[lone]

Originally Posted by mompaws

An odd pang hit the tom in the stomach, causing his face to scrunch up; despite it being almost unnoticeable to the eye. His tufted audits flicked back and forth constantly, the hums of crickets and grass churning in the breeze grabbing their attention. The male brought his robust cranium to face the Windclan cat, absentmindedly gazing at the tom. Guilt, almost regret, lingered in the very depths of his verdant oculars. Although, you'd only be able to spot it if you looked hard enough. It seemed as if his emotions were confused, and they were just hopelessly bubbling around inside of him.

At Addaxclaw's snarky comment, Lynxthroat forced himself to utter an airy chuckle. It was odd for him to let the laughter slip through his tough demeanour so easily, but it just so happened to occur. Somehow, the tom seemed perfectly fine with it though, and instead of shaking his head in disapproval, or taking a few steps back from the other male, he just grinned. Albeit, it was a stupid, smug type of grin; and it didn't last too long either.
His heavy paws shuffled forwards a bit more, and the male gradually slunk his barrel down onto the ground. It was clear that he had moved ever-so-slightly closer to the border between the two clans. His mitts were basically trespassing onto the other territory, but there would probably be around an inch left if you took the fur away from them.

The swaying of the vegetation on the Windclan territory intrigued the tom, but as soon as his eyes had travelled to the flatter terrain, they had been taken back to the familiar, mud-like earth closer to them. A look of displeasure masked across his face, and Lynxthroat forced his entire attention back to the feline.
"An apprentice, eh?" He seemed to feign a surprised expression, a fake gasp making its way up from his rounded mouth. His brows fell quickly, though, and he relaxed his features once again. "I'm not actually that surprised, to be honest. You seem like you'd be good at that kind of stuff." The tom spoke in his usual, monotonous tone. Although, it was no lie that there was sincerity in his words, and he was being truthful about what he had said. If he hadn't know the tom much, he would've still assumed that he'd have an apprentice. He just had that sort of unique niceness to him, something that you didn't get very often in cats.

"I guess I've been fine. Nothing has really happened that strikes my mind..." His deep voice broke out, accompanied by the twitching of his whiskers. The male diverted his view towards the sky, deciding that he'd had enough of watching the Windclanner in front of him. He traced his pools across the vast darkness, noticing how little amounts of stars were on show tonight. Clouds were placed carelessly, hiding the glimmering white dots from his prying self. Yet, even with the lack of twinkling stars in the skies, Lynxthroat was at peace. The same serenity that lingered around him when they first had met, was still there. And it almost... surprised the tom? But, he tried not to think too hard on the matter. It was probably just the refreshing breeze and faint scent of grass that brought him to a calm state.

His chest pushed itself out as the Shadowclan tom inhaled a large amount of air. Filling his lungs to their maximum capacity, he let the pent-up air break through his lips as a heavy sigh.
"But anyways, what brings you out here on tonight of all nights?"

The WindClanner felt a pang of embarassment, followed by the glow that he generally got when a compliment was given to him. However, neither one of these showed, his confident stance never fading, and it seemed like any modesty he would have shown was now gone. "I know. I've been doing good - we've got a lot in common." He mewed, puffing out his chest slightly. Part of him felt like he should be doing something to grow larger in order to make his size closer to the other tom's. Lynxthroat was larger then he was, and more powerful then he was, probably - Addaxclaw had always been somewhat small, not quite "runt of the litter" small but his size was nowhere near the fluffy other cat's. He felt a little bad, for answering so confidently, when Lynxthroat had actually been trying to be nice, but it was not only a part of who he was but something that just came naturally to him.

In a situation that was different, it was Addaxclaw's natural response to answer as confidently as possible. He never wanted anyone to see that he was upset. He never wanted anyone to see when he was nervous. Most of the time, Addaxclaw thought he could ace things. But on the occasions he did get nervous - he was worried that someone else would be judging him. In a Clan, it seemed that there was always some gossip going around. He'd been the cause of it for a little while, the newcomer in the Clan, the outsider. An outsider that probably wasn't wanted there. For a while, he'd felt pretty unwanted before meeting Galespring, and now he had a couple other friends. It was nice to feel like someone cared whether he lived or died, after all. And, now he had a few other cats. His apprentice included. Swiftpaw was a very nice young cat, and Addaxclaw was sure that he would go far in the Clan. Sometimes it was easier to be an apprentice. "Eh, old habits." He laughed, eyes sparkling, but - if it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him - there was actually some nervous pressure behind his laugh. What did he have to be nervous about?

That question always stamped out any doubts he had, and it did so now as well, pushing whatever anxiety Addaxclaw had back to the back of his mind and turning it to much happier - much different thoughts. "That, and I couldn't sleep. I've never been much of one for staying in a den with that many other cats... not since I joined the Clan, and not now. I guess old habits die hard... and I'm not making much of an effort to stamp them out." He partly wanted to offer more explanation, but also didn't want to bore Lynxthroat to death. The tom certainly wasn't out here to hear Addaxclaw's story of how he had happened to come out here.

How, practically every night, he would find somewhere out in the territory to sleep. He'd make an effort a few times a week, but if he was too tired to, he would just find somewhere else to go. And no one missed him, and no one questioned it. Not Galespring, not Swiftpaw, not anyone else. If the tom didn't know better he would guess that they didn't care at all. But Galespring had been busy and he hadn't seen much of her lately, and as for Swiftpaw, well... he was still an apprentice. Addaxclaw only saw him during training, not caring to do much socialization outside of that time. Not with his apprentice, anyways. Swiftpaw was going to need to make some other friends eventually - some friends in the apprentice's den. And he had been doing just fine on his own, at least as far as Addaxclaw could tell he had been.

He still couldn't read the younger tom very well and Swiftpaw certainly didn't always confide in him yet. It was a shame - Addaxclaw knew how tough it was to be the "new cat" and he could have given the other cat a few pointers if he needed them. But, it seemed his apprentice was determined to do things on his own. Turning his thoughts back to the present, the WindClanner fixed Lynxthroat with a smile.

"And what about you? What brings you out here tonight?"