[r] as the RAIN FALLS,,

[Pistachio Brokendaze]

F O R M O O N C O L D B I T E

Death is never a thing that you want to witness. Whether it is someone you know or have never met in your life's entirety, it's still the same; a stiff and cold body, once the holder of life. To think that more die than are born in in your lifetime is not a comfortin thought in the least- that one day you too will die is the only thing that compete with it. You have to feel pity for those who didn't deserve to die, with a life still ahead that they should have accomplished. Fathers leaving pregnant mates, mothers deserting small kits, the end of a young one's life by a swift hit by a large car... it was all the same in the world of today.

Yet why was it still so surprising, this thing called death? If it happens all of the time, why does it still tear your heart out and throw it on the ground, shattering it into millions of pieces? These were the thoughts that were running through the little cat's head. His emerald eyes looked down, down to the smoky corpse flung onto the ground. A pang, deep in his heart, was all that he felt when he looked into the lifeless azure eyes, staring into blank nothingness. It was such a contrast with the crimson blood, still pooling onto the dreary granite floor that was the old road.

It didn't help that the weather was dreary. Dark charcoal clouds loomed overhead, blocking out whatever possible sun there could be. A few loose raindrops fell down from the heavens, directed downward. Farther off in the distance, the boom of thunder breached his ears; a storm was not too far off, possibly any minute. The sound of a car approaching was ignored, seeing as it wasn't coming towards him, making a possible threat to his life. And if the tom didn't take shelter soon, he'd soon find himself drenched to the bone with the cause being fat water droplets.

Yet some unknown force kept him glued to this stranger's side, pitying the poor sap's life. What did he do to deserve death like this? Then again, how was it that he died? The torbie was not sure. Eyes closed, blocking out the surroundings that went around him. Who was this cat? Was he ever important? Did he have a mate, and kits? A deeper question settled in his mind; could this be me one day? Let's just hope not...

ooc;; haven't posted in a while xD

[Moon Coldbite]

She was already in a terrible mood.

Visiting the old road hadn't helped much- it was a nice reminder that this was where he real life started up almost a year ago, but it also made her remember her painful parting with the old lady and her friends back when she was a housecat. It also reminded her of how the old lady had died.

Moon absolutely hated death. She didn't want to die, she didn't want others to die, plain and simple. So she hated it.

The rain fell down in thick drops, plump and cold and a cause for a wince each time one it her drenched pelt. She glanced up, spotting something... someone in the distance... Perhaps they knew some shelter...?

Then she noticed the other present.

He was lying on the ground, and before Moon could even register his condition, she saw the wide pool of blood beneath him. The body looked pummeled and lifeless, reminding her of her thoughts from just a moment ago. And then she could smell it.

Death.

Another thing the she-cat hated was blood- it scared her, she'd had nothing but painful, bad experiences with the substance. At the sight of it her rationality would disappear, and already in her gloomy state, she decided on the spot that the other...

The other had killed him. He was dead.

They're slowly destroying the world with hate, killers.

It sprung memories of the dogs that had run rampant across Nenbrook, killing and thoroughly destroying everything in their wake. Death and blood... And killers. Her worst nightmares, chalked up into the image she was now staring at through wide violet eyes.

She panicked.

"No..."

The violet eyes widened further as she shook her head, slowly backing away from the scene. She wanted to cover her eyes- how did she catch this? Why couldn't she be lying in the sun with Juniper and Ash and Peregrine and everyone else, laughing with thoughts of this out of her mind.

"...How dare you..."


She murmured, taking too steps forward before bolting forward through the mud, slowly drawing towards the one standing forward with blood mopped up on his paws. She didn't pause to think that it might've appeared from standing in the mesh puddle- she wasn't thinking at all. Fear does scary things to people.

"...I hate you!"

She launched herself at the smaller form, clashing into him at a speed that threw them both at the ground. Moon immediately dug her claws into the silver form, hissing viciously as she lashed out at him.

After everything... Moon had never been so scared in her entire life.

[Pistachio Brokendaze]

He never really saw it coming.

One moment his emerald eyes looked over the corpse of the poor cat whose life had ended abruptly. How, he was not too sure. The next, his body was knocked over, thrown down by some unknown object. Franctically, he clawed at the larger object, hoping to figure out who- or what- it was. Clumps of fur fell off from his pelt, a set of claws running down his soft belly.

"I hate you!"

Whatever fear he had had was shortly replaced; switched with a far greater emotion. Anger and adrenaline coursed through his veins, allowing him to wriggle his way out of the tight position. Only then did he have a good look at his opponent.

