| F Is For Friend Zone (wip); Nailer, Kestrel | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 11 2012, 07:36 PM (92 Views) | |
| Mirrorface | Oct 11 2012, 07:36 PM Post #1 |
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idk
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Nailer hissed, ears back and silver eyes gleaming with ferocity and determination. Here, standing fast in a stance of aggression, it would be all too easy to mistake the large tom with his father. He was a hair bigger than he was when he'd come to the desert, too. A hair closer to matching his sire's massive size. He was older, and arguabley stronger. He wasn't brawling with alley cats anymore but the desert kept him in shape. A sudden blur and an alarmed hiss and then it was over. The sand cat stood with bloody claws over the limp body of a rattlesnake. It had struck out, but the cat had leaped over it and ended the quarrel with a swift cut to the lengthy spine, holding the snake down with a hind paw. Nail barely stood still to revel in the glory of his victory before he was burrowing into a den behind the corpse. "Hello?" His call was curious and a bit desperate. With the same paws that cut the snake, the tom widened the hole to admit his shoulders. "Are you alright?! Hello?!" Soon Nailer was forced to back out of the den, sputtering sand. He took a deep breath and dove back in, scrambling against the sand. He'd heard a kit screaming while he was out on patrol and found the snake attacking it. The child must have traveled and taken shelter in the den only to find itself trapped to make a meal. Finally the tyrant's son was able to wedge himself far enough in to spot the kitten. It looked still and quiet. It must have died, of hunger or sickness or terror. He'd been too late. Disgusted with the scene and himself, Nail tore himself from the hole and watched as the sand closed in: a tomb. He sighed and shook the sand from his fur. He supposed he should take the rattler home for food. Not doing so would be a waste... Qestrel. Was it all preordained, this forward march of tabbico cat over sand? Were these the expected steps that had been marked down on the notepad of destiny, was the female merely dancing to the tune of fate? Or rather, were these all a million tiny chances that turned the Captain's daughter from home and further into the desert? Kestrel didn't know, hadn't thought much about such things recently. Sure, she was certainly more philosophical than her mother - being abandoned in a desert will do that to you, maybe - but she was content for the time to live in the present. And anyways, it wasn't like she had enough to think about. Banny's puzzling reaction to the feather - though it had been a while ago - and her hopes for reigniting Whirling Winds' flame vied in her mind with thoughts of her mother - however infrequent they were becoming - and a growing obsession with the General of old. It was this maelstrom of thinkables that preoccupied the tabbico during her wanderings so that she didn't register the faint calls of another cat until they'd died away. By then, her fur fluffed slightly, her claws sliding out of their sheaths in a flash of guilty preparation lest she need to fight. Her eyes swung over the sandscape, landing on a dark shape backing out of the ground. There was a moment of confusion and then a flash of recognition, and the youth bounded forward, tail lifting at the same time as she gave a faint chirp. "Naile- what's wrong?" Was she just imagining that he looked off? Maybe she was crazy. Nailer stooped his head to take the scale-covered meat between his jaws but stopped a whisker short to close his eyes and apologize to the kit for failing it. He could have brought him or her home and then he could raise it with Kes and... My, he had matured. The tom shifted uncomfortably and picked up the snake. As he lifted his head, he spotted his afore-thought-of friend making her way over. "Hey, Kes." He shrugged, trying not to look too miserable. "I was just... thinking." It was true, but not really true enough. He looked away, unable to lie to the face that he... reallyreallyliked. "I uh, got a snake?" He knew the comment was useless, even before he said it. "There was a kit. It got trapped by the snake and I thought I could kill the snake and," he inhaled. "Save it. I guess I wasn't good enough." The tom continued to look sad for a moment before looking up and smiling. "But how've you been, Kes? Any sign of Banny?" Qestrel experienced an odd moment of irritation and something like hurt when he turned away. The words seemed so stilted, so false - not at all honest like Nailer usually was. Why was he... Well, maybe not lying, but not telling her everything? She had just opened her mouth to call him on his bullshit when he plowed right on, offering up the snake as though it would make it okay. The more she thought about it, the more upset she was working herself up to be- but, oh, wait. Just when she was getting ready for a really good, angry session, the tomcat spilled. Left awkwardly empty for a moment, like she'd gotten all dressed up just to be told she had nowhere to go - though of course cats didn't know what dressing up was, so the concept would've been foreign to her anyways - she realized just what he was saying. Putting off his Banny question for later - just another worm in the can she'd opened up that other day - she stepped forward, extending her neck in an attempt to brush the tom's shoulder with her nose. "Oh, Nail," she breathed, stepping back to shoot him a sympathetic look. Ew. She was getting kinda squishy. "It's not that you weren't good enough. You were just a little too late. Sometimes we're too late to save everything." She fumbled for the right words and hoped they sounded good, and then her face darkened for a moment with the thought of the cat that she had arrived too late to please. Nailer let himself heal according to Kestrel's words. His raw wound would become a scab that would eventually be replaced with new skin. Such was the way of the world. "Thanks," he said honestly, smiling as he stood across from his best friend. Now that he wasn't alone, maybe it wouldn't hurt as bad. "You're right. Damn. Sorry for being so depressing, I just. I dunno." Back in the city, it was eat or be eaten. If Nail hadn't supported Banny and Banny hadn't supported Nail, they both probably would have died. Just because some cats were physically weaker, that didn't make them worthless. The rust-colored tom just wanted to help those who were stuck at the bottom. It was just a thing. He couldn't not do it, or at least he didn't want to not do it. Would Kes understand that? Of course she would. Kes was great. She might have been Tribe born but she wasn't Tribe. She was too good for the Tribe. Qestrel offered an awkward smile, stepping back to let the distance yawn between them again. It wasn't that Kestrel didn't love Nailer - she did. Just.. They were friends. And yeah, friends were there for each other, but.. She frowned, really more of a downward quirk of her mouth, her eyes darting to the ground for a moment. Great, now it was weird. She stifled a sigh. Why couldn't Kes just be normal around others? Was it because mommy hadn't loved her enough? Not, that wasn't right, couldn't be right - Nail hadn't even seen his dad before, and he seemed fine. "No, no, it's fine. It can get kind of... I dunno." She trailed off just as lamely, looking as out-of-place as she felt. She didn't know what had spurred her to be all guidance-councillor-esque, but now she was vaguely regretting stepping so far out of her comfort zone. "Why were you out here?" she asked after a moment, trying to fill the quiet. |
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9:33 AM Jul 11