What's a Pine? (Closed)

The sun was warm, a cool breeze blew through the forest, and a young she-cat padded along an old fallen log. The stench of an oil-slick road nearly a dozen tail lengths behind her as she stared up into the trees that swayed with the breeze. Strange brown things swaying ominously, with one falling from the top. The thud it made as it fell to the forest floor was all the young cat needed to get all up in it's business as she sniffed it, poked it, marvelling at the hardness of it. She licked at the strange things that fell out, then cringed and gagged as dust and the feeling of wood crept down her throat. It was gross.

She batted it with her paw, her eyes watching as it bounced with intrigue until she noticed strange little green lines in the ground. She bent her head to sniff at them. The scent of this part of the forest was so strange. Full of... something she had never smelled before. Her tail twitched as she padded around investigating everything. Her paw stepping into mud, a butterfly just ahead of her, with strange flowers that bloomed in the shade.

The idea that cats might find her flitted through her mind briefly, but she didn't really care. Instead she launched at the butterfly with a playful bound, fur fluffed up kittishly as her wide eyes took in everything that was ShadowClan.

Meanwhile, a little further into the territory, the ginger-and-white tom Poppypaw hopped around excitedly at his brother Orchidpaw's side, grinning widely. "And then I headbutted him right in the gut! Daisyflame said he hadn't expected me to do that, so I think I'm going to use that move from now on to trick my opponents."

"Heh, sounds like a plan, bro," the blueish-gray tom purred softly, his heterochronic blue and yellow eyes gazing up at his overly excitable brother, a surge of awe rising in his chest. His brother was so cool. "So, what else did your mentor teach ya?"

"Well--" Poppypaw was cut off as he bumped into something -- or rather something bumped into him. Scratch that, someone bumped into him. He yelped and stumbled back, shaking his fur, and he looked up in alarm to himself staring face-to-face with a mottled she-cat with amber eyes. He certainly didn't recognize her, but she smelled just like that other Poppypaw did, the one he had battled by the Thunderpath a few sunrises ago. But what was the smell?... Oh, that's right! "Oh, hello! You're from ThunderClan, aren't you? Your scent is very familiar."

"ThunderClan, huh?" Orchidpaw growled softly, shooting a glare at the she-cat. "What're ya doin' here?"

"Brother, don't be rude! Let her answer my question first, and then she can answer yours!"

The little dilute calico's nose had been straight against the forest floor. A clump of pine needles under her paws which she squeezed with delight. The scent from them was so strange but it smelled good too. Her ears caught the voices too late as a body shoved into her and she looked up with hazel eyes wide. Her pelt puffed only slightly in concern, but they were her size. Well, a little bigger than her, but surely they were apprentices then?

ShadowClan apprentices. The thought should have made her pause, or consider a polite retreat... but Ridgepaw was bound by curiousity.
"Oh! I'm sorry... I just." She prodded the clump of pine needles. "We don't have these on our side of the Thunderpath. I wanted to know what they smell like?" A cheerful expression lit across her face as she leapt forward to Orchidpaw. "OH! But I have so many questions for you two! Like, why are your eyes two colours?" She asked innocently before she looked at Poppypaw, then padded to where a strand of marshland lay. "Like, how do you navigate this? It's all sticky and wet. What's these little things that are on top of it?" She poked a lilypad. "How do you guys catch frogs? Do you actually catch frogs? Why do you guys like to be up at night?"

Orchidpaw's eyes narrowed slightly, starting to feel a little self-conscious over his strangely colored eyes. "Well, uh, I dunno. They're just--" He wasn't able to finish before the ThunderClan apprentice began questioning his brother. He grunted moodily.

"Oh, well, all that's easy!" Poppypaw began, more than happy to share his wisdom of his home. "The ground grows softer the closer we get to the marshes, and harder the closer we get to the Thunderpath or Carrionplace. That, and we study each tree's unique appearance and qualities to determine where we are in our territory. That thing you're poking at is called a lily pad, they're really cool and sometimes they'll have pretty pink blossoms on them. I suppose we catch frogs the same way you ThunderClanners catch squirrels: by stalking and pouncing. It's the same as hunting any other prey, really, except for fish. And we aren't called ShadowClan for no reason. We have special stalking abilities unlike any other Clan that allow us to perfectly blend in with the night. Plus, cats are naturally nocturnal, right? It just makes sense."

