[lone]

Originally Posted by AbsurdJinx

Pufftuft. What a unique name. ``Of course I am!`` Flareheart claimed cockily, a bright grin stretching across his face. He rolled his shoulders as he improved his posture, raising his head high proudly. He looked down at Hawkfeather, hoping to receive a positive reaction for his silly joke. A laugh or even a small smile would be enough for the multi-colored tomcat. Lowering his head and relaxing his taut muscles, Flareheart spoke again, ``In all seriousness, though, I'd really like to hear that accent.`` He couldn't wipe the excited grin off his face, his amber eyes sparkling with the emotion.

``And personally, I think you are the cutest of them all, and don't you dare tell me you think I'm cuter. Yeah, that's right - I have you all figured out,`` Flareheart started seriously, even casting Hawkfeather a gentle warning look, but as he began the second sentence, he found himself using a teasing tone. He was purring softly, raising a paw off the ground to nudge Hawkfeather in a friendly, playful manner.

He didn't know why anyone would dare be cruel to Hawkfeather. She was such a happy, innocent feline, and Flareheart couldn't see why anyone would want to corrupt that. After all, there was so little genuine innocence in the world. Shouldn't it be preserved rather than destroyed? Perhaps the she-cat's kit-like innocence is why Flareheart admired her so much. She was ignorant - in a good way, in the blissful way. Hawkfeather was the small hopeful flame in a dark world.

"Aww, look at you! You have the best posture Flarey, you're going to have to give me posture lessons! I need them. Mine is really bad, you're like, a genius at this kind of thing! Who taught you?" She only stopped for a minute to think before continuing onwards, a smile on her maw and a cheerful look glimmering in her blue optics. There was always one, but this one somehow seemed more amplified or... something. "And you're funny, too! Adorable, and a posture king when you want to be, and funny! It's like, you could be famous or something!" The tabby smiled, her blue optics sparking with excitement and her expression happy. It only became more excited when he admitted that he would like to meet her friend. How exciting would that be? Two of her funniest friends meeting each other. It would be the coolest thing if they decided to swap jokes and stuff like that, that would just be the absolute best.

"Maybe you can someday! It's like this crazy type of voice and - I would show you, but I can't do it. I have no idea how Puff-Puff does it!" Puff-Puff. Hawkfeather's assigned nickname for the tom, and she looked excited when she spoke it. It seemed her idea of nicknames was to make everyone sound as adorable as possible. And she had certainly worked some miracles, but that one - that one had been easy. It was easy for Hawkfeather anyways, the names just seemed to come to her naturally, and she was always thrilled when they did. After all, didn't everyone deserve a nickname? Everyone wanted one, didn't they? See, Hawkfeather's innocent little mind hadn't put the pieces together that some cats didn't really want to have nicknames. She had always thought that everyone would. Because everyone was just that fun, right? It was fun to have something of your very own, something someone else had given you, and why shouldn't that thing be a nickname? The tabby listened to his compliment and her tail twitched, showing her pleasure.

"Oh wow, for real? Thanks Flarey, you're so sweet! I'm so lucky to have found you without a bunch of friends, because I'm sure there's like, dozens of cats who want to meet you but they're all too shy - isn't that sad? They shouldn't be shy! You're the best!"

The tabby gave him a playful, affectionate nuzzle - as though he were a brother, or already a close friend of hers. And maybe, he was. Life was short, Hawkfeather had discovered - and there was no reason to waste time on messing around. Give everyone all the compliments that they could use. Build everyone up. Be a friend to everyone you could and someday, someday someone would come along and be the shining light in your life. Someday you would find your own sunshine - even though for Hawkfeather, she might be still looking. Or had she found it? There was only one way to tell... and that was through time.