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[SMOKESTAR]

'You look like shit.'
Quite frankly it was a relief to open that eye to such a bold and rude statement as opposed to the incessant coddling he'd been recieving, though he would not complain about some of it. The fact someone had the audacity to just walk into the medicine cat den and be so abrasive was one thing but it was the voice itself that drew him from his tired stupor and into focus. What the hell.
Smokethroat sat up slightly, head raised and paws stretched out but he made no attempt to stand, the scowl on his face not as intense as it might usually have been if he was able to stretch the muscles of his face far enough without jarring the still mending scars where his left eye once was. "...I should thank the bastard for it, now I need only turn my head and I don't have to see your fucking face anymore." As if to show as much he did turn his head, the poulticed and lattice work of scars that was his mangled head facing out to the silver she-cat in defiance. There was no shame for the scars, he did his damn job well and he'd won something over on the WindClan fools; the wound was inconsequential to him. He sounded like he was one good cough away from losing a lung but otherwise felt fine. Mostly.
Turning back proper he shook his head to orient himself, he found he was often times groggy or tired without really doing much and it was a particular annoyance to have to fight to keep that single fire and brimstone eye open and attentive. With a quick cough to clear the rattling in his chest, his tone became somewhat less sharp and more sincere. "....Hyacinthbreathe, why are you here...?"
It was a surprise to be sure, he'd been so out of it he was only just learning of what transpired after the fact and it was all he could do to stay still in this den at Beesong's request. As far as Smokethroat was aware, WindClan had not sent a patrol simpering and pleading forgiveness to their border this time as they had the last time Weaselclaw fucked around and found out-absolute fool of a tabby, he was looking forward to the day he didn't have a hoard of cats at his back on a border patrol, when he could sink his claws into striped fur and rend the tom to pieces in retribution. It would be a glorious day for him...


@hyacinthbreath
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[hyacinthbreath]

♚ A snorted laugh left the molly as he returned her insult, happy that the tom wasn't dead or losing his touch. Smokethroat never really was one to back down from a fight, she was glad he held up to his usual motto with Weaselclaw. As guilty as harming her clanmate made her feel, she should have clawed Weaselclaw's face to fucking bits for what he did to Smokethroat. For putting her daughter in trouble.

....Hyacinthbreath, why are you here...?

"Sootstar exiled me for going after Juniperfrost. He called me weak-minded for being upset over that skirmish, for being angry with Weaselclaw. So I went for his face, and Soot exiled me for it." She hums softly, tail-tip twitching in irritation. "My kids wanted to stay with their mother, and Spiritpaw wanted to come with me.. So I, well.. RiverClan was all I could think of." She seats herself down next to the tom, sprawling out short little limbs with a huff. Had she kept her emotions under control, trusted the tom she thought of as a brother- would things have turned out differently? She couldn't change anything now, but if she had lost her daughter... "Aspenpaw was there that day. When I found out, I was so.. So angry at Weaselclaw. How could he.. He just launch right into a fight like that, and not expect others to follow? People look up to him. They followed him. That's what loyalty is, even if it's blind." Her claws rip into the soft reeds beneath her paws, jaw clenching as fury flickers past her gaze. "My daughter could have died because of the stupid decisions that tom made. And they call me a traitor for speaking out against it."

Her paws twitch, kneading into the ground to find something to occupy them. As much as she wanted to kill that brown-furred dickhead, she couldn't do that right now. He was pitiful, beloved by his Queen- he could do no wrong in her eyes. Naive, naive Sootstar. You can't trust toms like Juniperfrost either. They were liars. Didn't do anything but harm others.

But was she not the same?

"..How are you feeling? Cicadastar was worried sick over you. Protective, that one is. Something going on between the two of you, ja?"​

❝ there are wounds inside me, gaping holes of disconnect.
can you drown inside your own body? can you suffocate within this mind? ❞

 

[SMOKESTAR]

