[lone]

Originally Posted by mompaws

The last time they had both met, Lynxthroat's toes had been soaked with the moist, Riverclan dirt. This time, it was fairly similar. The rank smell of fish was nonexistent however, much to his glee. It wouldn't be hard to admit that the ground in Riverclan was almost the same as the terrain of Shadowclan, both quite wet and marshy; with cat-tails placed here and there. It was kind of odd, how he'd grown up the entirety of his life so used to the same muddy substance underneath his paws. If he were to move to one of the other neighbouring clans, he would probably struggle to hunt and fight; at least until he had gotten used to drier land. The territories were all unique too. When Shadowclan's areas had flooded over with water, and the cats had moved over to Riverclan, Lynxthroat had made sure to remember any significant places on their territory. And, boy, were there a lot of them. He had noticed that the prey consisted of mostly fish, so the cats had basically become accustomed to hunting in wet conditions. The plants were all fairly dull too, with only a few bright berries sprouting out here and there.

He assumed that the other clans had their own secrets hidden within their territory. Lynxthroat was pretty sure that there were only certain herbs that grew in certain territories; or that's what he had gathered from Daypaw's ventures away from camp. It made him wonder what it was like in the other clans, maybe he'd be better in one of their camps'; instead of the boring, old Shadowclan's. It was hard waking up and doing the same thing over and over, seeing the same sights constantly. Perhaps it would be best to change up his routine a bit. Some action never did anyone harm, right?

Scoffing at the other tom's sarcastic tone, Lynxthroat couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Oh, my dear Addaxclaw," he mewed, with an equal amount of sass dripping from his words, "It's been so long! I could barely cope without you!" The male drew out his words, and forced a more feminine-hint to his tone, whilst dramatically flailing about. His eyebrows slanted downwards, and sadness feigned across his features. Of course, this didn't last long; and he swiftly averted his behaviour back to its usual, 'cool and emotionless' mode. A smirk wound its way upon the tom's lips, tugging at the left side of his face especially; although, with the lack of moonlight gleaming down upon the area, it was pretty well hidden.

Willing his mitts to move forwards, the tom was now able to smell the fresh and citrus-y scent that lignered on the Windclanner. It was somehow refreshing to his scent glands, and it was difficult to admit to, but Lynxthroat actually liked the smell. Or, it was at least nice compared to the monotonous smell of pine and earth that most Shadowclan cats had adapted to. His hind legs draped underneath the thicker fur of his belly, and sooty-brown paws were almost covered in the lighter-brown shades of fluffy fur. The bob-cat sat almost like he was too lazy to even bother with anything else; shoulders hunched forward at an angle, and ear-tips running in line with the top of his skull. A faint sparkle glimmered within the leaf-green depths of his eyes. But it seemed to be more dulled out by the fact that his body seemed almost like it was so heavy that the tom couldn't carry it.

However, he perked up at the sound Addaxclaw's voice once more. Shaking his cranium from side-to-side in as gentle a way as he could muster, whilst his breath momentarily hitched inside of his windpipe. Lynxthroat turned to face the male, putting the entirety of his attention onto the tom-cat. "Alright, alright." He sighed, giving in to the Windclanner and his sarcasm.
"Genuinely," he announced, with as stoic a face as he could present, "how have you been?" Lynxthroat couldn't deny that the male ahead of him had been, in fact, growing on him. Who would've thought that a sour-faced homophobe could potentially befriend a flirty tom? And of an opposite clan, too! Lynxthroat was actually kind of proud of himself, he'd never of seen something like this coming.

The sarcasm in Lynxthroat's voice made Addaxclaw's eyes sparkle with amusement and appreciation. He was almost excited to hear it coming from Lynxthroat's maw, because to him, that was a sign that their friendship was beginning to take off. Who would've thought that a former loner from WindClan and a grumpy ShadowClan tom who didn't seem to like anyone could've been such good friends? Certainly not Addaxclaw, but here they were. He had come to the border not exactly to see Lynxthroat, but it wouldn't have hurt. He could almost see himself stepping across the border and embracing the other tom as an old friend. While Addaxclaw had always been a risk taker, he hadn't always been... well... that much of one. He wouldn't be able to push himself to do that, that was too much for him, and there was a thin line between taking a risk and being stupid. If he crossed that line, he might never get Lynxthroat's friendship back.

"Well, I'm glad you have the courage to admit it." He retorted snarkily, his eyes sparkling with laughter even as he spoke. Addaxclaw's confidence had taken a hit recently, but being here and feeling freer, being able to laugh and joke around, it was something that definitely helped. Whether Lynxthroat was aware of it or not, he was mending a cat's wounded pride. Having an apprentice was a different experience then the tom had first imagined. It wasn't as hard, but it was trying. He wished he could just pass on the knowledge from his mind to Swiftpaw's without ever speaking so that the apprentice would know exactly what needed to be done and do it perfectly, but as that wasn't an option, Addaxclaw was doing his best to train Swiftpaw without making the other cat feel... well... bad. He had some things in common with his apprentice; they had both grown up outside of the Clan, although Addaxclaw knew that it would probably be harder for Swiftpaw to blend with the other apprentices. Younger cats could be crueler, and that was nothing but the truth.

He remembered younger cats, and even cats his own age (because he had been young) being cruel and making fun of him when he had first joined WindClan. Yet his confidence hadn't wavered through that, he had always been overly confident and while it'd been knocked down to the point where it was a good amount, now it was starting to shrink again with his doubt in being able to care for the apprentice. Lynxthroat's question brought him out of his mental world, and he looked at the larger tom. "I've been getting by. I have an apprentice now - Swiftpaw - he was born outside the Clan too," He mewed with a small sigh. His thoughts turned to Galespring; she had been one of the few warriors who'd been truly nice to Addaxclaw, and he was grateful for the friendship... he'd needed that. She was close to Blazingstar, but he hadn't seen her around lately and it was starting to worry him.

If anything had happened to the she cat, Addaxclaw wasn't sure what he would do. She was older then he was, more like a sister-figure then anything else - not old enough to be a mother-figure, she had been his first friend so she was a little more then "just a normal friend" and Addaxclaw wasn't interested romantically in she cats. If he was, there was no doubt it would have been proven by now. But it hadn't been. "And you, how have you been?" He asked, looking over Lynxthroat again. Addaxclaw had a much slimmer build then the other tom - and more defined, perhaps. That could have been due to the fact that Lynxthroat was much fluffier then him, and it probably was, since Addaxclaw genuinely doubted he was weak or anything like that.

On the contrary, he had no doubt that Lynxthroat could probably seriously hurt him if he wished to do so, and was silently thanking StarClan - whether they were real or not, Addaxclaw figured it couldn't hurt just in case - that the tom was a friend of his. He would just have to remember to stay on Lynxthroat's good side.