Talonstrike looked back at his makeshift nest, made out of fallen leaves, and sighed. "There'd better be somewhere we can make a camp or something out of." He grumbled. "Anyone hungry?" Not bothering to wait for a reply Talonstrike stalked a small mouse, who was half-awake, and wrestled with it with his paw before sending down a blow that stopped it's heartbeat. "I could eat for a moon." He crowed, shoving the mouse aside for anyone to eat.

Ash and Dew looked up as their housefolks scurried by, settling down to eat after a few minutes. "Bother! Why don't they ever fed us?" Ash grumbled. After a while they walked away, and Dew managed to find a scrap under the table. The door was swinging, they noted, and decided to walk outside.

How lovely the outside world was! They walked around for a while and ocas'sionally found scraps along the road. "A forest... Let's go!" Ash meowed, and walked alongside his sister.

Talonstrike scented the air. "Graypatch...Clovertail... Skyslash!"  He choked out. "I scent a few cats... maybe two or three ..." He looked around. "Scent of twolegs. Should be a lost kittypet. No harm checking them out." He decided.

 Ash saw a few figures ahead and dashed to them, knocking into Talonstrike. "I- I'm sorry!" He apologized hastily. "I was just...!" He didn't manage to finish his sentence and ate a small piece of mouse before realizing it was Talonstrike's kill. "I'm sorry again!" He meowed. "It had been so long since I ate!" Dew, on the other hand, just sighed, and held back her signs of hunger. 

"In the forest," Whiskers replied nonchalantly, giving the two a malicious grin. "You think I would caught dead in one of those two-leg nests? I don't even know how you could survive eating the kind of junk you do. Dry pellets, eesh." Shrugging his shoulders the loner glanced back at the forest, hoping the longing in his eyes wasn't too evident. "I have to get going. You can follow me, I guess, but be quiet or something. If I lose any prey to you two I'm taking the equivalent in flesh, got that?"

--

"It's not that easy," Thomas muttered uncomfortably. "I mean, my littermates, newer litter, same mother and father, are back at my housefolks'. I can't just leave them, no matter how much they annoy me and cause me to be the one who doesn't get any attention. Besides that, I don't really know how to hunt. I'm just...figuring it out."

Sighing he looked up at the sky, but it was obscured by the long leafy branches of the trees surrounding him. "I guess I'm afraid to live here. I was born into a life of comfort, how am I supposed to change?"

--

"If they are can we just send them on their way without doing any damage?" Graypatch meowed nervously, ducking behind Skyslash's comfortingly large form. "If these kittypets or whatever come home all bloody and scratched up, I doubt their two-legs would be very happy, and they might try to chase us out again." 

[Oh xD]

"Wherever," Whiskers meowed with a sigh. "To tell the truth there isn't much to do around the forest. Hunting, fighting, sleeping, I guess that it. I mean, seriously, being a wildcat isn't all fun and games." Shaking his head wryly Whiskers nodded his head in the direction of a small, slightly visible pathway. "We'll be going there. A lot of mice frequent the area since two-legs like to throw crumbs to the birds."

--

"I guess," Graypatch meowed uncomfortably. "But still, I'm worried. We're all so tired and weak, and really, could we even stand against those kittypets if they have any fighting knowledge?" Right now, at this moment in time, any cat that Graypatch didn't know well sent her into a fit of worry and anxiety. The forest was large and the cats possibly dangerous. Not a good combination for a nervous she-cat.

--

Thomas shrugged. "I guess, but am I really cut out for this? And besides, I doubt they'd recognize me if I came back after living in the forest. I'd probably be all ragged and thin, so I wouldn't even look like myself." Sighing at this conundrum Thomas wondered if he really should take up the she-cats offer. After all, it was an enticing one, and Thomas didn't exactly have anything to lose. 

"O-oh!" Dew was slightly offended. "Our housefolk... they didn't really care for us and we just... wanted to try hunting like how the wild cats do in the forest... we hope we haven't tresp*censored*ed on your territory!" The last few words came out in a rush before Dew calmed down and continued, "Besides... the food wasn't even exactly the best ; we fell sick from them before, when the twoleg kits mixed them with some weird water or something. Little bubbles would come out of nowhere when they rubbed their paws!"

Ash noted a tail hanging down from a tree. "Hey!" He meowed. "Another cat!" His blue gaze was fixed on the tail - he wished he was able to climb like that - his housefolk never let him jump on the furniture!

Talonstrike looked in the direction of Ash's gaze. "Ah, we shouldn't bother. It's probably just another rogue. And territory?" He questioned. "We barely have any..." His voice trailed off, uncertain. "Skyslash? Graypatch?" He called, and in a lower voice, asked , " What do we do with them? They cant mean us any harm - they already look rather weak." 

"We don't have any," Graypatch muttered curtly, glaring at the three strangers. Well, the two kittypets and one rogue's tail. Or loner. "Which doesn't really matter. Kittypets are fine, but a rogue or loner? I'd rather steer clear of them." Crouching down and circling around Skyslash she gave the kittypets an appraising look, feeling slightly intimidated by their fluffy, thick bodies and the confident way they seemed to hold themselves. Security, safety, this makes them feel so strong and powerful. They don't know of the real forest.

Turning her flat gaze to the rogue she curled back her lip and snarled. "This is our territory until we say otherwise!" she growled fiercely, the hair along her shoulders and back prickling with rage. Short yet thorn-sharp claws slid out of her paws and curled into the dirt, gouging small holes in the ground.

[Maybe Graypatch could have a crush on Farren? xD]

--

"Yeah, yeah," Whiskers meowed, feeling stupid for inviting the kittypets along. If they did survive in the forest, there'd only be less prey for him and other cats. And besides that, they were healthy, strong and obviously hadn't had to fight for their life at any point in time. Padding forwards he slipped in front of them and waved his tail, heading into the forest. "This way," he sighed.

--

"Thomas," Thomas meowed awkwardly. "It doesn't really mean anything. Since I'm guessing you're called Icicle because of your pelt and all." Shrugging his shoulder he glanced back in the direction he thought the two-leg nest in which he had been born in and grown up in was. "I don't really want to go back...maybe I could survive here." 

[Someone needs to find my kittypets :< I don't know who they should meet.]

"You guys probably won't catch anything," Whiskers meowed smugly, before waving his tail in their faces to stall any words they might have decided to share with him. "Hush," he mewed softly, crouching down in the soft loam and pricking his ears. Blinking his dark brown eyes the black tom began creeping forwards as quietly as he could, his entire body bent low to the ground so he was shielded by the long gra.ss stalks.

Twitching his whiskers and opening his mouth to taste the air the loner pinpointed the position of the mouse, his eyes darting nervously from side to side as he got ever closer to his prey.

--

"Like what?" Thomas asked, his eyes brightening with new enthusiasm. "Hunting? Or fighting?" Fidgeting he side-stepped around the she-cat and wondered what she could teach him. "Imagine," he meowed softly, his eyes glowing brightly. "A whole knew world out here for me to explore and learn from. For once in my life...I feel excited."