Where are we? (Open)

Nightstar was not happy. Anger roiled in his belly, along with a dull ache that would sometimes become almost searing from the belly between his legs before it disappeared again after eating his next meal. He found that the teeth that bit at his back wound had steadily faded, but still felt raw, but this time it was accompanied by a scratchy sensation and a tightness that wrapped around his torso and belly, he didn't know what it was, and couldn't even look to see. The torture didn't end, a translucent object was around his head, a clear unobstructed view only straight ahead of him, while everything else was obstructed so much so he couldn't even groom himself.

A low growl emanated from the tom's throat as he stared past the cold, straight branches, where he could sometimes see other cats, but he could hear and smell them just fine aside from the scent of blood, kittypet food, and high tinny sounds which sounded what a kittypets collar would sound like. A newly trimmed ear flicked, and Nightstars mood soured, even more, angered that they had sliced one of his ears, only evident to him by the soreness of it.

He hated it here.

After being captured, things had been a blur. Flamegaze knew just enough to know that he deeply, deeply resented the twoleg that currently had its' paws wrapped around his middle, coo'ing as if it were trying to soothe the Riverclanner struggling to break free. Somethign had stung the back of his neck with a sharp clawprick of pain, and even a few minutes later it stung fiercely. He hissed and spat, to no avail as the twoleg carried him back toward the rows of strange dens with their strange shiny gray vines enclosing them. Other cats were in the cages, some with strange, unfamiliar scents and wearing weird things around their necks that made noise when they moved. Others... Clan cats, which Flamegaze tried very hard not to think about as he was set into his own nest and the entrance firmly closed before he could stagger to his paws. The back of his neck still burned, what had they done to him? And the other cats he could see...

"You're awake? Whatever they did to you had you knocked out for some time, Shadowclanner." He called to the dark tom with the white thing around his head. He looked no less thrilled than Flamegaze did to be here.

Dawnfeather was curled up in the corner of her cage, absentmindedly flicking her ear- her snipped ear. She’d- she hadn’t been happy to be taken, but she’d trusted the Twolegs to be kind, like the ones she’d known so long ago, when she was kitnapped for the first time- but they weren’t. It hurt. And more than that she didn’t like it. The lack of symmetry. It ate at her in a way she didn’t understand- unbeknownst to the golden molly, it seemed she’d inherited her uncle’s love of symmetry and dislike of facial scars, in any form.

Then- a voice, and Dawnfeather slowly picked her head up off her paws, eyes fluttering. It seemed to come from a ginger and white tom- wait- he mentioned the Clans? Another Clanner, one just within her limited range of vision! And he was talking to…

Dawnfeather stood and pressed herself against the wire (wire, something else that reminded her of the too-long time spent away from SkyClan) trying to get an angle at which she could see both captured cats. A… black ShadowClanner? With something around his neck- a collar, maybe? It didn’t look like the ones kittypets usually wore, though.

“Hey-“ she called, trying to get their attention. “I’m Dawnfeather. SkyClan. You?” She was too far from either tom to get an accurate reading on their scent… and her nose had never been particularly strong anyways. By pressing herself against the wire, she was able to just make them out. “Does anyone know how many of us are here?” There was some chatter of kittypets, but she ignored it. She’d- she’d thought her knowledge of Twolegplace would’ve come in handy… but she’d never been here. It was depressing.

Sycamoreblossom sat in the corner of her twoleg cage, growling to herself. These twolegs had been very rough with her, not that she had given them much of a choice. She had been able to draw blood from one of them, which was repaid with them cutting off a chunk of her ear, among other things. The irritable Thunderclan cat tried to tune the sounds of other cats out, though a familiar voice seemed to cut through the chatter. "Echopaw?" The warrior was instantly at the edge of her cage, trying her best to get a good look at the apprentice. That was him! She had always thought his manner of speaking was very annoying, but having a familiar face trapped here with her made Sycamoreblossom feel more at ease.

The Thunderclanner's eyes shot around to the other caged cats, maybe there were others here. Her gaze traveled to a black tom with weirdly shaped collar on his neck. "Pff-" Sycamoreblossom couldn't hold back the absolute flood of laughter that escaped as she watched the leader of Shadowclan, caged! "Look at you! The big scary Shadowclan leader, captured by twolegs and made into their little toy! What a sight this is!" In any other circumstance she would have held her tongue. Nightstar was a very scary cat, even before he gained his position as leader, but something about him being trapped in a cage and unable to go for her throat gave the she-cat a bit of misplaced confidence. "I guess becoming a leader doesn't give you any special perks, but then again you seem to be the only leader that got captured. Guess that's a sign from Starclan, eh?"

