Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsurdJinx
Calia thought of the words of his statement. Attacked. Scolded. Pushed. Physically. Verbally. What has the poor tomcat been through before meeting her? She imagined the jagged, pink scars that must paint his undercoat, as well as the mental scars that haunting his dreams. Perhaps his past experiences are why he acted the way he did? Scared. Alone. Anxious. Calia knew how these emotions felt just as much as she knew their definitions. However, judging by the way he acted, he most likely faced unimaginable things. Kicked out. Messed up. Has he had multiple homes before stumbling upon her? Has he been constantly worrying about being chased out? All because of a mistake?
Have you ever had any of those problems? Calia nearly bristled at this, and her vibrant blue eyes glistened with a furious rage. How dare he assume what I've been through? She succeeded in keeping her fur flat, and she was lucky that she was not facing the stranger. She halted before the place she buried scrawny mice, and she began to dig. Her paws scooped up pawfuls of earth, and firmly packed them in a pile beside the growing hole. As she dug, she figured she could respond to his former statement.
``Mm, I feel you should consider what others have been through before saying such things as `have you been through that`, don't you think?`` Calia's tone was light, hinting that she was a genuinely friendly cat despite the anger that drove her tail to lash. How kind and strong she must be to refrain from blowing up on the tom. The tomcat's words has clipped a string inside her and driven her to feel upset over her past. She had previously considered asking him if he's been through depression, but she decided she would not stoop down to his level.
When the tails of a few gaunt mice were clenched softly between her jaws, she began the short trot to the stranger where she dropped two of the three rodents a few tail-lengths before him. She figured he must be hungry - she didn't know the last time he had eaten. Taking her previous position from before she left to grab the prey, she sat down and set the mouse at her forepaws. Her thick tail was curled at her side, and she drew her tongue along her damp lips hungrily. Figuring she has said enough, and it was his turn to speak, Calia bent her head to bite into the flesh of the rodent. |
Obsidian watched her, wondering how she would react to his earlier words. Nothing so far. He imagined that might have been insensitive of him, but at the moment- he really didn't care. Obsidian tried to relax a little more. She wasn't exactly in a position to hurt him, right? And besides, she had already made her intentions pretty clear. Besides that, she wouldn't stand a chance. If I have to, I will fight her. He thought, the tip of his tail twitching as he listened to the she cat speak. "Maybe. Perhaps I was wrong to say that; but I've learned that I need to speak more forcefully if I don't want to be trampled beneath cats who are stronger then me. Since I don't know you, I don't know whether I can trust you not to hurt me the moment I let my guard down. Understood?" Obsidian asked, his words coming out in a low growl that seemed to say you better understand, I'm not going to say all of that again whether you got it or not.
What he had said had been true. He had learned over the moons of being shadowed out, fading into the background, that if he wanted authority and respect- not necessarily given so much as forced, he was going to have to toughen up and bluff until he could win over the other cats. He watched the she cat come back and stared at the rodents that had been dropped slightly before him. He shifted his weight, staring at them until slowly, he got up and picked them up, carrying them further away from the she cat. After saying all of that, he wasn't sure whether she was going to be as friendly as before. Still, her intentions were good- as far as Obsidian could tell, though he knew better then to let his guard down. It was wrong, plain and simple; at least, in his world it was.
He knew better then to get hurt again. He knew better then to allow her to slip through his guard, as others had done before her, and do all sorts of damage. Obsidian had adapted, in a way- adapted to learn things about cats by watching them. As he settled down again, he glanced up at her and sighed, shifting his weight again before fixing his hues on her. "Thank you." He mewed in a low voice, one that he wasn't quite sure whether she could hear or not, but it was the best he was going to do. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad. Maybe she didn't have an intention to hurt him. Maybe she wasn't going to end up being like so many others, wanting to get close to him to use him, to hurt him, to ditch him as soon as he had served a purpose.
There were so many cats like that. So many cats who had decided they wanted to use others for their own selfish purposes, without giving so much as a thought to how the other cat might feel. Obsidian was not one of these cats. He didn't play around with others' emotions, making them feel special and wanted one moment and then ditching them the next. Oh he had tried- he had figured it might help him fit in with the other cats, but he had learned that they had been using him in that as well. Obsidian lowered his head and took a bite of one of the rodents. It had been a while since he had last eaten, but he didn't want to show her how hungry he was by tearing into it: as much as he wanted to. He knew that would be something she could later use against him, and didn't want to give it to her.