Trespassing {open}

[{Otter}]

"Snow....Cardinal. Sparrow."

Broken words rose into the crisp leafbare air as a lean form pulled himself higher and higher into the branches of a tall oak tree. Whenever there was no near branch to jump to, he simply hooked his claws into the rough bark and clawed his way up to the next branch. The going was vigorous and gruelling, but the lovely blue-gray tomcat didn't even seem to notice. No, he was too busy reciting the three new words he'd recently learned. An uncommonly friendly cat had welcomed his attention, and had taught him these new words.

Snow...that was what cats called the cold white stuff that fell from the sky now. It had blanketed the forest floor and the branches of the trees, so that icy coldness soaked into his paws as he moved. Cardinal...that was the little red bird he was following up here. It had flown up very high, and was now perched on one of the highest branches. Zephyr wasn't worried about heights. He was a great climber, and never before had he fallen from any tree at all.

Sparrow. That was the little brown bird he saw all the time. There were always tons of them in this part of the land, even in leafbare. Apparently those Clan cats ate sparrows a lot.

Storm-gray eyes locked on the small red creature, which was now just a few branches away. It was looking at him, tilting its head from side-to-side as though to see him better, but it wasn't moving. Perhaps because it figured he wouldn't go much further. Most cats wouldn't even be this far up in a tree, much less go those extra two branches to reach one little piece of prey. But Zephyr wasn't most cats.

Finally, he pulled himself up to the branch below the bird. Now the little "cardinal" looked alarmed, hopping further away form him and staring at him as if to say "you're such an idiot, cat! I can fly, and you can't!" Even so, it utilized those special skills a bit too late. Zephyr tensed the muscles in his powerful hind legs and leaped onto the bird's branch, and as the cardinal began to flutter into the sky, he reared up on his hind paws, teetering precariously on the relatively thin branch, and clasped the bird between his forepaws, bringing it down with a hard "thump" against the hard tree branch.

For a long moment the lovely gray eyes stared at the little red bird, fluttering helplessly in his grasp. It wasn't that he was demented--Zephyr did not like to see things suffer. He was just intrigued. "Cardinal," he mewed, the word hesitant as he tried to pronounce it correctly. "Car..din...al." That was it! It sounded the way that friendly cat had said it. Satisfied, he ended the cardinal's life with a quick bite, then sat back on the branch to scan the world around him.

He was high into the tree, with only a few fox-lengths of branches above him. From here Zephyr could see all around, because there were no leaves to impair his vision. There were dozens of trees, hundreds of them! And dozens of cardinals and sparrows...and little blue birds he didn't know the name of. Why they hadn't left the forest and found a warmer place, he didn't know, but they sure did pose a lovely sight.

The blue-gray tomcat began to feast on his little catch, in complete disregard for the fact that this was ThunderClan territory. He didn't really care, nor did he understand. What was a Clan? What did they need borders for? He didn't do boundaries, and he wasn't about to obey something he didn't understand at all.

Word Count;; 612
Audience;; Whoever! Please! I want to roleplay with Zephyr ^.^
Notes;; Bah. Haha.

