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4/3/12; Surprise; Nailer, Kestrel, Banyan
Topic Started: Apr 4 2012, 09:46 PM (93 Views)
Mirrorface
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Nailer lay on his back, tail curled up between his legs and front paws tucked neatly against his chest. According to his private count, he'd spent about a week in the desert now and still he couldn't get over how strange it was. As he stared up at the indigo sky, he saw more stars than he'd ever seen before in his life. None of them moved, so none of them were airplanes. None of them were too close, so none of them were street lights. They were all little pinpricks of pure white light puncturing the black curtain of the heavens. It was all very deep and poetic. It occured to him briefly that he might be missing something by staying out of the desert during the day and only coming out at night. It also occured to him that he didn't want to be anywhere but in the tunnel-cave when the sun was searing the sands.

Qestrel. Tabbico snuffled her way along the tomcat's trail, eyes constantly darting up from the ground and then back again to make sure she didn't blunder right onto her target. Okay, so maybe she was being a little crazy; maybe she didn't actually have to keep following him around. If he wanted to leave the desert, that was fine, that was his choice. She wasn't tailing the other fellows, was she? Gosh, that sounded so creepy. It was just because Nailer had been - well. He was just the one she could associate most with. Callow had been kind of weird, and Nail's brother, Banny or something he'd been called - she'd never actually stuck around for his full name, whoops - was sort of a sissy. The she-cat paused, realizing she didn't hear any movement up ahead a moment too late - and then she popped right out of the nearest clump of grass, stalks a-rustling and nose still to the ground, eyes flying wide with alarm when she realized she was looking at Nailer.

Banyan stalked quielty along the shadows, his huge ears pressed against his neck as he glanced upwards. The explosion of stars in the expansive blackness was unlike anything he had seen before, and every day since he'd set paw in the desert, they'd left him breathless. To say it was a starry night was an understatement -- but right now, he was more concerned with keeping up with his brother. Clingy as ever, the little brother of the pair felt a sort of dependence on his elder sibling. He was the only cat the creamy tom could make conversation with without fear of being cut down and publicly humiliated, but he was determined to change that. He could be brave, too! He could! He was just off to promise him that, to make a sort of vow so he wouldn't forget, and one to Kes, too, since she was pretty much the leader of their rag-tag gang. However, as he approached the pair, all of the confidence he'd had moments ago flushed out of him, and he felt his stomach turn. Oh, but... but what if they didn't believe him and laughed and him and oh oh oh? Banyan's sudden embarassment left him ridged as he emerged; if he was going to be any sort of useful, he'd have to get over that. Nod. Yes. "Um, uh, hi...?"

Nailer's ear flicked suddenly as his sky of silence crumbled. He rolled onto his side and lifted his head to peer in the appropriate direction. "Kes? Is that you?" His night vision had already settled in and so the tabbico was fairly easy to recognize. He found himself smiling once the initial shock and confusion wore off. It was beginning to dawn on him that he liked Kestrel. Like like liked. He opened his mouth to meow a cheerful greeting at the she-cat when Banny popped in. "Banny! Hey!" How awkward. His lonely night had suddenly become a party.

Qestrel gave a little jolt at the tom's voice. Crap. He'd seen her. She couldn't even turn around and approach him from, you know, the direction he hadn't just come from. God, she probably looked like a total stalker. Which she wasn't. This was just - practice. Yes. Practice. Sky would be so proud - and with that thought, she felt like she'd been hit right in the stomach. Sky. Crap. She was supposed to be looking for the old Whirling Winds camp, right? That was her test. 'Find the camp and you pass. If you die, you fail.' Pretty straightforward. She had been kind of preoccupied with the arrival of the others, but she'd have to make more trips during the day to find the old camp. The cat yawned, already exhausted. She was spending as much time during sun-up looking for camp as she could; after all, she was awake with the group at night. All this activity was leaving her tired - not that she'd show it. "Yuh-huh-hi!" she squeaked mid-yawn, speaking awkwardly, as anyone with their jaws split wide do. She shuffled her paws, throwing a glance at the sky - not even registering the blazing lights; she took them for granted now - and then at her feet, feeling sort of awkward with the two brothers.

Banyan smiled bashfully and lurched forward a tiny step, one paw hovering in the air. After quickly assuming that he and he alone had triggered the awkwardness that followed, he took an unsure step back into the tall grass. Then, glancing around, he finally settled to hunkering down in the grass, partially out of sight, with social frustrations boiling in his gut. "Sorry, did I interrupt something?" he asked Kestrel hurridly and tried his hardest to sound nonchallant. "Err, uh. I was actually looking for you but it can wait for later if you're busy." He turned slightly, a frown creasing his muzzle as he hid his face in the shadows. This wasn't going nearly as smoothy has he would have liked it to, and he certainly wasn't painting much of an image of himself. He knew exactly how Nail felt about Kes -- he could smell it from a mile away -- so what did that make him right now on this starry, starry night?

