[sor] i'm not okay {I PROMISE}

[trau]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,288,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/20r0ec1.jpg,true] At first, he had been enough of a threat to put in a cage. He had been reckless and wild and fearless, and he had been mentally tortured by his own guilt; it had made him unstable and, though a little bit of a pathetic sight to see, he had still been a force to be reckoned with. He had fit the true, terrible image of a member of the Iris Pride, Florence's army. His eyes had been sharp like knives of steel; his fangs had been razor-like; his paws had been stained with the blood of innocents; his fur had been stained with the ashes of destruction. He had been free, and somehow only now had he begun to realize it. Now that his sight was gone, his teeth were dull, his paws were raw, and his fur was matted and dull. Jinxerbee had begun to realize how great his life had been before he changed sides - at least, he thought that's what he had realized. Back when he'd been part of the Pride, he had been able to come and go as he pleased. He could pick fights among the members of Iris and, as long as he didn't kill them or permanently damage them, he could get away with it. He could kill whatever and whoever he wanted, and he could eat all the damn time, and he could drink 'til he pissed himself... He could bask in the sunshine or sit in the moonlight and just watch people. He had been witty and quick and stubborn, and even though he had been a bit of a prick and a pariah, he was less so than he was now. He didn't really believe that he was better off in the Pride, though... he knew he wasn't. Outside of the Pride, he'd found love and friendship and acceptance and peace. Really, his only mistake that he'd ever made was running away - or was it coming back? It didn't really matter, because either way, life had gone downhill for him. Sure, he'd lost one eye when he'd first gone against the Pride, but now he had no eyes to work with because he'd been a complete dipshit and turned himself in to Florence. He was really luck that all she'd really done was beat him around like a rug, tear up his ears, crack a couple ribs, fray his claws, and destroy his other working eye. At first, that had been pretty devastating, but hey, he'd been trapped in a tiny box of a room - in which he'd managed to get so pissed that he sprained his own hind leg - so what did it matter? Unfortunately, with him now pretty helpless - being blind and all - they felt it would be safe to put him in the main room inside the fenced-in stalls. They were - presumably - built like a very tall picket-fence type thing; it had horizontal and vertical posts. The horizontal posts were close enough together that Jinxer couldn't squeeze through, and the vertical posts went high enough that he couldn't tell how tall it was using his senses or if he could even jump out at all. He could put his leg through and attack anything that passed by, so they'd learned to keep a far enough distance from his enclosure. A lot of feline scum liked to kick dust and rocks at him and tease and taunt him just to watch him race, flail, and panic around his cage. It was a terrible life... but it was the life he had chosen. It was odd to be the one on the other side of the cage, the one being tortured. Jinxer wasn't sure how long it had been since Florence had assaulted him - at least four months, if not more. He'd heard rumors in the slaughterhouse of Florence's death, but he knew nothing. Panja was nearly as twisted as her - he had to be if he could find the love of his life in that evil bitch. Still, the snow leopard was on the outs now. He hated not knowing the truth. Oh, to think he used to be on top of the world and now had to shit and piss within ten feet of where he slept and ate. The feline's fur was matted and dusty against his skin. He couldn't see what he looked like, so what did he care about cleaning it? His coat was slowly losing its color, turning a bit gray, but his rosettes and spots were as black as ever. All around his body were cuts and scars of some sort, some recent from frequent prodding and teasing and others old, and some - the ones from Florence - were still a bit pink, but they were healed. The snow leopard wandered slowly around his cage, his ears on high alert; if he didn't listen, he'd never know if anyone was coming to tease him. A short while ago, some cubs had strolled through and poked at him while he was asleep. Stupid little bastard brats... well, he was wide awake now, and he wanted something to kill - or just to eat, for that matter. He was starving. He'd even dare to go back to eating canine if it meant he could get something to eat... He almost felt sick for saying that, but damn it, he was hungry. He began to mutter inaudibly to himself about how hungry he was, but the words barely left his lips as more than a whisper. He stumbled over a dip in the earth and planted his face in the dirt before staggering to his feet, dazed. Being blind was a total bitch.

