kotik (he/him) | loner

While the cat had certainly done everything he could to avoid startling Kotik, he couldn't help but give the slightest bit of a jump after being pulled out from his little daydream. Thankfully, a slight shake of his body was more than enough to push the feeling away as he watched the dusty-coloured cat, attempting to parse his words. This new language was always a bit fast for him, and it took a little bit of work to figure it out, but Kotik was slowly getting a better hang of it with every interaction.

At first, he purred in amusement at himself. OrchidClan was the name of the other Clan he was thinking of. He knew there was a third, but the name had simply escaped him. Though, the idea of trees belonging to a specific Clan certainly seemed odd to him. Instead, Kotik looked back at the gorgeous tree and purred even louder.

"OrchidClan trees?" Kotik said inquisitively, the strange tone of his voice becoming clear with even his first two works. He spoke in a different intonation, his words somewhat more melodic and rhythmic. Even the r sounds in his words sounded almost rolled, and it almost sounded as though he was using sounds that the tom in front of him had likely never heard before. Some of his sounds were gruff, but there was a light airyness to them, adding an extra syllable to each word as he spoke. "How do trees belong to cats? Surely, they belong to themselves, no?" he purred.

Kotik didn't bother answering the why, whether it was because he didn't feel he needed a reason or because he didn't quite hear the other cat. But he sat still, very peacefully, looking up towards the dancing leaves. He closed his eyes and took in the scent of the trees around him, the scent of the water mixing in with it. The idea of territory was, in fact, still incredibly foreign to the ironically foreign cat. He couldn't understand the idea of land belonging to specific cats, when the world was more than large enough for them all to share, was it not? There was more than enough prey for all to be fed, right? Of course, Kotik had yet to meet all the cats in the area - for all he knew there were more here than he'd ever met in his life in his old home, but that wouldn't sway his position that the ideas of territories seemed odd.

He turned back again after a slow, thoughtful breath. "Cricketblaze, you say?" he asked, a light tilt to his head in curiosity. "Interesting..." he purred in response, always eager to repeat the very first word he'd learned in this new language. It certainly wasn't incorrect of a usage either, he did find the names of cats to be incredibly fascinating. The idea that cats had one name that everyone called them, regardless of relationship, was odd to him. He'd begun to adopt a name for himself for these cats who seemed to want just one way to refer to him, but it felt oddly formal and he wasn't quite used to it yet. Perhaps it was because he wanted to call other cats different names as he got to know them, rather than sticking with the same name, and he'd hoped to receive the same in kind. Receiving a new name as a marker of a new aspect of a relationship was often such a moment of great privielege, and Kotik knew it was a thing he would soon enough miss. Yet, simultaneously, he knew that he would be forced to leave some things behind.

Ah, well, it seemed all those thoughts went away when he turned back to the pretty trees in front of him again and admired them. If he had to trade some of his practices and customs in order to enjoy beautiful views he would have never seen before, perhaps he would survive with that.

riley ● 682 words

kotik (he/him) | loner

The loner blinked at the light brown tom, still quite confused on his insistence that a group of cats owned such a beautiful piece of nature. To him, it seemed cruel to stop other cats from seeing such a sight simply because it belonged to them. The idea that he would supposedly chase the loner off for just sitting here and admiring something beautiful created by the earth was so incredibly peculiar and alien to him.

Of course, he wasn't questioning whether or not Cricketblaze and the rest of OrchidClan made their home nearby, but he had a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea that it meant they owned the land. Chasing cats off for being somewhere was, in the loner's mind, the acts of lyudi - or "twolegs" as he'd been made aware the cats here called them. Lyudi would get upset at cats being too close to their sleeping quarters and chase them away, and to him, that was one of the things that helped separate cats and lyudi. It was their ability to share the land, to share resources and help one another out without the need for these arbitrary borders. Lyudi often marked their borders quite aggressively with wooden fences, perfectly straight bushes or stone walls. But what marked the borders for these cats, other than perhaps the fact that the scents seemed to alter slightly wherever the white and tabby tom went? That being said, he had a rather difficult time being able to tell them apart as he moved around until he was well within these supposed borders.

But what he found even more pointless than borders was arguing. He wasn't going to sit here and argue with Cricketblaze about how cats couldn't own land or trees or rivers or flowers. Instead, he couldn't help but give an amused purr fringing on laughter at his supposed "laziness" of chasing him off.

His ears twitched, almost uncomfortably for a second being asked what he should be called. How he wished he could just say "Call me whatever you feel fits best!" but he'd learned quickly that it wasn't how things worked around here. He missed being given names by the cats around him - maybe one day he could eventually help them learn such a fun tradition. Even if he couldn't implement it in a way where the cats around here would change their naming traditions altogether, especially as it seemed they had a rather strange but long and storied way of naming themselves, but maybe he could start introducing them to naming himself. He wondered what cats would call him following their own naming conventions.

But still, he tried his best. "Well, my mother once called me Kotik, but my sister calls me Bratr. I had friends calling me Misiu or Swonko, but there was also cat who lived near stone cross den calling me Głupek..." the tom's voice trailed off near the end, his distaste for the final cat rather clear. But quickly enough, his shook his tail and let it roll off his back, knowing that Khuylo was far away from him now.

He looked at the Clan cat in front of him though and wondered if he wouldn't end up confusing him with all of this. With a simple slow blink, he laughed it off. "But those who did not know me also call me Kotik, if that is easier."

riley ● 573 words