The Long Road Home || Kite and Ailish Private RP

[Kitsani]

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Smelling of smoke and fire, the Siamese set down the searing axe in a bucket of water. The steam rose up instantly, the familiar, satisfying hiss of obedient steel greeting his ears like a melodic song. A song only he could play, him, Kite, probably the most musically-impaired feline in Gewllian. But all that aside, the axe was looking pretty good so far. It was a simpler blade, one he could sell for only a handful of schillings. And yet it’s weight was so soothing in his hands, he passed it back and forth curiously, the weighted hilt balancing out with the giant, curved steel. This was the type of creation that took lives. But the sandy tom wasn’t going to fret about his morals. He was simply doing his job.

And at last, that job seemed to be done. Closing up the shop, the sun was sinking notably lower in the sky. It was beautiful, and smiling to himself, he decided perhaps the scenic route would be a bit more favourable this fine evening. He could take the shortcut home, surely he would have the time? Pushing back his fur with his goggles, tightening his bandages, the Siamese instantly regretted the route the very moment he became too far to get home any other way before dark. If he turned around and took the road, maybe he’d end up being mugged in the shadows of the streets. But if he hurried, he could make it home. He could do it, he just needed to steel himself. It was much easier said than done.

The sunset rimmed everything in gold, including the speckled tail as it swung from side to side with every step the blacksmith took deeper into the woods. This was the fastest route home, and as much as he loathed cutting through anywhere dark and creepy, he knew he needed to toughen up. Feeling the side of one of his bandages, his gentle rubbed his fingers along the hilt of one of his blue twin daggers, the familiar feel of the brass and the cloth a welcome coolness to his sweaty palms. It offered him the faintest twinge of protection and safety. Yet this wasn’t a world where you could just put your life into the trust of somebody or something else. What if something went wrong? What if he got lost? What if it got dark before he arrived home? Kite’s frayed nerves were capable of conjuring up at least a million different ways for him to meet his doom out here… along this golden forest trail, that winded just a little too close to the Witches’ hollow. Closer, perhaps, than Kite realized.

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[carbonflight]

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[atrb=background,http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/195/a/9/apt_back_by_carbonflight-d578smm.png] The sweet sent of the end of summer drifted through the air on a warm, breeze, rustling the leaves above her, but any pleasantness was completely lost on Ailish as she struggled through the forest. The she-cat had been lost for ages, stumbling through the forest since she had decided taking a shortcut to work was a good idea. She cursed herself for being so lightheaded, but that still got her nowhere. Although she couldn't see the sky under the dense canopy of leaves, she could tell by the golden rimming on the leaves that sunset was approaching, and while the woods were pleasant in the day, at night, there were many creatures that could make a meal of a smaller cat, such as herself. She felt a twinge of panic inside her stomach, and began walking much quicker, praying to Grimalkin that she had chosen the right direction. As it began to get darker, the nervousness insider grew quickly, clothing her mind with panic. Her eyes continually darted around, searching for some hidden danger, until she jumped at a leaf falling. After a few moments, Ailish decided she needed to calm down, so she went over to sit by one of the trees. Now, her rational thoughts were slowly being beaten down by nervousness, so the next thing she did was really not the smartest thing she had ever done... Ailish looked at the tree she was sitting by. It was old, practically a stag tree, but all she saw was safety for the night, so she decided to sleep in it. Wood ripped under her claws as she climbed the old, termite infested tree, her body shaking with every noise in the forest. She quickly made her way up to the highest branch where she sat, feeling safe. That is, until she realized the branch was snapping. All of her normal thoughts came rushing back into her head, Of all the trees in the forest, she glared at herself, why this one? She let her body go limp as she fell, having read somewhere that you are less likely to break any bones that way. True enough, she hit the ground with barely a sprang, and rolled down the hill, coming to a stop at a narrow path. Looking over, her eyes brightened at a familiar face, "Kite?" she smiled.

[Kitsani]

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It was as if the sounds being emitted by the surrounding trees were there for the pure and simple reason to scare the daylights out of him. Kite bit his lip, flattening his ears to his skull. All previous eagerness or confidence gone without a trace, it was all the sandy tom could do to continue putting one paw in front of the other. He could hear different rustling and eerie whispers of the wind all around him….where was he? Surely this wasn’t the trail he had taken before.

It was while fretting over this thought that he heard the snap overhead. It had started as a slow creak, but soon, the unmistakable groan of a tree giving way filled his ears like some kind of siren’s song. Taking many paces backwards as quickly as he could without falling down onto his rump, Kite flinched when the branch landed with a loud thud on the ground, and something rolled his way. His icy blue eyes had been squeezed shut, but noticing he was still intact and hadn’t been hurt in the least, he slowly opened them again. He forced his fluttering heart to slow, staring ahead dumbfounded at the rotting branch that had tumbled to the earth. Swallowing as everything seemed to have gone a bit quiet again, it came to Kite as a start when he heard his name. What surprised him even more was that is had come from his feet. No, that couldn’t have been right?

