[Captain]

Originally Posted by CandyFlossCat

Needlescar glanced over at him, smiling. "It's fine, maybe i'll hunt later, there's probably something decent out there for the others." She mewed, feeling hollow with dread herself. Now she was here, in an enviornment she knew, where the only cat (who spoke to her and was kind) was Pinewhisker. She lifted her head at his question. "Just..nervous I guess. There are a few cats i'm not looking forward to seeing regularly again." She replied, a bit vague. She didn't want him to have to worry over her. She didn't want to seem weak, so she sat up and swiftly licked her fur. She glanced around the clearing, not seeing a certain cat, and relaxing visibly. Good. She thought, a tiny smile appearing on her face as she turned to Pinewhisker, and she blushed slightly. "You don't, er..have to, but maybe we could..do something later?" She mumbled, ears flicking back slightly. Why was she being so stupid around him? They were just semi-close friends. Needlescar curled her tail around her paws, trying to look stronger than she felt, but slightly failing. She shouldn't be so nervous, but she couldn't help but be nervous...why did this all have to be so confusing?! She chewed her lip, eyes sparkling with a mix of emotions, mostly negative, as she hoped nobody but him tried to..talk with her. "I'll be..right back." She spoke suddenly, walking over to the fresh kill pile. Her stomach urged her to pick something, so she chose a scrawny looking mouse, and her thoughts collected themselves. She just had to be less..awkward. Yeah, like that was going to happen. She took the mouse, biting into it with a tiny glance at Pinewhisker. She smiled softly, swallowing the small bite.

“Heh, I suppose we aren’t too different when it comes to caring about the wellbeing of our clanmates.” Pinewhisker mentioned, his tone soft and kind when he returned the sweetened smile that Needlescar had sent his way only moments before, “I always try to make sure to leave the plumpest of prey for the nursery queens and elders, they deserve it more than I do, without a doubt.” He grew silent, however, when the shecat told him now of her worries that made the warrior seem so anxious and on edge for the moment. The brown-furred male glanced around the clearing with his quiet, yet observant gaze, wondering to himself - what cat would cause such worry to this kindhearted female that made his heart flutter so? Could someone truly be that heartless? Now that the tomcat thought about it, the answer was absolutely when it came to how cats could be or any creature for that matter. There were coldhearted creatures with no sense of friendly or compassionate traits within them, especially to the ones who truly deserved it. “You have no need to be nervous, Needlescar.” He mentioned, turning his head to peer at her now as he spoke, “Trust me on this, alright?” Pinewhisker was not a violent type of cat nor was he a bully, but when he saw his dear friend so frightened because of these unknown threats to her everyday life - it made the young warrior feel rather uneasy and a sense of unexplained protectiveness seemed to blossom within him, though he did not voice this. The brown-furred male gave a small, relaxed sigh to calm his ruffled fur that stand on the back of his neck as he slowly eased himself into a sitting position, glancing at Needlescar who sat beside him. He knew that it was rude to stare, but sometimes, even the well-mannered male couldn’t keep himself from slight temptations and opportunities like this. He admired the colors of her fur and the small features on her face that made her unique compared to all the other shecats of Shadowclan and to be honest, Pinewhisker adored that about her. What most males would see as flaws, he saw as unique and special to his own eye. When she eventually turned to look at him, the tom looked down at his paws with a slight wave of heated embarrassment coming over him as he nonchalantly tried to act like he was admiring something in the dirt - making the warrior look like a mousebrain. Her mumbled, shy words made his ears perk and his head lifted to look at Needlescar. Did she just ask him to do something with her? The realization made his heart quicken slightly, but he kept his cool, being the calm and civil cat that everyone knew. “I’d love to.” He said, purring slightly to hide the shakiness of his tone, “What would you have in mind? I have my own ideas, but I wouldn’t want to hog the spotlight.” Pinewhisker joked with a smile returning to his expression. The young warrior’s excitement grew to slight worry when she spoke abruptly and walked away - had he said something wrong? Oh Starclan, what had he said wrong this time? Pinewhisker’s whiskers twitched as he shook his head, trying to not make a big deal over such small, overanalyzed things. Besides, Needlescar soon returned to his side with a piece of prey of her own, biting into the mouse as she glanced at him with a sweet smile that made his head spin. “If you wouldn’t mind..” Pinewhisker murmured, his eyes drifting off to the trees in the near distance, “I would love to treat you to a walk in the forest tonight.”