Out of the Box

[nestshatterwind]

Nest peered through a hole in the old box, but only caught glimpses of the old road. But, the human seemed to have left and there didn’t seem to be anyone else about. He butted on the top of the box a few times with his head, but for some reason, it refused to open. He scowled at it from underneath as he remembered the human had put one of those sticky strips over the top. Probably so Nest couldn’t get out of the box while he was in the car.

Butting the top of the box one more time for good measure, he turned to face the hole he had been looking out of minutes ago, a raised both of his forepaws in the cramped space, and sank his claws into the cardboard around the hole. Pushing up and down and side to side, he could tell the box was weaker here, but it still seemed determined to hold him in. Gritting his teeth pushing one paw into the hole, claws out, he put all his weight downwards.

The box bent, and Nest felt like someone was trying to rip his claws out, but, some of the box beside him ripped a bit. He kept pushing and pushing, until suddenly, a huge gash appeared in the cardboard. Though the rest of the box kept it closed, it looked big enough for the eight month old to wiggle through.

But as Nest settled back to rest for a moment, it finally hit him. I’m free… All those months waiting for the chance at the door to run out, wishing he could get away from the humans that had taken him from his family. Well, not the exact ones. But the humans were all the same to him. Something to be avoided. But now he was Free… he whispered the last word aloud.

After sticking his head through the hole, he carefully wiggled out.

[robin]

The sun shone down, warming the world for once. There was a slight breeze in the air, a constantly nagging force that seemed determined to annoy the citizens of Nenbrook. A springy orange figure bounced along the path, the wind whistling in his spotted ears. Robin Quickwhisker made his way down the Old Road, his mind floating from thing to thing, his iterest in the area soared, his gold eyes were constantly skipping from place to place. Life was gooood. A smile was widely stretched across Robin's face, and his mood seemed to improve with every step he took. Today was a good day. His bright eyes widened further as he noticed a cardboard box a short way away from him. He paused, and almost cried out in surprise as a brown tabby cat managed to escape from it's hold.

Intreged, he continued down towards the newcomer, his spirits still flying high. As he progressed, he realized he had been mistaken. The feline was not a cat, but a kitten! About his age! The spring in his step increased as he dashed eagerly towards him. He skidded to a stop as he drew nearer. "Hi," Robin gasped, out of breath. "I'm Robin: Robin Quickwhisker." Thoughts whirled around the orange cat's head, all previous thoughts forgotten. He had just encountered a new cat, possibly a new friend! He had met another kitten not long ago, named Dandi, and a tom named Coon. But now, he had met someone else - another kitten! He wondered if he'd be nice. Robin couldn't help hoping so. Although he had been half dreading his arrival here, everything had soared to the skies. He knew, his life was great at the moment. He wondered whether it would last.

[nestshatterwind]

Nest jumped. He knew he jumped. He hadn't seen anyone around at all when he'd been looking through the hole earlier (not that he'd been able to see much from it) and then wondered how long it had taken for him to get out of that box. Judging by how his claws felt, it must have been a while. They were going to be sore for a while. But, anyways another cat had come and given him quite a surprise.

But that was no reason to be rude. "Uh, hello! I'm Nest Shatterwind!" He dipped his head slightly. His mother had always told him to be polite to new cats. Though, this cat didn't seem to be much older than him! And orange too! Of all the cats going in and out of the old lady's house back home, Nest didn't think that he'd ever seen an orange one. Black and white, and brown, and gray. He wondered if lots of cats had orange fur. Even though he knew lots of things about hunting and stuff from his mom, he realized now she hadn't really taught him about the rest of the world.

"Robin... that's a cool name! And your orange!" Then Nest ducked his head in embarrassment. He always had a hard time meeting new people. He must have sounded like alot like an idiot there. He could never say the right thing. Even to his own ears, it sounded weird. And most of the time people laughed after he said something like that. And he just felt like a silly little kitten who didn't know anything.

