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Post by Taxx on Dec 2, 2018 23:06:34 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire Lynxpaw was still raging about Firestar's daring; crouched next to Sleetpaw, completely ignoring the fact that the younger apprentice was actually leaning away from Lynxpaw's bristling fur and continued growled, and less than pleasant, comments on the leader's attempt to coddle her, to take credit for protecting her when she'd all but abandoned them because the Clan had needed her! And her kits had meant nothing to her.
Claws sunk into the mouse she was eating, another ill-tempered growl rolling in her throat as she tore a chunk of meat from the prey.
Sleetpaw was wondering if she could run, if Lynxpaw would even notice or if she'd chase Sleetpaw down because she wasn't finished with her rant yet. She'd long since lost her appetite and her attempt to distract the irate apprentice by giving her the mouse hadn't worked, sadly. She didn't like the way Lynxpaw was talking about her mother, but there was no way she had the ability to speak up and tell her to knock it off- Lynxpaw ought to be grateful she had both parents still; she didn't know what it was like to have one missing, kept alive just through stories and kin.
Blazefang's bright ginger pelt caught the white apprentice's eye and her ears perked as she noticed he was coming their way; maybe Blazefang could help her get out of this. Lynxpaw, though, didn't notice him until he was standing over her, and she flashed him a look from irritated green eyes. "What?" she snapped. "You've been taken prey and Shadepaw cleared your den earlier. What do you want now?"
Sleetpaw's ears folded at the way the tabby apprentice spoke to Blazefang, but aside from an apologetic glance at her uncle, she did nothing. What could she do? Besides, it wasn't like Blazefang couldn't take care of himself. And you're gonna hear me roar @zen Notes
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2018 3:14:34 GMT -5
It was a bad leg day. He'd even accepted a few poppy seeds from Tigerpaw when Kindleflare's timid apprentice came to check on him in the elder's den. It wasn't normal for him to spend so much time inside, but the pain in his leg had made his sleep fitful at best, his pride refusing to allow him to try to hobble to the medicine den to relieve the pain. He'd remained inside for most of the morning, brooding over his stupid bad luck and his ridiculously early retirement, the pain and lack of sleep putting him in a terrible mood. And he was ashamed when he'd felt such relief upon seeing Tigerpaw, knowing he wouldn't have to get up and limp through camp for everyone to see to get something to help with this StarClan forsaken pain. He'd even accepted the mouse that one of the apprentices had dared to bring him so he wouldn't have to travel to the freshkill pile. How he hated depending on apprentices just to bring him his stupid food.
The poppy seeds Tigerpaw had brought him made him drowsy and he'd given in to the sleep that tugged his eyes closed, and when he'd woken he'd at least felt better rested, and the pain was still dulled by the effects of the seeds. So he'd forced himself to his paws to leave the den for the first time that day, because StarClan could take him now if he was ever going to let himself spend an entire day wasting away in the elders' den. He wouldn't be able to take a walk today. He wouldn't be able to see if he could find Duskrose, steal time with her. But he could at least check in on Gustclaw's kits. Maybe chat with Cloudyfeather for a while, and Mudpelt, if his brother wasn't in too boring a mood today.
As he exited the den, his gaze first came to rest on Sleetpaw, looking entirely uncomfortable beside Lynxpaw as Firestar's daughter appeared to be ranting and raving about something, anger clear in her every feature. He snorted and made his way over. Sleetpaw was a timid thing and she looked rather overwhelmed. As he got closer, he heard just what Lynxpaw was ranting about and the fury that flared within him over her carelessness in just who she was spewing all these hateful things to had his ears flattening to his head.
As he stopped before the two young she-cats and Lynxpaw turned her insolent glare up to him, he snarled and reached out in one swift motion, as if to cuff the apprentice around the ears, but instead his paw smacked hard against the back of her head, his anger pushing back the pain in his leg for just a heartbeat until his got his good paw back on the ground. He hissed, tail lashing, “How dare you! You have no idea! Your family is whole and all you can do is lay about cursing your mother? You have no idea what its like to lose the ones you love!” He barely even remembered his own mother and father. They had been so young when greencough struck. He recalled his mother's pretty white fur, her soft, milky scent, her warm purr. He remembered feeling loved. He remembered how he thought his father was the greatest warrior in all the Clans. He remembered all his many scars over his silver tabby pelt which spoke of the countless battles he had fought in. That was all he had. He couldn't remember their voices. He couldn't remember what they'd really been like.
