you can only run so far ~ [open rogue/loner]

[ambird]

The brown tabby had been wandering around, looking for a place to call home. Well, for however long he could. This tom didn't have the best way with keeping things for long. All he need remember was the last cat he had befriended. How had they ended? Flattened on the ground, killed by one of those monster's. Or whatever the dung those Clans called them. She'd been a great cat. Kind-hearted, wouldn't heart a fly. Then what had he gone and done? Saved her from some two-legs, her friends hadn't been able to escape. She had wanted to go out of this life with them. And what had he done? Saved her. Then when they got by the two-leg Thunderpath....she ran onto the Thunderpath when a monster had gone by...and there her lifeless, massacred body lay. Back when he was John..after that...he'd felt guilty. Out of fear, he changed his name and moved on. Just like he always did.

Currently he was by some older looking structure. Looking inhabited though. Wonderful. If the locals were friendly, perhaps he would pay a visit. Or, not. Death followed him like more of a stalker than an acquaintance. He never trialed for his life, oh no, he always took those who had befriended Smith. Sure, Death could try for him, but he'd always end up taking a friend. If Smith could replace his soul for all of the lives he had killed...Granted, if an upper power did exist, Smith definitely wouldn't be headed anywhere good. Or at least, that's what he'd told himself. His friends...people who trusted him spoke of him in a better light. He had to disagree at times. That's why he played the cards he did. A hidden truth. One he hid from himself, running and hiding. All he ever did. Being a general dork was being himself, but he knew the cost of befriending anyone.

But he was Smith. No cat would die under his watch. Not again. He was no longer John, he was reborn as Smith. Different personality. Different story. Never the same old same old. Couldn't let that happen. He'd made his enemies, a few Dakes always seemed to come out of the ruts. Or, more along the lines of descendants who went off found out what he'd done and decided for revenge. What an ugly thing. Trouble is, Smith had taken a liking to getting back at those he thought deserved it. Back when he started forever ago(or so it seemed) he hadn't been out to get back at others. Only to bring justice through whatever peaceful means he could. Not this. What he'd become...it scared him a bit. No, not just "a bit". It truly frightened him. Smith could only go on for so long without his past coming back at him and getting it's revenge ten-fold. Which might just mean death. He didn't doubt for a second he deserved something along the lines of that.

Smith had gotten closer to the old place then he realized, and decided the best approach was the direct one. This hadn't caused him grief before. Of course not. He let his snide remark past and called out to the entrance of the place. "Ello! Anybody care to come out and greet me properly? Or would you rather I supply the prey and we chat and eat? Know someone's in there!" he said cheerily as ever. Smith may know he might just have been the very meaning of destruction, but that didn't darken his general outlook on life. He was Smith. He saved cats. Sure, he had his weird habits. Who didn't? Quirks made a cat. Without them, you were just another dull-what's-his-face. Who wanted to remembered as that stick-in-the-mud cat who was only vaguely remembered as exactly that? Not Smith. And, he had made quite a name for himself. One thing someone like him did was laugh in the face of danger. A strange place? Looking to be dark and looming. Obviously had to see what all the raucous was about. Or it was simply the lighting. That first option sounded so much cooler.

Either way, he was going to see all he could see in his life. What was the use of four legs, teeth and claws if you didn't go out and use them? Exploration was what you could call his "hobby". Or a life-style. Your pick. He liked studying habits of cats and other creatures. Which meant he got into plenty of sticky situations. Like that one group of cannibals. Oh, now that had been the weirdest full moon of his life. Organ stealing cats attempting to use him to bring back their gods. Or something of the kind. There had been that other time, as well. He was by a body of water and these cats believed that gills could be grown from cats. If you were drowned in water first at sunrise of the last day of leaf-bare. Let's just say no cats gained the ability to breath underwater. And he had to stop a loony mother from drowning her kit. They'd all seemed extremely mouse-brained. He'd left them, fooling them into believing that the water was tainted and it would do no good. Well, they'd stopped drowning cats. They weren't the sharpest thistles in the nestle patch. That aside, these cats, whoever they were, would perhaps be a bit less crazy and more sane.