Nailer blinked, patiently waiting Banny out while inwardly curious as to why Kes and Banny had both suddenly appeared. Was something going down in the desert that they needed to tell him or something? He smiled at the tabbico's awkward yawn-greeting before turning his attention to this brother, who then opened a question back at Kes. Marshland's firstborn glanced from Banny to Kes and blinked again before offering a sort of shrug-like gesture. "I was just stargazing, Banny, if there was something more pressing..." He trailed off, suggesting that his pale-furred brother ought to continue.

Qestrel gave a little start of surprise at the paler tom's words. "Who, uh, me? Nope, nothing," she replied hurriedly. After all, it was the truth - she had just been going creeper mode - well, uhm, rather, she had been curious about Nailer's whereabouts - and if she hadn't been dumb and stumbled out into the open, none of this awkwardness would've been created. "So, uh, did you have to tell us something? Or maybe you just had to tell Nail something, so maybe I should just go-" she babbled, shuffling backwards a few steps and letting her words trail off quietly into the night air. God, she was such a creep. She shouldn't have even come after Nail - but then again, she'd never had a friend before, and it was hardly her fault if she wanted to make sure he didn't ditch her for his city.

Banyan smiled goofily, brimming with pride for himself for finally being able to prove his worth. He was actually being noticed, and he liked it. "I found something that I think you guys should see." he mewed gleefully, perking up and motioning the ragtag team along with a jerk of his head. He turned a little and, unsure if the two would actually follow, stared with wide green eyes before bounding off, grass rustling loudly after him. Yes, yes, he would definitely get a little credit now. Now he was telling himself that he could finally fit in and not be teased like he had been so cruelly back at the city. Kicked around and stepped on, neglected and for the most part alone -- but not anymore. If Nail and Kes followed, Ban would lead them to the mouth of the blood-scented den, all smiles. "It's the camp! I found it yesterday, sooo."

Nailer glanced at Kestrel, a bit confused by her behavior. The she-cat was usually so confident in herself. The rust-colored tom didn't dislike her newfound awkwardness, (in fact he found it adorably charming in a weird sort of way,) but then again it wasn't as if he'd found anything about the she-cat that he didn't like. He sent her an encouraging smile, hoping that would help, before turning to his brother. Found something, huh? Sounded interesting, more important than stars at any rate. Without wasting time, the tom leapt off his rock and followed Banny. It occured to him that he'd never been this far East and that the desert was indeed much larger than he'd thought. When the black mouth of the camp entrance came into view, Nailer openly stared. It was so innocuous from other angles but from head-on the young city slicker thought the hole in the ground looked as dark as death and as welcoming as the gaping maw of a street dog. "Wow," was all he could say upon his arrival.

Qestrel frowned a little, former awkwardness swept away with the declaration of discovery. She stood up a little straighter, sweeping her tail in front of her as though to say 'lead on,' then falling in behind the brothers, casting a quick, sweeping glance behind them. It was easy to get lulled into a false sense of security out here; she knew so much of this little corner of the desert, and she so rarely saw anyone else. Still, her mother would shred her fur if she found her daughter neglecting to stay alert and on top of things. Thoughts of the fierce Captain swirled through the cat's thoughts; she only halfway paid attention to the duo ahead of her, and their stop, when it happened, nearly sent her bumping into Nailer's backside. She hit the brakes just in time, shuffling a pawstep or so backwards just in time to hear Banny's explanation of the dark hole. She didn't quite believe him at first, and then the next thought she had was one of indignation - why hadn't she found it? And then there was a darker feeling, one of trepidation and uncertainty. It was a menacing feeling, nearly the same as the impression Nail was getting, though for entirely different reasons. The tabbico was nearly afraid to venture forth; a look of such apprehension and nervousness was clear on her face, a look that had never been there before.

Banyan was proud of his discovery. It made him something important, gave him a little credit here and there, and, unlike the others, called him further into its depths. The stench of long dried blood caressed his nose as he took lead and slithered into the den, eyes wide. Somehow, he was still leading the way. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" he called, looking over his shoulder before his paws met the soft floor. He gasped. This place was huge -- bigger than he'd ever though it would have been just from the outside, "You have to come down here!" Skeletons littered the dark floor, defining themselves as he adjusted to the darkness, grinning and blank. Funny, he thought he would have been more afraid or disturbed than this, but he... kind of liked it? Shrug. Besides, any living cat scent was long faded, so it wasn't like they were intruding.

