Falling Rain
Member
Leader
What is right is not always popular; what is popular is not always right.
Posts: 3
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Post by Falling Rain on Jan 19, 2009 17:49:11 GMT -8
Falling Rain lay on his side, gazing pensively out the opening of the den. It was an old badger set, warm and guarded from the frigid wind outside. The tom's green eyes gazed despondently at the falling snow as it was cudgeled to and fro by the unsparing wind. Some humble flakes made their way into the den and clustered on Falling Rain's face, but he didn't mind them until they melted and ran down his nose.
He sneezed. A small pother of dust took wing and settled back on his nose. He sneezed again and sat up, glaring at the den floor. Today was a bad day. This quarter-moon had been amiss, too. Rumours were spreading that the lake wasn't safe anymore, and the Cough that made its yearly rounds had claimed Falling Rain's parents just yesterday. The amount of panic seemed to give the impression that more cats were dying from it than ever this year; that, and there had been some other casualties. As the appointed leader of the lake, it was Falling Rain's duty to resolve these sorts of problems, but it seemed at the moment that it was hopeless. A Healer had warned him that the mintplant used to treat the Cough had withered away in the snow. Had anyone kept stores, he had asked her, but she said she knew of no one.
Not only were cats falling ill, but the wolves had returned to the South earlier than usual this year and they were making a show of it. At least four cats had been eaten in the past two moons alone, and Winter was hardly over. But we still can't tell for sure how many we've lost; there have been other disappearances. Falling Rain considered the cats who had gone missing and hadn't been found later, torn to shreds. Normally the wolves left the detritus of their kill out in the snow but there had only been four bodies found; there were six alerts of cats gone missing. He thought perhaps their remains hadn't been stumbled upon, but he was skeptical. He knew the patterns. This season, he saw no patterns, and it worried him deeply.
What if the rumours are true? What if we are no longer safe here?
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Rogue Bane
Member
Sharpclaw
Fear Something Again
Posts: 3
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Post by Rogue Bane on Jan 24, 2009 9:44:22 GMT -8
Rogue Bane blinked out at the falling snow as the wind picked up its pace. He had taken refuge in a hollow tree. In being a relative term. The opening was wide and the little dent that classified the tree as being 'hollow' was shallow at best. Looking around for a better shelter, he yawned and coughed loudly when the icy air chilled the back of his throat. Sighing when the ache finally subsided, the dark tabby closed his eyes, tilting his ears this way and that for no other reason than to hear his surroundings rather than see. And that's when he heard it.
A sneeze broke an otherwise silent snowfall. The young tom opened his vibrant orange eyes and turned his head toward the source of the sound. A dark hole in the ground about half a treelength away seemed to show a sign of life inside. This was confirmed by yet another sneeze.
'Too small a sound to be a full grown badger,' Rogue Bane thought to himself as he stood up to go and take a look, tail twitching with curiosity. If it was a young one, he might be able to chase it away and take the shelter as his own. Beaming at this thought, the tom upped his pace against the swirling wind and lowered his posture and ears to hide his approach. With a last second bolt, he pounced into the dark cave, fangs and claws poised for a fight.
"Yikes!"
Sheathing his claws and taking an odd trip as he landed, the tabby rolled onto his back, hitting his head sharply on an exposed rock. Groaning for a moment, his eyes fluttered open and took in the sight of two light colored toms that slowly but surely became one in the same. Realizing his mistake, Rogue Bane quickly jumped up and, though his previous position might have been more submissive, pulled his ears back as he crouched down, showing all the signs of a fervent apology and punctuating it with a series of fumbled-through remarks on his idiocy.
"Oh jeeze, sir, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I thought this was a badger cave. My bad..."
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Falling Rain
Member
Leader
What is right is not always popular; what is popular is not always right.
Posts: 3
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Post by Falling Rain on Feb 2, 2009 19:46:55 GMT -8
Falling Rain's pensive thoughts scattered and his eyes widened in surprise as another feline shape swiftly appeared in the entrance of the den, hurling itself at the back wall with a clumsy thud and a raucous "Yikes!". The young tom's face adopted a puzzled, curious demeanor and he leaned back a slightly as the other cat rose stumbling to his paws and muttered his apology. "Oh jeeze, sir, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I thought this was a badger cave. My bad..." Falling Rain quickly made sense of the situation and nodded acknowledgingly as he lowered his forepaw from its defensive position blocking his face, briskly brushing off the dust from his other arm as he did so. He thingyed his head to the side a bit, making an assessment. From the tom's submissive position Falling Rain could tell he was no threat and he smiled wryly. "Erm, welcome. And you are?" he meowed, clearing his throat as he did so. His brow raised assymetrically and he pondered curiously at his unexpected guest with a humourous-but-still-tense glow in his green eyes.
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Rogue Bane
Member
Sharpclaw
Fear Something Again
Posts: 3
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Post by Rogue Bane on Feb 4, 2009 9:55:49 GMT -8
"Erm, welcome. And you are?"
It was plain to see that the tom was still wary of him, but from the look in his eyes, he seemed to show a small trace of trust, or at least humor for his antics. He straightened up a bit before giving a small bow as he introduced himself.
"I am Rogue Bane, sir," he said, now positioning his paws before sitting down and curling his tail around his front legs, "I'm new to this forest and haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone yet."
Twisting his ears around, Rogue listened for any tale-tell sounds of a badger in the cave. He knew he had not been mistaken by the looks of this den, but as he used his sense of smell, he came to realize that there had not been a badger in the cave for a long while. Had this tom fought it off? If so, he'd be a powerful ally or a deadly enemy.
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