Lavenderleopard RiverClan Warrior
Killer Aptitude Tier 1
Flock Together Tier 2 Well Insulated
She / Her - 24 Moons
[ this training session takes place after the battle with the otters and before the clan meeting ]
Emerging into the clearing from the warriors´ den, Lavenderleopard swiped her tongue over her herb-slicked shoulder before calling for her apprentice. ´´Deerpaw! Territory tour. Let´s get going.´´
Lavenderleopard RiverClan Warrior
Killer Aptitude Tier 1
Flock Together Tier 2 Well Insulated
She / Her - 24 Moons
[ this training session takes place after the battle with the otters and before the clan meeting ]
Emerging into the clearing from the warriors´ den, Lavenderleopard swiped her tongue over her herb-slicked shoulder before calling for her apprentice. ´´Deerpaw! Territory tour. Let´s get going.´´
Deerpaw's ears swiveled towards the familiar voice of his mentor. A territory tour? He stood up on his paws in the den and stretched out, flexing his claws as his fluffy, cropped tail swished behind him. He trotted out, sweeping the clearing before his eyes landed on Lavenderleopard.
"I'm here. I'm here." He repeats, already hopping on his paws, an excited gesture at odds with the forced disinterest he tried to wear on his voice. "Are we heading out on our own this time? Crowpaw isn't joining us?"
Lavenderleopard RiverClan Warrior
Killer Aptitude Tier 1
Flock Together Tier 2 Well Insulated
She / Her - 24 Moons
Lavenderleopard shook her head. ´´No; Crowpaw will not be coming with us. Since she´s already had a territory tour of her own (as you were apprenticed to me not long after she was), I didn´t see the need to bring her along.´´
´´We´ll start with Smallpines, our border with ThunderClan. That´ll give me the chance to check it out since the otters have gone and report back to Stormstar if there are any problems.´´
Deerpaw nods, his tail twitched as he listened, Crowpaw has one up on me being ahead. I have to catch up so I don't get left in the dust. Before he blinked, refocusing on the mention of the otters.
"Think there are any straggling otters we'll run into?" He didn't really mean to sound so excited about such a prospect, especially not when he knew how many had been lost or injured in the fight (Lavenderleopard's own herb-slicked wounds should have been reminder enough for him). But he also couldn't help it. The small voice in his head reminded him that doing something amazing, something like taking down a remaining otter, would more than catch him up to Crowpaw.
The small voice ignored how impossible such a task would actually be for him, a yet untrained apprentice.
Lavenderleopard RiverClan Warrior
Killer Aptitude Tier 1
Flock Together Tier 2 Well Insulated
She / Her - 24 Moons
Once again, the gray-black Bengal shook her head, her plumed tail swaying behind her as she turned to head towards the ThunderClan border. ´´I doubt it,´´ Lavenderleopard replied, her voice soft. ´´Stormstar's patrol and the patrol that I was apart of did a pretty good job of wounding them and herding them off. I personally don't think that the otters will be a problem again; if they are, it won't be for a while yet.´´
.....
As the two cats arrived at Smallpines, Lavenderleopard came to a stop about four or five foxlengths away from the actual border as a precaution. ´´Don´t get too close,´´ the warrior warned Deerpaw. ´´The otters might be gone, but that doesn´t mean that there aren´t any other lurking threats around here.´´ It was obvious what the RiverClanner was doing; Lavenderleopard was implying that ThunderClan could be watching them right at that moment. She wouldn´t put it past them. However, Lavenderleopard put that thought in the back of her mind and shot her apprentice a swift yet self-explanatory order.
´´Tell me what you know about ThunderClan, Deerpaw. I´ll add onto whatever I´m told.´´
The white-speckled tom wandered behind his mentor, though he knew it was for the best they wouldn't run into otters, it did mean he would have to put that particular fantasy of greatness behind him.
He sniffed the air as they moved towards the border, pausing next to Lavenderleopard this time. Lurking threats... Deerpaw flexed his claws into the ground as he looked around.
"I know they're outsiders," He said, ears flicked back now, "Everyone who's not Riverclan is a threat to Riverclan, right?"
[[OOC: oopsy my bad on the illness bit before, edited-- sorry about that!]]
Lavenderleopard RiverClan Warrior
Killer Aptitude Tier 1
Flock Together Tier 2 Well Insulated
She / Her ; 24 Moons
Lavenderleopard´s lips turned down in a slight frown as Deerpaw spoke his conclusion of ThunderClan cats being outsiders. ´´I have a question, Deerpaw,´´ She mewed, her curled ears twitching as she turned her pale blue hues on the young brown-and-white tom at her side. ´´If ThunderClan were outsiders, would there be a ThunderClan?´´
The bengal´s whiskers twitched. ´´No, there wouldn´t be. Outsiders are cats who don´t live in the Clans. Outsiders are rogues, loners, and kittypets. Sure, ThunderClan has taken in outsiders. All of the four Clans have; but does that make all the Clans outsiders?´´ Lavenderleopard´s mew was gentle. Soft, even. ´´No, that doesn´t make us outsiders. Us Clan cats are wild, and there is nothing in this world that could ever change that fact.´´ The she-cat gave Deerpaw´s ear a swift lick.
Now, onto the second part of the tom´s question. ´´Yes, any cat outside of RiverClan is considered a threat to RiverClan unless they are able to convince us otherwise,´´ The young warrior explained with a wave of her plumed tail. ´´That is why Stormstar, Owltalon, and RiverClan´s team of Lionhearts check our border with the outskirts so often.´´
The lick to his ear made him feel like a kit, which he most definitely wasn't. So he stubbornly swipes his paw over the licked ear, nose twitching in embarrassment. Still, though his eyes were elsewhere and display his little show of disobedience, he was listening to his mentor's words carefully.
"I suppose..." He began, for it made sense. There was a difference between 'outside Riverclan' and 'Outsiders'. The clans were bonded, by their Code and their systems and Starclan above them.
"But I guess..." A reluctance to admit his curiosity, won over by the power of that curiosity itself. "You said it yourself, we have taken in rogues and loners and kittypets, and there are differences between Outsiders and other Clans. We work so hard to defend these borders, and yet we cross them all the time. They change all the time. How do you discern when it's the right time to keep order? And when to cross it?"
Consistency made sense. But change was harder to comprehend. Like how the weather could be so warm and sunny one day, and then dark and rainy the next. Predicting change, anticipating it, working with it, that seemed like an insurmountable task.