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] A streak of gray bolted through the woods and onto the top of a fallen tree without much of a sound. Prey animals who were out gathering seeds in the absence of cats high-tailed it into their dens. ThunderClan had been preoccupied by the battle at Snake Rocks. The forest was no longer safe for the grass-eaters now that the clan was low on herbs. Stormheart's green eyes glinted in the rays from the sun as it started to slowly melt the snow on the ground. It was one of those rare leaf-bare days when the sun came out to check on the grass, see if it was growing. Excelent time to make sure new stocks of herbs were on their way. "Wouldn't need any if ShadowClan had kept their promise to attack RiverClan..." the Medicine Cat said out loud as he approached, "Now all the chervil's on their territory... Grrr..." In the gray tom's mind, he could see ThunderClan cats running with their tails between their legs back to camp and letting ShadowClan have the precious grounds. They could have fought harder. Now any additional wounds would be in greater danger of being infected. All he could do from now on would be to put any clean leaf over a wound and pile cobwebs on top, a make-shift shield against infection. Snake Rocks might not be too important to the warriors as far as prey goes, but it did have some use, for StarClan's sake! The medicine cat walked lazily across a clearing after jumping off the tree. He'd already checked on the new burdock root growing near the training area. With all the activity there, the plants had been relatively warm throughout leaf-bare. He'd attempt to find some chervil later near Snake Rocks. If he couldn't find any on ThunderClan territory, he'd probably have to claw up the ShadowClan guards to get passed them. His tail lashed at the thought. A cruel grin crept over his face. Then again, he might not get there today. His eyes hardened as Starmheart looked up by chance. The birds were loud here. And there, in the tree was the reason. A strange grey cat was enjoying some fresh-kill on a branch up there. "Hey!" the Medicine Cat yowled as his fur rose up on end, "That's ThunderClan fresh-kill! Leave it and get out of our territory!" Word Count: 395 Audience: Zephyr Comments: None

[{Otter}]

"Hey!"

A single, loud yowl tore through the calm silence of the leafbare land, and Zephyr sprang straight into the air in surprise. Fur fluffed up to its full length, he shot his eyes downward in an attempt to catch sight of the cat who had spoken. Several more words assaulted his ears, very few of which actually registered any kind of familiarity in his mind. What was..."freshkill"? And..."leave it"? Intrigued by the strange new sounds, the blue-gray tomcat slipped off his branch, leaving the half-eaten cardinal where it lay, and hopped easily down until he was perched on the lowest branch, a few mouselengths above the head of the gray tabby stranger.

Digging his claws into the bark so that he did not fall, Zephyr leaned out from the branch, his strange, storm-gray eyes narrowed as he studied this stranger. The scent that came from Stormheart's body was familiar...it was ThunderClan scent, right? He couldn't understand why the cats of a Clan gained a certain scent, but they did...and the scent that clung to Stormheart's body also clung to the land around him.

"Hi. I..eat...cardinal," he mewed with cheerful amiability, eyes bright with eagerness as he spoke his newly-learned word. Cardinal! What a lovely sound it made on the tongue. Zephyr gathered himself back on the thick branch and lay down, stretching his paws out before him and allowing his blue-gray tail to hang down easily. He tilted his head to one side and mewed, "I...Zephyr. You?" Finally, a cat to practice his speech on! Nevermind if this stranger didn't look at all friendly. He hadn't attacked, so...why not get as much practice before things got physical?

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] Stormheart couldn't suppress an arrogant smirk when he saw the loner nearly jump out of his fur. Maybe he should patrol with the warriors some day. This was too fun. His grin faded, however, as he watched the cat slowly get over his initial shock and jumped down easily to the lowest branch to converse with him. Didn't he understand the meaning of the word 'hostile'? Or for that matter, any of the words he had just spoken? Had he not been clear? "Hi. I..eat...cardinal." "...Umm... Okay..." He couldn't bring himself to voice more words after that. The Medicine Cat's jaw wasn't working correctly. He was dumbfounded. This cat was older than him, not by much, but at least a few good moons, and yet he was speaking like a kit just learning his first words. Why? "I...Zephyr. You?" Stormheart shook his head clear. He reminded himself that the seemingly dense tom was trespassing. The warrior code said 'challenge all trespassing cats' and that was just what he was going to do. "Stormheart. Get down and get out of here. You're not supposed to be in this territory, or any clan territory for that matter. If you must bother someone, head north and cross the thunderpath." Yeah, he was sending him into ShadowClan. They'd probably tear him up, but serves him right for wandering around here, especially when patrols had just come by and layed fresh scent marks! Didn't this cat know about boundaries? If he did, he obviously didn’t care about them. Word Count: 253 Audience: Zephyr Comments: None

[{Otter}]

Something told Zephyr this cat wasn't too quick. He was just kind of staring at him...as if he were strange, or something. Then again, that wasn't an odd thing. Most cats just stared at Zephyr upon first meeting him...probably because of how he spoke. But heck, that wasn't his fault! He was doing his best to learn.

