[wren]

Originally Posted by AbsurdJinx

Tumblestep inhaled heavily as he came to the conclusion that he would need to be the first to speak. This frightened him, and he shuffled his paws anxiously. He slowly turned his head to look at her, the movement practically robotic. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath until his gaze was on her, and he went to inhale but his mouth was already full. He began to cough, and step backwards swiftly as he continued to choke on air. His coughs were heavy and dry, indicating that he hadn't had much to drink recently. His tail lashed wildly, and his eyes were narrowed in fear and pain as he struggled to breathe correctly.

He was now crouching, his muscles tensed and his haunches were pulled close. His ears were folded back, and his head shook as coughs racked his body. His ribs became more visible than before, basically poking out of his skin with every pathetic inhale. Tumblestep had always been a freakishly skinny cat, but recently, he's neglected eating. Every time he so much as looked at a piece of fresh-kill, he became nauseous. He was still struggling to work out the details as to why he had difficulty eating, but he hadn't made much progress.

How embarrassing, Tumblestep thought miserably. Choking on air. Pathetic. Awful. I'm fish-brained. And in front of Daisyshade! An unlimited supply of words and comments filtered throughout his mind, each one consisting of a word to make him feel bad. Besides the pain and fear that came with the minor choking, embarrassment and anxiety flooded throughout him.

Finally, breath returned to Tumblestep, but that didn't stop him from desperately gasping. His chest heaved from the effort of gaining back his breath, and his flanks fell and rose swiftly. Slowly, it was no longer a race to breathe. ``Well,`` He mumbled, ``That was embarrassing.`` His voice was raspy, still in the process of completely recovering from the choking episode. But there was an ounce of humor to it - the only sarcasm he had revealed in front of Daisyshade. He just wanted to lighten the mood, to avoid the serious conversation that was sure to make things even more awkward between them, and he just wanted to forget about choking on air.

alarm spread across the mollys face and she sat up, halfway. Her haunches and legs where still on the ground while her front paws supported the rest of her body. She studied his face searching for reddnes of the face. Then his mouth for the obstruction of the airway. When she couldn't find any she was tempted to leapt fourth and push aside the awkwardness and pry open his mouth to save him from choking on, whatever it happened to be. Then he took a step backwards as if he had guessed her next movement before she even attempted the action. His heavy coughs where like hits to the chest. She struggled to see his eyes as his head jerked this way and that not making any sort of eye contact.

He now lowered himself down pulling his body and appearing smaller then ever. His ears folded back and his neck recoiled and even his head jerked wildly. Too and fro. She got to her paws and looked down at him, unsure if he required asistance form her. Her tail was lashing with concern while her eyebrows knit tightly together. She opened her mouth and let her jaw hang open. She was going to ask wether or not he needed help. But. He was choking. Un able to comunicate with her.

Should I get moss soaked in water? Or maybe.. I don't know! drag him over to a patch of snow? Force feed him nasty snow cats tread their paws over? should I just wait? she took another step towards him, offering him a paw to help him up. Though it was pretty much useless. She rocked back unsteadily on her paws. Certain about the next move she should make. Do a full fledged freak out and grab geckoleaf? Or disappear to grab water and moss. Or just grab disgusting snow for him to drink. No. Just wait. And if he turned as red as the sun on an evening in new leaf. Maybe that's time for her to freak out.

Finally his cough seemed to give away a slow decease in intensity. His flanks heaved as he tried to drag airs into his oxygen deprived lungs. She released a breath of happines and lowered her head, taking a slight step backwards and sitting herself back down. Happy that this didn't continue to worsen. "Are, are you okay?" she questioned. Her voice silent and soft. Is wouldnt resolve what happened last time, meaning it would still be awkward once he fully recovered. Unless he walked away. Like last time. She focused her dull green eyes on his bright ones and curled her multi coloured tail around her tail and examined him.