Car Crash :(

[Setting the scene: Pumpkin's 45 year old owner Oscar is moving from Australia to somewhere relatively near to the clans, and of course, his cat had to come too. Pumpkin is in a comfortable rattan cat carrier in the boot of the vintage-looking jeep]

He stretched his legs out and yawned, it had been a long day and at this point, he was so utterly tired that he couldn't even remember half of it. He lay on his back and clawed the roof of his cage, then tucked his paws underneath himself to take a quick nap. Suddenly the car hit a pothole and Pumpkin was jolted awake, so he yowled in protest. He heard Oscar curse under his breath from the front of the car, but before there was time to doze off again there was the loud wail of a car horn and a screech of tires. All of a sudden, the car swerved violently to the left and tumbled off the road. Glass smashed. The roof of the car was dented horribly inwards. The heat of a fire close by and the distressing smell of human fear. The car came to a stop after rolling down the steep sides of the road as smoke billowed upwards, and Pumpkin felt a sharp pain in his front left paw. He pushed the door of his carrier open, and poked his nose out. Everything seemed okay, so he leapt up onto the the back seat and what he saw next horrified him. Oscar, slumped back in the driving seat, blood covering his chest and the right side of his face and glass littered everywhere. Dead. Oscar was dead. Surely he couldn't be?! He didn't want to admit it, but Oscar was undeniably dead, so he ran. He didn't know where he was going but (blinded by emotion) he kept on running. After a while, he came to his senses, it was almost night- he would need somewhere to sleep, wouldn't he? The nearest place he could see was a large oak tree, so he stumbled towards a nook amidst it's great roots and collapsed, and within no time he fell into a deep, deep sleep...

[I'm thinking that maybe he gets found by a patrol or something looking for the missing kits? It would be cool if he could join Thunderclan but I can't pm yet because I haven't done enough posts so I can't ask ceryn if that's okay yet :( ]

Dappleleaf hobbled along, doing all that she could in the search for the missing kits. Thunderclan had only lost one, Laurelkit, but any clues would be good ones. Recent explorations had appeared to be in vain, even if the old she-cat hadn't given up hope. She probably shouldn't have been out, but nowhere did it say in the warrior code that elders weren't allowed to leave camp. If she had nothing else to do with her time, the least she could do was search for clues on the disappearance of Laurelkit. Slowly she hobbled along, careful as ever. Anything could be lurking in the forest.

The leaves underpaw were crisp and every shade of gold, orange or brown. She was glad that the heatwave was over, but the colder weather still worried her. Ice was one of her worse fears: she hated anything that made it more difficult of dangerous to walk, as she already had issues with her twisted paw and stiff muscles. Her fear of slippery surfaces almost matched her fear of dogs. Even just thinking of the horrible beasts brought a shiver with it, that was accompanied with horrible memories. Luckily, when the dogs had attacked camp back in Greenleaf, she was one of the many still at the Gathering. She couldn't trust herself not to flee at the sound of their barking, and she would never forgive herself if that happened and her clanmate got hurt because she wasn't there to help them.

Dogs and ice and all things horrible on her mind, she jumped several fox-lengths away when she heard a rustle. Her heart sped up as she cautiously crept forwards to inspect it. The sound seemed to have come from the gnarled roots of a huge old oak. Mind racing, she looked closer. It might've just been prey or another small animal. But what she found shocked her.

A cat.

Curled up, asleep looking as if his slumber was disturbed by horrible nightmares. He carried no clan-scent and (much to her disappointment) no kit-scent either. Was he a loner? No. His fur was far too well groomed and he looked quite well-fed. A Kittypet. What was a house cat doing in the forest. Still not wanting to wake him, she breathed in deeper, hoping for more of an explanation. Monster. Thunderpath. FIRE. Panicking just a little, she gently prodded him with her paw. He couldn't do much harm, could he?

Pumpkin jerked violently awake,eyes wide open scanning his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was. Then the events of yesterday rushed back to him and an immense wave of greif hit him like a brick wall. Determined not to show how upset he was, he sat up swiftly and all of a sudden realised that there was a cat sat right in front of him. He jumped up and yowled, on edge. "Wh-Who are you?" He panted...

