[Brilliance]

Originally Posted by Beau

Piperwing finished her grooming of her chest, though her back and sides were still dirty. She guessed Passionblaze couldn't see that though since when she looked up, she noticed him staring at her. If cats could blush, Piperwing's cheeks would be crimson. She didn't know why it made her so embarrassed, but Piperwing had always been easily affected by such things. However, she then noticed his tuft of hair between his ears. Passionblaze shook it out, but his fur was still sticking up and Piperwing couldn't hold in a chuckle. "Hold on. I'm sorry, I just need to-" Piperwing reached up to flatten that piece of fluff, smoothing it down to his head again and puling back to look at him. She felt a little awkward, but she moved past it easily. Piperwing wasn't one to let situations embarrass her for too long.

Piperwing laughed playfully and teased Passionblaze back, "I'm prepared for you to lose!" As he threatened to give her extra work, Piperwing gasped in feigned shock and asked teasingly, "Is that a threat, Mr. Deputy? I think that can be classified as an abuse of power." Piperwing smirked at Passionblaze and wiggled her shoulders playfully despite the pain. "Well," she added with a glimmer of amusement, "If you give me chores to do from dawn to moonhigh, then I'll make sure to do them as close to you as possible in order to annoy you the whooole time!"

Piperwing found Passionblaze cute. She liked his flirty wink and deep voice. She didn't have a crush on him or anything, but she could see where one might. Though she didn't know it, Piperwing shared a quality with Passionblaze. She loved romance. She couldn't help it! Little winks and smiles made her heart glow like the sun. Piperwing returned Passionblaze's snickering and said, "I'll be the first, then. I will predict the passion!" The sandy warrior didn't even know what she was saying. It didn't make any sense, but it didn't need to. They were just teasing each other. "Do you doubt me!" Piperwing asked as he repeated her cheetah statement, acting like she was offended. The molly was disappointed when Passionblaze didn't flinch, but didn't let it ruin the mood. "Oh shut up!" She playfully hissed at Passionblaze with a barely stifled smile.
Piperwing accepted his statement as a compliment and laughed at his joke about stereotypes. "One thing you should learn about me is that I'm far from stereotypical." Piperwing boasted with a flourish of her tail.
She was glad that they could both settle down to eat. Neither of them were moody anymore and the friendliness was refreshing. Piperwing laughed at Passionblaze's comment on her eating. It might have made her self-conscious that he noticed her large bites, but they were friends and in a happy place. Piperwing simply nodded along and continued to eat her squirrel with sloppy bites. Passionblaze followed her example and ended up with blood all over his muzzle again, making the sandy feline smile as she ate her own squirrel. Passionblaze's question got a chuckle out of her and she thought for a moment. She responded after swallowing, "I like running. I run through the forest sometimes, it helps me clear my mind. I like to explore the territory and try to find abandoned dens in trees to check out. I also like to spar with other cats. What about you?"

While Passionblaze was staring at Piperwing, it was out of curiosity and admiration. All his life he knew a female to bounce back up after any tragedy that struck her life. He also knew it was rude to stare. Whether it would had been at a pretty object or a deformed one, Passionblaze had no right to stare at anybody that felt tensed of his view. He had ruffled his own fur to make it look more presentable, but it didn’t work. When he noted that most of Piperwing’s fur had been groomed to her satisfaction, saved for her back and sides. The tom tilted his head at her, clearly confused at why she was chuckling. When she reached up to smooth down the fur on top of his head, he almost pulled back, assuming that she was trying to get close to him. A little too close for his comfort, as he always kept a safe distance between himself and a she cat. Instead, she quickly fixed the tussled fur atop his head, and pulled away. Passionblaze blinked his appreciation. “Thanks.”

