i like to push it, and push it, until my luck is over [temp closed]

[Johnnyflame]

HE SAID, "WELL MY NAME'S JOHNNY, AND IT MIGHT BE A SIN
BUT I'LL TAKE YOUR BET, AND YOU'RE GONNA REGRET, CUZ IM THE BEST THERE'S EVER BEEN."​

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OOC- tagging @SILVERSMOKE . Others may follow along but please do not post until the thread is opened :)

Winter had never really bothered Johnny. Sure, it was cold and the wind could definitely be a pain in the rear when it was freezing your whiskers to your face, but he didn't struggle any worse than the other clan cats. In fact, while short and sleek, his fur had grown in quite thick with the cooler weather, and it was really only when he found himself dampened by rain and melting snow that the chill of the wind truly managed to cut through him.

And so while he often took advantage of the warmth from the frequent cuddle-piles that could be found in camp, it wasn't like he was helpless out there.

'Or am I?' he thought to himself with an almost devilish glee as his gaze landed on the familiar silver coat of a very easily agitated lead warrior.

When Johnny had first met Silversmoke, he'd wanted to impress the other cat, quickly showing off his skill with serpent and trying to make himself as useful as he could to gain his new clanmates favor. And for a while, he'd thought maybe it was working- that despite whatever doubts Silversmoke had regarding Daylight Warriors, that maybe he could see how much Skyclan meant to Johnny.

To be honest, the bobtail wasn't exactly sure when he felt like he was starting to lose that battle, but somewhere along the way the larger tomcat had found a way to dampen that desire for approval, sparking frustration and pettiness in it's place instead. The other tom would never accept him or the other daylight warriors as equals in Skyclan, no matter how much work or time or dedication they put into it- as long as they slept under a twolegs roof at night, the rest would never matter to cats like the silver lead.

Which sucked, because Johnny really would have liked to be his friend.

But the bobtail had never been one to beg for change to happen. He'd much rather drag it in, kicking and screaming with claws and teeth bared- and if he couldn't force change, then he was just as happy going to war.

So when he spotted the grouch in question laying in camp doing nothing in particular, Johnnyflame saw an opportunity and took it. The other lead never failed to do so himself when the chance rose to shit-talk a daylight warrior, and so the bobtail was more than happy to push and poke and prod in his own ways as well- even if it got him clawed for his troubles.

If Silversmoke was so sure that Daylight Warriors were soft and useless, Johnny would give him exactly that. Malicious compliance at it's finest.

So he plopped down a few lengths away and fluffed out his coat, making a big show of trying to get warm as he lay down and tried to make himself comfortable. He lay there for a few moments, fluffing his fur and shifting positions, before letting his bright eyes shift to land on the larger brute.

Slowly, he shuffled toward them.

Like a dog sneakily belly-crawling forward, inching toward it's human to lay at their feet without being scolded, Johnny continued to slowly inch toward his target. And it was very obviously what his intention was, a few cats turning to watch in bafflement because there was no fucking way in hell that he was about to try cuddling up to Silversmoke.

But yes, yes he was.

"Brrrr- it's a driech day out, aye? You don't mind if I just.. squeeze in here?" he asked, not waiting for permission as he tried slipping into the empty space beside the larger, silvery tomcat, attempting to press their sides flush together to steal some body heat while staring up at them with the most innocent expression they could muster.

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[SILVERSMOKE]

Twolegs were as much of an enemy to SkyClan as WindClan was, he did not see SkyClan warriors becoming WindClan ones at night, yet, no one seemed interested in holding Daylight Warriors to the same standards. The captures of SkyClanners all those moons still weighed upon his mind, the death of Daisyflight doubly so; not all Twolegs were evil, Earthsoul's had treated him with enough kindness, but too many were for the spotted tabby to feel comfortable befriending their closest allies. That had been a reason for his disapproval of Johhnyflame, another came with the realisation that, whilst his job was full-time, the chimera only needed to be a Lead Warrior when the sun was up. It hardly seemed fair, but compared to more recent additions to Blazestar's council, he'd seldom found the time to brood about Johnnyflame's inclusion. Bundled up in camp, his attention was elsewhere that day, tail wrapped neatly around his paws to protect them against the chilly breeze. Snow crunched loudly beside him, a singular pupil spotted Johnnyflame trying to get comfortable, but the Lead Warrior paid him no mind. If he thought he was going to get a conversation by being annoying, he was vastly mistaken.

