~The Princess and the Knight~ StormxFox-G

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Luckily, Stormclaw's slight embarrassment was averted by the highly welcome distraction of the sweet smell (and sound) of success. His eyes snapping from his lady friend, the green circles latched onto the moments of action with delight. For all his noble ways, Stormclaw couldn't deny that he loved a good kill or a good fight - as long as they were within the warrior code.

Fervently thanking StarClan for this gift, he padded over lightly to congratulate the pair - well, Tigertail really, though he reluctantly supposed Sprucefur deserved some credit.

The grass beneah his paws was bristly, but bent easily as he walked over to the bigger cat, Foxflower by his side - but he didn't even feel funny, so great was his excitement. Part of him wished he could always feel this way. But he did not dwell on it long.

"Jolly good, old chap!" He meowed happily, rubbing against his brown-striped companion. "Thanks to you, and the grace of StarClan, Cedarstar will be quite pleased." He smiled, wishing he could live in this moment for a whole day. He nodded at the gray and white tom. "Good work."

Sprucefur

It worked! Although he had....well...made a tiny, almost undetectable mistake (it didn't matter anyway) this silly cat came through. Mouse-brain though he was, at least he knew how to serve the Clan. He felt a faint sense of belonging - more than he usually did. Well, of course he was always loyal to MeadowClan, but he felt better when surrounded by cats like himselves - cats who had been born and raised in the same place he had. ForestClanners...mm, they weren't all bad, but some of them were rather prissy - like his former mentor, Russetpelt. And Cedarstar! He rolled his eyes. If that tom didn't favor those of his own Clan, he was a rabbit. And, he smirked as he looked at their catch, he quite obviously wasn't.

Oh yeah, Stormclaw and Foxflower. He grudgingly nodded a greeting. He frowned even more at the gray MeadowClanner's indulgent praise of his friend. Tigertail hadn't even done that much - it was he who had come up with the plan and practically pushed the rabbit into that silly tom's paws. Tigertail had done almost nothing. But he cheered up slightly when the Russian Blue mentioned the grace of StarClan - certainly they deserved more thanks than this mouse-brain. It was probably his prayer that had let them succeed at all.

He sent up thanks again to his warrior ancestors, wondering again at their power. His face became neutral with a slight smile when Stormclaw praised him, although it wasn't nearly enough. Ah well, virtue was its own reward. Stepping over to the kill, he carefully picked it up himself (clever, he thought to himself, for when we get into camp I'LL get the praise) and since his mouth was full, nodded toward camp and began to pad back.

[Crowzerplorodon]

Tigertail's early excitement from being praised quickly faded as he was filled with a better kind of a pride. A kind that came from actually being complimented, and not just from the thoughts of what it'd be like to get compliments. Not that he didn't know what it was like to get compliments. Plenty of cats told him what a good job he did, or how awesome he was. Mostly apprentices, and sometimes Foxflower and Stormclaw (the ones congratulating him now, of course). But they weren't the only ones. They just happened to be the current ones.

“Aw shucks, Stormy, yer sendin' it all ta' my head,” he said with an embarrassed grin, though he really was just playing along. Tigertail took pride in this praises – he wasn't embarrassed by them in the slightest. “'Sides, whole thing was Sprucey's idea. M'just the paws, he's da' brain!” What that said about Tigertail, he really didn't care. Just because he was awesome in so many different ways didn't meant he should get credit for something someone else did. That was just... not cool, and definitely very lame.

“Still, dear, you did a wonderful job,” Foxflower purred, coming up on the other side of Tigertail with a pleasant smile. “Someone's going to enjoy your catch tonight.” Tigertail had half a mind to correct her and say someone would enjoy their catch, but didn't feel like ruining that might pretty smile on the she-cat's face.

“Well durn, guess yer right.” He gave a low chuckle, then took off after Sprucefur, his paws easily covering the ground it took to catch up with his fellow warrior. “Da' two of ya' should jus' keep huntin'. Sprucey n' I'll take dis here rabbit home, yeah?” Tigertail didn't want to intrude on his friends'... special time. Besides, there was no point in having a patrol as uneven as theirs would be. It made more sense to split up evenly, that way two cats could keep hunting and two cats could head back to camp.

Foxflower just nodded cheerfully, calling out a goodbye to both Tigertail and Sprucefur before turning to Stormclaw, a bouncy look in her eyes. “Shall we go, then? There's plenty more time left in the day for a hunt! Who knows, perhaps we'll manage something as exciting as our friends' catch. Wouldn't that be wonderful?” Not that she cared if they caught anything. Foxflower just wanted to spend some time with Stormclaw.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Sprucefur

Despite their - his triumph, he felt a bit annoyed at the way they were treating him. Running over to their stupid friend first and gushing like kits over a large piece of prey. If it weren't for the heavy corpse in his mouth, he would be snorting. As it was, he merely rolled his eyes. Oh well. Virtue was its own reward.

At least Stormclaw had enough sense to give him some praise - even if it was barely enough. Then he perked up at the brown warrior's words. He had a sneaking suspicion that he might not mean it, but then, Tigertail's words and good mood seemed genuine enough. The bi-colored tom decided to give his Clanmate the benefit of the doubt and assume he really was giving him his due.

