[dionysus]

@FireSandwich @S-oft
Ace perked his ears, “ah, swimming! A noble pursuit. A little chilly to really be enjoyable today, but I appreciate your enthusiasm kid! Where I come from, there’s this lake- biggest lake you’ve ever seen! A cat could swim right out to the middle and have trouble seein the other side. I used to take my- er- I used to go there every year when the weather started warmin up and I’d catch myself the biggest trout there was to find!” He let out a purr at the memory, trying to ignore the claws digging into his heart. The she-cat’s other words pulled him out of his thoughts and Ace squinted down at the younger cat again, realizing he was quite a bit younger than Ace had thought. He’d just assumed he was a small cat, “hmm, I suppose he is a bit younger that I had thought. Maybe the mollies are still a little scary to ya, ey champ? Well I’ll let you in on a secret- they still scare me too!”
Chuckling, Ace straightened up and turned his attention back to the feline who was closer to his age, “what’s this about apprentices? Looks like a regular young tom to me- what is he apprenticin to be?” The loner chuckled again in response to his companion’s observation that there wasn’t a line of she-cats trailing him and shot back, “eh, I told em to scram- they were scarin off the prey. Just you wait, when we get where we’re going, the mollies of your Riverclan, was it, will be eatin out of my paw.” Remembering that he was speaking to a she-cat, Ace added, “oh but not to worry- I’m a very respectable tom. I don’t go for any of that cheating business. I like to have fun, but I won’t go breakin any hearts. One broken cat in a relationship is already one too many.”
The two cats’ names took the sleek tom by surprise, “Lilytail and Tinypaw? Interesting names ya got there, folks. Well, it’s nice to meet ya both.” Grinning, Ace swept into a little bow with his paw outstretched before trotting back up beside Lilytail. He let out a thoughtful hum and turned to Tinypaw, “yknow, kid, I think I know what you need- a new name. I mean, what kinda name is Tinypaw? You’re short, yeah, one could even say tiny, but that’s just it. You need to strike fear into your enemies with your name alone! You should be Bigpaw, or Massivepaw, or Ginormouspaw! Bigger the better. Scare em off with your name so ya don’t even have to fight em!”