road ain't no place to start a family || Open

[Raven]

A young black she-cat padded amongst the death-trap, or better know "swamp". Her yellow orbs skittered over the terrain up ahead, looking for any sign of company. She usually spent her days up in a tree, but today she didn't feel like climbing. She looked up at what little sky she  could see, and saw dark stormy clouds. Great.

She needed to find cover, quickly. If it rained, which was probable, it would flood. She couldn't afford to drown right now, so she hurried to find higher ground. Overhead, the sound of thunder echoed in the desolate place. She ran towards a cypress tree, in hopes of shelter.

[Deleted]

It just so happened that a cat was already perched in the branches of said cypress tree. The form of a somewhat-large tom was silhouetted against the dark sky when lightning flashed; his amber eyes were fixed on a small black-furred creature hurrying towards him.

"Running around in the swamp right before a storm? My, my... aren't you a brave youngling?" greeted Drought with an amused purr. "I do have to wonder what you're doing out here. Surely not looking for prey - there's rarely anything here, except for the occasional rat or lizard. The black-and-white feline stood up and prowled closer to the tree trunk, his claws gripping the branch in order to keep steady.

[Raven]

Raven shuddered as a rain drop hit her spine. As she went to jump onto the trunk, she heard a voice. Not just any voice, her leader's voice. She looked up at him, with round yellow eyes. She had never had the privilege of speaking directly to her leader. As he complimented her, her fur grew hot with pride. "I suppose I am. I was actually trying to be a regular cat for once, I'm usually up in a tree. I'm more squirrel than cat, I guess." She mewed.

The rain started to speed up and hit the ground hard. The poor youngling's fur was drenched in no time. She huddled under the canopy of the cypress tree.

[Deleted]

"Luckily for you, DeathClan has plenty of trees. But the way you're talking... perhaps TreeClan would have been a better fit? I remember those cats all too well; they have a terrible knack for flitting around in the branches like birds. And many of them are fragile in the same sense. I came close to killing their deputy on several occasions."

Drought probably would have continued reminiscing, had the rain not decided to start pouring down. He flattened his ears in discomfort and hopped down to join Raven at the foot of the tree.

"We're going to be swimming if it keeps raining like this. In the meantime; I suppose you already know who I am - but I, unfortunately, do not recall meeting you previously."

[Raven]

Raven listened to him reminisce on old times. But her join a clan? No deal. "Who'd want to join a clan? like living here. In Deathclan, we're free to live our lives and not be confined by a silly code." She spoke proudly. She was huddled against the tree when Drought suddenly joined her at the bottom. She nearly squeaked.

He was so much bigger than her, she came up to mid-leg. As he asked her name she said proudly, "Raven."

[Deleted]

Drought gave a small nod; he'd been hoping to hear something like that. "Spoken like a real DeathClanner. Any cat who follows laws laid down by dead cats has something wrong with their head. Out here, you do what you want... provided you're willing to serve me. And I don't tend to ask much of my cats."

He sank his claws into the boggy ground and sat down. "That's a nice name. Speaking of ravens; have you seen any here recently? There used to be many in this swamp, but it must have been a moon since I've caught one."

[Raven]

Raven nodded her head in understanding. That was her exact sentiment, exactly as she thought. Why would any cat be willing to live under rule that some dead cat made? It's a repulsive idea, really.

At the mention of Ravens she pondered for a few before answering, "No, not recently. I mean really all that is edible is frogs and lizards." [/b]

[Deleted]

The patched black-and-white cat frowned slightly. "What a shame. It used to be that ravens were as common as rats here, but now they seem to have disappeared. I rather liked them; they're smarter than the other birds."

His monologue on the black birds was interrupted when heavier drops of rain started breaching the tree's canopy and dripping down onto his pelt. "Perhaps this isn't the best time for chatting idly, though... the swamp has a terrible habit of flooding when there's too much rain. "

[Raven]

The black youngling nodded in agreement. "If anything, they are the most cunning birds. They're sly and witty and they taste pretty good too!"She mewed. She felt the rain drops grow heavier and she lay her ears against her head in irritation. She heard him say something about idle chat and not right time.

Raven nodded in agreement and started to make her way back toward the den areas. She made sure that the Leader's pawsteps were echoing behind her.

[Deleted]

"Where are you heading?" As DeathClan's dens were not all located in the same area (cats made their own dens anywhere in the territory), Drought wasn't entirely sure where the black cat was going. He didn't move to follow Raven, but did stand up. The leader hesitated to leave whatever shelter the tree might be providing against the storm until he knew where he'd be walking to.

Perhaps he'd accompany Raven, perhaps not. He could always just go back to his tree-den and end this little social outing.

[Raven]

She stopped and turned to look at the larger cat. "I thought you were hinting on leaving before we were swept away by a flood? If not well, I'm not really sure where I'm headed, possibly toward oblivion." She said over the sound of the rain. She was getting pounded by the torrential weather and her fur was sticking to her skin.

She tried to not give a piteous mew, since she was talking to you know, the LEADER of Deathclan.

[Deleted]

"Yes. I didn't really mean that in a surprised 'oh please don't go!' way, I was more asking where you're off to. Higher ground in general? Or your den, if you have one?" If this cat wanted to go back to her den, he was more than happy to let her part ways so that he could go off on his own. The rain was really starting to get his fur soaked; the tree's leaves were doing almost nothing to stop the heavy droplets from battering his black-and-white pelt.

[Raven]

"I guess higher ground, I don't have a "den". You don't have to come if you don't want to."She said as the rain picked up, she was out in the open whilst Drought was somewhat covered by the little cover. She shuddered and shook out her pelt.

[Deleted]

"I'd rather head off to my den, then. Don't drown." With a slight joking grin, Drought started to trot off, but he glanced back over his shoulder before breaking into a full run.

"I have a feeling our paths will cross again soon." It took mere seconds for the black-and-white leader to disappear in the gloom of the swamp after that. He felt a bit bad about leaving the black-furred peasant to go and huddle under some bush alone, but it wasn't as if he could do anything about that. The responsibility of making a den for shelter belonged to each individual DeathClanner, not Drought.

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