A Whole New World

It had been a few days now since his encounter with the ThunderClan cat, Mistwalker, and Blizzard was on a mission: he wanted to meet at least one cat from each of these clans. And the fish-dwelling RiverClan was next on his list.

So here he was, back at the scent border that he now knew to belonged to the river-dwelling felines. A Twoleg nest loomed behind him, and Blizzard hesitated for a long while before leaping down off of a hedge on to the other side of the border. Now that he knew what it meant, and that some cats could react violently to each other, he couldn't help the fur about his neck standing on end, But he couldn't show fear, he knew that. He had to assume that not every cat was a battle-crazed maniac, right?

He lifted his head, scenting the air, but the only thing that came to him on the wind was the smell of the border. He couldn't differentiate the scents at all. But where to go from here?

Blizzzard's head snapped to the right, towards Stormbringer. He'd not even heard her approaching, and her harsh tone made him flinch, ears flattening defensively. "I... I, no, I'm not lost... I heard there were cats living here, and I wanted to come see for myself. Looks like they were right," he offered an abashed smile, attempting to appear nonthreatening. "I'm Blizzard, by the way."

Despite wanting to turn and run, Blizzard forced himself to stand still, and appear far more confident than he felt. He smiled, tail-tip twitching. "Not every other cat that lives in the Twolegplace is nice," he told her, "and I came here because I'm interested. The other cat I met, from... from..." he scrunched up his face, trying to remember, "ThunderClan! Yes. He seemed scared to cross the border, even a paw over."

Blizzard's ears flattened as he realized he was admitting to crossing the border not once, but twice. But he continued on, hopeful she either wouldn't catch on, or would be too distracted by the rest of his story. "I wanted to meet the cats that inspired such respect."

He was laying it on thick, sure... but it wasn't exactly an untruth, either, so he didn't feel bad about it.

It took a moment for Blizzard to formulate a reply, and he lifted a hind paw to scratch behind an ear, eyes narrowed in thought. "I'd like to learn more," he decided, watching Stormbringer carefully for any sign that she was about to move forward and attack.

The part of Blizzard that enjoyed three uncontested meals a day, and sleeping before the fire-cave in his Twoleg-nest didn't understand this fascination with the clan cats. But the other part of him... the wild blood that sang in his veins, that demanded he explore and hunt and run... well that part of him understood just fine.

"You could teach me," he ventured boldly, momentarily throwing caution to the wind to approach the gray she-cat with a hopeful expression. "I'm a quick learner - and I already know how to hunt!"

Blizzard wasn't quite ready to give up his Twolegs, and the security they provided, just yet. But he also didn't see why being from different places meant that he had to be enemies with this cat, or her clan.

Stormbringer's doubt in him was obvious, and for a moment, Blizzard's pelt prickled with unease. His eyes narrowed on the gray she-cat in an acceptance of the challenge. "Deal," he stated. Blizzard was confident that he'd be able to catch something to impress this she-cat. After all, he'd done it before, hadn't he?

Muzzle in the air, the tom cast around for a scent, but with his untrained nose, all he smelled was Stormbringer. How did these clan cats so effortlessly track by scent? It was a mystery to him, one that he resolved to remedy - but, later. And... privately. A flicker of movement caught his eye, and Blizzard met Stormbringer's gaze and then tipped his head towards a water-vole shuffling in the damp grasses to his right, several fox-lengths away. His voice dropped to a whisper, "alright then. Show me."