private I CAN'T ESCAPE THIS HELL — the shelter

[SLATE]

❪ TAGS ❫ — This couldn't be real.

It's a reality that Slate refuses—or at least wants to refuse—to accept. In all of his moons of roaming the city streets as a rogue, with his wits about him and wise to the tendencies of the bipedal beasts, he had never even strayed close to a trap. However, now living in a clan, Slate had run directly into one! Was life simply telling him that he wasn't meant to be a part of a clan? That he didn't belong in the wilds?

The Maine Coon had completely spent his energy, nearly wearing his paws down to the bone with all of the relentless pacings in his enclosure. It was much too cramped for a large cat like him, suffocating even, despite the stale air that filtered through the cold, shiny vines. A bowl of kibble remained untouched in the corner of his cell—a cheap offering from the humans, as if that alone would make up for the atrocities and the trauma that they had caused with their own bare hands. He was starving, disheveled, and exhausted; he had not gotten a wink of sleep since his abduction, which had only been a couple of nights ago.

However, finally defeated and teetering on the edge of sleep, Slate was curled up on the cushy bed and facing the bare wall of the cage. He still couldn't believe that he was here, after an entire lifetime of telling himself that he'd never end up in this place.

"You're jealous." Silversmoke's voice — his condescending, haughty tone — invaded his mind like a parasite. Time spent in confinement let recent happenings fester like rotting crowfood in his brain. What else was there to think about, besides the rather unfortunate predicament he had landed himself in? Some of the last words the lead warrior had spoken to him were still fresh in his psyche, whipping like a bull's tail, "Jealous that I was able to make something for myself while you were stuck scrounging and scrapping with whoever you could to try and feel something." Much to his annoyance, it does sting. Even when Slate had entertained the idea of contributing to something larger than himself, of making his brother proud and trying to be apart of a community, the twolegs had taken everything away.

Now, he wasn't a rogue any longer, nor was he a clan cat. The purebred tom was bound to be taken away again, for the first time since his kithood, and possibly never feel the earth under his paws ever again.

// tagging @Howlpaw @QUILLSTRIKE @TWITCHBOLT @Ashenclaw
i'm thinking that they've been here for a few days together and already know of each other's presences here! i'm thinking this is just a sad boi hours thread where they all talk from their cages ​

 

[Howlfire]

For almost a moon, Howlpaw had not seen her forest home or the family waiting for her beyond the pines. She had been the first taken, the first to disappear, though at the time they had not known she had been taken by twolegs. Howlpaw had little knowledge of twolegs or the twolegplace beyond the stories her father had shared with her, but these were not the same twolegs who had cared for her father. She supposed they were not cruel to her but they had kept her in this cage and for that she harboured a dislike of them.

Time seemed to pass differently here at the shelter. With no view of outside, Howlpaw could not discern what time of the day it was. The only inkling of time passing was the frequent coming and goings of the twolegs. They had recently gone around replacing the dry pellets in the cages of the cats present. It was horrid, bland food. The first few days Howlpaw had simply turned her head up at it, refusing to eat. But as hunger panes began to gnaw away at her, she finally broke down and had a few bites of the dry food, finding that whilst the food had little flavour it helped hold the hunger at bay.

Putting her head into the bowl, Howlpaw managed a few bites of the food, the crunch of the pellets echoing in her cage. "Hate this stuff..." Howlpaw grumbled. "What I wouldn't give for a sparrow right now."​

 

[Ashenclaw]

"You'll Never Be Unloved By Me"​

The shelter was the last place that anyone ever expected to go. Death was usually the assumed outcome of being captured by twolegs but so far that didn't seem to be the problem. The marbled tabby leaned against one side of the cold cage and gave a soft sigh with a look to Howlpaw as she idly pushed around her food. The warrior gave a sympathetic look before nudging over his bowl of food that was wet and sloppy, but it was at least better than the dry stuff. The twolegs had been feeding him this kitten slop for the last few days as Ashenclaw had started to refuse to eat.

