[lone]

Originally Posted by Thistledawn

The younger apprentice looked away, a hint of a smile remaining. Her blue eyes were nearly gleaming. She didn't have a witty response- or any response really. Cherrypaw felt a teasing tone sneak into the tom's voice. Normally she'd be upset. She hated being teased. But this felt playful and harmless. Anyways, the white cat was sassy, so she wouldn't be able to be mad at the ginger tom because he spoke the truth. She was beginning to catch onto how Foxpaw was acting. At the same time, she couldn't truly decide how she felt about it. Her mind was going back and forth. On one paw, she wanted to be annoyed with the older apprentice. Too easily had he slipped into his behavior with Cherrypaw. This was hardly a meeting fit for two cats who hardly knew each other. There were too many winks and purrs. At some moments, the she-cat wondered if Foxpaw had rehearsed his act. And the blue-eyed cat didn't like when Foxpaw assumed things about her. She wasn't jealous (her mother did always tell her jealousy would turn her fur green) and she didn't constantly need his attention like he seemed to think she did. Her tail twisted anxiously behind her. On the other paw, Cherrypaw didn't mind the flattery and compliments. Some of his words made her feel good and relatively important. After all, she was in the foulest of moods when Foxpaw first padded into the apprentice's den. She probably would still be in a foul mood had the ginger tom not started talking to her. That had to count for something. Perhaps StarClan had sent her a friend in her time of need. Foxpaw was unique and had made quite the first impression. Cherrypaw wouldn't mind getting to know him a little more at the very least. The she-cat was having conflicting thoughts, and she didn't know which thoughts she wanted to side with. She began to absentmindedly roll a twig back and forth with her paw. There were too many thoughts happening all at once.

When Cherrypaw looked back at the ginger tom, a gigantic smile had taken hold of him. In that moment, Cherrypaw thought she saw pure youth and energy beam from Foxpaw. She'd never seen quite a look like that. It was contagious. And much to the she-cat's surprise, she found herself purring at the tom's expression. It was. . . Charming was the word that came to mind. As the older cat leaned in, Cherrypaw found herself leaning forwards too, putting a lot of her weight on her front paws until she felt like she was going to fall out of her nest entirely. She stared into Foxpaw's eyes. There was a look in the tom's green eyes that the white cat just couldn't figure out. She squinted, wishing she knew him well enough to guess what he was thinking. Not too long after she leaned forward, Cherrypaw jumped back in surprise. Her body straightened and tensed instinctively. Her paws began to anxiously knead the material in her nest. The white cat's jaw fell nearly as far as the floor of the den. "Oh- Foxpaw. . ." She trailed off, unsure what to say. Cherrypaw felt body begin to retreat into itself as if it could just disappear that way.

The ginger cat was used to being turned down. He had heard everything from "no way, buddy" to stammering "oh... err... well..." until eventually their weak argument had been boiled down to the fact that they just didn't want to spend time with him. Not that Foxpaw minded that much. He would just move on to the next she cat. He loved getting reactions, and if he wasn't getting any reaction at all, he would move on to someone that he thought he would get a better reaction out of. So of course Foxpaw couldn't have been more pleased with the partly horrified, partly embarrassed reaction that he got out of the she cat. She looked worried, like she couldn't believe that this was happening right now. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm used to being turned down," The tom mewed, an expression of flirtatious mischief on his features.

Foxpaw raised up in his nest until he was in a sitting position, his green eyes sparkling playfully as he gazed at Cherrypaw. Now the feline was taking in almost everything about the she cat. She had electric, sapphire-blue eyes that stood out against her fluffy white pelt. She looked like she had quite a soft pelt, which aroused Foxpaw's interest - he wondered what his ginger fur would look like mixed with hers. Of course, Cherrypaw was a little young to be thinking about all of this right now, so he couldn't quite blame her. "So, back to what you were saying about those cute toms - I wouldn't happen to be one of them, would I?" The feline asked, his voice genuinely curious even though he would have preferred to feign carelessness, acting like what she said didn't matter anything to him. Unfortunately Foxpaw just wasn't very good at that type of acting. He had too many feelings and emotions and liked being "out there" too much to trap himself in acting like he didn't care.

He did care. He cared about a lot of things, he had a lot at stake by putting himself in a position that showed how badly he wanted things, but it was too hard to pretend otherwise. He wondered where Silverpaw was - she would probably embarass him, even with a deeper voice and more charming mannerisms, he still was the same cat that she had met before. The same silly, flirty tom who had had no idea what he was doing. At least now the tom had some idea of what he was doing. He knew how to charm, he knew how to get inside a she cat's head (in a way), and he knew how to make himself seem "better" in a way. Perhaps he wasn't as good as he thought he was, but at least he was learning. Unlike Nightpaw - the apprentice's brother had only gotten more closed off and dark in the upcoming moons, grumbling and acting strangely and staying away from him like he had contracted the plague or something.

It wasn't too fun for Foxpaw, who was constantly wondering if there was a way to get the brother who had at least loved him. Even if other cats hadn't seen it, he had been a good cat. But now that tom was gone and Foxpaw wasn't sure what was left in place of him. Someone that the ginger cat wasn't too happy with, that was for sure. He was glad that Cherrypaw didn't have any knowledge of Nightpaw, because there was no doubt in his mind his (hopeful) relationship with her would be destroyed if that were to happen.