pafp I aim low | Friendly advice

[Snakeblink]

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

Being deputy is a heavy burden to carry. An honor, as well, but more often than not a thankless task with little grace given for missteps and poor judgment. Snakeblink has not received the mixed blessing of shouldering the mantle fully; only assigned a mouthful of patrols and accompanied leaders to the Gathering, which was nerve-racking enough. But he saw what being a deputy did to Smokethroat, and Lichentail; what it is now doing to Hazecloud.

Learning when to apply pressure and when to ease off is a lesson of leadership he has yet to learn, and he is watching her go through it with no small amount of sympathy. He doesn’t think it is all that unlike raising kits, from what little he knows. A balance of gentleness and authority. For that reason he believes she will rise to the challenge once she finds her footing. She is a fearsome molly. Proud and decisive. But still, if he can help somehow, give her advice acquired from moons of watching others face the same hurdles as she…

He’d like to try, at least. Even if he might leave a few whiskers to the attempt.

”Ah, Hazecloud,” he greets softly, slithering up to the graceful deputy. He keeps almost a fox’s length of distance between them, as if she might try to eviscerate him with her claws rather than with her words, as she usually does. ”I could not help but hear about a few… incidents, of our clanmates questioning the assignments you gave them.” He does not like to lay it out so starkly, but likes the thought of a misunderstanding even less.

”I like to think of myself as… well-aware of others’ business and idiosyncrasies -- as you are well aware,” he adds wincingly. ”Perhaps, if you would like, I could help you lay out what kind of orders cats may respond to more positively? Hazewish, for example, takes better to an appeal to their wanderlust than to direct orders… knowing these things could save you some trouble going forward, yes?”

He affixes a stilted smile and tries to project an open, helpful sort of air as he looks expectantly at Hazecloud. Surely, she will see this as the offer of assistance that it is, and not any sort of bid for power. Or worse, an attempt to discredit her. But surely she does not think so low of him.​

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely​

ooc. information.

• @hazecloud
  
• 
  
  
  — Snakeblink • he / him. 56 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

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[hazecloud]

—————————————————————⊰✿⊱————————————————————
The hiccups within deputyship had thankfully not called her capabilities to question far too openly. There is a pawful that stand out to her of course that play as keen reminders so she may not repeat them again. Dishing out everyones patrols must be as timely as possible, her warriors and apprentices grow bored without work, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing either. Always ensure to remain aware of mentors and their apprentices and not to assign them on separate patrols... Frecklepaw and Driftwood thankfully did not seem to hold resentment for that mistake.

Valepaw and his dissension, however, felt like a wall. Hazewish had given the boy the encourage to talk back and while they eventually meandered to do as they were asked, the disrespect itself had never felt fully resolved... Hazecloud wondered what sort of residual that would have on the Clan.

"Snakeblink." She greeted her lead warrior neutrally, her eyes flicking between the distance he's given himself. He would be smart to, she realized, as he went on with his thoughts. She's unsure if which incident he's speaking of, and that alone has her hot with agitation. That she is reminded that there was more than one incident against her authority. Valepaw, with Hazewish and Catfishleap. Lakemoon, in regards to Splashpaw and Graypaw. Her own daughter taking more interest in her own motivations than what her own mothers asked of her.

Eyes narrow suspiciously, wandering if Snakeblink was trying to add himself to this list. "Hmm." Is her only answer between his pauses. He's offering hidden information from his sneaky Clan-watching, and she felt as if it were damning to admit he knew more than herself at all, considering where she had been for the last... eight moons before her deputyship.

"That's a big word for you, Snakeblink. Now, why would I consider the preferences of my warriors when it's expected of them to do one hundred percent of the duties they were trained for? Does someone need to return to their apprenticeship to be reminded of this?" Hazewish's wanderlust could go right back into a kits nest if she would prefer to live in her head than follow RiverClan's natural order. Could she not put that aside until she had time to herself?

✿ ———— I'll be your regular mama ✿ ————— And I'll put that gun away

•  
• 
  
  
  Hazecloud
  —⊰⋅ Deputy of RiverClan
  —⊰⋅ She/Her
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  —⊰⋅ LH blue smoke with green eyes.
  

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[valesight ➶]

⸙͎｡˚⋆ ⍋ ѧѦ ѧ⍋ ⸙͎｡˚⋆

Oh, this oughta be good....

It is a rare occurrence to see the Witch Queen and the Adder's Hiss chatting to one another... mostly because he's certain they're on a path to murdering each other at any given moment. It doesn't take long for a foot to find its way into a mouth and Valepaw himself finds his seat to grow hot at the mention of... less than cooperative clan-mates inhibiting the new deputy. He looks away, abruptly, to pretend like he's just lazing about rather than eavesdropping but... the tilt of his ears is a dead giveaway that he's invested in this talk.

It shouldn't be any surprise that the gray molly has a penchant for not hearing out the suggestions of others... snapping back quickly that her will to be exerted over others is more important than the freedom of her clan-mates. Valepaw snorts, louder than he intends to, finding this to be very typical of her... Realizing his mistake, the split-furred apprentice can't help but rise to the defense of Hazewish, who he'd deemed 'cool' and 'aloof' awhile ago.

"Somehow I doubt they'll be keen to listen if all you do is throw your weight around... I'm sure it's real inconvenient for witches when cats have free will huh?"​

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[eveningpaw]

Unlike her nemesis, Eveningpaw does not bother to hide her interest in the conversation that pipes up nearby. Although she usually considers Lichenstar the scarier of the two when it comes to reaping what she has sown, Hazecloud can be just as intimidating, if you know what to look for underneath a layer of soft-spoken words and a too-wide smile that does not quite reach the eyes... still, Eveningpaw has not dared to seek even Hazecloud out after her blunder. It does not mean she does not wish to instill herself further into her mama's life though.

If there's been dissent between the deputy and the lead warrior, Eveningpaw has been mostly oblivious to it. Tension crackles in the air now as they converse — it would be hard to ignore now.

Snakeblink speaks of incidents like it's a bad word, and Eveningpaw's flank momentarily pulls in an uncomfortable twitch. Is he genuinely trying to be helpful or is this just the perfect moment to vaguely hide complaints under the guise of assistance? It does not take long for Hazecloud to answer Eveningpaw's unsaid question; annoyance flings to her like flies do when they smell something sweet. Except there's nothing sweet about this. It merely puts a sour taste into anyone's mouth.

Anyone's... except for Valepaw, who appears to rejoice in this predicament.

"What are you on about?" Eveningpaw snaps against her better judgment. Hazecloud might scold her for speaking out of turn, just like Valepaw did, but what is one more ill-advised action onto the pile? She lets her distaste towards him wash over her. "I don't think either of them need to hear your advice. In fact, they'll be better off without it."
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