Purpose or Lack Thereof

[Tiger]

Henry was curled up in a pile of hay. It was a warm reprieve from the chilly leaf-fall day. Or, as he had known it back in New York, simply fall. He yawned widely and audibly; if any prey had been around then he surely would have scared it away, for there was none, and he had eaten anyways. He closed his yellow eyes and allowed himself to daydream of somewhat happier times.

Back in the city and sprawled out on his fire escape on a warm spring day, Henry was enjoying life. His dark brown pelt shimmered in the warm spring sunlight, with the reflection only changing when he stretched out further. He fell into a catnap--literally--and succumbed to it for a few minutes. The city never sleeps, but its cats do...

He gave a soft, content sigh. Henry could almost taste the familiar scents on the air: Exhaust, fried food, ozone, and occasionally the tang of smoke from a conflagration in the apartments. He could hear the chatter coming from the street below in all tongues with all voices, although he understood naught a word of it unless there was another cat on his fire escape, looking for trouble. Peacefully, the Burmese tom rolled over and fell off the bale, crashing into the ground and reality at the same time.

He wouldn't be going back. His old twoleg, his old friends (well, they would be more like cats who didn't want to kill him and vice versa), and even his old enemies--he missed them all. Henry would give half of his tail just to hear the rough growl of Duke, his archrival. Even being attacked by Duke's quiet, dangerous mate Moonlight sounded appealing. Henry exhaled harshly, surprising himself with the sudden release of breath. Ya can take the cat outta da city...but you ain't gonna get da city outta da cat.

ooc: If you recognize the thread title then you get a cookie. :3

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

occ:// It seems really familar but I cannot pinpoint it. From a book?

bic://

The wind tugged at Dream's fur as she hurtled past the Barn, stomach pressed to the ground. The she-cat wasn't built for speed and her prey, a slim rabbit, quickly out ran her. Sides heaving she watched her breakfast vanish into the undergrowth.
Of course, she could go home to her twoleg nest but she was pretty sure her twoleg was putting 'tablets' into her food. If Dream had wanted something to dim the pain in her leg she would've eaten some poppyseeds. Nature's medicine.
Her knee was still bothering her -flea bitten mangy tortoiseshell- even after spending the last moon couped up inside with her leg in cast.
But now, nowthe cast was gone and once again had the freedom to roam wherever she pleased! To chases rabbits and eat mice! Blue eyes twinkling Dream made her way back to the Barn where she knew there would be plump mouse with her name on it. And maybe there would even be a nice tom cat to talk too. I haven't seen Faunus in awhile...or Raskell. Not even Hazel or any of the other she-cats! Nobody misses little old me.

[Tiger]

ooc: Close...it's actually a lyric from one of my favorite songs. xD;

bic: A whisper of wind blew into the barn, displacing the hay from the top of the pile. On it, the scent of another cat was carried. Immediately, he rolled off the bale and landed nimbly on the straw-covered ground. Henry took a brief moment to analyze the scent. Yes, it was another cat, but he was unable to discern anything else other than the fact that the scent didn't smell like his. He crouched, intently staring at the opening where the scent had come from. "Who are ya?!" he asked, paws tensing in preparation to unsheathe his claws if the cat was unfriendly.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream blinked at Herny with pale blue eyes. How could she have been so mouse-brained? The wind had changed carrying her scent straight towards the barn, leaving her unable to tell who was inside. Because of her foolishness, she was now face to face with a rogue Burmese who was ready to rip her pelt off. And if that happened, her twoleg would never let her out of the house again.
Shaking herself from her stupor she answered the cat's question. "Dream, wandering house cat. But don't underestimate me, I used to be a rogue so I will fight back."

[Tiger]

Henry dipped his head in Dream's directon. "Henry. Loner, ex-apahtment cat. I ain't one ta underestimate. From where I come from, looks don't mean nothin'. Mosta my scars come from dainty, shiny-furred she-cats, ya know? The ones who are all bite an' no meow?" He sat down and tucked his tail over his paws, waiting for her reply...that is, if she had a reply and just didn't want to get away from him.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream's ears flicked forward as the loner began speaking. His accent was similar to the cats who lived in the big twoleg places. She tended to avoid such places due to the huge amounts of monsters and the cat sized rats. And if this Henry character was from such a place she was better off not fighting him. From what she managed to decipher of the Burmese's speech, she had known budgies that spoke better, he feared her just as much. Smiling, she sat down and wrapped her tail around her. "I know plenty of she-cats like the ones you speak of. My mother, Raven, was such a cat. You just need to be wary around them. Frankly, those Clan cats are worse. One tried to take my leg off. Barbaric."