His green eyes blinked, the bigger tom's final words reminding that yes, they really should get back. Of course. They must present this gift from StarClan as soon as possible so he could show off his - their - bounty to the Clan. Right. Sure, Foxflower and Stormclaw could stay behind. Not that they'd asked him, but eh...it wasn't really worth fighting after. Not when there was praise to be heard and lovely she-cats to please. Foxflower was nice looking, but...she was too old for him. If When he had a mate, they would be the most young, beautiful she-cat in MeadowClan.

He began to pad quickly off, slightly dismayed but not really put off by the fact that his older amber-eyed fellow was quickly there beside him. They were going home, after all.

Stormclaw

He smiled and nodded through his earthy-striped companion's words, delighting in his unusual way of speaking and Foxflower's pleasant responses. He was enjoying himself so much that he forgot how awkward he had initially felt. He would have liked to compliment his friend's modesty, but didn't wish to incite Sprucefur again. Ah well, at least they would be rid of - er, Sprucefur would take their blessed catch back to camp, that they had thanked StarClan for. Yes. He tried to wipe out what had been thought on the darker levels of his mind. He felt a little sad that Tigertail had to go too...then his anxiety returned in full force, realizing, now, that he would be alone with Foxflower.

Deep breaths. He took deep breaths, praying his lovely friend was watching their Clanmates leave a few seconds more and wouldn't see him do it, for she would surely question him if she did. And that was unthinkable.

He calmed down, at least a little, enough not to be as embarrassingly awkward as before. Yes. It was shameful and silly of him to act like that, he realized. No matter how he felt, he must be cheerful for her. He must be her champion...but not like that, he added blushingly in his head. No. Foxflower, if she ever fell in love, would love Tigertail or some other more worthy tom. Whoever she might love, he must smile and be happy for her. It wasn't her fault he was so blastedly mouse-brained as to dare to love her.

"So, where may we hunt now, m'lady?" said the Russian Blue, with cheerfulness that was slightly forced, but mostly genuine. It was a good day, after all, and he was grateful.

[Crowzerplorodon]

So, where may we hunt now, m'lady?

Stormclaw was so polite.

And his manner of speech was so delicately wonderful. It held a charm that Foxflower, in all her moons, had never heard repeated in another male. Oh she had heard plenty of toms speak like Tigertail did, and plenty like Cedarstar. Heck, she'd even heard other toms speak like Sandstream! And he was quite monotone. Not simple to mimic, at least in Foxflower's mind. But Stormclaw had such an elegant way of speech. And while she loved so many things about her friend, his words were most definitely the thing that really stood out the most.

“Ah, there are a lot of places...” She started with, mulling over where they could hunt in her mind as she continued to evaluate her friend's speech. Maybe one day she'd tell him just how pleasant it was. “We could head to the StreamClan border. I fancy us catching some fish in our portion of the river. I've been meaning to try such a thing!” She giggled, knowing how helpless she'd be when it came to catching the slippery animals. “Or maybe to a woodier part of our territory? There is always prey to be had in the trees!” A safe, logical place to hunt.

But, regardless of where they went, Foxflower didn't truly care. She just wanted to continue spending the day with Stormclaw before they were both swamped with their own duties. Times like this, when neither of them had assignments or things to take care of, were blissful, as they could just chose their own methods of recreation or duty.

And it warmed Foxflower's heart to think that in their free time, the both of them always seemed to come together.

At this point, denying that she had feelings further than friendship for Stormclaw was pretty silly.

ooc: /derpderpderplate. Hope you don't mind I dropped the other two. |D

[Cloud of Diamonds]

OOC: It's fine, Crow, we're supposed to now that Spruce and Tiger have departed and these two are ~alone.~ -winkwinknudgenudge- /shot'd

BIC: Hum hum la la la Foxflower talking birds clouds oh it was a nice day wasn't it yes it was indeed....

It was becoming difficult not stare at her drinking in every word she said with his mouth open, marveling at her beauty and composing love sonnets. Which seriously worried the tom. As in, maybe he needed to go ask Sandstream if there was an herb that cured minds that were going ever so slightly insane. And yet at the same time, he was sort of enjoying it, too. Oh, dear. Oh well.

StreamClan border...hmm. He'd never been good with water, but...if it made her happy, it was certainly worth trying. His fur was much too thin and water was generally much too cold to ever make him want to get in, and the Russian Blue wondered what could ever entice StreamClanners to try. Perhaps fish tasted delicious and they should try their paw at catching one. It couldn't hurt, right? Even if he was still a bit reluctant to get wet. The honorable thing to do was to go forth in bravery!

The trees were fine as well...but he did want to please her, so they might as well try their luck at the stream before going back to where they were accustomed to hunting.

"Indeed, we might try that. 'Twould be noble indeed to see if we can endeavor to figure out a new mode of obtaining fresh-kill - after all, StreamClanners can do it, so we must be able to. But even if we fail, which is admittedly possible, we may traverse our territory in search of more familiar animals before we return home to celebrate our blessings with our Clanmates."

Was what he saying okay? Was it too long? Was it too short? Would it make her happy? Oh stop worrying, he scolded himself. It's not like it matters anyway, because we're just friends.

You keep telling yourself that, Stormclaw.