A large kit, nearly the size of an apprentice, stood scrunched up against the back of his cage. Seemingly, he had awoken as the... 'clan' cats were speaking. His mother, rest her soul, had spoken of strange clans that inhabited the forest before... well before everything had happened. Cats were scared, and violent, and then he was taken by the, he had heard the term twolegs? Twolegs then. His ear, and lip, and belly stung, and at least two of those were the twolegs doing, so he was firmly in camp 'twolegs are not great'.

Then there was chatter, way too much chatter. Dumb things about the clans, making fun of each other... one was some sort of leader? He didn't care. All he really wanted was to make everything quiet, twolegs had all the things going, all the time. There was always noise... or light. Well, he had had enough. His mom had said at some point that clanners were decent, well he guessed he would have to spell this out to the ones in the nearby cages. Cautiously approaching the edge of his enclosure, cone bumping against the bars, the kit spoke harshly. "Quiet down! Ma told me other cats had manners, guess she was wrong. Some of us are trying to sleep." Golden eyes pierced the bars, searching for those speaking, and finding only flashes of fur. The tom couldn't quite tell if they were in the backs of their cages, or if they were just on his sides. It didn't matter, he just wanted some quiet.

Nightstar grumbled but remained silent for the majority of the ongoing conversations, his irritation steadily mounting. A warrior goaded and laughed at him, and he did not care for it, then a kit spoke up, calling for some quiet. Finally, a cat that had sense, and while he'd be happy to listen and stay quiet, he couldn't let the disrespect towards him slide. "I suggest you hold your tongue, warrior. I may not be able to maul you, but your words will be remembered. Then we shall all see how cocky you are when I'm out of here. Consequences aren't always immediate. So unless you want to cause problems for yourself later I suggest you listen to the kit. It has more sense than you seem to have." Nightstar growled his very bones rumbling with his anger and irritation. Sighing heavily, he let his growling cease. "Maybe you should all direct your energy to figuring out how to get out of here. Be productive, do as Dawnfeather says, take count of the clan cats that are here." Nightstar meowed, maybe getting them to do something that wasn't being lost and confused.

These cats had no leader to guide them, should he be that? He was Shadowclans leader, but these cats were not his cats, they had their own leadership back home... but if this is the state they devolved into without consistent guidance and routine, then he better hoped and prayed that Leopardsun hadn't been captured. Lest his clan devolve into... this, and a clan as big as his? That was a very dangerous thing. The tom shrugged inwardly, if they wanted him to lead him, he supposed he would, it'd build good relationships with them, something that he could possibly use in the future to his advantage. He'd let them decide.

"Flamegaze, of Riverclan." He introduced himself to Daenfeather. Skyclanner, who wasn't as big as some of her clanmates. The other two who had roused themselves and were chattering seemed to be Thunderclan, and Flamegaze couldn't help his pale gaze narrowing ever so slightly in annoyance. "Oh, shut up. The twolegs will do the same to you, just watch." He scoffed at the laughing she-cat dismissively.

"Kit's right. I'd love to get out of here before they do to me whatever they're doing to you guys." He nodded at the Shadowclanner and the seeming loner.  "Why have the twolegs taken us, anyways? Seems like there's quite a few of us..."

There was a sudden explosion of chatter- the black cat was ShadowClan’s leader, apparently- and Dawnfeather felt an unaccustomed spike of irritation. “Please,” she mewed, obviously addressing the rude she-cat, ”If we don’t work together who knows what the Twolegs will do to us? Has anyone else been kitnapped before?” The- ShadowClan’s leader began to talk, and in respect Dawnfeather momentarily fell silent… wait, what? Despite their circumstances she felt a little flicker of warmth inside her chest. No one had ever actually listened to her idea and told others to do as she said- normally she’d be flustered, but since she wasn’t being expected to really do any leading in this scenario… she decided she liked this black tom-cat.

The golden she-cat dipped her head respectfully to Flamegaze, flicking an ear at how he talked to the rude she-cat… he didn’t have to be that rude. “I don’t know,” she mewed honestly in reply to his question. “I’ve never seen so many cats in a nest. If we’re going to escape, we’re going to need to know each other’s names… ThunderClanners, ‘kit, who, exactly, are you?”

She pointedly did not ask the ShadowClan leader his name… it’d be rude to admit that she didn’t know it.