[Deleted]

    Applewhisker spent most of her time in the nursery, she was a permanent queen of sorts. Certainly she wasn't the first cat to hold such a position but she may have been the only one to do so without having litter after litter of kits. Applewhisker had never had kits at all, for obvious reasons. This meant she wasn't as burdened as the average queen and found herself doing many helpful tasks around camp. Sometimes Applewhisker would hunt and go on patrols, although not often.  One of the tom-queens most important duties was that of the average apprentice, she made sure the queens always had fresh moss. After the fox attack with the clans leader and deputy she had decided to bring another warrior for buddy team safety. Juncoflight had been the only available body for the task. Applewhisker certainly didn't know him that well, however what she knew of him suggested he was less than a nice cat, much less.

@dreamer

[Deleted]

Juncoflight

I TRY TWICE AS HARD BUT I'M HALF AS LIKED,

NightClan. Tom. 30 Moons. Warrior.

Juncoflight had no problem with queens, he just usually had no reason to visit the nursery. He had no kits, no mates there, so what was the point? Of course everycat knew about Applewhisker, the tom turned she-cat. Juncoflight honestly could care less, if a cat wanted to decide something for themselves, then fine, so long as they didnt try to have him change too. But that was as unlikely as a twoleg walking into camp and speaking intelligibly. But whatever, the she-cat had asked him to go with her to collect moss since there was still a wariness due to the fox incident. Since he had had nothing better to do, and could almost feel Dimstar's eyes on him, whether or not he was even in camp, Juncoflight agreed. But he had promised that he would not be carrying much moss back himself, after all he was no apprentice!

With a snort he turned to Applewhisker, thoughfully. He did enjoy puzzles and it seemed she was one.

"So, how did you decide you were a she-cat? It must have been an interesting process? Was it a bodily thing or a mental thing?"

BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE

228 | @poptart | Im so sorry he has no chill

[Deleted]

    Applewhisker had no problem with silence, in fact she much preferred it if at all possible. Being far less than normal Applewhisker had been on the receiving end a vast array of hurtful comments, even if they weren't meant to be so intentionally. So when the silence was broken and Juncoflight began to question her there was an initial hesitance as Applewhisker remained silent, trudging on to an area she knew would contain dry bedding. As she walked in silence she thought about how those that cared about her asked many of the same questions and they were meant from a place of love, this definitely wasn't the case with Juncoflight. That didn't mean the toms intentions were malicious though and Applewhisker decided to give him a chance. "W-well it wasn't really a choice, I've just always had these feelings that seemed to make me different from other toms, I wanted different things."

@dreamer

[Deleted]

Juncoflight

I TRY TWICE AS HARD BUT I'M HALF AS LIKED,

NightClan. Tom. 30 Moons. Warrior.

Did Applewhisker seem uncomfortable about the question? Probably, but Juncoflight had been dragged out here all this way, and he wasn't going to give up when he had such an interesting subject of study before him. For a moment Juncoflight looked the she-cat up and down, assessing her appearance. She certainly had a build one would be more liekly to associate with a she-cat, even if she still carried the scent of a tom, although it was masked by the queen scent of a cat who spent a lot of time in the nursery. Perhaps herbs would mask her scent further if she was uncomfortable with it? But hey that was none of his business. What was his business was her reply to his question.

"What kind of things? Cause if you're saying kits, well, plenty of toms want kits, and if you're saying you wanted to be a queen in the nursery, well you have the capabilities don't you? Whatever a clan may say, a she-cat is not only good for bearing kits, just as a tom is not only good for being a warrior. If you have a specific skillset, use it, and if the clan disagrees because of some silly bias, well that's them isn't it? Pssh logically anycat can pursue any job they want, so long as they have the dedication and incentive, and as long as they are helping the clan. In fact any prejudice we have is built solely on prior established roles which the clan has inflicted on us."

Okay so maybe he was ranting, but by all understanding of logic and intelligence, the clan should not be limiting any other clanmates desires and ambitions. The fact that they did so was a sign of bigotry and lower intelligence. After all weren't they a clan, a working family unit trying to survive?

To some extent Juncoflight truly was a horrible tom, and maybe even a small part of him realized it. He believed however, that it was because of the flaws in the clan system that he was so jaded and cynical. Because he was able to see the stupidity of many parts of clan life and law, he was above them all, and therefore because they were unlikely to change, so was he. But all in all, he was better than them for seeing what he saw... right?

"So now that we've said all that, the question is.... what is it truly that makes you feel like you are a she-cat?"

BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE

448 | @poptart| Ahahaha woops my hands slipped and now I am apparently calling out every problem with the warriors fandom

[Deleted]

    Applewhisker was surprised to say the least, the words spoken by Juncoflight were well articulated and it didn't seem like he took any time at all assembling them masterfully. A cat Applewhisker had thought was honestly lacking in depth turned out to be quite the philosopher in his own way it seemed and she found it to be quite enchanting. Applewhisker wondered what else he had such strong opinions about. After a bit of a rant Juncoflight posed the question again, and Applewhisker replied with a question of her own. "What makes you feel like you are a tom?" The tom-queen had no intention of letting Juncoflight be the only one to bring a bit of intelligence to the conversation, Applewhisker figured he would appreciate her trying to bring herself up to his level, even if there was good potential she would fail at it. Applewhisker was not stupid by any means, but it seemed a calculating nature was needed to be good at such tasks.

@dreamer

[Deleted]

Juncoflight

I TRY TWICE AS HARD BUT I'M HALF AS LIKED,

NightClan. Tom. 30 Moons. Warrior.

Juncoflight was pleased to see the queen thinking and listening although her look of surprise somewhat irked him. Seriously why did everything think he was a horrible tom? He just thought everyone's overly simple view of life was annoying and since they didnt seem to make any effort to, you know, actually learn and think, he had little respect for them. Applewhisker... well he wasn't sure exactly how she thought about life, but at least she had considered plenty of things that most cats didn't and at least that made her an interesting puzzle. Maybe she would actually be interesting enough to keep his attention for awhile.

Her question caught him off guard, even though it should not have necessarily been surprising, as he had asked the question of her. It made him stop and think. Why did he think of himself as a tom. Part of it was his body and his physiology, he felt urges and feelings consistent with what a tom should feel. But that didn't necessarily mean anything specific... he just... was? His silence had stretched a few moments and he eventually nodded. "I just feel like a tom. My body, my urges, but also, thats who I am. I'm not sure I would know any other way to explain it."
He glanced over at her again."Let me see if I understand, your sense of self is that of a she-cat, even though you have a tom's body? How does that feel?"
This just kept getting more and more interesting, despite the fact that conversation would soon be over once they reached the place to gather moss. Would she answer his question considering how uncomfortable she felt? He would have to see.

BUT HERE THEY COME AGAIN TO JACK MY STYLE

315 | @poptart | Notes