Garden Tulips [Closed]

[Singing Jay]

[I just wanted to write some stuff to explain stuff]

Clouds of scent circled around her, filling her senses with the sweetness of wildflowers and freedom of oak and birch wood, combined with the song of birds and buzzing of bees, even a slight rustling in the undergrowth and a mouse quick skedaddled over to its nest, probably with food for it's young.

Sunshine trickled down through the leaves and branches up above, making shadow and light dance over her fur - the soft warm of sunlight and the calm coolness of shadow - as her soft paws stepped over the roots on the path formed by countless other animals walking in the same direction as her.

Familiar terrain made new only by the plants sprouting up around it, some bold ones even trying their luck on the path itself. She could occasionally feel new leaves brushing her fur as she passed them.


Soon she arrived, and a smile softened up her features at the clucking sound of the river. Freshwater flowing playfully forward, sometimes bubbly meeting a rock in its path, or turning with the stream. A fish gave of a splash when it joyfully hoped in the water. A fog's quiet voice sounded from a bit away. The wind's hushed voice whispered through the reeds growing at the riverbank.

She bent down, a shiver running down her back as the cool water met her muzzle, and ran down her throat. And she drank and drank and drank until her thirst was completely gone. She threw her head back and let allowed the liquid to drip drown her muzzle and neck, shaking the droplets from her whiskers and feeling a cool breeze ruffle her fur.


Then the sound of movement in the bushes claimed her attention for itself, and she crouched down and leaped after the mouse she could clearly feel the scent of. She rushed after it, through the forest, as quick and light-footed as the wind, before forgetting all about the mouse, and continuing to run. Forward and onward. She ran far but never seemed to get out of breath.
A little giggle even built up inside, growing into a burst of bubbling laughter as she kept going.

Sharp noise cut through her. Clawing at her ears and forcing her up on her paw. A quick breath sucked in through her clenched teeth and a horribly cold shiver ran down her spine at being startled awake in such a manner. Her soft ears - pricked up at utmost alert - turned towards the direction the metallic sound had come from, and her whole being tensed up in instinctive fear.

Angry noises came from the same direction, her owner cursing or muttering about whatever they had just dropped on the floor. A shaky breath left her and her shoulder hunched down in defeated tiredness as she assured herself it wasn't anything to fear. She tried to lay back down, to curl up and dream herself away again, forgetting this place, but the sharp clicking noise of claws on the marble floor warned her that her owner's dog was near. She would be allowed no sleep if it was there.

Her owner called for them both, in a nicer voice this time, and she picked up the scent and rattling of feed. Hard and dry little rocks dropped down in a bowl, and she was given the green light that she was allowed to eat. Beside her, the dog rushed forward to eat from its own bowl, and similarly she moved towards the oddly smelling little pebbles. They weren't particularly tasty. Dry and unnaturally crunchy. But they were food, and if she didn't eat the dog would, and she would starve.

After eating she moved toward the bowl of water a bit from their food bowls, carefully avoiding the small puddles the dog had splashed there before her and bending down to drink a little of water. It wasn't fresh and moving like the water in the streams, not with that chirps feeling. Instead, it was still and much too warm for her to get that refreshed feeling from it. She stopped drinking and licked the water drops from her muzzle before sitting down and hunching a little.

She wasn't tired. That was something she had realized a bit ago already. She wasn't suffering from a lack of sleep because if she just found a good place she could sleep whenever she wanted to. There wasn't any work, no border patrols to go on, or tick duties at all. Yet she was more drained than ever it seemed. Just not in the way she would have expected.


As her thoughts wander on, she recalled her dream. She had been free. For just a few moments she had been completely free. Free from her worries and tiredness, and these walls even. She tried to remember how the forest had been in Thunderclan, the scent of trees, rustling in the undergrowth, the singing birds, the breeze. And as she thought back to her home, she could feel an immense, earthshaking longing.

She missed them.