[Tiger]

Henry gave a dissenting hiss. "I ain't had the misfortune to run inta one of da Clan cats, but I ain't heard nothin' good about them neither." He turned his head sideways to give a brief cough in order to clear his throat before turning back to face Dream. "Where I'm from, we had no such thing. Ya'd have a lot more enemies, sure, but there wouldn't be a whole groupa them. Course, ya don't have to be strong to survive out there. Trouble's gonna find you, so don't go lookin' for it!" He coughed again and flexed his claws to remove a piece of hay from between his toes.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream licked a grey paw and began drawing it over her each of her ears. "I fought in a battle against them. The Clans, I mean," she meowed, pausing in her grooming. "We lost naturally but it was still thrilling."
She gave a soft laugh, finding Henry's personality engaging and flicked her tail against the ground. "Town life sounds nice. The rogues here cause trouble whether you are looking for it or not. They have a nice little group formed. So, Henry, why would you come here?" She looked up at him, her blues eyes twinkling with curiousity.

[Tiger]

Henry gave a short laugh and shook his head; there was straw in his whiskers as well. "I didn't come here. See, somethin' happened and my old human got rid 'a me. He seemed sad 'bout it. Anyhow, I get stuck with these new people so I could eat da mice in their barn. It ain't fun but it'll do." He gave a short sigh and relaxed his shoulders. "I knew some cats like da rogues ya talk about. Duke--a Russian blue cross, I'd say--was always one ta get up in ya face and pick a fight. I never really liked him...nobody did...but if ya got a problem with Duke an' he finds out, well, ya ain't gonna be around much longer."

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

"Ai-Not fun?" Dream echoed, nearly mimicking his accent. She was slightly stunned at Henry's statement on hunting. "Okay, I suspose you have to work for your supper but some of the food the housefolk feed me is autrocious! Bleh."
She wrinkled up her nose with distaste but continued listening to what he had to say. However, most of what the loner was saying made no sense and she began licking her tail to disguise her ignorance. What is a Russian...?
"There's a cat like Duke here," Dream told him," A huge big Calico. Scars all over his shoulders and muzzle from fighting. He boasts that he rules the Rogue Nest. What was him name again...prickly plant...Cactus!"

[Tiger]

"I ain't never had none of that 'cat food,'" Henry meowed, shifting his weight on the straw covered floor. "Don't know why, but my owner never gave it to me. He seemed ta think that I'd survive on the mice I found in da apartment. And I found a lot of mice." He gave a quick, derisive laugh when Dream mentioned Cactus. "Sounds a lot like Duke. He was huge and scarred too! Maybe he's got a long lost cousin who's livin' in the city...but somehow I don't think that ya should ask him."

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

"You're lucky then," Dream meowed, flicking some straw from her tail. "Mice will always be better than those disgusting little pellets."
She snickered weakly at Herny's comment regarding Cactus and nodded. "It would be your death in you asked Cactus that!"

[Tiger]

"I bet ya're right on both counts," Henry meowed mildly. "And seein' that I ain't got any intentions'a dyin' anytime soon, I'd say that I'd steer clear'a him." He yawned and looked up at the roof. There was an abandoned bird nest between two rafters; its owner had probably been long gone in search of a warmer southern climate. He studied the nest for a moment. It was similar to one he had seen in the city on a fire escape across the street from his. The escape in question was practically useless, as the ladder had broken, this depriving anything--including cats--to get up there. This lack of predators had made it a natural home for the birds. Beautiful. They ain't got anything to worry about up there--unlike me.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream followed Henry's gaze up into the rafters. Some birds had weaved their nest into a small notch between the wooden supports. Confused, she looked back at the Burmese. He appeared...happy. She turned her gaze back to the nest, intent on finding out what was so great about it. It wasn't the right time of the year for birds to be nesting and anyway, if there had been birds, she wouldn't have been able to reach them. It dawned on her suddenly. It's a sanctuary...
"I wish I could hide up there," she meowed aloud," It would be my little secret place. Nobody would ever be able to reach me..."

