Like a Ninja

[vivosaurus]

Drip. Drip.
"Ow!" Rockfoot sprang awake as a droplet of water fell in his ear. He shook his head until he felt the water dripping back out of his ear and shuddered. That was perhaps the worst feeling in the world - physical feeling, at least.

Once that crisis was over with, Rockfoot yawned, arching his back and sticking his butt straight up in the air. Now that he was awake, he figured he might as well stay awake. What to do, however, was a big question. He had stayed inside his circle drawn in the dirt for a couple hours (approximate, of course), and wasn't sure if he should venture out of it. Was it safe? Nothing ever felt safe outside his circle...

With a long, dusty foot, he reached outside the line of the dirt, softly touched the outside world, and then drew his paw back in. "To go or not to go?" Rockfoot asked himself, staring intently at the small dip in the dirt he had made.

ooc| I decided to be cliche and start my post with onomatopoeia. =o
The title is also extremely random. It's partially because I had ninjawords.com up. xD

[Ten]

"Good day, Rockfoot," Woodstripe chimed, padding up to him. "I see you're awake now. Would you escort me on a walk? You must be tired of staying in one spot for so long." Her green eyes were bright with false naivety. She tilted her tabby head. "How do you occupy yourself like that?"

[vivosaurus]

Rockfoot jumped slightly at the introduction of another cat - he often forgot his surroundings when in such deep thought. "I am awake," he told Woodstripe. Wasn't it obvious? His eyes were open, he was moving, and he seemed to be thinking. That said 'awake', right? Rockfoot stared at Woodstripe with blank eyes, blinking. "I don't get tired of staying in my circle. It's not safe anywhere else," he informed her. 'Why does she ask so many questions?' "You ask a lot of questions." Rockfoot was suspicious, though he stated this simply, hiding the fact that he didn't trust her one bit.

[Ten]

"Pardon me, I didn't mean to startle you," she mewed with a modest drop of her head and an apologetic look. "Why do you think it's not safe? If we encounter anything dangerous, I'll protect you," she assured him. "And I was only asking questions to be friendly." Woodstripe gave him an amiable smile and stepped back, beginning to turn and watching to see if he would make a move to follow.

[vivosaurus]

Rockfoot tilted his head. Why ask such a question as that? 'Why do you think it's not safe?' It was a question with a very obvious answer. "Everything outside the circle isn't safe." Mother had always told him that, every time she had to leave him alone. 'Stay in the circle, nowhere else is safe.' Where else would he go?

'Friendly.' That was an odd word. It just didn't sit well within Rockfoot's mine. He turned it over and let it tumble in his brain as he watched Woodstripe back away. He blinked and stared for a few seconds before picking up the hint that she wanted him to follow. Why couldn't she have just said so? The world would be a much better place if cats said what they meant, rather than expected Rockfoot to mind read.

He was extremely uncomfortable about being forced out of his circle without much time to adjust. However, just as he was about to decline, his stomach rumbled, and that was the deciding factor. Hunger. Perhaps they would stop along the way for some crickets...

After he carefully stepped over the line of his circle, as not to ruin it, he walked behind Woodstripe, his eyes darting many ways to watch for the predators and other cats his mother had often warned him about. "Why were you being...friendly?" he asked Woodstripe.

[Ten]

Woodstripe observed the delicacy with which Rockfoot left his circle and began walking at a slow pace, so as not to rush him. "I want you to realize that there are cats who don't want to hurt you. Sometimes, it's true, the enclosure can be unsafe. However, friends can help, aid, and protect each other in times of trouble. That's why it's good to have friends," she purred.

[vivosaurus]

Rockfoot carefully took in Woodstripe's speech, observing how it was such a monologue and a lecture, compared to his taciturn approach to any cat he saw nowadays, which were very few. "But there are still cats that can hurt me, right?" he asked Woodstripe, saying this as carefully as he was walking - which was with so much silence and delicacy that you might think him a ghost. "So...if there are cats who can hurt me, I can't know who to trust." This one was not a question (hm, no question mark), it was spoken with absolute truth. Rockfoot saw it as the truth, and Woodstripe couldn't change that with his self-righteous speech.

[Ten]

"Capable of hurting you? Of course. Anyone is capable of hurting anyone, even you. You're dangerous, Rockfoot." Woodstripe wore a slight smile on her face, amused by his wariness, though she kept in mind how significant this was to him. She halted and inquired, tone light, "Are you going to attack me?"

[vivosaurus]

Rockfoot had stopped once Woodstripe had started talking again, and had been looking intently at the back of her head in silence. "If I am dangerous, then you are. Probably even more than I am," he told her. The amused and light tone she had did not at all get picked up by Rockfoot - he listened to the words rather than the way they were spoken. Everything was taken literally and seriously when you spoke to Rockfoot. "It would be stupid to attack you," he told her, for she was bigger than him and could easily overpower him. Rockfoot also had no experience in fighting.

[Ten]

The she-cat chuckled and faced him. "It would also be stupid to attack you," she pointed out. "So there we have it. When it comes to you and me, we're both safe from each other. See?"