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Post by Dawn on Jun 5, 2011 11:27:01 GMT -5
* FATE
[/size][/font] It's just, it's just
I can't seem to fall asleep these days
They had been near disbanding when she had fled into the trees; far from Delirium and into thick forestland. She hadn't known that they would have let her go, but even so she could not have risked the shame and pain of it all, and so had fled that night under cover of darkness. It had started a light drizzle as she ran, painstakingly slow because of her heavy stomach, and now that she lay in thick wet grass it was pouring down on her ebony pelt.
Her breath came in short rasps, and pain was everywhere, from tail tip to head. She had considered that she might give birth soon; it had been just barely two turns of the moon since she thought she had begun to grow fat, but it was hard to be sure. She had never witnessed the birth of kittens before, but she was not afraid; life was instinct, from what began two moons ago up until now, with a slight contraction wracking her stomach.
It there ever was a more miserable day in her life than the day of Ruin's death, it was today. Suffering and anger had brought forth death on that day; but today, whether she wanted it or not, from suffering would come life. What could be a worse place to breathe your first breath than in a freezing wet forest between nowhere and somewhere? I'm in no shape to take care of myself, let alone my kits... She thought agonizingly, lifting her drenched head, yellow eyes searching for help from anyone, anywhere... Rain continued to pour down, her black pelt sticking to her thin body, heaving with laborious breath. There was no other option; there was no one who could help her. More than ever, Fate felt completely alone.
An hour later, the rain had subsided again to a heavy drizzle, and her stomach had subsided to stillness. Three kittens, two toms and a she-cat, lay at her belly. They were tiny, works of art, with rounded bright pink noses, ears flat against their furry, damp heads, eyes squeezed shut. Fate gazed at them with admiration for their will to live for a short while, her owl yellow gaze glowing, until the largest of the two toms, a pale gray, reared away and gave a little shriek with his gasping pink mouth. She realized then that it was cold here, very cold, and there was little she could do to shield her kittens from the rain, as Fate herself was thin and poorly nourished. Sorry to take away from their anxious feeding, she stood and created a roof over them with her body, after a few weak attempts to stand. She was shaky, nearly as weak as her kits, and it struck fear into her. How could she carry all three of her kittens to a safe area?
Slowly, she took the litter runt, a small tortoiseshell female, in her jaws. She found herself unable to carry more than one kit at a time, so she nudged the two males under some tall, green leaves, hoping they would be shielded a bit. She had spotted a dip in the ground twenty fox lengths away, at the base of a tree with an opening in it's trunk, and hoped that there would be some warm, dry pine needles inside the den. The ginger tom and gray tom cried as she diligently packed their sister the distance, but Fate ignored them as best she could, continuing on. It seemed a long time before she reached the little hollow, though it hadn't been far. Fate quickly poked her head into the opening, tasted the air for predators, and then plopped her daughter into the dry pine needles and old leaf fall within the tree. It didn't seem good enough, and the earth beneath the old foliage was damp, but it was the best she could do.
Fate trotted back to her two sons, gaining strength from repetition, and scooped up the ginger. He gave a grunt-like squeak as she picked him up a bit too quickly, and she slowed her pace while he quieted, then continued at a trot back to the hole. The black queen left the small, amber dusted kit with his littermate, then returned, most tiring of all, for the dampest but largest kit, the dusty gray one. Her paws were sore from tramping over unfamiliar earth, but Fate did not let out a complaint as she dropped her last little one into the makeshift shelter.
By the time this was completed the sky had grown dim, though from the storm or time she wasn't sure. The only of her three kits moving about was the ginger male, which seemed reasonable as the female was the smallest and the other male had spent the longest at the mercy of the storm. She curled her thin ebony form around all of them, and began first to frantically lick the large male, changing occasionally to rapidly wash the female. The tortoiseshell gave a low whine and struggled under her mother's worried tongue but seemed to be stronger, nuzzling into Fate's belly. The gray tom was quiet and tired, and for him she worried, but he seemed to have the greatest strength of all, and after licking all of her kits dry, she fell into a light sleep, dreaming of the strong warrior she hoped he would someday become.
The family of four, three only a day old but still breathing, woke to a dawn that chilled Fate to her bones. She curled even more tightly around the kittens, still unnamed, as the rising sun's cold light crept over their pelts and sent them into fits, writhing and shrieking. They seemed to have a perception that morning was here and it was not a hopeful morning. Fate's hungry gaze scanned the clearing through the opening, her ears flat against her head, and then, by luck, the breeze sprang up, and she thought she scented something. The smell of other cats, a large, healthy group of them.
