[ti]Open[/ti]Swallowed by the Dark

[silverfang218]

Mosskit trips over his own paws; he has no idea where he is or how he got here. The last thing the little kit remembers is falling asleep at his mother’s side while the moss nest seemed to nibble at his paws. Is this where you go when you are fully eaten by moss? Does the moss consume you and this is what the inside of its stomach looks like? Or did the moss simply kill Mosskit and this is what StarClan looked like? But if so, where are his siblings? Surely the moss swallowed up them as well? Unless… it had a vendetta against Mosskit specifically! That must be it, the moss was out to kill and eat Mosskit and Mosskit alone.

The little kit lets out a frightened cry; the moss left him alone here while all his siblings were cuddled up with momma Meteorfall all nice and warm. Mosskit lets out another cry of fright, praying to StarClan that someone, anyone, might hear him. Perhaps another poor cat swallowed up by the moss? Perhaps they knew the way out!

[M'Lady]

A cry caught her ears.

She never had normal dreams anymore, it was an utter shame really, but it didn't really matter to Tansysong. But she heard the cry, the cry of a kit, and she went running. No more kits, she couldn't bear to see little ones corrupted by darkness. Even if Sweetoak was there, she'd tear the she-cat limb from limb to save a small one from her. She slowed down, her breaths coming in pants, when she found the poor scrap of fur. Thankfully, he was alone, but clearly distraught.

"Don' cry," The words fell instantly from her maw, as she neared the small kit and looked over his silvery blue fur with curious fern eyes. Mistclan scent, she wondered who had a litter. The tiny being looked vaguely familiar, though she couldn't quite place it with him being so small. "Y'don't have t'be scared, little kit, y'never have t'be scared when m'around." She told him quietly. The words were true, she had so many connections here and she knew the place like the back of her paw, he wouldn't have to be nervous when she was with him. "Are y'lost?"

[silverfang218]

His cries brought the desired result: help. His cries instantly stop as a funny smelling she-cat comes racing into his view. A relieved smile graces his tiny face. “Yeah I’m very lost. The moss of my momma’s nest swallowed me up and dropped me here alone! I dunno where my momma or my siblings are.” Mosskit tells this strange she-cat as he crawls beneath her. With her standing over him, he feels much safer for absolutely no reason. “Do you know the way home?”

Now that he feels a bit more comfortable and he has a companion, Mosskit relaxes a bit. He feels trusting towards Tansysong despite not knowing her at all; he keeps talking, barely giving her time to answer as his tone becomes friendly and chill. “My name is Mosskit and I’m from MistClan. I don’t remember seeing you, but I don’t remember cats so well. Are you from MistClan too- or does the moss attack cats from other clans too?!” Mosskit lets out a horrified gasp at the idea of moss terrorizing cats from all clans. “What’s your name? We gotta get out of here before the moss comes back!” The scatterbrained kit is just all over the place. If Tansysong can make any sense out of that, she has my undying respect.

[GnawingOnIce]

Tangle was talking with Tansysong - key word, was. Until a frightened cry broke through the fog. Tansysong immediately took off after it, this annoyed Tanglefur, but he bounded after her anyway. He found her comforting a bluish-gray kit, certainly not dead. He stayed hidden, tucking himself behind one of the bare trees in the forest. Only his head and tail poked out, only his amber eyes being clearly seen, since he was fading. He observed the kit, who was clearly scared.. and a bit dumb. However, Tangle didn't want to scare him even more than he already was. If Tansy gave him the okay, he'd come out of his hiding spot, other than that he'd just listen and observe.

[M'Lady]

Oh what a sweet summer child, the poor thing knew nothing. Mosskit, as he was called. So Mistclan was having new litters, Tansysong smiled at this. Oh, Tanglefur. Where did he go? They'd been talking.. briefly. She glanced back, noticing the tom hiding near a tree. It's not like he needed to, he was pretty much invisible anyway. The thought struck at Tansy's heart, but she swallowed it, and turned her fern green eyes back to the small kit.

"M'name's Tansy, I'm from around here." She told him, a sort of half truth. It wouldn't hurt anyway, it wasn't like she was like Sweetoak. She wouldn't hurt the poor dear. "And s'okay, I promise. There's no moss that' attack y'here." She hummed, her tone certain and firm. "In fact, I can introduce y'to a big strong warrior that' protect you, m'kay? Just don' yell at 'im, he's a bit self conscious on 'ow he looks." Tansysong mused, glancing back at Tanglefur to beckon him forward with a flick of her tail. He wouldn't hurt the tiny one, that much was obviously clear.

