She perched atop the wooden fence, claws digging into the soft wood, penetrating the white coat of paint, as she balanced there. A cold breeze that whispered about winter in her ears ruffled her long, striped fur as she stared into the tree line that loomed just tail-lengths away from where she sat now. Her claws shredded the wood beneath them.
'Never felt more free than I did then. Runnin' through the trees with the wind in my fur and the sun on my back. You'll never taste anything as marvelous as a freshly killed mouse or bird, Lav. Oh… how delightful it is. How flavorful. Much as I appreciate our housefolk fer takin' care of these ole raggedy bones, them pellets they give us are almost cruel. How I wish I could hunt one more time 'fore I die. I'd catch somethin' fer you, little flower. I'd love to see the look on your face when you taste mouse for the first time.'
Bruce's words just days before he passed echoed through the young kit's mind. Being the youngest cat to live in this house meant she wasn't well liked by those who were older. Except Bruce. She wasn't sure why he liked her so much, she never got to ask (though she wondered if it had anything to do with him mentioning a litter of kits he'd once had), but he made sure she had enough to eat by fending the other cats off and told her the best stories. He had passed away yesterday and Lavender kept thinking about the wistful look in his eyes whenever he talked about hunting in the forest. He never got to hunt one last time, never got to bring her a mouse so he could experience the joy of her first taste of prey. Perhaps, wherever he had gone, he was hunting now, running wild and free. She told herself that, at least, to keep a chokehold on her tears.
She stayed on her perch even after her elderly housefolk tried to call her in for the evening. The sun was beginning to hide behind the treetops and Lavender just wanted to look a moment longer. The sunset was so brilliant that it looked as if the forest was on fire. The towering pines, still evergreen even in the cold when all others had lost their leaves, were ablaze with orange light. Lavender closed her eyes and imagined what hunting would be like in there, running on the ground so soft with pine needles, cold piercing her lungs, heart pumping adrenaline through her veins. Before she could register it, she hopped from the fence onto the other side of her garden, her paws touching tall, wild grass. She would just enter the edge of the forest, track down a mouse or something, and be off when she had caught it. It couldn't be that difficult if Bruce, the big, lumbering old oaf that he was, could do it for moons and moons.
Lavender crossed the narrow strip of grass into the forest, passing a barrier that smelled like many cats. To her untrained nose, she didn't know it was a border, but rather assumed many cats from the city made the trek into the woods to hunt. Her fur prickled with excitement along her spine and once she was a good ways into the forest, lifted her nose and opened her mouth to taste the air. So many smells hit her at once and she thought she might never single out prey, something rustled the pine needles and sparse foliage ahead. Her ears straightened and she lowered herself to the ground.
Moments later, two beady black eyes appeared from the pine needles and a body began to take shape, just a little darker than the dead needles, fuzzy and almost cute, but delicious in smell. It must've been a mouse. Lavender watched as it moved closer to her, the smell of the border disguising her scent. This mouse was going to walk right into her paws, what a story she could tell! She waited and waited, drool trickling out the side of her mouth as she watched in tantalizing anticipation. At the last moment, when the mouse was only a couple tail-lengths away, Lavender made her move. She bunched her muscles and launched herself forward clumsily but quickly. However, the tinkling of her collar alerted the mouse to her presence and right as she was angled to come down on it for the kill, it scurried off. The young molly collided hard with the ground, her shoulder taking the brunt of the blow. She grunted, groaned in frustration, and stood up. "Rats," she hissed and shook the dirt from her fur.
Suddenly, the foliage began to quiver and rustle again. This time it sounded much, much bigger. Lavender's eyes widened and her head raised. "Wh-who's there?" She asked, trying to make it sound like a demand, but suddenly her voice was weak.
♡ LAVENDERPAW —— she/her, 5 moons, skyclan apprentice.
—— a longhaired lilac and white tabby with gold eyes.
—— link to bio, toyhouse. penned by regina.
The large and scraggly warrior shifts along the branches. Watching as the sky moves from blue to being dyed in fire. His eyes are half open and for the most part all of his hunting has come and gone. Ah, a good moment to relax is what he needs he thinks. As he curls his tail against the bark of the tree he wonders for the first time in moons what his upwalkers are doing. If that puppy of their's was better than him afterall. Droopy ears seem to pull back more and be sighs. He hasn't gotten sad about being replaced since it happened but he supposes in the quiet of wvening it has crept up on him and so has the smell of someone who has never been here before. Pulling his hulking frame up he scraps his way down from the tree and hopes onto the ground. With a soft scenting he follows the smell and makes a small shuffling through the deaden foliage.