Or, so Silversmoke thought. Licking stripes down his banded legs, the tom was content trying to remove the sludge from his paws after a long morning patrolling, paying little attention to the kittens tumbling about in the snow and other such bustle of the leafbare camp. Johnnyflame spoke but he did not grant the bobtail a look, he didn't know what 'drierch' meant, but he could guess it had something to do with the weather - small talk, insufferable small talk, Silversmoke still hadn't figured out what good it was to point out the obvious, but he wasn't about to learn anything else from the Daylight Warrior. Eyes narrowed as the other continued, ears twitching in confusion; squeeze in? What did he— Fur pressed against fur, brows flashed incredulously as the tom whipped his head around, locking onto the doe-like expression of his peer. His blood was alight within an instant, mostly because of the audacity of the kittypet. The hiss that erupted from his muzzle followed suit, tail thrashing like a beached pike. "What in StarClan's name are you doing?!"

Bap, bap, bapbapbapbapbap. Over and over, Silversmoke's paw attempted to club down atop Johnny's head, seemingly working overtime to get the other out of his space. If it didn't work, the spotted tabby would stand and hop a short distance away, fur frizzled like the spines of a porcupine. It was not cute like when Auburnflame had done it, it was annoying, if only because he had spent the whole time trying to push the half-warrior away. "You are a Lead Warrior of SkyClan, show some decency."
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[Johnnyflame]

HE SAID, "WELL MY NAME'S JOHNNY, AND IT MIGHT BE A SIN
BUT I'LL TAKE YOUR BET, AND YOU'RE GONNA REGRET, CUZ IM THE BEST THERE'S EVER BEEN."​

---

It was so, so worth it- the bruised ears, the inevitable headache, the fact that Silversmoke probably hated him twice as much now- all of it. If the other tom was so determined to hate him then Johnnyflame would at least give him a damned good reason to do so by annoying the shit out of him. And he'd ignore whatever disappointment he felt at seeing such a disgusted look thrown at him from a clanmate every time, because at least that way he could pretend it was justified- could pretend he hated Silversmoke just as much as the other lead hated him.

Stubborn to the end, he refused to budge as the other unleashed their barrage of heavy-handed swats upon him, gritting his teeth and flattening himself to the ground, forcing himself to remain passive. He wouldn't fight, wouldn't get angry- not this time. Instead he waited for a pause in the assault, Silversmoke eventually hopping away to put some distance between them, scolding words quickly flung in the bobtails direction for acting 'unlead like'.

"Oh, come on Silversmoke. You know my delicate daylight warrior fur isn't as good at keeping out the cold as your wildcat fur is." answered Johnny with a pout as he blinked up at the taller cat from where he was still crouching against the ground, not wanting to trigger the other into a full rage by showing any real aggression toward them. "Can't ya just let me keep warm for a bit? I won't bite ya- and even if I did my little teeth wouldn't be strong enough to hurt a big, strong, fullclan cat like yourself, aye?" he asked, weaving sarcasm into compliments and pairing puppy-dog eyes with self-deprecating comments as if they were yesterdays news.

Was he being a brat? Yes, very much so. But there was something cathartic about being the one to get under Silversmokes skin and not the other way around. Too often Johnny felt as if shots were being fired at him from out of nowhere, and there was a satisfaction at seeing the other lead warrior caught off guard for once- even if Johnnyflame had to be a little immature to get it done.