"Stormheart. Get down and get out of here. You're not supposed to be in this territory, or any clan territory for that matter. If you must bother someone, head north and cross the thunderpath."

Um....right. Okay, you can do this, Zephyr. "Get down". I think...it seems like he wants me to get off the tree. Okay. "Supposed"...got no idea. "Territory"...that's what they call this place. Their land. And..."thunderpath"? "North"? Nadda, he thought with a silent sigh, really wishing this cat would speak more slowly. How was he supposed to catch all the words?

"I know...get down. And...territory. What...supposed? And...north? Th...thun....thunderpath?" he mewed slowly, mouth moving clumsily over the new words. It looked like he'd learn quite a bit from this cat! Remembering the words Stormheart had said that he actually understood, Zephyr rose and leaped lightly to the ground beside the gray tabby. Landed, he shook some snow from his pelt and seated himself on the cold ground. "Ground...not as...fun. As...tree," he commented, storm-gray gaze drifting back up to the heights. He loved climbing. It was something he was very, very good at. Why did this cat want him all the way down here? They could talk quite nicely from a branch.....

He shifted his gaze back to the Clan cat, interest causing his tail to flick and head to tilt. This cat did not look like a warrior. He wasn't as...big. As muscular or mean-looking. No, this cat didn't look like he was used to fighting. That was nice. Maybe Zephyr could avoid getting his ears clawed off t his time.

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "I know...get down. And...territory. What...supposed? And...north? Th...thun....thunderpath?" Stormheart growled to himself in frustration. This cat really was dense! Had he never talked to another cat before and was just learning to speak? That wasn't possible! He wouldn't have lived passed a quarter moon without his mother around to feed him. Surely she would have taught him how to talk? Or maybe she had been the same way. A mute, perhaps? That would make sense. "North is left of sunrise," the Medicine cat said with an air of annoyance, "Thunderpath is a path that twoleg monsters travel on, and supposed can mean two things- allowed or guessed. In this case, you're not allowed to be here. This place is off limits to loners, rogues, kittypets, and clan cats who don't belong to ThunderClan." He was trying his best to stay calm, but Stormheart still couldn't get over the fact that he had to explain all this to a full grown tom. How on earth had he gotten through life without knowing how to talk? Sure, he'd heard of mutes in the clans, but they had other cats to help them out. This tom was, from what he could see as he jumped down to join him, all alone. "Ground...not as...fun. As...tree." Guessing that the gray loner wasn't hostile, Stormheart chanced a glance up at the branches of the tree. He remembered climbing trees as a warrior's apprentice. Next leaf-fall, he'd have to round up an apprentice to collect oak leaves with him. "Be that as it may, why did you cross the border? If you know what a territory is, you must know that we defend it. Why take the risk of getting killed?" As much as Stormheart enjoyed playing the Warrior Medicine Cat, he didn't always commit to what a warrior would have done. Warriors usually don't ask questions to non-clan-cats. As the resident medic, he didn't exactly have to live by the warrior code, no matter how many fighting techniques he knew. And if he did get caught by a real warrior, he dared them to question him. He'd love a chance to give and treat wounds today. Word Count: 359 Audience: Zephyr Comments: None

[{Otter}]

Storm-gray eyes closed tightly as the stranger continued to speak. Most of Stormheart's next words he understood, but the tom was talking fast (in Zephyr's opinion, at least), and it was hard to keep up. Still, he was glad for this chance to test his speaking skills and learn new words. Heck, he'd learned three new words! The word "Thunderpath" made cardinal sound like nothing!

"So what...call...right of sunrise? And....sunrise? Sunset?" he asked carefully, tilting his head to one side as he glanced up at the sky. There was, of course, no sun in sight, as thick leafbare clouds covered the sky and blocked out the warm sunlight. Surely, if these cats had a name for "left of sunrise", they should also have a name for "right of sunrise" and "sunrise" and "sunset". These...directions, the cats called it. These directions should be helpful one day...

