Bramblepaw's chest burned at the, what he assumed, was passed on advice. It sure sounded like something of the sort, a common phrase used by most clan cats, although he had never heard it before. Uncertain paws? I'm only six moons old! Think it'd be better if I just screwed it all up instead, flea-bag?! He wanted to rip Goldenleap's pelt off for assuming a newly fledged apprentice was some seasoned, confident hunter. Sure, at times he could throw himself into situations without many questions. But when failure was near a near certain outcome? For IceClan's future, he couldn't afford such a risk.

The dark tabby watched with narrowed eyes as Goldenleap moved, taking matters into his own paws, and answering question without saying a word. Guess there really was a wrong choice, wasn't there? If Goldenleap preferred to act instead of wait, did that make him impatient, or a quick assessor of the situation and what was wiser? Bramblepaw wasn't sure, and he wasn't sure if he was suppose to follow along, or wait for instructions. A part of him wanted to be mean, and rush at the mouse just to piss him off, like he had originally wanted to do. Add in some snarky, but innocent comment of "What? You made it seem like we should give chase instead of wait!"

But Bramblepaw wasn't an idiot. A mouse still fed some belly in IceClan. And for their future, he was determined to get it. In his few times hunting, his luck had been pretty fifty-fifty, and he wasn't about to ruin that.

So he waited, watching to see what Goldenleap would do. And with the quick glances his way, Bramblepaw assumed he was either inwardly scolding the stationary apprentice for not doing something, or he was evaluating a plan. When the warrior smashed his paws into the ground, startling the mouse into running to safety, was when he realized what he had to do. It took only a split second realization for Bramblepaw to prepare him fully for the oncoming creature, his golden eyes slitting and teeth slipping into view. Before the mouse could react, to turn a different way and avoid him, Bramblepaw had lunged. His paws seized the small beast with relative ease, closing in and pushing all his weight on top and keep it pinned. Then, a quick nip to the throat, and it was finished.

It felt like a lot of work, but really, it had happened so fast and easily, Bramblepaw hardly felt tired. His heart was beating from excitement, and there was a happy, proud swing in his tail as he looked from the mouse to Goldenleap. He suppoed, the warrior had been smart enough to come up with this plan, and had been lucky enough the mouse ran where it did. And that, although Bramblepaw acted like a complete fool, the apprentice wasn't as useless as he made himself out to be. He liked hunting, and was focused entirely on succeeding in the task and feeding his clan. A chance of error was considered, but scoffed at.

"Ah," Bramblepaw decided to speak, eyes rising up to the golden tabby's. "Thanks for, uhm, trusting me to catch it, Goldenleap." he purred with a warm expression.

Tch. Sucking up to the warrior was proving less bothersome as time wore on, if still not a little frustrating. What really made it bad, was that Bramblepaw knew he was inexperienced, but he hated the idea of being treated as such. He wanted to grow up already, become an important edition to IceClan's ranks. A warrior his clanmates would name off the top of their head that, yeah, if anyone could carry them towards a better future, it was him. Some would call that the call to heroism, but that term felt a little too good-natured for Bramblepaw's liking, considering some of the things he had considered trampling over to reach his goal. Like the end to the other clans, and the like.

Sometimes, Bramblepaw thought about what he actually wanted in life. He wanted to become leader of IceClan. He wanted to end of existence of FireClan, TreeClan, RockClan, and especially, most of all, DeathClan. If anything, the kind-hearted Bramblepaw would extend his paws to unite instead of destroy, under the only clan name that was meant to survive. But not out of some ambitious desire to control or lead every single clan cat, and not out of some bloodthirsty wish for everyone to die. He found cats annoying, and the less tolerable ones were likely the ones putting in the least amount of effort, and shouldn't exist therefore. The enemy clans posed the biggest threat to IceClan's future, and thus, should be disposed of to prevent a worse case scenario.

With that mindset, Bramblepaw reasoned he wasn't some crazed psychopath, because it wasn't like he took pleasure in killing. Poking at the mouse before him confirmed that. It was just another step towards the future, an act that needed to be done for the good of all. And the pretend personality? Of course, that was only another sacrifice that had to be made. No cat would willingly follow Bramblepaw's extreme beliefs, and he needed all of IceClan on his side if he wanted to win.

...It also kept cats from worrying about him. Someone too happy is faking it, someone too angry has pent up issues they refuse to let out, and the like. Not always, but... it was better this way. A grouchy apprentice would only be met with hostility or attempts at help, and Bramblepaw couldn't have either of those things happen on his path to leadership. He outright refused to be seen as someone who was suffering, because he wasn't. He wasn't sad, so he couldn't be, and he wasn't angry--

--well, er, maybe a little bit. He had thought about that, too. He was so quick to take everyone as annoying, and become frustrated from the faintest of interactions. Bramblepaw was angry, because he had reasoned to himself many times before, that many of the cats he hated and wanted to push off a cliff weren't always as bad as they should be viewed. But he was so quick to jump onto the thought of "ugh, get out of my sight!" and wish they had a huge pile of bad karma just waiting to hit them.

What was he angry at, though? Was his idea that he actually was angry, even correct?




{ sorry for rambling at the end, got pretty into how he views himself and the like, kinda to help me understand his character better. now, he's a lot more self-aware for some reason, huehue...? }