i know too much of leaving to be still and settle down [solo]

Batbite brushed past the camp's night guard, as she did on so many nights, with a quiet greeting. It was easier to hunt under the cover of darkness, easier to pretend that the heat of the sun had faded more than just a little. Minkstream wouldn't miss her for a short while, she was sure; and she needed time to herself. Time to think, alone and away from the camp she called her home.

Slowly stalking through the undergrowth, she kept watch for predator and prey alike; though her mind was elsewhere.

The Righteous Few's tyranny had been a wake-up call, as far as she was concerned. She was set in her choices, a warrior loyal to her family; and so long as her family remained in ThunderClan she would stay - but they had taught her, in no uncertain terms, that she would never be happy here. Not the way she once was, at least. She couldn't follow her wishes and dreams past the border, couldn't disappear for days on end.

Momentarily pulled from her thoughts by the sight of a mouse, she fell into position. Perhaps she would feel better knowing she wasn't returning with empty paws, if only for a moment.

She took down her quarry with ease - not too surprising; it was only a mouse - and buried it in the undergrowth before carrying on her way.

Batbite tried to catch a Mouse, costing 3 SP. The catch was successful.

Batbite
45/45 HP
157/160 SP

The member 'Holly' has done the following action : Dices roll

---

'Hunting Dice' : 3

The warrior code, meant for honor, had never done her any good - and yet she still chose to live within it, for all they called that she had broken it. It was flawed at its core, she thought; the way they lived their lives was flawed from its conception. That every cat was born or taken in to a single Clan, and meant to call that space home for all their days... That the reeds of RiverClan, the rolling moors of WindClan, or the marshes of ShadowClan were places she couldn't step. Even SkyClan's part of the forest was off-limits, and that irritated her in a way she could never truly place.

To a cat who sought knowledge over all else, who was driven to learn and explore; who wanted to ask questions and know all there was to know...

It felt profoundly unfair; that she was meant to pick a place and stay there for all her days. And she had done so, sworn her oath and kept it as much as she could manage, she had strayed from her path only with the permission to do so.

There was another mouse. She repeated her steps, simple yet refined; each action familiar in a way that both instinctual and exhausting.

Again, she buried it in the undergrowth. She would return on her way back to camp.

Batbite tried to catch a Mouse, costing 3 SP. The attempt was successful.

Batbite
45/45 HP
154/160 SP

The member 'Holly' has done the following action : Dices roll

---

'Hunting Dice' : 3

And oh, she had dared to break the code, in the eyes of the so-called righteous cats...

But she had abandoned it first; in all its unfairness. And her crime was a simple one, one she could do nothing about: she had fallen in love with Minkstream, with Strom; who effortlessly fell into her heart and made his home there before she could even realize it. Who had fought with her as apprentices, lost and trapped; who had stayed as others drifted. Who shared her frustrations, who understood the way the rules and restraints of Clan life weighed her down.

Who ran away with her, built a life with her...

Who left all of that behind to come home with her.

And they had fought the Righteous Few, fought the plague and the senseless idiocy of the cats that surrounded them...

But nothing had changed. The StarClan cats would not strike them where they stood; but their pointless rules and restrictions remained. They remained steeped in poorly-aged traditions; in their own echoed voices. Love and tolerance were fine things indeed, but that of their starry ancestors seemed weighed down with conditions. If you do this, if you don't do that...

The whole thing should've been tossed aside like a piece of crow-food and remade; because it clearly wasn't working before. If under the warrior code, RiverClan and ShadowClan's leader could shatter it by having kits; if StarClan saw fit to strike them down rather than examine that perhaps the rules themselves were the problem...

And the worst part was that so many cats seemed perfectly content to return to the way it was.

She was alone in her fury, silently screaming at the sky and demanding an explanation...

And no one else seemed to care.

She thought back to Morningpaw - no, Morningdove's, for there was honor in her name, earned by keeping peace - rebellion; to the cats that had been there.

Cats she could easily call friends, could feel at ease with; would happily fight beside. They weren't clanmates, but something as good as such to her. The warrior code, with all its honor and tradition, could do what it wanted with that. Her loyalty was to Minkstream and her kits; was to those who fought at her side as much as it was to Oakstar.

Still, she would keep her silence. So long as no one asked, there was no need to be more of a stranger to ThunderClan; more of an outsider. This place that she called home when she knew she would never really belong, with a family that felt more at peace here than she could ever know.

For now, she would return to her mate and her nest and her camp; and she would sleep and dream of a peace she knew she would never feel.