A rouge's life;;

[Đarκsong]

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Secret padded through the maze of Twoleg nests. There was the scent of many Twolegs, but most of them were stale. The cold weather made abandon their nests every year during leaf-fall. It was Secret's favorite time of year.

The old tom stopped near a Twoleg nest. It was the oldest and most worn out of all of them. He dug a bit at the ground beside the house to make a passage inside. He crawled in to the pitch black den and turned around, his bright green eyes the only thing visible.

******

Canary had been wandering about with Ghost, trying to find the Twoleg place. They had finally tracked it down. She was quite shaken as she padded around the Twoleg nests, trying to figure out where they should stay.

She turned to Ghost, "Where should we go? It looks as though the Twolegs are leaving here!"

[♫.Starredmyst]

"I -- don't know."

Ghost's voice was bewildered. He'd been shaken by their violent expulsion from Clan land and frightened by their ensuing flight. Now he was shivering slightly from nerves, trying to hide his utter helplessness and failing miserably.

He'd never really felt so lost before. He guessed it was because even if they'd never been accepted anywhere before, they'd never risked death or even a scratch or two in trying to find out. Really, they'd never even confronted another cat before. And now -- now there was nowhere to go but the sea, and that would only lead to their death.

"We..." The tom trailed off, looking around. A plastic bag blew through the empty street, and a lonely monster pulled out a distance away and began to leave its Twolegger's home. They couldn't just stand here; might as well find some food, to begin with. Ghost let his nose lead him.

He found several large blue bins against a particularly run-down-looking den and reared up onto his back paws, scrambling up to look inside of them. The smell was foul, but he was fairly certain what was in there was edible, and his stomach was growling.

"Dinner, Canary," he called with a sort of bitter amusement, leaning his weight forward till the barrel tipped and the garbage fell out. He pawed through the junk until finding a reasonably edible sandwich crust and passed it to his sister. "This nest over here looks empty; we can scrounge around here till, I dunno, something happens, I guess."

[Đarκsong]

Canary kept watch as Ghost tipped the garbage can over. She was shaking from head to tail. The uncertainty of their future weighed heavily on her. Sure, they could hang around here for a while, but they couldn't stay forever. Canary longed for the stability of their old life, but knew that it was gone.

Ghost had passed some sandwich crust to her. She sniffed at it, took a bite, then pushed it towards him, "I'm not hungry...." Her stomach felt like it was in knots.

*****

Secret was startled by the sound of the garbage can being knocked over. He crawled out of his den, glanced around, and scented the air. Other cats? I'm usually the only one around besides kittypets! He thought. The old tom followed the scent curiously.

He spotted the two young cats, scavenging through the garbage for food. He smirked, then padded over closer. "What brings you two here?" He asked. They smelled as though they had been in Ivoryclan, but not strong enough to make Secret believe they were clan cats.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Digging through the trash, Ghost had managed to find the remnants of what looked like a good steak dinner and was gulping it down hungrily, trying to ignore the disgusting scent that made his stomach want to rebel. He cast his sister a worried look when she pushed the crust back to him.

"I'm not hungry...."

"If you're sure," he said anxiously, but left the bit of sandwich where it was in hope that she'd change her mind. He was poking his head back into the garbage to see what other jewels could be found when an unfamiliar cat's voice rang out.

"What brings you two here?"

Ghost jumped and banged his head on the top of the bin. He withdrew his head with a loud curse and spun around to see who was speaking to them, claws unsheathed. He'd been more unnerved by the IvoryClan episode than he was willing to admit.

"Eating," the young tom said cautiously, warily watching the strange ginger cat. His eyes narrowed. "I might ask you the same."

[Đarκsong]

Canary jumped at the sound of the old tom's voice. She took a step closer to Ghost and said, "Yeah, just back off. This place is big enough for all of us."

***

"Why, this is my home." Secret told them, "By the way, it's much better to steal prey than garbage this time of year." He smirked, swatting Canary's discarded bread crust away.

He then padded over to Ghost and said, "I do not mind you two mouse-brained kits staying here as long as you keep out of my way." He then pointed his tail towards the run down Twoleg nest down the street, "My den is there. Just leave me alone, and we'll get along fine." Secret told them, winking a bright green eye.

[♫.Starredmyst]

"By the way, it's much better to steal prey than garbage this time of year."

The words stung, as did the other cat's casual disregard for Canary's bread -- it was some of the best that was in the garbage pile. Ghost willed them not to and flicked his tail, staring insolently into the older cat's eyes. If the tom's words rankled, they were also casual enough for the younger tom to be a little daring. "We're not troublemakers," he answered icily, unwilling to let this stranger know that they didn't know how to hunt, not really.

The unfamiliar cat came closer. Ghost, on studying him, saw that he was fairly old, but in decent shape and confident -- not someone he wanted to pick a fight with. "I do not mind you two mouse-brained kits staying here as long as you keep out of my way. My den is there. Just leave me alone, and we'll get along fine."

"Fine," Ghost answered coldly. "The same goes for us -- leave us be and we'll not trouble you at all."

