[Captain]

PIKESTAR

The tall dark-furred oriental stared at her with his fixed gaze, partial eye-contact never breaking for a single second. Her supposedly-friendly smile did not fool him, no, not for a single second, but perhaps it wasn’t meant to be friendly in the first place. Pikestar had stared evil in the face before and knew this cat wasn’t just some kind soul wanting to help them out of the goodness of her heart. However, if this was the only way someone like them could get help, then so be it. The stars had already forsaken him enough, so perhaps this was the far better alternative.

Her words made his right ear twitch, but nothing more. Did the tomcat truly already know why they—Pikestar of RiverClan—were here in the first place? Maybe so. All his silent pleas for salvation, for further training, for shaping, for molding that could bring him to become the leader that could be feared and treated with utmost admiration. He was tired of being the softened, cowardly leader that everyone in the living world viewed him as. The way cats looked at him with sympathy and pity angered the Lord of the Waters more than he could describe. These thoughts alone caused his brows to furrow as Pikestar looked away from the mysterious stranger, ponding for a few moments what they did truly want from her, from someone, from anyone right now. He had climbed to the top of his chain and yet he still felt inferior in the eyes of his clanmates. He should be treated like a king, like a god, for everything that he'd done. No matter how much he did, it was never enough.

His gaze darkened ever so slightly as he lifted his head and rested his attention back onto the molly stood before him. Pikestar lifted his right paw into the air. "I want to be respected." The mighty River Lord commanded, his tone lower as he unsheathed his sharp claws and flexed them fiercely. Pikestar didn't know what else to say other than that. He wanted to be feared, he wanted cats to bow to him, he wanted his clan to be proud to have him as their leader. He no longer wanted to be affected by the petty taunts and disrespect of others around him. He wanted power, he wanted control, he wanted to be viewed in high regard by every feline around him. Pikestar would do anything it took to gain that.

[ @sol. ]