Cats outside Clans

Nelly sat pressed against the cold bark of the hollow oak, watching from a distance as her sister, Eden, fed three little kits. Eden looked up at Nelly with tired blue eyes. "One looks just like you." Nelly felt a pang of sadness for Eden. She had gone through so much to protect these kits, risking so much, including her place as a kittypet in a home with her mate, Jack. Nelly had sworn to protect Eden and the kits, because even though Eden had chosen a different path than Nelly, Nelly still loved her sister. "They very pretty little kits." She replied. Eden sighed. "I want to name them now. The one that looks like you, I want to call her Lily. Because I love Lilys, and it sounds similar to Nelly. The other she-cat is going to be Claudia. Jack's mother was called Claudia." Nelly forced herself not to object. Jack had been a horrible mate, he gave Eden no support whatsovere and did nothing to stop their Twolegs from throwing them out. "And the tom, he looks like a droplet of water. I'll call him River, like the one that runs into the lake." Nelly came up and licked Eden's ear. "They're lovely names. Roscoe should be back soon with some prey, to keep your health up. You need lots of strength."

Streak sat on the fence of her housefolk's territory, staring out into the forest, she could scent Jack, the kittypet in the nest next to her's.
She opened her jaws to breathe in the scents of her surroundings, she longed for freedom, but her housefolk were kind to her and she didn't want them to be sad.

Jack purred as the twoleg kit stroked his chin, and then nestled their blunt pink claws into the fur by his ear. "Oh yeah, that's good!" He said, though he knew they didn't understand him.
He heard the older twoleg call out some weird sounding words, and the young twoleg wrapped his hands around Jack's chest, lifted him up, and laid him onto the weird scratchy stuff, that seemed like really short grass, except a different texture, and it was... gray.
Jack, his tail up high, jumped through the swinging portal thingy, and soaked in the sunhigh warmth. "It's a sunny day today!" He told himself.
Just then, the ground suddenly moved, and he felt himself sway. It didn't last very long but it was weird and strange, and he heard the older twolegs gasping with surprise and the two twoleg kits squealing with exitement.
Jack glanced up to the fence, where he saw Streak.
"What was that!?" He called.

(They could be further away, so it didn't affect them too much. It could have just felt like a sort of jolt to them.)

Streak wobbled, falling off the fence into Jack's garden, thankfully she landed in a bush which softened her fall, unluckily it was a thick briar, a rose to be exact. She pulled her way out only to find she was covered in thorns.

"I dunno!" She called back in reply to Jack's question.

"Oh look, you poor cat. Your pelt is covered in throns! Are any bleeding?" Jack asked, approaching his friend.

"I think I'm okay" Streak dragged herself to her paws and started picking the thorns out.

Jack leapt up onto the fence, staring out into the forest beyond. Were his kits okay? Jack let out a low growl. Why did he care? They were barely his kits. He shared no responsibility for them. But why do I feel angry about it? It isn't the kits or Eden's fault my twolegs kicked them out. Why do I feel like this?

"Err... Jack? Are you okay?" Streak asked.

Jack drew his eyes away, and shiwshed his tail in a friendily way. "Of course! I'm fine. Just a bit shaken, thats all." After a few moments he said, "Do you remember Eden? She used to live in my twoleg place. They adopted her. She used to be a loner."

"Eden? that does sound vaguely familiar. Why do you ask?" Streak asked.

"Oh, just wondering." Now feeling nervous, Jack turned away and started heading inside. "Well I'll see you around."

"See you" Streak mewed and leaped back down into her garden.

Roscoe carried his kill- two mice and a blackbird, by the tails and wing. His mouth hurt by the time he reached the hollow log he was staying in, but he was determined to get there as soon as possible. He dropped his prey at the base, looking over his two sisters and the three kits. "Is everyone okay!? What was that!?"
Eden was holding her squirming kits closer to her than ever. "I don't know, but Claudia was flung out of my grasp and nearly hit the top of the log. I think she's okay now, now that she's with her mother."
Nelly was shaking in the corner, trying to keep still but she found that she just couldn't. "I feel like it's still going." She told her brother.
Roscoe pushed forward the prey. "It's mere, but I'm not the best hunter. Nelly and I will share the bird, Eden you should take the two mice. You need the strength to make milk for your kits."
Eden didn't argue, gulping down the prey in ravish bites. Roscoe and Nelly ate the blackbird just as quickly. "Where did you get these from? you wouldn't find this in this place," she said, thinking about the ash-destroyed forest outside, from the wildfire that had hit last Greenleaf.

((Greenleaf))

((Thanks))

"Now, don't move a muscle..." Roscoe whispered to Claudia, who crouched in the high grass, her eyes fixed hard on the cricket who was twitching it's legs.
"Be the earth," he breathed, "keep your tail down and shoulder's low. And when you feel the time is right..." Before he could finish, Claudia let out a yowl and flew toward the cricket, her paws outstretched. With a hiss, she landed on the cricket, pinning it down and killing it with a nip of her teeth.
"Great catch!" Roscoe said. "Unfortunately, it won't feed much. But wait until you're bigger. You'll be a brilliant hunter! Better than me, probably."
Claudia purred with pride. "I'm going to show mummy," she said, carrying the cricket away. Roscoe watched as the strongest of his two daughters bounced away.
He hissed aloud at the thought of them being his daughters. They weren't his daughters at all, they were his sister's kits. But why did he feel like he was their father?
"You'd make a brilliant father." Eden said, startling Roscoe. Could she read his mind?
"It's just a shame their real father isn't here to see how beautiful his kits are."
Roscoe licked his sister's ear. "Why don't you find another mate?"
"Not until these kits are older." She replied. "For now, uncle Roscoe can do the fathering."

Streak yawned and leaped onto her fence, looking out over the forest, licking the last of her cream off her whiskers. She glanced over at Jack's garden, she couldn't see him, she guessed he'd probably be asleep, like she probably should be.

Jack, cosy under his twoleg's blankets, dreamt of kittens... cute little kittens, jumping all over his fat, squishy pelt. There were three of them, and oh how he loved them, though he couldn't quite work out why... and then the background darkened. The kits were still there, but they had ran away. He looked up in confusion, to see they had run to a strange tom's paws, whose face was clouded and distant, so Jack did not know who it was. But he could tell that those kits loved this tom more than they loved him, and that hurt him.
"Give my kits back!" His own words startled him, and he nearly woke up. But that was when he saw Eden. She licked the toms air, and wrapped her tail affectionately around his neck. She purred and hummed with love, her eyes gleaming with passion for the kits and her mate.
The dream turned into a nightmare, and he woke up.
He flew out of the covers and ran straight out into the night air, to face the full moon. "EDEN!"
He yowled, instinctively.

((Streak is still there right?))

((Yep!))

Streak jumped with shock as she heard Jack yowl, she leaped down from the fence into his garden and padded towards his door.

"Jack! Are you okay?" she called through the flap.

(( He's outside, remember?

into the cool night air...

))

"Streak, I... have kits. Eden was my mate. But she left... no, she was thrown out by those horrible twolegs, too lazy and unsympathetic to care for her kits. And I did nothing. Nothing."

((oops))

"Oh.." Streak nodded. "And now you're worried about them, right?"

Jack nodded. "THat weird shake bought it out of me, maybe."
He looked out into the forest for a few moment, enjoying Streak's company. "But Eden had a sister and a brother. They can take care of them."
He just needed to move on, he thought.

"At least they're not all alone," Streak purred. "They all have each other, right? Even if they don't have housefolk."