Burning Red

Night had just fallen, and Thornbriar was itching to do something. She'd been gaining weight recently... an irritating amount of weight. She could only assume it was from her own lack of diligence to her duties as a warrior. Shifting in her nest, she nudged her belly with her nose. It was strange seeing the extra weight pack itself on so quickly, but nonetheless it was there. Tail twitching, the she-cat heaved herself from her nest and vigorously shook the debris from her ragged pelt. She'd been even more irritable than usual as of late, and her fur was even messier than what was typical of the she-cat. She wasn't exactly known for being neat and tidy, and while she usually looked unkempt and wild, she tended to keep her dark pelt mostly clean.

... Not that many people actually had the guts to point something like that out to her.

Surfacing from the Warrior's Den, she snarled at the first cat that happened to pass too close to her. The molly continued to glare as the passing warrior hurried away. What were these idiots' brains made of, crowfood? She scoffed and stepped forward... only for the low grumbling of her belly to stop her in her tracks again. Cutting her gaze towards the fresh-kill pile, she spotted a lizard that definitely looked like it was still edible. She was about to pad over and grab it, but stopped and looked down at her stomach again. Growling in frustration, she turned away from the potential meal and stomped towards the camp entrance.

She needed to take a walk, maybe catch another addition or two for the pile.

Just as long as she did something

She swore she was going mad.

"Bwaaagh!"

She yelled in surprise, whipping around and lashing out on instinct with outstretched claws in the general direction of Asterspark's face... only to miss gloriously. Wide eyed, she blinked at the blue furred tom, her expression slowly morphing into a glower as she recognized that lazy grin and mismatched stare. A warm flush of embarrassment pricked at her ears. How could she have let someone sneak up on her so easily? ... And how could she have screamed like that in front of... She whipped her head around, green eye scouting for any potential witnesses. It seemed like she was mostly in the clear. Turning back to him she snarled and swiped at the tom again. "Get out of here, rat breath. I'm not in the mood."

He... dodged.

Stifling her anger at the fact that she missed not once, but twice, she bristled. The she-cat grit her teeth, leveling a furious glare on him. "Whatever, I won't stop you if you have that strong of a death wish." Lashing her tail, she whipped around and began to stalk forward in a randomly chosen direction. "Just saves me the trouble of dragging your body somewhere remote to dig your sorry pelt a shallow grave."

Thornbriar was seriously considering kicking the cheeky tom onto the Thunderpath to get flattened by a passing monster, or forcefully shoving that stupid grin of his into the semi-frozen mud that made up the marshland until he stopped squirming... not that she'd act on those images.

... Probably.

Cutting her gaze towards the tom, she eyed him from the side. Asterspark had never commented on her physical appearance, she realized suddenly. Those events had transpired long before his birth she was certain, but still. She'd imagine that would make one as talkative as him even more likely to ask. It's not as if it was exactly difficult to notice. Her disfigured face earned her strange looks from nearly everyone.

Whatever, not like she was going to point it out.

She lifted a brow, narrowing her eye at him. "Why in Magpiestar's name do I have do go first. You insisted on coming, and you were so intent on catching something before me the last time we patrolled together." She grumbled. Studying him, Thornbriar had a slight suspicion that the tom was up to something. His lazy grin and easy words didn't seem any different from usual but... maybe it was something about him actually agreeing to leave her alone, deal or not. She didn't know Asterspark particularly well, but from her past experience with him she hadn't gotten the idea that he'd willingly walk away so easily. He seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of her with those stupid puns far too much for something like that. Turning away, she huffed. She wasn't getting anything out of him by just staring at him. "Whatever, if it'll get you out of here then fine."

Having said that, she proceeded to pad a little ways away from him. Her arguing had likely scared off any prey in the immediate vicinity, (After all, they had ears too.) but she was banking on the hopes that at least something had been stupid enough to stick around. It was then she caught sight of a frog, perched calmly atop a medium sized stone that seemed half buried in the ground. It didn't seem to be paying much attention and she resisted the urge to smirk. This would be an easy catch, then the little gnat staring at her over there could finally buzz off. Dropping into a somewhat uncomfortable hunter's crouch given the slight bulge to her belly, the confident she-cat began to slink closer to the frog just ahead of her. Mild annoyance bubbled in the back of her mind as she had to work around her belly, but still the frog remained oblivious to her approach. Another step and she pounced, but something went wrong. Rather than launching at her prey with practiced grace of a hunter wielding many moons of experience in their paws, she leapt at it with the clumsiness of a fat little kittypet. She gasped as she fumbled, watching the frog leap away from her outstretched claws in a panic before disappearing into the frozen marshland. Getting to her paws slowly, she stared after her failed catch with an expression of absolute disbelief.

How had that just happened?

She looked back at Asterspark, half expecting some sort of embarrassing quip or pun. "D... Don't, I could have had that, I just fumbled is all. I-it happens... shut up."