She missed them so much, and it felt like someone's dark claws were slowly carving out a black hole in her heart where they had been. She missed Brightpaw, and that bubbly and energetic way she'd always bounce around. She missed Mistyshade, and the safety that she always brought with her. And Sparrowflight. Starclan, she'd only known her other sister for a bit, but she had already felt so safe around her. She hoped they were doing well. Hoped Brightpaw was succeeding in her training, and that Mistyshade and Sparrowflight didn't have too much trouble with everything going on in the clans.

When she had left Dawnstar had just taken over the clan, and she knew many of her clanmates had suffered. She had heard of a fair few getting new scars, and everyone hadn't even made it out alive... A cold shiver ran down her back and he shook herself a little in an attempt to get away the feeling.


She did feel guilty for just up and leaving. First she hadn't meant to, she had sneaked out one night to get some time for herself, just away from everything that had gone down in camp. She knew she hadn't have done that either, since apprentices weren't allowed outside without supervision or a warrior with them, but in that moment it had been what she most needed.

But she had wandered longer than she had planned to, and soon she found herself at the outskirts border. She had settled there, sitting down on a rock and feel the cool moonlight on her fur. She had thought she'd stay there for a few moments and just breathe, but then the twolegs had come, and she could feel two hands pick her up as she attempted to leave. She had tried to escape even then, but more tiny hands had grabbed her, and she had even broken a paw trying to get away.

She had been brought to a twoleg den, where the tiny hands had finally let her go, but it was too late to run back to the forest. Luckily the twolegs threatened her with softness and kindness and even helped her paw to heal. She had been given food to eat, softer and tastier food than those odd pebbles, fresh water to drink, and a soft nest to sleep in. There, in that moment life with the twolegs had seemed so much safer then with a Thunderclan infested by Shaowclanners.

But she didn't get to stay with those twolegs, and was instead moved to these ones. At first, she hadn't minded much, the harder food and lower quality of the water were a downgrade of course, but she was grateful nonetheless, and the twolegs left her alone. But then they brought in that dog, and suddenly life became so much... less safe. She no longer felt she could be left truly in peace, and she always needed to rush to eat before the dog got to her food as well.

But maybe she deserved all this. She had been the one who hadn't tried escaping back to Thunderclan. She stayed here, not willingly perhaps, but she wasn't fighting back either. Maybe this was Starclan's way of punishing her, and showing her she shouldn't have been disloyal like that.

But she needed to do something. Even if it meant being tossed out once more, or even going back to life with twolegs, but she just had to see them again, she couldn't stand not knowing if they were alright.

Maybe she could slink out when one of her twolegs left through the opening in the walls. She knew the way to Thunderclan from here, and it shouldn't be too long of a walk. It would be dangerous for sure, but she could take that risk right now. She could take any risk to see them.

So yeah, there was the plan, now she just needed to execute it. She started hanging around a bit closer to the door-thingy, preparing for when her twoleg would leave early tomorrow. But it seemed an opportunity was presented to her earlier than she had thought, and her ears pricked up when heard that her twolegs had started to argue, and one of them was angry stomping towards the door.

She slowly rose up when she noticed it was about to open the door, and the perfect chance seemed to present itself when the twolegs stopped in the door opening and seemed to start arguing back at the other twoleg, who stood a bit away. This was maybe the best chance she'd ever get, so the sand-colored she-cat quickly moved towards it, trying to be as quiet and swift as she could.

When the twolegs took a few steps inside, away from the door, she hopped out, but didn't start running. It would be no use and they'd probably spot her, so instead, she crept under one of the larger bushes outside their den, and made herself as tiny as she could, waiting until she could hear the twolegs stomp down the stairs, slam the door behind it, and right after that she heard the monster storming off with her twolegs likely inside its belly.

She almost didn't dare move for a fair few minutes, seeing if the other twoleg would also come out or if the first one would return, all while listening to her own heartbeat thunder in her ears. But everything else was quiet. Not twolegs coming out or returning back.

Ok, well she needed to get moving, she couldn't stay here forever. One deep breath later, she began to head towards Thunderclan.