Swiftly looking down, he saw that what had rolled down the hill from the branch was not only a dusty white-furred she-cat, but Ailish. Realizing his mouth had been hanging open in surprise, he snapped it shut quickly. “…Ailish?” Staring down in surprise, he felt his goggles accidentally slid down his face again, landing on his nose and covering his eyes. He didn’t move to sweep the fur that had fallen in his face and push his goggles back up to his forehead where they belonged; he was still in too much shock. He numbly held out a bandage-wrapped paw to the other feline, and he probably would’ve smirked at the déjà-vu of this scenario had he not still been so surprised. “W-what are you doing out here?” he stammered, finally gaining his composure again and used his other paw to push his goggles up again, a bit embarrassed at how messy his fur must’ve seemed when it wasn’t pushed back by the dark blue lenses.

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[carbonflight]

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[atrb=background,http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/195/a/9/apt_back_by_carbonflight-d578smm.png] The she-cat's snow colored cheeks turned red with embarrassment, but she was still unbelievably glad to see Kite. She grasped his hand, grateful for the help, "Thanks," she murmured, blushing a bit more. Her ears twitched as he asked how she had gotten there. "Well, it's a sort of embarrassing story..." she trailed off, remembering she could hardly embarrass herself any more. "I got lost on the way to my shop," she raised her shoulders a bit, playing with her tail, "then I was sort of freaking out, because of all the... you know, noises and such, and somehow thought that climbing up a dead tree was a good idea..." she tried to laugh, but just ended up coughing a bit, nervously. The hoot of an owl caught the young cat's attention, and she looked up; the sun was by now just a sliver over the mountains, "Oh, no," she muttered, her eyes quite wide, "It's getting much to late..." Ailish bit her lip. "You know where we are, right? Are we lost?" her paws twitched nervously, as the world was bathed in the golden light of sunset. A branch broke behind them, making her jump.

[Kitsani]

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The dusty tom managed a slight, crooked smile when Ailish’s ears lowered in embarrassment; he didn’t want her to think that he was the rude type that didn’t really care about others. Often enough Kite would spot arrogant toms strutting into his shop, looking for the largest, flashiest blade…and forgetting that no matter how fancy, everything Kite sold had the same purpose, and got the same job done. When she mentioned that she had gotten lost, he felt his heart sink. So he wasn’t the only one.

As a navigator, Kite never got lost. The stars were always there, they were his guide in the night-time. And in the day? The position of the sun helped him figure out exactly where was where. But the moment he had entered these forests, he knew something was amiss. These dark woods, it was so cluttered. The canopy of the trees overhead blocked the stars, and the horizon was lost among the maze of tree trunks, slowly growing darker until it seemed only blackness lay behind them. To double check, after making sure Ailish was on her feet and okay, he tipped his head back to the sky.

Nothing. Never in his life had Kite felt so utterly alone and confused.

Where was his stars? His guides? His lifeline? If the bluebloods heard of this, would they kick him out? His face flushed with fear. N-no, they were family…they wouldn’t do that to him, would they? Could they? Of course they could. Catching himself as he realized how much stress must’ve been glistening in his icy gaze, the blacksmith swallowed and pushed it back. He wasn’t alone, Ailish was here. Although…he didn’t know her very well, and he hoped he could keep his stammering to a minimum. “U-Us? L-lost?” He echoed quickly. “Of…..of course n-not!” He started padding down the trail; partially to look like he knew what he was doing, and partially because the thought of Ailish noticing his legs trembling slightly made his ears burn. “W-we just have to go this way, since the sun just set over there, making that west. O-Or did the sun set over there….?” He paused, spinning around and flopping down onto the rotted branch that had fallen in their path. The light that had shone in his eyes were long gone. “I-I….I wish I could r-remember things better…” he mumbled, not meeting Ailish’s gaze.

A skilled inventor and a rookie pirate, Kite was supposed to be able to hold his own. He had a journal where he tracked every one of his thoughts on new things, constantly scribbling and filling the pages with his sloppy handwriting. He did this…because he had a god-awful memory. It wasn’t severe enough to be considered anything more than forgetfulness, but it was forgetfulness still. And that didn’t help anyone in this situation. He frowned deeply; he’d normally wallow in self-pity, but he felt like that would only irritate Ailish, and the thought of making others mad frightened him almost as bad as the cracking and creaking of the woods around him. Forcing himself to his feet, he barely managed a nervous smile.

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[carbonflight]

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[atrb=background,http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/195/a/9/apt_back_by_carbonflight-d578smm.png] The she-cat bit her lip. Her friend looked nervous and a bit shaken, but there was something else she could see in his eyes. It wasn't exactly fear, or anything quite like that, but more like worry. Admitedly, that was quite similar to nervousness, but this was a whole different thing. She sat down beside Kite, and patted his back, a bit awkwardly, "Don't worry," she nodded to herself, "It'll be okay." In all honesty, Ailish was worrying her tail off, and not sure whether it would be okay in the slightest, but she wasn't going to let him know that. "Come on," she stood up, extending her paw to him, "I've got some croissants in my bag, I tried to ration them, because I didn't think you'd come along, but now we can eat them as we go." The small white cat took out too pasterys from her bag, that were as large as her head. "I stole them from a human shop," she explained, "the humans really know what they're doing with these." Her mood was just beginning to brighten, when suddenly, she heard the crack of a twig snapping under a foot. The she-cat jumped probably five feet in the air, pulling out her dagger and pointing her dagger around like a maniac. "Who's there?" She shouted, her voice cracking a bit.