Being Replaced

Part 2

It's been a while since I left the two-legs. A moon or two. I was. Around 7 moons now? Sava has been taking care of me and teaching me how to survive on my own, which places give the best food. How to tell which rats are good to hunt, it was always risky because rats carry sickness often.

Recently he wanted me to try living on my own, saying I was taking up too much space in his den. It was just a small hedge on the side of the road.

So today I'm looking for a place to nest and make my own. I decided to nest in the park.

I say park but now that I've had time to explore I've noticed it's actually just part of the forest that's fenced off and is an indicator of the edge of the city. There was an actual park right next to it with cut grass and full of lounging house-folk. 

I padded into the thick woods. After shouldering my way through the original foliage, the inside was relatively clear aside from the occasional bush and such. You could see the house-folk paths as they were the parts of exposed dirt where everything else was covered in pine needles. 

I walked leisurely through the pine forest, gazing in wonder at the tall trees arching high above me. I wonder if Violet would mind me making a den near his? No, I probably shouldn't. 

As I was thinking that, I caught the scent of rabbit. Strong but stale. Was there a warren nearby? I've explored the area but I definitely didn't know it perfectly. I wonder if other cats were in the woods? I knew about Violet, and Sava didn't really live in the wooded areas, says he doesn't like not seeing the buildings. I knew a few other street cats but none that lived in the woods. 

There had to be, right? It was so pretty out here. How could there be no other cats that thought so? Violet didn't count, he couldn't even see it. 

I followed the scent of rabbit to this large and thick bramble bush. I sniffed around for a bit, sneezing at the dirt that drifted into my nose. I didn't think there were any rabbits hiding under there, where was the scent coming from? I carefully pressed myself to the ground and crawled under the branches and thorns, feeling them lightly scrape my back. There, at the base of the roots was a hole. 

I sniffed it, realizing this was probably an old rabbit den. Thinking for a bit, I started digging at the entrance. if it was good enough for rabbits it was good enough for me. I dug until i could squeeze myself in the entrance. I could only get my legs and head in before I had to dig more and open up the rest of the hole. 

After digging for what felt like forever I finally reached what I think was the burrow part. I was a good size and I think it was right below the trunk of the large bramble bush. I could make out the roots growing around the edges and felt like I was sitting in the middle of a root ball. The burrow was large, much larger than the tunnel for sure. I could stand straight with just my ears brushing the top. I flicked my ears, knowing that would probably annoy me later. Aside from the height, it would probably fit three full grown cats inside. 

I crouched down mulling it over. I started scraping at the floor, knowing I wouldn't be able to dig through the roots at the top. I dug until my paws felt raw and I couldn't see them anymore in the darkness, then I pushed the pile of dirt out the tunnel, piling it outside for now before crawling back through the tunnel into my new den and curling up against one of the walls. I sighed as I relaxed into the floor, easily drifting to sleep from tiredness. 

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I woke up late the next day, probably just before sun-high. I sighed and climbed to my feet, feeling my paws ache and throb from working. I noticed my ears no longer touched the top and almost purred in relief. I didn't want any more digging. I stretched, feeling my back ache from the not great sleeping arrangement and wondered what I could use to sleep on. The abundance of pine needles sounded pokey and itchy, maybe I could find some leaves?