The Boneyard Blues

[sie]

Pebblestream slowly made her way through the rotting corpses. The smell was almost unbareable. It made her eyes water. She tried to keep her eyes down, looking at her paws and away from the dead. Her ears were flattend to her head, her tail dragging, the picture of remorse. As she reached her destination her body shuddered and she sat with a sigh. "Hello mother..." she said dipping her head to lick her mother's ear. Her tail twitched nervously and she blink sparatically. "I don't know why I'm here, I guess I missed you." she murmered. Her head hung low and her whiskers quivered slightly. She shifted her eyes from her mother, she'd rather see other rotting cats then her mother.

[Thistle]

Branchkit looked around her. Corpses and bones were scattered everywhere.
Why had she come back? She had no idea, but now she was here again, among the dead cats.

Maybe it was because she could find lots of rats around, or just because she wanted to check if Shortwhisker had come back and acted like that stuttering idiot he was. Whatever reason, she was in the Boneyard, and there was another cat here too.

She walked toward her cautiously. "H-Hello? What're you doing here?"

[sie]

Pebblestream looked up startled. "Hello," she said smoothly, " I came to see my mother, but I think it was a mistake." She shook her head slightly and stepped around her mother towards the other cat. Her head cocked slightly.

"What about you?" she asked, her green eyes alight with curiosity. She was glad to have and excuse to look away from the corpses.

[Thistle]

"I'm just... wanderin' around, I guess." She shrugged, then meowed, "I'm Branchkit, but I'm no kit. My mother and da died before they gave me my warrior name." The tabby nodded toward the corpses, unable to find her parents' bodies among them quickly. "What's your name?"

[sie]

Pebblestream nodded her head slowly. She knew how Branchkit felt.

"I'm Pebblestream. I almost didn't get my warrior name..." she said shrugging. Her ears twitched slightly. "I hate it here, I don't know why I came." she said with a sigh.

[Thistle]

Branchkit frowned. "Why not? Did somethin'-" She broke off, spotting a cricket only a tail-length away. She crouched and sprang, snapping her jaws on it's ekoskeleton. She gulped, swallowing her crunchy and rather dry meal.

The she-cat blinked, mumbling something that sounded like, "Sorry about that."
Branchkit then meowed, her voice clear, "Did somethin' happen?"

[shadowmidna]

Mothfoot wandered aimlessly throughout the bones and rotting corpses. The stench was almost too much. The grey tabby she-cat didn't even know why she was here; maybe to have a break from her brother, maybe to see her long-dead parents. Whatever the reason, her paws had carried her here.

Mothfoot twitched her ears. She could hear voices; other cats were here, too. Keeping her ears pricked, Mothfoot crept quietly over to the cats, hoping the stench would mask her scent. She would have gotten away with her plan of eavesdropping if her chronic clumsiness hadn't struck at that very moment. As she took another step forward, she tripped over a small pile of bones. She tried to steady herself, but Mothfoot managed to upset another pile of bones with her paws as she did so. The sound of bone clattering against bone resonated throughout the silent Boneyard. Mothfoot hoped they hadn't heard, but there was no doubt that they had.

[sie]

Pebblestream's ears perked up and, with her tail, signaled for silence. She carefully stepped over the bones of her mother and crept forward in a quick fluent motion. Her ears twitched slightly as she looked over the bones that hid her.

'Only a she-cat.' she thought. With another twitch of her tail, she signaled Branchkit forward and stood up.

"Hello," she purred musically, trying to keep the atmosphere as friendly as possible. Her tail twitched sparatically. 'I sure hope that Branchkit followed' she thought. Pebblestream didn't dare look back to find out.

[Thistle]

Branchkit almost jumped when a clatter of bones resounded from behind her. Whirling around, she hissed, "Who and what are you?" The she-cat didn't have time to see who it was and anyway, Pebblestream was blocking her view. She followed and stepped around the older cat.
She almost bared her fangs at the stranger, but a kind greeting from Pebblestream stopped her. Maybe the stranger was friendly too...

The tabby recovered her composure and meowed again, "Who are you?" Her tone wasn't as suspicious or threatening as before, but she knew that she should never let her guard down.

[sie]

Pebblestream stepped forward to be level with Branchkit. She toached the young cat with the tip of her tail in warning. She flash the Branchkit with a quick look just in case and kneeded the ground with excitement. "Well?"