[open] Cat! I'm a kitty cat! And I hunt hunt hunt-

[taxusbacatta]

Who: Yellowfang + taxusbacatta and YOU!
What: Yellowfang gets used to island life.
When: Throughout the June event, multiple prompts
Where: Enso
Warnings: A cat doing cat things to small reptiles.


EARLY JUNE

What a week Yellowfang'd had. The fire, the sea, talking Twolegs and an entire island of new sounds and smells. She had made it on the jungle's edges well enough, stamping down a nest for herself under an uprooted tree and hiding when Twoleg activity grew too near. A small grey cat was easy to miss in the shadows. Her birth Clan was named well. She made meals of the wildlife that scurried through the underbrush. Save for the horrifying lack of cat scent, living on Enso was not terribly unlike her life between her exile from ShadowClan and ThunderClan taking her in.

It was also just as lonely--perhaps more so. StarClan had been completely silent since she arrived on Enso's shores. The warriors of Silverpelt looked down on her every night without a word. Punishment? Banishment? Was she truly so far away that they could no longer reach her?

It hurt to think about. And so she didn't. She forged ahead, learning what she could of this strange place. She sniffed and tentatively tasted plants. She climbed low twisted trees and inspected the well-guarded nests cradled there. She even peeked out from the fronds on occasion to watch the Twolegs milling about their homes.

This eventually brought her to the ruins of the temple. It was unlike any Twoleg nest she'd ever seen--great stone walls swallowed up by moss and vines. As she slunk between the fallen slabs and chased tasteless but filling bugs that made their homes in the cracks, the trickle of water drew her attention.

Yellowfang abandoned her hunt and rushed toward the sound. She had scarcely found water that wasn't foul like the sea since she arrived--mostly lapping from puddles and plants in the morning. Another discovery--a puddle that moved. Yellowfang pushed her whiskers forward, twitching as tiny droplets that broke the surface of the bubbling sprig sprayed her.

Hmm.

Gotta slap that.

The medicine cat deftly swiped at the bumpy surface of the spring with a paw and instantly drew it back, shaking away droplets and then greedily licking them off her pads. Oh, it was wonderful. Cool and clean. The surface wasn't still enough for her to lap from it so she opted to dunk and lick for the time being.


JUNE 16 ONWARD

It was another hot day on the island. Yellowfang had spent enough time alone that she had started naming things in her head, just to keep herself oriented. Perhaps other cats would wash up here. Then she could tell them. Things were less scary when they had names.

The island itself was The Silent Forest. No stars spoke here. She had mentally named a few of the Twolegs that she could spot at a distance. Beetlepelt. Cowperch. Thornkit. Sprayfetch. Among others. Though she was one cat, she supposed that if she met others there would need to be a Clan to welcome them and that clan would be ShoreClan. Population: 1. She didn't see herself as the leader, after all she was a medicine cat, but she wasn't about to start letting Twolegs join the clan.

Yet.

Yellowfang was mulling all this over while stretched in a sunbeam whens he spotted movement on the beach. Strange dots were appearing out of the sand and shuffling clumsily toward the waves. Naturally she had to check this out. She padded through the sand, thankfully used to the bogs of ShadowClan enough not to lose her footing and stopped when she came to one of the shining turtle nests. Like little fleas one by one they emerged and for a moment Yellowfang was endeared. As distant and alien as The Silent Forest was, new life still sprang from it.

And then she was hungry.

Unlike the turtles that Yellowfang had come to know, these ones couldn't draw their legs (and most importantly, their heads) into their shells so dispatching them was simple work. However, Yellowfang wasn't the only predator on the beache. Great screaming sea birds swooped down over the sand as she hunched over her fresh-kill. They nipped at her ears and tugged tufs off her tail even though there were more than enough turtles for every creature. Yellowfang hissed and grabbed a hatchling up by the leg and dashed away into the shade of the treeline. She quickly buried it and returned for another. Back and forth she made her store, all the while dodging the surf and tearing beaks of the white screamers.

Comments

June 16th

[cacoethes_mori]

Foster is mostly doing his best to avoid not only the hatching and the children of the Jormun, but everyone and everything else as well.

Still, while the smell of turtle blood isn't appetising to him, their colourful shells do catch his eye. He wants to see one up close--wants to feel the curves and textures, feel their weight--but the idea of getting any closer to the riotous orgy of life and death playing out on the beach, loud and chaotic, makes him... it makes him... it...

Mmmmm.

He's come as close as he can, and he still isn't ^close_far enough.

Then he sees something, something flat and grey against the colours of fern and sand--something busy and fast and feral.

Is that.... a cat?

He watches, hind legs half-extended as he lies in the moss. He watches, and when the strange, out-of-place animal bolts back out onto the beach (is it real? Real enough, maybe. Real enough to him) he crawls forward to dig up what she'd just buried.

[taxusbacatta]

Today would be a feast for Yellowfang!

At least, that's what she was thinking on her way back to her hide-away with the third baby turtle in her jaws. However, as soon as she slipped under the boughs of a big fern, she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the...the thing that was rooting around in her stash.