He leaned down, lips drawn back in a snarl, and shoved his face right into Lynxpaw's, “You're an ungrateful little piece of rabbitdung and I wouldn't blame Firestar if she wanted nothing to do with you. And yet somehow she still does. If you meant nothing to her she wouldn't have had you to begin with! Probably would have been better off without a brat that doesn't know how good she has it.” Lifting his head, he spat, “Boohoo! Your mother left you in the care of a loving father so she could lead the Clan and keep your stupid little tail safe. What a crime against StarClan! If your parents' roles had been reversed would you be cursing your father now instead? Just because she's a she-cat her duty to her Clan means less than her duty to you? Selfish little harebrain!” Taxx Blaze is no mood for anyone's shit today x'D
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Post by Taxx on Dec 4, 2018 14:23:07 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire Oh, she knew about Blazefang. He wasn't their only elder, but he was the youngest- still warrior aged but crippled by some incident that had happened before she'd been born, that she didn't care to ask about. She tried to get out of that chore as often as possible, because she had little interest in dealing the old or infirm members of the Clan.
Having Blazefang interrupt her talk with Sleetpaw- and the look on his face- did little to improve her temper, but the reaction she got to her question was not what she had expected- not that she'd had a clear idea of what to expect. The hard blow to her head was startling enough, the anger wiped from her expression in favor or surprise, her body rocking back into Sleetpaw's.
The other apprentice, shaken from her open-mouthed daze at the sheer fury of the kind she'd never seen from Blazefang before, was darting away a heartbeat later, pausing just for a second before Blazefang opened his mouth to commence his verbal punishment and then she scurried on. Toward Mudpelt, who had just appeared from the warriors' den- possibly alerted by the none-too-quiet tongue-lashing; she ducked behind her uncle and then peered around him at the ginger elder, fur bristled and tail lashing as he let Lynxpaw have it.
Stunned into complete silence, ears lying back at the harsh scolding, Lynxpaw stared in open-mouthed astonishment at the elder- but not for long. The shock of the blow and the tirade vanished all too quickly and rage once more settled in its place, her eyes narrowing as she surged to her paws and hissed in Blazefang's face. "I wasn't talking to you! Go away and hide back in your den and leave me alone! I don't care what you think! You're just like all the others, telling me I should be grateful when you don't have any idea what it was like!"
Would it have been too much to ask, Firestar at least putting aside her duties until her kits had become apprentices? How many times had she sat at the entrance to the nursery and watched her mother pad about camp, checking in on the other members of her Clan, willing the calico to forget about them and come spend time with her kits? Eventually she'd stopped waiting for it, stopped wanting it. Firestar clearly had other duties and her kits just didn't fit in with them. Fine, if that was how she wanted it.
"I am not selfish!" she shrilled, rage all but choking her, fur bristled, stub tail jerking side to side. "If I was selfish I'd be keeping her from her duties! I don't need her, I don't need any of you! I'm going to be the greatest warrior of LightningClan and I'll show all of you, everyone who ever talked about me!" She spat, claws raking over the ground, practically vibrating in fury; the urge to claw something, to find something to fight to take her anger out on, gripped her. Her vision clouded until she could barely focus on Blazefang's face, even as close as it was to her own. And you're gonna hear me roar @zen Notes: get her Blaze. get her
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2018 15:42:15 GMT -5
“I don't give a flying rabbit that you weren't talking to me,” he snarled, hardly intimidated by the smaller, fluffy she-cat's own fury, “You were talking to Sleetpaw. You know she never even got to know her father before he died? How dare you complain to her about the fact that you have a mother.” Emotion roughened his voice, his thoughts flitting first to Dovesong and then to Firebird. Even their adopted mother was gone now, but at least she'd had the chance to live a full, long life.
