A Trio Of Good....Friends? (Closed for Squirrelnose and Wavedream)

Nectarpaw was quite taken aback by Laurelpaw's outburst, though he had to admit that had some similar thoughts. But he would never say them out loud. "Laurelpaw! If you hadn't noticed, we all aren't warriors, we're apprentices! And definitely not kits, we're all over six moons. Though Stonepaw, what is it that you seem to be scared of?"

Laurelpaw's scathing words hit too close to home for the gray apprentice. Like a dam opened, the tom felt himself reliving the times he would try to befriend other cats as a kit, only to be pushed away because he always seemed to ruin their fun. "You're such a party-pooper!" "Go away, you're annoying!" "We don't want to play with you". The words echoed in his ears into it became an unbearable chant-the damage was done.

"Shut up!" Stonepaw cried desperately. "Just stop it, you don't know what you're saying! You don't know what it's like," the gray tom whimpered. "Nectarpaw is my first friend because everyone else ends up acting like you, casting me away when they realize that I honor the warrior code over playing games and having fun!"

The apprentice took in a shaky breath, yellow eyes watery. "For once in my life, someone actually is on my side. I'm so scared to tell you this Nectarpaw- I don't want to lose my first friend. I'm sorry that I'm not okay with breaking the rules, I'm sorry that I look up to our leader Ashstar to guide me more than anyone, but this is who I am and I can't change that no matter how much I tried. I couldn't cross the border right away because I had to do something against what I believe in, I had to tell myself that you were an exception to something that make me who I am."

"Stonepaw..." Nectarpaw would be lying if he said that Stonepaw's words hadn't been some of the most emotion raising things he had ever heard. He had kind of just assumed that Stonepaw had a lot of friends because he had a lot of friends, and now Nectarpaw realized he might have had jumped to conclusions a little too soon. 
"Stonepaw, I'm glad that I can be your friend. Ashstar is a wonderful role model, and following the rules is not something that you should be ashamed of. I see that clear as day, and I hope that Laurelpaw can see that too." Nectarpaw couldn't help but throw a look at Laurelpaw during his last phrase.

Laurelpaw was struck speechless.

Not from emotion, but from shock and surprise. The young she-cat wasn't shy when it came to arguments, and she had been in her fair share, but this was the first time the cat on the receiving end hadn't snapped back at her with just as much conviction as she. Instead, she was faced with a blubbering mess of a tom, his yellow eyes glistening with tears. For once in her life, Laurelpaw hesitated. She tried to keep eye contact with Stonepaw, but her vivid yellowish-green orbs kept flicking downward until they resting on her paws. Turning away slightly, the lithe she-cat slid her claws in and out of their sheathes, her stomach churning with a worrying mix of emotions; shame, and anxiousness. She suddenly felt the need to run, dash away from the damage she had done and pretend it never happened; and maybe that wish would come true. Pride and conscience battled while Laurelpaw stood silent, gazing down at her feet with a guarded expression.

Stonepaw was surprised to feel another thing break in his stubborn, warrior-code-etched-in-stone heart. Tears began to fall freely, a sob of relief choking out of his throat. Nectarpaw accepted him. His friend accepted his greatest flaw. Relief crashed from the break, overflowing his fear into an unrestrained feeling of everything all done, leaving only good things to come. His kit-life wouldn't have to haunt him any-longer.

"Thank you," Stonepaw blubbered gratefully. "Thank you so much." The apprentice gave him a watery smile filled with gratitude, his eyes scrunched up into happy curves. "I'm so glad."

"Okay, now that we are all getting waaaaaay too emotional, how about we do something fun together?" Nectarpaw suggested. He himself was growing more emotional than his young mind could take, and he needed some sort of distraction from all of it. He could tell both of friends were feeling it too, even if they showed it in different ways. Stonepaw was sobbing, and Laurelpaw had stopped talking.

Stonepaw felt a wave of embarrassment at Nectarpaw's point, willing his tears to stop. His breath starting to simply hiccup instead of crying, his body's way of recovering from the emotional outburst. "Sure," he replied as normally as possible. The gray apprentice turned to Laurelpaw and gave her a friendly smile. "What would you like to do?"

Laurelpaw didn't look up while the two toms were speaking, her mind lost in a surge of jealousy, rage, and guilt. Claws scraping in the loose soil, the white and ticked she-cat tried to calm herself, but she was almost on the verge of tears. What if Necterpaw decides that he doesn't want to be my friend anymore, and ditches me for Stonepaw?! Would he actually do that? I don't know, but what if he does?! I don't want to be alone! Suddenly, Stonepaw's voice rang in her ears, and the she-cat finally looked up to see the gray tom flashing her a friendly smile. Rage burned in her chest; how dare you act like everything is okay!; but for Necterpaw's sake she forced a equally friendly smile onto her face and nodded. "W..well....since you don't want to cross the border....maybe we could go explore that old badger set!" The thought of another possible adventure dawning in her imagination, Laurelpaw began to brighten up. Tail held high once again, she gazed over at Necterpaw with an apologetic look. This is for you, my friend.

(occ: do you want to rp the exploration, or just end it on them leaving to go there?)

OOC: This would be a nice place to end the topic.

IC: "That sounds like fun! Lead the way, Laurelpaw!" Nectarpaw said with genuine excitement. A badger set? That sounded fun, and not as high up or code-breaking. He threw an adventurous smile to both of his friends, then turned expectantly to Laurelpaw.