private happiness is such a fickle thing / ✦ antlerbreeze

[ADDERSNAP]

A bird free from its cage, swirling through wind currents as though feeling the rush of air through its feathers for the first time. His time in the medicine den had done him well -- a faux sense of confidence surged through Addersnap like a crashing wave, appearance smug and glaring. Instead of reflecting on his time in the uprising -- on the injury that he had sustained, the possibility of being silenced in one swipe, one crunch down on his body to make him limp... he had developed an overcompensation for his fear. The anxieties that gnawed away at his stomach each night were becoming too much, leaving a helpless scrap of fur balled up to hide from the ghosts that tried to make their way into his mind. In turn, the boy grew cocky, too sure of his ways though he was quite inexperienced. It helped to hide the terrors that plagued him, the biting at the back of his mind.

However, since he had been sent out of the medicine den following his recovery, such fears didn't follow him as closely as they used to. The young warrior had much more important matters to attend to, like showing Flamestar his worth to the group, to prove to Raccoonstripe and Antlerbreeze that he was someone to miss, a warrior needed in ThunderClan's darkest times. Addersnap volunteered for every patrol he could, whether it be to hunt or check the borders. Exhaustion had no place in his mind, cast away and only brought out after paws hit soft bedding, overwhelming and unbearable. He wished to not feel the burden of tiredness, to not be cursed with such a hinderance.

A flick of a chocolate colored tail, the sound of paws crunching dry leaves echoing through the trees. To his excitement, a hunting patrol had been called as the sun lowered beneath the canopy, shining through to highlight the forest with its rays. Addersnap found himself with Antlerbreeze and a few others, though to cover more ground the group had agreed to split off into pairs. Striped sides heave as a rush of nerves floods through his system, the tabby swallowing the feeling of wishing to be alone. Antlerbreeze was not a figure he was too familiar with, having trained with her in some instances but never having done anything to stand out to him. She was soft spoken, like himself, though he felt some distain towards her tenderness. How could one always remain so positive about the situations at hand?

Snagging a tooth against his lip after letting out a yawn, his gaze caught her own before looking away with heat burning at his ears. The silence between them was deafening. Did he need to say something? He felt no desire to go out of his way to speak to someone he didn't know, much less have any interest in. At least, he just hadn't really noticed her much. It wasn't like she wasn't pretty or anything like that --

Addersnap noticed that his thoughts seemed to be getting the better of him, worry growing in the pit of his stomach from the idea of socializing. It was just making him overthink, that was all. Sneaking a look back towards Antlerbreeze before pushing through the brush, he opened his maw to taste the air around them. "Do ya smell anythin'?" The question was much more simple than having to worry about asking about her day, or if her transition into warriorhood had been going well, or if Howlingstar's death still was affecting her. No, he rather not worry about the realities that were placed in front of them.

@antlerbreeze :]​

addersnap ( adderkit > adderpaw ) / i've come undone ✦
⸙ amab male, he/him pronouns / sexuality unknown, single
⸙ thunderclan warrior, 13 moons old / ages every 00/29/00
⸙ lh chocolate tabby with low white and golden hues, lanky
⸙ npc xx npc / brother to elkthistle, bearcloud, and 1 other‎‎ ‎
⸙ smells of fresh cut grass, mud, and musky wood / spotify
⸙ written by @/emily, ic opinions / tags, toyhouse, discord‎ ‎

 

[antlerbreeze]

Work had been nothing but a distraction for her sore nerves- by this time, Howlingstar's death had settled deep in her heart and was already a wound that was healing, thread and needle pulled through a gape in her aortas to ensure that she was being put back together. Being able to continue to contribute to a clan that had a never ending collection of kits that seemed to keep popping up was the best thing she knew how to do, how to make that torturous needle move faster.

Addersnap and herself in a pair- she didn't mind. She remembered the moon that Leafhusk had them training alongside each other, something that Antlerbreeze was grateful that Leafhusk had done. The warrior's eyes were half lidded- but ears were cocked forward and mouth slightly parted, trying to get a scent or a hint of sound from any kind of prey. The sun was low, hence why she had her eyes guarded and half-lowered... the feeling of eyes on her pelt had her head turning, yellow matching with Addersnap's own goldens and she blinked.

