[Queenie]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

The golden feline cocked her head to the side at his stutter, her eyes curious as she examined Bumblepaw. "Good!" She mewed cheerily, a smile spreading across her maw and lighting up her eyes. She was glad the other tom was doing well, but something still bothered her about how nervous he seemed. Did he think she would hurt him? Had he been bullied before, and thought Morningpaw was going to be no different from those cats? While that assumption would be somewhat offensive, the golden furred cat could understand how Bumblepaw would come up with something like that. Especially if he wasn't that used to kindness. The smile had, by now, faded partly from her maw and was replaced by a look of concern. She decided the best thing to do would be to introduce herself, and carried out her plan as quickly as she could.

"I'm Morningpaw. In case you didn't know - there are a lot of apprentices, it's really hard to keep up with the names of all of them." She smiled encouragingly at him, her expression pleased and gentle as she did her best to make Bumblepaw feel more at ease. She already liked the other apprentice, and thought he was going to be great company. So far he was proving her right. He really did seem like a very nice young tom to Morningpaw, and she thought she was going to get a good conversation out of him eventually. Sure enough, soon he began talking, and she grinned wider at his words.

"ShadowClan is definitely my least favorite Clan. I mean, they're pretty creepy, right? Seriously, ShadowClanners are so moody! But you'll get used to them, I mean, you're going to be a great warrior - and great warriors don't have anything to fear from moody shadow-dwellers." Morningpaw purred, her light pink tongue rasping across her chest fur momentarily. "That's really cool that you learned those techniques, though." She added after a minute, her eyes still lit up in a friendly manner.

Bumblepaw gulped as Morningpaw gave him an encouraging look. You should run. He thought, Although Morningpaw was Windclan too. She'd probably catch him. Silently he cursed the gift given to the moor cats. He licked his chest awkwardly trying to act natural with little luck at all. He felt exposed standing in the clearing. Morningpaw started to chatter and Bumblepaw was suddenly taken aback. Usually cats weren't this vocal with him! It was sort of nice to watch her ramble on, and not be pressured to think of something to say.

He nodded as Morningpaw finished, "I'm not scared of Shadowclan." He pause trying to choose his words. "I think I'm more scared of the trees." He remembered the way the needles on the pines enclosed the sky making the forest floor dark. The thought made him shiver. "I'm much more partial to the open moor." Bumblepaw coughed. Now he was sharing his opinion? What was happening? Who was this she-cat? The fluffy tom quickly sat half wanting to get to know this feline more, half still wanting to run for the hills.

He shuddered for a second thinking about adding something onto his previous statement. "I'm not scared of any of the clans. Except Thunderclan. With the approaching battle and all... I'm afraid." He bent his head, ashamed to tell her this. He wasn't sure why he did but there was something very inviting about the way Morningpaw stood next to him that made Bumblepaws maw open and spill words out.