[robin]

The hint of unwelcome weather that had tinted the air soon died down, and the sun seemed to warm Robin's short spotted pelt. His golden eyes watched the other feline carefully, an unusually energetic warmth in his gaze. He noticed him jump, and he responded with an understanding smile. Obviously this tabby wasn't that mature either. Robin Quickwhisker couldn't deny that he liked that trait in a cat. "Uh, hello! I'm Nest Shatterwind!" Robin nodded quickly, it was a more than suitable name for a cat like that. In the pause between Nest's previous words and his next, the orange kitten took the time to scan his eyes across the newcomer. He supposed he was about his age, and not too far off his size either.

Robin smiled as Nest spoke again, and quickly responded. "Nest's nice to. Unusual, but it suits you. Aaaand, you're a brown tabby if I'm not mistaken?" The orange spotty feline didn't care about the tabby's sudden exclamation, he was used to it in young cats. He had replied in a humorous tone, showing clearly that he didn't mind immature-ness among felines his age and below. He was pretty immature himself if he was going to admit it.

The spotted cat subtly hinted (once again) that he was of no threat by sitting down, and curling his tail around his paws. The tip of his long orange tail flicked slightly in amusement. He was inwardly hoping that this would be as fun as his last humorous conversation, with a she-cat named Dandi. That had been a blast. A great first impression in this town. Nenbrook seemed amazing already. He would take all the oppurtunities he could - he had decided that when he came. The potential here was astounding. Not to mention the inhabitants. He had already met Dandi, Coon and now Nest. He couldn't help admitting he liked Dandi most so far - but all his friendships could develop. Robin Quickwhisker was old enough to know that, at least.

ooc:; 333 words. xD

[nestshatterwind]

Nest felt the change in the air too. The sun had managed to chase the clouds away, and Nest felt a small stab of disappointment. Nothing could have made getting free even better like a nice, big thunderstorm. He always loved to watch the bright lightning lance across the sky, and the rolling booms or sharp cracks that always followed. He didn't mind the rain, even if it soaked his pelt, and made him cold. And, if he could find a nice big puddle, he could see the lightning in it too, while watching the ripples of fresh raindrops. But, most other cats thought that weird. Best not bring that up.

"Yeah, a tabby, I think. My mom and dad were tabbys too, I think. But my dad was gray. Whad'you mean it suits me though? I've never seen a bird nest, though that's what they say I'm named after." It seemed easy to talk to this Robin than other strangers. Maybe it was because he seemed to much his own age. Or cause the only time he met strangers was when some wandered in to the old lady's house, and in the pound where nobody had been friendly there. But, Nest guessed that was understandable.

Nest looked around. For the first time, he noticed he was on an old road, that seemed to lead from the town to the forest. Not that that told him a whole lot about where he was. Without really waiting for the awnser for his last question, he asked a new one. "Do you know where we are? 'Cause I don't. I'm just finally free! Those horrible humans wouldn't let me out, and when I finally got out, one stuck me in this box, and brought me here!" As he spoke, Nest leaned back into the shade his box provided. Along with his liking of storms, he preferred shade to sunlight.

[robin]

The minute orange figure stretched, flexing his long claws and opening his mouth in a yawn. Robin was pleased that the clouds were drifting away - he hated the rain. He was fine with the wind, and thunder and lightning, but he strongly disliked water at the best of times. He shook his spotted fur slightly, and welcomed the warmth. Robin Quickwhisker loved the warm weather. He remembered watching a television back when he was with his human, he had seen (inside the metal cube) a beach, with endless sands and the odd palm tree. Thankfully, the camera was facing inland from the shore, so he didn't spot the waves of the sea. But then it snapped off to a rainy city. Robin used to enjoy this 'television'.