“That’ll be impossible. I never lose a fight.” Passionblaze boasted, easily. He was pretty confident when it came to the area of fighting than any other field in his life. Fighting was something that was embedded in him. If it were a talent, he saw himself as an expertise. Passionblaze had nodded eagerly with his eyes closed upon her teasing response. “Not an abuse of power, actually. The way I see it, is a she cat who absolutely loves to serve her clan, so she comes to her deputy to ask for more work.” He smirked. Piperwing has continued, a glimmer in her eye he caught. It made him chuckle for a moment, and he shook his broad head. He already got enough annoyance from Foxpaw, for Piperwing to add on? Passionblaze shot her an unreadable look. “I don’t think so, missy. This elder gonna be all over the place, whereas you will be occupied with different duties. Clean this, get rid of that, fetch this, retrieve that.” Passionblaze flicked his ears. One ear was turned, the other perked to listen to Piperwing. He wanted to keep an ear out for his fighting clan mates, so he could quickly know what was going on. He wondered if Snowstar was alright. How many warriors were lost? Did they win? Reasons why he itched to go back and fight. He would had burst up and ran back to the fighting field without hesitation. “Unless you prove to me that you can be a good girl then maybe we can come up with a different plan.” The deputy flexed, giving the she cat a knowing smile that soon softened until it disappeared. It was just odd about sitting out in the battle when he should be the main one still fighting. He felt like less of a tom even though his new friend was keeping him company and making him feel at ease. Troubling thoughts still played in his head. He would had been beaten himself up if Piperwing left.

Piperwing was probably oblivious, or she picked up that Passionblaze thought she was beautiful. He commented that he knew she was strong, smart, and beautiful. He had meant it. Yet it was a difference between finding someone beautiful and then being attracted to them. Piperwing was a friendly feline. She was that one sweet friend to always motivate you, hoping you would never give up. Just hearing her say those words made the deputy himself confused for a moment. They were throwing teasing remarks at one another, a little conversation to grow their friendship. Passionblaze had looked down at his paws, then back up at her. “Don’t you dare try. I’m trying to warn you. It’s unfamothable, I’m telling you!” Passionblaze didn’t know what himself was saying, but he doubted she was like a cheetah. Maybe, she was as fast as one, but the thought made him laugh. When she exclaimed that if he doubted her, he ended up giving a deep, guttural laugh. Wasn’t it obvious he was? His laughter had died down. He failed to flinch when she feigned a lunge at him. He didn’t know she was sending that action directly toward him, so he had looked at her like he was waiting for her to finish her act, but she didn’t so he laughed at her. Her voice made him hummed. “Well, I believe it to be entirely too cute, so I’ll give you that.” The ginger tom purred, lightly. He got up, turning his head to look back in the direction where a fight was taking place. He let out a deep sigh, but bent the front half of his body to stretched downward. He clenched his teeth at the shock feeling of troubled bones. Passionblaze held in a snort. He might as well be an elder with how much cracking his body was producing. He cautiously lifted himself up, and purred much deeply. Pain maybe didn’t feel good to others, but for him, physical pain was accepted wonderfully.
Passionblaze never found any cat to be the same. He didn’t believe in stereotypes. Everyone was...perfect the way they were. So, he believed that Piperwing was far from the stereotypical cat. He had met many; none really the same. All fascinated. Even if they were snippy. Grouchy. Ungrateful. Happy. Pleasant. Annoying. Whatever they may be, Passionblaze had to keep an opened mind and away from judging anybody specifically.
Passionblaze continued to take bites from his kill, spitting out any hairs that stuck in his mouth. He didn’t like the fuzziness of most freshkill which was why he loved the taste of ripe fruit. His favorite being strawberries. Growing up as a clan cat, he was used to eating fresh kill, but that didn’t mean he had to like most of it. His bites wasn’t as large as Piperwing’s. He was still feeling a sudden weight on his shoulder because he abandoned his clan mates on that field. Any other warrior could had taken the abused back to camp, but he was told to specifically. At least he felt a little satisfied that he got to fight more than enough Windclan and Shadowclan warriors together. A little sprout of victory welled into his chest, but even so it wasn’t good enough. He looked up from his meal, and tilted his head towards the sky. “You really do like to run, huh?” His eyes roamed her figure. It was the perfect shape of being fit to be swift. Then, he rolled his eyes upward again, a dreamy smile placing on his maw. “I like sparring. Fighting, a lot.” As if that wasn’t obvious. “I love to explore,” he smiled, softly. “A run at dawn is more of my thing. I need to exercise throughout the entire day. I also like to climb trees and see how far I can leap from one branch to another. And, then I like to look at the stars and cloud gaze.” What he told her were basic fascinations of his, where they would relate. Most of his interests he considered to be foolish and awkward like how he liked to sneak off to twolegplace and rummage through plump gardens of the folks and steal their juicy fruits. Or, that he liked to find treasures and dig them up like he were a dog. Passionblaze had a lot of strange interests, which was probably why he hung out with himself because he didn’t want to be laughed at for being happy around doing things he liked. “Anything that, hm, uninterested you?” He plucked his squirrel’s fur, a disgusted look on his face. Passionblaze would had killed for some strawberries.