(Un)Familiarity [p]

[Flower]

Flower nodded, when she was right she was right. The idea of a bunch of cats with the same exact way of thinking as him made him flick the tip of his tail slightly. That would get very boring very fast. "You're right, I suppose. Cats get their own opinions because otherwise I'd be bored all the time." He grinned as he said that, showing that he didn't really think the only reason others should have their own opinions was because otherwise he'd get bored. "And if everybody thought exactly like me then i never would have met you! Or, at least not the same you." He had just confused himself. Would it still be the same Natalia if she thought exactly like him? Would she have changed her name like him? He didn't dwell on this for fear of confusing himself even more.

He smiled when she said that she would recommend getting better at fighting. "See that's why I want to fight you! I'll never get better if I don't try and I figure it's better to try with somebody who doesn't want me dead." He purred. He gave her a look that pretty much said, 'so you better fight me or I'll actually die.'

Flower found that he didn't mind being around Natalia, even if she sounded sarcastic a lot. She was interesting and actually knew things, like the name of the leader and what sayings meant. He had a lot of gaps in his own knowledge so he figured that having somebody around who knew things would be a good thing for him. When she mentioned that she didn't care whether or not there were others around her to keep her company he flicked one of his ears back in confusion. Who didn't like talking to others?

Either way it sounded like there was exceptions. "Well I hope you like my company, despite, yeah how young I am. I think you're pretty cool, for some old lady." He meowed, making it sound like she was a hundred moons older than she probably was. Flower grinned at her and waited to see what her reaction to that would be. 

[Natalia]

Natalia personally disliked being idle and bored. She found the sensation to be unbearable. At times, she did enjoy some peace and quiet. Though, she did enjoy the rush of activity at times. It was actually part of the reason why she didn't mind fighting all that much. She disliked the conflict that existed in the world and she wished cats didn't have to fight sometimes, but she couldn't deny her liking of the adrenaline rush she got. It was simply a part of her she couldn't deny. Usually she sated such desires by tree climbing and doing more dangerous moves in the trees, ones that would likely cause serious harm to herself should she do them incorrectly. Then she nodded. "Eh. Yeah, if I thought like you... I certainly wouldn't be the same. Though, if everyone thought exactly like you... It's likely we never would have met here." If everyone was more like Flower... There was the possibility that her family never would've fallen apart, really.

The red furred tabby hummed in response. "I see. Your logic is sound." She was amused by the attempt made by Flower to... Guilt trip her, probably. For about half a second before she realized it was actually working. Stars darn it.... She sighed. "... Yeah, yeah... I did say yes to it, already didn't I?" She pointed out.

Natalia didn't like cats in general and they tended to not like her in return. Though, Flower seemed to enjoy her's. Honestly, the Deathclanner didn't exactly understand why. She wasn't exactly what most looked for in a friend. She was cynical, wasn't exactly sociable, and had a set of rather skewed morals. Yet, the kid apparently thought Natalia was... Cool? Then her fur bristled in response. "Excuse me, old? If I'm old, then you're a kid who was born yesterday." She shot back. Then she sniffed. 

"... Regardless, I don't mind your company. I can think of a number of cats that I certainly wouldn't prefer to be with right now." It was honest. She certainly wouldn't want to be around cats like Sakari, Laelia, or Thomas. Flower at least made for decent company. 

[Flower]

Despite his love of fighting Flower wasn't a big fan of conflict. It lead to yelling and unpleasant emotions, both of which he wasn't a huge fan of. When things went from fighting for fun to actually fighting he found thank everything got more complicated than it needed to be. Since Natalia had agreed to fight him he figured that she couldn't hate the action that much, but from what he'd heard from her it didn't sound like she really loved fighting like he did.

When she stated that they probably wouldn't have even met he simply shrugged. He didn't believe in fate or any of that stuff so he imagined that if everybody had the same personality then it wouldn't matter who he met or knew, they'd all be pretty much the same. "Let's just be glad that the world isn't just filled with cats of only one personality." He stated. It didn't even have to be his own personality, having only one would be boring.

Flower couldn't help but laugh when his mediocre attempt at guilt tripping her worked. "Fantastic! I look forward to it." He meowed as he stretched a little in the place he was sitting. It almost seemed as if she was warming up to him, which was always nice. That however seemed to be swapped when he made his old lady comment.