Her jaw dropped in visible shock at his remark.

W-what?

The she-cat's glare returned tenfold, her momentary surprised expression gone as soon as it came. "I'm not pregnant you tactless, pigeon-brained furball!" She snapped, bristling. That was impossible! He was just trying to get under her skin and jab at the sudden, stupid weight gain. He was just being cheeky, like usual. After all, there was no possible way she could be with kits...

... was there?

The thought came out of the blue, sending a sudden, icy shot of clear horror through her. What if...

Panic flashed in her gaze momentarily before she buried the thought. No. There was no way. She wasn't expecting kits, she was fine. Just normal old Thornbriar... give or take a little bit of weight.

Just, no.

Her eye widened at the sudden change in tone. She... honestly hadn't expected this brainless, glorified mossball of a cat to even have a serious bone in his body. Looking at him now she could finally see the sharp, commanding demeanor of a leader. So he is Scorchstar's son. That grave, stony look in the tom's mismatched eyes was enough to fix her in place long enough for him to speak, but it didn't last long. Pinning the tom with a sharp stare of her own, she advanced on him till there was only a mouselength between them. "Who are you to tell me the condition of my own body, Asterspark." She hissed. If he was going to start using full names she planned on responding in kind. "Last I checked, you're no medicine cat, and whether or not your friend happened to be expecting kits doesn't mean that I am. Don't project that ratdung on me. I have no mate. In fact, I'm almost entirely alone in life, so there's no chance I could possibly be carrying kits." Thornbriar lashed her tail. Why was she even defending herself? Why was she even talking so much... admitting so much? Why did this matter so much to her? She knew she was fine, that Asterspark was either seriously mistaken or just plain stupid... but what was this strange, sick feeling pooling in her belly? Anxiety? Worry? Gritting her teeth, she beat back the growing feeling and continued her rant.

"How in Magpiestar's name could a lone she-cat have gotten pregnant, and what evidence do you have anyways. What, a gut feeling? Or are you just banking off of the fact I've been gaining weight recently and missed a single catch. One mistake doesn't mean anything. And speaking of, why would you even care? Not like I'm much more than an aquaintance of yours. All I wanted was to be left alone today for Starclan's sake, and here you go spewing some nonsense about me being pregnant." Green fire flashing in her eye, she took another threatening step forward, trembling ever so slightly and bringing them almost nose to nose.

"Mind your own business."

For a long moment, she just stared at him. The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice, everything. It all worked much like a blow to the gut to completely knock the air from her. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she tried futilely to process his words. The tom looked away from her, yet she could still see that deep, nameless emotion swirling in his gaze. How could he have possibly realized that she'd been...

It was then that it finally clicked.

Asterspark... knew.

He knew loss. He knew pain. She remembered the day they'd hunted together. She recalled how he'd brushed off his bleeding, matted tail as nothing, opting instead to tease her over her catch. The she-cat had assumed he'd just been using it to hide the pain. She hadn't considered that he might be carrying a burden much heavier that he had been masking the same way. The tom's voice was thick with emotion, weighed down by an ache that ran deep. Thornbriar understood that weight all too well.

She'd felt the same.

In that moment, she forgot about the thorns and barbs that had kept her company for so long and just... looked at him. How had she not seen it before? How had he seen through her? The silence dragged on between them as she tried to see through him the way he had with her. A hint of fear flickered up from somewhere deep within her. She didn't like feeling open... feeling vulnerable. It went against her very nature to allow someone the upper hand this way.

And with that, the barrier came crashing back into place and she hurriedly stepped back a pace or two. It didn't matter if he understood or not, she wouldn't let him do... whatever it was that he just did, again. "I-I... Whatever... I'll be fine, it's fine." She grumbled, fighting to figure out what to say. She had to stick to the topic at hand. After all, he still thought she was expecting. "Look, whatever, but you're mistaken. I'm not, er, there's no way I could be... that I would be..." The slow smile of that white and orange rogue she'd met on the territory's edge suddenly rose up from her memory and she froze in place, realization dawning on her. "N... no... There's no way." She backed away even further, the trembling beginning anew. There was no way, right? He couldn't have. But, what if he did? Had that seriously been enough to get her pregnant? She was certain she'd thrown him off of her before he'd...

Hadn't she?

She shook her head, as if to rid it of her own momentary panic. There was no way, Asterspark's words had just caught her off guard, that's all.

The certainty in his words was jarring.

Thornbriar didn't want to be poked and prodded by the young medicine cat apprentice, but she supposed she had no choice. The tom had her backed into a corner, and they both knew it. Either let Morningpaw prove him wrong, or admit she herself was uncertain by refusing Morningpaw's checkup. Gritting her teeth, she looked away. She didn't like it but...

"Fine... whatever. There won't be anything to help raise, but if it helps you sleep at night then let's get this over with."