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Sitting all alone in a rather empty park, as he was accustomed to do, Dhiren sighed lightly to himself and let his amber eyes drift across the landscape of varied greens and browns. He was sitting cross-legged in the shade of a tree atop a small knoll, his jacket discarded in a heap next to him. He still hadn't gotten any better with first impressions, and his mind still buzzed over that nocturnal encounter a few days ago.

With a scowl of discomfort, Dhiren wondered just why he couldn't seem to get that out of his mind. 'It was only a dance,' He thought, echoing her words as they sounded in his head. That Somali female... They were friends now, right? How exactly did one deal with having a friend though, what were they supposed to do? The orange tom was frustrated, his head was full of strange thoughts and questions, but he couldn't figure out how to ask and get answers. Why did he have to be so... weird about being social? Why was it so hard for him to simply talk to another cat?!

Irritated, he tore at the grass in front of him, his ears pulled back and his brow knitted as he let out a slow hiss.

Dhiren flicked an ear back at the amused tone of another cat's voice and warily lifted his eyes from the task in front of him. He turned and glared at the female who had happened upon him for a few moments, sizing her up and trying to discern things about her on his own before venturing a word. He realized that he was doing just the opposite of what he had wished in his head just earlier and turned away from her again with a short grunt.

"'Didn't do anything.." He growled softly, staring down at his hands as they gripped his crossed ankles, "I'm frustrated." He really wanted to talk to someone and find some help in getting his head sorted out, but not being very good at it to begin with, Dhiren felt an awkward mess. Slowly, his ears tilted backward, listening for the girl's movements. Although she didn't look it, the tom cat got a strange feeling that she had a few more years on the cats he had found company with recently. Since she was also a girl, she might be able to help him, but where to begin? He couldn't very well just open himself to a stranger right off the bat and expect her to provide the light of knowledge to him, right? Of course, that was silly.

"Do you have some reason for being here, or do you usually go around harassing any cat you find?" He growled, mentally slapping himself as soon as the words left his mouth. His nerves were speaking for him; it was easier to chase uncomfortable company off than deal with it. Turning his head just far enough to stare at her from the corner of his eye, the Somali watched her with uncertainty.

As she came to crouch right next to him, Dhiren's eyes got a little wider and he pushed his ears back just a little further. Her words were strangely reminiscent of a certain black tom he met recently, and he decided to himself that he would have to work on his awareness. "W-why should I care?" He tried to narrow his eyes again and appear as if he were unaffected, "Threatening me doesn't seem like a very sensible thing to do if you expect me to be nice." He could feel his face start to warm a little under her intense, scrutinizing gaze and he grunted and stared at the grass in front of him again.

Stubbornly, his tail flickered behind him, but he didn't say anything more. Dhiren was making the situation worse, and he knew it; what kind of a girl was this who thought she could make him a sweetheart by threatening his life? "Oi, why are women like this...?" He growled slowly, doing his best to make it seem as if he were only talking to himself, "Persistent..." The Somali's ear slowly swiveled around towards the female, betraying his act.

Amber eyes blazed as Dhiren looked back over to the older female, but he noticed, probably for the first time, the katana peeking over her shoulder and decided to bite off his next comment. Instead he snorted and jerked his face away from hers, closing his eyes with a scowl, "Feh, like I'm really going to believe that! Others only nose into your business so that they can find the places you're most vulnerable and use those against you." Flipping his ears back in an obstinate manner, the Somali male slowly opened his eyes halfway and gazed out to the horizon before him, a thoughtful, nearly hurt expression coming over his face. "...There was no real interest in it for her... I was just the night's amusement." He murmured in a very low, quiet rumble.

Even though Dhiren wasn't excited about having a pushy, sword-happy female as company, he couldn't keep his mind from returning to the incident that brought him out there in the first place. He felt strange just talking about it directly, so in his own way, he was asking for help. He was getting the feeling by now that the woman beside him wouldn't just let a comment like that go by without prodding at it.

