Dobsonflydaydream, for once, was glad that Newleaf had come to a close. Often, he found the soft pitter-pattering of rain and fluffy snow pleasant. Especially the way all of the flowers started blooming, and all the animals and bugs started making their way out of burrows or bushes. But not this year. In fact, Newleaf seemed to be the season everything came crumbling down. Dobsonfly had been so excited for his warrior ceremony, and now all that built-up joy and hope had been crushed in a single day. Life seemed to be the opposite of what Sunny expected. He had pictured and thought and imagined a lot, but never /this./ A relentless stream of patrols, crying and ‘quick walks’. And for what? His ‘honour?’ What did that even mean at this point? Just like everything else, ‘honour’ was just another unnecessary thing that everyone chased like their life depended on it. Dobby made his way out of camp, keeping his head low so as to not alert any one of where he was going. Not that Day was doing something wrong- they just needed some time alone. Again. Face stained with tears, Dobsonflydaydream proceeded through the territory. It found its paws carrying them towards a small clearing in the territory, lined with several rose bushes. Some of the roses seemed to have been ripped off or placed in such a way to make the place seem just a little bit more magical. He spun around furiously. How dare his own paws betray him like this? How dare their paws take them to the one place she /didnt/ want to be? They were about to wander right out of the clearing and run far, far, away, when it noticed something oddly… peculiar. The rose had vanished. When Dobsonflydaydream confessed to Sunspiderstar, he’d been holding a rose, which had been dropped and stomped on in the aftermath. No one should be bothered to pick it back up at that point. Most of its petals were ripped off or would’ve wilted at that point. Unless… Unless Cider took the rose. But why would fae? Xyr had already established that xe didn’t like Dobsonflydaydream. But maybe, just maybe… Dobsonflydaydream shook his head vigorously. This was exactly what happened last time. He’d gotten caught up in his own imagination, and punished for it. He couldn’t make that mistake again. So why did her mind keep going back to that one thought? The slim chance that maybe, Sunspiderstar /didn’t/ hate him. But how could that be true? Cider /rejected/ them. There was no hidden meaning, no secret intent, no chance of it possibly meaning a lie. Right? Great stars, if only Dobsonflydaydream was more sure of themself. Like Sunspiderstar is. Cider would know exactly what to do in this situation, surely. If only she wasn’t so indecisive. If only she wasn’t so worried all the time. If only she wasn’t so star-strikingly stupid! …. Perhaps that was the answer. It was his mind, his mentality that was holding her back. The feeling that she’d done something horribly wrong. The bottomless pit of fear and despair that seeped into and po!soned every thought, every action, every word. So… if they just removed those few things, perhaps he wouldn’t be so sad all the time. Well, removing them seemed a bit harsh. Perhaps just hiding them would work. Locking them away, so deep, so far, that even Dobsonflydaydream couldn’t reach them. He was already good at pretending. So why not make that a reality?