Without thinking, Fate gave a quiet yowl, toward the direction which scents came. Her kittens added their voices, mewling in desperation and confusion, alarmed by what they could taste of their mother's scent. She crept backward into the hollow, watchful, cautious, and kept watch from there, wondering if a scent was coming closer, or if it was just her imagination...
out of character// I know it's a little early to post a role play, I just wanted to get this up while I have inspiration and time for Fate. I'm not sure what Lion is doing but I'm hoping that Fate and her kits can join Celestialclan and take on warrior names, though I'll have to arrange some stuff with the kit's names and all that. Anyway, if you have a Celestialclan warrior, once role play gets started and stuff we can see about your cat finding Fate. (:
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Post by lionpaw on Jun 8, 2011 20:33:31 GMT -5
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The gentle thrum of paws broke the hissing of rain in the early morn, still dark without the risen sun. The trees were thick and ominous here at the edge of the forest, which made it hard for any to pass through the woods at any speed. Nevertheless, the single feline present in the woods at this hour, and most hours for that matter, knew its every rock and root and rabbit-hole, so Titianfoot bounded through the underbrush with minimal hindrances. The trees shone with the pale shimmer of rain-fall, the thick foliage overhead allowing the precipitation to come through in small rivulets. The birds were finally waking and beginning their daily chorus and pressed through the dismal storm, though the flame-pointed she-cat cared little for their song. It was just a part of routine, the routine that she was devoted to. She was one of the many warriors of CelestialClan, and unlike many, her duty consumed her life.
No one had asked her to take on this extreme devotion. No one had voted her warrior of the month. But moons ago, she had seen the looks in their eyes as she aided the apprentices in their training, called for warriors to fall back in a better position on a border spat. Relief. They were united, they were not simply a scattered band of fighters trying to hold off the warriors of another Clan while their leader was fighting a more political battle they could not fight themselves. With one simple phrase she had asserted her status as a respected warrior rather than a bratty apprentice, and ever since then the Clan has looked to her for guidance when Cometstar was unavailable. Titianfoot was neither old nor wise, though her practical logic could be attributed to wisdom. She knew what needed to be done. She had known that this forest at the border would need to be patrolled constantly, and he knew that most toms would rather occupy themselves with getting to know she-cats and building a family. Those two lives could not coincide. It hadn't really been so great of a sacrifice, to revoke the possibility of having kits in order to gain respect and take care of her Clan full-time.
A fallen tree obstructed her path and she leapt high, tucking her legs neatly under her. With a thud her limbs rejoined the ground and the elegant feline continued her rounds, parting her jaws every now and then to taste the air through the rain. She had a good view of the territories from here, the flat moors of ZephyrClan stretching before her giving excellent visibility. If ever an intruder so much as flinched towards the forest, she would know. Every day she spent patrolling the border and hunting in anticipation, and yet she seldom had any trouble to deal with. Some days the sheer lack of anything to do and anyone to talk to nearly drove her mad, so she would return to camp and find menial tasks that needed to be done before returning to her favorite thick forest to hunt or patrol.
Her frustrated huff broke the silence and startled the birds into flight, and then the quiet sound of rainfall descended once more, surrounding her, pressing in on her, absorbing her. Sometimes she wondered, if no one ever saw her, did she even exist? But she knew she could not vanish, no matter how much it seemed like she already had. She once was so involved with others, so involved with Cometstar... but she had to serve her Clan without fault now, redeem herself in the eyes of CelestialClan, and herself. Titianfoot was the lone watchtower often time, defending her citizens dutifully at a detriment to her own social life at all hours. She remembered her days as a younger warrior, spent with most of her Clan, and especially with Cometstar. Always extra time with Cometstar. And now she was a knight of CelestialClan, doing all she possessed in her power to serve and care for her Clanmates.
All of a sudden her trajectory slid to a sudden halt, ears flicking about on high alert. She stepped forward again, warily, making an effort not to make any noise. The sun glinted off her lightly amber-toned face, legs, and tail amid the creamy body, doing little to camouflage her vibrant pelt. "Who goes there?" she meowed lightlly, harks folding back against her poll. She had no objections to letting the occasional loner slip by the border and through their territory to safety, so long as no prey was stolen, but rogues and cats of another Clan were another matter. It was harder to trust them. The she-cat lowered her head and narrowed her lapis lazuli optics, peering through the rain that began to soak through the protective top-coat of her pelt. One ear swiveled forward when the sound of faint mewling broke through the rain. She paced forward slowly and silently, cautious not to make any noise. Then the scent reached her - blood, milk, and the faint scent of Delirium. Titianfoot immediately bristled at this, but smoothly stepped through the undergrowth to take a look at her findings.