"I can confirm that," he purred, looking Nest up and down. Definately a tabby. And you must have got it from somewhere!" His voice was light and cheery, with a hint of comical fun edging in. "Well I have, when I was with this old human. They have long twisting twigs - just like your stripes! Aaannnd, it has a nice ring to it, I'd imagine a 'Nest Shatterwind' to be a brown tabby with green eyes really. Your eyes could be, like, the leaves in the nest!" Robin spoke quicker and quicker, delighted of his discovery. His (unique) smile was stretched across his muzzle, and he sat down, curling his tail around his paws for extra warmth.

The pair of gold eyes which sat on Robin's head flicked around the landscape as he noticed Nest do so. He recognised it from when he first arrived and met Dandi. They were on an ancient path of some sort, and he wished he knew more about it than he really did. "Well, sort of. Kinda. The town's called Nenbrook, I saw it on a sign. And this is where cats get dumped. I was abandoned here too, not that long ago actually..." His voice drifted off, revisiting his first memories of his arrival at the town. The kitten noticed Nest creep back into the shade, and he shrugged subtly. Not the move he would have chosen. Instead, he lay down and basked in the sunlight, still grinning, content with his life so far.

[nestshatterwind]

Nest tilted his head to one side, and settled down a bit on the side of the road, still in the shade of "Twisting twigs, and all... hmmm." Having never seen one, Nest still couldn't get a good picture of it in his mind. So was it a pile of sticks in a tree? Who would want to live in that? Well, just living up in a tree would be cool, but why sticks? Though, if there were leaves in it like Robin said, maybe the only actually did stuff on top of the leaves, which were softer. Well, maybe that was alright.

"Nenbrook? Hmmm. I wonder if that's the town I've been living in for the past two months with the humans, and I just never actually knew it. Never actually saw any other cats. You saw it on a sign? So the humans call it the same thing, than, I guess..." Nest realized he was sort of rambling on and stopped. He started to lick his aching paws, while watching Robin. It seemed that Robin liked the sun a good deal more than Nest ever had.

You said Nest suits me, and you look like you could be a sun cat! Your orange, and the sun is sorta orange too! And you seem to like the sunlight! Though, I guess it isn't hard to look at you, like the sun is. My mom said she knew somebody who went blind from staring at the sun! I don't think I'll go blind from staring at you! Not that I would stare at you, that would be rude!" Uh oh. He was rambling again. He hoped Robin wouldn't take offense to anything that he'd said. Now that he thought about, he couldn't even remembered what he started off saying. Once he got started, he said all the new thoughts that just popped into his head.

[robin]

The sun continued to beam down powerfully, and Robin Quickwhisker resisted the urge to collapse fully onto the ground and bask in it's warmth. He did, however, let out a contented purr at the temperature. "Yup," Robin smiled as he spoke, "I have no idea why they do it, but I guess I'll never understand birds," his voice was much more relaxed now, as he grinned softly. He made no attempts to rush into the shade, he just calmed himself down, and licked some muck of his orange pelt. He could never deny that he enjoyed the summer much more than the colder seasons, and he tended to dread the harsh Autumn. Winter was alright, it snowed instead of rained (most of the time) but Autumn was just depressing.

"Who knows? Maybe, maybe not! And yeah, they probably do. I lived with humans for a good while too. It wasn't bad to be honest," A light of life returned to his tone as he spoke again, he scrambled to his paws and shook his spotted fur, before ending his speech with a quick yawn. With some interest, Robin's gold eyes flicked over to what Nest was doing. Licking his paws? A strange thing to do. He noticed then that they must be aching from escaping the box, but he tried to ignore it. There was nothing he could to to help this tabby.

"Wow, good idea - I could! I love the sun, I do. But you don't seem to like it very much, do you? Anyways, you're right! Never look at the sun, it could burn your eyes! Wait, do you like the rain? It's weird: we could be, like, Sun and Rain," He mewed rapidly once Nest had finished. Robin really hadn't noticed that Nest was going on a bit, he did it enough himself. He was used to rambling. He was a vitim of loss of control of his tongue too!

