Culture Shock [Open]

Ivory barely contained her excitement as she was lead, finally, to her assigned spot in Shadowclan after being named a Standard by the Asylum. The pale furred, calico point she-cat covered herself nicely with a silver fox pelt, which she felt was only appropriate since her father was known to wear a one-eared fox. She knew his fox pelt was red, but she thought her darker fox pelt made it that much more special since there weren't many. She moved through the sloshy terrain with far less concern about her paws than most of the newly arriving cats. While the other Standards high-stepped through the muddy terrain that sucked at their toes, Ivory's head snapped this way and that way, taking in the sights of the Shadowclan camp like a child at Disney World. The Asylum was all she had ever known... now she could finally see some of the outside world. She knew that this wasn't Skyclan where her father resided, but Shadowclan and Skyclan bordered eachother. Maybe she'd see him on a border patrol one day... if not back at the Asylum Camp.

"This place is so awesome!" She said to herself in an excitedly high-pitched voice. The young she-cat had found it hard when her mother had to leave her. The training in Asylum had been hard and many times she had felt lonely. Today was the day that it was all worth it. The Shadowclan cats were among the easiest clans to take over from what she had heard. Maybe that meant the Shadowclan cats were friendlier. Skyclan and Windclan had a reputation at this point and a small part of her was glad she wasn't assigned there. Another part of her wished she'd gone to Skyclan to finally meet Dawnhawk, even if Skyclan had been known to take lives at the start of the take over.

"I am loving this! How are you guys not loving this?" She asked to her fellow Standard companions... whom were still stepping ridiculously high as if the boggy ground was something that they even could step over. They grumbled something under their breath about their toes being wet and getting their fur muddy, but Ivory's eyes darted all over the place. Warriors brought back fresh-kill and dropped it into the pile. Thefreshkillpileohmyogdsaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! Ivory practically danced in place. Such a small thing brought her such joy. Her eyes fascinatingly watched as the same warrior disappeared into a den. Ivory leaned into one of the other Standards and nearly collided her skull into the other's as excitement sent tremors throughout her body. "Guyslookthewarriorsden!"

"IVORY WE SEE IT! YES! WE SEE ALL THE THINGS YOU SEE CALM DOWN!" One of the tortoiseshell Standards yowled. It was enough to snap the excited she-cat out of it for a moment. She blinked... suddenly feeling hurt. Was this not as enjoyable for everyone else? She didn't move for several seconds and the other standards walked off without her. Once they were several fox-lengths away, the pale-furred she-cat sighed. She tried to shake off the feeling of being ripped right off of cloud nine, but she had lost some of the buzzing excitement that she had felt earlier. Whatever... I'll just enjoy this place by myself. I don't need them. She went back to looking around. A ripple of excitement went through her when she spotted the medicine cat den, but she still wasn't feeling as thrilled as before.

It was hard to enjoy things alone.

Mistyfalcon had dropped another hare onto the fresh-kill pile, resolutely ignoring the Asylum cats that had accompanied him and who had slunk away from him the second that they were able to. A gaggle of Asylum cats were in the clearing, and he ignored them too as he slunk into the warriors' den. He didn't care to know what they were saying, and it was late for a Shadowclanner to be up, anyways. He'd been steadily growing more irritable and short with the unwanted tagalongs on his patrol the more he hunted without them lifting so much as a paw to help, and maybe a nap would improve his mood at least a little.

...Or maybe not.

The tom whipped around at the sound of a yowl, irritation flashing in his dark blue eyes as he glared at the offending cats.

"Yowl louder, they can't hear you in Riverclan. It is bad enough that you don't lift a paw while we hunt and fight and let us do all the work. Now we can't sleep, either?" He growled at the offending cat, a tortoiseshell. It was the most he'd even spoken to one of the Asylum cats, and the she-cat didn't bother to respond before stalking off and grumbling to her cohorts. That was fine with him, really.

Gray and black tail lashing irritably, the scarred tom settled outside of the warriors den. He was up, and no longer felt that tired anymore. He noted the rather forlorn-looking Asylum cat still gazing around the clearing. Had she been the subject of that yowl? Probably, but it wasn't his concern.