[silverfang218]

Mosskit’s tail starts to wag at lightspeed as Tansy introduces herself. “My dad had a sister named Tansysomething. I don’t remember her full name though. She left before I was born.” Moss blurts out the random bit of information, as kits are known to do sometimes. He doesn’t make the connection at all, merely finding it interesting that his savior and his missing aunt have similar names. It makes her seem more trustworthy to him for some reason, not that he didn’t already trust her fully.

He gives her a big grin as she explains that he’s safe here and there’s no moss to eat him here; his eyes grow somehow larger as she mentions that she has a big strong warrior here to protect them, just in case. He follows her gaze back towards Tanglefur, eyes growing larger still as they spot the fading warrior. He’s stupid not blind, but he doesn’t seem to notice Tangle’s… partial invisibility. That fact seems to float right over Moss’ head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you back there! Are you here to protect me and Tansy? I’m Mosskit, nice to meet you!” The kit calls out to the stranger behind the tree, seeming to feel more and more safe by the moment. At this point, Mosskit has nearly forgotten the fact that he’s in a strange place with strangers or that the moss swallowed him and brought him here.

[GnawingOnIce]

Tanglefur stepped out of his hiding spot, fully revealing how skinny he was. He stood a bit away from Tansysong and the kit - Mosskit. Mosskit seemed oblivious to a lot of things. He glanced at Tansysong, then back to Mosskit. "Quiet down." His voice rasped. "Don't want the others to hear." He simply explained, though he doubted the kit would obey much.

[M'Lady]

Her eyes widened in surprise.
Oh.
Finch was his father? And she assumed Meteor was his mother. He looked so much like them, she wondered how she didn't put it together before. Her eyes pricked with tears. After all she's done to try and save Finch's sorry tail, and her naive brother managed to send his kit to this awful place as well? She blinked the tears away, and managed to smile so the dear thing wouldn't be frightened.

"I might know 'im, y'dad. Say hi ta him fer me." She mused softly, and then glanced up when Tanglefur came out of hiding, and nodded at his comment. "He's right, Moss. This forest s'place fer quiet cats an' quiet kits, so y'should talk quietly, like this." She hummed, lowering her tone as she spoke to give him an example. She couldn't stop examining the small scrap of fur. This was really her brother's kit? This was her blood, her kin. It was a strange thought. She knew she'd never have kits of her own, and for some reason she never even thought of Finch's. "Why don' y'tell m'about yer brothers and sisters?" She asked quietly, unable to help her want to know more. Her blood. Her kin. Her family. She wondered, did they ever miss her?

[silverfang218]

Unlike Tanglefur thought, Mosskit’s voice immediately quiets down. He may be stupid, but he lives to please; if an adult tells him to do something, he’ll likely try to do it. It’s both a good and a terrible quality. “Sorry. He whispers, not seeming to notice Tangle’s skinny frame nor the fact that the older tom is ghost-like. The kit is more concerned with whether or not his voice brought the moss-monsters down upon him and his new companions.

At Tansysong’s request to tell his dad hi, Mosskit smiles up at her. “I will.” He promises, though he keeps his voice quiet. He thinks nothing of it when she asks after his family, and he starts to talk quietly about his siblings, uncles, and aunts. “Well, one of my brothers is named Silverkit, after the medicine cat. Silverkit is really nice like Silverfang. Then there’s Cinderkit. He’s a lot smarter than I am.” They are probably all a lot smarter than Mosskit, but Moss confuses caution with wisdom sometimes. “My sister is Cloverkit. She’s really quiet. I have a bunch of aunts and uncles too. I only have one older aunt- the Tansywarrior- but a bunch of aunts and uncles are my age too!” He still hasn’t made the Tansysong and Aunt Tansy connection, and at this point, he probably isn’t going to. “Firekit and Frostkit are the leaders of the bunch. Firekit is always getting me into trouble, but he’s nice enough. He just don’t like being cooped up. Frostkit is just a troublemaker. She’s also kinda weird; all my aunts and uncles are black cats except for her. She’s white, and no one knows why. Then there’s Minnowkit. She’s really serious. Ashkit is pretty solitary, but Firekit and Frostkit can sometimes drag her into trouble too. Icekit is really detached. He doesn’t seem to like any of us but grandma Nightfur, who is his mom.” He explains all about their family, perfectly happy to tell Tansysong and Tanglefur everything. He doesn’t suspect a thing.

[GnawingOnIce]

Tanglefur listened as Mosskit told Tansysong about his siblings, aunts, and uncles. Mosskit spoke so fondly of them, it almost made Tanglefur regret what he had done even more. At least he'd fade away soon, that way all his wrong-doings could fade away with him. Or that's what he hoped, anyway. He glanced over at Tansysong, who was listening with interest. It made him wonder, he knew she had a brother, was this his kit? It was possible. Tangle's amber eyes quickly glanced around, checking to see if anyone was watching them, which, luckily no one was.