Ever since they had taken him away into the cold, white room, he didn't feel hungry as much anymore. There was this sickly scent to his pelt, mainly under his tail, as they kept this goo on his body and this white disk around his head. Suppose tearing at whatever blue things they had put inside his body wasn't the best idea- but what else was he suppose to do? He had an open wound and it needed to be clean to heal! Though a part of him was glad they at least semi-cared about the wound as it was kept mostly heal- but the herbs they had been using where strange.

Fed into him by a long, clear vine, and it was into his back leg that he also couldn't reach due to this retched white disk that was firmly around his neck. "It is not a sparrow, but it is better than the dry stuff," He mentioned to the young apprentice with another nudge of his bowl towards her.
Speech
​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[QUILLSTRIKE]

DARK BLUE, DARK BLUE, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ALONE IN A CROWDED ROOM?
​

---

Quill hated this. He hated the sterile smell of the cage around him and the stupid, cushiony bed. Hated to tasteless kibble and the fact that he barely had enough space to fucking breathe let alone live. He hated that they'd pulled him, spitting and clawing, from Twitchbolt to shove them into seperate enclosures before stripping him of his bluejay feathers and putting him on display for the other disgusting upwalkers to oggle at. Their stares were always met with blank eyes and a rumbling growl, fur that spiked like knives along his neck and shoulders, vicious blows of a heavy paw that sent the door of his cage rattling violently.

His mind was still with him though, sharp as ever. He was just pissed. He felt like a fool to have walked into the trap so easily- to let Twitch walk into it at all. Worse, he felt weak. He couldn't claw or bite through the enclosure, couldn't overpower the humans whenever they came to bring them food or do their poking and prodding. He couldn't help his friends, one of whom had clearly been tampered with by their captives. Ashen didn't smell the same anymore.

Yeah, fucking useless, that's how he felt.

He spent the majority of his time pacing, too restless to sit still for more thana little bit at a time. When he wasn't pacing, he was watching, taking in details like which twolegs came and went and how often they did so. He knew when to expect the food and water drop-off and the cage cleaning, stored the information away for a moment when he might use them to his advantage. Today didn't seem like it would be that day though, and so he paced instead, paws yearning for the forest floor or the familiar roughness of bark.

He wanted to go home.
​

---

skyclan - male - 14 months (Feb 17th) - bisexual - homoromantic - single - a very tall, dark chimera tomcat with mismatched eyes and several scars. has bluejay feathers woven like spikes along his spine and neck.

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

Twitchbolt would not be surprised if everyone in this stupid- stupid stupid den hated him by now. Every ten minutes or so, day in day out- CLANG went his claws across the bars, hoping to strike gold. To- to shatter it somehow, to blow the door off and fly out of there and drag everyone else with him. Slate was here now, too. It'd been nice to know that Howlpaw hadn't been murdered by a lunatic or that Ashenclaw hadn't been hit by a monster so large it had eviscerated him, but the novelty had soon warn off.

They hadn't even been kind enough to keep him and Quillstrike in the same stupid wretched beloathed cage that they'd trapped them in.

He was an idiot. That mantra hadn't stopped whirling around in his head since he'd heard that iron door clatter shut. it was his fault he was here, and he'd managed to rope Quillstrike into it, too. He was an idiot, an idiot for falling for it. Strong scent- weird-looking thing... usually he was so careful. So wary. How had he let this happen? He'd always thrived (but had he, really) on being prepared.

He struck the door again, and let free a frayed screech of frustration as he failed yet again to cleave the bars in two. The low buzz of familiar voices caught his attention, and sunken eyes swivelled to where the voices of Howlpaw and Ashenclaw were coming from. Calm enough to complain about food quality- they'd been here longer, he supposed. "I can't- eat this anymore man, I'm gonna lose it..." A dittoing of Howlpaw's verdict.