[nestshatterwind]

Yeah sun and rain! I do like the rain. It's like... I dunno. But it's fun! Nest thought for a minute on this. But, I guess night is more opposite the sun than rain is. Cause it's all dark. So a black cat, or something. Nest rolled onto his back in the shade, enjoying the coolness of the earth beneath him. The box had seemed hot and stuffy after a while. It was nicer out here, and, maybe it was a good thing it wasn't raining. If it had been raining, and this cat didn't like the rain, he would probably have not have met him. Though, again, if it had been raining, the box probably would have gotten all soggy and wet, and would have been easier to get out of then.

Nest thought about the rain some more. Hey, you said you lived with humans, right? Have you ever noticed how they are around rain. They make their own little rain things in their homes to wash off in, and then they carry around umbrellas to keep the rain off them later? Well, mot of the time they do. Sometimes they play in the real rain, and then sometimes don't want to play in their own little fake rain later! Even though Nest didn't like humans, and was scared of them, he noticed lots of these little things about them, and often just though them very, very weird creatures.

The coolness was sinking into his fur faster than he expected. He hopped up and peered over his shoulder to find the ground he'd been on had been slightly muddy. His brown coat was now an even muddier color than before. Nest stared at it in dismay for a couple seconds before deciding to leave it be. So long as it didn't smell to bad, it could keep him cooler for longer, which he liked.

[robin]

"Yup! But yeah, night is more of an opposite... A black cat could be Night, I'd be Sun, you'd be Rain! We'd have a problem finding Wind though!" The small orange cat smiled and chuckled uncontrollably as he spoke with Nest. Life was gooood. He continued to bask in the sun, still smiling pleasently. Nest seemed a nice cat. Fun. He didn't like the warmth as much as Robin did, but why did that matter? He shook his head subtly (so Nest wouldn't notice) as he relived a memory. Buzzard, his childhood friend, would never talk with anyone who didn't like hunting. Robin had caught a couple of mice in his days, but he'd never got that into it really.

"Yeh, but my human didn't do that. He went in this BIG bowl of water, and he'd stay in there for ages. It smelt really weird. He used this white stuff too, he wiped it on himself and then he smelt funny. Once, after I fell in this muddy puddle he put me in it and filled it with water. Then he got this spiky thing and dragged it through my fur. It was terrifying, it was. Then he blew this hot thing on me, it was dead strange! It cleaned me up, but I hated it..." He chatted easily about his story, if Nest minded him ramabling - he didn't have to talk.

Robin Quickwhisker attempted to hold back a laugh as Nest settled (accidently) into some mud. "Well, at least you don't have any problem with the heat any more!" He smiled, he didn't really mind.

[nestshatterwind]

Nest nodded energetically. Maybe a silver or a white cat would be wind. You'd never be able to find a see-through one! Nest decided if he was going to have a muddy back, what did it matter is he laid in mud anymore. He rolled back onto his back, and crept towards where the mud got deeper until he was covered in it. Now I could be a mud cat! He said. The mud oozed into his fur and surrounded him, and he purred lightly at how cool and wonderful it felt to him. His mother had never let him do this. She said a cat should be clean and nice and other stuff like that. But Nest had seen lots of cats in the pound that had most certainly not been clean, or very nice at all. And what his mother's views for what a cat to should be, seemed to have been gotten from the humans.

Suddenly, Nest stopped purring, thinking about an air cat. "Maybe a ghost cat could be the air cat. Do you believe in ghosts? I think the humans that I had last did. They would light candles and sit in this wacko star thing and say the same thing over again. They only did that twice though, and it was after these weird things happened, like a freak storm, but I think they were, like, calling on ghosts or something. I heard some cat talking about it before, at the home before that. He said humans believe in spirits and think they're evil. Nest remembered the long nights after he had listened to that stranger, wondering if ghosts were real, and if he would ever so the spirit of his father, who had been so nice and loving, but had went out one day, and never come back. Though Nest had never seen a ghost in his life, that didn't mean they weren't real.