“You have no idea what it was like! My mother and father and sister died before I was out of the nursery! I'd give anything to have them back, to have been able to know them, to have had the luxury to complain about something they'd done to make me mad. Pigeonpaw. Snowheart. Gustclaw. My brothers, dead. All those complaints of yours, you'll regret every word when you lose her. You'll regret all the time you could have spent with her that you wasted cursing her instead. You'll regret shutting her out. And I'll have no sympathy for you!”
Blazefang snorted derisively as she insisted she wasn't selfish, his tone mocking, “You don't need her, or anyone? Sounds like something a selfish cat would say to me. Do you even get how a Clan works? If you don't need anyone, the border is that way,” he spat, jerking his head in the general direction of the mountains, “Why are you still here, if you don't need anyone? LightningClan doesn't need a selfish little pest around, complaining about how her mother doesn't do enough for her and then insisting she doesn't need her. Do you even know how stupid you sound? And no cat is talking about you, you self-important little brat, we all have better things to do!” Taxx Countdown to Lynx Launch? x'D
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Post by Taxx on Dec 10, 2018 16:04:27 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire Of course she knew. She just didn't care. What sort of mousebrain eats crowfood anyway? She'd hardly known Gustclaw; he'd been sick for most of her early moons and had died soon after the litter had been born. "So what?" she growled, claws unsheathed and sinking into the ground as the tom carried on. He didn't know. "No I won't," she denied, baring her teeth in a snarl. "You don't know me and I'm not you!"
Sadness? Regret? No, she wouldn't feel that. Why would she? Firestar had left her first, and that she was just now trying to crawl back, to try to spend time with Lynxpaw, trying to claim that it had been for her and Tigerpaw's own good? It inflamed the apprentice. She'd outgrown her mother and she didn't need the older she-cat trying to coddle her.
"Of course I know how a Clan works!" she spat back at Blazefang, and every hair on her pelt bushed as he continued, eyes narrowing to slits and her voice rising into an ear-piercing shriek, latching to one specific insult and reacting explosively. "I am not stupid!" They were nearly face to face, but it hardly stopped her from hurling her slight frame at the bigger tom, lashing out with both paws to sink in to his fur. How dare he. How dare he!? She'd show him, was all she could think about, her sense shoved aside by rage, and she crashed into him with all the force she could manage. And you're gonna hear me roar @zen Notes
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2019 0:01:52 GMT -5
Lynxpaw's responses seemed to grow shorter with her temper, but even as furious as Blazefang was about how the little brat was behaving, he could relate to her stubborn pride. If it was him, he was sure he wouldn't back down either. In fact, he would-
She hurled herself at him, just he would have done had the roles been reversed, but it occurred to him a little too late for him to get out of her way with her being so close. He was larger than her, but he still stumbled from the force and then his leg buckled as he forgot and tried to use it to steady himself, and down he went with a thud and a grunt. The pain in his leg had him biting back a yowl and he barely even felt Lynxpaw's claws through it. Pulling some amount of strength together through the pain, he used his hind legs to push the younger cat away in one explosive kick and simply lay there, panting. The pain drained his anger, replaced it with shame at how a barely trained apprentice could manage to take him down so easily. This was why he'd been forced into retirement, why Mudpelt worried about him incessantly.
His ears flattened against his head as his pelt burned hot. Useless. It wasn't fair. He might as well-
“S-stop it!” Tigerpaw cried as he re-entered camp from perhaps one of the last herb hunting expeditions before the snow set in for the season, several herb stalks dropping from his jaws as he hurried over upon seeing Blazefang on the ground in clear pain and his sister spitting angry. Without thinking about it, he put himself between them, his focus entirely on Blazefang, “Are you alri-”
“No!” Blazefang spat, annoyed at the question that had such an obvious answer, and Tigerpaw flinched at the rebuke.
