when the curtain falls [intro of sorts]

CRICKETPAW

Something was wrong. Something had happened, but he couldn’t remember what it was. Oh, how utterly frustrating! A frown on his maw, the young male stumbled through shaded underbrush in search for something to jog his memory. He admittedly wasn’t in the best condition for someone his age, with a fragile, nearly starved frame and chunks of fur missing from his pelt, but in his frustrated state, he barely payed any mind to it. Seeing as how his head was bowed towards the ground, it was understandable that he’d crash face first into a tree. “Hey, what’s the big idea-” The dark tabby stopped midsentence upon realizing who he was talking to, his mouth forming a small ‘o’ shape. “Oh! I uh- didn’t see you there big guy.” Well this was embarrassing. Perhaps he could play it off as something else? Yeah! He wasn’t talking to the tree, he was just- uh, conversing with the birds! Like that was any better, but hey, he couldn’t think of a better excuse, unless he was talking to himself. Which he did often anyway, so…

The tom craned his head upwards, searching for a bird to chatter with. Luckily there was a sparrow perched in a nearby tree branch, and letting out a sigh of relief, he slumped to the ground. As if this bird was his therapist, and he was one of its patients. Which wasn’t too far from the truth. “I’m not sure whether or not you can understand me, but it does feel good to spill my guts to someone. You see, my parents aren’t very nice people- never were, and a couple of days ago they grew tired of having me around. So they decided, let’s drop our only son off at a clan. Surely they’ll know what to do with him. Only... I can’t remember if their plan succeeded. Because here I am, in the middle of nowhere, with scratches that I got from… somewhere- I can’t remember how, and they’ve vanished into thin air. Seriously, how did I even get here?” Obviously tired of his rambling, the sparrow decided to fly away, leaving Cricket along with his thoughts. Again. Whoopee, what a joy.

[Feel free to have your character overhear his whole conversation! Injury-wise, he's missing multiple patches of fur, and has multiple cuts on his muzzle and sides.]

CRICKETPAW

Like his name suggested, Cricket was more than capable of making large jumps, both forward and backwards. So when a voice suddenly spoke out from behind the tree, he leapt a good six feet in the air. This of course stretched his wounds, and when he landed, it was with a visible wince. Not to mention the several 'ouch'es and 'ow's that came tumbling out of his maw. At first he thought the tree was talking to him, which would be weird, not to mention kind of funny, since he thought that it couldn't hear him in the first place, but the speaker turned out to be a fellow feline. Considering that the only cats that he'd been exposed to during his life were his parents and one or two of their friends, it was understandable that his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Was she talking to him? Well duh, who else would she be talking to? Surely not the tree. It took a moment for Cricket to find his voice, and when he did, it was slightly higher pitched than usual. Since his normal speaking voice was pretty wimpy to begin with, this said something. "Oh, don't worry. Our relationship was purely professional, nothing else." He replied, staring upwards. "Wait, uh- did you say freshkill pile?" He knew the meaning of fresh, as well as kill, but when the words were combined together? That was where his comprehension skills ended. "I don't mean to seem ignorant or anything, but is that where you keep your food? As you may have guessed, I'm not exactly from around here, and require a bit of explaining. Actually, scratch that. I need a lot of things explained to me." He ended this period of talking with an awkward laugh, and angled his ears to catch her question. Oh, that was easy to answer. "My name? It's Cricket, though if you can manage to come up with a fitting nickname, feel free to use it. Now Tansyface, you've got quite an interesting name. Now tell me, I understand the tansy part, for your eyes match the flower, but face? What's that all about?" Hopefully she didn't find his line of questioning to be rude. He was just genuinely curious as to the origin of her name.

Shortly after he finished questioning the first feline, another one made themselves known. For a moment his eyes were enraptured by their pelt, which was white like freshly fallen snow. Now Cricket had never seen snow before, but had fantasized about it a good many times, and was sure that his comparison was accurate. Their eyes were another anomaly, one being orange, and the other flashing blue. How utterly fascinating. In his state of amazement, he almost missed the inquiry that was sent his way. His parents? Once again, the feeling that he had forgotten something important nagged at his brain, but the tom was quick to push it aside. If this- whatever it was, was so vital to life as he knew it, surely he wouldn't have forgotten it so easily? Anyway, back to the situation at hand. "Yeah, I guess they did. It wasn't very nice of them, that's for sure." He mumbled, suddenly becoming sheepish. His parents were a sore subject for many reasons, and he didn't wish to speak about them more than nessacary. At least, for now. "You guys... wouldn't happen to be part of a clan, now would you? I'd like to know that I'm not completely lost."

[Yeah, I'd be totally up for that! And ahh, I'm glad that you like him <3]

CRICKETPAW

Yes, he could talk the stuffing out of a scarecrow. Cricket would readily admit this, and was quite proud of his ability to continue conversations with little to no hitches. Although now that he thought about it, how many conversations had he participated in that didn't end with him being belittled or sent away? Shaking his head, the feline instead focused on her next statement, which could be perceived as mocking. Annoyance briefly flickered in his stomach, but he was quick to snuff it out. The world wasn't a very nice place after all, and expecting everyone to be kind and accepting was unreasonable. No, he would just act like her advice was genuine. As the saying went, kill 'em with kindness. "Thank you! I'll be sure to keep that in mind for future occasions, though the only reason I asked in the first place was to clarify things. After all, what if I had been wrong in my assumption? It would be embarrassing to discover at a later date that I'd been wrong the whole time. But in this way, I can clear up any misunderstandings that may occur as soon as possible." He explained, grinning at the patched torbie. His grin would visibly fade upon hearing what she said next. It wasn't the part about Shadowclan being the best clan, or the 'you would have been shredded to nothing but fluff' comment that bothered him. It was the malice in which she said the word fish. Cricket personally loved fish, all kinds of it. "I don't know what you're talking about," He joked, though there was a note of offense behind his words. "But I think that fish is fantastic. I would eat it all the time if possible."

With this he turned back to the white feline, whose name was even more particular than Tansyface. What was it with clan cats and having weird two part names? A tradition, perhaps? Or did it stem from the need to stand out from rouges and house pets? Curiosity built in his throat, and he couldn't help but make a comment. "Shatteredsong... your name sounds like it came from a story!" He chirped, twitching his whiskers. "That's not necessarily a bad thing though. The complete opposite, really. I like how it feels on the tongue!" Assuming that he joined their clan, which was very likely at this point, would they give him a cool name like their's? That would be pretty neat. But what sounded good with Cricket? Cricketleap? Cricketcall? It was hard to say. Or maybe he was too young to have a name like theirs. For all he knew, it could be a sacred 'only clan-born cats get this type of name' situation. He didn't have much time to mull this over though, for she had said something else. "Warriors, eh? Sounds a bit barbaric, but cool nonetheless. Do you ever have to fight other cats?" Oh wait, yet another sentence had slipped out of their maw. A question this time. "How did I find out about the clans? Well, one of my mother's friends used to be part of a clan, but left for some reason or another. There were too many rules for her liking, clan-cats were violent and blood thirsty- her reason changed every time I asked." He paused for a second, and suddenly became reluctant to speak. "I uh- would it be alright if I joined Shadowclan? I doubt my parents want me to come back home, and since you guys seem so nice... I don't know. I promise not to be a hindrance, and I'll train my very hardest to become a fully fledged warrior, no matter what it takes."