[lone]

Originally Posted by Celestial

As she awaited an answer she almost found herself looking lovingly at him. Her eyes so swelled with emotion and affection she had to blink a few times and shy away. There had been something there the first time they met, or at least there had been for her. But upon neglecting those feelings they came back in full swing to haunt her. Again she found herself starring at the chausie with such a deep longing that scared her. Things could’ve been different. the hole in her chest that had been temporarily filled by being near charmpelt suddenly evaporated leaving a long canal of loneliness in her. Things should’ve been different. Shiverlight felt a heat creep into the back of her eyes and her throat begin to become quite hoarse. If she kept on thinking about it she was going to cry again.

That’s when the handsome tom spoke again and she forced her attention into him. There was going to be no tears tonight, this was the only chance that she had to be happy for this one singular night. There was going to be nothing that compromised that. She gave a gentle wave of her tail and dropped down onto her haunches staring at him. Somehow I know this isnt ‘too serious’. she purses her lips thoughtfully and gave her hind end a little shake before settling more comfortably onto the stone. “Are you sure? It doesn’t look that way” she said plainly raising an eyebrow skeptically at him. She wasn’t aware of what this thing was- this emotion he suddenly felt every other time they met. He was truly thinking of someone else, or something else. It was too hard to tell all she knew was that it must be something bothering him.

That’s when he seemed to brush off the question and she stood back up to admire the whole thing. Forgetting about it for just that moment. I’ll ask about it later. she looked over her shoulder putting on a pout “don’t call me that!” she said ears flattening. Even though there was a low possibility of someone coming down here she still just didn’t know if she liked the sound of love. it was so abrupt and quite frankly she hated to admit she loved him. Maybe it was just the word that set her off. She dipped her paw in a puddle of water which was very shallow and flicked a few droplets at him. Her eyes softened and she did a little coy smile before turning back to look down one of the caverns let off tunnels. “That’s for calling me love” she called over her shoulder. Leaning deeper into the outlet tunnel. Wonder how he found these. “it’s beautiful..” she breathed out. Barely a whisper as a draft struck her.

Charmpelt didn’t really want to answer her question. Yes, something was bothering him - but it didn’t need to be her concern, not yet, anyways. Perhaps he would tell her more about Jema someday, but that wasn’t today - today, it was just them. No Dogblood. No Jema. None of his other past flirts, or her previous interests (if she’d had any), it was just the two of them. And Charmpelt liked that. He liked being here, alone, with Shiverlight… he wished it could be like this forever. But it couldn’t, and perhaps if things were even a little bit different, they would be… better. He could save himself from this, these feelings, how pretty Shiverlight was when she smiled or even just lightened up a little bit, and he couldn’t save her - or protect her - from reality. This was a fairytale. Reality was harsh and cruel, and in real life, fairytale endings didn’t happen. Charmpelt wondered how other cats made it work.

Being mates in different Clans? How would you even do that? What if your Clans ended up in war, wouldn’t your clanmates suspect something if you refused to fight a certain cat? Charmpelt knew RiverClan and ShadowClan were bound to be on opposite sides at some point… again, that was. They’d just been on opposite sides in the fight with ThunderClan and WindClan! He, personally, thought that it was fair of Fallenstar to side with ThunderClan, considering ShadowClan had already gone with WindClan… and three against one would hardly be fair. It would’ve been a massacre! ”Suit yourself, beautiful.” The tom shrugged, laughing a little as he continued onwards, until they were nearly there. He felt droplets of water hit him, and smirked at Shiverlight as she spoke. ”You want to mess with me, huh?”

He asked, splashing some water back at her and darting ahead. It wasn’t long after that that they arrived. In the cavern, where Charmpelt knew no one else would come. ”Come on. The starlight comes in from up there, it hits this area really nicely… we can spend the night here.” He offered, glancing back almost shyly at Shiverlight. He wasn’t used to being shy. But this was different… he was really, really trying now. She wasn’t just some flirt that he would be okay with if they left or never came back. She wasn’t just some cat that he had met, decided to bring down here for a night and then tomorrow morning they would be strangers again. She wasn’t just someone he wanted to impress. This was a she cat Charmpelt had worked hard for, a she cat that he would love to be with for… well, for forever. A she cat that he wouldn’t mind giving up some freedom for.

(do you want to timeskip and go back to the border?)