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Description

Hailclaw woke up.

He woke up in the dark, not opening his eyes but able to tell because of the lack of light on his eyelids. He woke up and the first thing he did was inhale deeply, taking in the scents of forest and leaves and dew-wet grass and the stale scent of the prey animal he’d partaken of last night. He smelled the moss of his nest, felt it soft against his fur. Felt the blood thrumming through his body, sure and steady with his heartbeat.

He prayed to StarClan that when he opened his eyes, he would see other empty moss nests, and some other stragglers who didn’t have a morning patrol. That Scorchfoot would still be sleeping in the nest beside him to later laugh off the odd dream that Hailclaw had been having. The odd, very real-feeling dream.

He hoped Froststar would be there to take him hunting later with his siblings, and they could have a family bonding time to assure him none of it was real. That he would be able to talk to someone, talk to them and understand and be understood. He longed for the sight of the pines and normal frogs and normal birds that were of regular sizes that would make a tasty meal in themselves.

Hailclaw opened his eyes.

He stifled a cry at what he saw. He was in his comfortable moss nest… in the strangely-perfect hollow of a tree, with a - whatever that clear stuff was called, where he could see out of it but not go through it, like the kittypets had on their twoleg homes. There were divots in the walls’ surfaces for miscellaneous objects, and there were these - these weird thin things, that made up thicker things, full of strange symbols that Hailclaw could not decipher. Other odds and ends that he didn’t get, despite his hosts - or his captors - trying to explain to him. It didn’t help that he didn’t understand any of them, either.

There was a knock on the wooden thing blocking the entrance to his den, and he realized that that was why he had woken in the first place - he had heard it in his sleep. It was a soft but steadfast sound that made his fur bristle.

“Leave me alone,” he growled, his claws extending to dig into his moss nest.

The door opened anyway, and a light brown creature walked in. It was familiar by now but still grotesque to Hailclaw, like parts of different animals had been smushed into one monstrous thing. Pieces of pelt and strange face things hung off of it like it was trying to be a twoleg, and it looked almost like a rat or a mouse or some other rodent, but it had - extra legs. Six legs on a creature - it made Hailclaw feel ill if he looked at it for too long, sometimes. Not to mention the addition of four wings sprouting from its back, one pair significantly smaller than the other, and yet he’d never witnessed this thing fly. Not in all the times it had come to torment him. It was some kind of cursed abomination of nature, and most of the other creatures that Hailclaw had seen here were no better.

It held up one pair of paws in a motion that Hailclaw knew by now was meant to appease but he could only feel was threatening, the unnatural third pair in the middle, and Hailclaw did his best not to retch at the movement. It also made his fur stand up further as he shrank into his nest, knowing he had nowhere to run to.

“Hailclaw,” the thing rasped out in a strange accent, voice not made to speak Hailclaw’s tongue. And this, too, was eerie, and he hated this - the soft gentleness, giving Hailclaw the impression of someone who was a predator in disguise. “Would you like to try to come to lessons today?”

Hailclaw thought of the first time he had tried to come to this thing’s training. How he had been sick from anxiety and fear and disgust. He had not come to any “lessons” after that, because the only thing it taught him was that this world would never be normal, and that it was a fate far worse than the Dark Forest. Hailclaw didn’t know what he had done to deserve this punishment, but he prayed every morning, every afternoon, every night, asking StarClan to take him back home. Or maybe he had suddenly lost his mind, and his Clanmates had retired him to the elder’s den to care for him in his senility.

“Leave!” he spat out, ears laid back and eyes narrowed.

The thing’s ears drooped as it sighed, shaking its head. “I’m not here to hurt you, remember? I’m Dr. Vergil. I’m like your… medicine cats. But for your mind.”

Hailclaw just hissed and growled, low in his throat, tail flicking in agitation. “Dr. Vergil” sighed and scratched behind his ear with one hand, looking awkward, before saying, “I can’t force you to come along, but I’ll send someone later to check on you, alright? And to bring a… meal. We folk may be omnivorous, but I do recommend you try something besides just the meat. The fruit in particular is something I would ask you try, to help with your levels of ether. It may improve your mental state to have more ether and therefore more energy in your system. You can still gain it from the prey items we provide, but not as richly.”

Dr. Vergil watched Hailclaw stare at him with big eyes and slit pupils, all his fur standing on end now, for a moment longer, before backing out of the entryway. He stopped before closing the wooden thing to cover it, speaking once again to say, “Please also remember that you aren’t being confined to this room. If you’d like to socialize, feel free to leave your room and speak with others.”

This was a reminder that he gave Hailclaw nearly every time he visited, but Hailclaw was in no hurry to wander around and get used to the monsters that roamed these halls. He held out hope that maybe if he prayed hard enough, he would wake up at home one day. This would all be a nightmare he could laugh off and forget, and he would be okay, with his family and his best friend.

The door clicked behind Vergil, and Hailclaw closed his eyes to pray and to hope.

Because without either of those, all he had left was fear.

1,101 Words

hailclaw doesn't like this new world. not at all.