Exiled for mauling a clanmate, how amusing given Sootstar had no problem doing her own mauling when it suited her fancy. You would think she would appreciate a cat willing to spill blood to make a point when it was her entire justification for anything she did. Awful creature that one, he'd love to sink his claws into her one day and give Weaselclaw a real reason to swear bloody vengenance after him than just a simple rabbit. His whiskers quivered faintly at the idea of it, glorious battle at the border with cats clashing and an ashen pool spilled under his paw; one life. Two life. How many would he get to collect before the entirety of the moors swept over him like the waterfall of the gorge.
Smokethroat is chuckling, the sound a jagged laced cough that rattled his entire diaphragm, as Hyacinthbreath takes a seat and he pauses only to shift enough she could stretch her paws out without having to fight him for room.
"Ah, yes....well. Imagine my surprise when his entire patrol came crashing over our border." Iciclepaw was still angry at him for sending her away, believing he thought he weak or unskilled enough to fight but it had primarily been a move driven by spite. They were keeping that rabbit and he'd nearly died to ensure it without even a second thought. The dark tom had no regrets in the moment, but so many had buried him when the high of battle came crashing down, when his blood stained the bridge red. If Briarstar was alive still she'd have condemnd WindClan for trespassing, her first act as leader having been setting up borders and insisting on the respect of them; he supposed Pitchstar didn't care as much about the nobility of things.
The mention that Aspenpaw had been there he was faintly aware of, he might've taken a swing at her in his surprise, but that was the glory of battle and she had thrown herself into it willingly. Fortunately for WindClan's foolish youth, he wasn't the kind to kill an apprentice-he'd only wanted their warriors dead.
"I won't speak in a way that doesn't condemn the bastard, but I understand loyalty. Blind as it can be sometimes, and I certainly fit half the bill now." But it was devotion that drove him now, not loyalty; he'd fight for RiverClan now still with his entire chest. Maybe that was the difference, her comment on Cicadastar had him shuffling his paws not quite unlike a kitten fidgeting as they waited their name at an apprentice ceremony.
"Protective...no...well, he's that way with all of us really." A good king supported all their subjects equally.

Equally.

"...you speak the same sort of language he does, don't you? What does Liebling mean?"



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[hyacinthbreath]

♚ "You toms are stupid as hell." Hyacinthbreath huffs out a laugh as she sprawls out beside her friend, bumping her head against his shoulder gently. "I'll never understand why you all feel the need to have a pissing contest." She cackles, laying her head on her paws. It's a comfortable silence from her as she listens to Smokethroat cackle and laugh, figuring he's lost his damn mind from fever. Though, he's quick to return to the subject.

Ah, yes....well. Imagine my surprise when his entire patrol came crashing over our border. A low groan leaves her, embarrassment tight beneath her bones. She didn't like the decision Weaselclaw made that day. Stupid ass tom. "His brain is full of poppies." She mumbles into her paws, rubbing at her face relentlessly.

The subject is next to change to her question, and Hyacinthbreath feels a grin creep up onto her face at his response. Protective...no...well, he's that way with all of us really. "Oh, you're down bad, my friend." She laughs, rolling onto her side to pat at a leaf on the ground. Wasn't she the same about Moonshadow, with Lavenderstorm, with Pollenfur? She had never changed, did she? With all the girls she loved.. She was so ridiculously enamored that reason wasn't possible. She's almost about to enjoy the silence before he asks her a question that nearly makes her startle to her paws. ...you speak the same sort of language he does, don't you? "I'd like to think so." She replies, confused. What does Liebling mean? She spits the leaf she was chewing on out of her mouth, a high-pitched giggle leaving her throat. So, that's how it is? Liebling, really, Cicadastar? Well, at least it wasn't schnucki, or something.. Urgh. She thinks to herself, shivering.

"It means 'darling', Smoke. Looks like he's bein' a little bit more than friendly with you, mate." She cackles, a paw rising up to ruffle the top of his head. My, he was growing up, wasn't he?! Found himself a boyfriend and everything. "Look at you, you're not gonna die alone! 'M very proud!"​

❝ there are wounds inside me, gaping holes of disconnect.
can you drown inside your own body? can you suffocate within this mind? ❞

 

[SMOKESTAR]

"...funny, I think you she-cats are worse." The number of times he had to watch a pregnant molly lumber about camp stubbornly refusing to think about her unborn offspring out of some warped idea of duty; he hated laying around and doing nothing either but if he stormed out of camp to act foolish he was at least only hurting himself in the long run. Supposed Hyacinth didn't have that particular issue...weirdly enough he did. But he also had the decency to either not end up with kits and also to listen to his medicine cat; a rarity in RiverClan.
The dark tom scoffed, but a nod of acknowledgement was given; that brown tabby's head was full of more than just poppies. To be so dedicated to such a ruthlessly unimpressive cat like Sootstar was ridiculous. Cats who followed at their leader's heels with no free thought of their own disgusted him so when the joking deflection of his excuses struck him in the face Smokethroat showed his teeth in annoyance. He was not 'down bad'. If Cicadastar pulled half the nonsense the WindClan leader did he'd have killed the bastard himself already but he was....kind. To his own clan, he was gentle and relaxed and cared for them with a sincerity you could not even imagine in the moors.

Smokethroat thought he was a generally well-composed cat, didn’t often have outbursts of any kind and kept himself in check but it was Hyacinthbreath’s giggling explanation of the meaning of the word that set him off above all other things.
“DARLING?!” He raised his paws up to slap over his muzzle, stifling any further outburst as if ashamed it had escaped him to begin with but he had not been prepared to hear this particular truth and it showed. What did the rest of the words mean, what had been said in his feverish state where he could not recall the intricacies. As the silver she-cat congratulated him in her callous way he could only think about how many times he'd heard the comment in a half-dozing stupor of sleep. He was going to throttle that beautiful mottled bastard for this.
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