#01 paragraph

[inanimatez]

DAY SEVEN

Dripping. That is what they heard, distantly. Faint, echoing dripping. The sound of a pool, somewhere in these caves. Hidden away, taunting them, at the thought of fresher water than that of the little crick. They sat in a scattered group, together, yet not too close. Most of them didn't even know each other, after all.

"So how do you think we're going to get out of here?" A greenish and grey cat asked. His name- or at least, the one he had been given-was Oliveclaw. Sitting nearest to him were a silver cat given-named Silverthistle and a smaller, deep blue and white cat; Snowpuddle.

"I don't know. All I know is we need to find a way, and soon. We need food, we need water. We need answers." A yellow cat with a little bandana answered. Her name was Yellowseed. Or at least, that was what "host" called her.

"Maybe we can dig out, or sumn." A grey cat with speckles answered. He was looking at the ceiling, but all he seemed to see was stalactites. He and Oliveclaw seemed oddly calm about the situation.

"No, Silverspeck. We don't have pickaxes." Replied a green cat. "Not that we could use them anyway."

He shrugged. "Whatever, pine-sol. It was just an idea." Oliveclaw snickered at this, and Yellowseed rolled her eyes. She muttered something sounding akin to "not this again" but no one else seemed to notice. "Seriously? You can at least call me by the name Host gave me, if you won't call me my real one-" Oliveclaw was stifling laughs, which only made him more angry. "-I TOLD you, my name's G-" "HAAHAHAHAHAAHA! PINE-SOL!! WHAT'S NEXT, CLOROX?! FWUAHABAHAHAHAHA!!" Oliveclaw couldn't hold back any longer. A light blue and white cat let out a sigh. "Tell me about it, Mintstripe." Yellowseed muttered to him. Mintstripe did not understand a thing she was saying. Partially because he was flattening his ears from the fighting. Mostly because he didn't speak english.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Silverthistle yelled. Everyone froze at this; even Mintstripe. "We don't have time for silly arguments. That goes for the BOTH of you." Silverspeck nodded. "He started it..." Silverspeck shrugged at that. "PINEBERRY."

Yellowseed sighed, looking at the wall. Carved in it, nearly engraved, were badly drawn "portraits" of everyone here; beside them were the words "don't forget!" and their assigned "names." Oliveclaw, Mintstripe, Silverspeck, Yellowseed, Silverthistle, Pineberry, Stonewhistle, Perchstre-- wait, Stonewhistle?

"Uh, guys?" She asked, looking concernedly at the wall. "GUYS!"

Everyone turned to look at her, waiting. "Where's Stonewhistle?" Silverthistle looked panicked. "I...dunno, he should've been back by now. He was supposed to be looking for water, but that was a while ago." He rose to his paws as he said this, tensing. Looking around to see if anyone else noticed. "Crap." Pineberry grimaced. "Where do you think he went? We need to get him back." He looked to his sides.

He looked around. Yellowseed looked anxious; Pineberry and Silverthistle were discussing the disappearance intensely- even Silverspeck looked a little nervous. Mintstripe just looked confused, and Oliveclaw wasn't seeming to think much of it at all. He grimaced. Did he just not care? How could he be so calm and careless at a time like this?! Whether it was the caves, or the water, or this, he always seemed so nonchalant. It was really beginning to piss him off.

But he didn't say anything. He needed to be the rational one here, and that meant putting up with Oliveclaw's crap. Just like I had to put up with hers, sometimes, he thought.

"Look, someone has to go get him. And it should be more than one of us in case something is wrong. I'll volunteer first," Silverthistle said, looking around. "Who else is coming?"

Yellowseed looked towards Mintstripe. "Not him, obviously. He doesn't even know what's going on." Pineberry nodded. "Look, I won't be of much use. Unless you need someone to stretch a lot or file taxes. I'll stay with him." He got up and walked towards the blue and white cat, who looked at him with thoughts of likely confusion. "Bonjour," he said, smiling awkwardly. Pineberry sighed. "Bonjour, Mintstripe."

Oliveclaw was watching them intently. "I wanna stay, too. Maybe I can help....uhh.....translate..." He glanced from Silverthistle back to the little french cat. "You speak French?" Silverthistle questioned, looking surprised. "Well, uhh..... no....but maybe I can figure him out anyway!" He smirked sheepishly. "I'll go." Silverspeck said. "I want to help." He looked at Yellowseed. "Are you coming? I think we need at least one or two more." She thought for a second. Looking at Mintstripe and Pineberry, then at Silverspeck, then at the wall. Then at Silverthistle again. "....Well...um...I don't know if.....uh....what if..."

"I'll go." Pretty much everyone looked towards a corner of the cave. In which a green and yellow cat was sitting. "Perchstream, are you sure--" He looked determinedly at Silverthistle. "Yeah. I'll go." He thought of his friend. I had to save her once, I can save this guy. But they didn't need to know that. Yellowseed looked at him, and she stepped up. "I'll go, too. I'm sure the rest of us can handle themselves," she looked at the others. "Right?"

"Yes. I think so." Pineberry nodded, and Oliveclaw raised his paw. He tried to give a thumbs up, and surprisingly enough, he did; to which Mintstripe looked at him confusedly for having the ability. "What?"

The group padded off, to which the three watched them go in confidence, yet fear. "Good luck." Pineberry said, watching the group. With a silver cat in front, and a silver cat in the rear.

