Encountering the Clans

This is an archived version of FeralFront.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/.

    Omenstar padded silently through the foliage, the ferns brushing his pelt as he passed them and they soaked his fur as the dew clung to him. He could hear the Thunderpath not far away and he curiously went up and explored it. He sat at the edge of the black ground that formed the Thunderpath and watched the monsters pass him by without a second glance. He suddenly noticed a monster stop and the twolegs came out of its belly and threw a cat out.


    Omenstar kept low, his belly pressing against the ground and he waited silently until the monster moved away. The scent of the strange cat filling his nose despite the heavy reek of the Thunderpath and its noisy monsters. "Hello?" He mewed, his grey eyes glowing in the shadows.

    Jazz felt so confused and scared. Her twoleg owners had been acting very strange lately, running around their house and putting everything into boxes for reasons Jazz could not understand. At the time she hadn't thought too much about. Until a huge monster came to the house and her twolegs began putting all of her favourite sleeping places into the back of it.


    Jazz had been feeling so anxious worrying about the sudden changes to her home. She tried seeking comfort from her twoleg owners, but instead of petting her they had grabbed her by the back of her neck and shut her into her travelling cage. Before taking her outside and putting her in the monster.


    Jazz hated the huge, smelly monster and when the monster started moving, she began yowling. Desperate to be let out. After a while though she stopped, she hadn't been fed today and she was soo thirsty.


    Suddenly the monster stoppped and rough hands opened the cage, pulling her out. She felt herself being thrown from the monster and she hit the ground hard. The sweet smell of grass and dew filled her nose as she shakily lifted her head. She could barely see, her vision all bleary, however she could see the shadowy outline of what she hoped was a friendly cat.
    "Please....help...me" she miawed pitifully.

    Omenstar was buffeted by a passing monster which caused his fur to ruffle and his tail to fluff up. He didn't dare take his eyes off the stranger that was just in front of him. He could smell the distinct scent of kittypet and he was unsure if he should interact with her or not. His ears flicked uncomfortably before he padded towards her slowly. "Come with me." He spoke in a gentle voice before turning to head further away from the Thunderpath. It was too noisy to have a conversation there anyway due to all the monsters that zipped back and forth along it.


    Once he was comfortably far enough from the Thunderpath he sat down in the grass and licked at his chest fur. His eyes were closed at first before he looked up at her. "What's your name and why are you here?" His voice was harsher than before but he had a caring glint in his eyes.

    Jazz was feeling a bit dazed and felt her fur fluff up in fear when she heard the strange cats harsh tone of voice. But she calmed again when she saw the kindness in the stranger's eyes. "My name is Jazz and I have no idea why I'm here or even where I am" she miaowed. "I've never been so far from my twoleg home and I'm so scared and confused" she was slowly becoming more and more hysterical, her tail swishing back and forth. "Where are my twolegs?! They can't have just abandoned me, I don't belong here!"

    Omenstar touched his tail to Jazz's shoulder to comfort her. "I am Omenstar and you are in the forest. It would appear you have been abandoned by those twolegs." He explained, trying to remain calm and collected as he spoke with the kittypet. "It would seem StarClan have a different path in mind for you." Omenstar mumbled forgetting that kittypets would not know of StarClan or anything else that the Forest Cats believed in.

    As Jazz listened to Omenstar explain what had happened she began to feel more and more dejected. She thought "My twolegs don't want me any more, did I do something bad?" Her ears began to droop, "what should I do? I'll never be able to survive on my own." She sensed that Omenstar was still speaking, mumbling under his breath. Something about there being a different path for her to follow and something called starclan. Forgetting her previous dark thoughts she perked up, her curiosity getting the better of her "What's starclan?" She miawed excitedly "and why are you called Omenstar? Now that I think about it you have a very strange name."

    Omenstar's ears flattened against his head and he leaned back a little. "Um... my name? This is a common type of name for Clan cats. I was given the first half of my name at birth then received 'Star' to represent my title as a leader of a Clan! You're the one with the weird name." Omenstar replied then chuckled a little.


    "I keep forgetting kittypets know nothing about Clan life. StarClan are our warrior ancestors, each time a Clan warrior dies he joins StarClan who live within Silverpelt." He flicked his tail to the sky where night was just creeping in to show the stars above them. "StarClan guides us and protects us, visiting us in our dreams." Omenstar's eyes glistened brightly.