Once again Flower was laughing. He beamed at the older tabby. "Compared to you I might as well have been born yesterday. I'll never match your intellectual brilliance, not in a million moons." He purred, laying on the praise thick as if it was once again a jest. He did think she was much smarter than him, but it was in the black cat's nature to poke fun. He did like hearing that she didn't mind him being there. Hopefully that meant that she liked him and wasn't just indifferent to him. "Well there's no need to get overemotional, we've only just met." He meowed. He made it sound like she had given him some glowing praise when really she just said she didn't mind him. He figured that the way he was talking with her would either make he like him more or make their future fight more interesting.

It was a win win for Flower.

[Natalia]

Natalia dislike of conflict was something she always remembered having, along with being somewhat supported by her fall out with her brother... Even if she felt them parting ways the first time deserved a different label. It... It didn't capture all the emotions and complications that came with it. It was funny how sometimes words could say so much more than what you said, and sometimes they can never say enough to convey what you really mean. Natalia tended to be suspicious due to the potential for duplicity contained in words.

The tabby gave a wry smile. "I suppose so." She figured that thread of thoughts was done and over with. Not much more to say, since they agreed: The world would be incredibly boring and such if everyone was essentially the same cat. Though... Judging from his shrug, she gathered he didn't believe in fate or destiny. She supposed her words could be taken as such... But she honestly believed it's very unlikely they would've met. She wasn't even originally from this area, if her family hadn't fallen apart she'd probably still be living in that area... Far, far away.

Natalia sighed, though it was laced with faint fondness. The kid knew very well that he'd successfully guilt tripped her. She hoped he didn't spread around that she was easy to manipulate or anything... It was just... She admittedly had a bit of a weak spot for kids. Kids... They weren't bad. Usually. Plus, they had their whole life ahead of them. They could change. They weren't stuck in their ways without hope like Natalia was.

She sniffed. "Nah.... I'm just a rambling old women who has thoughts on things. Who knows if they're right? I could be wrong about everything, you know." She pointed out. She figured Flower was simply being polite. She never was especially good at accepting compliments... Especially after she was left on her own. Then she rolled her eyes. "Oh, no worries about me being overemotional. I'm told I have stellar control." Actually, cats tended to dislike her for that very reason. She apparently didn't exactly seem to have an emotional spectrum, being stuck in permanent sarcasm. She wasn't, of course... But she never did a thing to convince them otherwise. She was fine with that.

Though... Flower seemed to see otherwise. 

She was strangely fine with that as well.

[Flower]

In his few moons Flower had been thrust into enough conflict to turn him off it for the rest of his life, but the conflict came from the  twolegs, not other cats. He hadn't met many other cats, but he figured that they had to better than his past owner. Being a kittypet had made him hate authority and instead he strove for things that made him happy. To Flower this was what made sense. Why be down all the time and live in the past when he could be more upbeat and make a better life for himself in the present.

And at that present he was talking to Natalia. Her small sigh made him tilt his head slightly as he smiled. She was more soft than she tried to seem. From what he gathered Natalia wasn't exactly the nicest cat, but she definitely wasn't the meanest. Perhaps it was something about him that made her like him, but whatever that was Flower wasn't sure. He hoped that he could stay on her good side as that seemed like a nice place to be. He wondered how many other cats she's knew in Deathclan? Perhaps she would introduce him to some other cats for him to fight sometime.

Flower laughed when she stated that she was just some rambling old lady. "So you admit that you're old! It's almost like I can hear your bones creak from here." He teased. "Although if you end up being wrong about everything then I must be wrong about like six billion things. Since you admitted you're old now you just have to admit that you're some crazy smart old lady. You probably even have some cryptic wisdoms for things as well." Flower stated.

He stuck his tongue out once more in an over exaggerated gross face. "Yeah! Those darn emotions, who needs 'em? Not us that's for sure!" As he said this Flower giggled. It was very clear that he had much less emotional control than Natalia had. She had pretty much had two facial expressions throughout their entire conversation while he had twenty different expressions in the past few moments, despite all of them tending to be positive, confused, or joking looks. 

[Natalia]

Most of the conflict Natalia faced in her life had come and gone fairly quickly. Some of it was admittedly more recent. Given that it had come from a place rather close to her heart, she had done her best to close her heart off from others. If no one can get close, no way you can hurt... Right? So, she'd developed a lack of empathy for others. She pushed cats away before they even tried to approach her. Though... It wasn't a perfect strategy. She still had a severe soft spot for kids. Especially ones that were hurting. It was hard not see herself when she was younger in them.