[Đarκsong]

Secret didn't even listen to Ghost. Their faint Ivoryclan scent intrigued him, and he just had to know what happened, "Did you have a bit of an issue with Ivoryclan?" He questioned, "Horrible bunch. Killed my mother long ago for no good reason...."

*****

Canary's ears twitched at what the old tom said, "What is with them and killing?" She said, desperation in her voice. "It solves nothing."

[♫.Starredmyst]

Ghost hadn't meant to reveal anything about who he was to this arrogant old tom, but between the intrigued question and Canary's desperate words, he found his story spilling out.

"Yes," the white cat said bitterly, "we did. We were in the forest, looking for -- I mean -- look, we were looking for a place to live, all right? And this old she-cat and this tom come up and tell us we're trespassing, and we tell them who we are and they start arguing over us. Finally the tom takes us to that camp and went to find his leader, and the fat" -- he spat out a particularly nasty word he'd learned from a loner cat in the city -- "told him to kill us. So there was a huge fight and the stupid furball told the tom -- Silverstripe, that was his name -- he told Silverstripe if he didn't kill us, he wasn't loyal. So Silverstripe told us to run before he attacked and we ran and we're here -- and -- and dammit we don't know what we can do, we can't hunt, we can't fight, we can barely live on this garbage..."

The young tom took a deep, shuddering breath and got himself under control, looking away. He didn't say anything more, not trusting his voice.

[Đarκsong]

Canary was shocked at first when Ghost told this stranger their story. Then she thought, Well, what harm could it possibly do? It was obvious she didn't know Secret.

*****

"I am not surprised." Secret said with a bit of an angry tone, "Wouldn't you like to get back at them? I can help." He told them, a smug look on his face.

****

Canary was completely bewildered, "Absolutely not. We don't want to attack them, right?" She said, looking to Ghost.

[♫.Starredmyst]

"Wouldn't you like to get back at them?"

"Absolutely not. We don't want to attack them, right?"

Canary was looking at Ghost, and if he was honest, he almost wanted to say no. Say, Yes, let's attack them, and wreak revenge on what they'd just gone through. It had been a moon now and he was on his absolute last legs -- if they didn't find a home now, soon, somewhere, they weren't going to make it through the winter. They might find a place to stay if they gained a reputation -- better, this strange tom might teach them enough to survive before they got their revenge. And the revenge itself -- that was the best part.

But he also knew where his heart lay in terms of right and wrong, and looking at his sister, he couldn't deny that part of himself.

"No," he said heavily. "Thank you, whoever you are, but we don't want revenge. All we want is to live in peace."

[Đarκsong]

Secret was surprised that the young tom shot down his offer, "Well, I offered my help and you don't want it. Don't come crying to me when you have any more problems with thos filthy clan cats!" The old tom growled. He then padded back to his den, tired of the conversation.

*****

"I'm glad he's gone." Canary said, "He freaked me out more than the Ivoryclan cats did." She stood up and glanced down the street, making sure Secret was gone. Her little body shivered as she saw him slip beneath one of the Twoleg nests.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Ghost watched with a sinking heart as the tom walked away. How could he have let this last chance at help slip through his grasp? He was certain he could have gotten the stranger to teach them to hunt and fight and behave the right way, if only he'd accepted the offer of revenge.

"I'm glad he's gone," Canary said, watching the tom go to his den. "He freaked me out more than the Ivoryclan cats did."

Her brother shrugged uncertainly. "He could have helped us, though," he reminded his sister uneasily. "He obviously knows what he's about, if he's stealing prey from IvoryClan. I guess..."

He faltered, looking around, and changed the subject. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? We should look around and hunt out a good place to stay while we're here. A den and everything."

[Đarκsong]

Canary hung her head low. Maybe she shouldn't have turned Secret down. I don't want revenge though, I just want us to be safe. She thought. "There's probably other cats around here." She suggested to Ghost, "Maybe someone else will help us who's less.....creepy." Canary sniffed the air. She didn't smell any nearby besides Secret, but it still smelled like perhaps other cats lived in Twoleg nests nearby.

[♫.Starredmyst]

In spite of himself, Ghost felt his lips twitch. He glanced back to make sure the strange tom was gone, then said with a chuckle, "He was kinda creepy, wasn't he?"

The young tom set off quickly away from the stranger's den, sniffing the air as well. "Like you said before...there's not a lot of twoleggers left. But if IvoryClan's territory is all over there, this has to be where any non-Clan cats live. Or...oh!"

He drew back quickly from the doorstep he'd been approaching. "Twoleggers here. They've got a dog. But this next house too, and -- I think there's cat scent here but it's faint. Can you tell if there's somecat that's still living here?"

[Đarκsong]

Canary jumped right up on the front steps of the twoleg nest. She sniffed at the door. "I think there is a cat still living here.....not sure though." She told Ghost. Canary then reared up onto the door and scratched at it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Secret said, creeping up behind Ghost. He sat down beside the young tom with a smirk on his face.

"Why not?!" Canary hissed, getting annoyed with this creepy tom.

"Nevermind then....it's your funeral..."