    "Ops, maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt, I hope I haven't offended him" She thought a little ashamed of her self. "I'm sorry" she miaowed looking very apologetic, however that seemed to do nothing to extinguish the spark of burning curiosity that gleamed in her eyes, "but this is the first time I've ever heard of all this." Her ears strated to flick excitedly as more and more questions seemed to flood her mind.


    "So I'm assuming that by clan you mean there are more cats like you, and you said your their leader, so I suppose you order them around?" She stopped short as another thought entered her head, "So...um who feeds you?" She miaowed as she tilted her head to the side "and I'm not quite sure I get what you mean by starclan, warrior ancestors and is silverpelt another cat like you with a stra....er different name? And why are you pointing at the sky?"


    Realising she was letting her mouth run away with her again she stopped, "I'm sorry I don't mean to ask so many questions I'm just soo confused and curious, until today I didn't even know that cats lived in the forest...I guess I kind of assumed everyone lived the way I do" a sad look entered Jazz's eyes "I mean did."

    Omenstar sighed, slumping his shoulders a little. 'It's just like talking to a kit again', he thought to himself, smiling tenderly at Jazz. "Most kittypets have no idea that there is a whole world just outside their gardens. The Clans have been here for longer than I have, they're ancient!" He spoke, puffing his chest out with pride.


    "More or less yes, they obey me. We feed ourselves by hunting the prey that StarClan send to us. Mice, voles, rabbits and such. Why? What do you eat?" His gaze lifted to the sky, his eyes glistening brightly. "Silverpelt is right up there. All those little lights are spirits of fallen warriors who have passed from this world and joined the cats up there." He lowered his head to look at the she-cat. "You will learn more soon enough, I assure you. It will take time to learn everything about this world, I was in the same position as you not long ago too."

    Jazz noticed the way Omenstar's shoulders had slumped "Oh" she thought "I'm probably asking too much questions, I hope he doesn't just leave me here he might be my only chance to survive." She dropped her ears in silent apology as he basically told her how small-minded she was, she resolved to be a bit more open to this new world with its strange words and beliefs.


    With this thought in mind she finally took her first good look at the tom cat who had patiently answered all her questions. He was quite a handsome tom, mostly black with a splach of white on his face. Definitely older than herself, and although he seemed thin she noticed that there was a sort of wiry power to his body that she had never seen in the cats she used to see from her garden.


    As Omenstar talked about his ancestors and heritage she noticed his proud stance. She had never known another cat who seemed to have such conviction for their beliefs, and as he talked about starclan she couldn't help but feel awed by the way he described it, now that she was actually listening to what he was saying. Looking up at the sky and Silverpelt she wondered if her own ancestors lived up there.


    Standing up she tried to make herself look as decisive and confidant as he looked and miaowed "I do want to learn more and I hope you can teach me"

    Omenstar purred as he noticed the change in Jazz's behaviour, his eyes gleaming brightly. "I will explain all I can to you, but first are you hungry?" Omenstar could feel his stomach growling with hunger, he hadn't eaten in quite sometime so his energy was beginning to drain swiftly. He was also hoping to teach the young she-cat how to hunt as he could only guess that she knew nothing about hunting. His claws sank into the ground as excitement surged through his muscles at the thought of sinking his fangs into a tasty piece of prey.


    "Come, I'll show you." He stood up and bounced off into the undergrowth, his tail high in the air.

    Jazz felt a tingle of pride shoot up her spine as Omenstar began to purr and accepted her request. However as soon as he mentioned food Jazz felt her stomach growl so loudly it hurt, in all the excitement she had forgotten that she hadn't eaten all day. She had never felt so hungry in her entire life. She watched in amazement as Omenstar suddenly seemed to jump in to action, bounding off into the forest and calling for her to follow.


    Jazz tried to leap after him but she was so small, especially for her age and it was quite obvious that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him for very long.

    Omenstar began to slow his pace as he noticed Jazz falling behind, it really was like being followed by a kit to him. He chuckled slightly to himself then came to a steady stop, breathing in deeply through his mouth so the scents of the forest passed over his tongue and the roof of his mouth. He flattened himself to the ground and signaled with his tail for Jazz to copy and to come up by his side. "I'm going to show you how we hunt voles. First rule, make sure the wind is coming towards you. That way the prey can't pick up your scent. Second rule, keep low to the ground and move silently and slowly. Third rule, kill swiftly."


    Omenstar crept slowly over the grass like the wind through a field, making no noise as he placed one paw in front of the other without pause. The vole was sat further away from him and was eating a berry.

    ((OOC: Sorry got distracted by the create a cat maker and real cats :-[))


    Jazz finally caught up to Omenstar just as he flattened himself to the forest floor. She saw him twitch his tail, silently telling her to copy him. After a few clumsy attempts she finally seemed to be in a similar position to Omenstar and creeped up to his side waiting for further orders.