A queen, and three small kits tucked away in a small burrow beneath on of the fir trees. Her tail wavered in confusion as she came towards the family of four. "Do you need help?" the ginger-pointed warrior meowed softly, crouching so she was level with the cats.
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Post by Dawn on Jun 8, 2011 21:18:49 GMT -5
* FATE
[/size][/font] It's just, it's just
I can't seem to fall asleep these days
Had it been wrong to cry out for help? In her training with her father, Ruin, he had always taught her that it was wrong to cry out in battle, even when stricken by death; to cry out was to complain, to show emotion was to show weakness and fear. Fate's yellow eyes flickered in the gray light of early morning, gazing with a fire through the mist. He had cried out when he died. That cry would haunt her all through her life, the only time she had seen Ruin's weakness; that cry would always haunt her, even though killing was life, was part of birth; his anguish and pain would always ring in her soul. She was not meant to kill.
There were some things that she could not escape, and words he had spoken were easily remembered. Her cry would only bring the enemy to her, and this thought filled her mind with the horror of a clan-cat predator destroying her newly found family. Like the rainclouds that were often scattered throughout the greenleaf sky, she had pulled inward and found unity within herself through her kits, born in that cold, harsh setting. But all of that could be taken away from her if she allowed herself to be seen. If she allowed another too close, that could mean a the end of four lives that she was not yet ready to see go. With this reasoning her body sparked with heightened senses, the senses of a mother protecting her young. Not the smallest of mice moved without her hearing it; not the quietest of voices called without her ears twitching. The wind drifted on and off, and she took all she could from the scents on it.
Then, with those scents, was the scent of a newcomer. The sound of a call that was light, but behind it an airy authority. Who goes there? Fate's flesh was dotted with bumps beneath her fur, which stood up, her black tail puffed up around her kits. No one but a mother and three who have barely lived a sunrise; go away, look away, do not harm us... Please, do not harm us... She prayed fervently, too frightened to speak. She was a formidable fighter, having been of Delirium; but she was thin, underfed, and having given birth only the night before, she was far too weak to fight off a healthy warrior. Besides, she couldn't leave her kits to fight to her death; they would die without her anyway. The smallest kit gave a tiny squeak; Fate drew her tongue over the dappled cat's head, willing her silence.
Fate felt her muscles tremble as the scent continued nearer, as the sounds accompanied this scent, that of a female, one that was healthy and well fed. Her eyes were wide and hard as the opposing female crept into sight, a pretty, creamy she-cat with amber dusted markings. She showed caution but little fear; what fear was there to be had of a thin black cat like herself, nestled into foreign territory? Clearly Fate couldn't take her on. Still, instinct reared inside of her and, her fur bristling, she drew her lips back slightly.
The warrior was gentle, however. Fate stared back into her vivid blue lights, her lips slowly drawing back to cover her bright white fangs, tail twitching spontaneously. Her night hued face betrayed no fear as it met the ginger face before it, but within the former Delirium member shuddered with fear and anxiety. "I... I mean no harm..." Her voice was barely heard, soft and broken. She was clearly confused, but after she had relaxed her wildly beating heart a bit she tried again. "I did not mean to trespass... I fled from my home, so that I could bear my kits freely... Please don't hurt my kits..." With pauses between, Fate neglecting to mention that she was from Delirium, she got it out. The other feline had asked if she had needed help. Normally, she would have been too proud or too ashamed to respond directly. She had gained her voice, however, and added quietly, "I don't think they'll last long out here."
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Post by lionpaw on Jun 8, 2011 21:45:20 GMT -5
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Her nostrils flared, the membranous skin expanding to draw in more air to be analyzed. Something was unusual. Strange. Not right. The queen before her said she had to run from her home, and she most certainly had a scent on her that wasn't agreeing with Titianfoot. But where was the danger? Her nares contracted once more as she expelled the air into the atmosphere, having taken from it every particle her body needed. The thing was, she didn't smell any danger, or even any true abnormality. She detected nothing more than herself, the queen, her kits, and the typical scents of the CelestialClan forest around them. Still she did not feel at ease. Her harks flicked about, straining for any sign of unusual happenings, but they detected no signal out of the ordinary. Why, then, did she feel so edgy? The thing was, she was almost always on edge. She had to be, he had to be ready to leap into action at any given moment - whether it be a badger, a fox, or another Clan-cat. Paranoia. That had to be it. It plagued her now and then, most likely having taken root in all the patrols she'd been taking alone as of late. She was so on edge all the time, just waiting for all hell to break loose. Maybe she really was spending too much time on her own, maybe she was starting to lose her mind.
