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"he does!" magpiepaw mewled in response to his littermate. the short tom had missed the point entirely; he saw rookpaw's comment as ammunition, not amusement. it hardly occurred to the little tom that the medicine cat apprentice wasn't interested in picking sides — instead, he chose to believe that rookpaw had taken his. "and i'd know, 'cos i'm on tick duty all the time." he remarked, nodding, as if to make himself appear more credible. magpiepaw was in trouble more often than not ( he believed it was never his fault, but that his clanmates were just too close-minded for their own good ) and had grown used to having to pick the bugs one by one by the elders' patchy pelts. besides the foul stench of the bile, he didn't mind it as much as he used to; the elders were wise, after all, and he liked to listen to their stories. there was much to learn from them, or at least from the progressive ones.
"pfft, just watch me." his words were sharp, dripping with protest, but the black-and-white boy couldn't shake the whininess from his tone. he sounded more like a kit than a soon-to-be warrior; magpiepaw frowned at the thought. "i'm gonna grow up and a better warrior than you ever were," the 'paw declared. his words were defiant, but his expression was...markedly less so. magpiepaw wasn't so sure he'd grow up to become a warrior at all; at this point, he was beginning to think cougartail would delay his ceremony 'til the end of time. he and the warrior code didn't often see eye-to-eye, after all, and he tended to buck the rules when they didn't suit him. as much as he loved his clan, he tended to express it in ways that his clanmates didn't understand or approve of. magpiepaw was a riverclanner through and through, but an atypical one — he doubted he'd be shedding -paw anytime soon. he just didn't fit the mold.
thankfully, he didn't have to think about that for long; rookpaw tossed a fish toward his brothers, which stole the boy's attention. it landed on the damp earth before them with a plop. like wrenbreeze, magpiepaw had forgotten just how hungry he was, and the scaly creature's scent was enticing. tantalizing, even. all the tom wanted was to rip into its soft, watery flesh... but that would mean sharing it with his brothr. the apprentice's gaze moved to fix on him again, and he narrowed his eyes. ugh. he was hungry, but was he hungry enough to share with wrenbreeze?
"fine." magpiepaw decided, finally. his stomach got the better of him. "you get half." the boy mewed suspiciously. if he knew anything about his brother, it was that he'd try to sneak the lion's share just to spite him.
