THEN PRAYED ALOUD AND CRIED ALONE && joining, open

This is an archived version of FeralFront. While you can surf through all the content that was ever created on FeralFront, no new content can be created.
If you'd like some free FeralFront memorabilia to look back on fondly, see this thread from Dynamo (if this message is still here, we still have memorabilia): https://feralfront.com/thread/2669184-free-feralfront-memorabilia/.

    [fancypost bgcolor=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=transparent; width: 500px;][justify]It started as what seemed like a pretty damn average day for Salome. Looking back now, the patched ginger tabby recognized all the signs she missed at the time: a nervous, jittery edge to the morning's proceedings; no cooing or affection or treats from her owners; a clipped tone when they finally called for her. The realization hit her a little too late, sitting in the ditch on the side of the highway in a quivering, stunned heap: her owners had just abandoned her.


    Several long minutes passed, and Sollie's heartbeat eventually returned to something like normal. There was a raw, miserable ache in her chest, competing with her physical injuries for her attention. The pads of her delicate paws and her left side stung from her fresh abrasions, and one of her paws had twisted when she landed--the joint was stiffening now, sending painful twinges up her leg every time she tentatively tried to put weight on it. She had never experienced pain like this, wanted to hunker down and wail like a young kitten, but she felt vulnerable and exposed here, especially without the familiar weight of her collar around her neck. After a few tries, each accompanied by pathetic whimpering and mewling, she managed to haul herself out of the ditch using her three good paws.


    Sheltered by the trees and underbrush bordering the road, Sollie took one last look at the road before turning tail and hobbling further into the trees. She wasn't really sure where she was headed--the only fully-formed thought in her mind was getting away from the noise of the road and the site of her abandonment. That left the unfamiliar forest as her only option, so she limped on.


    She couldn't have been a very attractive sight, with gravel caught up in her disheveled tabby and white fur and blood drying around the worst of her scrapes, but she was too absorbed with staying upright to pay attention. It wasn't until she was surrounded by the strong, almost overpowering scent of feral cats--some sort of border--that she froze, ears flat against her skull as she dropped into a nervous, teetering three-legged crouch. She peered into the undergrowth around her, half-expecting cats to skulk out of the shadows as she watched. A subconscious voice reminded her that it was possible she was delirious--from pain, from exhaustion, from shock. Her entire body trembled, and she finally gave in and sank to the ground nearly on top of the border she had just discovered, her breath coming in heavy pants.


    OOC: I hope this is okay--I'm exhausted, so I'm not really sure right now.[/justify][/fancypost]

    [align=center][fancypost bgcolor=; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; color=white; font-family: trebuchet ms; width: 350px;][justify][it's perfect, moxie <3 welcome to darkclan!]


    quinn had been out hunting near the border that day. there was a fresh-kill shortage in the clan, which meant they needed more cats out hunting and getting the food they would need to survive leaf-bare, so there she was, a single mouse in tow. a skinny mouse, but a mouse nonetheless. she had been out for a while and hadn't seen much else, so she figured it was time to head back to camp. the calico was distracted when she smelled something unfamiliar in their territory.


    the girl wrinkled her nose, quickly buried her catch in a little hole, and re-adjusted her course. a few moments later she slipped past a patch of brambles and laid eyes on the unconscious creature right on top of their border. "you don't look so good, kittypet." she snorted, eyeing the feline's collar. she then sighed and rolled her eyes. "don't worry, i'm sure thrushmumble will be along soon to fawn over your injuries. what's your name? not that i really care, but it's a formality."
    [hr]

    tags | updated 12/08

    [size=9pt]Ashpaw made his way over. A kittypet! Clan cats didn't seem to like them very much, but the small white tom had absolutely nothing against them. Why was he out of camp? Trying to get stronger, of course! Ever since his dream, it had become an obsession. Once he was powerful, he could do whatever he wanted, right? "I'm totally meant to be out of camp right now! I'm getting stronger, putting more effort into my training, so it's okay! Plus I scented a strange scent, so I decided to check it out!"he gave a nervous laugh at Quinn, guessing that she wouldn't be pleased. "So, what happened to you? Thrushmumble!"The apprentice called out, his voice a little shaky.[/size]


    Display Spoiler

    [fancypost bgcolor=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=transparent; width: 500px;][justify]The scenario Sollie had imagined hadn't actually been too far from reality after all; the two cats before her had approached much more quietly than she had--how was it even possible to make such little noise in a forest, of all places? She scrambled up to sit on her haunches instead of peering helplessly at the strangers from the ground, defensively holding her sprained forepaw near her chest as she shifted.