Pacing in circles, circles. He missed everyone so badly. He missed Daisyflight's strange double-edge of sternness and kindness, a presence that demanded respect yet he knew well to have one of the most encouraging smiles of any cat he'd ever known. He missed Redstorm's steeliness, too- the odd sureness of his tone. Missed Thistleback's wordy but often nail-on-the-head phrases- missed Sheepcurl's cheeriness, missed just seeing Blazestar every day and hoping he was doing better. He even missed Dawnglare's roundabout riddling- how could you miss something that you hated?

He missed his home.

Another strike to the cage. "RRrrrghh- stupid fucking thing!" A voice ragged with tears rang out. He even missed Howlpaw, Ashenclaw, Slate and Quillstrike- and they were in here with him, for StarClan's sake.​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[Howlfire]

Around her, she can hear the pacing and grumbling of her fellow clanmates, trapped here by the twoelgs. Her head lifts slightly when she hears Ashenclaw speak to her before pushing his bowl toward her. It's certainly not the most appetising thing to look at, but she has to agree with the warrior, it's certainly better than the dry food they were giving them. Howlpaw manages a few mouthfuls of the food before turning away, growing tired of its relatively bland flavour. "Thanks, Ashenclaw," She mewed, thinking that even though she hadn't eaten much of it and had gone on to push it away, he at least deserved an appreciative comment for sharing with her.

She rasps a tongue over a forepaw a few times before giving herself a quick groom, only to be disturbed by Twitchbolt striking the cage again. A sympathetic expression creased her features, though Twitchbolt would not have seen it due to being separated. "I miss home..." Howlpaw sighed softly. "Do you think we'll ever get back?"​

 

[Ashenclaw]

"You'll Never Be Unloved By Me"​

Ashenclaw looked at the little apprentice for a moment before over to where Twitchstrike had struck the cage once more then to Quillstrike as he paced about in his own enclosure. He gave a soft sigh and looked back to Howlpaw for a moment- what was he suppose to say? What could he possibly do? He wanted to reassure her in that they would return home at some point, but there was no guarantee as to when that would happen. But he also couldn't say that he didn't think they'd ever leave at this point. It had been what? A few weeks now? So much could've happened in that time period. Skyclan could be under threat of a war for all they knew.

The blue tabby cat gave a slight sigh and looked down for a moment before reaching a paw out to touch Howlpaw on the shoulder through the cage walls, "I believe in Blazestar and the others. I believe they will find us and we will become free," He said to her with a small nod of his head. Starclan was real after all wasn't it? Surely they had a plan of how to help them through this turmoil.

Speech
​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[SLATE]

❪ TAGS ❫ — General grumblings and complaints about how cramped and uncomfortable this hellhole was went right over Slate's head; he had heard everyone the first hundred times. He was so damn tired, so much so that his initial state of frenzied panic and shock was simply replaced by feelings of dismal defeat.

The most recent CLANK sounding from Twitchbolt's cage finally causes Slate to snap his head up and grunt, "Hey wouldja' stop that already? You hittin' it won't do any good." Slate truthfully couldn't blame the younger warrior for being stir-crazy. This hadn't been Slate's first time trapped in a cage and transported in a monster, whereas these forest-born cats had probably never been within a hair's length of any twoleg object before.

His ear pricks, hearing Howlpaw and Ashenclaw conversing in the cages adjacent to him. The stale, foreign smell of the room relentlessly circulates throughout his nostrils and into his lungs; he already feels the wild cat within withering away, dying like a flower lacking sunlight. This place is killing Slate's spirit. His voice is slightly hoarse from all of the yelling from a few nights ago, "I told them," The Maine Coon recalls that dreadful moment, seeing Cloverjaw darting away out of his sight, possibly for the last time. "I told them about the shelter. It's up to them, now... if they even care about us enough to try."

