[spade]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

"Well, I'm older and wiser now. But you want to know the real secret to my success?" Aspenpaw looked around for a moment, to see who was listening before he leaned in to her good ear as though about to tell her his deepest, darkest secret. His expression was a hundred percent serious, not even his whiskers quivering with the strain of remaining serious. "I don't run when it's muddy. That really helps," He whispered. Near the end of his sentence, his voice began to strain and then his whiskers twitched with amusement. Aspenpaw hoped he wasn't tickling her ear, nor bothering her with his jokes. Somehow, it was easier to joke around Moonpaw. A good deal of the "misfits" that he talked to, it was like walking on crisp leaves and trying not to break them under his paws. He had to do it delicately, softly, and have a lot of luck to keep them from cracking. But, he found ways to make them feel better. Except for... Tawnypaw. While she was one of his close friends, he still didn't feel as though she completely trusted him. Or as though she would ever really completely trust him.

And that hurt, just a little bit... he didn't understand why. Sometimes it felt as though she didn't even really like him. She somewhat trusted him, that was for sure, but Aspenpaw felt that somewhere along the way, their friendship had gone downhill and had never returned to where it was. Moonpaw's voice seemed to lower a little when she spoke again, telling him that she was okay with his staring. Really? He would have thought that it would bother her. She must get stared at all the time, and there was no way that they were polite glances either. Some of the cats in the Clan could be very offensive when given the opportunity. Though, he knew they most likely didn't mean it. Some of them were good cats deep down. Others? Well... Aspenpaw always tried to look for the best in everyone, but he hadn't found much good in them. "Glad it's alright with you," He half-purred with a smile. The injury in itself was hard not to look at. But Aspenpaw's mind was already calculating it as just 'part of her face,' as though it had never not been there. The untouched part of her features was beautiful. Unique, at least. It was easy to see why Tawnypaw praised this apprentice so much. Before now, he had wondered what was so good about Moonpaw.

Now? Yep, he could definitely think of a few descriptive words to praise her as well. And honestly, it wasn't really a surprise. Anyone that the she cat praised so readily and was so fond of had to have some good qualities in them. His smile faltered for a moment when Moonpaw spoke again. Oh. Not the right trait, huh? Must've sounded a little weird, I know I would feel weird if some cat I just met complimented me like that, He thought with a nervous purr rumbling in his throat. Even though it had been meant as nothing more then a compliment, Aspenpaw still felt a little awkward. "Well, Tawnypaw's been praising you so much it's hard for me to think of some original compliments," He laughed with that smile coming back. He had meant it, though. Both inside and out - Moonpaw was a beautiful cat. Though, if she wasn't as comfortable with him saying that, he wouldn't. He would just... think of normal things to say. It didn't seem like Moonpaw really needed building up, which was what Aspenpaw was good at. He was used to building others up. So what did you do when you met a cat who had the most cheerful personality, even after an accident?

"Sure! Then you can see how much my paw-eye coordination has improved first hand," The tom mewed with a laugh. But he was truly hoping that they would be able to do that sometime. Maybe he would be able to see how Tawnypaw acted around the black and white cat. There had to be some difference, otherwise she wouldn't be so heavily praised. And he was eager to see what it was so that he could hopefully get the same results.

With them sitting close together, Moonpaw felt the twitch in Aspenaw's whispers before his amused chuckling gave him away. A purr began to rumble in her own chest and before long, her own features were twisted in laughter. His ability to go from completely dead serious to snickering in just a few seconds truly impressed her as she laughed alongside him, the smile stretching wide across her face, teeth glinting in the sun. "Oh my, I feel like you should share that secret with Blazingstar! The Clan would really benefit from such sage advice!" Again, another bout of laughter erupted from the young molly, and this time her whole body seemed to shake with it, shoulders moving up and down, whiskers twitching. Her good eye dazzled with humor, eventually calming down enough and resorting to an amused smile directed at Aspenpaw.

The ache in her heart of missing Tawnypaw, her best friend, was beginning to grow dull now since she had met Aspenpaw. Of course, she could never truly forget about the other feline, but it was nice to regain a variety of friends back. Most of the apprentices in the Clan avoided her nowadays, or seemed to walk on eggshells around her. It was painfully obvious that they wanted to ask her about the incident, but none ever did for fear of it being "too personal". Moonpaw silently begged for the opposite though; she wished her Clanmates would ask, and understand, and then resume to treating her like a normal WindClan apprentice. So with Aspenpaw's regular joking, and Tawnypaw sticking with her, she was grateful to have some of her denmates still by her side.

"I really do appreciate the compliment though," she reassured him, resting her tail momentarily on his shoulder as she looked into his own gaze with her soft blue one. Gratitude shown clearly across her expression, and she hoped that those words would be enough to convey how touched she felt by his words of affirmation. Despite having just met her, and only going off of what a biased Tawnypaw had to say, Moonpaw felt a warmth wrap around her to know that there were still some cats who thought she was... Beautiful. That's the word he used; beautiful, she thought, smiling faintly at him as she let her tail drop, instinctively wrapping it back around her paws. A few brief moments of silence hung in between the two apprentices, and Moonpaw felt something shift inside of her - an undetectable, yet still there, little flame flicker to life.

Moonpaw's sweet smile soon turned into a full on grin as Aspenpaw branched off of her "territory expedition" suggestion with herself and Tawnypaw. She was almost certain that the three would get along extremely well, having no problems in the territory. Though she was excited to go out with just the apprentices, she wasn't about to put it past Blazingstar to send a warrior or two out with them; after all, he was keeping a close eye on her ever since the attack. "And if Blazingstar decides to send escorts, we can always loose them. Tawnypaw has the best ideas for things like that," Moonpaw mused, a gleam of mischief dancing in her good eye as she smirked towards Aspenpaw, leaning close as she spoke as if she was telling him a secret.