Young Writers Society

HELLOOO!!!!!!!!

I'm back from Cali!!! Sorry to those of you that didn't know I was gone I'll just finish this up and I'll catch up on EVERYTHING and post, I PROMISE!!!

It's good to be home ^^

~Rayne

Can I still join?

You absolutely may!!

And, as promised:

Gargoyle-

I watched Roxy sadly. She had been wronged, badly. Just another example of the scum that humans are. She had loved them, and was devoted to them, and they did that to her. Typical. All I wondered was how she got out of that house...? I cleared my throat.

"I wasn't always a stray either," I said. She looked up at me curiously. I glanced down at her, then stared into the emptiness in distance. "I don't remember much about my humans, just that from the beginning, they were cruel creatures. They poked and prodded and pulled and pinched. And then, as if I did something wrong, they dumped me here." I knocked a can out of the way of my paw. It spun behind another pile of rubble.

"That's...that's awful," Roxy said after awhile.

"Yeah. I got over it, kinda. But people never cease to lower their lower-than-dirt reputation with me. Every so often, I get a group of idiot teenagers running around here, kicking the fence, jumping over it, tormenting me, just generally being annoying and a big nuisance. Fighting them off has always been enjoyable, though," I said, subconsciously smiling.

Roxy smiled a little too.

----

It's not much, but I hope it works

~Rayne

Hey - I just want to let you know that Moon Jumper contacted me and it seems like she wants to drop out. So, if Patches would post??? I don't want to get my character lost in the fray...

Alright, alright. Let's get past the dog then.

Patches-

I couldn't help but laugh. "He doesn't take kindly to dogs," I answered.

Leo looked away angrily. "When you've been out on the streets, you find it's hard to trust."

I nodded understandingly. Everything was quiet for a minute. It drove me crazy. So, I broke it.

"Well, bye!!" I cried and trotted farther along the wall.

I heard Leo sigh and follow me. Soon, we reached a tree that harbored a bird nest. A devilish smile crossed over Leo's face. I looked from him to the tree and back again.

"Don't kill the poor little birdies...!!" I cried worriedly. He shot an annoyed glance at me and I took a step back. He crouched and sprang effortlessly into the tree. "Wait!!" I called, and quickly went after him.

He stared at me in shock. "You know you're out of the neighborhood now, right?" He asked. My eyes widened and I looked around.

"I-I-I...am??" Sure enough, this tree wasn't in a yard; it was outside the safety of my home. Without thinking first, I panicked. "Oh no!! How am I supposed to get back?? I can't be seen around strays with a collar on!! They'll kill me!!"

Leo stared at me, amazed at the sudden change. "Calm down, kid. Calm down. Just jump back."

"But I can't!!"

"Why?"

"Because I can't!!!"

"Okay okay. Just relax." Very, very slowly, I started to wind down. "Stick with me and it won't be a problem. Whenever I tell you to stay put, do it. Do everything I tell you and everything should be okay."

"Should??" I asked quickly.

"Will, I'm sorry. Everything will be okay."

I nodded slowly.

---

I hope this is good ^^

RayneChild - there's no need to be so mean

Tom

He started after her immediately.

"Tom!" hissed Paws. "What the hell are you doing?"

"She'll get pounced on again."

"Good!"

"Paws!"

"Look, Tom, you might have some affection for her. Oh, please, don't look like that. You know what I'm saying is true. She's not like us. She's not like you. Don't waste your time."

He gazed at his sister stonily. "I'm going to make sure she gets to her owner okay."

Then he turned and bounded after Dutchess.

Paws

To say she was annoyed with her brother would be a hell of an understatement. She wanted to claw out his fur until he saw sense. Huh, he'd probably end up bald if she did that.

She turned and ran from her brother. Her paws pounded out her frustration until she realised she had ventured far from the park. She was in another cat's territory for sure. Not that it mattered. If she came across that cat she'd fight them until they left her well alone.

Sure enough, she came across two.

Oh, brilliant, she thought.

Wait, did one have a collar on? Paws almost relaxed until she saw the other. He was a stray for sure.

She hissed and fluffed her fur out. She had fought four straggly tom cats before and won. She was sure she could manage one stray and a house-cat. She didn't want to fight, though. She was tired and hungry and just wanted to claw her brother's ears off.

The house-cat turned and saw Paws. She gasped. "That's not okay!" she squeaked.

