Life’s Too Short (Dayquill)

Blazefang still wasn’t entirely sure why, but she’d agreed to meet with Dayquill again today at Fourtrees. She didn’t understand the feelings she had for him. She knew she was outside the Code, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to learn more about the ThunderClan tom. She wanted to learn everything. And somehow, even though they hadn’t known each other for that long, she felt she could tell him everything. Was she in love again? This wasn’t the same feeling she had had for Ryepaw. He was her best friend, and they just… grew into more until she assumed they’d be mates. Then he left. This was different. She wasn’t slowly growing her relationship with Dayquill, she felt the urge to jump in with all four paws. Sitting down in their spot, Blazefang waited.

Dayquill was quiet as he padded towards Fourtrees, letting his thoughts run through his mind. The fact that Blazefang had agreed to meet with him was a shock, and it'd been the only thing he'd thought about since the Gathering. It made his fur warm and his heart pulse harder every time his mind drifted back to it. He'd gotten attached fast, maybe embarassingly quickly, and he found himself picking up an eager trot as the towering oaks came into view. He couldn't quite place what about her made him so excited... or he just refused to. Shaking his head to clear any nerves, Dayquill stepped firmly onto the hill dipping down into the clearing.

"Blazefang!" He called down warmly as his gaze settled on her. She'd beaten him here; something about that made it feel like a colony of butterflies had started to flutter in his chest. Hurrying down the slope, Dayquill padded quickly over to her, knocking his head affectionately against her shoulder. "It's– it's good to see you again." He purred as he settled down at her side, flicking his tail lightly against her hip. In a softer tone, he went on, "How are you doing, by the way? Is everything, well... going okay? As it can?"

Blazefang’s heart leapt as Dayquill approached. “Dayquill!” She nuzzled his side a bit, startling even herself. “Things are okay,” she mewed. “I have two apprentices now, Silverpaw and Hickorypaw. They’re a handful, but I haven’t gotten completely trampled yet. Oh, um, I was wondering, what’s your family like? I mean, you know mine are all dead or in RiverClan, but I don’t know anything about yours.”

Dayquill nodded along as the WindClanner spoke, ears flicking slightly. "I have two apprentices right now, too. I understand." He chuckled a little, head shaking. Neither of them were too bad, but still, it got overwhelming at times. His ears twitched upright as she went on, before pinning back to his head as she asked after his family. "My... family? Well-" Dayquill shuffled his paws, tipping his head to the side. What was the best way to say do you remember the cat that murdered Bloodstar at the Gathering and took over the forest? with all the other dead cats? Suppose, there really was no good way. Clearing his throat, he slowly answered, "My mom is... she's great. Her name's Waterlily. I've got a lot of siblings too, uhm- five? Yeah, five." Six, counting Littlekit, but- the golden tom shrugged. "One of my sisters is Fawnshine, she's our medicine cat. But we're not... too interesting. Just another family, right?" He forced out a laugh, and swished his tail against Blazefang's flank. "Yeah, nothing too special... I mean-" Dayquill winced, and considered stopping the sentence all together, but the words were already spilling out. "My father isn't exactly around, but... none of us were close with him, anyway. Not a loss, really."

“Five siblings!” Blazefang exclaimed! “That is a pretty big family. And I’m sorry about your dad. Even if you weren’t close, you still missed out on getting to be close, y’know? My parents were pretty cool. Pa died a couple winters ago of greencough and Mother was picked up by a hawk. It dropped her, but the wound got infected….” Blazefang trailed off “Anyway, your family seems pretty cool! And one’s a medicine cat! I bet you mom is proud. Hey, who was your mentor? Mine was our deputy Smallbean.”

Dayquill chuckled a little nervously as Blazefang went on, shrugging a bit. "I guess I never thought about it like that," he murmured under her apologies about his father. He'd never wanted to be closer to Morningstar, but the thought he could've, in a different world... Dayquill shook himself out. He didn't want to dwell on that on a nice night like this. "Sorry about your own parents." The quiet apology came with a comforting flick of his tail and a quick clearing of his throat to dismiss the somber thoughts. "My mentor was Stoatstar, if you remember him. He was... cool. I never felt like I knew him well, but I looked up to him. He trained me and my sister Comfreyheart together." A wistful look passed through his features, but the sobering thought of Stoatstar's disappearance passed quickly. Putting on a smile, Dayquill steadily went on, "Smallbean is your deputy, isn't he? At least... I think I've heard his name before, right? What's he like? He must've been a good mentor, I mean–" Dayquill's voice broke into a laugh, and it took him a moment of snickering before he continued, "I mean, you turned out to be a pretty good cat, so he was probably a good influence."

Blazefang blushed a little beneath her fur. “He’s pretty cool, I guess. He’s busy a lot, but he still finds time for his apprentices. He actually organized a sparring and hunting competition for all the apprentices in the clan recently! He also used to be a medicine cat, I’ve heard.”

Dayquill nodded along as she talked, tilting his head curiously to the side. "He used to be a medicine cat? Whoa." There was genuine awe in his voice as he said. How did a cat go from medicine cat to deputy? Clearly, Smallbean was special among WindClan cats. "That sounds... complicated. I can't imagine spending my life in the medicine den, and then being made deputy." Shrugging, Dayquill nudged Blazefang's shoulder playfully. "Well, I think I was right enough in saying he was a good cat, huh? I mean– medicine cat, then deputy, then–" he felt sheepish, using the same line twice, but he almost couldn't help it, "then, well... well, you're here. You turned out... nice. Nice."