- Oct 17, 2022
- 454
- 78
- 28
Snakeblink seems to have, perhaps accidentally, definitely unconsciously, made himself into the guardian of sad apprentices in the clan. It's beyond his ability to repress: he sees a traumatized adolescent with melancholic eyes and some long-buried part of himself rears its head up and gives him the irresistible urge to fix it. He doesn't know whether his age and recent events conspired together to trigger the awakening of some until then nonexistent parental instinct, or whether the ghost of adolescence past rose from the depths of his psyche to spur him into doing onto others what he wishes had been done onto him. He refuses to think about it further. The source of it doesn't matter, only the result.
Which isn't that much more encouraging, to be fair: currently, Snakeblink is watching apprentices pelting each other with snow, waiting for Frostpaw to join in with baited breath. It would do her good; might help lift her spirit after her mentor's untimely demise. But she simply... Doesn't move. He's been watching for some time, and the apprentices are still play fighting in the snow, and Frostpaw is just sitting there, watching. He's not even sure she sees them: she might be staring right through them, right through the entire camp, eyes lost in the river and it's rushing water growling underneath the ice. Whatever hope of her bouncing back easily that he might have leaves him little by little with each consecutive shiver wracking his frame. He needs to get moving before he freezes in his spot. Frankly, so does she.
That gives him... The beginning of an idea. Snakeblink unfolds himself, bones creaking after so long immobile in the snow. Slowly, taking care to go unnoticed, he creeps up on Frostpaw. Once he's a tail-length away from her, he scoops up a mouthful of (dreadfully cold) powdery snow, which he goes to drop on top of her head as soon as he's in range.
”Tag,” he deadpans through chattering teeth. ”You're it.”
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— Snakeblink • he / him. 35 ☾, riverclan warrior
— a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
— gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo