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”Hey!” Bluestreak’s ears flattened against his skull at the growl and he turned carefully to look at whoever was about to yell at him now. He was just hungry, he didn’t want anyone’s territory and he wasn’t going to stay he just…
When he saw the other cats, though, none of them were looking at him at all. There were three of them, two with matching black patches and gold or rust markings while the other was black all over with scars over one eye.
Gold and Rust were both bristling at Black, and yowling a challenge.
And then Black charged, claws out and growling like he was ready to tear out eyes and stomachs. Bluestreak shrank down and backed further into the shadow of the dumpster, eyes wide and ears trembling at the other cats fought.
Rust and Gold bit and clawed at Black as Black tried to fight them both, and while they were both getting slashed by his long claws, they were also definitely winning the fight. Black had taken several blows to the head and was bleeding all over the ground, and it looked like maybe Gold had gotten his already injured eye again, too.
And then Rust flipped Black over and went for his stomach, and rather than keep going, Black wiggled free and sprinted out of the alley, dripping blood along the way.
“Fraggin’ coward,” Rust spat.
“Shoulda learned the first time we fragged ‘im up,” Gold hissed. Then he sat down and started grooming one paw.
Rust turned to the dumpster, though, and started approaching. “You okay, kit?”
“Me?” Bluestreak mewed softly.
“Yeah, you.” Rust came closer, close enough to put his nose on Bluestreak’s chest if he wanted to, and sniffed. “Smell okay, not like fraggin’ Tarn. Kinda like a Human?”
“I had a little girl,” Bluestreak mewed again, soft and sad. “But I lost her. She went away in the loud truck and never came back.”
“That’s rough for a kit.” Rust butted his head into Buestreaks’s chest. “But you got me an’ Sun now, and we’ll introduce you to the rest of our clowder. We’ll take care of you.”
“You can’t just adopt every kit that comes along, Sideswipe!” Gold–Sun–yowled.
“Can’t leave ‘em for Tarn, either!” Rust–Sideswipe–headbutted him again. “Come on.”
“Okay.” Bluestreak straightened slowly. “But can we get some food first? I’m so hungry.”
“Yeah! We’ll stop by the deli on the way. The Human there is soft, we can always get food from him.”
-_-_-_-
The Human at the deli had given them enough food that they were all full and there was some left to carry back to the clowder. Bluestreak was nervous about meeting them, especially because Sun and Sideswipe both had said it was big, but maybe they’d be nice since he had food. And if they were nice, maybe he could really sleep for a little while before they made him go.
“Oh, who’s this?” A white cat with rusty points and yellow eyes sat down in front of them when they approached the little tunnel that Sideswipe said would take them to the place where everyone slept. He looked… dangerous, the same way Sun and Sideswipe were, but he was so pretty that you wouldn’t expect it.
“A kit we saved from Tarn,” Sideswipe replied.
The white cat hissed at the other cat’s name. “You kill him this time?”
“He ran like the coward he is,” Sun repelied.
“Figures.” The white cat refocused on Bluestreak. “I’m Drift, hunter and guard.”
“Bluestreak,” Blue replied softly.
“Welcome, Bluestreak.” Drift arched his whiskers forward a bit. “You’re safe here with us.”