Seeing his brother answering all the she-cat's questions with much joy caused a small smile to creep along Orchidpaw's muzzle. If this strange cat was able to make Poppypaw happy by asking questions... perhaps she couldn't be that bad of a cat after all. Maybe.

Ridgepaw smiled in delight as Poppypaw began to explain how his home worked. She followed his words eagerly while looking at every object they were discussing with intrigue and wide eyes. How did each Pine tree look different? She looked at one closely, then realised the one behind it's branches actually differed, it just didn't look like it did from far away. As he explained lily pads, she smiled at the thought of pink blossoms being on them. Since they were so small, the little flowers must look absolutely adorable, but the idea of hunting frogs? She glanced at Poppypaw, then towards the muddy marsh nearby.

"What's a frog taste like? Is it as slimy as it seems? Do you catch lizards too? Ever catch a bird?" She asked curiously. The thought of the frog being slimy seemed gross, but perhaps there was something more to it. Did it taste good enough to compensate for that? How did they hunt smaller things like tiny lizards... was that the same as hunting squirrels as well? Probably she reasoned, but there was no harm in making sure as she padded slightly away from Poppypaw when a foul stench hit her nose. She cringed and backed up hastily with a cough away from the skunk cabbage. "Oh great StarClan what is THAT!?" She gagged.

"No, frogs aren't really slimy. They taste really good actually! You should try it sometime if you can ever catch any on ThunderClan territory. And no, we don't catch many birds, it's pretty difficult stalking up on them with no cover, and they can just fly away at any given moment." He looked over at Ridgepaw in surprise at her sudden exclamation, and he and Orchidpaw approached to find what she was looking at.

It was Orchidpaw who answered. "That's called skunk cabbage. I don't think it has any use to a medicine cat, but I think cats like to use it to keep mice away from valuable herbs like catmint or somethin' like that."

"Oh, that's what it's for? I never knew!"

"Bleck!" Ridgepaw coughed as she covered her muzzle. Her voice distorting a little as she did so. "I can smell why. Gross." She turned to Poppypaw, his suggestion suddenly registering in her mind. "Ooo I have an idea!" She meowed excitedly. "What if I catch you a bird, and you catch me a frog! We can trade prey and see what eachother's taste like!" She offered with hopefuly delight. Surely no cat would mind... it was leaf-fall now, but there was lots of time before leafbare hit.

"I'm afraid they will do no such thing." A fourth voice, this one much older, caused Orchidpaw and Poppypaw to jump in fright, and they whipped around to see their father and ShadowClan's deputy Scorchfang approaching from behind. The tom narrowed his eyes at his two sons. "What is going on here, you two? You had better not be sharing vital information or prey with another Clan."

"O-Of course not, Scorchfang!" Orchidpaw stammered, caught off guard by his sudden appearance. "But... Well, uh, this cat seemed to get along really well with Poppypaw and..." He glanced down at his paws, starting to feel shame rising within him. He should really have just driven this apprentice out while he had the chance, but he didn't want to make his brother upset. Now they were all going to be in trouble.

"We were just talking!" Poppypaw meowed quickly. "This is Ridgepaw of ThunderClan. She wasn't doing anything bad, promise!"

"Orchidpaw, Poppypaw, you both know that intruders aren't allowed in ShadowClan territory, no matter what their intention may be," Scorchfang growled lowly. "I am truly disappointed in the both of you." He visibly winced when he saw both his sons seem to deflate, especially Poppypaw. He sighed heavily. "You can speak with her again during the next Gathering, but for now you must say goodbye. And you, Ridgepaw," he turned his attention to the ThunderClan apprentice, "you really should have known better than to trespass into another Clan's territory and ask for food, especially with leaf-bare just right around the corner. You must go back to your Clan, now."