"Be that as it may, why did you cross the border? If you know what a territory is, you must know that we defend it. Why take the risk of getting killed?"

Ah. He had forgotten the mindset of the Clan cats. They didn't like other cats in their land, although why that was Zephyr couldn't imagine. What was so wrong with sharing land? And why did they see fit to claim all the prey here? What if he was hungry, huh? What if others were hungry? It seemed selfish. Very selfish.

But, as he had thought before, this cat began to appear less and less like a warrior. Surely a warrior would have chased him away by now. But this cat? This cat looked angry, and he looked like he wanted Zephyr to leave, but he wasn't doing anything about it. Zephyr quite liked this...it meant he got to stick around longer. But still... "You not...fighter. You not...'warrior'?" he mewed inquiringly, storm-gray eyes sizing up Stormheart once more. Zephyr was not the best fighter in the world, but he felt as if he could defend himself from this cat if the need arose. But why? Didn't these Clans train their warriors to be the best fighters in the forest? Why would a dog-raised loner like him be able to defend himself against one of them?

I wrestled with a puppy when I was young, he reminded himself, tail-tip twitching contemplatively. I think I had a pretty good teacher in the end.

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "So what...call...right of sunrise? And....sunrise? Sunset?" "Right of sunrise is South. Sunrise is East. Sunset is West." Stormheart answered irritably. In all reality, he'd nearly forgotten that he was supposed to be out checking on the herb supplies. He should have brought an apprentice along to remind him. "You not...fighter. You not...'warrior'?" Oh that tore it. He shouldn't be explaining this stuff to any cat outside the clans, let alone this mouse-brain! Then again, he supposed he should answer this stranger's questions. At least he could get around to explaining how important a clan's territory was. Maybe once he understood, he would leave well enough alone. Sighing to himself, he rolled his eyes to the sky and prayed to StarClan to give him temporary patience before turning back to the gray loner. "Not really, no. I'm not a warrior. I'm a Medicine Cat. I heal warriors' injuries- Er... make cats stop hurting." Maybe if he talked as if explaining things to a kit, he would get through a lot faster. If this tom wasn't gone soon, however, he'd need to get a patrol's attention to chase him off. He couldn't risk fighting alone. Not when he didn't have an apprentice. "Now answer my question. Why did you cross the border when you knew we don't like strangers here?" Stormheart struggled to keep his claws sheathed as he fought against his annoyance. Maybe he should suggest the clan star building a bramble barrier on the borders, just to make things perfectly clear. Sure it would take work and perhaps a few lifetimes to complete, but it would be worth it in the long run, right? Maybe they could call themselves 'BeaverClan' when they were done. Word Count: 284 Audience: Zephyr Comments: None

[{Otter}]

"South. East. West. North. Th-thunderp-path. 'Supposed'." The words were magnificently foreign and new on his tongue, and Zephyr's blue-gray tail curled in happiness. Six new words! Not counting snow, cardinal, and sparrow! Great StarClan, he was on a role today. At this rate, he'd be fluent at catspeak in days!

"Not really, no. I'm not a warrior. I'm a Medicine Cat. I heal warriors' injuries- Er... make cats stop hurting."

Though he appreciated the fact that Stormheart was finally speaking more slowly, Zephyr's ears flattened slightly at the tone of voice. Not that he wasn't used to this, of course. Most cats considered him to be very dense, and if they caught on they started to speak to him as if he were a kit. If only they could know his thoughts! How fluent he was in his mind! But oh, speaking...if only he could speak like a true cat, they wouldn't look at him that way anymore. One day... he decided with a shrug of his shoulders. His ears straightened up once more, and he tilted his head to one side as he studied the gray tabby.

