private ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE (running away)

[FORESTSHADE]

Mousy paws shuffled through the undergrowth, small hisses and spits escaping the youth as branches smacked her in the face. This was the furthest she'd ever gone from home. The ground here was unfamiliar, with new smells and sounds - and branches. So, so many branches.

The child had run away many times before. The first time she did so she cried. Oh, she wailed and wailed until some kind loner found her and brought her back home to her panicked parents. Why would you wander off? They'd cried. Don't you know how dangerous the world is for a kit like you?

A kit like me. Ha! The memory brought out a snort of laughter as she continued on (albeit slowly). Her parents never would understand how capable she could be. How great she knew she would be. It was why she continued to wander off - she'd always find her way home in the end, if her parents didn't find her before she did. This time? She had no intentions of going back. What was the point, if she never could be Lavender? The perfect child. The seeing child. The offspring who learned to hunt and fight and defend poor, defenseless sister Forest. Not anymore! She resolved, feeling her fluffy tail lift with confidence as she inched her way along, whiskers feeling for branches and tree trunks and shrubbery. No longer would she be the hidden offspring of Sweet and Fang, the secret that they were too ashamed to let out. All of the local loners only knew of Lavender, so they wouldn't even miss the torbie when she disappeared. Only her kin would be left to "grieve" her.

There were better places for her now. She'd heard the whispers on the winds of the groups that sprung up in the nearby forests. Five clans, they'd said. Well, she'd show all of them just what she could do as a clan cat. Proudly, the stout child inched along through unfamiliar territory, unaware she was being followed by one of the very cats she was seeking to escape.
​

"speech"​

 

[Lavenderpaw ~]

Lavender do this, Lavender do that” man was she tired of always getting bossed around by her parents! And it totally wasn’t fair, why was she forced to be on her paws all the time but Forest got to sit around on her butt and do nothing all day? When her mother had approached her, her lips pursed together and a stressed look on her face Lavender had let out a groan and rolled her eyes. Forest had ‘gotten lost’ again. Lost was the official story that her mother told her, unable to believe their precious angel had run away from them. But Lavender knew. She would often pretend to be asleep, eyes wide open but mimicking the breathing of a sleeping cat so her sister thought she was in a deep rest, and she would watch as the torbie colored she cat slipped out from the den and into the darkness.

“Lavender would you be a dear and help us find your sister? Your dad took the west corner but we would like you to go search in the east” She couldn’t believe this! The audacity of her mother to ask such a thing of her. “Why should I? She’s not my responsibility!” She protested. Her mother gave her a look that said it all. Help us or you’re in big trouble. “Fine I’ll help” she mumbles and pushes herself to her paws, trying to make it look as if it was her idea to do it and not because she was afraid of what the consequences would be if she didn’t. With a yawn and daydreams of her nest she set off in the direction her mother sent her.

It didn’t take long for Lavender to catch up with Forest. Her sister moved slowly and she left a obvious trail of destruction wherever she went. It had been a wonder her parents hadn’t been able to find her. Lavender herself almost wants to pretend she doesn’t see her maneuvering her way carefully through the underbrush, unaware that her sister was watching just downwind of her, unaware that there was a much easier path just a couple mouse lengths to her left. “You need help or are you good with abandoning our parents all on your own?” She finally speaks up with a snort. “They’re worried sick about you you know” she says, though really she could not care less. She knew though, that if she didn’t come home with Forest and if her parents weren’t able to find her either, that she would never hear the end of it. [/I][/I]​

 

[FORESTSHADE]

That bratty voice stopped her right in her tracks, a low hiss of frustration escaping her. Her chin turned sharply down towards her shoulder, unseeing eyes cast towards the ground and ears swiveling to listen. She hesitated, trying to desperately come up with some excuse or lie, but then she remembered: What's the point? I'm not going back! With an indignant huff, she half-turned towards her sister and sniffed. "I'm leaving for good," She blurted out, deciding it was better to be blunt than beat around the bush. "I'm sick of being told I can't do this and I can't do that. Mom and Dad will never understand what I can do!" It sounded immature, because it was. A child, with big dreams and no more patience for the sheltered life her parents had forced upon her. She gave her head a slight tilt, brow furrowing with determination. "There's a clan near here, Lavender. In the marshes. I'm going to join them, and I'm going to be a warrior. Tell Dad if he wants to come get me himself, he'll find me patrolling my land and catching more prey than he ever could!" Chin now lifted and tail curled high in the air, she huffed and turned on her heels, continuing to push onward (again, rather slowly as she carefully felt the ground).
​

"speech"​

 

[Lavenderpaw ~]

As Forest begins to speak, Lavender rolls her emerald eyes, sitting down and gracefully sweeping a fluffy tail over her delicate paws. here we go again, poor Forest she thinks, already tired of the pity party that she’s certain her sister is planning on throwing herself. Certainly her life couldn’t be that bad? She didn’t have to catch her own food all the time or know what it was like to be shoved into the dirt by their father, or be the recipient of a claw to the face if she wasn’t fast enough. But as she listened more and more the better of an idea it sounded. “You can tell them yourself when you give up and go running back” she informed the other she cat with an idignant huff, pretending like this had been her idea all along. “Because I’m going with you” For a moment she worries, what will her parents think? But they would probably want her to go with Forest of the tortoiseshell was so insistent on leaving, to look after her. Besides, Lavender wanted to be a warrior too! That sounded awesome! She pushes herself to her paws and runs after her, charging ahead. “Cmon try and keep up would ya?” ​

 

[FORESTSHADE]

Blind eyes widen at the ground. No. No, no, no, no, no. "What?!" The kit blurts out, turning her body to face the direction that Lavender stalked off to. Jaw hanging open in disbelief, she emits a loud groan and stalks off after her littermate. There was no way her annoying, bratty sister was coming along! "No way! You're going back home. There's no way I'm letting you ruin this for me!" She complains, tail lashing with anger. A branch swats her in the face as she travels faster than normal through unfamiliar terrain and she lets out a hiss but continues forward, trying her best to catch up to the tortoiseshell. I hate having a sister.....​