An Old Friend [Leo and Fennel || Private RP]

[Warriors-horse]

Fennel nodded knowingly. "Perhaps you should consider doing more furniture, if boats aren't doing too well," she suggested idly. "I know I'm excited to get my new items!" She winked, thinking of the deal they had just made. It certainly seemed a bit unfair; she wished there was more she could do for Leo in return. She decided that at some point she would leave some coins with the rolls she would bring to him.

Laughing merrily at the memory, she ran a paw across her cheek. "Yes, I remember that! Sawyer was such a clown." Chuckling, she gave him a sad look. "Mmm, well, hasn't been doing as well as I would like," she confessed, not unwilling to share this information with her friend. "Business is slow these days, and yet somehow it's still difficult to keep up with all the work on my own." A searing heat fell over her as she heard his question regarding her arm. The scars hidden beneath were a horrible memory of shame, and a source of self-consciousness for the usually calm and collected she-cat. Running her paw across the bandaged arm as habit had long subjected her to doing, she drew it close to her chest as if to hide the shame from him. "I... just an old accident," she stammered, averting her yellow gaze from Leo's. Her heartbeat thudded in her chest, remembering vividly the fire that had licked at her fur that terrible night, shuddering visibly and squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. An old accident I've never learned to forget.

[carbonflight]

The tomcat's fur turned even brighter red than before. He felt terrible for bringing it up, most cats he knew didn't enjoy talking about their scars, mental and physical. He knew he wouldn't be all that happy if someone came up and asked him to sing for them. Actually, he would be quite happy, he was slightly too full of himself to turn down singing for a crowd, a bad trait his mother had given him, of course. "Oh, I'm sorry," he bit his lip. "I didn't mean to..." he dipped his head, awaiting the ensuring awkward silence. He took another sip of the tea, burning his tongue a bit, he opened his mouth, letting the air cool it off.

"You know, this is really excellent tea, do you have a recipe? I mean, I don't really have any rosemary at my house, but I could probably get some next time I go to the woods. I do need rosemary for it, right? I mean, you didn't say it had rosemary in it, but I sort of assumed, when you said it was rosemary tea. I could probably bring you back some if you want, I mean, if you need it." He quickly overcompensated for her silence by blabbering like a fool, but soon covered his mouth with a paw, as if to close it so more words would cease to spill from it. "Sorry," he mewed, quietly.

[Warriors-horse]

"It's alright," she said quickly, coming to her senses in a moment when she sensed his discomfort. "It isn't a story you would want to hear anyways," she added in a murmur. Picking up his rambling conversation, she coughed, and replied - equally clumsy and awkwardly - "No, there's really no recipe, just boil rosemary and a dash of cinnamon in water. Not terribly... erm, difficult, I suppose." She placed her bandaged arm in her lap, placing her other on the table in front of her, clutching the chipped teacup. "I grow my own herbs, quite a large garden, actually... if you need rosemary, I can lend you some. There's no need to make a trip into the forest. Grimalkin knows what lives in there nowadays."

Fennel let the silence stretch between them for a moment, unsure of what to say next.

[carbonflight]

"That sounds lovely," he replied, "I would ask to see it, of course, but I'm afraid the weather won't allow for it," Leo looked out the window, starign at the rain snaking down the pane. Outside, the sky looked like a great grey beast from the depths of the ocean, come to swallow them whole. Not far away, he heard the growl of thunder. "Ha," he laughed to himself, "looks like now the weather will hardly allow for a quick walk down the street." The toyger cat took a brisk sip of his tea, savoring it. It was really quite good, at least in comparison to the sour tea he had tasted before. He quickly pulled a piece of paper with a sketch of a boat on it out from his bag and scribbled down her makeshift recipe, then sketched a quick picture of her below it. "There," he beamed, placing one paw on his hip, "now whenever I make it, I'll remember that I should come visit you, because I know I'll forget if I don't do something."

[Warriors-horse]

Smiling at his drawing, she noticed he had done well to capture her likeness in a few simple strokes. The cream-colored feline then followed his gaze, her yellow eyes fixing on the rolling clouds that spilled endless buckets of rain upon the city. "Well, then," she meowed, looking back at Leo, "you are more than welcome to spend the night here. You can have Flax's old room if you like. I warn you, it's rather dusty, but it'll be better than going home wet and catching a cold." Standing up, she pushed her chair back, the legs scraping against the wooden floor. It was quite clear that she wasn't about to let him brave the weather, and she scampered off to the kitchen, where from she returned with a cloth in hand. "I'll go tidy it up for you!"

[carbonflight]

The toyger cat allowed himself to be swept away by his friend, adding a few polite-isms (such as, "I couldn't possibly impose" or "You're really too kind, but..."), however, Leo himself wasn't incredibly keen on the idea of walking home in the pouring rain, and in all honesty, he was really quite enjoying Fennel's company, so he tried to say all of these as quietly as possible (because, of course, it's the thought that counts, not wether you can actually be heard). They passed the kitchen, and he quickly picked up a rag like hers so he could help. He knew his sister, Amori, was out in the forest gathering herbs with her fiance, Killian, for her work (she was a nurse), so he wouldn't be missed if he was gone the night. There didn't seem anything terribly wrong with staying over at his old friend's house, so he shrugged, and smiled to himself.

[Warriors-horse]

As if reading his thoughts, Fennel looked over at him with her yellow eyes filled with concern. "You won't have cats worrying over you if you're gone a night, will you?" she asked kindly, beginning to swipe her rag across the dusty bedframe. A few deft movements revealed a smooth wooden structure that was obviously handmade, and though it was old, it looked to be a comfortable resting place. Starting to fold up the threadbare quilt so that she could shake out some of the dust, she glanced at him with a smile. It felt so nice to have a friend again. It seemed like all cats were these days were her customers, and nothing more. Leo? Leo was definitely a friend, and one she was glad to have as her guest.