    Once she was sure she wasn't going to topple right back over, Sollie realized the pair were talking to her. They had both mentioned someone named Thrushmumble--what a weird name, she thought--the calico had asked for Sollie's name and called her a kittypet, whatever that was, and the white tom wanted to know what had happened to her. "I'm Salome," she answered belatedly as her thoughts finally fell into some semblance of order. "Sollie works too, though. And I actually prefer it. I'm sorry for just showing up at your… scent-line, or whatever, I didn't realize anyone lived out here. I was just… well, abandoned, I guess. So I started walking. Or limping, technically, but you know what I mean. And now I'm here." She ducked her head, her ears flattening embarrassedly again as she avoided eye contact with the other two. "This was all very unexpected."


    OOC: Thanks! c:[/justify][/fancypost]

    The post was edited 1 time, last by Salome ().

    [size=9pt]It seemed the cat before him was rather anxious, avoiding eye contact and acting guilty. Haha. That didn't seem so bad, though it did seem boring. "Twolegs abandoned you,"the apprentice stated the facts. That was the impressive thing to do... right? As the she cat somewhat changed her name on the spot, Ashpaw couldn't help but let doubts about his own name enter his mind. What did Ashpaw even mean? His fur wasn't exactly grey - had he been born in a fire or something? That sounded cool, and actually a possibility. But at the same time, Ashpaw had been changing a lot recently, and something different might help him with a name beginning - but he wasn't really sure yet. "Would you like to join DarkClan? I'm sure Cherrystar would let you in, so I'm making the offer myself."Almost made the little guy feel like a leader! Once he would have spoken about how terribly lame and boring DarkClan was, but maybe with certain cats around, that wasn't entirely true - he would leave that up to miss kittypet's judgement for now.[/size]


    Display Spoiler

    [fancypost bgcolor=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=transparent; width: 500px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]Was twoleg the name these feral cats had given her owners and others like them? Sollie filed this information away for later--at least the name was logical. "I don't know what a DarkClan is," she admitted, hoping to buy herself time to think about the strange tom's offer. She figured that Cherrystar must be the name of whoever was in charge of the DarkClan, though the two-word names these cats seemed to have for everything still weren't making sense to her.


    Sollie adjusted, shifting her weight as much as she could to try to ease some of her discomfort as she considered her options. Ashpaw was right: she had been abandoned. It hadn't been an accident, or even unplanned--and even if her owners did want her back, she wouldn't have the first idea of which way to go. These two seemed fairly well-off, especially compared to the strays she'd occasionally glimpsed skulking around her former home. "What would I have to do? Is there an interview, or a test, or something? I don't really know how to do… anything." She paused and reconsidered. "Well actually, sometimes I can catch the goldfish in the pond in my owners'… oh, I mean my twolegs', backyard."[/justify][/fancypost]

    [align=center][fancypost bgcolor=;border:0;width:450px;text-align:justify;font-size:8pt]A kittypet. Not a sight he wanted to see, but something that seemed to semi-confirm his suspicions over on the Southern border of the Clan. But there was every chance she was completely separate to their current events the flame point had quietly been taking note of. His whiskers twitched, icy hues sending the mackerel tabby a condescending stare. Kittypets always had the most beautiful of pelts, but kittypets were kittypets. It was a shame nothing so beautiful seemed to occur naturally. "You're very young for even a loner to be wandering out here alone," he mused, the predominantly white tom taking a seat as he examined the feline with the flicker of his eyes.