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[SILVERSMOKE]

If he twisted his head enough without trying to dignify the tom with eye contact, he could see that he had hopped a respectable distance away from the bobtail, but at the same time, it was not enough. Silver's head dropped to regard the snow he'd scattered in his wake, then back to Johnnyflame, who'd escaped a seated position and was instead crouched upon the floor like an exposed worm. A paw was raised in the air, prepared to strike down upon the slowly approaching creature. Tufted ears had not left the back of the Lead Warrior's skull since his ordeal began. The glances of other clanmates were teeth sinking upon his skin, making it itch as the Daylight Warrior seemed to try and make a fool out of both himself and the silver veteran. Delicate Daylight Warrior fur, the other mewed, and the spotted tabby swore he'd just thrown up in his mouth. "Are you— Ugh, this is ridiculous," With his pride challenged, he couldn't walk away, but he found himself growing uncomfortable the longer he stayed - damn it, Johnnyflame had backed him into a good corner, hadn't he? He'd be impressed if he wasn't so ready to chew the other's ears off.

'Weak teeth... thin fur...' Either Johnnyflame had something very wrong with him (more than what was already wrong), or he was doing this to make some sort of point. He'd be stunned if it wasn't the latter. Realisation caused the spotted tabby to take in a sharp hiss of breath, pupils thinning. "You're doing this on purpose," he stated the obvious in a frustrated bark, trying to push the idea down to the back of his mind. 'He's trying to get a reaction, don't give him one....' The bait was ripe, he could tell the truth to the chimera, or he could ignore it and let everyone believe he'd believed such vile things about a kittypet. As he weaved through every logical conclusion he could, Silversmoke decided that the clan thinking that he hated them because they couldn't fight the cold was significantly easier than shouting to the camp that he hated them because they were loyal to the enemy. He didn't think he'd ever understand how a cat could love a Twoleg, their paws were bricks, their meows like a banshee's cry, and their smells? StarClan, he did not miss the smell of cinnamon on every single thing he'd tried to walk on. The memories were old, reignited everytime he was reminded that some foolish cats picked that restrictive life.

His tail lashed like the tick of a clock. "I don't cuddle, if you need warmth, look elsewhere. If you don't, freeze to death, I don't care," the tom huffed, giving the air of someone who would care a lot if a clanmate died, even if they were an annoying Daylight Warrior who needed a lesson in boundaries.





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[Johnnyflame]

HE SAID, "WELL MY NAME'S JOHNNY, AND IT MIGHT BE A SIN
BUT I'LL TAKE YOUR BET, AND YOU'RE GONNA REGRET, CUZ IM THE BEST THERE'S EVER BEEN."​

---

He feigned an offended look as Silversmoke declared he was 'doing this on purpose'- which of course he was, but admitting to it would only end his game and he was actually enjoying an encounter with his fellow lead for once. Figured. It was very much on brand that 'enjoyment' for Johnny would involve walking on a lit fuse waiting for it to blow up in his face.

He had to fight to keep his innocent smile from spreading into a shit-eating grin at the sight of Silversmokes stubborn refusal to completely leave the scene. It meant the interaction wasn't over yet, and the striped bobtail found himself pleased with that. Of course, that was quickly challenged by the silver tom essentially telling Johnny to go die in the cold- but it wasn't hard to pick up on the lack of heat behind those words, which only made it harder not to grin up at the other cat.

"Tsk. Cold as ice, Silversmoke." he replied with a shake of his head, not seeming particularly bothered despite trying to play into the others harsh statement. "Can't believe your gonna leave me to to freeze like this."

He rolled onto his back dramatacially with a huff, little stub of a tail lashing behind him as he closed his eyes to eign death. "Well, I guess this is it then. I'll just die right here at your feet since you aren't willing to share any of that extra-warm fur of yours, cut down in the prime of my life all because your afraid your a bad cuddler." he sighed, a single golden orb peaking open at the other.

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