A "medicine cat". A healer. He helped with injuries! Now that was something Zephyr could understand and approve of. No wonder this cat hadn't tried to attack him...he was used to helping cats. Did he help all cats, or just his Clan? I wonder...if he saw an injured cat like me in the forest, would he help them? He thought, intrigued by the scenario playing out in his mind. He would have voiced the question aloud, if only he had known how to phrase it. But no, he didn't have any idea how to begin to ask Stormheart this, so he kept it to himself.

"Now answer my question. Why did you cross the border when you knew we don't like strangers here?"

Ah. Though "question" was a foreign word to him, he could tell from context that it meant...something that was said. And borders and territory he knew...but did not truly understand. Not the words themselves, but the concepts behind them. A border separating cats from other cats? It was bizarre...more bizarre than a cat being raised by dogs.

"I...no understand," he replied slowly, tail lashing slightly as he attempted to speak more clearly. Now that they were on this topic.... Well, he really wanted to know the answer to his..."questions". "Why 'Clans' keep cats from cats. Why...fight happen, because of borders. And prey. I no understand...why prey so sacred. Dogs not like. Dogs...share." Perhaps he was not right in saying dogs were not like that. Some dogs, he knew, were. Wild dogs, like coyotes and foxes. But not his family. Not most of the dogs he had met before. Why did cats have to be so complicated?

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "South. East. West. North. Th-thunderp-path. 'Supposed'." Stormheart flicked an ear and stared curiously at the solid gray tom. He was committing the words to memory? Good. Cats needed to speak cat. The fact that this one didn't was the only reason he was still in ThunderClan territory with his tail attached. The younger tom pressed on for answers, slowly becoming less annoyed and more intrigued. Maybe this cat knew enough words to at least tell him why he didn't know how to talk. "I...no understand. Why 'Clans' keep cats from cats. Why...fight happen, because of borders. And prey. I no understand...why prey so sacred. Dogs not like. Dogs...share." Dogs? Stormheart tilted his head. He failed to see how 'dogs' had gotten into the conversation, but apparently this cat found that species to be a good topic. No matter. He'd figure out the significance later. He sighed at the overall question, however. He'd have to start at the beginning. "Some cats are better at hunting one kind of prey than another. We've divided into clans depending on our skills. At least, that's what happened in the past. Clans take care of the young, sick, and old. We hunt for them. We can't afford to share our prey with others. There's not enough to go around." He hoped that was enough of an explanation. No doubt other questions would follow. He had to find some way to get this cat out of ThunderClan territory and fast. He couldn't very well take the tom herb-hunting with him. Show a loner all over the place? Certainly not. Best to simply point the way out or escort him. Either way. Stormheart made up his mind. A little game of questions and answers to set the cat straight, then send him on his way. The question now was wether or not to let any approaching patrol drive him off. If it came right down to it, he could walk him to a border to finish the story telling. That way he wouldn't be trespassing. Word Count: 338 Audience: Zephyr Comments: None

[{Otter}]

"Some cats are better at hunting one kind of prey than another. We've divided into clans depending on our skills. At least, that's what happened in the past. Clans take care of the young, sick, and old. We hunt for them. We can't afford to share our prey with others. There's not enough to go around."

Thank goodness he wasn't talking to him like a kit anymore, at least. Zephyr sighed, ears, angling forward as he tried to catch all the words. Though some went over his head, he got the main point. Cats got into groups according to how they catch prey. Cats help each other. Take care of sick and old. Kind of like a dog pack...sort of. But...they wouldn't take care of others. Or, so it seemed. Zephyr frowned, tail-tip twitching in irritation. Did they realize they were hypocrites? Didn't seem so. Perhaps he could get some more out of this cat....

"But...what if see not-Clan cat? In forest? Hurt? Hungry? You not help them? You help only Clan. That...not kind." What if he got attacked by a fox, and a Clan cat found him hurt? Would they kill him? Drive him away? Leave him for dead. "And...I hear fight. Others. Over prey? Why not one Clan? Why not...all help?" He wished now, more than ever, that he could voice all his thoughts. For example: how could they fight other Clans, when they could easily see what injuries could do to a cat? How could they be mad about a Clan hurting their cats, while they go off and hurt other Clans' cats? It was so crazy and backwards!

