WE ARE THE WILD ONES ★ OPEN - JOINING

[fancypost borderwidth=0px; width: 400px; font-size: 9pt; line-height:95%; text-align: justify]She covered the flattened strands of grass with a great lolloping gait that suggested her ankles were made of tightly coiled springs rather than the sinew and bone you normally have. She didn’t know where she was, nor did she know where she was heading. All she knew was she had to keep running forward. Not stopping for anything. Perhaps the hounds were after her, perhaps she lost them; regardless, it was smarter to keep moving so her scent could be lost along the way.

Russet was a city dweller. She belonged in the concrete jungle, rummaging through bins with the rest of the stray cats. They would always hang around in the alleyway, meeting up in the after hours of the day where no twoleg would stumble across a gathered gang of ten or so cats. Life as a street cat was certainly a blast, but it held its limits. She could mention a few names that were caught by the twoleg animal police. Or whatever they were. She didn't know. She was lucky enough to escape their grasp on few occasions; those who were caught were never seen again.

So what was a street cat doing in the moorlands? Well, Russet hadn't mean to come here. She clearly wondered a little too far from the city, strolling into the hut of a hunter that was situated in the woods. Overwhelmed by curiosity, she was too distracted by her own discovery to notice he was still home. With the hounds. Long story short, the hunter set the hounds on her. It had been two hours since, but she was taking no chances. She kept on running, and running, knowing that they were long gone but it was too dangerous to turn back.

[fancypost borderwidth=0px; width: 400px; font-size: 9pt; line-height:95%; text-align: justify]Ah, finally. feline civilisation.

The lithe (and flea-ridden) stray skidded to a halt at the sound of another voice, nicked auricles instantaneously flattening upon a well shaped cranium. "WindClan? Hm? What?" Russet hissed through gritted jaws, and while she had come to a full stop, her clawed paws continued to fidget on the ground, her left eye occasionally twitching. "Who's territory? Your territory? WindClan territory? Sorry, I didn't see no sign. You ought'a put one up. I would'a avoided you otherwise. Me? Trespassing? Sorry, I didn't see no sign-" A pause to itch her tail tip by chewing on it with sharp fangs.

"I'm running. I'm from the city. D'you know what a city is? Twolegplace, whatever you clan cats call it. Yeah, that's right. I've heard all 'bout you clan cats. Anyways, I'm running. I'm lookin' for somewhere to stay. Y'know a place to stay? At least for the night" she continued on, meanwhile circling Eaglepaw to take a good glimpse of him. Hah! Typical clan cat. They were just as bad as kittypets: all pampered and everything. At the sound of another voice, Russet whipped around and dropped into a defensive position, glaring daggers at the other clan cat who managed to sneak up on her and...whoever this was. What a sneaky rat. "That's a bad idea - the dogs are coming!"

[fancypost borderwidth=0px; width: 400px; font-size: 9pt; line-height:95%; text-align: justify]Scent markers?

"Scent markers?" Russet chuckled lightly, raising a non existent brow before cracking into laughter. "What good will that do? I mean, don't they go stale? I mean, marking a tree doesn't really scream 'get off my land' to me, y'know? Haha! Why don't you try clawing-" Oh wait, the dogs. She had completely forgotten. The six moon old dropped her toothy grin and resumed a salty expression, claws flexing beneath her worn out paws. "Hm? Following? Me? Who? Yes, me! They were following me. Well, more like chasing me. I mean, they're usually nice in the city, at least, some of these. But these are hounds! Proper hunting dogs! You can't rip these ones to ratshreds, not at all!" There had once been an old cat named...hm, she couldn't remember, but he tried to attack one once and it ended up snapping his spine. What an awful day. The smaller ones were okay, occasionally they would ignore each other in the streets, but the ones in big packs that liked to lurk around the same alleyways often posed a threat.

"What, you never seen a dog before? Listen, their noses may be good but they're easy to outsmart. No scent, no nose. No nose, they're useless. I went through this river, kind'a far, thought that might'a done the job of masking my scent and ending the trail. Haven't seen 'em since. Still, you can never be sure with hounds. Around this time a'year, when the hottest days draw to a close and the leaves start turning red, the no-fur's often like t'a pick up their metal sticks and go out in groups to kill the wild animals. Hey! They're bit like the dogs themselves!" Russet laughed once more. She sat down to scratch behind her ear.

"Hm, around three or four, last time I saw 'em. Don't worry, they don't stray too far from their master. By the time he finds a way around the river with his monster, the scent will be gone by now, had it not washed off already. Exciting, isn't it? The chase" Eh, perhaps she was a bit mad. Still, dogs were the least worrisome problem when it came to predators. Bears, wolves, those large feral cats that lived in the mountains. She fell into silence, a smug smirk drawn across her dirt-stained muzzle, and then the russet-furred female spoke again.

"Name's Russet. Nice t'a come across another group of fellow cats! BloodClan aren't that friendly. Hah! I know about 'em too, don't you worry. They don't live too far away from where my place, and talk of the town is that they have their sights on you clan cats. Name's Russet, by the way"