    "Warriors in DarkClan are expected to be able to hunt and fight, however, you are still too young to be expected of any of those. A Clan is a group or alliance of cats which all work together as a community, or family, to survive together in the wild. If you choose to join us, you will instructed to learn and follow the Warrior Code and taught about StarClan - our religion, although I will point out StarClan has never truly been enforced. Worship of the Dark Forest is forbidden, although if you know what it is then I'd be impressed," he mewed, ticking off a few points, "Lastly, you would join as an apprentice. Although I'd have to know if you intend on keeping that kittypet name of yours."
    [hr]

    info | updated 10/22

    [fancypost bgcolor=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=transparent; width: 500px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]"Well, it wasn't by choice," Sollie replied pointedly. Crashing through an unfamiliar forest with a sprained paw and a fresh collection of cuts and scrapes certainly wasn't her idea of fun. Her brief moment of sarcasm faded as it clicked that this cat seemed to be in a position of authority. She quailed. Maybe this was the Cherrystar mentioned before?


    His offer didn't sound like a bad deal, all things considered. A community sounded a hell of a lot safer than wandering around on her own, for practical reasons as well as Sollie's own personal fears of being alone. She hesitated for several long seconds, then finally nodded her head. "Well, you're right, I have no idea what the Dark Forest is," she began slowly, drawing out her committal for a few more seconds. "But… but I guess I'll learn. I mean, not about the Dark Forest. If that's an evil place. But about the clan. And StarClan." Now she was babbling nervously, but she wasn't quite ready to stop yet. "And--and yes, I guess I will change my name. Or let you change it. I mean, if I'm going to join you… I should probably learn to fit in. And I'm not really attached to my name, anyway. No sentimental meaning or anything."


    "That all means I'd like to join, by the way. I mean, I'm sure you knew that. Or figured it out. Or--sorry, I'll hush up now."


    OOC: Could her name be changed to Sumacpaw, please? c:[/justify][/fancypost]

    [align=center][fancypost bgcolor=; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; color=white; font-family: trebuchet ms; width: 350px;][justify]oh, great starclan. she was a chatterbox. quinn pressed her lips together and took some deep breaths, trying to keep herself calm. there were already so many annoying cats in the clan, she wasn't sure she could handle another one. she watched cher carefully, surprised at how he spoke about her name. he hadn't acted like that when he'd met quinn. was that how he felt about all names that weren't from a clan?


    she quickly shook the thought away and returned her gaze to the kittypet in front of them. well, not a kittypet anymore, she guessed. she was getting a clan name and joining them as an apprentice. perhaps quinn would get to train her. "welcome to darkclan." she dipped her head with little to no enthusiasm.
    [hr]

    tags | updated 12/08

    [fancypost bgcolor=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=transparent; width: 500px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]A nervous, jittery mess Sollie might be, but the tabby and white she-cat was far from clueless. She caught on to Quinn's lack of enthusiasm fairly quickly. She hesitated for a few seconds before a mischievous glint appeared in her yellow eyes. "Thank you, I guess. I mean, thank you definitely. Or—or just thank you. So… what happens now? How many other cats are in DarkClan?" she asked.[/justify][/fancypost]

    [align=center][fancypost bgcolor=; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; color=white; font-family: trebuchet ms; width: 350px;][justify]quinn gave a shrug in response to the female's question. she talked so much, and the calico was quickly getting bored of this conversation. she just wanted to get back to camp and do something useful. "depends. right now, maybe a dozen or so. and as for what happens now, you come back to camp with us and start pulling your own weight so you don't become just another mouth to feed."
    [hr]

    tags | updated 12/08

    [fancypost bgcolor=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=transparent; width: 500px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]"Someone's going to have to fix my paw first," Sollie quickly pointed out, carefully extending the paw to make her point. She she sat up as straight as she could manage as she added, "But I'll pull my weight, once I know how."[/justify][/fancypost]

    [align=center][fancypost bgcolor=;border:0;width:450px;text-align:justify;font-size:8pt]His response was delayed, but he blamed his newfound ability to suddenly wander into his own imagination at strange moments. Perhaps it was a fault of his mental state, perhaps it was just Cherrystar being rude. Her discomfort certainly appeared to cause the feline to ramble, but it was relatable to him at most as he simply nodded. "Then from this day forth your name shall be Sumacpaw. We welcome you as a member of DarkClan, and since Quinn is already here - she will be your mentor. Learn the code and service well," he mewed, deciding not to comment to Quinn who seemed to - unless he was mistaken - accepted the feline. In traditional clans, only leaders could accept non-clan cats to join, but he supposed that as his processes were late - it was fine.


    "Now, let's get you to Thrushmumble. He's the medicine cat who will 'fix' your paw."
    [hr]

    info | updated 10/22