[Tiger]

Henry smirked. Voice bittersweet, he expanded on her idea. "That's more or less what I was thinkin'. Back in the city, they'd build nests on the fronts of buildings. Nothin' could get there except other birds. No twolegs, no cats, no nothin'. I've never had anywhere to be alone. By alone, I mean somewhere where everyone else don't want me dead." He sighed in a content yet sarcastic way.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream blinked at Herny startled. This loner was simply unpredictable. His accent was infuriating, yet from what she had gathered he had a wide understanding of the world around. He also appeared to dislike hunting as it wasn't 'fun' but had never eaten cat food in his life. He was also strangley deep for an ex-house cat.
"Surely nobody wants you dead!" she meowed quickly. "You can't have displeased Cactus because you haven't met him and the Barn is not his grounds. And Faunus wouldn't touch you...he's lovely. All loners are his friends." She took a deep breath and began licking her paws again. She wondered briefly when she had started this nervous habit.

[Tiger]

Henry smiled wryly once more. "Ya gotta good point there, but back home I got more enemies than I care to count. Someone could be sharin' your mice one day and be at ya throat the next. There ain't nothin' you can do ta tell what's happenin', so you just gotta be wary an' be ready." He stretched his forelegs out in front of him before sitting back to briefly observe Dream. She came off as being a bit high-strung, but she made sense. Clearly, she hadn't lived in his kind of city--but then again, none of the cats around here were bound to have been in one. From what he had heard, there were only forest cats around here, with occasional house cats such as himself, although they probably led much tamer lives than he had.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream stared at Herny, her blue eyes serious. "Herny, I think you have made a sensible choice in deciding to come to the Barn. Frankly, any friend who wants to kill you the next day is not a friend at all."
She rose to her paws and arched her back in a much needed stretch. Her pelt was a gentle mixture of greys in varying tones and the occasional off-white patches. Mackerel tabby stripes covered her body, blending into each different coloured area. Dream was a true moggy, not a seemingly pure-bred Burmese like Herny. Shaking her injured leg first, she began walking across the Barn in search for a meal or any sign that Faunus was in residence. "Have you met a brown tom cat?" she called out to Herny," He would be a good friend for you. Well travelled."

[Tiger]

"Like I said, I didn't choose ta leave. I was just fine with bi-daily attempts on my life." He yawned and also quickly stretched before continuing to talk. He could be quite long-winded at times. "Brown...tom...cat...hmmm...nah, I can't say I have. I prahsume he's a frienda ya's?" Placidly, he tucked his tail over his hind paws and licked the inside of his front leg.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Dream rolled her eyes. Henry could say whatever he wanted but she believed that nobody could ever be happy with claws at their throat. Perhaps she had just become too tame since finding her housefolk. It was possible.
"Faunus is a close friend of mine although we don't always have the same opinions," she told Henry, as she nosed through a pile of old hay. Her nose touched something warm and distinctly not haylike buried beneath the pile. Startled, she lept back with the fur on her back bristling.
Faunus rose and shook himself, a pointless attempt to dislodge it from his fur. The large brown tom waded out through the pile, yawning. He was a lean, muscular creature with a short muzzle perfectly suited for hunting. His pelt showed a neat mackerel tabby pattern, typical of the most well bred American Shorthairs. "Hello Dream," he meowed happily.

[Tiger]

Henry looked at Faunus, then at Dream, and back to Faunus. "I assume that's Faunus?" Henry meowed, leaning forward with mild interest. "And that he's been listenin' on our whole convahsation?" The loner tucked his dark brown tail over his front paws and continued to observe the tom. He flicked his right ear after a moment, thinking that he had once known a cat who looked like Faunus. It was quite probable that he had; the cats of New York had come in all shapes and sizes, and fancy, purebred cats like himself were not that uncommon.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

"Er, yes. Faunus, Henry. Herny, Faunus."
Dream gestured to each cat as she introduced them to one another. The brown tom smiled and dipped his head in respect. It was a Clan gesture he had picked up from his time in the Clans. Faunus was really a loner like no other. "Do not worry Henry, I was asleep so your conversation remains private," he meowed. His accent didn't match that of the other cats in the area, his was well pronounced with a slight burr. Roguish yet charming.
"Faunus sometimes stays in this Barn so you two should become close friends," Dream chuckled. "Although sometimes he goes away travellling for moons at a time."

