Twolegged Place for Five-Clan Rp |☾ ☼ ϟ ≈ ☁|

“You’re far better than they are.” Dragonfly purred, flirtatiously flicking his tail as he brushed past Patrick. “Handsome as those gruff toms can be, I’d say I’m far more smitten with a big heart and a housecat just like me.” He admitted with a small smirk.

Arcticbreeze looked over at Jadefeather and Whitesun, hesitating briefly before she let out a huff and pulled herself to her paws. As much as she wanted to refuse Axel, she knew that she had little choice in this. “Fine.” She grumbled, waiting for him to lead the way.

Whitesun met Axel’s gaze, refusing to flinch away from it. His shoulder twitched slightly as Magnolia applied her poultice, gritting his teeth at the sting of it.

——————

Asha listened to Jax quietly, her ear flicking in slight interest. She had been wandering on her own for a while now, maybe being around others for a change might be a nice change of pace. “I’m not sure. I think I might have to think about this offer before I accept.” She mused.

Warblerwind eyed the koi, fascinated by their bright colors and patterns under the water.

"I think Twigpaw was hurt, sure, but I think he'll be better for it," he mused. "One day, maybe he'll even understand and be grateful."

He paused before wading in to look Nettle full in the face. "Plumwillow was the best mentor any cat could ever ask for. I hope," he grit his teeth. "I hope, somehow, when I get back to her, she'll understand. She'll understand that I didn't - that I wouldn't -" he sighed in frustration. "I just want to apologize to her, and thank her. She...she saw it. When I..." he trailed off, looking down at the water, at his miserable reflection. 

"Anyway. Suppose I oughta get cleaned up, yeah?" he said, stepping into the pond up to his belly fur. Immediately, he tensed up, his pupils narrowing to tiny slits. The cold water seeping into his fur, the ripples tugging at him - it was all too familiar. It was too fresh. He was back in the river, the current tearing him away from the body of Spiritstar, his mother, he watched the light return to her eyes, it was her, he killed her, oh StarClan, he was a cold-blooded murderer-!

Warblerwind stumbled as he tried to scramble from the pond in a panic, slipping and fully submerging under the water. He flailed, no sense of where he was, his paw batting one of the koi out of the pond and onto the grass as he thrashed about. He finally got himself upright and shot from the pond, spraying icy water everywhere. He fell into a crouch, panting and trembling, his claws dug into the dirt just paces away. His pelt was clean, now, but he couldn't calm his frantic heart. What was that? A sign or something?!

“Mm.” Axel grunted as she relented, turning away from his other daughter and her mate as he led Arcticbreeze through the old factory. He explained. “Twolegs used to create materials for their nests here. And before that, they used to turn stones into shiny posts by pouring liquid fire on them. A fascinating process, really. My mother used to watch them through the window.” He glanced up at an old and vine covered window high above them. Leaping up onto one of the large pipes, he continued.

“A fence around this place protects us from twolegs and dogs. But from the roof of the factory, we can scan our central territory. There are always eyes stationed up on these catwalks.” He nodded to where a few cats were dutifully watching over the factory below from the highest catwalks above.

“Morning, Clan cat.” Harlow waved her tail sharply to her older sister, before she mewed more respectfully. “Morning, father.”

Axel seemed to soften at his younger daughter’s greeting. “Keep it up, Harlow. Your mother wants your senses as sharp as possible.” Continuing onwards, he spoke gruffly once more. “Arcticbreeze. You’ll never hear a name like that here. Why have two names in one?” He mumbled, roiling with disdain for Clan life.

“At the very least, this place is safe.” Jadefeather sighed to Whitesun. “As much as I disagreed with this life, not once has this factory ever been in danger. But… Skyclan’s camp is far more beautiful.” She rested her muzzle against his. “We’ll get home. I promise.”

—-

Jax didn’t like the concept of waiting for an answer, but the prospect of one of Axel’s kits possibly joining them was too good to pass up. He waved his tail and nodded. “That’s fair. We can’t force you. If you do think you’re interested, just follow the monster carcasses to the graveyard. Have you heard of our graveyard before?” He inquired.

"I'm n-not scared," Warblerwind grit out, shaking with fear. "I, that was, foxdung, I-I don't know what that," he followed Nettle's instruction, just breathing for a moment. "I didn't mean to do that." He finished lamely. He really hadn't - he just wanted to be clean! Was this who he was, now? A scrawny, paranoid murderer who was scared of water? He was supposed to be SkyClan warrior, the son of Spiritstar! But here he was, soaked through and half-starved, with the sight of his mother's final moments staining the backs of his eyelids. 