He had been looking. Her focus was split for a moment, her paw nearly stuttering. Why had he been- She wasn't given the chance to complete her thought, head whipping away, unaware that he looked for a second time before he asked aloud. It was nearly grating on his nerves, breaking the silence they had been walking in. Antlerbreeze huffed quietly, then shook her head. "Not yet. These leaf-fall winds are making it difficult to get a good read." Antlerbreeze responded honestly, her own fur feeling overly warm all of a sudden.

Yellow eyes shifted and turned back towards Addersnap again. Why is this so hard all of a sudden? She questioned herself- she wondered briefly, then, if his long-look had her wondering in return. She did her best to push it all aside and lock it away, swallowing quietly. "What.. about you? Hear anything?" Antlerbreeze questioned in return, hoping to settle some kind of normalcy over this pairing.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ┌── MY NATURAL REACTION ⋅❁⋅ IS THAT WERE SCARED ──┐‎

• "speech"
  

• 

• ANTLERBREEZE she/her, warrior of thunderclan, fourteen moons.
  ⭃ LH cinnamon lynx sepia with low white. smaller body, agile and slippery, fits really well in small gaps in the underbrush. soft spoken but strong and determined.
  ⭃ previously mentored by howlingstar / / mentoring no one
  ⭃ padding after no one / / sibling to fallowbite and doepath
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[ADDERSNAP]

BLACK STAR / ✦ Leaf-fall winds tear through the trees after the molly falls quiet, Addersnap squinting against the sharp gusts that blew in his eyes. Through the soft blur that filmed his vision he could make out Antlerbreeze's frame as she stopped in front of him, eyes narrowed and maw parted gently. It was then when the heat spread from his tufted ear-tips down through his veins, warming his skin in a way that left him with mixed emotions. It was uncomfortable, foreign. It sent shivers down his spine as he fought to adjust to the feeling, making the boy shake his fur out to rid the sensation from continuing. But yet, the way his heart leapt and sort of flip-flopped made him feel... confident. Excited. It was what separated him from feeling straight-up embarrassed (a feeling he was all too familiar with now).

He didn't want to dwell on expanding any further on the topic, though. The tom just wanted to stuff down the 'pests' (in reference to the anxiety he was carrying) that ate away at his chest . Fluttering eyelids shut, Addersnap took a deep breath through his nose and paused, letting the air sit in his lungs for a moment. Exhaling -- though rushed and a bit cut off -- the tabby allowed his muscles to relax, his shoulders to adjust and crack as he tried to display a more 'laid-back' appearance to ignore the butterflies dancing around in his stomach.

Blinking golden eyes open to a now softer breeze, the boy couldn't help but notice that his gaze was still on her. Each time he tried to focus on what scents may be in their area or looked off into the canopy of the trees around them, he would drift back to Antlerbreeze. The way her bark-colored coat glistened in the sunlight with each wave of wind, the reflection of the lowering sun in her hauntingly-yellow lit gaze that was so similar to his own. It wasn't until the she-cat meowed her question that Addersnap even realized that his attention was transfixed on her, stare immediately darting to look at the scenery around them. Now his skin burned with embarrassment.

Angling umber ears towards the depths of the forests to pass off his weird... whatever was going on right now with him, one of them twitches from a shrill song flowing through the current. Padding up next to the she-cat, he lingered as far away from her pelt as he could without possibly calling attention to the gap between them with bristled fur. Though downturned features and purposeful distance create the interpretation that Addersnap wished to be anywhere but here, a tug at his chest told him otherwise. "A dove. I- I 'hink." Hesitance slipped through his overconfident tone, his stutter thick with the shaky sound of anxiety before sharply finishing his sentence. He was not going to appear nervous in front of her -- no, he was not going to express such nerves to any of his clanmates. If he could help it.