[Stellar Snowpaw]

OOC: Mind if I bring Lilly in? She's 5 months...;;

[robin]

"Good point, that'd work! But yeh, that would be pretty difficult," Robin Quickwhisker smiled, and began to purr quietly. He calmed himself, and allowed his body to relax. He ran over countless thoughts in his mind. Wow, this was going well. By 'this' he meant, well, everything! Spooky really. This sudden change in his life seemed to be one for the better, he was definately enjoying this way more than his previous life. Nest seemed really fun, and he had already met Coon, who he didn't know extremely well, and Dandi, the female kitten he had met not long ago on the old road. She seemed amazing, but he tried not to think about anything but the present, as he evaluated the situation. Right, Robin, he thought to himself. You're stuck, once again in this ancient road, how can you make the most of this situation? The orange cat though deeply, but he couldn't really concentrate, he was exhausted.

The spotted tom listened intently as Nest talked about ghosts. He had heard of them before, and he had heard countless stories, but he didn't really know that much about ghosts. He thought for a second, then he replied to the tabby. "I'm not sure. They sound freaky," he announced, before shaking it off. "But I'm not scared! Anyway, those humans sure are weird. Mine was pretty normal for a human. He just sat down all the time, either staring at this papery stuff, or glaring into a televison. I never saw anything interesting in one of those things!"

Robin curled up, and continued to grin. He really didn't see any need to go anytime soon. He was beginning to get weary, he'd admit that, but he was fine to carry on talking. He loved the company of other cats, especially kittens. Adults could be so boring and serious! No fun what-so-ever. Tedious with a capital T. But anyway, he was fine and dandy. He remembered Dandi when he thought that, for some not very obscure reason.

ooc:; I don't mind, I like Lilly! ;]

[lillibrokenwinge]

The minute kitten trotted happily down the path. She had no idea why she was here again... Maybe she wanted to look for evidence of why she did something here... But she didn't do anythign here, really. She met Osprey and then went hunting in the woods.

She opened her tiny mouth slightly, and smelled two other cats. Two boys. She heard voices. They sounded like kittens, but they were probally much older then her.

She heard the subject of ghosts. "I saw a ghost once!" she butted in. She was really young, and she didn't really have any manners. At least around other kittens she didn't. "It was big and white... And then it picked me up! And then it put me down again. And then it said something like, 'Trick or treat!' But! I was brave. I chomped down on his ghastly fingures and he ran away," she finished her story proudly. Like many children, she was very extravagant in her theatricality, actually, the 'ghost' was a child dress up in a costume for Halloween, and it had scared her. But Lilly wanted to impress the other two, older, boys.

[nestshatterwind]

Nest's head snapped around at a new voice. He probably would have jumped again, if he wasn't so well down into the mud he'd been sinking steadily into. But it was just another kitten. She seemed to be younger than Nest, for she looked smaller, though he guessed that size wasn't always a very good measure of age.

"You saw one! Nest exclaimed, forgetting all of his usual nervousness and jumpiness about meeting a new person. Maybe talking to other kittens helped. Adults always seemed harder to talk to. Though, he saw sometimes adults found it hard to talk to kittens. Maybe it was an age thing, and that was the whole reason people had hard times talking to each other! Maybe, if two cats were born at exactly the same time, they would be totally fine with each other.

Trick or treat. Hnnnnn. Maybe it's a traditional ghost greeting! Do you think if you say trick or treat really, really loud, other ghosts will come! Maybe my father's ghost will come. He blinked he hadn't meant to say that last part. But what if he could! Really speak to his father, like he had never been able to before, because his father had disappeared and supposedly died that one night shortly after he was born.

Nest made a move to try and get put of the mud, towards the other kitten, but... uh oh. He was stuck. He quickly settled back down in the mud. How embarrassing! Well, they wouldn't know so long as he didn't have to try and move. He would worry about it later. He was still enjoying the coolness of the mud in his fur, even if it was sort of oozy. Heh.

((OOC: This is probably my last post before I leave home. I might be able to post sometimes in the next week though. But not after that))