The femme was much larger than him, fur the color of snow with sparkling violet eyes. She'd almost be pretty if she wasn't attacking him. Multicolored patched fur bristled, teeth glistening. He hoped it would be enough to hide whatever fear was still in him; after all, it had been a while since his last fight.

Raindrops started falling at a higher and more frequent rate; the storm was upon them, and growing in size quickly. It would be only a matter of minutes before the two were drenched, all blood from the corpse washed away. Ears flicked down as a large boom of thunder echoed overhead, followed by a flash of lightning to the west. Who knew what the shocks would strike next...

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Pistachio asked sharply, circling the other figure. Any moment now there would be an opening... any moment.. there. He raced towards her, hoping to scratch the fur at her belly. A quick dash back and he had once again started circling her. In his haste he was not sure how much damage he had caused the other, if she was even hurt at all; hopefully enough that it was enough to end this abrupt fight.

ooc; run away from the 9 month old killer!

[Moon Coldbite]

"Monster. You're the worst."

The white -well, more along the lines of gray-brown now- she-cat growled out. The rain was falling harder now, and Moon was soaked, freezing, wit her coat clinging to her sides in an uncomfortable fashion. She ground her teeth to keep them from chattering along with the rest of her trembling body. She hoped that the other was in as much a bad state as she was though.

Who are you? What do you want?

She would have never guessed that those two questions might someday throw her into a disbelieving fit of rage.

"Shut up!!"

She shrieked as they circled around each other, and it took every ounce of her self-control to fight strategically rather than rush in blindly. Both cats were looking for openings when she found herself suddenly slammed down on the ground, and without feeling the pain saw blood seep into her white fur? When had that happened? She was running on adrenaline, that was her only guess.

Moon made to kick the other off her, but he dashed away just in time to avoid the blow.

"Damn it," She panted, stumbling a little as she stood, growling at the smaller cat. She hadn't been able to tell before, but from the looks of it, now that they were face-to-face and not either blinded by rage or fighting to the death...

She realized that she was fighting a kitten. A killer, and a kitten.

"What?!" She exploded, and nearly fell once again, gaining her balance. Her opponent hadn't made any move to attack her again, but she couldn't be bothered to notice such things.

And then suddenly, she didn't want to fight. She didn't want to fight a kitten- they still had so much time to live out in their life. Hadn't lived hardly at all.

Tears slowly slid down her cheeks as she looked over to where the body of the original victim she was fighting to avenge laid. She hadn't known him, but he was just so... Dead. And no one was fighting it, no one. So she did.

"N-no matter... no matter who he w-was... or how h-he lived..." She sobbed, staring blearily forward at the gray tom was standing a few fards away from her,

"There's never a good r-reason ...to take another's life!" And then, Moon Coldbite broke down in the mud, regardless of her situation or the fact that she was standing mere feet from a cold-blooded killer.

"I don't want to fight you! You're only a kitten! Why? Why would you..." Hiccup. "Why would you..." Came the barely coherent words as she shivered, curling in on herself without bringing any warmth.

"I can't hate," She laughed out, but the sound was scary and not quite right, signifying her dangerous transition into hysterics, "I'm not a hateful person..."

She didn't know what to say after that. So she just cried.

[Pistachio Brokendaze]

Now it was a storm. In comparison to what was falling from the sky at the moment, the previous drops of rain was nothing for than flecks. It poured down in sheets - no, buckets- drenching all that was below it. Of course, this meant the three cats fighting, one of which had fought until death. His silver-grey corpse was drenched and stringy with the rain, but he would not get up ever again to move out of it. Any spirit that had one been inside there, a soul as it was also called, had hopefully left this land in search of a better one. No one should live the life that the stray cats did; wondering if they would have a decent meal so that they could survive the night. Starvation, loneliness, bloodshed; these were all too real here. He should know- he was the one that had to grow up in it, as sad as it might seem.

The other two living cats, however, only seemed to notice the rain now; with fur dripping wet their possible size had shrunk. He shivered, for his patched fur did not supply as much protection and warmth as it did before. Warmth was power in a world like today, key to survival. Without warmth you'd die just as quickly as the dehydrated, a lesson he learned during the brutal winter. So many frozen bodies he found whilst searching for a scrappy meal. Of course, this led him to wonder about his family- were they alright? did they get enough food? how was Minny faring in captivity? It seemed like so long ago that he had escaped the jail-like pound, a prison to animals. He too had been a prisoner, but luckily he had also been escapee, unlike his family. Nights had passed while he cried himself to sleep, hoping for the return of his parents and siblings. Nothing was known to him about his surroundings, just a small tidbit on how to hunt. How to retrieve food. Well, at least he wouldn't starve.

