Territory Holy hell, I can tell that you hate me || Wolfpack

[Sealpaw Sealpaw]

You Say That You Are Close

Is Close The Closest Star?

x

Sealpaw had been avoiding nearly everyone at this point, hovering quietly around Cicadabuzz and Magpiepaw's den when she wasn't busy with her training but never quite daring to step inside to see who she wished to speak to most. Marbleshine. She was sure the molly had been embarrassed by her outbursts. That she hadn't called for her because of the apprentice turning on Wolfpack. On Possumgrin.

Possumgrin's only sin had been trying to clear the path for Wolf to get Marbleshine to the med den. That she could forgive.

But Wolfpack. Wolfpack who so callously dismissed her panic and grief. Wolfpack who compared to her.... To her mother had barely been even scratched. Wolfpack who had been pointedly ignoring her ever since then, even as she glared at him everytime he ruined her mood simply by his presence in camp.

Stubbornly she wanted the deputy to approach first, wanted him to be the first to apologize but knew him well enough by now that such a thing was not in his vocabulary. Instead the apprentice trailed him out of camp, no real effort made to mask her presence as he walked ahead. They were silent until Wolfpack slowed to a stop and Sealpaw finally cleared her throat.

"...Why wasn't it you? What happened?" The growl in her throat is barely contained, fur bristling into spikes as she watches the other turn to face her. "Why didn't you protect her."

You Just Feel Twice As Far

SEALPAW

— Shadowclan Apprentice
— She/They
"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
— Grey Rosetted Tabby With Blue Eyes And A Bobbed Tail. 13 Moons
#4c66bf

ooc: @WOLFPACK

 

[WOLFPACK]

AND I AM SORRY MY CONSCIENCE CALLED IN SICK AGAIN

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From the moment she started trailing him, Wolfpack had knows he was being followed. It wasn't hard, especially when she made no attempt to mask her presence behind him. He didn't acknowledge it at first. Half out of curiosity– what was she stupid enough to try?-- and half out of sheer avoidance. Words didn't usually get to him, but the night of his return with a bloodied Marbleshine slung across his back– that night, they had.

YOU'RE THE DEPUTY, AREN'T YOU?!

What did it matter if he was? That didn't make him god. Didn't give him nine lives to throw away like one of the leaders. Marbleshine getting hurt wasn't his responsibility– but then why did those words bother him so much? Why did it feel like he'd failed at some test he hadn't known he was a part of?

Why did it feel like Sealpaw was right?

You know why. something answered back, amused and completely removed from whatever Wolf was feeling.

His paws slowed to a halt, but even when her voice finally broke the silence, he didn't turn right away. Just wondered what she hoped to get out of this.

"You think I planned for that to happen?" he asked, slowly turning to face the younger cat. She looked like she would kill him if she could. "That I led her to the first fox I could find and let it use her as a chew toy?"

The growl that lined his voice was atypical, a sign of genuine agitation where disinterest usually sat. He didn't want to have this conversation. Didn't want to acknowledge what that nagging voice in the back of his head kept mocking him about. But Sealpaw just wouldn't fucking leave it alone.

"What happened, is that your mother has a fucking hero-complex, and nearly got herself killed because of it!" he snapped, feeling the fur along his shoulders bristle at the memory– at the confusion and frustration it still caused him.

Tell her why you didn't protect her. chimed that traitorous voice again, Tell her how you froze like a fucking kit while her mother was gnawed on by a fox, deputy.

His claws itched at the dirt, jaw clenched as he refused to let the words loose. But not saying it didn't mean it didn't happen. Didn't changer eh fact that– for a split second– he'd been so shocked and confused by her actions that it'd rooted him to the spot. Just for a second, but long enough for the damage to be done.

For him to see exactly what 'a second' of hesitation would cost him.

"She would have gotten back to camp fine if she'd left things alone-- that fox wasn't even looking at her." the words sounded clipped, but it was the best he could manage without letting the growl slip into his voice. "It was looking at me. And she took it upon herself to get involved. "

He kept his voice from raising again, but there was a tone there, something underneath it that read too much like the truth– in that Wolf didn't have an answer for her. What Marbleshine had done that day, the events that had transpired– they were just as confusing and unacceptable in his eyes as they were the apprentices.

Because it should have been Wolf– not out of some moral obligation, butt because the fox had been hunting him. Marble had been free and clear– until she took it upon herself not to be.

"It came up behind us when we were caching our prey. I didn't smell it because I was elbow deep in swampmud."

It was one of those things that couldn't be helped. A cat could train and be as vigilant as possible, but life had a way of throwing curveballs. And that day, it'd thrown one at Wolfpack. Nose clogged witht he stench of rotting leaves and musty water, it was only the momentary glimpse of horror on Marbleshines face as she spotted the beast behind him that he realized something was wrong. And by then, she was already moving, lunging for the thing.

He'd never seen such a lack of hesitation in her before. Hadn't even know she was capable of it. And for a brief moment-- the only one that mattered-- it was as if the two of them had swapped places.

Her paws had moved, while his had frozen.

---

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OOC NOTES . ◭ . CHARACTER INFO

• ooc : —
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• shadowclan deputy - male - mentoring Cloudberrypaw - a large, monochrome chimera with mismatched eyes and several scars