**Hey, is okay if Paws meets up with you two? ^^ She won't be too bad... and yay, Pets has recovered!

**I have no problem with it..

Leo

Leo spun around. His ears flattened at the sight of the stray in front of him. Her hackles rose, but she seemed to be watching them. Leo knew confrontation could probably be avoided if he submitted to the stray, but if word ever got back to Leo's section of the park that Leo had submitted to another cat... Leo kept his head up, eyeing the stray wearily.

Behind him, Leo felt Patches sink to the ground fearfully. Mentally, Leo kicked himself for not remembering about Patches immediately.

"Get out of here, Patches," Leo growled quietly. Patches whimpered behind him.

"To where?"

Leo thrashed his tail. "It doesn't matter. Hide!"

Patches began inching away, her belly still dragging along the ground. Leo turned his attention back to the stray.

"Stranger," he called.

"Who are you?" she hissed.

"I am Leo. I come from deeper in the park, but hunting forced me here."

"Hunting?" she snapped. "You hunted my food?"

"I was not in this territory when I caught the bird."

"Then what brings you here?"

"The house-cat. She accidentally jumped out of her own yard, and I have just agreed to help her."

"You'd help a house-cat?" sneered the stray. Leo growled, his tail puffing up now. The stray looked away for a moment. Leo used the opportunity to look back and see where Patches was. She was staring at the stray, frozen on the ground. Irritably, Leo turned back.

"Stranger, we are not here to take your territory or hunt on your land. We just wish to pass through. Need there be a fight?"

Roxy

I sniffed the air. There was...a cat. Very close by.

"You smell that?" I asked. Gargoyle nodded. I grinned.

"I always love to mess with those house cats," I responded. I could smell her a mile away. Definetly a house cat.

I bounded off after it. I didn't know if Gargoyle followed or not. I hoped he did. He seemed like one of the only strays who seemed to understand how really terrible humans were.

Then a brilliant white fluff ball walked not ten feet in front of me, with a stray right on her tail.

"Hey there, house cat," I smiled, bearing my teeth. It was so fun to mess with them.

"Listen, mutt, I don't have time for you. Maybe you should go run along and chase a mailman or something," she sniffed. I was shocked. No house cat ever talked to me like that. She was a snooty little...

"Go on now," she said. I rolled my eyes. Foolish cat. She thought she was better than me. A dog. A stray dog who just happened to be hungry.

Dutchess

I started to walk away from the dog, but she jumped in front.

"Not so fast cat," she smiled. I was terrified. I didn't let it show, but dogs were my worst fear. I wasn't trying to be kitty food.

"Duchess," my owner cried. I looked up and meowed. She was right down the road. I bolted and took off after my owner. I looked back to see that dog eying Tom.

I looked from Breanne to Tom. I was almost to safety, but Tom needed help. I turned away from my owner and shot after him, regretting it the whole time.

"You stupid, stupid, cat!" I yelled, as I jumped on the girl dog's back. "Get out of here Tom! Breanne will come for me soon."

I looked at my fur. This dog certainly wasn't clean. "And now I'm even dirtier!" I screamed.

The dog laughed. "You are high-maintenance aren't you? Now, get off my back, I won't eat you."

I slid down and the dog rolled her eyes. "I'm Roxy."

"Dutchess," I replied, backing away.

The dog raised an eyebrow. "Suits you, I must say."

((Interested in joining and adding two characters. Er, would a tarantula be all right if I made it work? I'm not sure if they qualify as common pets, though you can get them at Petco...))

*shudders* Eee...spiders...*cringe*

Lol yes, that would be fine. If people have them as pets, you can use them Glad to have you on board!

~Rayne

Name: Reaper
Gender: female
Breed: Grammastola rosea, or Chilean rose tarantula
Home: terrarium in a punkish teenage boy's room
Age: 5 (35 in tarantula years)
Appearance: Pretty typical. Eight legs, brown, hairy. giant fangs. Hairs on head have a pinkish hue when viewed from an angle
Personality: Surprisingly cheerful and pleasant. A much better friend than you would think. Polite.
History: Reaper was purchased by Trevor "Maniac" Harris three years ago and has had a rather uneventful life on his dresser.
Other: Believe it or not, female tarantulas live for about 20 years, so yeah.

Name: Winston
Gender: male
Breed: Old English sheepdog
Home: large-ish house at the edge of the city with his owner
Age: 3 1/2 (24-25 in dog years)
Appearance: Like most of his breed, Winston has extremely long shaggy fur that covers his eyes and is grey and white. He is immaculately groomed... well, when his owner has her way. Which is most of the time.
Personality: A little naive, doesn't know much about life outside the ring. Friendly to just about everyone, and curious.
History: When he was young, Winston was purchased for a very large sum of money by a Ms. Reed, as he is a purebred with papers. Since then he has won several dog shows. He doesn't get much joy from it though.
Other: Open for love

((will post in the morning))

Awesomeness ^^ Thanks

Gargoyle-

I smelled the air carefully. Sure enough, the scent of a cat hovered high above us and the trash around us. Roxy bolted towards it immediately, but I hung back a minute. I stood up and looked around at my junkyard before trotting swiftly after her. And soon enough, I found her again. I hid behind a bush as I watched her antagonize a couple of cats. One was, quite obviously, a pure bred, and the other appeared to be a stray.

After a bit, I trotted calmly over to them. The white pure bred shrunk back ever so slightly on sight of me. Understandable. I would imagine that a huge, muscular doberman with part of his ear missing and small, almost healed scars on his face would freak a lot of cats out. Really, though, I was entirely misunderstood. So it surprised me when the stray simply sat down.

Roxy turned quickly and smiled when she saw me. I sat next to her and looked down on the cats. The white one couldn't seem to look away. I was sure she was just so fear-stricken that she couldn't do anything. The stray nudged her slightly. She jumped with a start and awoke from her trance.

I cleared my throat. "I'm Gargoyle."

"Tom," said the stray. What an ill-humored joke that was. Tom cat.

"And this little lady?" I asked, as innocently as possible.

The white cat blinked a couple times.

Dutchess

"Excuse me...sir," I spat out sarcastically, my last few moments of terror gone, "But I'd rather not sit around and share names. I need to get back to my owner."

"So soon?" The dog called Roxy grinned. "C'mon, we were having so much fun."

"Listen, but I'm not interested in any of this. I am filthy and I don't plan on getting any dirtier. Not like that one," I replied, pointing to Gargoyle.

"Weren't you going to tell me your name?" Gargoyle asked, smiling a little.

I sniffed the air. "Dutchess. Now please, go back to your...trash can, stray."

"Can I ask you one thing?" He asked, making me stop. I rolled my eyes.

"Haven't I given you enough of my time." I sat to tell him I would listen anyway. I was curious. Then again, curiousity killed the cat...

Gargoyle smiled. "Why do you think you're so much better than us? You were born a purebreed by luck. You were placed in a home by luck. After all, aren't we all born equal?"

I paused. "Well.." I sighed. "Listen, does it matter? You are a stray. Your kind and mine don't mix."

I saw Tom's ear droop a little. "Yeah," I answered.

"Tom, I didn't mean it like that. I'm not saying their aren't good strays," I begged him tounderstand. Tom was a good cat.

"Then what do you mean Dutchess?" He asked.

I looked from Gargoyle to Roxy to Tom. I didn't know. I took off. Not towards Breanne, but to another place where I couldjust be alone. I didn't know what to think.

I sat next to the tree. I was so close to the park now, but I didn't want to be around anyone. What I had done was childish,but I eeded to think. I needed to be alone.

Gargoyle-

It was a real challenge not to growl at that stuck-up little brat. Thinking she could talk to me that way. I may be more gentle than most doberman strays, but I still wouldn't stand being talked to like that. The nerve of that creature, belittling my home by saying it's merely one trash can.

Then again, I didn't want to scare her again, so I tried to remain calm and smile, instead of bearing my teeth in her face. It gave me pleasure enough knowing that I had put up an argument that she couldn't think up some rude comment to.

Once she was gone, Roxy sighed happily, breaking the silence. "Ah...finally, the minority has left," she said with an amused smile, placing a sarcastic emphasis on 'minority'.

I smiled.
---
And, since I haven't posted for her in awhile:

Patches-

"Need there be a fight?"

The new calico watched me closely. I swallowed hard. Her face softened the tiniest bit.

"I guess not," she answered slowly. I sighed quietly. "Name's Paws. Surely you've heard of me?"

Leo's jaw dropped ever so slightly and he nodded slowly. A satisfied grin came to Paws' face. She looked at me quickly. Much as I wanted to tell her that I had heard of her, I had never even seen another stray before Leo, let alone heard of one. So, I shook my head.

Paws' face changed from pleased to astounded. "You-you haven't??" She asked. I shuffled back a little more and shook my head again.

She looked at Leo, her face unchanged. "She's a little naive," he told her.

Paws nodded in understanding and very, very slowly, I began to stand straight.