// you're the closest to heaven that i'll ever be

[Dawn]

and you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

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Sleek black and white fur sparkled in the evening light. Tail twitched, ears flicked as a faint breeze blew over them. Many scents were swept towards the every twitching black nose. Many cats lived in the two-leg place down there. Probably kittypets, though with the occasional rogue and loner.

That was where her father had met the she-cat he had cheated on her mother with. Butterfly had been her name. She had been pregnant, the unborn kits had never been born. Her half-siblings had never been born.

cause i don't think that they'd understand[/color]
She had never known how she really felt about that. Was she sad that she had never met her father? Her brother didn't. He had always said that they were better off without him. Bright blue eyes trailed down to her paws. Indeed, she had agreed with her brother, that they were better off.

But even so... she had wished that she had at least met him. That her mother had let Butterfly live long enough to give birth. All she had now was Osiris... and Irkalla had never really received affection in any sense from him.

But she would never voice these desires. She would be considered soft. Irkalla was not soft. She let out a hiss at this thought, eyes narrowing slightly. If anyone dared to call her soft, she would tear their ear off.

and i don't want to go home right now[/color]
A chilly breeze drifted through the slowly darkening night. She shivered slightly and fluffed up her fur, half wanting to return to the 'camp' in which she lived with the rest of her family. The Family. Once it had just been Adanna, Iris and Ahmose. But it had grown.

She didn't want to go back just then though, she wanted to stare down at the little cluster of two-leg buildings a little while longer. She couldn't return just now. She was too lost in her own mind to return. They would think she had gone loco.

yeah you bleed just to know you're alive[/color]
Irkalla stared down into the village. She could hear the monsters moving around the intertwined thunderpathes. Their stench was heavy in the air as well, and she sneezed as a rather strong wave swept over her. "Dirty two-leg toys."[/color] She growled, eyes narrowing slightly.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Did she have family down there? Among the two-leg nests? Of course, she would never go seek them. But what if...?
She turned her head to the sky. The she-cat who had never experienced a mother's love, the touch of a father. She yearned for that kind of closeness. The love one received from their family. The love, she had never had.
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[frosty]

"Dirty two-leg toys."

Who was that? Large, triangular ears suddenly went erect and her tail was stretched out horizontally behind her. But upon identifying the voice as her cousin Irkalla's, her tail shot straight up like a flag-pole and quivered happily. Finally, someone to break the monotony! Perhaps Irkalla would even play with her!

Lacebark had been wandering around for hours, looking for someone or something to quench her boredom. She couldn't stand being in camp anymore, not since her mother had died. Her dark amber eyes suddenly became somber with the blue emotion. Iris had been brutally murdered by her other cousin, Gravity. Lacebark was still unsure about how she felt about Gravity and the entire situation.

Gravity had good reason to be angered. He was a fighter, and always would be, this much Lacebark knew. Iris had whisked him away into the forest when he was still young, snatching him out of his nest during the dead of night and throwing him to a fox. Or, so that was the story Gravity had told her and the rest of The Family.

Her mouth stretched into the neutral horizontal position, indicating unease. Iris had always been a good mother to her and Torrent and Nightengale and Fox and even Dalila, before her sister died. But Iris also had a mean side, Lacey knew as well. But the facts just didn't make sense. Would her mother really have tried to murder a helpless kit, let alone her own kin?

Sighing softly, she would not let her poisoned memories haunt her. No, Lacey's spirits were never dampened. She was always the most playful cat in The Family, the one less suited to killing. Taking another cat's life sent shivers up and down her spine. No, Lacebark enjoyed her carefree, naive, playful lifestyle as it was. She didn't have to change who she was, even if she stood out like a dandelion among a field of marigold.

Today, her pelt was stained with the green fluids she had extracted from grass blades. Lacey had rolled around in a good juicy patch at the break of dawn so she could spent the day stalked through foliage in pursuit of nothing at all.

"Good evening, Irkalla," Lacebark chirped, padding right up to her cousin until she could brush muzzles in a friendly manner. That was just how Lacey was, naturally friendly and good-spirited. "How are you tonight? Have you spent all day in Twolegplace?"

[Dawn]

"Good evening, Irkalla,"

Irkalla flinched back to reality, from the depths of her mind. Her dark, twisted mind... tainted by the cruelty her family had come to know as the norm.

She looked around, the fur along her spine starting to stand on end, not realizing who was approaching her. But it was her cousin, Lacebark. Her fur immediately fell flat. Lacebark was one of the friendlier of her family, and Irkalla liked her, probably best amongst her cousins. Even though she wasn't exactly a calm, gentle, lovely cat herself.

"Oh, hello Lacey."

[/color] She meowed, her voice more calm and steady than usual. She allowed Lacebark to brush her muzzle with her own and retuned the greeting, glad of the comfort that came with such a simple gesture of kindness.

