second-pick [open]

Snakegaze scoffed hotly and shouldered his way out of camp.

He could hear Stormheart growling in his direction, but he just flattened his ears against his head and kept padding onward as if he couldn't hear a thing.

The grey tom was beyond tired of his brother.. His oh-so wonderful, bold, charming, bulky brother that always went first. Their mother always picked him first for patrols, and to go to Gatherings, and to train apprentices. She and everyone else in RiverClan couldn't see it, but Snakegaze had been living in his brother's shadow ever since they'd received their apprentice names.. StarClan, even before that. Even as a kit, Snakegaze had always been the meek little push-over. He'd had it up to the crown of his head by now, and he'd made sure to let Fishstar and Stormheart know it.

He wound up stalking all the way to the River. The warrior hadn't planned on coming here, but then again, he hadn't planned on goinng anywhere specific. He just needed to be away from the Clan for a while.. Away from his brother.

Sighing gruffly, Snakegaze collapsed onto a sun-baked rock along the bank, letting the heat seep into his pelt and skin.

Sootwhisper was sitting near the river, the shadows of the trees above him breaking his shape from the eyes of the ones that could be looking, and the white spots on his fur gave him decent camouflage against the melting snow. His blue and golden eyes looking at the calm waters and the occasional flash of color under the surface of the fish living below the crystalline surface.

The calm sound of the rushing water was soon interrupted by the sound of pawsteps coming from within the territory, causing one of his ears to move towards it, the only sign of life coming from the tom. H didn’t react right away, watching as Snakegaze walked right past his immobile form, eyes following him as he reached a warm rock and allowed himself to collapse on it.

Now, Sootwhisper had seen his clanmate in camp and the territory several times before, he had seen the struggle he had to go through since he was only an apprentice, trying to stand out but always being shadowed by his brother in one way or another. He couldn’t fully understand his struggles or what he was going through, given that he had no littermates, but it wasn’t much of a secret anyways.

“So, the new strategy is to run away” Most cats would try to talk with Snakegaze first, get him to lift his mood even if just a bit, but Sootwhisper wasn’t like most cats. He went straight to the subject, no kind words, no sugarcoating. He couldn’t mind less if he seemed rude or fox hearted by doing so.

Snakegaze's ear twitched as footsteps began to approach from somewhere behind him, but he didn't turn around. A ripple of frustration ran through him as he heard Sootwhisper's voice.

"Running away? Is that what you call it?" He flexed his claws against the grainy surface of the rock, trying his best to keep his tone level. "This isn't running away from my problems, this is getting a moment of peace from everyone else. There's a difference." The tom fell silent for a moment, absentmindedly watching the jagged ripples form on the water at his paws. No one really got it, did they? They never would. Snakegaze laughed to himself, but it was dry, and mirthless. "What does it matter, anyways? No one ever cares where I go or what I'm doing. Why give a rat's tail now?"

“Well, make them care”

He meowed calmly as he sat down, grooming his fur absentmindedly, like if the topic was something as casual and common as talking about what color was the last fish the warrior had caught “You always struggle to get recognition, your brother gets it just by breathing. That’s the difference” He then raised his head to look at Snakegaze, his tail curling up around his paws as his neutral expression followed his clanmate’s every move “He has the talent.  You have the determination. Talent gets what it wants when it wants it, but it has limitations. Determination will struggle to get even the smallest achievement, but can surpass limits”.

His eyes, before just looking at Snakegaze as a whole, raised to his eyes and his gaze was locked there “Make. Them. Care. Make them remember your name. Prove to them that you can not only be as good as your brother, but be greater than him one day. If you let anyone else but yourself dictate your destiny…well, you’ll always be the brother of Stormheart. Nothing more”.