach, not wanting to pick a fight but the cat couldn't be expended to just stand there and...Suddenly he hesitated, something bothering him. He...He knew this cat. Why did he know...

"...Hawkstrike?" he breathed after a moment, confusion crossing his face. He was...He was back. The warrior had gone missing moons ago - but in the wake of the other disappearances of cats just leaving SkyClan, there hadn't been much to do about it. There hadn't been enough cats to investigate every disappearance that was happening, to find out if it had been the cat's choice or not. But...He supposed if Hawkstrike was here, that meant it hadn't been his choice. "You...What happened to you?" he asked, taking a step forward to give the tom a nervous sniff, trying to decide if he should call out for Spottedstar and Wolfcall or just get some answers first...

Hawkstrike’s eyes opened when he heard a familiar voice, his head turning to face the owner almost immediately. It looked like his time as a forced kittypet wasn’t enough to make his guard lower even a bit, or make his senses and quick reflexes get rusty.

Forest green eyes meet pale yellow ones as he took a second or two to put his thoughts in order “Foxfire…it has been a while, hasn’t it?” He smiled at him, accidentally showing the damaged gums and bloody mouth he had, only to realize too late and quickly try to hide it, hoping that by some miracle, the other warrior failed to notice “A patrol on the Thunderpath. A twoleg caught me off guard as he stopped its monster and pulled me inside by force. Tried to turn me into a kittypet for moons, even placed this cursed collar on my neck. Took me some time, but I finally escaped the den and came back home”.

Hawkstrike couldn’t help but frown during most of his tale. Admitting tone taken off guard by a twoleg, captured and then having to endure being treated like a kittypet? He would’ve preferred to chew on a large chunk of miss soaked in mouse bile…but he had to explain his situation sooner than later anyways, the collar around his neck being obvious to anyone that came near, so no need to delay it.

“Do you have any idea of how to get rid if this collar?” The wounds on his paws and mouth could wait. All he wanted at the time was to get rid of the degrading item around his neck.

She heard voices.. A brown ear twitched as Flowerthorn stirred from her slumber. She couldn't ever fall asleep and stay asleep could she? No she was a light sleeper and if anything sounded odd she was alert and ready for whatever.

At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Flowerthorn righted herself instantly. Carefully she pushed her way out of the warriors den. Blue eyes landing on Foxfire first and then the cat he was speaking too.

The cat stank of twolegs and he had a collar around his neck. She wanted to recoil and Chase this kittypet out of their camp but something was familiar about the pelt and the voice. Carefully the pale warrior moved forward. The apprentice sized warrior stopping just behind her friend.

"Hawkstrike?" Her voice came out a little harsher than she intended. She eyes the collar with a bit of a dirty look. Was it really him? The last time she saw him was before Mistyrain died... At least she believed. She didn't really pay much attention after the deputies death.

Foxfire listened quietly as Hawkstrike explained what exactly had transpired, his ears flickering back at the thought of how much hardship the warrior had been to just to find his way home again, "Wow...I'm happy that you are back with us, thought," he murmured. "There is a lot you missed - Tinystar stepped down and is an elder, Spottedstar is now the leader and..." he shook his head, disbelief in the thought of how much had happened so quickly. He wasn't even around for any of the trouble with ShadowClan, was he? "There is a lot to get you caught up on," he finally said, ears perking at the sound of paws as he glanced over to see Flowerthorn peering from the den before she padded over. "Seems so, Flowerthorn!" he said, before turning to stare at the warrior and the collage around his neck. "Hm...Maybe with enough force one of us could snap it? I don't think it would be comfortable for you, doing so, but I'm guessing you just want it off at this point..."

The chocolate tabby listened carefully as Foxfire gave him a quick summary of a section of what had gone down during his absence, a quick mix of a frown and relief crossing his face for a second or two as he took in the change in leadership “Spottedstar…he is being a good leader, I’m hoping?” He didn’t want to sound rude nor doubt the new leader’s abilities on the position he held, but he didn’t have enough time to really get to know the tom, so he still had some…concerns. At least he no longer had to worry about a midget that couldn’t even climb a tree potentially ruining the clan’s reputation.

One of Hawkstrike’s ears quickly moved as soon as he heard the voice of another approaching cat. It was a voice he recognized, albeit a bit more mature than he remembered it.

His face turned not long after, his gaze meeting with Flowerthorn’s blue one “Oh, Flowerpaw, nice to see you again as well” He didn’t even thought about the chance of her becoming a warrior after all the moons he was missing, probably due to her not being much bigger than she was when he went missing. She still looked like an apprentice at first glance. He allowed the harsh tone on her voice to slide instead of allowing it to affect him. After all, he would’ve reacted the exact same way should they swap places.