[inanimatez]

Bluebell stepped over the fallen trunk, curiosity pricking at her. Everyone else behind her stared and watched in subtle fear. But she was not afraid. Anything that could get him back was worth the risk. "Wait." She stopped, looking behind her. Bramblefern looked at her, a paw raised in fear. "What if one of....those.....is there?" He trembled. She looked at her friend, and thought of her other one. I have to get him back, she thought. Don't you see? I'm doing this for you, too! But she couldn't tell him these things. She looked into his eyes with a look of hope, and sorrow, and desperation. She wondered, for a second, if he knew why she was doing this. She wondered if he wanted to go, too. But she had to do this alone. She turned back towards the fallen tree, and continued walking on, stopping for just a second to give one last glance at Bramblefern and the rest of the group behind her. What was she supposed to say? 'I'm sorry?' 'Goodbye?' 'It's gonna be okay?' None of these were truly applicable here. She didn't know if she would be okay, she didn't know if this was goodbye, she didn't know how long it would take or what would happen or if she'd even find him. All she was able to do was look at him, for mere seconds, before turning back around and hopping over the newly-made log. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she bounded over it, wanting to tear herself away yet run as far away as she could at the same time. She felt so torn, yet again. She wanted to stay with them! She couldn't bare to potentially leave her friends behind, especially knowing she might not ever see them again! What if she came back too late?

What if she never came back at all?

Nevertheless, she continued walking, coughing at the dust and dirt that had been stirred up by the disaster. She tried to blink away the dust in her eyes, and as she did, she looked at a cat in front of her blurrily.

A cat that looked to be a rusty or yellow color.

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"Hello?" She asked, looking at the cat in front of her, and getting no answer. Sedgepool? Is that you? She wondered silently. But as soon as she blinked away the dust and lingering tears in her eyes she could see the cat to know well enough it wasn't him.

The cat in front of her was a rusty-golden color, with little bits of greying tints in their incredibly long fur, matted together, with twigs and grass and reeds and dirt tangled within. They had scars in various places; the back, the legs, the face....most notably, they were missing an entire eye, and seemed to have scars surrounding the area around the socket. Their fur seemed notably cleaner and flatter there, indicating there might've been some sort of attempt at bandaging it.

Of course, she didn't notice about half of that. She was all too distraught by it all.

She looked at the unkempt, rusty-golden cat in front of her, and their eerily empty one working eye.

They were still silent. They had a deadpan expression, yet subtly showed some signs of...fear, or discomfort. She squinted. "Hello?" She asked again, wondering if the individual just hadn't heard her the first time. They blinked, still remaining silent. "Can you...hear me??" She waved a paw in front of their face. They moved back slightly, remaining silent, but didn't really respond other than that. Maybe they're deaf, she thought. She looked around quickly. There's gotta be something I can use to...

A twig.

She walked over to it, picking it up. She sat it on the ground in front of them, to which they glanced down at it, the same expression. She slammed her foot onto it as hard as she could, with a loud snap. Their ear twitched. Oh. So you're not deaf, she thought. She walked a little closer. They blinked, watching her. "Are you just....gonna....stand there?" She asked, giving them a confused and distrustful look. They hesitated, looking around, then put a paw forward. She stepped back. "Are you going to attack me?" She tensed. They stopped, and looked to be thinking for a minute.

They shook their head, their tail hanging down leisurely. They seemed oddly calm about everything. Well, a survivor is a survivor..... She thought. As they walked, she noticed a slight limp in their forearm. "There are others with me," she began, glancing down at the forearm. "If you come with me, they might be able to help with that." They thought about it for a second. They nodded, falling in line behind her.

She led the mysterious individual towards the area, only after a minute or two of walking coming to the realization that it might not be so good of an idea for a stranger to be behind her. She shook her head, stopping. They padded up beside her, looking intently as if waiting for an answer. "Sorry." She said, continuing her journey, the other cat now beside her instead of behind.

They came up on the log, and she tensed to jump, but looked to her side. "Can you make this? Do you need me to help?" She asked. They tensed, then stopped, walking casually. They slowly-but surely-climbed their way up the trunk, without a sound; not even flinching in pain. She tensed, and leapt up beside them. "Alright, just after this."

"Guys. I found someone." She said, coming into the view of the group. She hesitated, smelling the air; but everything seemed fine. No blood, no fear, no monsters...no one seemed to have moved much since she left. Mistlepaw perked up, looking expectantly for the visitor. All eyes were on Bluebell. "It's.....it's not him." She said forlornly. Mistlepaw's tail dropped, and she sat back down dejectedly.

The rusty cat padded up beside her, looking at the group in front of them. Expectantly...as if they were waiting for something. Everyone looked at them.

And one looked at them differently than others.

Bramblefern looked up at the cat with a look of shock and rage.

"AIRY?!"

[inanimatez]

teaser....

Goldheart looked on in horror. Horrified at the sight of the bleeding, limp body of Sleetflake, sprawled out in a deep red pool of his own blood. Honeyflower let out a yelp of horror. She immediately rushed over and started trying to clog his wounds, with Fuzzycloud running over and helping. Others sobbed, or yowled, or cried out in terror at what had happened or that it might somehow happen to them. Sharpstrike stared in utter fear and horror, looking at someone so strong yet so fragile. How his body practically shattered upon impact with the ground.

But Goldheart just stared, horrified. No screaming, no yowling, no crying or trying to help. No panic...nothing.

But deep inside, he felt a fear and a panic and a sorrow.

He had lost his first contestant.

And there was no getting him back.