"The littler one is quite timid, but the big one has already scratched me up pretty good." She rubbed her fingers, tsking.

The veterinarian technician lifted a brow, looking up from her clipboard.

"Mrs. Harrison," she said patiently. "You know you cannot declaw cats that are part of your trap-neuter-release program? They need their claws to survive out there!"

"Oh, yes I know." Mrs, Harrison waved a hand at her, smiling and unoffended. She adjusted her glasses to better look at the terrified, puff-furred cats. The tabby and white one was snarling with warning, its ears flat and claws extended as it crouched against the black one.

"I found them at a different spot. I was at Blue Lake Camping Grounds yesterday when a young boy who was interested in the program told me he'd seen cats around the other side of the lake. Of course it was too overgrown over there, so I just tried next to one of their hiking trails instead." Her teeth clacked together, the glue of her dentures softening and causing them to nearly fall out.

"But these two are quite young. I plan to make them my house cats," she murmured thoughtfully. The old woman then began picking up her word-pace, rambling. "I know I rehomed those five-month old motherless kittens we found last year, but now I think that two cats around Quri's age could fit into my home quite well. She seems to bother my older cat, Celia, you see. Even though they're related show-line bengals, Celia has gotten pretty far up there in her years now. And I don't go to cat shows anymore."

"Hmmm..." the tech took a moment to answer, but then nodded. "Well, I'll let our veterinarian know all of that before he comes to see you. Really it's down to his recommendation." She lifted her head to stare at Mrs. Harrison directly in the eye. "Doctor Elsher will have to perform an evaluation under anesthesia because they are, however, old enough to be considered feral. You trapped them yesterday, right?"

The two she-cats stared through the bars of the cage at the flat-faced twolegs uncertainly. The old woman nodded.

"Oh, I can see that. And yes." She laughed and smiled at the young red-haired woman kindly. "But I think they could adjust to my home eventually. Don't you?"

🐈‍⬛

When Crescentpaw awoke she sensed the white-pelted Twolegs touching her. And yet she could hardly see or focus on them.

The she-cat was too disoriented to even realize where she was. But at least she could feel Tinypaw's sleek black pelt beside hers.

She stifled a meow of confusion. Her perception contorted so badly that she fell asleep again within a few harrowing moments.

It was not until the next day that Crescentpaw woke again. She heard the sound of a white-pelted Twoleg opening their cage door. He then reached in to unwrap tan bandages from around the apprentices' two front legs. There was bloody gauze around their paw-pads that had to be peeled away, causing Crescentpaw to wince. However, the pain was somehow subdued- and she found that she was still too drugged to react further. She could hardly even interpret what was happening, let alone why.

Tinypaw was still stirring as the Twoleg placed a small bowl of fresh kittypet food, and then water inside the cage. Crescentpaw stared at the creature, noticing how odd and pink it's face looked.

In fact, everything looked odd. They were now inside of a different, larger cage. The walls were white, almost everything was white- save for the smooth grey of the back-room's flat tables, and the metal of their shiny cage bars. IV's stood thin and tall on their versatile round black wheels. Shiny white flooring contrasted itself with dark-tan grout. The room was lined with light pink baseboards and windowsills. Each set of blinds was white-on-white to the silk-smooth curtains, which were drawn closed along each window.

Adjacent to either side of the entrance door stood two fake Kentia palm trees. They were the only flashes of green in this shiny, overly-reflective place.

Thoughts of escape were beginning to stir in Crescentpaw's mind as the Twoleg shut the door. They only caused her head to swirl with disorientation more. She lowered her muzzle back down.

Once more the she-cats rested in their trapped metal space. Tinypaw managed a few croaky mews of "Where are we? Why do I feel so weak?" But Crescentpaw could hardly give her an answer. All she knew was that they were inside of another Twoleg-place nest. So she gave a feeble glance of uncertainty in response to the questions.

They curled their tails around each other, and Crescentpaw laid her face near Tinypaw's as they fell asleep for the second night.

🐈‍⬛

Crescentpaw and Tinypaw felt a lot more lively at dawn the next morning. Their lethargy had all but disappeared. When the apprentices awoke they tried to stretch in their small space, but had almost no room to do so.

A passing vet assistant walking by noticed them, and stopped to do its twoleg mumbling.

"If it opens the door soon maybe we can jump out." Crescentpaw stared at the Twoleg's pale face hopefully, her one-blue, one-yellow eye shining.

Tinypaw agreed but the flat-faced creature soon left. The two she-cats looked at their paws for a few heartbeats, wondering why they had been wrapped in gauze the previous nights before. They were soon distracted by the Twoleg door swinging open again. It wasn't much longer that they were released from their cage by a different twoleg.

The apprentices were shocked when they were scruffed by the weird hairless paws immediately- and then put into another transport box.

"Oh, great Starclan..." They really know how to grab us quickly! Crescentpaw hissed as the veterinarian expertly blocked them from jumping out with tree-trunk like arms.

"Whatever. At least we won't have to be in this horrid-scented place anymore," Tinypaw mewed, squashed against her sister in the carrier. The two cats murmured amongst each other, forced into a crouch because of the ceiling's low base.

"Yeah. And whatever they did made me sleep way too much. We've been gone from the clan for three sunrises!" Crescentpaw turned her head worriedly, staring at the smooth plastic walls with air-holes.

"I know." Tinypaw shifted beside her, sounding serious. "I hope no other cats have... died, since we've been gone." She sounded apprehensive to say the words.

They were passed off to their new owner, Mrs. Harrison. The cats were slowly carried towards the car and loaded inside of it, but this time they could assume where they were going. Crescentpaw's fur began to stand on end as she wondered what cats were left back in Riverclan. And now it's back to the old Twoleg's nest, trapped in the dark and in a box for hours until we can somehow escape.

But I shouldn't let Tinypaw see my fear. It may scare her worse.

"Well think of it this way. It's also only been three nights since we were captured. Two in this place and one in the Twoleg's nest." She raised her voice as the car turned onto a main road. Bouncing and vibrating, the cat carrier's plastic floor shook beneath their paws.

"With any luck those dung-hearted wolves hunted elsewhere for a little while- and they haven't attacked after sundown since we've left."

"Yeah... I hope so." Tinypaw didn't sound reassured at all, to which Crescentpaw sighed.

"I'll make sure we escape. I promise," she mewed with an edge, and Tinypaw pricked her ears. Her huge blue-ish eyes were just an inch away, and nearly glowing in the small gloomy space. This time when she answered, she sounded as if she truly believed her.

"I know you will."

__________________________

Crescentpaw