[sorcerer]

The sun was setting, turning the dead trees and tall stalky grass into orange-and-black figures, half-real, half-painted. Spring scented the chill breeze that blew over her. Flurry felt like it was right over the horizon, about to be blown in with the clouds.
The orange cat trotted through the evening light, cheerful, stinking of sewer water, and not in the least concerned about where she was. Flurry was exploring, as she always did, looking for interesting things to do. She'd entered Iris territoy not an hour before with the intention of seeing what, exactly, was so great about the place. Granted their leader, the lion, whatever her name was, had died recently..then again, so had her own king back in Lexis, or at least a person who was supposed to be her liege lord. She couldn't care less. The whole pack and tribe and pride thing was, hmm, constraining. Yes, that was the word.
After all, Flurry would never have done anything in life if she payed attention to that kind of thing. She wouldn't have ever met Montgomery, or seen the far mountains, or gone swimming in the shining waterfall south of Lexis territory. So boring and silly, this whole boundary thing. She was perfectly willing to ignore that it even existed and go where she liked.
Not, of course, that she was dumb about it. She remembered what happened to Quincy. Flurry still stuck to the shadows in the dusk, and made sure she stank of anything other than her own family, and avoided everyone else around her. She was here to see the territory, not to hang out with its members.
As the night went on, she started to get hungry, and that was probably why she got into the mess she did. Flurry of course wandered into a strange, dark building, the ideal place to find a mouse or a snake or a bat, even, and started prowling around thoughtfully.

Even in the inky dark, with the sun not showing through the building's high windows, Flurry could tell there were mice everywhere in here. She could hear them scrabbling around in the blackness. The small cat stalked toward one of the noises, eyes wide in hopes of catching a glimpse of the creature. She could see absolutely nothing, but it was certainly right in front of her, and unaware of her presence..probably because she, like this whole building, reeked of sewer water.
She crouched, muscles tense, ready to pounce on the source of the noise. Suddenly the room flooded with dark-orange light; Flurry leapt, caught the mouse with a paw on its tail, and a second later broke the small creature's neck.
Only then did it occur to her that the sun had probably, for a few minutes, sunk just low enough to come in through the windows. Also, she noticed, there was a large white animal in the room. A nasty feeling crawled from her stomach area down to her paws and made all her fur stand on end sharply.
Shit, now she was in trouble.
Might as well make the best of it.

The small cat picked up the mouse and turned her head, with some brief consideration that it might be her imagination, or a ghost, or a trick of the light. She blinked. The animal was still there. It seemed to be some kind of large feline, and was in a.. a box, she guessed, with a door. The light made his pale fur look almost red. Him, she thought, yes. But how he hadn't seen her yet she wasn't sure..
She moved slowly, nervously, closer to the door, being as quiet as she knew how. He never turned his head. He was blind? Apparently. But why he was here in a trap inside Iris territory she didn't know, and possibly didn't need to find out. Flurry, for the first time in her life, decided to make the smart decision and creep out again, just in case.
He was muttering though, about how he was hungry. The orange cat twitched, a bit guiltily, and thought about her dead mouse, and wrestled with her conscience over whether it was better to Give To The Hungry or to Live To Fight Another Day. Presently, the former won out. She crept forward, dropped the mouse on the ground just underneath the door, and quickly scooted back to a safe distance.
After all, this person was obviously a Dangerous Crimernal, else he wouldn't be caught here.

[trau]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,288,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/20r0ec1.jpg,true] It was strange being all alone in this room, being unable to tell how big it was or where exactly he was or what was going on around him. If only the snow leopard had been paying attention all those months ago when those son-of-a-bitch felines had been dragging him through here to his other little cage, maybe he'd remember what this place looked like and how high the fence was, but he hadn't. He'd been too busy writhing and yowling and protesting for all he was worth to notice where they were dragging him. Having only one good eye at the time also kind of limited what he could and couldn't see - having no eyes now made it impossible. Oh, well. He'd signed up for this, and they'd been eager to give it to him. The snow leopard remembered back to when he'd been part of Iris. He really had been a cruel bastard. Trapping a pregnant bitch in a church and threatening to kill and eat her babies had by far been his worst act of violence. Still, he'd known so much back then. He'd been a headstrong, cocky little fuck, and he'd been able to get out of most situations... well, not unscathed, but not dead, and that was good. At least, it should've been good, but if he'd died at one of those times, maybe he wouldn't be in trouble right now. Oh, well. It was his choice to be a dumbass and get himself tortured. For his love of Pongo, was maiming himself worth it? Would that canine have wanted this for him? He doubted it, but it was too late now. The snow leopard let out a smile sigh as he continued to mutter to himself. He knew that by doing that he was beginning to deteriorate and admit defeat. When the prisoner started talking to themselves, it meant that their stability and fight was slowly draining out of them... Jinxerbee didn't want to admit that maybe - possibly - the fire in his belly was dying out with each passing day. Being unable to see was killing him quicker than any wound he could get was. He could feel the sun as it peered through what he assumed was a window; it was warm against his matted, speckled fur. He wanted to be able to see the sunshine - even that feeling of blindness when one accidentally looked at the sun was missed. The feline raised his head to stare in the direction of the sun, but only blackness met his warm face. There was suddenly a sound - a muffled sort of sound - moving through the air of the strange prison place. Now, that wasn't exactly uncommon - after all, there were mice that skittered through the dust and dirt and played in the scraps of what prisoners dropped (though they tended to stay away from cages of prisoners) - but the sound was different, made by something bigger than just a mouse. Immediately Jinxerbee stopped his pacing, the unclean fur of his shoulders bristling up a bit as he swung his blind head around, trying to find the source. Something moved close to his cage, and a tiny thump in the dirt made the edgy feline spring up and leap to that location. The feline hit the wall with such force that a furious and pained yowl tore from his lips; regardless of the fact that he'd just leaped much too far and rammed his own face into the gate, he managed to recover to reach his one paw out and thrash his claws desperately through the air, trying to get a hold of something or someone. As the seconds went on, his flailing became less desperate and he managed to rasp as his paw finally went still on the outside of the gate, "Who's there?" After a moment, he pulled his paw back in and staggered back, falling back onto his haunches with a shuddering sigh. "You should talk... I already think I'm crazy. I don't want confirmation."

[sorcerer]

He had, as she'd expected, tried to attack her. Fortunately Flurry had stayed pretty far out of his way. She watched the cat claw at the door of the box he was in and frowned unhappily, wondering to herself how he'd managed to get in there anyway. Doubtless this white feline was a prisoner or something, but why another cat - be he ever so large - was a prisoner of Iris she didn't know. From the looks of it and his speed in reaction he'd been a great warrior at some point. Flurry wasn't sure what he'd done to merit being shut in a wooden box. He had various scars, some of them apparently newer than others, and seemed to be completely blind, but otherwise..
Otherwise, there was no obvious reason for him to be here. She stared, watching him flail around and finally collapse. Why?..
And should, if he was crazy, as he said, she even give him her name? What it he was like an insane assassin and he was shut in the box until he went out to murder people? Flurry definitely didn't want him finding out about her family, or Ontario, and if he was to discover what went on between herself and Montgomery..
The orange cat shivered at the idea and stared at the prisoner, half wanting to leave, half fascinated by the situation. This was definitely a first for her.
She twitched her ears, listening to the other animal rasp another inquiry as to who she was. Probably it was better not to tell him, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for the other feline, and..

"My name's Quincy," she heard herself say, voice unreasonably cheery. "I am a leapord..cat." A pair of lies, but how was he to know how big or small she was? He was blind, after all. If she could persuade him that she was a very small version of the giant, fearsome leapords she'd seen before, he might not try to kill her. Again. Either way, she would stay away from the box, where he couldn't get to her. Although she couldn't help but wonder why it was that he hadn't jumped out..the box's walls were not so high that it would be impossible.
But then, being blind, maybe he just didn't know. Flurry had no desire to break the news to him. He might be hungry enough to eat cats, even if she told ever so many lies about her size and name and where she was from. At least he wouldn't be able to track her back to her family in Lexis. Quincy had been dead for so long that the likelihood of anyone outside her own siblings and parents knowing the name was slim to none.

She searched around for a good excuse as to why she was here. Flurry didn't intend to tell him she was in Iris, as all he had to do was ask a few questions and it would be obvious that she was lying. But then, there was the group of cats, the little kingdom that Jake lived in, that she'd met last summer on her trip..and yes, she had disliked Jake by the end of their friendship, but it was as good a story as any.
"I am a traveler from the lands of the Ferilax. I come in search of riches."
The Ferilax had been rather overinterested in gold and silver and things, for reasons Flurry had not been able to fathom..they were shiny and pretty, but not very useful. That, of course, was one of the reasons she had finally left, even though Jake wanted her to be a princess and all that. She took heart from the memory anyway, and continued fabricating her story, hoping that at least some of it would ring true. After all, there was no way that the blind cat would be able to tell if she was lying or not.
"This 'Iris Pride' had no gold or silver, and so I am going to speak to other leaders of this city, as a representative of the Prince..are you okay?"
She noticed, suddenly, that the other cat seemed like he might fall over at any point. As Flurry was rather enjoying her storytelling, she would rather he didn't, so that she could continue telling huge whoppers about where she came from and who she was. It was rather fun. She might do this again..see if Monty would believe any of it..yes. That would be funny.
"There is a mouse there, in front of the door.."
Not that a mouse would help him much, as large as he was, but Flurry supposed it was the thought that counted more than anything.

[trau]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=height,288,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/20r0ec1.jpg,true] The only sound to meet the scarred ears of the gaunt feline covered in thick white fur was the sound of his pleading demand ringing through the enclosure. Now leaning back on his hindquarters, Jinxerbee's trembling paws braced him upright as well as he could manage; his claws were digging into the earth to hold him there. He could feel his nose throbbing from ramming into the gate, but it didn't matter. His ears were still perked up, searching for a response - anything, even just a breath. He couldn't have gone this crazy so fast, could he? Rikki had held most of her sanity for endless months, even after all that they put her through... Jinxer feared that he really had just tried to attack nothing; for what seemed like ages, his question went unanswered. Had it been a guard of the prison who'd come just to check in and see that he was alive? Unlikely... They would have laughed and mocked him for his stupidity. After a moment longer, he was almost convinced that he had leaped for nothing, but finally a voice came from the blackness that was the snow leopard's world. It was a bold, chipper, and ridiculously obnoxious voice that mewed out, "My name's Quincy." Jinxerbee felt himself relax a little. "I am a leopard... cat." Jinxer echoed softly, looking relieved, "Quincy." There was a peculiar moment of hesitation between leopard and cat. Perhaps she had a stutter, or perhaps he'd just surprised her. He thought little of it. The little leopard cat, Quincy, was quiet for a moment, but then she began to explain her reasonings for happening upon this place. "I am a traveler from the lands of the Ferilax. I come in search of riches." The feline's face twisted a bit, his nose wrinkling in faint disbelief. He'd never even heard of the Ferilax or whatever it was that she had said. Then again, there had to be cities outside of Hexasol, right? Jinxer had never been past the mountains, but he had seen the peaks of other skyscrapers, all starting to turn into ruin from lack of maintenance which the humans had provided. But what on earth was Ferilax? The leopard didn't understand; Quincy added, "This 'Iris Pride' had no gold or silver, and so I am going to speak to other leaders of this city, as a representative of the Prince... Are you okay?" He hadn't consciously noticed it, but his body had swayed a bit a few moments before, and he had flexed his claws, righting himself again as he took in a sharp breath. Jinxerbee laughed a bit, adding, "Nah, I'm not okay. But that's alright. You said you were looking for silver? Funny, the house I used to live in had a lot of it..." The snow leopard jutted his chin straight up in the air, exposing his neck; along with several scars revealed now that the skin was flaring, something shimmering caught the sunlight. In a low, rumbling voice, Jinxer said, "I've got a piece of home with me. Had this collar since I was a cub... Can't get it off for the life of me." The diamond-studded silver chain was tight against his neck, but not tight to the point of suffocation. It was merely a permanent reminder that he was a prisoner - to the Pride, to love, to memories, and to life. He barely remembered them now, but his owners had been kind enough. With that said, he let his head fall down against his chest, trying to blink the scarred and scourged eyes; they couldn't so much as move anymore. He was extremely grateful that they had merely scabbed over, scarred, and healed than gotten infected and become even more brutally damaging, but he was still angry that his sight was gone. He used to be a grand hunter... now he could barely find his own pathetic nest. Quincy told him, her voice showing a bit of concern, "There is a mouse there - in front of the door." "Did you catch it?" Jinxerbee asked. "Is that the sound I heard earlier?" He didn't wait long for the answer; he let his front half slide down to the floor, his chest against it, and then he began to push himself with his hind legs, front paws reaching out in front of him to find the snack which the leopard cat had informed him of. After a few moments of pathetic scrambling, he felt something warm, soft, and small against one of his paws. He hooked it with his claws and dragged it towards his face. Sure enough, it was a mouse. He ate it up quickly and greedily, crunching the bones between his jaws just to take every bit of nourishment. When at last it was chewed to a pulp, he swallowed; the fur was clinging to his tongue and lips, but it didn't matter. Jinxerbee, still on his belly, looked up, trying to find the location of the leopard cat. He asked, his voice a bit distant, "What color eyes do you have, Quincy?" He continued to gaze around blindly. It was strange to not be able to tell anything about anyone. "Do you have a long tail? I remember once upon a time, I met a leopard cat whose tail got bobbed because it had a kink in it when he was a baby... the humans just cut the rest of it off to keep it from damaging his image. I called him Kink-ass... He didn't like that very much."