Craning his head towards the sky -- colored like a meadow full of windblown flowers -- he acknowledged Antlerbreeze's gaze for the first in what felt like a while and stepped forward, eyes transfixed towards the direction of the call. "Uh, we sh'uld get movin'. Th' sun's -- uh -- settin' more oh-ve' the trees." The moon was visible over their heads, stars slowly piercing their way into the sky like claws into leaves. The lack of time they were seeming to gather felt heavy on his shoulders, the weight usually hanging from his jaws in the form of prey instead. Leaf-fall had only just reared its head and yet its effects were being felt so soon. At least maybe they could bring home something tonight.

Nibbling at the inside of his cheek, Addersnap avoided making eye contact with the sepia by instead looking at the antler pattern that adorned her neck. Though it could be assumed that the chocolately-colored tom would remember the time from their training together, most of the time it had been spent with him too focused on the task at paw than whoever he may have been with at the time. So he never noticed the fact that they both adorned animal-like names, that their fur even reflected the inspiration of their names, the same glowing eyes.

Shaking his head, the tom brandished creased brows and a frown of focus as he let a sigh pass his lips. Maybe he needed to take a break from patrols. Something was getting to him -- it must be the lack of sleep. That's what Addersnap hoped for, at least. "Follow me." Brown and white paws push off against dry soil as he dove into the underbrush, keeping a steady pace so Antlerbreeze would (hopefully) fall into step with him. The rush of the wind through his fur re-energized him, a rare smile breaking out onto previously grim features as the sound of the dove got closer. "Bet I can beat-cha to 't!" His tail may be what she would turn to however if she went to look at him to reply -- he decided to give himself a head start with a loud "haha!"​

 

[antlerbreeze]

The awkward moment continues longer then she might have liked- she can feel his eyes along her pelt, and Antlerbreeze does her best to not look back. It would only make things more difficult, she reasoned. At her question, Addersnap stutters. She blinks, vision lifting to the tree branches above them. She remembers briefly when Howlingstar made her climb some of the Great Sycamore- she had gone quite a while. Antlerbreeze wonders how it would be to snatch a dove from mid-air, but only briefly.

The other's logic about the sunset caused her ears to twitch, and Antlerbreeze lowered her vision to the other. She didn't respond, not verbally, but her head nodded. He wasn't looking at her- not her eyes, anyways, his vision resting on her neck. Ear tips flamed once more, almost strangely... touched at the attention to her, instead of the forest around her. Antlerbreeze's stomach jumped in a weird way, like it was nauseous but.. it wasn't anywhere close to that.

She's about to say something when the other shakes his head, surprising her out of her stupor. She had been the one staring now, eyes settled on the other's dappled pelt. With ears and face warm, she turns her scarred visage away, tail twitching low over the ground. The air was tense, in a way she was entirely unfamiliar with, and Antlerbreeze didn't know how to handle it. Not by any means, did she know how to handle it- she couldn't even decipher it, at this point.

He begins to step off, and Antlerbreeze is sending silent thanks to Starclan that they weren't just standing there any longer. Her paws pressed into soil as they moved- quicker, and quicker. Addersnap makes a bet, and while Antlerbreeze wasn't really the competitive type, it was... easier with Addersnap then most to take off after him. They had been around each other for a while- a month shared as apprentices, even if they weren't close now.

Antlerbreeze.. may or may not have let him go ahead, eyes twinkling with mirth as she watched him hopefully catch the dove. What a catch it would be, too- would it have pure white feathers, she wonders? Would.. she get to keep a feather? The thought makes her stomach do another jump, but she followed dutifully regardless of how unsteady she was feeling.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ┌── MY NATURAL REACTION ⋅❁⋅ IS THAT WERE SCARED ──┐‎

• "speech"
  

• 

• ANTLERBREEZE she/her, warrior of thunderclan, fourteen moons.
  ⭃ LH cinnamon lynx sepia with low white. smaller body, agile and slippery, fits really well in small gaps in the underbrush. soft spoken but strong and determined.
  ⭃ previously mentored by howlingstar / / mentoring no one
  ⭃ padding after no one / / sibling to fallowbite and doepath
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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