[lone]

Originally Posted by Doodle

Marblestrike's head snapped up at Palmettoleaf's words, her eyes opening very widely as he voiced just what she didn't want him to do. "No!" She blurted out immediately. "I mean- yes! Yes, I do mind," she rushed, her tail waving behind her. She realized too late that the tom was kidding, and relief pooled in her eyes. "Oh," she murmured, glancing away in slight embarrassment but not in any way going to apologize for her outburst. At least he knew that she wouldn't appreciate him intruding, even if she hadn't shown so in the best way. Since when did she care what he thought, anyways? Since when did she really care what anyone thought, really? It had been a long time since she tip toed around another cat, careful of hurting their feelings or angering them, and she never wished to go back to that lifestyle again.

All the molly did was nod at the other's simple statement, but she could practically hear the questions in his voice. She fully expected him to ramble them off- nothing had been keeping him from asking her questions before, anyways- and was surprised, but very appreciative, when he didn't. She'd rather avoid talking about how she wound up in Skyclan if possible. No one knew that story, not even her best friends, and she would like to keep it that way. Her eyes flickered closed again. Big blue eyes widened in horror. "What are you doing? Stop!" Her shrill voice did nothing to stop the larger cat. All the tiny cat could do was watch on dreadfully, waiting for the outcome she dreaded most. Sadly, it was the most probable one as well.

A shiver overtook Marble at the short memory, and she violently shook her head to clear it. She stood up, her pelt still feeling irritated with discomfort. The feline needed to do something to keep herself from remembering; something she didn't normally struggle with while here by herself. Perhaps it was because of Palmettoleaf next to her... it was always a bit hard for her to be around a tom, just the two of them. Even with her best friend, Blazingcomet, flashbacks would still come to her. Of course, he didn't know of her past and she didn't want to burden him with it as well. She also didn't want him to get the wrong idea and think she wasn't comfortable with him- he was her best friend, and she might not show it well, but she fully trusted him.

A swim would do a good distraction, certainly. Without a second thought, Marblestrike bunched her hind legs and leapt forward, clearing the edge of the rock the two had been laying on. She fell into the stream with a loud splash and immediately opened her eyes under the water, watching any surrounding minnows swim away in fear. A few short seconds later her head popped back above the water and she took in another breath- she had been so rushed to get into the stream and away from her thoughts that she hadn't taken in enough air beforehand. This certainly wasn't one of her most graceful leaps into the water, and probably had caused the tom above some fear, but it wasn't like she was intending to impress Palmettoleaf. Blinking water from her eyes and shaking her head to get a bit of it out from her ears, she looked up to see what her companion was doing.

The multicolored's tom fur was bristling as Marblestrike jumped. Did she even know how to swim? What kind of an idiotic stunt was she pulling now? His eyes flashed with anger and fur continued to bristle as he watched her, green eyes flashing before her head came up and he took a deep breath. Palmettoleaf had never really been one to show that he was upset to those he was around. For one thing, she might have just done that to upset him and for another, he wouldn't want to make her feel bad if she hadn't. Putting on a smile, and struggling to keep it there, Palmettoleaf's green eyes still weren't lighting up the way they normally did when his smile was genuine. He liked Marblestrike, there was nothing wrong there - so that's why it was hard for him to feel really genuine. Are you crazy? He wanted to yowl. Did you even think before you did that? The answer, of course, was probably no. She hadn't thought. She didn't ever think. She didn't look like she did, anyways. "I didn't know you knew how to swim," He mewed in a calm, friendly tone. Palmettoleaf was, of course, being careful to keep his voice level. He didn't want her to see how worried he had been - while this wasn't generally something that the tom did, it was a new approach for him.

Perhaps if he wasn't so friendly he could show her that it was better to be friendly and caring and try to make friends with everyone. Though, to be honest... the tom sincerely doubted it. His bright eyes almost seemed to gleam with amusement as he looked down at her. Not a lot of the cats he had met in SkyClan knew how to swim. In fact, it seemed that more had struggles with swimming then knew how to do it. But that was okay, right? Everyone had strengths and weaknesses. His personal weakness was swimming, which was perhaps why he had been so nervous. Although he could tell there had been no reason to be now, of course she wouldn't just do that without thinking!

"It's a good skill to have. Where did you learn it?" The tom went on, his tail swishing behind him in an almost careless manner. This was quite uncharacteristic for Palmettoleaf, considering he almost always looked excited or happy or at least as though he cared about something, but today was... different. He didn't. Or at least he wasn't acting like he did. Palmettoleaf wondered if Marblestrike was going to be fooled by his little act - she seemed too smart for that, but you could never tell - and part of him hoped that she would be. After all, he wasn't doing this for nothing. He was more or less doing it for her, so that she could see it never payed to be unfriendly. You couldn't do anything that way! Why, if Grousestar and Auroraflame were unfriendly, would they have any loners in their Clan? The chances were, no. They wouldn't. Palmettoleaf yawned, his light pink tongue curling up and green eyes closing - though, he didn't really want to keep Marblestrike out of his sight for that long.

When she had jumped, he had felt like a new father or a worried Queen looking after her kits. As though it was his fault or something. Like he needed to protect her. Palmettoleaf wanted to protect all his clanmates, didn't he? They were all important. Every single one had something to give, even the shy ones who sat in the corner of the clearing and never spoke, or the loud ones who forced their opinions on everybody else, or the ones like himself - ordinary, but with what seemed to be extraordinary power anyway. Or, perhaps the ones like Marblestrike. Fierce... but special all the same.