“S-sorry... stupid... me, I mean. I'll... here, let me help you up,” Tigerpaw shifted around so Blazefang could lean on him. He knew Blazefang had a bad temper from treating him for several moons now, so he tried not to let it bother him too much, “I'll help you back to your nest and get some poppy seeds for you.”
Blazefang gritted his teeth and didn't respond, allowing the younger tom to take some of his weight and glaring at Lynxpaw, “Attacking your own Clanmate. Yeah, I'm sure you'll be a great warrior.”
“Blazefang, please...,” Tigerpaw murmured, trying to keep himself between his patient and his angry sister, “L-Lynxpaw... would you get the herbs I dropped back there for me, please? And maybe... take them to the medicine den while I help Blazefang to his nest?” His amber gaze was pleading as he looked at her. He didn't know what had happened between the two of them, but it needed to stop. Taxx
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Post by Taxx on Jan 18, 2019 20:43:38 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire Lynxpaw knocked Blazefang over, half to her surprise. Her claws sank through his pelt as she landed on him, but he was rolling in the next second, his hind paws kicking her strongly enough to drive the air from her lungs and flinging her off. She hit the ground with a thump and staggered back to her paws, struggling to draw a breath, her belly aching from the hard kick. She glared at Blazefang, too sore to leap back to the attack just yet but still fired up enough so that it sounded like a good idea.
Tigerpaw's voice drew her attention and her brother was standing between them in the next moment, leaning over Blazefang; Lynxpaw bristled all over again as the ginger elder snapped at him, but Tigerpaw was already apologizing. Two pairs of green eyes glowered, Lynxpaw's narrowing at the taunt and she spat in reply, claws sinking into the ground- Tigerpaw was the only reason she didn't lunge again. She flashed a last glare at the irritating tom and then stuck her nose in the air, stalking past without a word.
She swept the herbs into a pile, but her first bite split the leaf and the bitter taste spilled across her tongue; she spat it out with a retch of distaste and eyed the leaves more warily, casting a glance over her shoulder at her brother who was helping Blazefang. Another snort and she tried again, carefully gathering the herbs and padding across to the medicine den, dropping them once more in the middle of an open space. Then she padded back to the entrance, sitting down there and watching the ginger tom slip out of sight back into the elders' den. And you're gonna hear me roar @zen Notes
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2019 17:00:56 GMT -5
Maybe I'ma get a little anxious, maybe I'ma get a little shy, Cuz everybody's tryin to be famous, and I'm just tryin to find a place to hide.
Relieved that Lynxpaw didn't try to keep arguing and did as he asked, Tigerpaw sighed in relief as his sister put distance between them and focused on helping Blazefang back to his nest. The tabby elder was quiet, pain clear on his features as he limped along, letting him take some of his weight. He didn't try to force a conversation or ask what had happened. It would likely just make him angry again, and right now he just needed to get back to his nest and get some pain relief.
Upon reaching his nest, Blazefang all but flopped into it, careful of his leg. Tigerpaw's ears flicked, his voice quiet, “I'll get your poppy seeds now.” Blazefang only grunted in reply and Tigerpaw hurried out. Lynxpaw was already waiting at the medicine den with the herbs she'd retrieved for him and he brushed against her in a quick show of affection, “Thank you. I'll be right back, I gotta take something to Blazefang.”
He collected a few seeds on a small leaf before carrying the tiny bundle back out. When he returned a few moments later, he settled himself in front of the stalks she had dropped and began carefully stripping off the leaves and setting them into a small pile. He wanted to know what in StarClan's name had happened, but he was also sort of afraid to ask. “So... uhm...,” he shifted a bit, inspecting a leaf for a few moments longer than necessary, “What, uhm... what was that about?” He cast a nervous glance over at her, bracing himself for some sort of emotional explosion.
I promise myself, one day, I'ma tell em all, I'ma tell em all That you can either hate me or love me, but that's just the way I am. Taxx
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Post by Taxx on Feb 4, 2019 19:08:49 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire It was oddly quiet in the camp; cats were looking at her with a mix of confusion and disapproval, but she met each stare with her own, pelt rippling with lingering irritation as she sat there; Tigerpaw appeared briefly to fetch a leaf, muttering a few words before heading back toward the elders’ den. Lynxpaw watched him go and then slid backward, out of the entrance of the den, but too wound up to relax. Yet.