[Pyro]

What a wonderful day. The sun was shining, irritatingly bright. The birds were squawking their precious little heads off. And of course, on this most glorious of glorious days that old injury to her leg was acting up. Roulette's limp was more pronounced than usual as she tidied up the store of herbs she kept in a small corner of the barn, and she indulged in more than a few poppy seeds as a result. It didn't put much of a dent in her supply of that particular herb, though. She liked to make sure she had buttloads of poppy seeds just in case some screaming ninny came to to call. Healing was so much easier when the patient was out cold. She didn't expect to see any newcomers today, just the normal hypochondriac ground, and as such she fancied being absent from her place of business. Roulette was in no mood to deal with the wails and moans of cats who needed rest and a boot to the head, not serious medical treatment. But of course, if she wasn't there, the idiots would just come and find her. As if it was her life's duty to attend to every cat but herself. Maybe she'd just try to sleep instead. Sometimes, if she was lucky, a cat would be too polite to wake her and just go away. Seek that airhead Eros, wherever he might roam. Just as she was laying her head down though, a voice ripped through the silence of the barn. Roulette opened an eye with a hiss of annoyance. The voice was needlessly cheery, and new. HOWEVER. It had offered free food. So, she was predisposed to not claw his face off. At least, not yet. The she-cat rose stiffly and walked over to Smith, not quite able to replace the irritated look on her face with a smile. "Didn't your mother ever teach you the values of an inside voice?" She came closer, appraising him over with orange eyes. The tom had certainly seen better days, but he didn't seem like the type that came around asking for a healing. She surmised that he must be one of the many rogues and loners that came to rest at the ranch before going on with their lives. Roulette sat before him, her expression slightly more pleasant now that she'd had a look at him. With luck, the loudmouth wouldn't be sticking around. "I hope you plan on introducing yourself. Or will you have me call you whatever I deem fit?" [bg=000000][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

OOC: Poor Smith. Loki is anything but sane. XD Not to mention the world's biggest bi flirt.

BIC: The lanky siamese simply adored company. Especially attractive company. He sniffed the air, delighting in the scents of two mysterious kitties nearby. What were they like? He wondered as he delicately picked his way through the tall grass, big blue eyes staring in what would be an innocent way - if Loki could ever be innocent.

He emerged with flair (or so he imagined) beaming at the pair of them, his long, thin tail twitching as he sashayed over. "Well aren't you just the most delightful feline specimens I've seen in a while!" He meowed, grinning hugely. The freakish smile only increased in width when the tom mentioned food, and Loki licked his lips; he hadn't eaten since yesterday. He could hunt for himself fine, but hey, why not take free stuff?

He sidled up next to the tom, purring in his most seductive way. "Why, I would simply to share some prey."

The lilac-point's expression faltered as a strange black she-cat came out as well. She seemed a bit less friendly...but maybe she just needed some good old-fashioned welcoming, Loki style!

"Well, you can call me whatever you like, but I know I would call you gorgeous. However, if you graciousness seeks to honor me by speaking to me, I may be called Loki." Then he turned his attention back to the tom (who he was within only a few pawlengths of) and mewed, "And what's your name, o generous one?"

How delightful. The siamese purred. Perhaps this day wouldn't be boring, after all.

OOC: I've forgotten how much I love playing him. XD

[ambird]

Smith looked to the she-cat, a look of curiosity on his face. "Never met her, actually. Either way, you can call me Smith, for now." he said glancing closer at the black cat. For all intensive purposes, he was going to assume he'd disturbed her in one way or another. Either it was the look on her face, or the fact she looked like she had just gotten out of a heap...whatever she slept. Or, that was what her was always looked like. Which brought the question, did her face freeze up like that from being a grump? Or was it hereditary? Was grump-cat look hereditary? Perhaps he was looking at this from the wrong angle. There were obviously other cats around here, as the she-cat's eyes shown through to the fact she hated to be bothered. And if she'd been bothered before, that meant others were around. What were they like?

He got his question slightly answered when a Siamese tom padded towards the duo. He was....interesting, to say the least. Smith wasn't sure he knew the meaning of personal space, but he let that slide. From the way he sashayed, Smith at first assumed he had a thing for this black cat. But, then he realized the two didn't seem to know each other. The tom just was being a flirtatious kind of cat. Except, then Smith realized that the flirting didn't stop only at....he hadn't caught her name, had he? Well, the Siamese seemed to go both ways, if you knew what he meant. Well, he'd seen kits sacrificed to the ocean itself, so how weird could that be? Well, now that he was doing being a bit formal, he'd like to know who these two were.

"You two know my name, now how about I learn about you two?" he said, looking from one to the other.

Smith, being the curious bugger he was, was also curious as to what else lay beyond this refuge. Sniffing around momentarily, he realized that there must be a sort of marked off area that each cat had. Odd. This was the first time he encountered single cats claiming certain amount of territory. Why would they have to? Unless there were others in this game. But to have a substantial amount of land? Was it a group similar to the Gallies? Or crazy cultist? Well....there wasn't much of a difference there. Well, he meant crazy cats who needed to reevaluate their lives. Or were these cats just outcasts in general?

"Why do you stay close to this ranch?" he asked, not waiting for the whole name thing. His ideas went faster then his mouth at times. More like most of the time.