Then he heard her new warrior name and his ears dropped “O-oh…my most sincere apologies, Flowerthorn”.

He was very grateful when Foxfire seemed to skip over his mistake, a dressing the collar he had “I will only be comfortable when this thing comes off, I have endured it for far too long and can’t wait to rid of it” He would greatly prefer having to endure a couple days with a sore neck and even some cuts than keep the collar on him any longer. How comfortable it could be for him to get it off was the last of his concerns.

Flowerthorn let the fact that he called her an apprentice roll off of her. She understood that he wouldn't have known at all, well until Foxfire had called her by her warrior name. "It's alright. You haven't seen me in many moons, and well... I didn't really grow." She wasn't gonna go over the fact that she was forever stuck looking like an old apprentice.

Turning her attention back to the collar.. She didn't blame him at all for wanting it off. She would do anything and everything she could to get one off of her if she had one on. Blue eyes looked over to Foxfire. "Do you want to take it off or should I?" She didn't know who it would be better to take the collar off. She hasn't ever dealt with a situation like this before.

"Spottedstar is doing a fine job leading, I have faith in him," Foxfire replied, perhaps a little curt in that regards. He...Did suppose he had a colored view of Spottedstar, he had been his mentor and he wouldn't be quick to assume that he could do no wrong but...He had done a good job dealing with the drama of the situation with ShadowClan, even at the cost it had come to some. He fell silent as Flowerthorn and Hawkstrike shared a few words, taking the moment to study the collar again. He had never seen such a thing like it, only stories about how Twolegs would put on these strange...Well, collars to mark what cats belonged to them. It had no place on the warrior's neck, but he wasn't sure how best to go around getting rid of it other than just trying to snap it.

His ear twitched as he heard Flowerthorn speak up in his direction, glancing back to look at her. Who would give it a shot? That...Was a good question. He knew she was strong despite her small size, he had seen her fighting both cats and predator but he wasn't sure her size would make doing this any...Easier. "Hmmm...I'll give it a shot," he said with a slight shrug, taking a step to Hawkstrike's side as he glanced down at it with a slight frown. "This...Might be uncomfortable, sorry," he murmured as he leaned forward, grabbing the strange item in his mouth. It was...So strange feeling, unlike anything he had ever felt as he sank his teeth into it the best he could and tugged.

He could feel it shift with him - that is until the other side of it caught Hawkstrike's throat and could no longer be moved. Bracing a paw on the tom's shoulder, he yanked his head backwards in an effort to get it to give. Suddenly, after a few tries, there was a tearing sound as the collar broke - sending Foxfire fumbling onto his back as he hadn't steadied himself to prepare for it suddenly giving away like it had. A grunt escaped him as he rolled to his paws, spitting out the torn collar to the ground as he gave it a glare. "Well, that is that," he said as he poked the collar with a paw and glanced at the warrior. "You okay, Hawkstrike? How does it feel now that you are free from it?"

Hawkstrike allowed the two cats to debate between themselves about the collar he was wearing, trying to be patient and show no sign of frustration, even if this tail seemed to refuse the orders of his head and kept flicking quickly and somewhat aggressively. And so, he couldn’t help but smile with some relief when Foxfire finally stepped forward to help him out.

“Nothing can be more uncomfortable than having this thing on….” He said in almost a whisper, barely loud enough for the other cats to hear as he steadied himself upon guessing the approach that the ginger tom was about to take.

And so, the tugging began.

Hawkstrike aided him as much as possible as his tired and sore claw attempted to dig into the soil beneath, helping him to tug on the opposite direction of Foxfire more effectively. The more they tugged, the tighter the collar felt around his neck, as if it was refusing to let him go. As if this thing somehow had a will of its own and refused to give him the freedom he so desperately wanted to have.

But being s stubborn as always, this only worked to make him pull harder. He could start to see random dots in his vision as his now burning lungs were restricted from the air they were yelling at him from thanks o the tugging. His neck felt like someone was sinking their claws on it and slashing over and over…and yet he refused to give up or even ask for a break. He was going to get this thing off one way or another.

On the last pull, he started to feel dizzy due to lack of oxygen, his body felt like it was about to lose this fight against the cursed twoleg item…

And then it snapped…

Just like Foxfire, he was stent tumbling, just in the opposite direction. When his body hit the ground, it forced whatever air was still trapped inside his lungs to leave through his mouth and nose, making him cough loudly. Having air flow back into his body became both a relief and a torture as his burning lungs and irritated throat received it. His neck was aching horribly, making him want to lay down and not move it…

But the collar was gone…the thought made him let out a raspy triumphant chuckle, which soon turned into more coughing.

Deerfrost padded out of the warriors den to see a unfamilar cat. He sat down and listened. Hawkstrike was his name and he was taken by twolegs? Ok.