Still, the she-cat seemed young, and definitely wasn't one he'd seen in camp or around the territory before. The way she looked around reminded him more of a kit being let out of the nursery for the first time.

"You must be new around here." He muttered to her, tone losing some of it's edge as he glanced at her, though his annoyance was still clear in the way his tattered ears flicked back.

A piercing screech of annoyance made Ebonysong jolt for a moment as she stood next to the fresh-kill pile. Glancing over at the noise, Ebonysong spotted a tortoiseshell Asylum cat screaming towards another, younger Asylum she-cat. The younger cat had seemed to be very interested and enthusiastic towards ShadowClan camp. Frowning slightly before starting to pad up to the tortoiseshell Asylum cat, Ebonysong abruptly stopped as Mistyfalcon yelled at the loud tortoiseshell. Smiling gratefully at Mistyfalcon, the dark-grey she-cat also sat down near the Asylum cat. "I'm assuming you've been assigned here recently, then? Seems like your first time here." Her voice wasn't very cold or mean towards the she-cat, but it did hold a rather serious tone.

She was surprised when another warrior started yelling at her calico friend. Before long, the warrior approached her, spoke, and while Ivory's tongue was unable to move for a moment, another one approached as well. Excitement as well as anxiety rushed in to replace the bitter ache that had been left there by her fellow Standard. She gave a short, nervous laugh before remembering she needed to straighten up and be whatever authority that the Asylum thought she had.

"It's that obvious I guess? I'm new. I just got my rank... " A bit of an awkward pause before Ivory couldn't contain herself anymore. To heck with holding an image. If the Asylum wanted a cat that looked authoritative and strong then they could ask someone else to do it.

"I'm actually really excited to be here... and I hope that you won't take offense. I've always wanted to leave headquarters and come see the clans and now... I finally can and I am just so excited to see this place!" Her paw reached off to the side and she pointed with her toes towards the medicine den. "That's the medicine den, yes! If your medicine cat ever needs anything I'd be thrilled to help out!" She dropped her paw to the mud again. "And I won't be a lazy lay-about either! I would love to assist on hunts and if you need a predator chased off I'm a decent fighter! Literally anything anyone needs I'd like to help! I'd love to see ceremonies too! Your culture is so interesting and I can't wait to see it all!" Her excitement was one hundred percent apparent now, shamelessly. She finally closed her mouth once she realized how much she had talked. Maybe... she should try to compose herself at least a bit? She would learn all about Shadowclan.... and wasn't Skyclan close by too? She hoped she'd run into a patrol. She'd like to learn about the other half of her parentage if she could.

"Just a bit." Mistyfalcon commented, tone dry. He offered Ebonysong a tired smile. his annoyance at her words from their hunt mostly gone now.

So the rogue had just gotten her rank... Did that make her about their equivalent of an apprentice, then? She was young enough to be one, but it was hard to tell, and Mistyfalcon didn't know the Asylum's ranking system, nor did he care to learn more than was strictly necessary.

The rogue continued to speak and Mistyfalcon twitched a tattered ear. Neither he nor his deputy (or most cats in Shadowclan, he'd wager) were this enthusiastic about anything, ever. And they were certainly not the best at talking, something that this rogue seemed to be quite fond of. Or maybe it really was just the excitement that seemed to be radiating off of her.

"Okay, slow down... Stars, you're probably the most eager cat I've seen in the clan or Asylum..." Mistyfalcon huffed when she finally stopped, allowing him to get in a word or two.

"You all claim to want to help, but I'll believe it when I see it." He said, tone blunt, matter-of-fact. Mistyfalcon didn't really care if the she-cat was offended, for it was the simple truth, as he saw it. He'd taken out owls with his clanmates while the Asylum simply watched from a distance. Maybe if one of them had actually been paying attention, Brighteye wouldn't have...

The scarred warrior took a slow, steadying breath before releasing it. It wasn't this one's fault her fellow rogues were incompetent and lalzy. Flintstar had accepted them, and so he'd keep his claws sheathed. But that didn't mean he'd enjoy them being around with everything they had yet to do to actually help the clan.

"Yes, that's the medicine den... Rookpaw has been training under Iniko so I'm sure you'll run into him at some point. Ebonysong-" A nod towards his fellow Shadowclanner, "-and Flintstar do ceremonies."