[Empress Of Evil]

Originally Posted by Charmer

Once when Shinefang had been an apprentice, he had groomed himself a little too vigorously to impress his fellow apprentices. The shecat's in particular. The result was a hairball the size of a mouse. Not only that, but earlier that same day, he'd eaten a raven and swallowed a bone whole by mistake. The result was a very painful hairball that brought a bone all the way back up his throat for company. That experience had been more pleasant than this conversation. He wanted to groan out loud in frustration. Elaborate? Didn't this shecat know how to have a conversation? Obviously he knew she was the deputy and what her name was. The sister he hadn't known about at least. He could go from there. "I have a dead sister too. And two dead brothers. And two dead parents. And a dead mentor. Dead mate. It happens a lot at my age," he said with a nonchalant shrug. Shinefang didn't mention his kits. He doubted she wanted to know anyway and he didn't feel like sharing such a hard loss with a cat that he disliked more and more the longer he spent with her. Frankly, now that he'd said it, he was angry at himself for mentioning his mate, Slatepelt. He never talked about her. He didn't want to think about her anymore than he already had. It was easier said than done now that visits to Starclan were becoming a regular part of his nights. Clearing his throat to hide his discomfort swept his tail along the ground. "We'll it's been nice and all, Auroraflame, but these herbs aren't going to count themsleves and I should really see what Ebonyfrost left for me to work with," he said, turning away from her to suddenly become very busy with the herb stores, signalling with the only shred of politeness he could muster that it was time for their conversation to end.

The she-cat was actually great at conversations, but she wasn't particularly interested in making this conversation a good one. Auroraflame was loud and confident when she wanted to be, and it wasn't hard for her to start up a conversation. She just needed the other cat to be just as willing to continue the conversation. She hated it when other cats didn't even try to help her start up a conversation. That was just plain rude. She didn't like awkward silences if it was with a cat that she wasn't particularly familiar with. She didn't mind awkward silences when she was with a large group of friends though. That was probably more funny than it was awkward.
Auroraflame had already stopped trying to make this conversation a good one. Things had gone downhill quickly and she wasn't even going to bother. As the medicine cat made a list of his dead relations, the deputy formed a frown. She wasn't sure what she should say to that. It'd be wrong of her to say something that made her sound like she didn't care, but at the same time she wasn't sure if this tom deserved her comforting words. He was a clan mate, no matter how much she might find herself disliking him and she couldn't be totally unkind. "Oh...." Apparently that was the best that she could muster. Out of curiosity, she wanted to ask him about whether he missed them or not. The way he spoke about them, it sounded as if though it was no big deal. Taken from personal experience, the Bombay knew that it was a big deal. At first, she hadn't been sure of how to deal with Lioncry's death but she was fine now. She'd recovered now but she was still iffy about people talking of the battle which had killed her sister. "I have a dead mentor too," she continued, her face solemn and voice quiet. She missed Rainpebble a lot. She had been like a second mother to her and she had taught her so much. Despite what the wise she-cat had told her in the moments before her death, the deputy still wanted to avenge her mentor. The she-cat considered asking him her questions, but she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to continue talking to him.
"Uh right. I have some patrols to sort out," she said, her voice returning to normal once she'd cleared her throat. She rose to her paws and with a dip of her head, whipped around and left the den. She had no patrols to sort out, she just wanted to get out of there.