[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ekZZCIa.png[/img][/center]
[center][b]Interacting with:[/b] [@Hazelrah][/center]
[center] Turning to face the she-cat, Felix padded a few tail lengths forward then sat with his tail carefully wrapped over his paws. Lowering his eyes as the leader spoke, he lifted a paw and began licking it gingerly, surprised that it was still open despite being here since sunrise. Although he was only paying his wound any attention to appear convincing, he began to notice that it [i]did[/i] actually hurt a little. [color=B22222][i]Maybe I overdid it with the thorns earlier. . .[/i][/color] Setting his paw back on the ground, he made eye contact with Fernstar, dipped his head and meowed, [color=B22222][b]"I'm Felix. I apologize for disrupting your camp so suddenly, we weren't paying attention to where our paws were taking us as long as it was away from the raccoons."[/b][/color] Flicking his ears back towards the rear of the den, he introduced his friends. [color=B22222][b]"The white she-cat is Heather, and the brown tom is Otis. We all came from the Twoleg village just outside your borders."[/b][/color] Letting his voice lower and his eyes cloud with anxiety, he muttered, [color=B22222][b]"And we don't plan on going back."[/b][/color] His mind began to race as he prepared to tell the story he had conjured. [color=B22222][i]I can't mess this up.[/i][/color] [color=B22222][b]"My life as a kittypet had always been nice; I was always safe, had a warm place to sleep, and good food until my house folk took in a smaller Twoleg. Things were never the same after that."[/b][/color] He pinned his ears back and raised his hackles as he went on. [color=B22222][b]"It chased me around the den, pulled my fur and almost deafened me with it's terrible shrieking. And the worst part is, my house folk never disciplined it! All they did was coo at it and stroke it like a queen with newborn kits. After a while, I started leaving the nest every morning and spending most of the day outside to avoid it. But sometimes, they would go to sleep and leave me outside after sunset. Of course they would always come outside and yowl for me in the morning, but things weren't the way they used to be anymore."[/b][/color] Letting his hackles fall, he let out a sigh. [color=B22222][b]"About a quarter moon ago, the small Twoleg startled me while I was asleep and out of pure fear, I swung my paw out and raked its flesh with my claws. I knew then that I couldn't stay there anymore; my house folk would never have forgiven me and I didn't want to be there any longer. So I left and became a loner."[/b][/color] Sitting up a little taller, he felt genuine happiness flutter in his chest.[color=B22222][b]"That was when I met Heather. She had been living on her own for some time before I left my house folk, and she taught me how to hunt and defend myself."[/b][/color] Turning his head towards the beautiful she-cat, he let a grin spread across his muzzle and meowed tauntingly, [color=B22222][b]"Well. . . Somewhat."[/b][/color] Heather began nervously licking her chest, casting fleeting glances up toward him every few heartbeats. Turning back towards the Clan leader, he noticed that Otis had padded forward to sit beside him and began to address Fernstar.[/center]
[center] In a calm voice, Otis meowed, [color=A0522D][b]"I'm Otis. I was a kittypet too, but I didn't have as hard of a life as Felix did. I left my Twolegs because I wanted a different life than the soft uneventful one I had. I wanted to hunt for myself, feel the wind in my fur and fight like a [i]real[/i] cat. I ran into Heather and Felix at the edge of the village as I was venturing into the forest. We figured there was safety in numbers and that we would stand a better chance of surviving together, so we decided to travel with each other."[/b][/color] Standing up and shaking out his pelt, he flicked his whiskers with irritation and muttered [color=A0522D][b]"But it turns out that raccoons are tougher opponents than we thought."[/b][/color] Felix was pleasantly surprised when Otis dipped his head and removed a piece of loose fur that was hanging from his chest with his teeth. He pulled it from the tangles and matts of fur around it and let it drop to the den floor. Trying to hide his malevolent excitement, he busied himself for the moment by examining his body and glancing at the wounds he had inflicted on himself. [color=B22222][i]Now THAT is convincing![/i][/color] Otis went on. [color=A0522D][b]"Of course we would be very grateful if you chose to use some of your herb store to help us with our wounds, but we understand that your Clan comes first and we will move along if you would like us to. I'm sure we have been far enough away from where we met the raccoons that they wouldn't know where we had gone, and we could head further into the forest and make a camp of our own."[/b][/color] Felix studied the leader and her deputy, trying to discern their thoughts after what they had been told. [color=B22222][i]It doesn't matter what they say. We will do what we came here to do.[/i][/color][/center]