Slate isn't as optimistic as Ashenclaw. He hasn't been in a clan long enough to truly believe that any cat could be so selfless and so loyal to their clanmates. The clans were fearful of twolegs; Blazestar wouldn't even venture into the Twolegplace to try and find his own daughter. It was clear how hesitant they all were to step beyond their borders, so he had little hope that anybody would come to save them all. They'd be captured themselves before that would happen.​

 

[Tawnystripe]

A cream tabby tom was in one of the adjacent cages to the SkyClan warriors, haven been captured as well by one of the workfolk- or as the other wild cats have been calling them- twoleg traps. He was usually more of a chill cat, though he wouldn't say it was to the level of the house cats that had been to the cutter, so the fact that he actually got foiled into getting caught was eating at him. He mostly kept to himself so far and didn't say much, happy to be fed at all.

He wasn't oblivious to the tension in the air, though. Some of the cats trapped with him seemed to be connected by whatever this 'SkyClan' actually was, which piqued his interest, but he didn't take the time to ask, with how upset they all seemed to be. It was turning into sadness as the days passed, and he was feeling a little bad himself by proxy. It was definitely harder to ignore as one of them one consistently banging on the cage's bars. He could admire the tenacity, but the noise was getting grating. He just huffed and curled up, at least as much as he could in the small, cramped space he was provided.

After everyone else conversed for awhile, optimism rising if only a little by two of the other's words, he finally decided to poke his nose into their business. "I don't know who this 'Blazestar' is, but I hope for y'alls sake that they bring some of this 'clan' to recover the rest of ya. Have faith. If there's enough of 'em in this so called 'clan' of yours, they gotta make some effort." He hoped an outsider's perspective helped put some of them at ease. He wasn't exactly sure how high his hopes were for him getting out, but he thinks he'd feel better knowing at least some other cat did. Hopefully his words ring true and aren't an empty promise. ​

 

[Dizzy]

DARK BLUE, DARK BLUE, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ALONE IN A CROWDED ROOM?

​

---

Gaze of fire and ice would snap toward Slate as they called for Twitch to knock off his racket. "At least the twolegs will know to keep the hell away from him." the chimera replied, though he ceased his pacing to sit near the bars of his cage, looking out into the room. "If they start taking us away, we might not be able to find each other again."

Quill had seen cats come and go, and it was always the nicest, more docile of the cats that were chosen by the twolegs, taken away to never be seen again. To their nests, no doubt, and the last thing any of them needed was some human picking them out taking them home, potentially far away from the forest where they might not be able to get back.

They had to stay together.

Slates next words were the first modicum of comfort Quill had gotten since arriving. If Skyclan knew what to look for now -the shelter- then at least it was a step in the right direction, more than any of them had to work with before.

"They care." Quill replied, a confidence echoing throughout the otherwise hollow tone of his voice. "The question is if they'll be able to find it. I doubt anyone but a kittypet or twoleg-place stray could lead them here, so they'll have to find the right cat to show them the way."

And luckily, Skyclan was the one cat that was known to fraternize with with both of those things. They just had to make sure they were all here when they showed up- assuming they were able to find the place to begin with. Though from everything he'd seen, he couldn't imagine Blazestar leaving Howlpaw to rot here now that the clan knew what they were looking for.

"I don't know who this 'Blazestar' is, but I hope for y'alls sake that they bring some of this 'clan' to recover the rest of ya. Have faith. If there's enough of 'em in this so called 'clan' of yours, they gotta make some effort."

Mismatched gaze shifted to land on the cream tabby caged across the aisle from them, and after a moment he nodded in agreement.

"Make sure you eat, Twitch. I know it tastes like crap but you'll need your strength if we have any shot at getting out of here." he called to the other, having the feeling the other had probably been avoiding the twoleg given pellets. Advice he would have to force himself to take as well.
​

---

skyclan - male - 14 months (Feb 17th) - bisexual - homoromantic - single - a very tall, dark chimera tomcat with mismatched eyes and several scars. has bluejay feathers woven like spikes along his spine and neck.