[Piewonder]

SHIKA

Shika's blue eyes managed to open into a slits at the sound of voices. A small bubble of annoyance filled her chest cavity as she was stirred from her nap. This was the last place the rogue wanted to be, but the only place she could go while the rains had picked up the previous night. There had only been one other cat in the barn when she took refuge up in the hay loft, but she had used a tree branch to come in through the roof and descend into loft that way. Therefore, no detection.

But, now there were voices. Quite a few, and they were loud. Shika wasn't one for sleeping in, wasn't one for wasting her day, but dam those who woke her before she was ready. Coming to silent paws, the dark brown tabby shook out her fur, laying her tongue on her chest fur to smooth it out. Narrowing her eyes once more, Shika felt a small snarl settle on her feline lips as she peered over the ledge of the loft.

Three.

Three idiotic cats. Well, two she knew of, once being idiotic the other...well the other just her type. The third however, the new comer, she didn't know him. Hadn't heard of his arrival on the streets or in these meadows. The one tom, the flamboyant one if you will, he was entertaining, but already ground against her nerves...the female, she was another story. Twisted, dark, did what she pleased. That, was a cat worth knowing.

Perched on her mark, Shika gazed a the cats below, refusing to interact. Actually, she wanted to see who spotted her first. With no wind circulating in the barn there would be no way for her scent to carry to them. Perfect. Fine by her. These cats looked like mice from here. She could probably kill them just as easy too...

Quivering her whiskers Shika smirked at her dark humor and settled herself down. They were kind of...boring. Tempted to leave through the hole she'd come through, Shika started the motions of moving.

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[Cloudbat]

"Smith..." The siamese repeated, trying out the name in his mouth. "I like it. It's as beautiful as a freshly killed mouse. Which, by the way, are we having some of?" He licked his lips, his rough pink tongue salivating at the thought of his favorite food. Becoming a rogue had been hard - no questions about that - but he certainly didn't miss the food. It hadn't been bad (and it had always been plentiful), but there was no comparison between kittypet chow and the thrill of murdering something small and weak - and crunching on its bones.

Then his face lit up. "Oh, you want to know about little old me? Well, there's not much to tell. I was a kittypet, had something very valuable of mine taken, and decided to wake up and smell the coffee, as Twolegs like to say. Busted out of that hellhole, and moseyed my way over here because of its delightful company." Though memories of his escape were warm and fuzzy, memories of his...neutering...were not. Still, he had friends and food. Loki knew he should be grateful...even if he wasn't a grateful cat in general. Oh, he wasn't ungrateful- it just wasn't something he thought about much.

"Hmm? Well, it's a good place. Food, company as I said, and at least part of a roof over one's head. And lots of excitement, if you know where to look." The lilac-point grinned another one of his wide, toothy grins.

[Ember]

OOC: I'm sorry I have to drop in on this haha

Kink padded through the bushes. Her paw stung as she attempted not to put much weight on it. How she had managed to get a thorn in her foot while asleep, she will never know. She had heard of a cat who handled herbs and healing in a barn, or whatever it was called. As said barn came into view, she could sense cats. Oh great, she thought. Just what I need. More nosy and obnoxious cats to deal with! Kink was, for the most part, a cat who liked to travel alone. When she wasn't a bodyguard she kept to herself. Other cats annoyed her very much, she didn't really appreciate their company.

The bi-colored she-cat entered the barn. She spotted four cats all in group chatting away. From the scents in the air...that's where the herbs were. Oh wonderful, I'm going to have deal with them one way or another. She sighed and padded forward. She spotted a brown she-cat and a black one, standing with them were two toms, a Siamese and brown tabby. She felt her eyebrows become one. What in the world was the Siamese doing?! He was most definitely invading the poor tabby tom's personal bubble. That cat needed a lesson on respecting boundaries for sure. He'd better not come near her, or he'd have a slit in his ear faster than he could say "oops".

She stopped a few tail-lengths away. She cleared her throat and felt all eyes turn to her. She took a deep breath, "I need some herbs. Got a thorn in my pad. If I could just get that handled, I shall be on my way and leave you to your pointless little conversation." Well that was rude and abrupt enough. She should be on her way in no time.

[ambird]

Smith had realized that this Loki fellow had been breaching his personal space. Sure, that did bother him, but this cat obvious wasn't of the "norm", per say. He didn't really care, as of right now, he was fully interested in why these cats were here, and stayed away from distinct markings. The whole hunting thing had basically been a conversation starter, to see what these cats knew. "Hunting? There aren't....others out here, then? Surely beyond that ridge there's bound to be a river of sorts, or a stream, judging by the swell climate," he said, about to continue his way into finding out more until he realized he was probably boring them out of their skulls. A different approach would probably be the best way to get any such information out of them. "Oh, well, look at me, jabbering away. I did promise food, didn't I? Then I suppose we can--" he was about to use the hunt as a bargaining chip before a two-colored cat crept into sight.