Natalia admittedly wasn't entirely sure what was going on in Flower's head. She... Wasn't sure what he thought of her. Usually, she was scarily good at perceiving other's thoughts without them ever speaking a word. But, judging from that tilt and smile... It wasn't the usual thoughts cats about her. Usually they thought she was irritating, a jerk, a grump. Not someone you want to hang around. Clearly, Flower didn't feel the same way. She didn't understand.

She huffed. "I'm not too old to kick your butt." She replied with amusement in her voice. She rolled her eyes. "Alright, so maybe I do have some knowledge on a few things. I prefer bluntness over being a cryptic stick in the butt." Natalia's voice never expressed anything strongly.... Normally. Of course, time of trauma were special exceptions. Usually, her voice at the most would take on various edges that were sometimes subtle... Sometimes more obvious. Of course, her voice and words weren't exactly the most reliable way to read the tabby.

You had to know her.

Natalia's expression tightened ever so slightly. It was a subtle, you had to be looking for differences in her expression to notice. She figured he was joking, given that his emotional control was likely at the stage most cat's was at. Enough to not let him explode at everyone in the vicinity, but enough to make his face into a slideshow of emotion. She on the other hand... Kept a vaguely amused neutral expression nearly always. 

But....

She found issue with his words. She thought what he'd said... A long time ago. Maybe she still did. But... Now? She was starting to think otherwise.

[Flower]

Perhaps Flower was a bit too friendly with other cats he didnt know, but he hadn't really given away any incriminating or personal information on himself so he figured what was the harm in being friendly? He wondered if Natalia had always been so stoic and cool or if as a kit she had been more like him, or perhaps she had simply just been different. Since she spoke about people changing their minds and changing as they grew up he figured that she probably had been different in some way as a kit.

Flower couldn't quite picture it in his head. He had only know Natalia for a few moments, and even then he didn't really know her, but already she seemed like not a lot got to her, so imagining her as some frail kit seemed wrong. He wondered what she thought of him. He imagined he probably seemed like just another kit who had traveled to Deathclan in search of some excitement, and he supposed that was right, but he hoped that wasn't all she thought of him. Flower liked Natalia with her grumpy exterior and, her being one of the first cats he had actually talked to for more than a brief second, he kind of wanted her to like him too.

He smiled when she told him that she wasn't too old to kick his butt. "I'm counting on it." He stated, in reference to the fight that she had promised him. "Plus being straightforward is always easier. That was you don't get your cryptic sayings messed up like me." Flower didn't always mean to be cryptic, but the way he spoke sometimes made him end up being that way. He also forgot common phrases so when they came out wrong it made him sound more cryptic than he often meant to be.

He was so caught up in his thoughts about messing up common phrases that he almost missed the subtle change in Natalia's expression, well, he kind of did. Flower saw the tiny flicker of movement, but couldn't figure out what to attribute it to. He wasn't exactly stellar at reading emotions so noticing the tiny movement in her face didn't really make it any easier for him to figure out what she was thinking. It didn't look like she agreeded with him about his not needing emotions statement. The tom studied her for a second before he went back to grinning.

"Tell me about yourself Natalia." He stated more than he asked. He didn't want her to feel like he was pressuring her to open up or anything, but he wanted to know more about her. She was so cool and he figured this was a good subject change to avoid his joke about emotions that hadn't seemed to take so well with her. Flower hoped he hadn't upset her or something. He figured it was best to just avoid that topic for now and let her chose what to say.

[Natalia]

'This Flower kid is really eager to fight.' Natalia thought to herself. She figured they should set aside a specific time to have that spar. Whether it be whenever they finished talking or another day, she figured it would be nice to have set time. They kept touching upon it in conversation, so why not?

She huffed. "I wasn't trying to be cryptic...." She insisted. Perhaps sometimes the way she spoke made her seem evasive. It was kind of funny sometimes, how she valued honesty and bluntness above all else, and she rarely returned the favor. She was a reserved cat, who held her personal secrets usually close to her heart. Even if you knew facts of her life, you rarely knew of her in-depth feelings concerning them. Feelings that tended to be extremely complex and often shaped her as a person. 

She slightly tilted her head when Flower started staring at her for a second longer than normal, but he returned to grinning. She figured he'd dismissed whatever he thought he'd seen. Hm. Kid was young, he likely wasn't too adept at reading other cats. Perhaps... He could improve on the skill. It would be useful, since this kid was so... So not like her. Not the slightest bit cynical or paranoid. She'd like for this kid to be able to read a situation, cats included. 

She didn't want him to be a victim. She really didn't.

Then she blinked. She sighed and sat back on her rump. "What is there to tell? I'm just another cat living in Deathclan, a bit older than most of the members... But really, I'm not too interesting."