(p)atchwork

[Rainlight]

|| Patch ||

Rainlight padded along the DeathClan border, sniffing the scent marks every few pawsteps to make sure they were fresh. She hadn't been around this side of the territory in a while, so she thought it'd be nice to go for a little stroll. 'I wonder if I'll run into any DeathClanners.'

As if that were a cue, the she-cat immediately caught the scent of another cat. She peered across the border through squinted eyes. "Hello?"

[Patch]

Patch was wandering around the Fireclan border, hoping to bump into Maggotscreech or maybe even someone else she had remembered. Her hopes came true. She turned her head to see an older gray she-cat.

The black and white rouge blinked and thought for a moment. She recognized the scent barely, she tilted her head and replied with awkwardness. "Um... Hello."

[Rainlight]

Rainlight took a step closer when the feline came into view. She definitely carried the scent of a DeathClanner, but there was something different about her. The way she stood, or the way she looked... there was something. She watched her closely when Patch began to speak, slightly surprised by the sound of her voice. It was a ton less hostile than she would've expected from a DeathClanner. Rainlight tipped her head, looking the she-cat up and down. "Do I... Do I know you?"

[Patch]

Patch flattened her ears as she saw the queen take a step closer. Did she recognize her..? Patch took a small step forwards as well to get a better look. "Um... Maybe. You seem somewhat familiar." She replied, her nervousness fading slowly.

[Rainlight]

Rainlight stayed silent, trying her best to pinpoint why this cat was so familiar. Then it hit her. 'Nighthowl.' Her dead daughter. She'd never forget one of her kits, even if they were adopted and dead. The FireClanner looked away, feeling a sudden touch of sadness. 'She was too young. We never got to talking much, either. Why didn't I do that when I had the chance?'

Lost in her thoughts, she'd almost forgotten about the cat in front of her. Rainlight looked down at her paws sheepishly. "I apologize, I don't think we've met. You just look a lot like someone I used to know." She looked back up at her to introduce herself. "I'm Rainlight. Who might you be?"

[Patch]

Patch felt a little guilty as she knew the cat after she introduced herself. Images flicked in her mind of a large nursery. She shook away the thoughts and smiled casually, straightening herself up.

"Oh... You look like someone I knew, too. My name is Patch." Patch's paws felt numb as she stayed silent for seconds. She then added, "Aren't you in Fireclan..? I recognize the scent..."

[Rainlight]

"Nice to meet you, Patch." She tipped her head in curiosity when she went on. "Yeah, I'm a FireClanner. Are you lost?" Didn't she know that this was the FireClan border? Or maybe she didn't, and remembered the scent for different reasons. 'Is she from here? I don't remember ever seeing her.'

[Patch]

"No, I'm not lost." Patch meowed back quickly, raising her ears back up to its original position. She thought for a second. "And nice to meet you, M-... Rainlight." She stuttered. She flicked her tail awkwardly.

"Um... How's the prey running. No hawks or any spooky stuff like that?" Patch's smile was forced to grow wider.

[Rainlight]

Rainlight's polite smile wavered as Patch replied. She had stuttered, almost like she was about to call her "mom". The queen tried not to wince. That was almost too much like Nighthowl. She tried not to let it bother her.

Rainlight shook her head. "It's running fine. I haven't seen any hawks lately..." Part of her wondered why a DeathClanner would care about their prey, and another part of her wanted to know why she had asked about the hawks. 'And she called them spooky. Something strange is going on here...'

[Patch]

Patch chuckled nervously to herself, trying to lighten the mood. She tried to ignore the fact that she almost accidentally called a cat that barely knew her 'mom'. "Heh, good. And that's nice, hawks make me nervous, seriously, I think Pain is tired of me getting attacked by stuff like that." She noted.

Speaking of him, he would probably kill her for talking to a clan cat besides Maggotscreech.

(We all mess up with calling people 'mom', Patch is now on the list)

[Rainlight]

"You've been attacked by hawks?" Rainlight tried to hide the fear in her voice. "That's crazy. I don't like hawks very much, either. One killed my daughter." She explained briefly. She didn't think twice about telling the rogue this, mostly because DeathClanners didn't seem to be phased much by the subject of death. It was in their name, after all.

|| haha! ||

[Patch]

Patch flinched back, her fur stood on end. She shivered, picturing a dead body on the ground, a voice screamed out to her. She was hesitant to reply. "N-Nighthowl..? I'm sorry you had to go through that..." She murmured. Ugh, it felt odd to talk about her own death. No, she wasn't Nighthowl.

Not fully, at least.

[Rainlight]

Rainlight felt her fur begin to rise. The cat that reminded her of Nighthowl also knew of Nighthowl. 'There's no way that she's...' She didn't allow herself to finish that thought. Reincarnation didn't exist. At least, she didn't think so. 'Nighthowl was adopted. Maybe Patch is a relative.' That seemed more likely.

She smiled weakly. "Yeah, her."

[Patch]

Patch smiled back with the same weakness. Should she tell? It hasn't given a cat a heart attack yet, plus, it could be satisfying to Rainlight to hear her daughter had a second chance at life. "Yeah... Um... How is Maggotscreech and Blackthorn doing?" She didn't dare bring up Stormpaw, it drew up too many emotions.

[Rainlight]

A look of confusion crossed Rainlight's face. How did Patch know about them? This whole interaction was strange in itself and she kind of felt like she was in a dream. She pressed a claw into her opposite paw.

It wasn't a dream. And now her paw stung. "I think they're doing okay. I haven't seen either of them in a while, though."