"I need some herbs. Got a thorn in my pad. If I could just get that handled, I shall be on my way and leave you to your pointless little conversation."

Well, then. Weren't these cats delightful? Deciding to keep his more snide comments to himself, Smith looked over to the black cat who he had originally seen as he had first made his way to this place. "I'm assuming she'd be referring to you then, ma'am?" he asked the cat, who he realized he hadn't quite caught the name of as of yet. In due time, he would. Smith could always find ways to get the simple things out of cats. Whether it be a bit of their history, name or why they were there. Loki seemed to have been one of the easiest of this lot. No surprise there, it seemed. That cat liked attention, whether it be from a she-cat or not.

Who was he to judge? He himself love to boast, and he was rather good at that. Though he did seem to overcompensate in areas Smith had no need for. After all, being show and conceited was one thing, but being a big mouth was another. Right? Eh, now of all times wasn't a good time to start having a psychological discussion with himself. That was the point when he knew he'd started to get a bit bored. Well, time to do something or another about that.

Instead, he decided to greet the newest visitor from the great deep of the nearby forest. "So, you'd be another semi antisocial of these woods? There aren't others out there, then? Around, say, in groups?" this had surely been his biggest hint so far. Sure, seeing rogues out around was interesting, but he wanted to know why they had to have a designated area. Were the group of cats that vicious? Or were these cats pansies? No....the ones he'd seen so far had been antisocial, and ready to attack at the nearest sound. Perhaps they'd rather be best off alone, with those sort of instincts. Maybe the groups were a bid oddball? A bit like his? Well, if they were, they had do have had mean fighters to keep down-to-earth cats like these away. Down-to-earth? Yes, that may be stretching the truth a bit much. They weren't horribly weird, but they weren't the most "normal" cats he'd ever met. Except, then, those always had been the dull days.

[Cloudbat]

Loki's sensitive nose wrinkled. Ech, did this cat ever bathe her pelt? Or her personality? Because both needed some serious cleaning. He snuggled closer to Smith to cheer up. Mm, he smelled nice. Like a bit of everywhere.

"Hmph. Go talk to your fellow grump, then, Blackie over there like Smith said." His long, angular face pouted at her, his big blue eyes petulant.

Good ol' Smith! He was certainly smooth enough. But Loki's back paws were falling asleep from the position he was in, so he stepped away and stretched out, arching his beige-colored back and flattening his huge ears in a yawn.

Then his ears perked up at his new friend's words. "Groups? You mean the Clan cats or whatever they're called? Yep, they came here a while back - long before I arrived. But some of their missionaries were still hanging around. I considered it, but there's probably some rule where you can only have one mate. That wouldn't suit me at all." He smiled, then licked his paw, eyebrows raising suggestively.

Truth was, no one had been interested for a while. The last one...grah, must have been a moon back now. Pretty little pale gray she-cat, innocent as a kit. Or had been.

He grinned as he remembered her father, huge ugly brick of a tom, chasing after him. Hopefully whatever remained of him was dog dirt in that Twoleg garden. That would teach him to mess with Loki, charmer of all! Charmer of all...hey, that was a good title.

[Pyro]

Smith and Loki, huh? Well, Loki, you can get the hell out of my face before I claw it off. And you'll call me Roulette." Yup. She hated the both of them already. Just look at them, sitting there like a couple of nutjobs trying to chat up a she-cat who was clearly not interested. In fact, she wouldn't be interested, especially in the siamese, if they were the last toms on earth and she the only hope of saving the entirety of catkind. In all honesty, she probably wouldn't want to save catkind even if the circumstances made it easy. What would be in it for her? Why, if all the other cats died she'd finally get a moment of peace. Obviously they weren't dying anytime soon though, because here came another one. She missed the hotel mem- oh. It was a 'patient'. And one that could do with a could foot up the ass too by her attitude. Or maybe she already had one up there, and that was why she thought being rude to the cat who could treat her was a good idea. "You don't need herbs for a thorn. Wouldn't waste them on your smartass self anyway." Roulette snorted. She'd never cease to be amazed by how some cats couldn't get a thorn out on their own. She walked over to examine the stranger's paw, flipping it up roughly with one of her own to snatch the thorn out with her teeth. She opened her mouth to dismiss the she-cat, but Smith's words stopped her. Group of cats? Like the clans? Loki answered his question before she could, so she merely nodded her affirmation. "Don't have to walk to far to find them. Although, I can't say they'd be anymore happy to see you than I am." [bg=000000][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

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