"How are you tonight? Have you spent all day in Twolegplace?"

Irkalla shook her head. "No, I have actually been sitting just here for a while. On this hill."[/color] She admitted, her eyes flickering towards the twoleg place, now ablaze with lights in the growing darkness.

She looked back at her cousin, for once not taught with unshed aggravation and aggressiveness that usually came with others. It felt nice, to be calm even when another cat was around.

"How about you? Have you been wandering all day?"[/color] She asked, eyes moving down the grass stained pelt. "Rolling around in the grass I see."[/color] She added with a slight smile, her tail flicking over some of the stains in her cousin's pelt.
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[frosty]

"Oh, hello Lacey."

The pale golden she-cat didn't cease to notice the change in Irkalla's voice. Normally her cousin's voice held hints of aggression and anger, but now it seemed to flow with a more gentle gait. Lacey wasn't sure what had altered the course of the she-cat's vocals, but she was nonetheless glad she didn't catch Irkalla at one of her times of unexplained rage.

Lacebark assumed it was a genetics thing. Iris had told her of Adanna's sudden outbursts, where she directed her fury at random Clan cats, often ripping the life out of their unsuspecting bodies. While Iris herself was known as a seasoned killer, Lacey knew Adanna was far, far worse. And this awful trait seemed to have been passed down to both Irkalla and Osiris.

She flicked her tail, doing her best to hide a shudder. She would never kill a cat, ever.

"No, I have actually been sitting just here for a while. On this hill."

Curious screeched inside of Lacey, the dark demons possessing the innermost areas of her body now trying to free themselves via her muzzle. But she didn't dare allow them to. Something was upsetting Irkalla, and whatever it was, it was none of her business. Problems of others were not meant to affect her. She had always been a carefree spirit, unable to be tamed. And she was not about to change that, no matter how hard her emotions waged war.

"How about you? Have you been wandering all day? Rolling around in the grass I see."

Lacey nodded. "Yes, I had to get away from the camp. I couldn't stand being in a place that still smelled of Iris. I miss her immensely, but grieving isn't going to do anything to solve it. I still can't forgive Gravity, but there's no point in holding a grudge. What's happened has happened, and it can't be changed no matter how much I wish it to be so." She shrugged the thought of her mother's murder away, locking it away in a box and hiding it in the back of her mind.

"It's one of my latest disguises. Perfect for hiding in foliage. Today wasn't a day I wanted to be noticed by strangers. I needed to sort out my thoughts on my own."

Lacebark was known as the most creative cats in The Family. She was intelligent enough to have taught herself to extract the juices from berries and exploiting the colors of the earth to dye her pelt with. The bright pigmentation gave her a more flashy appearance, and the vain she-cat always loved what she saw. Smearing her pelt with vibrant greens, happy reds, neutral browns, and calm blues was not all she did. Lacey even threaded berries, twigs, feathers, and anything else through her pelt to give herself a more gaudy appearance. And with her extravagant disguises, she had given herself a stealthy reputation. Few cats, save The Family, had seen her, but many had heard of her. Some even called her 'The Painted Wind' because some didn't even know her name.

She loved the reputation she had acquired, though many thought of it to be bizarre or crazy.

[Dawn]

Lacebark nodded. "Yes, I had to get away from the camp. I couldn't stand being in a place that still smelled of Iris. I miss her immensely, but grieving isn't going to do anything to solve it. I still can't forgive Gravity, but there's no point in holding a grudge. What's happened has happened, and it can't be changed no matter how much I wish it to be so."

Irkalla watched as Lacebark shrugged slightly, though she could tell she was more upset that the small gesture hinted. Irkalla had not been around the camp or territory when Gravity had returned and killed Iris. She had been touring random places around the forest. She couldn't quite remember why, but it had felt nice to simply walk on her own, completely alone.

"It won't happen over night, forgiving Gravity. I doubt very much that everyone will forgive him. After all, she was your mother. But Lacey, make sure you are careful. Not for your own safety, no. I don't think that you would confront him, but perhaps some of your siblings might. We can't afford much more bloodshed among ourselves, I have a feeling we will need every fang we can get in coming moons."

[/b] She predicted gravely, her eyes flickering with some worry.

"It's one of my latest disguises. Perfect for hiding in foliage. Today wasn't a day I wanted to be noticed by strangers. I needed to sort out my thoughts on my own."

Irkalla nodded slightly. "Understandable. It's effective I suppose." She meowed quietly, her eyes moving down Lacebark's now grass stained pelt.

The black and white she-cat had always wondered why her cousin liked to stain her pelt. She did understand the whole, not wanting to be noticed part, but even so. Irkalla had always disliked when even a small stain tainted her pelt. If ever she got into a fight, she did her best to keep blood from splattering her pelt. If it happened to come to it, she would always run off at the end of a battle to clean the red stain off.
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