He sighed, storm-gray eyes raising to the cloud-covered sky. Was it only because he was raised by dogs that he couldn't understand this? Or were there other cats like him? He'd never met another cat outside of a Clan. Perhaps...he was missing something. Clan cats are afraid of dogs. They hate dogs. That's not okay. I could never be one of them, he thought with a vigorous shake of his head. Maybe there were other cats like him. Other...how did they put it? "Loners". Other loners. He'd like to find them. Maybe they liked dogs too...

Word Count;; 310
Muse;; decent
Notes;; I want there to be other loners! And feel free to start escorting him towards ShadowClan border if you want. That's where he's going next (or now, as the thread is happening ^.^)

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "But...what if see not-Clan cat? In forest? Hurt? Hungry? You not help them? You help only Clan. That...not kind. And...I hear fight. Others. Over prey? Why not one Clan? Why not...all help?" What? Did he think all clan-cats were heartless? What was this heart at the tail-end of his name for? Sounding catchy? I think not! But the stranger did pose a good question. What if he had run into a loner who was hungry or injured? Would he ignore them? No, probably not. Other medicine cats might, although he sort of doubted it, since the other two were she-cats. They usually cared for everyone. Not Stormheart. He had criteria. "Well... I suppose if I saw a cat who needed help, I'd do what I could... But, I can't treat every scratch on every cat. I have to save my herbs for my clan. If there was a seriously wounded loner, I'd help them best I could. And if they were starving, so much so that they couldn't hunt, I'd give them something to eat, enough to help them so they could hunt on their own. But our food is for our clan first. We're a family. Family comes first." Ugh. He was starting mushy-talk! The young tom shook his head violently, clearing his mind. Okay, now he really had to focus on getting this cat out of here. If a patrol ran into them, he'd probably be convicted of fraternizing with an enemy or some such nonsense. "Come on, I'll walk you to the thunderpath. We can talk while we're moving. We'll be warmer." He stood up, stretched, and moved passed the loner. They'd have to go around Snakerocks, but otherwise, they probably wouldn't be disturbed. Most cats caught one wiff of Stormheart in the area and turned tail, not wanting to run into him in a bad mood. Smart cats. Now he just had to think of an answer to this tom's question. Why wasn't there just one clan? Well, simple enough. "We have one leader for each clan. One leader, one deputy, one medicine cat. Three leaders can't control one whole clan. Combined with deputies, that would be six. Six different cats with eight different views as to what their cats should be doing. It's not possible. And if there was only one leader for all the cats in the forest? Chaos. One couldn't control that many. And don't even talk to me about having to deal with other medicine cats. We'd all be arguing about how best to treat a wound. It'd be madness." Word Count: 428 Audience: Zephyr Comments: Right-o.

[{Otter}]

Slowly, the Clans began to make sense to him. If the Clan was family, well...he could understand putting family first. His dog family...they had always put him and his dog-sister first. Never other dogs over them, although they did share their food with friendlier mutts. But...where he came from, the food could run out. They depended on what the dogs could hunt and the trash the twolegs left out. But here, out in the forest? There were buckets of prey just waiting to be caught! Like that cardinal. How could these Clans ever run out of food? It seemed a bit paranoid to him.

The gray tabby stood up and moved past him, and Zephyr followed with his eyes as Stormheart began walking away. He had been too lost in his thoughts to hear "Come on, I'll walk you to the thunderpath. We can talk while we're moving. We'll be warmer," and try to decipher it, but the Clan cat's intentions were clear enough. With a quick stretch of his blue-gray body, the loner padded off after the Clan cat.

They were heading toward the...the "thunderpath", it looked like. Maybe the Clan cat was trying to get rid of him. Even so, that would be okay with Zephyr. Surely another Clan lived beyond the thunderpath, and surely they could teach him more words. If there was one good thing about Clans, it was that there was never an absence of cats.