Even now her legs were itching to move again, wanting to resume her patrol even though most days, most weeks it was fruitless. On the upside, she was in incredible shape from all the constant running, and so she seldom needed to stop and rest. She considered her fitness as a requirement of her duty, she would need to be strong to hold off unwanted intruders and she would need to be fast in order to sound the alarm if ever their border was breached. She had gone through a million scenarios in her head, plotting out what they might try and how she might react. She was ready to fight to the death, even if it meant her own, to protect a mass of cats she had been resented by for so long. Did that make her crazy? Hang on, if she was really going crazy she wouldn't be wondering if she was going crazy. Or would she? Who determines all that anyway? A little quirkiness is all right, especially if you lead the existence of a virtual hermit. Isn't it?
She took a deep breath, all the while trying not to give any visual signs that she was trying to calm herself down, or that she needed to. She had a job to do, and it seemed in this case that it was almost done. Just a quick "very well, come with me" and she would be alone again after leaving this family to Cometstar. Her thoughts halted for a moment on his name, her heart thudding hard once before she forced herself to move away from thoughts of him. No, she devoted herself to duty, no time for toms like Cometstar. She was happy to be alone. Left to her thoughts and her solitude, and trying to find peace in a place too peaceful to be conducive to that. She made an effort to muster up a remotely reassuring tone, which was hard since her lyrics so often came out sounding more on the clipped side than she'd originally intended. "Do you know what dangers you so narrowly avoided by coming upon this place first? Had you wandered farther north your reception would have been considerably more violent with TempestClan," she said, forcibly trying to make her words sound gentle in order to avoid giving the impression that she was trying to scare her. That wasn't the case at all. Well, maybe it was. Having company was always awkward now. She just felt strange when others were around, like she was about to do something wrong, make some faux pas and she didn't want them there to witness it. She couldn't seem to act right around fellow felines like she used to. At least the trees didn't judge her. "I can take you further into my territory, to camp where my leader and medicine cat can care for you," she meowed reassuringly, speaking the words so naturally as unquestioned facts are. For of course, she had never questioned her judgment that she would never turn away a cat in honest need. She questioned herself and her beliefs often, she had a lot of time to do so, but this she did not call into doubt. It just made sense to her. It was how things were.
Still, the lack of company was a little trying at times. The loneliness didn't plague her so much anymore, after staying alone for such a stretch of time she had grown accustomed to it and so being social had become the awkward state. She had learned how to occupy herself on her own, but knew not how to entertain the thoughts of others. Even standing before the ebony queen and her kits made her feel awkward, like she was the one out of place here and not she. The very thought was absurd, for she lived here and spent most every waking moment here, and she did not. It was society, really, that she didn't fit into very well. While she may be in the physical presence of others at times, it was in every other sense of the word "alone" she spent her time. Titianfoot straightened herself on her ginger stilts and shook the rain from her pelt. "I can carry two of your kits, if you'd like," she offered gently.
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Post by Dawn on Jun 8, 2011 22:28:36 GMT -5
* FATE
[/size][/font] It's just, it's just
I can't seem to fall asleep these days
The pretty she-cat before her seemed anxious, though her heart, surely, could not be fluttering as much as Fate's. Though the situation seemed hopeful, her body was alive with terror, jaw rigid. She broke from the sharpness and began licking the head of her daughter with quick, clumsy swipes, an obviously nervous behavior. The little kit didn't like this much, pushing back against her ebony mother and curling against her belly. Fate slowed her action and, her tail twitching, turned her gaze back up to Titianfoot. She still did not know her name, though she struck Fate as a very nervous clan warrior. Weren't clan warriors brave and noble, not quite as jittery as this one? Perhaps this was the same as saying all Delirium warriors were heartless. Conrad hadn't been heartless... But then, he hadn't been made of the same stuff as those born in her home. Conrad was something different. I hope some of him will live on in our sons...
Dangers...? Oh, she knew the dangers of the forest. She feared them with her entire being; the snapping jaws of shadows, consuming her pelt; the harsh calls of eagles overhead, ready to devour her kits. She knew full well what was dangerous here; everything. Everything in her life was dangerous, but it hadn't bothered her so much, so erratically, until she had borne these three... Now everything was predatory, and thus so was she, a wild she-fox ready to turn and fight at any moment. Yet it was not these dangers the stranger spoke of; she spoke, instead, of 'Tempestclan.' Fate recalled that there were four clans in the forest, though she knew little to nothing about them. Vertigoclan, Tempestclan, Zephyrclan, and Celestialclan. It would be a good note to make that Tempestclan cats were violent, more like Delirium, and this clan, whichever it was, were charitable. Fate didn't think this was Zephyrclan; if she remembered right, those warriors lived on the moorland. This must be either Vertigoclan or Celestialclan.
