starting again [open]

ooc: set before missing kits

The she-cat had walked far this morning. She had given birth to a litter, expecting none of them to survive. She was weak, barely hanging on, but somehow one had survived. A small tom. She was in no condition to raise him, it would just be cruel. She knew herself that she wouldn’t make it much longer. These past few moons had dragged on. It wasn’t living anymore, and she didn’t want him to suffer the same fate. He hadn’t been given a name. She didn’t want to get attached to a kit she would never see again. So she had decided to find him a new family.

She had heard tales of moor-cats who took in outsiders and raised them like their own, and had decided to follow the tales. She found herself on the moor today, holding her son by the scruff. He was only a few sunrises old, and she had given him the sparse milk her body had provided. She didn’t want to leave him all alone, but she waited for the rustling of bushes that signaled cats arriving. She dropped him, galloping off back towards her nest, not allowing herself to look back. She was doing him a favor.

The kit wasn’t able to register what was happening, so he sat where he was, dazed and confused. Also pretty hungry. He yawned softly, large blue eyes looking around for something. What was he supposed to be doing again?

It was becoming a fairly common occurrence for stray kits to show up on the moor, Olivestar had noticed in the past moon or two, and every time that she'd left camp since the first few times, she now wondered if she'd find a lost kit needing a home. The leader's long daily run had led her here, on the far reaches of the territory, where she trotted along, checking the borders and making sure the clan boundary was safe.

The she-cat slowed as kit-scent reached her, and she abruptly changed her course to follow it back to the source, and soon found a single kit sitting out in the open, dazed and clearly lost. A tail tip whisking over a distant hill-top was the only sign of life she could see from any cat that had left him here, and briefly considered following the strange cat. With a shake of her head, she turned back towards the kit, and nosed him over, checking for any injuries.

Looking back over to the hilltop where the mysterious cat had disappeared, she watched for a few moments to see if the cat had returned, but there was no movement aside from the waving of the grass. Turning back to the kit, she gently picked him up by the scruff, and began walking back to the direction of the camp. She knew that she and the Clan could care for him now.

Softbreeze feared everytime she or Olivestar left camp they'd find an abandoned kit. It seemed this fear wasn't in vain. "Again?" She mused, turning to face her friend as she lifted and approached the small tom. Both she-cats looked up as the sound of pawsteps disappeared. She knew now that the mother was sick by the scent of her. "She won't be returning." Softbreeze murmured.

"She probably won't make it until tomorrow. I can tell she's sick. Greencough, maybe. Exhasution, too. She saved this little one's life," Softbreeze whispered, eyes shiny with tears. "We'll make sure its not in vain."