running away is easy [open to one]

ooc: part of galloway's long walk

Twolegplace was dangerous for a cat made to explore. It was not a natural environment, where a cat could rule the mighty jungle he inhabited. The upwalkers always came out on top. They had magic, monsters, and strange hairless paws like a squirrel and a hawk together. If they caught you, that was it. He had watched it more than once. When a twoleg put you in their strange thorny boxes, you would never find your way out. Galloway did not know what happened after they put you, thorns and all, in their monsters and rode off in their bellies. The longer he stayed, the less he wanted to know. He was tired of living on constant edge. He was tired of lurking in shadows. He was tired of fighting for scraps. This was not the place for them. Maybe Hyacinth had better luck, and with that thought, Galloway decided to go back to the beginning, where he promised to meet her. His minor wounds from his previous altercation were now scabbing and mostly healed, but there was no way he'd walk through the marsh again. Cowardly Rose Thorn would have her lackeys on the lookout. No... he had to take the long way around.

The humid coolness of an incredibly early morning felt like a mother's gentle grooming on his fur as he leaped down into the grass beneath the fence. Before him was the rugged terrain of the Sky-Cats. He didn't mind them so much. At least they had chosen sensible territory. Galloway started off swiftly, but as he skipped through the territory and ducked around its many rocks, vines, and branches, he found himself slowing from a trot to a wander. The tom lifted his eyes fondly to the sky, where the many blended colors of sunup were cascading through the crispy canopy, illuminating the leaves and needles of the trees around him. He wanted to see it all.

Not the most avid climber, but stubborn to the last, the lanky tom sunk his claws into the bark of a pine and began hauling himself up in short spurts. It was a terrible waste of his energy, but for the view? He would have done ten hundred leaping bounds across fifteen different trees to see the great sun peak over the mountains.

He did not make it to the top of the tree, but a few foxlengths was all he needed. Slinking across a thick branch, the tortoiseshell marveled at the sky's mellow fire. It was a sight to behold. It was everything life was meant for. One day, he assured himself, he would cross those mountains. On the other side, he might find his home. After that, all the adventures of this life would be his. No longer would he be confined to these little woods. Galloway sighed, a muggy sensation collecting on his eyelids from the dew, and let his tail sweep back and forth in the blank space beneath this branch. "You'd make a pretty good squirrel," he mused to himself, a habit he had picked up in solitude. He enjoyed being alone, but without anyone to talk to, his thoughts had no outlet on which to imprint themselves. So he talked and chattered like a silly bird, knowing that he spoke only to the many versions of himself that existed in his head. "Alright, how do I get down..?"

Galloway scaled the tree with a stumbling difficulty. At the bottom, he shook out his pelt and took a moment to collect himself. He was sure this was a part of the territory he had seen before.

”SkyClan doesn’t take kindly to strangers.”

The voice wasn’t a snarl, but instead a barely audible murmur from the shadows of a steep rock. A single yellow eye glinted from the darkness and then he appeared - a cat blacker than the night sky and with part of his face covered in a fading pinkish-white scar. He approached slowly and calmly, his fur pressed flat and claws clearly sheathed. ”I think you would make a better songbird; you’re quite loud. My name is Juniperlight. I am a warrior of SkyClan, and I must send you off of our land. However, I’m not fond of attacking unless it’s necessary.”

He traced the younger tom with his eye. The warrior wondered how this rogue had wandered so far into their territory without being caught before realized that SkyClan had been far too busy preparing to think about an invasion on their own land. This tom, though, was peculiar. He had recent injuries and traces of marsh in his long, handsome pelt.  ”May I escort you to the nearest border?” To ThunderClan or to ShadowClan, Juniperlight didn’t care, as long as he was gone without stealing a single bite of prey.