The quivering voice that greets him makes him pause before he finally emerges. Just a child and all the way out here. He places his ever warm smile upon his maw before he speaks up. "Bonsoir, mon amie. It's getting late and the forest can be dangrous at night. What brings you all the way out here?" His eyes notice her collar and he gives a small nod to himself. She belongs with her folks but also perhaps she has ventured out for a feel of what it is liek to be a cat of the forest. "This is Skyclan's territory by the way. We live and hunt in this forest. Pardon, my name is Foxgecker."
"Bonsoir!" She mimicked, accented tone warping the foreign greeting. Daisyflight trailed the russet tom, a shade that clung to the fringes of the undergrowth warily until the instant the unknown feline came into view. The weight of a collar at their neck touched relief to her mind, the familiarity of the kittypet accessory ruling out her suspicion of rogue activity.
"Hunting, perhaps?" The query was tacked to Foxgecker's, pointed though unaccusatory. So many fell into their forest it seemed. With leafbare looming, they would soon be unable to afford complacency to those straying onto their borders. Thankfully, it appeared the fawn-print molly had been unsuccessful. "And mine, Daisyflight," whiskers atwitch with amusement, she waited for the stranger to answer her clanmate.
/if you saw a blank post before this uh, no you didnt o.o
A large, russet-colored tom came into view. His fur was shaggy and unkempt, much like her own after the great tumble she had taken in her desperation to catch that mouse. He did not smell like the cats in the city, with their housefolk and pellet-scent clinging to their fur. He smelled wild and free. Quite frankly, he scared her. He was big and powerful where she was small and weak. He appeared to have many more moons of experience under his paws than her. When he greeted her, his voice sounded friendly and the tension in her shoulders visibly dissipated. She was still on edge but for the moment, believed the danger was gone. Introductions were made after the inquiry. Something about a SkyClan. She barely heard his name and had time to reflect on how strange it sounded when a calico molly joined the fray.
Daisyflight and Foxgecker. What odd names. Deciding it best to answer their questions, Lavender finally spoke up. "Uh... yeah, just hunting. My friend Bruce told me all about the forest and how he used to hunt here. I wanted to see it for myself," she mewed. Too bad she wouldn't get to taste any mice tonight, maybe not ever. If this was someone's territory, surely these cats meant to chase her out once they discovered her intentions. "I don't mean SkyClan any trouble. I just wanted to see what fresh kill tasted like for myself. He always said he wanted to see my face when I tried a mouse for the first time. I was trying to honor his wishes... uh, he passed away yesterday at the vet." She braced herself for their friendliness to turn to aggression, memorizing a quick escape route back to her garden if need be. So much for a venture into the woods.
Quickly, she added. "Oh, I'm Lavender by the way."
♡ LAVENDERPAW —— she/her, 5 moons, skyclan apprentice.
—— a longhaired lilac and white tabby with gold eyes.
—— link to bio, toyhouse. penned by regina.
The tom listens with a small smile on his muzzle and understanding. Most other kittypets do come into the forest to try their paws at hunting prey for the first time and he holds no ill towards him. Long ago he used to be a kittypet himself but his story with upwalkers was shortly lived. Still he can understand and that is what counts. As the other goes on to talk about a Bruce and what happened to him his already droopy ears droop even more and his smile falters, turning into one of sadness. He knows the vet and sometimes cats come back and sometimes they don't. And rather they come back intact or not is always a toss up. "Désolé, mon petit. I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope wherever he is that he is in peace." He glances to Daisyflight then before he looks back to Lavender. An idea moves through him and he sighs lightly, debating.
"Perhaps we can give her a mouse? I'm sure it won't make a difference and if so then I don't mind giving my portion for her to fulfill his wishes." He may he an older warrior, nearly senior warrior but he can handle missing a meal. It won't hurt too bad on his own part. Besides she may want to stay with them and learn perhaps. Learn to hunt the way a Skyclanner does.
The tinkling of the little she-cat's collar gives her away, more so than her Twoleg-tainted scent or curse when she misses the mouse. Blazestar appears behind Daisyflight and Foxgekker, giving the young kittypet a nod.