"Shut up!!"

The other feline shrieked at his comments, causing him to take a step backwards. Confusion and surprise ran across his face- was this cat even sane? Maybe she was a maniac, running around and fighting others for no good reason? He started to doubt fighting- maybe talking would make the situation better. Besides, who knew that an insane or hysterical cat could do to him. She was losing steam quickly, too- had he really wanted to fight her, this would have been great. Blood trickled from where he had scratched her, nearly missing sharp claws in his retreat. Violet eyes stared into his emerald and something occured to her. In shock, she nearly fell over again, stumbling to stand up. Of course, Pistachio looked down at his small frame- what was so shocking about him? Perhaps he resembled someone she knew?

"N-no matter... no matter who he w-was... or how h-he lived..."

Tears started to slide down her cheeks, him inferring that this fem was talking about the corpse. Of course, this just brought on another round of confusion; what was this cat talking about? Why was she telling him? Did this have to do with why he was attacked? Questions, questions.

"There's never a good r-reason ...to take another's life!"

And all at once it dawned on him, became clear. That little lightbulb went off above his head. Of course, him standing over the remains of another's body would make him look like a killer! He opened his mouth to say something, but the she-cat fell over, sobbing loudly. Pity struck his heart; all she wanted to do was save this poor chap's life. Sadly, even he couldn't have done that. But with this dawning brought a roadblock- how to explain to her that he wasn't a killer? That she was safe with him around?

"I don't want to fight you! You're only a kitten! Why? Why would you..." Hiccup. "Why would you..." "I can't hate," "I'm not a hateful person..."

He was pretty sure she was going onto hysterics, but Chi was unsure of what to do; a first. To go up and comfort her might scare her even more, but to just stand there wasn't that great of an idea either. Unsure and hesitant, he walked over to where she lay.

"There there. Let's get out of the rain. I'm not a killer, and you'll have to trust me on that."

He smiled lightly, trying to be good-natured. Psychiatry was slowly becoming more of his 'profession'.

^{WC; 755}

[Moon Coldbite]

"There there. Let's get out of the rain. I'm not a killer, and you'll have to trust me on that."

Moon stared at him blearily. She was supposed to trust him? Just like that? After their horrible fight?

Like hell. What reason would I have to trust him? He just killed that cat!

And the more reasonable part of her head suggested softly,

This might just be a misunderstanding. Technically, we never actually saw him commit the crime, he was just staring at him like we probably would've if we'd been in his position.

A tick went off in her head and she thought back in an annoying state, what's with all the we's? This is me, talking to myself.

With a sniffle, she decided not to trust him, but to play along, at least for now. He was right about one thing- they needed to get out of the rain, and quickly. She could catch pneumonia, and possibly die. And then she'd have to find that cat in heaven and say ' tried to avenge you, but i caught a cold and died. sorry.'

Nope, not something she was inclined to do yet.

Hefting herself off the ground, she took a few, steadying and shaky breaths before looking down at the kitten. He was smaller than her, yes, definitely a kitten, but he had an air of maturity to him, like he'd seen more than his age let on. That worried her.

Regret passed through the famous violet depths at the death, and the fight that followed, but before either could say a word she turned, gesturing with her tail for him to follow him and silently praying this wasn't a trap.

Her slinking, shuddering form pulled itself into the canvas of leaves, searching through red and purple eyes for a place to lie down and recover. It didn't take her long- there was a small cave in the side of a short stone cliff, and after careful scenting, Moon confirmed it wasn't occupied and hadn't been for quite some time.

When she went to sit down, she instead slid until she was lying down, pulling her shaking body closer together to conserve warmth. Lying down with the other cat probably would've been better, but she didn't trust him yet. He had given her all the reason to not, and little reason to.

"S-so..." Chattering teeth tried to get out smoothly and failed, "Are y-you trying to s-say that you n-never k-killed that other cat then? W-what if I t-told you I d-didn't b-believe you? Would you k-kill me too?"

Moon wanted to believe that this kitten hadn't killed the other, but at the same time did, because if he didn't than that meant the killer was still out there somewhere, and that was a disturbing thought. So with a heavy sight, she waited for his response.

[Pistachio Brokendaze]

The weather wasn't letting up at all, continuing to pour down mercilessly at the felines below; especially the two that sat in the middle of the road, directly in the line of fire. His small pink nose twitched, wishing to sneeze, yet he held it back. He had an obnoxious sneeze, a pitiful one that was not bigger than his small size. Of course, this wasn't all that he was worried about at the current moment- no, it was just one of those little things that threw him off. Instead his worries were concentrated on the white she-cat sobbing in front of him. He wasn't too sure if she was more scared of him or angry at his guts- probably a horrid combination of the two. Oh well- she wasn't the only one.

