private NO ONE WON THE WAR - thundergleam

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

Bones crunched between Tybalt's teeth as he worked to get the last of the meat from the squirrel he was finishing. His amber gaze drifted lazily about the camp as he ate, focused on nothing in particular. He gave an agitated grunt as he felt a sharp piece of bone catch in his teeth, fishing the intruder from his jaw with an unsheathed claw. He looked down at the remains of his meal. Picked clean. There was nothing left. With a bored sigh, he batted the bones of the unfortunate creature off to the side.

@THUNDERGLEAM

 

[THUNDERGLEAM]

The noise of crunching bones swivelled her ear- Thundergleam's blush-tinted eyes flitted toward the noise, blinking. She had expected to see a kitten, gnawing at something... but no, it was a warrior, picking clean his prey with quite a crumple to his face. Interest flickered across Thundergleam's face, and she neared with tentative interest, head just-so-slightly tilted.

This was not a tom who had greeted her upon first entering camp- she recognised him only vaguely. Perhaps he was the lonely sort who preferred solitude- she wouldnot begrudge him that, though the look of distaste upon his face was disconcerting, and bloomed pity in her hwart. "You are troubled by something?" she asked, a slight frown of concern finding its place on porcelain features. ​

penned by pin ☾​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

Lifting his head at the sound of pawsteps, Tybalt’s brow furrowed as the white she-cat approached him. He knew little of the cat who had accompanied Howlingstar home after the eagle had taken her, and her question only caused his expression to crinkle further. “No,” he said after a moment. “I just look like this.”

Shoulders shrugged beneath wavy brown fur, and he regarded the other silently for a moment. “You’re…Thundergleam, right?” he asked. “You came back with Howlingstar. Im Tybalt.” He’d had little interest in the newcomer before now, but figured he might as well make sure he had her name right, if nothing else.

 

[THUNDERGLEAM]

It felt impossible that he just looked like that... that the naural expression of one's face would be that of disdain. Surely something must've happened in his life for him to be so downtrodden, so sour? The pity was hard to quash, once it was there within her... like a flower facing the sun, it had bloomed to meet this event, and would not wither quickly. Slowly, she nodded her head... no, her instinct could not be so wrong. There had to be some ailment that he was concealing.

His small-talk soon distracted her, though- Thundergleam offered him a gentle smile. "Indeed, I am." The word of her joining was clearly remarkable enough for many to have heard of it! She was glad; StarClan really had placed her on her journey at the perfect time. Little did they know, her work of heroism was only just starting! When he introduced himself, Thundergleam's face crumpled into a look of light confusion. "Tybalt? An unusual name, for a warrior! Have you joined only recently, too?"​

penned by pin ☾​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

She was confused by his name, which he supposed he couldn't blame her for. Most cats were, at this point. He was sure Howlingstar was more than sick of his insistence on keeping it, but he didn't care. He had long given up on trying to make the leader understand what her predecessor seemed to have understood just fine--his desire to keep his last gift from his parents.

"No," he answered her finally. "I've been here for seasons. I have a warrior name--it's Stagstrike. I just don't care much for it, so I don't use it. But Howlingstar seems insistent I keep it, so it's what just about everyone here calls me save for a pawful of cats."

(sorry i'm slow as hell in responding i have squirrel brain and im also sick at the same time)

 

[THUNDERGLEAM]

Seasons? Thundegleam's face crumpled very slightly into soft confusion. How could one be here for seasons, and yet not bear a warrior name? Her first assumption was that he was a painfully slow learner, but he soon corrected her- told her his warrior name was Stagstrike, and the ivory molly reached a roadblock in her mind as to how she should refer to him.

Her head tilted very slightly, with gentle, birdlike inquisition. "I think Stagstrike is a lovely name. It rings of a cat with a strong, persistent spirit." Voice genuine and encouraging, rose-blush eyes held his perfectly. Warrior names were flooded with meaning; it was what made them so beautiful. "I have always been taught that warrior names are the ultimate honour, a fundamental of Clan life. Howlingstar likely shares this opinion; that may be the root of her insistence." Thundergleam blinked innocently then, convinced she had managed to enlighten the frowning tom to some deep, impossible solution.

\ NWS NWS i am not in a rush! ​

penned by pin ☾​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

"I mean sure, it's a nice enough name," Tybalt agreed after a moment. He surpassed a sigh as Thundergleam spoke, going off into the same sort of spiel Howlingstar had once given him all those moons ago. "I know that," he responded flatly, twitching his curly-furred tail irritably. He bit back an aggressive retort. However odd Thundergleam seemed to him, she at the very least, appeared to speak to him as though he were an equal, which he could appreciate.

"Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd grown up here," he said finally. "I wasn't born a forest cat. I grew up in the city and never set paw in the forest util after my mother died. And by that point I already had my own name. And then after my father died it was all I had left of either one of them. They were both so proud of it. I was proud to have it. It doesn't seem fair to expect me to give it up, and I don't think it says anything about my loyalty one way or the other to have both names."

 

[THUNDERGLEAM]

It seemed to be a gift that he relayed his origins so easily to her- Thundergleam took it kindly, soft, downturned eyes blinking with gentle understanding. Like her, she had not been born in the oak forest- though the city he spoke of was a mystical place entirely unfamiliar to her. To want to hold on to what your parents left you was a plight understandable to Thundergleam; Father had instilled within her every value that pulsed her heart, every Truth that she knew, every Ideal that she cherished. StarClan's prophecies were received with his guidance.

"Your scowl hides your sentimentality, then," Thundergleam joked, attempting to twitch a smile upon his lips. Then, though, her demeanour tranquilised- airy tones wrote her next conclusion. "But, it is my true belief that being a ThunderClan warrior involves making sacrifices- to keep normalcy, to keep unity. You will always hold your parents in your heart." A beat- and then, she wondered aloud again.

"What keeps you tethered here?" Her tone was honeyed and genuine. If he did not care for the culture, why did he stay?​

penned by pin ☾​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

Thundergleam spoke again, talking of unity and normalcy, and Tybalt suppressed a contemptuous snort. His refusal to give up his name appeared again, to fall to someone who was unable to fully understand his reasoning. His ear twitched in silent acknowledgement before he spoke. "If unity is so fragile that it's broken by a slight deviation in normalcy, was it ever really strong to start with?"

And then she was asking what keeps him there, a question he routinely asked himself. "Marigoldpaw," he answered after a moment. The young cat he regarded as a son kept him tethered more tightly now to ThunderClan than before. "And just not really anywhere else to go, I guess. I was already in the forest before the clans got here, and I have no desire to return to the city after what happened there." He shuddered for a moment at the memory of the poisoned rat that had taken his mother, and then straightened up again. "Clan cats didn't want to leave, and neither did I."

“I do like it, for the most part, I suppose. I just…think some things are more important than others. It’s more important that ThunderClan is well fed and well defended than it is for us all to be named by the same rules.” He shrugged.

 

[THUNDERGLEAM]

Marigoldpaw. Her smile grew a little- ah, there was that camaraderie she had always been told about. A small purr pulsed in her chest. Clan cats didn't want to leave, and neither did I. It sounded very much like a marriage of convenience, then... Thundergleam's brow moved into a brief ghostly frown, very slight. Despite his claims that he did like it, that bonds were what kept him rooted, it was clear he did not agree with everything. Immune to frustration, Thundergleam's thoghts waded through the brambles of his meaning... it was her duty to glean these significances, after all. Blinking rose-blush eyes, she let forth a whispery sigh.

Her smile was as sweet as ever- there was no nagativity or disdain toward him about her. By the minute he became more interesting, more contradictory... "Ultimately it is up to the leader to decide what is important for the function of the Clan," she pointed out, feather-soft. "And it likely feels rather insulting to your Clanmates who bear warrior names that they have worked all their life to earn to deem them unimportant. It is that show of disregard that breaks the unity, rather than the act itself."

Thundergleam took a deep breath of the forest air. She loved to be here- and her Clan name cemented her belonging, was a blazing beacon of her loyalty for all to see. Thunder, for her destined Clan... and a glimmer of her connection to the Stars. "But I am just an advisor. Do not think I look upon you unkindly- you are my Clanmate, and I cherish you for that."​

penned by pin ☾​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

Tybalt shrugged, his gaze far off and focused on the horizon as Thundergleam spoke. He supposed she might be right, as much as he hated to admit it, but her words did little to change his opinion. "I suppose," he muttered. "But I can acknowledge my clanmates names are important to them without completely giving up my own. My name is as important to me as any of theirs are to them. I wouldn't ask them to change the names they worked to earn just to feel a solidarity with them. I've fought battles alongside these cats. We trained together. We keep the elders and kits fed, and the borders defended regardless of what any of us is called."

He paused, wrapping his tail around his paws before continuing. "The things that are most important are things we can agree on. My name won't keep a belly full or chase a badger away. I can disagree with my clanmates and still want to see them safe looked after, even if they never really feel similarly about me because I carry two names."