9 / 267 acorns

Description

Hailclaw woke up.

He woke up in the dark, not opening his eyes but able to tell because of the lack of light on his eyelids. He woke up and the first thing he did was inhale deeply, taking in the scents of forest and leaves and dew-wet grass and the stale scent of the prey animal he’d partaken of last night. He smelled the moss of his nest, felt it soft against his fur. Felt the blood thrumming through his body, sure and steady with his heartbeat.

He prayed to StarClan that when he opened his eyes, he would see other empty moss nests, and some other stragglers who didn’t have a morning patrol. That Scorchfoot would still be sleeping in the nest beside him to later laugh off the odd dream that Hailclaw had been having. The odd, very real-feeling dream.

He hoped Froststar would be there to take him hunting later with his siblings, and they could have a family bonding time to assure him none of it was real. That he would be able to talk to someone, talk to them and understand and be understood. He longed for the sight of the pines and normal frogs and normal birds that were of regular sizes that would make a tasty meal in themselves.

Hailclaw opened his eyes.

He stifled a cry at what he saw. He was in his comfortable moss nest… in the strangely-perfect hollow of a tree, with a - whatever that clear stuff was called, where he could see out of it but not go through it, like the kittypets had on their twoleg homes. There were divots in the walls’ surfaces for miscellaneous objects, and there were these - these weird thin things, that made up thicker things, full of strange symbols that Hailclaw could not decipher. Other odds and ends that he didn’t get, despite his hosts - or his captors - trying to explain to him. It didn’t help that he didn’t understand any of them, either.

There was a knock on the wooden thing blocking the entrance to his den, and he realized that that was why he had woken in the first place - he had heard it in his sleep. It was a soft but steadfast sound that made his fur bristle.

“Leave me alone,” he growled, his claws extending to dig into his moss nest.

The door opened anyway, and a light brown creature walked in. It was familiar by now but still grotesque to Hailclaw, like parts of different animals had been smushed into one monstrous thing. Pieces of pelt and strange face things hung off of it like it was trying to be a twoleg, and it looked almost like a rat or a mouse or some other rodent, but it had - extra legs. Six legs on a creature - it made Hailclaw feel ill if he looked at it for too long, sometimes. Not to mention the addition of four wings sprouting from its back, one pair significantly smaller than the other, and yet he’d never witnessed this thing fly. Not in all the times it had come to torment him. It was some kind of cursed abomination of nature, and most of the other creatures that Hailclaw had seen here were no better.

It held up one pair of paws in a motion that Hailclaw knew by now was meant to appease but he could only feel was threatening, the unnatural third pair in the middle, and Hailclaw did his best not to retch at the movement. It also made his fur stand up further as he shrank into his nest, knowing he had nowhere to run to.

“Hailclaw,” the thing rasped out in a strange accent, voice not made to speak Hailclaw’s tongue. And this, too, was eerie, and he hated this - the soft gentleness, giving Hailclaw the impression of someone who was a predator in disguise. “Would you like to try to come to lessons today?”

Hailclaw thought of the first time he had tried to come to this thing’s training. How he had been sick from anxiety and fear and disgust. He had not come to any “lessons” after that, because the only thing it taught him was that this world would never be normal, and that it was a fate far worse than the Dark Forest. Hailclaw didn’t know what he had done to deserve this punishment, but he prayed every morning, every afternoon, every night, asking StarClan to take him back home. Or maybe he had suddenly lost his mind, and his Clanmates had retired him to the elder’s den to care for him in his senility.

“Leave!” he spat out, ears laid back and eyes narrowed.

The thing’s ears drooped as it sighed, shaking its head. “I’m not here to hurt you, remember? I’m Dr. Vergil. I’m like your… medicine cats. But for your mind.”

Hailclaw just hissed and growled, low in his throat, tail flicking in agitation. “Dr. Vergil” sighed and scratched behind his ear with one hand, looking awkward, before saying, “I can’t force you to come along, but I’ll send someone later to check on you, alright? And to bring a… meal. We folk may be omnivorous, but I do recommend you try something besides just the meat. The fruit in particular is something I would ask you try, to help with your levels of ether. It may improve your mental state to have more ether and therefore more energy in your system. You can still gain it from the prey items we provide, but not as richly.”

Dr. Vergil watched Hailclaw stare at him with big eyes and slit pupils, all his fur standing on end now, for a moment longer, before backing out of the entryway. He stopped before closing the wooden thing to cover it, speaking once again to say, “Please also remember that you aren’t being confined to this room. If you’d like to socialize, feel free to leave your room and speak with others.”

This was a reminder that he gave Hailclaw nearly every time he visited, but Hailclaw was in no hurry to wander around and get used to the monsters that roamed these halls. He held out hope that maybe if he prayed hard enough, he would wake up at home one day. This would all be a nightmare he could laugh off and forget, and he would be okay, with his family and his best friend.

The door clicked behind Vergil, and Hailclaw closed his eyes to pray and to hope.

Because without either of those, all he had left was fear.

1,101 Words

hailclaw doesn't like this new world. not at all.

9 / 267 acorns