Sugar and spice and everything nice, these are the ingredients for a good little girl. Unfortunately, whoever had made her had gotten the measurements wrong. A little too much spice, not enough sugar, for many, she left a bitter taste. But, some seemed to get a kick out of her. They liked the fact that her tongue dripped with venom more than it dripped with sweetness. It was part of her charm. Most cats, though, tolerated her at best. A spoiled princess who had been all but dethroned - it was best to let her just do her thing. The older she got, the more cats knew that. Some battles just weren't worth fighting, and Sunrisepaw was nearly sociopathic in her strategies to get what she wanted. She always got what she wanted, no matter what. And right now, she wanted the group of rogues that was tearing up the garden out and out now.

Which was why instead of fleeing like a normal cat who was in too far over her head, she simply fluffed out her fur and prepared for battle.

"You're not supposed to be here, you ugly brutes. I don't know who you think you are, picking my flowers, but you need to get the hell outta here before I mince you."

Unfortunately for her, even at her most intimidating, she was only one cat, and not even a fully grown cat. She was approaching a group of three cats. She was clearly outnumbered, and the intruders knew it.

"You hear this, Doc?" snickered one of them, a large brown tabby with squinted blue eyes. "She's gonna mince us."

"Yeah, mince us," responded a second tom, "all for pickin' some flowers. Ain't this s'pposed to be the land of hospitality er somethin? Doesn't seem very friendly to me."

As the two spoke to each other, they slowly fanned out around her. Sunrisepaw had officially lost her way out. She felt a pang of nervousness, although she hid it with a low warning growl.

"It's a shame she's so feisty. She could be real pretty if she wasn't," the first cat responded spoke, a dark grin on his face.

"All she's gotta do is lighten up," the other retorted, taking a step closer. This made Sunrisepaw swipe at him, although he easily dodged with a grin.

"Now, now, boys," meowed the third cat, presumably this "Doc" character. "It isn't right to spook her like that. Surely, she just wants to chat, don't you, darling?" Her voice was much warmer than the others, the smile on her face somehow simultaneously less and more predatory than her peers.

"Don't you have ears? Or do cats only gain those when they join a clan?" Sunrisepaw finally retorted. "I don't want to talk, I want you out before you ruin the plants." What were the odds that she could superhero kick all of these cats' asses at once? Or, really, what were the chances that she made it out of this situation unharmed? Both sets of odds looked much smaller than she'd like. She was properly screwed, probably.

"See, she doesn't want to talk," meowed the second tom. "She wants us to go, we don't wanna go, we're at am impass, boss."

"Yeah, only one way out. Let us at it, pretty please. It's been so long since you let us have a good spar. Kevin over there's already out of shape."

"Yeah, well, you're nothing more than a bag of bones yourself," Kevin retorted. His belly had not grown that much, had it?

Doc frowned deeply at the two of them, offering Sunrisepaw an apologetic shrug. "Unfortunately, darling, we can't just leave. You see, it takes a lot to keep the boys here occupied, and I'm afraid to say that these flowers are the only way I'm going to get out of an afternoon of pestering. Consider it a sacrifice to a better cause. Now, as I see it here, there are two options. If you just turn back and go to camp, we all win. I'll take the boys back when they're done playing, and in exchange, you keep your life. The other option, well, if we can't pick the flowers in peace, the boys will be forced to... make some peace. A tragic story of wrong place, wrong time." She shrugged again. By this point, "the boys" had tightened their circle around her. "Your choice, darling."

If fear tightened her throat - which it did - Sunrisepaw didn't show it. She was smart enough to know that this was going to be a losing battle. But, she was stubborn enough to continue to risk her life. "Get. out NOW