    As she listened to Omenstar explaining how to hunt, she felt a thrill of anticipation race through her body, she felt her claws unsheathe and sheathe in excitement. She had never felt so alive. She watched as Omenstar slowly began to move forward, gracefully stalking what appeared to her to be a small, brown ball of fluff. She quickly realised her mistake when she noticed that the thing was actually moving, "ops...that must be the vole Omenstar mentioned."


    Awkwardly she tried to follow Omenstar's advice and example, however her movements were nowhere near as fluid as Omenstar's. Thankfully though she was at least quiet enough that she didn't scare away the vole.

    ((OOC: That's alright, I had gone to bed anyway :P ))


    Omenstar bunched his muscles up once he was at a certain distance from the vole, his eyes fully focused upon the prey. The vole happily nibbled the berry, its little teeth making short work of the small fruit and it rotated the berry to eat away at it from all angles. The juices from the berry filled Omenstar's nose and the sound of the vole's heart thundered in his ears. Omenstar was distant from reality, it was just him and the vole now. The black and white tom shot forward and slammed his claws down upon the vole and the shriek of the vole pierced the air.


    Omenstar pinned the struggling mammal beneath one large paw and he turned to look at Jazz over his shoulder. "I will show you how to kill prey." He looked back down at the vole as the small animal desperately struggled to escape the impending death that would come soon. It bit at Omenstar's paw causing the tom's fur to prickle as pain swept over him but he did not let it go.

    Jazz watched amazed as Omenstar pounced and crushed the vole beneath his paws. The vole shrieked pitifully, as it put up a desperate struggle for its life. Jazz was quite shocked when she saw the vole bite Omenstar's paw and barely react to the pain.


    Jazz didn't know what to do, Omenstar had said he was going to show her how to kill but Jazz had never even hunted, never mind kill. "Omenstar are you sure this is food it's squeaking, I've never had food this lively before. How do you make it stop moving and making so much noise?" She miaowed looking a little put off by the struggle the vole was making.

    Omenstar flicked his tail with annoyance. "This is what real food looks like, I'm betting even your kittypet food probably started out alive at some point. This is no different except you kill it yourself. The best way to kill your prey is to bite the neck to make it a swift death." Omenstar lowered his head down and grabbed the vole's neck within his jaws and bit down hard until a loud snap could be heard and the vole stopped moving.


    Omenstar lifted his paw off the small lifeless body then pawed it towards Jazz. "Try some of it and decide what you think." The black and white tom sat down and gazed at the she-cat with a lazy look.

    Jazz stared at the small, broken body of the vole, "so this is what death looks like" she thought. She lowered her head and allowed her mouth to fall open, sampling the the new smells. However when the scent of freshkill entered her noise, she felt something click into place in her mind. As nearly dormant instincts took over and drove her to take a huge bite of the vole. It was like nothing else she had ever experienced in her short life, a small voice seemed to whisper in the back of her mind "the thrill of the hunt, the sweet taste of victory, this is but a small portion of what the forest can offer...This is what it feels like to truly live."


    Remembering that she wasn't alone, she left half of the vole to Omenstar, "after all" she thought "he did catch it." Looking up at Omenstar, she struggled to put her new thoughts in to words "Wow....that was...I mean...it was amazing. I've never felt this way before" she miaowed, hoping that he understood what she was trying to say as she unconciously licked her lips for any lingering taste of vole.

    Omenstar watched as Jazz tore into the vole, a small smile creeping across his lips. 'It seems she has the distant voice of the wild still flowing through her, good, she'll be able to survive with guidance.' Omenstar felt warmth sweep through him, a fatherly emotion filling his heart as he gazed down at Jazz. She was certainly young and acted very much like a kit. 'Is this what it's like to be a father to kits? To watch them grow and learn for the first time?'


    Omenstar shifted his gaze down to the half eaten vole and bowed his head before leaning down to devour what was left, his stomach pleased to be filled again. The tom licked his lips and blinked his eyes with gratitude. "I bet that tasted better than any kittypet food, there's nothing like prey from the forest." He purred then licked his paw before drawing it over his ear to clean it. "Maybe you should try hunting for yourself, it'll be good to practice now."

    Thankful that Omenstar seemed to understand her babbling, she miaowed "Oo yes please" her tail flicking excitedly from side to side. "So I know you showed me how to stalk prey but how do I find prey in the forest? How do I know where to find it?"