[lone]

Originally Posted by AbsurdJinx

Calia was surprised with his harsh tone, and her eyes gleamed brightly in the sunlight with her current emotion. She knew the poor tomcat was frightened - he gave away his anxiety in both his expression and actions. She was aware that he had been through a lot, possible more than any cat is capable of. Although she didn't exactly know what brought him to act the way he was, she knew it must not of been pretty. At the moment, she was convinced he would not harm her. He seemed harmless - only scared he was. She has experience with scared cats, some so scared they resorted to uncoordinated fighting before running off.

With a yelp of fright, the ginger she-cat jumped backwards. Her fur rose, and her tail fluffed out. Her ears were folded back and her eyes widened, displayed fright. Calia stared at the defensive tom, taken aback. He'd unsheathed his claws on her! How rude! was what crossed her mind. It looked as if he were to talk again, and when he did, she was in shock of his words. Quickly, her gaze hardened and her fur flattened. She lashed her tail, and opened her mouth to speak. ``Hey, no! I will not allow you to be so disrespectful! This is my home you are in, okay? Hasn't your mother taught you manners?`` Her tone was stern, most definitely not anything threatening. Instead, it resembled that of a mother scolding her kit.

Softening, Calia stepped back and gathered herself. She shook out her pelt, and kindness once again flooded her blue eyes. ``Now, would you like something to eat? I managed to store a few scrawny mice by the hou- er, twoleg nest. The weather's going easy on us this leaf-bare. The snow isn't bad, and the prey isn't as scarce as I had feared.`` Calia used one of her many techniques on the tomcat - distraction. She had swiftly recovered from his powerful looks, and she learned to ignore his rude nature. She wasn't interested in hurting him whether it be physically or emotionally. However, getting hurt can happen on accident - something she learned at a young age. Her intentions were not to harm him, and if she did, it would be accidental.

She refrained from asking his name, knowledgeable that having a complete stranger knowing of your name can be stressful. She herself was completely comfortable with freely giving out her signature - she had nothing to hide, but it seemed as if the tom before her did. Calia flicked her tail to the left, hinting that she would now pass by him to reach the place beside the house where she could dig up the prey. With hesitant steps, the long-haired molly began her trail by him. She was in a submissive posture, her belly fur brushing against the ground and her tail motionless at her side. She avoided his gaze, knowing that eye-contact can be nerve-racking for most.

Obsidian's hues showed pleasure and pride at her fright. Although there was the slightest bit of regret as though he were realizing she probably hadn't expected to be snarled at when she got up that morning, it was well hidden by his pleased expression. This faded to anger and then shock when she came back on the defense, and it was his turn to step backwards- at least, further then he already had. For a moment he looked unsure of his to respond to an attack...it was pretty obvious he hadn't actually fought with a she cat before. But from his stance, his ears pinned back against his head, and the overall stance showed that he had been verbally abused plenty. She wasn't really being hard on him... No, she sounded more like- a mother? Did she have kits somewhere? Was that why she was suddenly going on the defensive, so he wouldn't hurt her kits? Obsidian looked a little shamed for a moment before he took a few steps towards her. "Look. I've been attacked, both physically and verbally. I've been scolded. I've been pushed around. I've been scared, alone, and anxious. I've had to worry about whether or not I'm going to be kicked out the next morning because I messed up. Have you ever had any of those problems? From where I'm standing, it seems like you have it pretty good here." The tom answered.

His voice was calm...he knew it must be hard to take care of a family if she was on her own, but surely no one would just leave her out here. She seemed decent enough, but...there was no way Obsidian would let his guard down. He stayed tense, nervous, his ears flicking backwards and betraying his discomfort along with his rapidly twitching tail. At her next words, Obsidian cocked his head to the side. What was she trying to do? What had happened to the defense that he had seen a moment ago? He had no idea. He was a little scared now, realizing that she might be more dangerous then he had previously thought. The fact that she could just...change her approach like that made him more uncertain.

Pretty much everything made the tom uncertain. He was worried that if he were to allow her to get through to him, or to be friendly with him, things could go very wrong very quickly. Why couldn't she have approached him hostily? It would have been so much easier for him to ignore the fact that she was a she cat and just attack if she wasn't so...feminine. His ears flattened themselves against his head and he scowled a little before sighing. "Alright. I guess that would be fine." He mewed, glancing around as though he expected cats to jump out at him from all angles. He needed to calm down and yet, he had the uneasy feeling that he normally had.

He watched her go, his tail twitching back and forth for a moment. Go ahead and tell her who you are, his mind urged and he wished that it had a form so he could see it to snarl at it. I don't even know this cat, he argued back, his tail twitching more violently now. She's giving you food. She hasn't attacked you. She seems pretty nice. His mind told him, and he felt almost sick as he glanced after her. He knew he couldn't go and make a friend. He knew he couldn't get too attached to her. He was going to be a wanderer, he was going to explore the world, see things he had never seen before. He was going to explore. He was going to do things that most cats never did. And yet sitting there, in the sunny spot, was one of the nicest times he had had in a long time. He didn't want to hurt her. He never wanted to hurt anyone- he knew it would never lead to something good for them or him.

And yet- was he going to be able to help it?