beansprout // he/him

it felt like cattail pond was the one place he could truly relax and unwind. the warrior was laying down, front paws barely in the water, enjoying the cool, refreshing water on his paws. to beansprout, cattail pond was a nice, lucky place where good things happened. maybe that was why he was in afraid to venture here, despite his current fear of wandering the territory alone. nothing could hurt him at this pond. too many good things have happened here.

the siamese warrior was lost in thought, eye glazed, staring at the blue sky ahead of him. it seemed nothing could break his focus, his peace, right now.

beansprout // he/him

a sudden voice behind him spooked the siamese warrior, and pulled him abruptly from his thoughts. beansprout nearly leapt to his paws, spun around, and, most embarrassingly, let out a small squeak of either surprise or fear, he couldn't tell. it took him a few moments to realize that he wasn't in danger, this was no stranger, this was a clanmate. in fact, this was a shield! why was his heart racing so much? the other cat could probably tell he was nervous. stupid reactions, stupid!

"uh, heyy...?" he spoke, voice a bit shaky for some reason. STARS ABOVE. this couldn't get any more humiliating. his face was burning with shame and mortification. but he had to keep talking now, otherwise it would be even weirder!! stars, STARS, what does he say now? "whatcha doing here... right now?" what the hell was that. what was that. what. what was he doing. he wanted to bury his face in his paws and just disappear. why. why. why.

beansprout

stars... some cat just come put him out of his misery. the silence was stretching on for too long, and he could hear his heartbeat roaring in his ears. this was awful. the worst. usually, he was better than this! but that was when his conversation partner wasn't horribly awkward. maybe... he could salvage this? but he needed something. anything. please, please let this cat read between the lines and not actually delve into his awkward small talk.

oh, huh? "yeah, yeah. i'm okay! i mean, you just, kinda snuck up on me i guess. looks like i'm gonna have to work on my 'listening for cats' skills, i guess," he offered a light chuckle, growing ever so slightly more comfortable, if only for wormbite's sake. he didn't want to seem jittery and on-edge; that was obviously a bad thing, and not a sign of friendliness at all. he did feel a flutter of his stomach as the tom grew a bit close to him.

oh, stars, he pulled away. okay, okay. good. great. and then, wormbite repeated his question. he felt himself grow warm with embarrassment. it was a stupid question, in hindsight. but, unfortunately, he couldn't take it back now. he merely flattened his ears and offered a small, affirmative "mmhm" when the question was repeated to him. however, the answer caught him off-guard.

he didn't mean to, but a small burst of laughter escaped him. beansprout covered his mouth with a paw, stifling any more laughter that might come out. the knot in his stomach loosened, and the warrior sat down as he replied, "i'd love to join in, if there's room for one more? i, personally, love commiting crimes and planning to rule the clans." beansprout wasn't sure if it was intended or not, or even if the other cat felt it, but he felt the tension in the air loosen, and open up to a better conversation. 'thank the stars,' he thought, graciously. there was only so long he could handle painfully awkward conversations.

== > @vellichor

Wormbite listened to Beansprout's response, nodding slowly. He did indeed sneak up on him. He did take note of how the tom said, i guess, on two occasions. Perhaps a nervous tic. Interesting. "..Neat.." He mewed, taking a pause at his own response. Ah. "Apologizes, it is a ... habit?" He added on, though, while he wasn't particularly lying,, there were times Wormbite was amused when cats were surprised by his sudden presence. He never felt compelled to apologize, he simply did not want a more awkward situation.

The muffled response Wormbite was given confused him only partially. He had planned for the conversation to carry on with the basic pleasantries that was often common. There wasn't ,, any complaints. Only curiosity. A particularly dry reply meant this would be a great opportunity to move onto his original objective. It seemed simple? Things weren't usually simple?

It was the sudden burst of laughter that made him stall momentarily, taking him by surprise even when he had intended for his response to be a joke. Beansprout had a pleasant laugh.

Wormbite usually dealt with misunderstandings. He had expected one. The corners of his mouth twitched; a wisp of a smile present but a full one was a privilege. Before he knew it, he was sitting beside Beansprout, cocking his head to the right. "..Oh?" He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, hm.

"Ah yes. I do suppose I could use a .. second-in-command. Who else would listen to my devious plans..? You shall do simply .. perfect, " Wormbite replied, his notched ear flickering. He had wanted to take a dip to clear his head. ,, but this was nice too. "Do you have any particular clan in mind of who we shall strike first against?" He inquired, hm. He would pick Thunderclan. They were the least stable clan. It would be easier to break their foundation. Hypothetically.