Looking for Some Lizards

[Thistle]

A brown tabby cat padded away from the Boneyard, her fur still bristling from her encounter with Shortwhisker. "That mangy furball is crazy," she mumbled under her breath, her paws beginning to slow down. She was tired, and hungry. Branchkit sniffed the air hopefully for something to eat, but her senses were dulled by exhaustion. A whole day without sleep had taken its toll on her body.
And then the she-cat spotted it. A small lizard crouched near a tiny crack in the wall. The brown feline licked her ebony lips with anticipation, already tasting the meat sliding into her empty stomach.

Quickly, she lowered herself to the ground and stalked slowly toward it. When she was only a tail-length away, it glanced up and darted off. "Rat dung!" She started running, chasing it, but it disappeared through a crack in the wall. "Oh, great," she thought, glaring at the light that seeped from the hole.
A minute passed by.
She was still staring at the wall. Finally, when it was clear that the lizard would not reappear, she turned away and padded off. Perhaps, if she was patient enough, she would find another lizard and eat her fill. Cheered by the thought, Branchkit wandered around, sticking close to the wall.

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe was walking with her gray tabby fur pressed close to the wall. Not for camouflage- gray fur didn't blend in to brown and tan wood- but for comfort. She breathed in the familiar woody smell, reminding herself of when she was a kit. Her rumbling stomach jolted her out of her memories. Rainstripe didn't see any lizards when she looked around, but she did see a small brown tabby kit wandering around close to the wall. She took a deep breath, and followed the kit. When she caught up, she asked, "Have you seen any prey around here?"

[Thistle]

Branchkit glanced up. An adult she-cat was padding toward her. Should she run? Her recent experience with older cats told her that it might not be safe to stay. Unlike Shortwhisker, who wouldn't fight anyone, this tabby might be a more willing opponent. But there was also a chance that she would be friendly to her.
"Prey?" repeated Branchkit, cocking her head as she looked at the gray feline. "I was chasing a stupid lizard, but it got away."

Then she remembered what she had thought about before Rainstripe had asked her question. Immediately, Branchkit wore a guarded expression and said, "Who are you?" It was quite obvious that she was suspicious of the tabby.

[duckyaisha]

"Thank you. Maybe I'll catch a lizard or two, after I finish talking to you," she meowed cheerfully, though her slightly bristled fur and large, scared eyes gave away her anxiety. The question the kit asked was harder to answer. "Who am I? I'm just Rainstripe, I guess. How can I be anyone else?" she asked in confuson.

[Thistle]

Because Branchkit didn't know how to reply to the newly acquainted she-cat, she shook her head as if to toss Rainstripe's question away from her mind. The brown tabby meowed abruptly, "I'm Branchkit, by the way," as if she'd changed her mind about the cat before her and decided to trust her. At least, Rainstripe didn't look like any kind of threat to her. In fact, she seemed nervous.

[duckyaisha]

"Branchkit..." Rainstripe repeated, her yellow-green eyes narrowed in concentration. She looked down once more at the kit. Even gazing down at a different kit reminded the she-cat of her kit days, when her mother was here, raising her, teaching her how to catch lizards and crickets. Always staying close to the wall. Where was Branchkit's mother? "Where is your mother?" she asked in confusion, memories of her own mother swirling around in her head.

[Thistle]

Branchkit didn't like the tabby's gaze boring into her. She felt uncomfortable. So, in her haste to make Rainstripe avert her gaze, she meowed brusquely, "She's dead." Then, because she thought it made her seem weak to have the suffix 'kit' and a dead mother, she added quickly, "But I can fend for myself. I 'dunno about my brother, though." She hoped that something would pass by then; she was getting hungrier by the minute.
Suddenly, a small shape hopped a fox-length away, catching the young she-cat's eye. Flicking her tail, she crouched, jumped and - the cricket was between her sharp teeth. She snapped her jaws shut and quickly swallowed the crunchy treat. It wasn't as good as a lizard, but she couldn't really expect lizards to be more common than these little crickets.

Sweeping her rough tongue over her ebony lips, Branchkit looked up at Rainstripe. "See? 'Told you so," as if to prove that she could hunt as well as any full-grown cat. Well, rats were quite difficult and challenging for her, even when she was with other cats, but she could at least hunt small prey.

[duckyaisha]

"I don't know where my mother is," Rainstripe mewed. "I'm sorry."
Then she grinned. "I never said you couldn't hunt. I just wondered where your mother was. If your brother can't fend for himself, why don't you have him with you?" Rainstripe asked. She didn't have any siblings, but she had seen the way they cared for each other from a distance. Maybe Branchkit and her brother weren't that close.

[Thistle]

Branchkit twitched her tail awkwardly, not really wanting to share her secrets with an almost complete stranger. But the words spilled out of her mouth anyway.
"I left, and Batkit's either somewhere out there or dead like my mother. He's not really a fighter or anything like that." She paused, glaring at Rainstripe as if to dare her to probe any further into her past.

[duckyaisha]

Rainstripe blinked. "Oh," she replied, feeling uneasy under Branchkit's glare. "I don't have any siblings. Even if I did, I don't think I would be very close to them," the she-cat meowed awkwardly. She scraped her paws on the ground, digging up sand and wondering what to do next.