Still, a few more questions were brimming in his mind, fit to overflow, and he mewed, "Can others join? Lone cats? Can they be family?" Not that he wanted to join...he'd never give up his family. But still...everything Stormheart said seemed good, but if these Clans didn't allow other cats to join, then it was all just as bad as he'd once thought. Sure, if Clan was family, it made sense for the Clan to choose Clan over other cats. But if the Clan was a closed place, and no other cats could join, then...it was just ridiculous.

[Deleted]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] "Can others join? Lone cats? Can they be family?" Stormheart thought long and hard on this one. It was rare for a loner to join a clan. It happened maybe once in a lifetime. The medicine cat had heard that it happened on occasion, but leaving the clan happened more frequently. Why, he'd even heard of a ThunderClan leader abandoning his clan to be a kittypet! "There's nothing in the warrior code that says non-clan cats can't join, but it would be hard for them. Every cat that was born into the clan would question their loyalty every day, even after they've proved it tens of times. It would mostly depend on the leader, though. They would have to welcome them into the clan. Personally, I wouldn't mind having new blood in the clan. Would make for a nice change." In his mind, Stormheart would have liked to think he would be kind to any cat who wanted to join ThunderClan, but the truth was, he didn't know what he'd do. He supposed that after a few moons of careful watching and being reassured that the new cat was committed to StarClan and the warrior code, he wouldn't have to question their loyalties to much. Besides, as long as they regected kittypet life, what more was their to really be worried about? As they neared the thunderpath, Stormheart started to wrinkle his nose at the stench. It wasn't as bad as during greenleaf, but he could still smell it through the cold air. In the distance, along the gray-black path, he saw something that looked like fur-covered meat. He imagined it probably smelled part rat and part monster's giant black paw and tasted just as bad. No cat would catch him chancing a lick. "If you have to come back and talk to me, please stay on a border and wait for a patrol to come by. Just tell them you know me and they should escort you to camp. What was your name, by the way? I don't think I ever asked." Word Count: 343 Audience: Zephyr Comments: None

[{Otter}]

They were nearing the big gray road called "thunderpath", and Zephyr began to realize that his conversation with this cat was coming to a quick close. Even so, he'd learned several new words, and he was grateful for that. I like medicine cats better than warriors, he thought, shooting a sideways glance at Stormheart. Not nearly so temperamental. Much more friendly. Why can't they all be medicine cats? He listened with some difficulty as Stormheart continued speaking, and what he did understand he didn't much like. "But...if cat prove loyalty, why not trust? That...'mousebrained'," he mewed, showing off another word he had learned just a few days ago. Mousebrained. Quite fun to say, and apparently it meant "dumb".

In any case, he figured he wasn't going to change the Clan ways no matter how many points he brought up. Clan cats were just crazy in general. It was incurable, really. Even so, he'd be sure to come back. Stormheart's friendly offer caused his ears to perk up, and he turned in surprise to face the Clan cat. Though he really didn't know what a "patrol" was, he figured Stormheart's basic point was "wait for other cats to get you". Silly, really, but even so....this was very different. Clan cats had always chased him away, or at least seemed very glad to be rid of him. But this cat...he seemed to like to talk. He liked to talk even to a stammering fool like Zephyr. And he wanted to know his name. "I...Zephyr," he mewed brightly, waving his tail in a friendly way as he padded slowly to the edge of the thunderpath. "I pick name out. Sound cool," he added proudly. It wasn't as if his dog family had named him...he snorted slightly at the thought. "You...say...Stormheart?" he asked, flicking his tail in the medicine cat's direction.

Intriguing scents blew to him from across the thunderpath (albeit rather nasty), and he realized he'd rarely traveled into the land known as "ShadowClan". Perhaps he'd go there now. But first...Zephyr turned back to Stormheart and gave the medicine cat a friendly lick on the ear. "You nice. I like. Stay nice?" he mewed cheerfully before trotting across the thunderpath--in this season, there really was no need to rush across. The "monsters" rarely came here.

((Done, perhaps? Zephyr will come back sometime ^.^))