pafp I am always burning up ⸙ Petty insult

Apr 8, 2024
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Truthfully she wasn’t sure what Sedgepounce had said to start this debate, well what started as a debate. Brackenpaw is always quick on her own defences so something as a simple disagreement had boiled down to a one sided argument, behind a placid face was someone who on the inside wanted to snarl and hiss. It had been late morning when this had started and it now carried close to noon judging by how high the sun had risen. Has it truly nearly been an hour past? It would explain why the wildfire of an apprentice had started to burn weaker embers. Once witty retorts boiling down to petty insults, desperately looking for some kind of way to win. She struggles with that, unable to recognise when to just give up on a fight and save themself.

“Why are you so nice anyways?” she practically hisses at the warrior, tail lashing as they glare at the mottled tabby. It has always irritated them, to see someone just be so chipper all the time, effortlessly liked, never seeming to have to truly defend himself or be regarded as anything other than a delight. He’s extraverted, always having a joke or story, it even disarms him to the volatile apprentice, having joined in dryly on occasion. She thinks she hates him (or is that hate aimed somewhere else?) It’s annoying to see something- someone so bright.

“It’s annoying- you’re annoying. I bet you secretly hate everyone” no one can be that nice, she’s convinced of that. It’s an unfair assumption but she doesn’t have the clarity for that kind of hindsight now that they’ve backed themself into this corner. Maybe this means they won’t hear another joke of his and she’s fine with that, at least right now in the heat of her anger and bruised ego she is.



  • ooc. Please wait for @SEDGEPOUNCE
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  • Brackenpaw
    they/she, tunneler apprentice of Windclan, 11 moons (ages on the 22nd)
    a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
    Speech, thoughts, attacking
    NPC x NPC, mentored by Scorchstar | Formally mentored by Bluefrost
    easy to befriend other kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
    All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
 

Listen. Usually Sedgepounce doesn't make it a habit of getting into arguments with apprentices. But usually said apprentices aren't bold enough to argue in the first place. Brackenpaw is some spiny, volatile substance amidst WindClan camp, and in the past moon she's gone from a little grouchy to downright mad most of the time. He hardly even remembers what set them off—only that he's been wishing they'd leave him alone for a while now, and that they refuse.

Sorchstorm says it's probably because of Bluefrost. He'd been shocked to learn that they were close. Brackenpaw is such a distinct personality; all he knows Bluefrost to be is icy and indifferent. Apparently, though, Brakenpaw got along with her mentor like fleas on mice, and they're so pissed about the reassignment that they're now willing to talk back to Scorchstar of all cats. Naturally, Sedgepounce isn't safe from their wrath either.

"I dunno," Sedge responds, blinking at Brakenpaw skeptically. If they were going for some sort of epic burn, they definitely picked a weird one. It's annoying that he's nice?

It's annoying that you're rude, he doesn't say. Brakenpaw's stubborn and harsh and also just a kid—soon to become a warrior, but a kid nonetheless. The pain of being called annoying just doesn't hit the same from someone half his age. "Well, if you're not nice, does that mean you secretly like everyone?" he wonders. For the first time in the last half hour, Sedgepounce's maw splits into a crooked smile. He doesn't actually want to give Brakenpaw a hard time, but there's a certain sort of levity in his responses now.
 
Disagreements between clanmates were not uncommon. Living with a bunch of other cats was difficult; they judged the way you slept, the way you walked, the way you ate. Personalities clashed with one another — in this case, a bratty apprentice versus an easygoing warrior. Amusement prompted Buckfire's faux brows to quirk, the way that the dark and light tom handled Brackenpaw's dimming temper. She woke up on the wrong side of the nest this morning, didn't she? "Sheesh. So young to be allergic to kindness." The moor runner comments, an onlooker from the sidelines, stretching a yawn and shaking his head in disapproval.

Suddenly, a funny thought enters Buckfire's mind, "Wanna go take a dip in the river? I heard that's a cure." He chuckles, knowing that Brackenpaw would probably bite his head off for suggesting such a thing, but getting a reaction out of the spitfire apprentice was worth it.

  • 86417735_kGin7DEMi2EjrP5.png
  • OaBYClu.png
    — buckfire / 32 moons / he/him pronouns
    — windclan moor runner / shadowing scorchstorm / former loner
    — sh chocolate tabby w/ orange eyes, bite marks on left foreleg, nick in left ear & scratch on right side of lip
    click for tags
 


Sootspot seldom trusted those that were too nice. There was a shadow upon every cat's spine, one that would grow and consume them, and if cats like Periwinklebreeze were anything to go by, they were often the most likely cats to lie and kill. A discussion on Snakehiss with Sedgepounce hadn't given quite the same impression as that but something unsettled him about the tom, and made him doubt the smiles he often shared as being authentic. It wasn't surprising to him that Brackenpaw had noticed it too, the Tunneler apprentice was cynical with how things appeared - a perfect combination with one who believed every surface-level appearance to be a lie.

He moved closer as Sedgepounce responded to her, eager to give his opinion once the newest outsider had finished talking. "It is likely a coping mechanism to deal with a traumatic memory, such kitty-pleasing is often a way of making up for the lack of approval from a parental figure," he explained to Brackenpaw, deadpan, tone as inoffensive as such a statement could offer. For a moment he spoke as if the topic was not standing a tail length away from him, as if it was a shared learning experience between not-quite-mentor and certainly-not-apprentice. When he looked over his shoulder, he smiled politely towards the taupe tabby. "I mean no offense of course. But is kindness brought about by pain as true as the kindness that comes naturally? Or is it a burden upon the one who wields it?"