Her words didn't frighten Fate. Those that her 'family' spoke with were considerably gruffer and tinged with vicious undertones. And even though her warning was one that put a barb through her heart, she knew that she was, somehow, safe here. This cat had a leader, and what sounded like a real healer, one that could help her with her kits. She was becoming intensely worried about the littlest, who seemed to be sluggish, though had a definite will to survive. And what was best was that there was no question, no choice that need be made by her. No begging, or smalltalk. She could get help, though could she trust these cats? "I didn't know of the dangers," Fate said at last. "I only sought to escape from my home. I know nothing of the territory around here."
Nothing was said for a while after that, as they both seemed alone with their own thoughts. The forest was waking with the rays of sunlight, creeping between leaves and warming the creatures that still slept. She wished heartily to join them; even after that night, she had slept fitfully, waking often, and realized now that she could scarcely keep her eyes open. Then, prodding, her voice woke Fate from the waking slumber she had been in, offering to carry two of her kits. She felt the fur along her back raise at the thought of letting a stranger touch her kits, let alone to be the first to touch them besides herself. After considering it briefly, she rose to her paws, quite shakily. "I'll take her, if that's okay..." Fate mewed of her daughter. Hastily she added, "I haven't named them yet." Then, faintly embarrassed by her dependency, she lifted the small female into her jaws and waited for the warrior to do the same to her sons.
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Post by lionpaw on Jun 10, 2011 11:27:40 GMT -5
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[bic] Titianfoot watched patiently while the queen seemed to mull this over. The ebony vix seemed to be disturbed by her and her offer for assistance, though she was anything but surprised. She remembered the way her own mother behaved during her own kittenhood, and the smothering protection she never seemed to loose. But then again, weren't all mothers that way? She herself often felt that hot, passionate need to protect and nurture CelestialClan as a whole. She tried to imagine herself as a queen, doting over small kittens. She could sense a part of her softening, her duty-hardened defenses softening, but she quickly reprimanded herself. Not a queen was she, but a seasoned warrior prepared to sacrifice anything for the well-being of her Clan. Kits and a family could compromise that. Kittens would take her focus from the Clan and force it on them, altering her love for CelestialClan and pinning her to an involuntary obsession with her kits. No, her duty is what she must focus on, nothing more. No time for kits, no time for toms. Cometstar popped into her head for a moment, but the thought gratefully dissipated when the queen before her spoke up again.
Titianfoot dipped her head in acknowledgement as the queen rose with her littlest. The feline took notice of the mother's obvious lack in nutrition and made a note to insure she was fed. "Follow closely." she instructed the queen. She made a quick decision and offered her a faint smile. The sensation was strange to feel again, but she thought little of it while she bent down and sniffed at the two tom kits that now mewled in distress without their mother. "Hush, little ones." she meowed softly, allowing them to catch her scent before she nudged the brothers close together. She took them in her jaws and rose with the squealing bundles - one ginger and one gray. The she-cat flicked her tail as a signal to follow and set off into the trees at a quick pace. She was pleased to be moving again, loathing to stand still for too long. Her long limbs stretched far, allowing her to cover ground swiftly. She stepped over each stone and stick she knew with ease, and then remembered she was with a guest. Consciously she looked over her shoulder to be sure the tired vix was following. She was surprised to see that the queen kept up well, but she still worried for her. She tried not to be obvious about it, sure that the loner would be offended if she noticed, and slowed her gait to a less break-neck pace.
As the sun burst through the trees is golden rays, the forest began to wake. As they reached the concealed entrance of camp, she could hear the Clan stirring from their nightly stupor within. She sent a silent thanks to StarClan for allowing them to reach camp before the morning patrol. She was eager to join them. She paused and gingerly set the two toms on the ground at their mother's feet. Titianfoot nodded calmly to the queen and smiled in encouragement, finding she missed smiling at others. She then turned back to the entrance, the knowledge that Cometstar was inside acutely scratching at her mind. "I've brought a queen that requires assistance!" she called to the entrance in warning to whoever sat for vigil that night. Picked the two kittens back up and padded into the camp with a flick of her tail as a signal to the queen. She came into the newly waking camp and set the kits down and paused for the queen to join her. "Cometstar!" she called, a small thrill picking up her heartbeat as she called for him, like she so often used to.
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