The familiar step and fresh scent told her Tigerpaw was coming back, but for a moment there were no words shared; she stayed quiet and so did he, crouching to… do whatever he was doing to those leaves. Until he did speak, and she frizzed up all over again.
“He called me an ungrateful piece of rabbitdung. He told me I was selfish, and stupid, and I’m not! I’m going to be the greatest warrior ever, and nobody’s going to stop me, not even a worthless, hare-brained, fox-hearted cat who can’t even be a warrior!” She sunk her claws into the ground, choking on anger that, while not as strong as before, was still plainly obvious; she sucked in a breath as her stub tail jerked, eyes burning with rage for the insults leveled at her by the older tom. And you're gonna hear me roar @zen Notes
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2019 1:20:29 GMT -5
Tigerpaw flinched, ears flicking back against his head, as his sister launched into her tirade of an explanation. He listened, continuing to pile leaves into a neat pile, frowning at what had happened between the two. Blazefang was grumpy, well, pretty much all the time, and he was known to snap at apprentices on a fairly regular basis, but not with the intensity that Lynxpaw was describing. Tigerpaw’s voice was quiet, as usual, when he spoke, hesitant of his sister’s mood, “Lynxpaw, you shouldn’t say that Blazefang is worthless, that’s really cruel….” His ears twitched and he cast a look out of the den, as if he might see Blazefang there, overhearing his sister’s words, even when he knew the tom was fast asleep in the elders’ den already, “You wouldn’t want someone saying that about you if you got hurt and had to retire, would you?” Tigerpaw wasn’t sure how Blazefang had been crippled, he was too nervous to ask the tom about it and didn’t think it was right to ask anyone else something so personal about him. So he remained ignorant and ever curious, but was sure he would never work up the courage to ask. “I know Blazefang can be kinda mean sometimes, but he’s normally not that bad…. Why do you think he said those things to you? What started your argument that was so bad it led to you both fighting in the middle of camp?” He turned his amber gaze to his sister with some concern. It was hard to say which of them may have started it. Taxx
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Post by Taxx on Mar 2, 2019 11:34:57 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire She snorted at her brother's quiet admonishment, plopping down again and sinking her claws into the ground- and if she was imagining the grass underpaw as Blazefang's fur, who would know? She flashed a glance over her shoulder at Tigerpaw, still sorting through those herbs, and turned to face him straight on, sprawling on her belly and settling to watch the movement of his paws as he nudged each leaf to one pile or another. "That's not gonna happen," she replied, confident enough that she would never fall victim to someone's claws so badly as to need to retire early.
She blinked at his next question and it took her a minute to remember what had led to the fight. "Oh- yeah. I was just talking to Sleetpaw. About Firestar. She thinks I'm weak, that I need to be kept safe like a newborn kit. I told her I didn't need her. That I didn't need her trying to protect me, and I didn't need her trying to mother me. She had her chance, and she walked away from it. She can't come back now and act like she cares. I don't need anyone but you and Russetfall." And you're gonna hear me roar @zen Notes
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 0:58:28 GMT -5
Tigerpaw sighed as his sister dismissed his attempt to get her to sympathize with Blazefang’s situation. It was no use arguing with her over the point. He only hoped she was right and she would never be in his position. At Lynxpaw’s explanation about what had started her fight with Blazefang… he only became more confused. How did Lynxpaw talking to Sleepaw about Firestar lead to her literally fighting with Blazefang in the middle of camp? He stared down at his herb piles, as though StarClan might use them to send him a sign that would clear up his sister’s explanation for him, but of course nothing happened. But he did know Blazefang was very protective of Sleetpaw and her siblings. Had something Lynxpaw said upset her somehow? Probably. His sister was pretty careless with her words, and Sleetpaw was really sensitive. He sighed again and shook his head, letting her words roll around in his mind for a moment. “You know she died for you, right?” he murmured softly, still staring down at his herbs, a tremble running through him at the memory, “When that fox attacked you…. She lost a life… to protect you.” He wasn’t sure if he was defending his mother or not, or just how he felt about his sister’s feelings toward Firestar. It wasn’t exactly a normal situation, their family. It wasn’t usual for she-cat leaders to have kits, or so he’d heard several times since he was a kit. “Lynxpaw… I don’t know if… if what she did, with us… was right or wrong, but… I don’t think she would have died for you if she didn’t care….” Taxx Hellion
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Post by Taxx on Mar 16, 2019 13:08:04 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire “You know she died for you, right?”