"A kittypet's first taste of mouse sure is something," he says with a hint of amusement in his tone. He gives Lavender a wistful look, remembering his own mouthful of fresh-kill in Rain's colony. How strange to think that it had only been a few moons ago, before the battle.
She mentions a friend of her's dying, mentions the vet, and Blazestar's eyes dim with sympathy. "I'm sorry to hear that, about your friend. Do you have anywhere to stay?" He gives Foxgekker a brief look, ear twitching. "We can't offer you prey. We've a Clan that every piece of prey we catch must go to feed. But if you've nowhere else to go, perhaps you'll consider staying and joining SkyClan."
He tilts his head at her. "You wouldn't be alone anymore, but you would be expected to train as a warrior to hunt for the Clan and defend our borders. It wouldn't be an easy life, certainly not like that of your kittypet life, but it's a fulfilling one." He isn't sure how ethical it is of them to tempt someone so young away from her Twolegs, to live a life in the wild, at odds with Clans led by tyrants, but he also remembers the temptation and pull of the forest.
Lavender dipped her head in the russet tom’s direction, grateful for his sympathies though they do nothing to ease the pain that ripples through her chest at the very thought of her friend. She hoped he was in a better place, wild and free where he could hunt whenever he wanted. At peace, as Foxgekker had said. Her eyes shimmered with hope when he turned to ask the calico if they could spare a mouse for her. It was an incredibly kind offer, and regardless of the answer, she would always be thankful for this stranger’s kindness.
It was not the calico who answered however, but another tom with flame-kissed fur and blue eyes. She deflated a little when he denied her a taste of mouse, but she did her best to understand. These cats didn’t have housefolk that routinely filled her food bowl so she was never without something to ease the ache of hunger in her belly. They had to hunt for their food, and she imagined the cold weather made that harder as creatures retreated to warm places to hibernate or avoid the cold. She dipped her head in understanding, and froze as the tom offered an alternative—join them. She had a place to stay, a safe garden and a warm nest and a human lap to curl up in. She lived with other cats, albeit cranky ones who hadn’t much interest in her, but cats nonetheless. She would not go hungry, she would stay warm when the first snowfall blanketed the ground.
To accept the offer would be foolish. She had somewhere to go.
But Bruce’s words echoed in her mind. He had always told her that cats were meant to live wild. While he loved their housefolk for taking him in, he always longed to live in the forest. ‘If ya ever get the chance, Lav, find a life out there. These four walls shield us from a whole world of opportunity and adventure. You’ll be thankful ya did.’ Here was that life he always talked about, staring her right in the face and inviting her in. All she had to do was take the offer.
For Bruce, she thought as she slowly dipped her head to Blazestar. “Then, I will join SkyClan. I’ll be the best hunter this forest has ever seen,” she said, her chest puffed out.
♡ LAVENDERPAW —— she/her, 5 moons, skyclan apprentice.
—— a longhaired lilac and white tabby with gold eyes.
—— link to bio, toyhouse. penned by regina.
With knuckles harder than stones, he pads across the forest floor ears ripped and nicked flick forth to catch the conversations ahead. A patrol of Skyclanners speaking with a very young stranger. Thistleback prowled behind Foxgecker until he stood at the red frenchman’s flank. A deep scowl carved on his muzzle, a pensive grey stare is solid and unmoving upon the soft pelted girl. Having just lost his apprentice and son to the ranks of Windclan, the man had a cloud of seething rage veiled over him as of late.
The bell wearing lilac, she seemed to contemplate the offer Blazestar makes. One given with hesitance as of late, but offered from the kind king of the skies nonetheless. " best hunter this forest has ever seen " he repeats, a smile dragging his teeth from his lips as a quiet chuckle puffs from his nostrils.
" well…you may need to lose that bell- it does you no favors " he notes its high-pitched chime. With a shift of his weight, the muscled warrior waves his nose upward nod. " welcome to Skyclan then, lass. Once you’re settled. Maybe we shall hunt together " he finishes with a flick of his white-tipped tail.
— Thistleback | thirty-two moons | cis-male
— warrior of Skyclan | leaves rarely
— bisexual | fallen for Deersong 9.29.22
— formerly mentoring Coyotepaw
— very muscular piebald black and white tom with spiky fur and cold silver-grey eyes. Wears a purple collar with brass clasp.
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