"I think she's just annoyed by you and your general smugness." Patrick replied, flicking his nose playfully with his tail. He gathered up the rest of his collected herbs and piled them meticulously together. "I think that's all I need right now, so we can head back. Did you have any other plans this evening, or were you hoping that I was free?"  

“Your plans were gonna be my plans no matter what, so it’s up to you.” Dragonfly mewed casually, admitting that he was planning to trail after Patrick like he was used to doing when he was bored, or when his kits were with their mother farther out in the city for the moon.

"Oi. Smart move. I only know a few herbs, and that's definitely one of them." Nettle nodded, glad to see that Warblerwind had been able to relax a little bit. He kept close to the tom, nudging him lightly. "I'll help you put that on your wounds after we clean it up. Shouldn't be too hard, right?" He asked.

Whitesun lifted his head and ate the herbs Magnolia offered him, “Thanks.” He grunted, shifting around in the nest he had been offered. It hurt too much to move his shoulder, an agonizingly sharp pain going through him every time he moved it so much as an inch. “There must be something wrong with the bone. It’s not supposed to hurt this much.” He hissed lightly in pain, looking at Jadefeather to see what she thought, “Is it out of place?”

Arcticbreeze followed behind Axel silently, glancing around the factory as he spoke. What exactly was she even supposed to say in this kind of situation anyways? It wasn’t exactly an easy task to hold a casual conversation with the cat that was supposedly her father and was keeping her prisoner as well. At Harlow’s greeting, Arcticbreeze lifted her head and only gave a flick of her ear in response before she looked back at Axel, noticing the slightly softer expression on the tom’s face. He hadn’t seemed like the type to have a soft spot for his family to her.

Arcticbreeze blinked when Axel spoke her name again, shaking her out of her thoughts. She continued to follow after him, giving her ear another flick as she finally decided to speak, “The second part of our name is what marks us as warriors.” She said bluntly, not liking the disdain that she had heard in his voice.

——————

Asha gave a small shake of her head, “This is the first time that I’ve been to this part of the city.” She said. Asha had seen a few monsters along the way here, but they hadn’t seemed dead to her.

Skyla’s ear flicked, in a way understanding the she-cat’s reluctance to join them. She had been the same way after all, having only been convinced when a couple of Greaser’s cats helped her out of a sticky situation.

Jadefeather looked helplessly at Whitesun's shoulder, grimacing as she saw the severity of the wound. "It doesn't look out of place, but I could be wrong. It... it looks deeper than most wounds. Do you think it reached the bone?" She looked desperately at Magnolia, knowing she would know better than any of them at the moment. 

Axel gave a humorless laugh. "Ah yes. I recall the name they gave Grizzley when he pranced his way over there and then back over here. Grizzleyheart. Such a brave name for such a brave cat." Axel sneered as he padded. If he had a tail, he would have lashed it. "He was the greatest coward to have walked this city. I can only hope the Clan that you fell into were not so blind as the one he chose." Shaking the furious thought away, he stalked forwards and slipped through one of the windows and onto the roof. Here, there was no way down but a horribly rusted and broken ladder, or to go right back the way they came. He peered over the roof to look at the land below, nests and monsters and black stone paths leading in different directions beyond the grass, shrubs and overgrown fence that circled the base. 

"There will be more scents here than you will ever experience in your life. If you think you know them all, no, you don't. You might want to get familiar with learning how to navigate with your nose and with memorizing the city paths. Not that you'll ever need to go out there." He grunted. He looked at Arcticbreeze for a long moment before he rumbled. "You really do look exactly like your mother. It's as if I'm seeing a Spector. Except she's alive, and probably sauntering through her tenth city by now, far away."


---


"See that nest over there with the bright flashing triangle?" Jax pointed his tail to the old neon lights of a pizza shop a few blocks down. "Follow that alleyway all the way down until you reach a fence. There should be a gap in the fence, and a huge pile of monster carcasses in the distance. That pile is where the graveyard is. That's where we'll be, if you take up the offer. Just say that Jax and Skyla sent you if you get stopped by one of us." He offered, stepping back once to show that he was truly letting Asha leave if she desired. He glanced once at Skyla, looking knowingly at her.

Articbreeze glanced down at the ground below them, surprised to see how far up they were and taking in just how vast this place really was. Her claws dug into the stone of the building, feeling a sense of dread well up in her chest. Even if she and the others managed to escape this old factory, just how would they navigate their way out of this place? The name Grizzleyheart caught her attention and she looked back at Axel when she heard the anger and hatred coming from him, deciding to take note of that little bit of information. She remembered Grizzleyheart, having seen him a few times at a few different Gatherings. But she had never actually spoken to him herself before, so she didn’t know him personally at all.

