private BEATING ITS WINGS & SNAKEHISS

[sparkspirit]

Though life is moving past him like a breeze-drifting cloud, Sparkspirit is not as empty as his eyes. The once vibrant blue has mellowed to a cool lake– they catch everything they see, sending ripples across his gaze. A few warriors huddle together near the prey pile, sharing tongues and a mouse between them. Their eyes aren't on him and that's something new, but when he follows their venomous gazes, their mutterings of, Do you think he'll go with his mentor now? it's Snakehiss that he finds. Little Snakepaw, cold and cruel but not all that threatening. The same Snakepaw that had brushed aside his last apology but saved him from a badger. He hadn't spoken to him much since he earned his name.

It was awkward, being Sparkspirit and Snakehiss.

At least the weight on his shoulders is good for putting that far from his mind.

He puts himself between the warrior and the sharp-tongued gossips, a mouse dropping from his grasp to land before him. He can't quite find it in himself to smile, but there's no animosity in his gaze. A beat, and another, and he slowly sinks down to his belly too. "I'm sorry." It doesn't mean much. There's nothing to be sorry for, nothing that's his fault this time, but...he gets it, anyway. "Losing someone is...." Though his voice trails off for a moment, Sparkspirit's dry throat flexes on a swallow as he spits out, "Hard," as if that even begins to explain it. "Was she a good mom?" He nudges the mouse closer.

𝘛𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘐  ･｡ﾟ  🗲  ╱╱ 09.27.2023 𝘊𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘚𝘈𝘠 ˊˎ＜

• OOC. —
• 🗲　　. 　 ˚　.  SPARKSPIRIT. HE - HIM - HIS. 12 MOON OLD MOOR RUNNER OF WINDCLAN. VERY LOYAL TO HIS CLAN. PENNED BY REVELATIONS.  ————
  
  
  ——  a trim mock tortoiseshell tom with mostly black fur splashed with the occasional patch orange. he has a singular white mark on the back of his neck shaped similarly to a lightning strike, and a small scar across the bridge of his nose. his eyes are a shocking electric blue. he has grown into his frame with dense musculature despite his lean, light appearance. swift and sturdy in equal parts.
  

  ✦ ECHOLIGHT x ELMBREEZE. ADOPTED BY YEWBERRY. BRIGHTFAM, BUT SOMEWHAT ESTRANGED DUE TO HIS LOYALTY TO WINDCLAN. ————————

• "speech"

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[SNAKEHISS]

One of his worst fears had been realized. It was as if he were trapped in a nightmare, one he could not wake from no matter how he tried. Snakehiss had never been exempt from karma, whether it be losing a spar after running his mouth or getting assigned tick duty after getting caught teasing a clanmate, but this felt different. It was as if he had been pummeled square in the face by a flying rock, unexpected yet hard-hitting. Of all of the cats to betray their own clan... Badgermoon? Sootstar's loyal and sturdy second-in-command, now reduced to a filthy traitor.

Everybody knew that he despised traitors. As such, any kin or any close affiliates with traitors earned his ire as well. It's a struggle to admit that he is the very thing he had been prejudiced toward his entire life.

Speaking of the kin of traitors...

The sudden appearance of the black-and-red amalgamation engulfs his vision, blocking out the jeers of his clanmates. It was unexpected, as he and Sparkspirit don't talk. He had never been particularly nice to the other tom, after all, and the awkwardness between them persisted into warriorhood as well. Truthfully, as much as he would never admit it, he had Sparkspirit to thank for helping drive off the badger that had interrupted his warrior assessment. Snakehiss might have failed otherwise for all he knew, as his first instinct had been to run away.

Snakehiss doesn't understand why the other warrior even bothers trying to be decent to him, after all of the mean comments and insults he had dealt him in their youth. Most cats simply avoided him or returned his venomous attitude, though not Sparkspirit. Why?

His gaze flicks slowly from the limp mouse to the blue-eyed tom, his own set of viridian hues harboring a certain cold despondency within. "You needn't take pity on me." Snakehiss tells Sparkspirit with a twitch of the end of his tail. He didn't need his clanmates, especially old enemies, hovering over him like a poor kit who tripped and scraped his leg.

"Was she a good mom?"

He holds his gaze defensively, his tongue teetering on the urge to tell Sparkspirit to go away, though his eyes cannot help but soften as he ponders the question. Suddenly, it was not about Sparkspirit feeling sorry for Snakehiss, but instead talking about Rosepool and the legacy she left behind. "She...." Stars. He had never thought about it. His parents had always just been his parents, after all; the cats who raised him and taught him right from wrong. "She was doting, yet firm. She always told me that I would make a great warrior one day, that I was destined for something great." And he wanted so, so badly to believe her.

The midnight black tom is staring off elsewhere now, lost in thought, any reluctance toward Sparkspirit's company having seeped out of his demeanor. "Everybody meets their end eventually. I..." Snakehiss hesitates, bowing his head and staring down at his paws. "... just never thought she would go so soon." He had hoped that Rosepool would watch him grow into the WindClanner he was destined to become — strong, fierce, noble. That was all he had ever been groomed to be, all he had ever worked for, so the fact that his mother would never see it through deeply upset the young warrior.

That all-too-familiar lump forms in his throat, as does the aching in his eyes, and Snakehiss silently curses their arrival.

✰ INFO

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  ✰ SNAKEHISS
  —— he/him; warrior ( moor runner ) of windclan
  —— bisexual; single; not looking
  —— long-limbed black tom with green eyes, a small white chest patch, and a notable bite mark on his right foreleg
  —— "speech", thoughts, attack
  —— link to full tags; @ on discord for plots.
  —— penned by beatles

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