Nailer was too wrapped up in his own half-awe and half-fear of The Tribe's camp to notice Kestrel's plight. He'd heard so many stories about how the Tribe had left its desert home only to wreak havoc on other cats. He'd heard about how successful they'd been, too. To come upon their home, the place where they'd slept at night between raids and massacres... it was pretty deep shit. It reminded Nailer that his dad had been part of that - had led those cats. The silver-eyed tom took a deep breath and followed his younger brother in. As he entered, he noticed how much larger the cave mouth was compared to other dens he'd seen on his journey to the desert. He'd had a few close fits but this doorway seemed to dwarf him, as if it was made for larger cats... That wasn't entirely comforting, and neither were the skeletons littered across the floor. The damp air clinged to the stale scent of blood. It was all very creepy, and here, on the Tribe's home soil, Nailer turned to Kes. She was, after all, the resident expert on the Tribe.

Qestrel shoved away all of her fears, fears of incompetency and not living up to her mother's expectations, fears that she would be belittled for not actually having found the camp on her own, fears that she would be called weak for needing the company of others to stay at least halfway sane - she shoved them all down into the scary, dark corners of her mind and took a deep breath. With that out of her mind, a bolt of excitement shot through her. "My mother's down there!" she gave a tiny squeal. Sure, Sky was oppressive and controlling and awful - but she was her mother. She was the only cat Kestrel had known and grown up with for several months of her life; she was the cat that had taught her everything. It was all she could do not to shove the toms out of the way and bolt into the now-friendly darkness, but she forced herself to wait her turn and scramble through the entrance, eyes struggling to slice through the gloom. She paused, drawing the cavern air through her nose, looking for her mother's scent, then shuffling around, looking for even the faintest trace. There! By that skull near the entrance! She had definitely lain there - but the scent was stale, just barely there. Kes blinked, frightened once more at this turn of events. Her eyes when she turned to Nailer were wide, frightened and homesick and impossibly disappointed. "Where is she?" Her voice was barely a whisper, and then the cat was shooting off through the old camp, feeling helpless and tiny compared to its size, her little cat voice calling into the gloom, "Mother! Mother! Sky!"

Banyan's previous joy was replaced with pitty as Kestrel came zooming in. He bit his lip and looked away, stepping back, "S-sorry, Kes." he mewled, feeling as though something should be said, at least, "I don't think anyone's coming back here for a while." A statement of the bloody obvious, but it was worth breaking the silence. He would move forward a little, contemplating whether he should go near enough to comfort the cat. Then again, he didn't know her that well, and that would just look awkward in front of Nail. But aww, she needed a shoulder to lean on. He turned back to look at Nail pleadingly, whithering under the tabbico's distress. Do something!

Nailer felt stricken when Kestrel met his gaze, only her eyes were filled with sheer raw terror which jumped to him and filled him with dread. Obviously, something had gone horribly wrong. What exactly was amiss quickly became apparent with the she-cat's wailing for her mother. The fright of the typically-strong tabbico's voice shattered her friend to the core. He suddenly felt very helpless, having known his own mother for freakin' forever. Sure, he'd never had his dad around, but that had been somehow different. He had never grown up with any expectations higher than "fight well and don't die in the gutter". The rust-colored cat stood still, frozen by that look of desolation that Kes had given him moments before, when his brother's pointed look jolted him into action. Right. The burly tom quickly made his way over to the she-cat's side and rumbled some primal half-purr of support before attempting physical contact with a simple touch of his tail to her side.

Qestrel paused at the base of a large sandy boulder set into a sort of barricade of thorns and branches; the cat stared up at its flat top as though expecting her mother to vault over and take a seat there. When Nail approached, she instinctively stiffened, then leaned in slightly towards the tom. "She's not here," she whimpered softly. "She took me to the desert and told me to find the old camp and if I found it I passed and if I died I didn't," No, wait that had come out all wrong, it made Sky sound brutal and merciless and heartless - but wasn't she? She had left her own daughter to the desert to die or succeed... but wasn't that just the Whirling Winds way? "And she said she'd be here and she's not," she tried to finish brokenly, slumping against the rust-colored cat's shoulder and pressing her face into his fur. After a moment, she drew herself up, taking a deep breath. This was hardly any way for a Captain's daughter to act. She put on a brave face for the other two, trying to keep the vulnerable look out of her eyes. "So, uhm, are we going to stay here for the night?" she asked, not letting her voice shake, not betraying her mother that way.
Hakoda/Deadface/Marshland/Fearsome/Marksmain/Leathe
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