Arcticbreeze felt her fur bristle slightly, feeling like he was speaking to her like she was some kit who had just become an apprentice. “She’s not my mother.” She bit out, her chest feeling tight with her own anger and glared at him, “And why do you speak as if I’ll be staying here indefinitely? ‘Navigate with my nose’? ‘Memorize the city paths’? You said that you would let us go if we did what you wanted us to do.”

——————

Skyla flicked her ear and stepped aside as well, giving the other she-cat a polite dip of her head as she did.

Asha eyed the two briefly before picking up her rat. She hesitated again briefly before she slowly made way past the two, hurrying off once she was sure that they had no intention of chasing her down. Once she was far enough away, Asha slowed down with a sigh of relief.

Arcticbreeze met Axel’s gaze with her own fierce one for a long moment before she turned her head away sharply, silently admitting to the fact that he was right about them having to find their way out themselves. Even so, she couldn’t accept this place as her home. “ThunderClan is my home. They didn’t turn their backs on me like she did. Skyblossom raised me as her own, she’s the only mother I know.” She said, her tail lashing behind her defiantly. “And even if what’s-her-face was my birth mother, how can be so sure that I’m your daughter?” Arcticbreeze challenged, finally looking back at Axel.

“How do you know that some other random tom isn’t my father instead?” She asked. Once there had been a time where she had wished to know who her father was, when she had still believed Skyblossom to be her true mother. She knew that there was a possibility of him having been an outsider of the clan. But at that time she hadn’t known that neither of her parents were from ThunderClan, and now… she wasn’t so sure if wanted to know. Everything that was going on and the wave of emotions that it was stirring up in her was all far to confusing, she didn’t even know what to think of it all!

————————

“Can’t say that I blame her for being cautious.” Skyla said as she watched Asha scurry away. She looked back at Jax, “being on your own in this city tends to make you a bit weary of big groups of cats.”

Arcticbreeze frowned at Axel’s laughter and looked away from him again, glaring down at the ground again. She stayed still for a long moment as he made his way back into the factory before she took a deep breath and stood up, following after Axel with one last glance at the city before she slipped back inside. “What are hunting cellars?” She asked in a resigned voice, her curiosity momentarily getting the best of her.

——————

Skyla gave a flick of her ear and stood up, giving a small stretch of her paws, “Well, should we look around for anyone else, or head back to base?” She asked.

——————

Hawkpaw slowed to a stop, feeling her fur bristle as she caught the faint scent of blood, “It’s here, this is where it happened.” She mewed quietly to the others in the patrol.

Blackfire looked around the alley as the came to a stop, spotting several clumps of fur scattered across the ground. Taking a deep breath in, she frowned when she noticed how much the scents had faded since the attack had happened, “Alright, so where should we go from here then?” She asked, looking back at the others. “It’s going to be difficult to track them from here, with how much the scents have faded and been covered up. And if they were taken deeper into the twolegplace, well most likely get lost.”

Arcticbreeze follows him down into the darkness slowly, her eyes taking a moment to fully adjust. “I’ve hunted at night before, but never in total darkness.” She mewed, feeling around carefully with her paws.

“It’s easier for the ones who truly belong in darkness.” Nightmare said as she stepped out into the dim light that was offered from the opening, her red eyes glinting as she eyed Arcticbreeze before she dipped her head respectfully to Axel. “Father. I was just finishing up my own hunt. I’ll leave you two alone now.” She mewed, waving her tail at the small pile of rats and mice she had managed to collect.

——————

Skyla gave a light nod and walked down the alleyway, opening her mouth to scent the air, “You know, it kind of seems like that we’ve been finding more and more cats that are either on their own or hold a grudge against the Night Stalkers.” She commented, glancing at Jax. “How long do you think it’ll be before we have more in our ranks than Axel does?”

——————

“I’m not saying that we should give up on them.” Blackfire said, looking down at Emberpaw with a gentle, yet firm look. “But if we try to follow their scent into that maze of nests when it’s already faded so much, we’re going to either get lost or walk ourselves right into another ambush. There was a reason why we mostly stuck to the outskirts of the twolegplace and didn’t go any deeper.” She continued, looking back at Quickwing. “Maybe there’s a kittypet around that saw what happened, we can try and ask around. At least try to figure out where it was that Whitesun, Jadefeather and Arcticbreeze were taken.” Blackfire suggested.