He steps in, and even as his gaze is adverted, he can feel hers drilling holes into his pelt. It was too warm in here, too distracted to bother to inspect where Juniperstar had made her den. When she asks, he finally lifts his eyes to match hers. Eyes narrowed at the question, and he knew his place. Starclan, or whatever the
fuck they were, had chosen her after Thornstar. Thornstar had chosen her. He could respect that the least. His tail swished, keeping himself silent while he ruminated the question, but the further she talked, the more his ears twitched and a grimace spread over his face. Thunderflash did not bide his tongue much longer.
"M' sorry, didn't realize we were lettin' traitorous bastards walk 'round scot free." He responds, and while his words are sharp, accusing, his tone is quiet. Cold, even. And then it's-
I had this under control. "Oh, did ye now?" He presses, ears shoving forward and face twisting into a barely-restrained snarl.
"So, no' only do you think layin' around without puttin' up defensible borders is 'handlin' i',' as y' say, but now it's m' fault? My fault tha' it's all ruined?" His accent grows thicker as his anger flares again, cobwebs turning dark red the longer he stands there. Thunderflash takes a page out of Ghoststrike's book, points out the obvious layered with the accusation that
she and
Brightpetal put on him first. Any workings under the table or behind the wall, he had no idea about, clearly.
What was going through your head?
"Seriously." He utters, eyes turning away, and for a half second, he considers stepping out into camp for
air. Its hard to breathe in here, hot and suffocating. His jaw works, throat bobs with a swallow, before he's answering her, ignoring how badly he wants to shout and scream and
run, just to get this energy out.
"Hawthorne. Thornstar. He was murdered in th' dead o' night, tryna get these lives from Starclan." His tail flicked.
"I made an oath, th' day ye came home withou' him." A sharp breath.
"I was gonna kill him. He started th' uprising tha' killed half us. He killed Thornstar. He left Serpentberry mateless, her kits fatherless."
Does he pause to consider what he just said, to Sablestar's mate, of all cats? Maybe he had, in the hours following the birth of Serpent's kits, in the moon following the lack of a Sable sighting.
"Y' wan' me t' simply roll over? Let tha' bastard walk all over th' clan I care about?" He says, snapping his jaw closed.
"I can' do tha'. Wha' happened before- it'll only happen again." History repeats itself. The scar on his chin burns as he curls his lip, flattens his ears against his skull, a dull reminder he doesn't care for.