private near the great wings | doeblaze

[Cherryblossom]

Morning comes a pleasant, pink-lined thing. The dawn patrol has long since passed through their own dim woods; now they linger on the border between their own and ThunderClan, silently fanning out to press their cheeks against the pinewood. Cherryblossom finds herself particularly close to one lilac-haired member of the patrol, unnoticed till mere tail-lengths away. Her small frame hides well among the bristling ThunderClan undergrowth that spills into their pines.

She savors the early atmosphere for a little longer. Mismatched ears twist towards the call of birds wandering particularly close to the clowder, towards the imagined heaviness of a nearby thicket rustling with warm-blooded creatures. "ThunderClan wouldn't make a move this early, right?" the calico mutters, gleaming gaze shifting to @DOEBLAZE nearby for an answer. Raccoonstripe's foray into the wrong forest still grates against her ego; even with Howlingstar's magnanimity, he'd continued showing up to Gatherings as a proud lead warrior. Briefly, she wonders what Little Wolf would've made of it. Her sacrifice would've been for nothing if Cherryblossom just ended up starving to death anyway.​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

ThunderClan's undergrowth crowds oppressively around them, its vibrant orange-speckled hues an encroachment into the soothing darkness of pine boughs. Appropriate, she thinks, given how fond ThunderClan is of encroaching in general. Ironically, her compact brown-and-white body blends comfortably into the thicker undergrowth and dapples of leaves and light as she brushes her densely furred cheek against one trunk and then another, laying out lines so clear even the resentful, cutting-eyed scraps over the border couldn't claim to miss them. Memories of Raccoonstripe's baritone scoff still burn her.

" They'd better not, " she mutters with a grimace, lily-stem gaze cutting towards Cherryblossom. The animosity kindles too-quick behind her eyes, aimed not at the young calico but at their troublesome neighbors. " I'd love a reason to sink my claws into one of those squirrel-eaters. "

An unusual (yet not uncharacteristic) bitterness colors her voice and she claws restlessly at the ground. Howlingstar, Flamewhisker, Gentlestorm—ThunderClan catches specks of good amidst its ranks as a miner sifts bits of gold in his pan. And yet, this border has rarely met her with anything but sharp eyes and veiled words. Even on the journey, their forest-dwelling neighbors had scoffed at her right alongside Sootstar's warriors.

OOC : —

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[Cherryblossom]

It's fascinating to hear such blatant battle-thirst from the mouth of such a small cat. Though, the effect is lessened somewhat by the gruesome scars littering said cat's form. It's not strange to hear Doeblaze express these opinions anymore, but it is strange that she expects it from her now. Seasons ago, Cherrypaw would've scoffed at the thought of gentle Bobbie enthusiastically facing down a burly ThunderClanner in combat. It's all for the best, she thinks.

Buttery eyes flick from the gnarled depths of ThunderClan territory back towards the molly, imbibing the earth with her scent now. "Yeah, they're so arrogant, and like for what?" she snorts. "Ugh." She delicately shakes a burr off her right leg. "I wonder if they just constantly walk around with, like, burrs and mats." A smirk crawls across her face. "That'd explain why they're so desperate to get on our territory." Some small part of her twists guiltily at the unabashed insults thrown at Little Wolf's clan. But Little Wolf hadn't been a ThunderClanner when she made her choice, and Cherrypaw hadn't been a SkyClanner.

ooc: i'll get to her asking about crow eventually lol, i just wanted to keep the flow of convo natural​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

If you had asked her this morning what she thought she'd be doing today, belittling ThunderClan with her daughter's best friend is not what she would have said. It's not a bad way to pass time, though, voicing these opinions she's rarely quite so candid about. Later, she'll doubtlessly regret being quite so loose-lipped—but she rarely indulges her temper to the forest cats' faces, so perhaps she's earned this. It's not as though Cherryblossom is defending them, after all, she notes as she glances over at the tortoiseshell. Her maw is curved in a derisive smirk, and Doeblaze's own muzzle rumples in matching distaste.

" You've got that right. " And indeed she does. Even on the journey, some of ThunderClan's contingent had clearly considered themselves to be slumming it with so many cats not born to the forests. Never mind that they'd not always borne Clan names themselves, that she had walked and climbed and plucked lungwort with the best of them—from the moment they laid eyes on her collar, she had been irreversibly marked. Tainted. Irritation kindles anew behind her eye at the memories, then brushed off in the name of diplomacy and the common good, now returning with a vengeance.

" They think just because they were born here, they're better than everyone else, " she scoffs derisively, and adds, " Never mind that we had to help them up the cliff. " Her tail ripples with brazen annoyance. She can't quite put her paw on why ThunderClan irritates her more than, say, ShadowClan or RiverClan, who doubtless harbor the same prejudices. Perhaps it's how vocal they are with it, more than their other neighbors tend to be. Perhaps, she thinks with a sharp twinge of guilt, it's because of how personal these strangers' contempt can feel.

" Yes, we certainly seemed good enough when they wanted some prey. Or at least our territory was. " Doeblaze's white muzzle dips into a scowl as she drags her flank across a rough trunk, imbibing the craggy bark with the spiced-pine scent that was distinctively SkyClan. It's funny, how she'd once pled for Clan unity, derided those fiercely independent cats as crude for rejecting the other Clans ... and now she stands and does the very same. The thought makes something in her bristle uncomfortably and, in her haste to dismiss it, she lets slip, " And that's to say nothing of them attacking Lionpaw right after for an honest mistake. "

OOC : Fine by me :D

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