[Tiger]

Henry nodded. "Nice ta meetcha, Faunus," Henry meowed, raising his shoulders so that his head slightly lowered. This allowed him to keep his eyes on the tom; no matter how hard he tried to shake the habit, Henry always had to have eye contact with other cats. It was merely a survival instinct back from his city days, but he figured it would be useful here. Of course, not if all of the other cats were as friendly as the few he had met, but still...

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Faunus smiled and tilted his head. "City cat then?" he commented, recognising what it was in Henry's accent that was peculiar. Also, he couldn't help but notice how the loner's eyes were still fixed on his own. It was only cats who had a hard time trusting others that tended to that. Faunus prefered watching cats out of the corner of his eye. It lured them into a flase sense of security. "I'm not going to hurt you Herny," he meowed softly," As Dream said, We should get along just fine."

[Tiger]

Henry nodded and quickly averted his gaze from Faunus's eyes. "Sorry. I knew ya wouldn't....just a-a nervous habit I've got." The word rang bitterly in his mouth. Nervous. What kind of city cat would wake up the next morning if they were openly nervous about things? In fact, that was probably what kept most of them alive, but if their adversaries knew that then they would be nothing more than a pile of shredded fur.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Faunus smiled and there was a light purr in his chest. "Everybody has nevous habits. I for one always rub my cheek against my shoulder so that it brushes against my collar." He tilted his head slighted and hidden against his dark fur was an old braided leather, not the usual kittypet type. This was the sort of collar designed to look good and not come off. After leaving his life as a housecat he had spent many moons trying to break through the leather but all he had managed to do was loose the small silver disk. The collar didn't bother him who hinder his hunting and fighting too much. It was a souvenir of more peaceful times and he had grown used to it. However, he knew some cats wouldn't see it his way. Dream for one was frowning and flicking her tail against the floor in a sign that she disapproved.

[Tiger]

"Oooh, a collar?" Henry leaned forward to get a better look at the leather neckpiece. "Duke had one kinda like that, but it wasn't braided or fancy or nothin' like yours. It was ugly too--sort of a faded-ish gray--and it clashed real awful with his pelt." He smirked at the memory of Duke's revolting collar; it gave him something to laugh at about his former enemy.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

"Yes. Some Twolegs just don't know how to make their cats look good. I pity this Duke character and his tacky collar from the bottom of my heart," Faunus meowed, a large smile on his face. It was good to meet somebody who appreciated his collar. It truly was a peice of workmanship. Nothing like the cheap blue things with bells he saw some cats wear.

Dream wasn't exactly sure what she was meant to say. Here were two loner toms who had probably fought more cats than you had eaten mice and they were discussing collars of all things. "My housefolk wouldn't dare put one of me," she commented meekly.

[Tiger]

Henry smirked. "My twoleg never got me one. I think it mighta had something to do with the fact that he never gave me any a that kittypet food I hear so mucha 'bout. I gotta live off mice and the occasional rat-brained squirrel who'd trot up my fire ahscape." Unlike Dream, he didn't consider this conversation to be bizarre in the least. Well, in retrospect, he might have thought that, but now he was just glad both of the cats he was talking with preferred that his ears would remain attatched to his head.

[á£Îmaý---♫♥]

Ah, yes," Faunus sighed, pleasantly. "There are such twolegs who would rather let their cats work for their own food. Twolegs aren't entirely mousebrained. They know what we're capable of."

Dream snorted loudly. "If twolegs aren't mousebrained then hedgehogs can fly! Mine doesn't seem to understand I don't want to eat their silly dry kittypet food. I want meat. Duh."
"Myabe yours are just particulary stupid," Faunus laughed. "Very."