Soft-spoken as the words were, they still brought back a flood of memory, fur prickling as she recalled her attempt to drive that fox off by herself- remembered the bloodlust in its eyes, the pain as it sank fangs into her body, the fear that scorched through her at the thought that she was surely going to die- and then the rush of relief when help had come. She knew Firestar had lost a life, she'd watched life fade from her mother's eyes as more warriors had arrived to help.
Fur ruffled and Lynxpaw glanced away, ears flicking. She scoffed, pretty much an instinctive reaction, and then sighed. "Or because it'd look bad if she let her own kit die." She flashed a glance at Tigerpaw. "Don't... aren't you even a little upset that she couldn't be bothered to stay with us? I know we had Russetfall to look out for us, but don't you wish she'd cared enough to forget her duties until we were apprentices? Redscar would have kept on taking care of the Clan, and it's not like she couldn't advise them still... how are you so calm about the fact that she cared more about being their leader, rather than our mother?" And you're gonna hear me roar @zen
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2019 0:08:04 GMT -5
A soft flinch met Lynxpaw's bitter words. Tigerpaw just couldn't understand his sister's anger and resentment toward their mother. He absently pawed at the pile of leaves in front of him as Lynxpaw presented her question to him and finally sighed, gathering up the herbs and carefully storing them away as he considered it. Ensuring everything was in order, he turned back to his sister and padded over to join her, sitting with their pelts brushing. “I don't know…. She didn't have to have us in the first place, but she chose to do that…. If Russetfall had been leader instead, no cat would have expected him to neglect his duties to come care for us in the nursery. I guess I just don't really understand why anyone would expect different for Firestar because she's a she-cat instead of a tom…,” he paused to look over at his sister, “I don't think it's very fair.” He shifted against her a bit more, “I'm kinda glad I don't have to worry about it…. I understand why medicine cats can't have kits. It would be really hard to choose between my duty to my Clan and being the best parent.” Glancing down at his paws, he sighed again, “I don't know. I don't know what it's like to be leader. I don't feel like I have any right to judge her for her choices.” Taxx Hellion
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Post by Taxx on Apr 12, 2019 14:11:02 GMT -5
L Y N X P A W I've got the eye of a fighter Dancing through the fire It didn't make much sense to Lynxpaw. Of course Firestar hadn't had to have them, but she had. How did that excuse her from taking care of them when they'd been born? She wasn't calm or rational enough to think it through, like Tigerpaw was, and still angered by the confrontation with Blazefang. "Fair," she sniffed, rolled her eyes, and sprawled to her full length right in the middle of the den. "Nothing about any of this is fair. Whatever. I don't even care."
It was a lie and she knew it, and she knew Tigerpaw did too. She leveled a stare at him, daring him to say something about it as she rolled to her side. "I'm never having kits either. Wildcall can have them all." Kits were too needy anyway- demanding little things that needed constant care in their first few moons, and then constant monitoring until they were apprentices. On that paw, she could understand Firestar's reluctance to remain in the nursery; the very thought of it made Lynxpaw's paws itch with restlessness. No way was she ever getting trapped like that. There would be plenty of other queens to have kits and provide LightningClan with future members. She wasn't needed.
"What are you doing?" she asked, changing the subject and pushing herself back to her paws. "Anything I can do to help? Y'know, like if you need to go gather more?" And you're gonna hear me roar @zen
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