It had the face of a Twolegs, but beyond that it was an indecipherable mess of fur and fungi and lanky limbs. It was as if the sound of a car crash had taken on physical form and Foster made her dizzy to look upon.

However, she wasn't too taken aback to speak.

"What do you think you're doing!" She dropped her turtle to yell at him in her deep creaky voice.

[cacoethes_mori]

Foster has the sense to look briefly startled--or at least to look up, his claws still buried in the warm, loose mixture of sand and soil and blood. He's on his belly, his forelegs stretched out along his human ribs, back legs tucked to the side. He smiles back at her, an expression at such incongruity with the tangled, heavy mess of thoughts behind it that he feels very much as though his thinking self and his acting self have separated completely.

"Oh, are you real?" He wasn't sure. It's been a good two weeks since he saw anything recognisable... except for Ginko, that is, and even he's unrecognisable now. Or maybe he, Foster, has become unrecognisable--

[taxusbacatta]

More cat language. Anything on this star-damned island could speak! It was starting to occur to Yellowfang that for a single terrifying moment she just may be eating creatures just as capable of complex thought as she.

Kit killer! Baby eater!

She quickly chased that thought out of her head, turned her broad side toward Foster, and bowed up her back. Yellowfang made herself as big as possible.

"I'm real and I'll give your tail a swift lashing if you don't get your paws away from my dinner!"

That was the wrong thing to say to Bananas Foster, Yellowfang.

[cacoethes_mori]

This is not the first time a talking cat has gone at him with puffed fur and big words.

This time, he could concede that the treasure held within the hole he's excavated didn't belong to him... but he doesn't. More than anything, he wants her to give him that 'swift lashing,' and not just to prove she's real, to prove he's real--

"Then take it from me--sink your claws in my flesh, rake them over my body, spill my blood and soak the earth! Prove your power, move me with it, show me the will to shape the world to your liking! Do it--do it!" His own sharp teeth flash in the island sun, single blue eye bright and glassy with excitement.

early june

[ichininyaanshi]

"You're gonna get yourself wet doing that."

Maybe Yellowfang had sensed him long before he actually spoke up in his low, toneless drawl; his scent is likely strong enough, a common Twoleg smell mixed with something closer to a strange cat-scent that's uniquely his. Regardless, Ichimatsu lopes out of the bushes, pulling a canteen out of his backpack and dropping into a squat at a very generous distance. He twists the cap off and pours a capful of the water, watching her intently.

"I have water here. Want some?"

omg i didnt get the notif for this somehow

[taxusbacatta]

Ichimatsu's two-beat footfalls caught Yellowfang's attention as she dabbed and drank, but they had been distant before. The temple was lousy with Twoleg stink but as he drew nearer, a strange smell tugged her attention away from the spring in time for her to be greeted.

She turned and parted her jaws, drinking the air around her. He spoke cat just like everone else in this accursed forest. He looked normal. But there was a smell...like the fox stink Twolegs only this was more familiar. And alien at the same time.

"There are worse things than being wet, I trust I'll survive."

Yellowfang narrowed her eyes as he fiddled with the strange contraption. Things inside other things. She'd only recently been introduced to the wonder that was her backpack--her bundle. And now this one carried water without spilling a drop! As insufferable as the Twolegs were, Yellowfang was slowly admitting to herself that they had some good ideas.

np bb!

[ichininyaanshi]

Up closer, Yellowfang may be able to detect the scent of a kit on him, too -- one that might be around apprentice age, even. But if Ichimatsu is aware of the strange collection of smells he's giving off, he doesn't have the decency to acknowledge it; he simply gives a small smile, setting the cap down on the grass and holding up his hand in surrender.

"Sure, sure. I just hate being wet, so..."

He suddenly trails off. His hand slowly lowers, and he blinks at Yellowfang slowly, as if not quite sure of himself.

"Ah. You talk, too."

June 16th-ish

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Yellowfang isn't the only one walking along the beach today- though Muffet is large enough that she's having significantly less trouble with the sea birds. She nods politely to the grey cat in passing.]

Good morning.

[She's not certain if this is someone's pet, a wild stray, or simply someone like the more animal-like monsters back home. But just on the offchance, it never hurts to be polite, even if this has occasionally led to her having brief, one-sided conversations with various examples of Enso's wildlife.]

[This raises the obvious question: does someone still count as a twoleg if they've also got six arms?]

[taxusbacatta]

<sub>[Muffet's shadow gets Yellowfang's attention and she half turns her head, ready to spit a hiss her way, halfway crouching over a flopping turtle baby as though she were going to fight over it.]

[And then she sees Muffet and her tattered ears swoop out to the sides.]</sub>

Good morning...?

_{[She doesn't mean it as a question but it comes out that way. Yellowfang thought she was over being surprised at the strange forms the Twolegs here--and yes, she's walking upright and has a cute little dress. She's a dirty Twolegs!]}

[prettypurpleparlor]

Ah, I don't believe we've met before. Are you a new arrival here?

[Muffet maintains a polite distance, not wanting to unnerve Yellowfang by coming any closer.]

[taxusbacatta]

Both are true...

_{[Her eyes...Yellowfang can't figure out which pair of eyes to focus on! Oh, she does not like that.]}

What is it you want, Twolegs? I'm...busy.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Her legs usually aren't the set of limbs that people comment on, but she's not going to judge.]

Simply to greet a newcomer. My name is Muffet, may I ask yours?

16th

[forwearemany]

(They don't notice the cat, at least not at first.

Legion looks slightly more worse for wear than they usually do when they come barreling down the beach, but it doesn't stop them from screeching the most horrible mechanical noise imagineable as they chase predators away from the kaleidoshells. It's more a threat display than anything, though particularly bold creatures might get a light whack to drive them away. They do not truly harm anything: every blow is precisely calculated, every footstep avoids hitting any turtles.

It doesn't take long to drive most things away. They stop.

It'll be about that time that they become aware of another presence on the beach.)

Yellowfang.

[taxusbacatta]

<sub>[It's...hard to miss Legion really. They're making a most unholy noise which does nothing but further prove Yellowfang's theory of them being a human car in her eyes. ]

[There's about ten catlengths between them when she finally turns from her turtlebothering to glare at them. The monster called her name again and she does not remember introducing herself--come to think of it, she hadn't gotten her answer last time!]

[The old medicine cat bristles and decides to talk to the car.]</sub>

How is it you know my name, Monster? And must you make that starshattering racket? Some of us are trying to eat.

[forwearemany]

(Oh come on, Geth screams are at least a thousand times worse than any car. Unless the cars of Yellowfang's world are capable of making noises disturbingly reminiscent of person agony.)

We are not a monster. It was written on your backpack.

(They chatter a bit. This time it's not so much incomprehensibly hideous as it is weird and clicky.)

It is the most efficient way to drive away predators without causing harm.

[taxusbacatta]

_{[Her ears flick out to the sides.]}

Written what?

_{[Guess who gets to explain the concept of written language to Yellowfang. She shakse her head, returning to the topic at paw. They want to chase away other predators...but don't want to harm the hatchlings? W h y?]}

Wasteful! We need to eat as much as anyone else. Go back to the Thunderpath!

June 16

[journalname]

[Somewhere along the line, Yellowfang is bound to see a giant furry monster awkwardly crouched down to waddle along the path of several baby kaleidoshells. Asgore hasn't had to do much to ward off predators; his looming presence is enough to deter the seagulls. It's for the best. He'd hate to scare the birds, even if he wants to help the baby turtles get to safety. They're only animals.

A cat may well be one too. But cats aren't native to this island, so he's not going to assume. Plenty of cat-like monsters, after all.]

Howdy, there.

[taxusbacatta]

<sub>[Yellowfang's ears lift as she stops digging at the edge of one of the pits that had seemingly exhausted its turtle supply. Perhaps there were eggs inside. She'd been trying to keep her nerves down. Asgore's presence was...A Lot...but so far he'd made no move toward her. Not many of the strange beings on this island had.]

[But now he spoke to her in her language. Yellowfang briefly glances aside at a large smooth stone as though she expected it to speak as well. At least he didn't coo at her. He seems to expect a reply so Yellowfang takes a break from digging, shakes the sand from her fur and sits.]</sub>

Hello yourself. What in Silverpelt are you doing?

_{[She'd only just noticed the way he was scootin' along.]}

[journalname]

[Oh! They actually talk! Asgore smiles, though he doesn't quite realize that those big teeth might be intimidating to another monster...cat...person?]

I am escorting these little ones to the sea. They have only just hatched!

[taxusbacatta]

They're going to get away if you keep playing with them like that.

_{[He's enormous! It would take a whole nest to feed this...this...she doesn't even know what to compare him to!]}

Early June

[ohshitsweetflips]

Look, he just wants some water. Without waiting for...whatever this cat process is to be over with. And yet, he doesn't want to spook this obviously feral cat away from some of the only fresh water around, with a big production of filling up containers and splashing and whatall.

So he waits. In line. Behind the cat. Sue him, he knows how dumb it is, but he also knows what Ren would expect from Uncle Taako in this cat-related situation, and that's ironclad.

He shifts on his feet, huffs a loud and annoyed sigh. "Yeah, it's cool, take your time."

[taxusbacatta]

It was hard not to be aware of the elf behind her, not that she knew what in Silverpelt an elf was, but so far none of the Twolegs had tried to harm her and he was keeping his distance and that was good enough for her to continue her paw-drinking ritual.

Until he spoke up.

Yellowfang turned partially to glare up at Taako with her rheumy orange eyes. "I will, thank you."

[ohshitsweetflips]

After a moment of startlement that is itself not uncatlike, Taako just rolls his eyes, more at himself than anything. Of course the cat's a person. What the fuck was he thinking. What a rank amateur-ass idiot to have assumed the cat wasn't gonna talk back.

"Y'know, I've met a lot of talking animals. You're not special. Are you always a cat?"

[taxusbacatta]

If Yellowfang weren't so thirsty, she would have been insulted. The tip of her ragged tail thumped against the stone. She sniffed the air. He smelled like a Twolegs but...off. So many new scents to learn on this island.

"Of course I am! What else would I be, a mosquito?"