Dhiren glanced back at her and lowered his head a little, feeling foolish for suddenly not knowing how to explain it. "...We danced..." He growled softly, "She came out of nowhere, and wouldn't leave me be... " He felt his face warm at the admittance of that night to another. His fluffy tail wrapped around him, the tip of it resting in his lap "She was toying with me from the beginning... but... like a fool, I.." Scowling to himself, the Somali tom remembered the kiss and felt his face flare up even more.

"I think we decided that we were friends... I don't know how to face her. It seems like every time we meet, her mood is drastically different. She likes me. She hates me. She wants to walk away, but gets mad at me for doing the same. I don't get it." Dhiren realized that he was talking a lot, more than what was usual for him, and fell into an awkward silence. He was voicing the thoughts in his head as they came to him. He couldn't seem to find peace with himself since that night; so many thoughts.

(lawl @ sudden pregnancy)

Dhiren flinched uncertainly at her words; what was all this talk of feelings, and of liking her? "I.... think you're confused," He grumbled, unamused by the response and somehow unsurprised, "you don't know that woman..." Somehow, the tom got the feeling that being swept off her feet was pretty low on Alice's list of desires. Still, this cat's words made him think, was there something to it perhaps? "...There was definitely a physical attraction..." He murmured to himself as he thought. There really didn't seem to be much more than that though; could you seriously call that interest in another?

Amber eyes burning with confusion, he glared at the woman next to him suddenly, "I don't feel the least bit happy when I'm with her! A-and... all I can think about is running as far away from her as I can!" Really, did she hear herself? This conversation didn't seem to be getting him anywhere, only putting more thoughts into his head. "One woman is what got me into this mess, what made me think that talking with another woman would help get me out of it?" He growled, getting to his feet and running his fingers through his hair in a rapid, irritated motion, "Oi, you are all the same! Confusing. You don't make any sense!" His tail lashed behind him as he stood, but he didn't leave the side of the older woman, just stewed in his own frustration. Where would he go? Were there any answers to his problems? And why should he leave anyway?!

Dhiren growled and was about to snap off another rude comment, but seized up when the woman suddenly moved behind him and started kneading his shoulders. Punctuated by a strangled sound, nearly like a yelp, the tom's muscles all tensed at once and his eyes shot wide open. "Y-Yo... You...!" He stumbled, his growl wavering into higher, vulnerable pitches as his fur bristled and his face flushed. Her hands worked skillfully, ignoring the stiff protests of their patient. Dhiren was embarrassed by his voice and so had shut up and ducked his head.

Eventually, the muscles in his shoulders began to relax, and the tail that had been trapped between them had slowed it's twitching to a more sedated pace. "...You can stop that now..." He murmured after a while, his cheeks burning, "I'm... not upset." Taking a deep breath, the young man let it out in a slow, quiet breath. The anxious feelings were quelled now, but he still didn't really understand how to explain anything.

Dhiren stared down at the woman as she took a seat next to him again, noticing for the first time that her stomach was quite round. She was definitely older than him, that was for certain. She wanted answers about his volatile mood as well; did he even know them himself? With a defeated, but still fiery grunt, the tom fell back into the grass beside her, pulling his knees up towards his chest and wrapping his arms loosely around them. They sat in silence.

Dhiren's ears fell back and he again shot her a side-long glance. As he stared, he could see subtle movement in the woman's belly as the kit's kicked; it freaked him out a little and his face cringed briefly. It must be weird feeling another person moving inside you, he decided. The Orange male realized he was letting his mind wander and cleared his throat suddenly with a short cough. "Before I tell you anything, I want to know your name." His voice was hesitant, but still rumbled with what seemed to be an ever-present growl, "And, I guess you'll want mine in return, right? It's Dhiren."

Taking a deep breath, the Somali pulled his gaze away from the female beside him and glared into the grass in front of him. "As far as the woman who got me into this mess is concerned... I'm not about to get my ears clawed off for naming her. I don't find her company entirely unpleasant, so I... that is..." Dhiren faltered, his face growing red again as he willed himself to admit something so... strange to him. "I don't want her to go away. I felt... hot... when we danced. She's like fire; warm and beckoning, but also coy.... Getting too close to her is also like being too close to a flame." His whole body was becoming uncomfortably warm as he talked about Alice, and he unconsciously gripped the brown top he was wearing as his heart began to thump harder.