"I can still hear you!" the she-cat with stripes the color of flames called out to the blurry black figure who now stood on the opposite side of the twoleg garden. Currently the two were working on finding out the limits of her abilities before they focused on improving her control over them. "Try moving back another fox length."
Alright. Her companion having come to terms with the she-cat's strange ability, was more than eager to speak to her through the mental connection shared between their two minds. Taking a couple of more steps back, he stopped upon reaching the silver meshed fence that marked the end of Ink's yard and the beginning of another. That's when silence befell upon Wisppaw. "I can't hear them… Ink I can't hear you!" For the first time since her powers resurfaced, her mind heard only her own thoughts.
"So your limit is two fox lengths," the black blob mused aloud before walking back into her range. Do you think that's the case on all sides? Is it an even circle or do you think it might be like an oval or some other shape?
"I don't know…" it was an excellent question, and one she had no answer for. Honestly, she had no clue about anything when it came to her powers. As a kit, she was more focused on the fact that everyone hated her for being different than actually trying to harness this strange birth defect.
There's so much you need to figure out. Like if you can send your own thoughts to others, or is it limited to just hearing thoughts. Maybe if you worked hard enough to strengthen your own mind, you'd be able to create a barrier to block out others. He lashed his tail in frustration, there was just so much they needed to work out. Wisppaw can't stay here forever, working on improving her control. She had to find this Sandpaw guy and return to the Clans.
"Thanks for your concern, Ink but I'm sure I'll be able to work everything out somehow," of course it would be difficult to train by herself. She wasn't about to go out of her way and tell her Clan about this, not after the first time they rejected her. She didn't exactly wish to go through that suffering all over again.
"Still, you'll be all alone won't you. You aren't going to tell anyone else are you?" Ink let out a sigh before sitting down. If only I could come with her… But I don't want to leave my house folk.
"Oh, hey, hey you're new aren't you!" someone called out from behind, and the Clan cat turned to look up at a kittypet precariously balancing on the fence. She was a large golden-tan blob, which meant she either was impeccably well-fed or she had an incredible amount of fluffy fur. "Where'd you come from?" It's nice to have another she-cat around. I'm sick of being surrounded by obnoxious tom cats.
"Great another cat," another cat jumped up onto the fence, he was a pale ginger blob that seemed to have darker stripes. If she's as loud and obnoxious as Muffin, I'm seriously going to file a complaint to my house folk.
"Ah… I'm from LightClan," she answered, focusing her gaze towards the she-cat whom she presumed to be Muffin.
"LightClan? Oh a Clan cat! I remember we once had a neighbor from a Clan. Oh what was it… Um I think it was DawnClan? No maybe StreamClan? FrogClan? It was a while ago so I can't quite remember! Anyways, he never really spoke to much. He was so stoic and unfriendly. Are all Clan cats like that? Oh I sure hope you aren't! I've been dying to have another cat to talk to. I mean Ink isn't too bad, he's super friendly, but I can't go ahead and talk about she-cat things with a tom, now can I," the kittypet talked as soon as her thoughts flitted into her mind, a constant and nonstop chatter that almost gave Wisppaw a headache.
Will she ever shut up? I'm so sick of this. The unfriendly tabby beside her let out an annoyed snort. "Hey Muffin, maybe you should give her a chance to talk. Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?"
"Ah! You're right! Sorry about that. Wow you know what, I don't even know your name now do I? So what is it? It's probably super strange isn't it. That Clan cat from before had a strange name too. I think it was Shardclaw or something? I wonder if he was all grumpy because he was given such a name. I mean I wouldn't want a name like, that's for sure. Ah I hope I'm not insulting you or-" she was abruptly cut off when the ginger tabby slapped his tail across her muzzle.
"Go on, what's your name?" he meowed while sending a sharp glare at Muffin to ensure she stayed quiet.
"My name is Wisppaw…" she shifted slightly, mind still reeling from the constant chatter from the fluffy kittypet. "What's yours?"
"This is Muffin," she looked about ready to open her mouth to let out a steady stream of pointless chatter but she was silenced by a quick glare from her companion. "And my name is Tabby."
"Nice to meet you," she dipped her head in greeting while trying to ignore Muffin's loud thoughts. She's so loud, probably the loudest Wisppaw had ever met.
"Say, say can I ask you about Clan life? Oh I'm just so curious! Shardclaw would never answer any of my questions, it's a miracle I even managed to figure out his now. So please tell me everything you can. Like do you live with twolegs? I guess you don't, since you're so scrawny. No twoleg would let their cat end up looking like you. So if you don't live with twolegs, where do you live? What's the place like? How do you survive during winter? What's the reason for giving yourselves such strange names? Do you ever fight with each other? Do you give each other ranks? Like do you have a leader or what?"
"W-wait please, you're asking questions way to fast!" she was already feeling stressed just from listening to the golden-tan kittypet. "Why don't you come down and I'll try to answer your questions the best I can."
The two blobs leapt down from the fence to sit in front of their new neighbor. Muffin was clearly excited to learn everything she could while Tabby kept an air of coolness about him, although from his thoughts he seemed just as interested in Clan life as Muffin. "You're correct about us not living with twolegs, we depend fully on ourselves. We live far away from any twoleg civilization, in a forest which is bordered by a fierce and wild river. The trees reach high into the sky, giving us shelter from the intense sunlight as well as from the rain or snow…" she trailed off, unsure as to what the kittypet had meant by the next question. What was this winter she talked of? Looking towards Ink for help, he silently answer.
Winter is a season. It's the coldest out of the four. It's probably called something completely different in the Clan's, right?
Ah, winter must be leaf bare. Nodding her understanding, she continued. "During the winter, our Clan suffers a lot but we still manage to survive. We've learned of ways to lure our prey out of their burrows and on occasion, when the river isn't frozen over, some warriors are willing to try fishing. As for why we go by the names we do… Long story short, our ancestors were saved by a cat with a name much like what we go by now. In order to thank this strange, we began to use names much like his. Our Clan mates never physically fight each other, although we do get into verbal arguments many times. However we do fight against the vicious thief Clans, who prey on weak Clans and steal their kits away from them. Of course only a few are willing to travel far distances to fight these Clans, they are known as Rescuers. We also have cats willing to leave in search of these Clans, for there's no way we'd find them if we never went out to search. They are known as Searchers. Then there's those who are willing to risk their own lives to infiltrate the Clans in order to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. They are known as Spies. Lastly we have the Warriors, they stay behind to protect and guard those who stay behind in the camp. They hunt for the queens and the kits as well as chase away any predators who dare threaten our Clan. Of course we have a leader, the one who ensures that everyone is following our code. Our leader is the one who issues commands and sends cats out on missions. No one is permitted to leave the territory without our leader's say so."
"So why are you here? Are you on a mission or something?" Tabby intense gaze drilled relentlessly into Wisppaw, he clearly wanted an answer.
"Well um…" she shifted slightly, not wanting to explain the exact reason. "I fell into the river and… I ended up here, wherever here is," separated from her Clan and completely lost. It made her stomach churn from worry. Would she ever manage to get back? Or was she destined to never return to LightClan?