Jumping yet again when the tome awoke, Dappleleaf scolded herself for being so skittish. Cautious was good, but being this jumpy and on-edge wasn't normal for her. "I am Dappleleaf of Thunderclan," she said, her voice breaking through the quiet pause after his question. Both cats voices cut harshly throughout the crisp leaf-bare air, with the birds and prey still mostly asleep. "Who are you?" Even if she were still in her prime, she wouldn't have attacked a sleeping cat. He was a trespasser, yes, but looked as if he didn't even know how to hunt for himself.

Cats who lived outside the clans always intrigued her: Fernsway had never shared who her father was, but she had a feeling that he may've not been in Thunderclan. Why else would her mother never tell her? It didn't matter now though - she had been taken in by Alderpatch and Featherstep when her mother dies, and they were all the parents she needed. Apart from the fact that they were now in Starclan. She still had adopted kin, but since she lost Doeskip she had been distancing from them a little. Fernskip especially - her name was enough, but she matched her deceased mate so well in personality that Dappleleaf didn't know if she could stand it.

"Uhm... I'm Pumpkin" He saw the she cat's expression change to a look of fascintation and confusion as soon as he started speaking. Why was she so confused? "Why are you looking at me like that... Is there a Crocodile behind me or something?" He tilted his head to the side, confused. " And what on earth is Thunder-cult or whatever you said?"

Pumpkin... An unusual name, but she wasn't expecting anything that she would deem as 'normal' for a Kittypet. The way he spoke, on the other hand, confused her. His voice carried an accent that she didn't at all recognise, and combined with his out there vocabulary, she had a little trouble picking apart what he was saying. This wasn't the first time she had come across cats with different accents, however: when the Great Flood washed them away from the forest, they had eventually met the Tribe cats. They were unusual not only in their customs but also their accents. But his voice definitely wasn't a Tribe cat's. She hadn't noticed the confusion clearly showing on her face was so apparent until he continued talking.

Crocodile? Cult? She listed off the words she didn't know. "Oh no, it's nothing, I promise, and there's nothing behind you. I'm not going to pretend I know what a cult is, but I'm part of Thunderclan. We're just a group of cats who live together. This is our territory." She indicated to the forest floor and the trees surrounding them. "You do know about wild cats, don't you?" The slight look of confusion that clouded his expression made her think possibly otherwise.

He thought for a second. “No, I can’t say I have heard of wild cats living together. Although I have seen wild kangaroos hopping about together, so I have a vague Idea of what you mean...” There was a bit of an awkward silence, then Pumpkin said “ Shall we just sit here or...?”

At this point, she didn't even try to understand what Pumpkin was saying. She just vaguely nodded as if she knew what he meant. After a short, slightly awkward pause, he spoke again. "Oh, yes of course! Sorry, come with me, if you want to, that is." She said in response. Would it be a good idea to bring him back to camp? He wouldn't exactly be any danger to the clan. But would Nettlestar approve? The new leader hadn't been in charge long enough for the elder to know how she would take it. Hoping for the best, Dappleleaf led Pumpkin through the territory, towards camp.

"So what brings you here?" The mottled she-cat asked a little cautiously: from what she had detected from his scent, it was probably something to do with monsters or the Thunderpath. For some cats, the dangerous stone path carried traumatic memories. 

He padded along after her, "Well my owner Oscar was moving from australia, which is across the other side of the world from here, and... Well the car (cars are those big hunks of metal which go zooming along the road)... I-It crashed and..." He'd pause, struggling to contain his emotion "... Oscar is dead."

"I'm so sorry for your loss..." Dappleleaf said sombrely. She knew what it was like to loose a loved one. Oh, she knew far too well. Although, it was strange to her that Pumpkin cared for a Twoleg so much. But if he had loved and lost Oscar, then she would definitely sympathise with him, even if she thought that kittypets could be a little strange. Well, he's an ex-kittypet now, she thought sadly. They walked in silence the rest of the way, Dappleleaf appreciating the early birdsong. It wasn't long before they reached camp, and the elder stepped forward. "It would be best if I went in first," she said quietly: she knew many of her clanmates wouldn't take kindly to a stranger walking straight into camp. "You wait here, and I'll go fetch Nettlestar."

[I think we should make a follow-up topic where Pumpkin meets Nettlestar in Thunderclan camp. So I think this is the end of the topic? You can reply if you want though :)]

[Okay yeah do you want to post in the thunderclan camp?]