Jade-colored eyes glanced down to his multi-colored paws, those that were slowly suckling into the mud. Quickly he hopped out of his current spot, noticing the imprint that was left behind. It was so simplistic, yet proof that he had once travelled here. Would other know that this was his pawpad in the next generations? Quite possibly this could become a tourist attraction, with felines flocking to see what once was. He doubted it, though. Who would want to see him?

The other cat, the white feline, lifted herself off of the ground, seeming to follow his path to the sheltered offroad. He looked around, searching for anything that would provide complete shelter from the helter-skelter winds and pounding rain. A leaf, holding a huge quantity of rain sprinkled onto his head, silver ears flicking down with obvious distaste. If anything, water was the thing that made him look scrawny and undeveloped, your stereotypical alley cat. The other cat, who she still did not know the name of, walked towards a small cave at the edge of a stone cliff. After a quick look around they figured it was, in fact, empty. Giving his pelt a quick shake to expel the water droplets, the feline sat down, a rough sand-paper like tongue running over his drenched frame. He shivered- how he wanted to huddle closer to the other cat for warmth, though he was pretty sure that she didn't trust him. Great start.

"S-so..."Are y-you trying to s-say that you n-never k-killed that other cat then? W-what if I t-told you I d-didn't b-believe you? Would you k-kill me too?"

He laughed lightly, finding the question that was asked to be odd. Him, a killer? Pistachio the murderer? Didn't have a nice ring to it. Besides, he liked other cats in one piece, thank you very much.

"A killer? No, I saw the cat on my walk. Poor chap, probably was killed by a car or human. Maybe even a dog... And I wouldn't kill anyone, heavens no! I don't even normally eat meat, let alone kill others for meat."

That was true. It was like some part of his stomach wouldn't allow the meat to stay down, excluding a few exceptions. That was normally just birds. No mice, no voles, no shrews. It was weird, but he'd rather eat and scavenge for vegetables and herbs than try to hunt for something that might not even stay down.

"I'm Pistachio Brokendaze. Maybe you knew my mom, Violet, or my dad Rowan."

[Moon Coldbite]

She'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but she sill didn't trust him.

Shivering, Moon's muscles slowly untensed, little by little although she wouldn't let herself completely relax just yet.

"A killer? No, I saw the cat on my walk. Poor chap, probably was killed by a car or human. Maybe even a dog... And I wouldn't kill anyone, heavens no! I don't even normally eat meat, let alone kill others for meat."

Moon had to clench her jaw in order to keep herself from gaping. Doesn't eat meat? Not possible!

"Hn," She mused dryly, "For someone who doesn't eat hunt... You sure fight well."

But ever as she said the suspicious words, There was something strange about what he was telling her. "Let alone kill for meat?" That wasn't what she had thought at all- he seemed as tired and confused about the whole thing as she did.

Good people can do bad things, she rationalized herself before she started to let her guard down around the supposed innocent kitten. She might've been able to keep this act up, too, if not for his next few words.

"I'm Pistachio Brokendaze. Maybe you knew my mom, Violet, or my dad Rowan."

Moon's half-closed eyes flew open and she choked on her own tongue, coughing for a few seconds before turning her incredulous violet depths on him once again. Violet and Rowan? No way, not a chance, not possible, no!

But studying him a little closer, she could see that she was wrong. He looked much like them, with most of his coat a brown-tabby like his father, with more of a patchwork design that added in his mother's looks.

"...I do know them," She used present tense in her careful wording, trying to compose herself but still looking shocked. Violet was like her surrogate sister- one of her dearest, closest friends- and she'd met Rowan once just as Violet began to realize her feelings for the tom. But the way he was speaking of them, like they were no longer here... She was fearing the worst.

"Moon Coldbite," She spoke in a slightly warmer tone, toning her glare down to one of mere distrust, even though she desperately wanted to interrogate him on his parents whereabouts. She hadn't seen either of them in quite a while. Her curiosity was quickly gaining leverage over her pride.

Curiosity killed the cat, she desperately reminded herself, and in this case, it quite literally might. I don't know who I'm dealing with here-

"Where are they right now-your parents, I mean, where are they?" She blurted out without thinking. An inner sigh brought her back to reality.

I have absolutely no willpower, do I?

ooc: So much muse for this thread! We have both posted so much! Wow! xD