RiverClan Leader's Den

[BEAR.]

"Will it ever stop?" Lionstar muttered, in part to Sootflare and also himself. "I want to do what's best, all I ever wanted was to make RiverClan the strongest. Permanently. But I don't think I can keep doing this." And it showed, in a way. He knew activity around RiverClan had fallen to some degree. Like a wave, it rose and fell.. and he didn't have the power to persevere through it.

Still, could he..? Let this go..?

There was no mistaking the gay that spewed out of Sootfather's mouth, and it was enough that Lionstar quirked his brow at him in surprise. He always knew Sootfather to be straight as a board, so this was odd - but not undesired. "When did you get to be such a sap?" He wished he could be so .. squishy, but right now he had a choice to make.

"What option do I have?" he near lamented, dramatically falling down into his nest with a little puff of air. "If I stay, I become like the Fattystar. If I go, I become like the Fattystar. There's no winning here." Except..! "Is it selfish to go before it all burns?" Because unlike the fatten, he would be doing this willingly. Even though.. was this really willing?

Was anything he did really a choice at this point? .. Yes.

As much as he wanted to argue against it, to fight it, he knew it remained his choice to abandon the sinking log before everyone drowned.

And.. although it was a little weird, he was warming up to that thought. Explosively from what felt like a surge of energy, Lionstar shoved himself out of his nest and sprang toward Sootflare, using his weight to pull himself back mid-leap and land neatly in front of the deputy before any collisions happened. "You--!"

It was perfect, wasn't it? Lionstar finally had a deputy reliable enough to dump this onto. RiverClan would be fine, he could be free-- "You're going to be leader."

[ @wnder ]

[duckie]

Sootflare
__________

"I- am going to let that comment slip. You're pretty sappy yourself sometimes." he shot back with a roll of his eyes, "And- you're not going to become anyone. You're Lionstar. You're you, no matter what you decide to do."

What did he have to say - to do - to make Lionstar feel better? That was truly a mystery. Perhaps he could get Fawnsqueak to come cheer up the-

"Hold on - me? Leader?"

That came out of nowhere. But then again, did it? This was Lionstar. Significantly impulsive decisions were kind of his MO. Just keep taking deep breaths and get through it.

"Right. Okay. Is there... anything else I can do before we jump to rash decisions? Something more I can take on give you a break? This is all very sudden."

[BEAR.]

"Sappy, me?" Lionstar scoffed, mind briefly flashing to Fawn. "You must have me mistaken for my ex-father." Though even disowned and missing, Lionstar found himself missing the comfort of the old calico tom that adopted him.

Hmm, maybe once he no longer had the stress and responsibility of leadership he could look closer into the disappearances.

"Yes, you." Lionstar jabbed his paw at Sootflare's chest. "You love RiverClan, you've been the best deputy a gentlecat could ask for, and you have passion. You want to take on more duties, you want to keep things going smoothly - so this is what you're going to do.

"You're going to become the new leader, and you're going to kill it. I can advise you at times if necessary but I would rather not.. you know, be bogged down with actual high rank work. You can pick whoever you want as deputy, but I would suggest choosing someone who has shown interest in keeping the Clan on their toes." Lionstar wasn't going to name anyone, he figured Sootflare would already have some cats in mind.

"No backing out of this, Sootfather. This is my decision, and it's not rash. I won't suddenly get happy by rank sitting and you know that."

[ @wnder ]

[Astraea]

~FoxPaw knocked on the side of the den just to let them know that she there , and to make it look like she wasn’t stalking them~ Lion-Star , CanIask a question really quick? I promise it won’t take long. Please do t get mad. ~her ears pulled themselves down and she was ready to get yelled at~

[BEAR.]

The sound of Foxpaw's voice ruined Lionstar's focus, and his expression dropped with the annoyance of being interrupted. "Now isn't the time Foxpaw."

[ @~Fox~ ]

[Astraea]

Please , it’s very important , I am sorry for disrupting you but , it’s very important ~She looked at him and her ears picked themselves up~ This time you can’t disrespect me , this time you won’t tell me to go away, this time I won’t get yelled for interrupting you. It won’t happen. ~ She stared at him with a pissed expression on her face. She was mad , she couldn’t Beleave what she had said but it was true and she didn’t try to correct herself . She said what she had wanted to say. It sounded rude yeah but it all the truth. ~
foxpaw

[BEAR.]

Okay, Lionstar had enough.

"I said now wasn't the time." Despite his anger, he kept his composure calm - his sharp gaze peering into the smaller cat. "Now get out of my sight before I decide to have you join the kits in the nursery. If you can't handle being told to leave because you're disrupting an important discussion, then you don't deserve to be an apprentice."

It would be different had she been polite, but her blatant decision to be disrespectful had rubbed his pelt the wrong way. Seriously? She could hear them talking and still decided to stick her nose in without much thought. It was beyond rude on her end.

Questions could wait until she was actually invited in, but she wasn't. Even if this was 'life or death', they had medicine cats now to handle it.

[ @~Fox~ ]

[Astraea]

Fine! But I’m sick and tired of the disrespect you give anyone who walks in your den even if they were to knock , Which I did. The only cats you really like In this clan anyway is your deputy and fawn-squeak ~she barked , as she ran to go into the app den,tears forming in her eyes as it was probably her last stay after all~
foxpaw

[duckie]

Sootflare
__________

Sootflare flinched at the jab to his chest but did not try to interrupt as Lionstar went on. It didn't feel like he was particularly great - stars knew he had his screw-ups - and 'best deputy a gentlecat could ask for' was a bit of a stretch but Lionstar seemed to believe it, so he gave a nod.

"Very well, if this is what it takes then... I'll do it. When do you-" Foxpaw's voice cut him off but before he could speak up to shoo her out of the den - Lionstar was on the case. A quick interaction and something about disrespect and Foxpaw was gone. Sootflare didn't really catch much of it, too wrapped up in how the next few moons were going to go.

"... Right." he meowed, when she was out of sight, "When do you plan on announcing this to the clan?"

[BEAR.]

"You're never around my den, you don't know dung about how things go in here." Foxpaw must have a stick up her ass judging by how she was acting. "What part of 'now is not the time' do you not understand?" Like, for real. He hadn't even been rude about it - it absolutely was not the time and she single-pawedly sabotaged any neutrality he felt toward her in that moment.

"If you want to act like a baby, Foxpaw [ @~Fox~]. You can be a baby. You're confined to camp on kit-watching duty until you grow up. Report to Flyfur [ @Rainquail so they know about this] immediately and let her know I expect reports on your progress." If she wanted to fight this, he would crack down even harder. Any sympathy he could have felt was long since killed.

As she ran away like the baby she was, Lionstar returned his attention to Sootfather. "Where were we..?" Oh, yes. Sootflare was on that case. "Ah, why don't we lowkey it for a moment? I can get you to the Starcave, do the lives spiel, and when we get back it can be announced? The sooner this is over with, the better."

[ @wnder ]