A Wandering Ripple (Private)

Slatefur was tired.

He'd been on the move before the sun had even risen that morning; first he'd headed out early to hunt, then he'd patrolled the border and met a loner, then he'd headed all the way to the twolegplace next to WindClan to check for the rogues the loner had mentioned, and finally he'd trekked all the way back to his own territory. He sighed. What was the point of doing so much extra work when he wasn't even acknowledged for it? And to add to his ire his own sister, Pigeonstep, who was a lazy and reckless warrior in his opinion, had received an apprentice before him!

Slatefur should have gone straight back to camp to rest, but unable to push down his workaholic nature he'd decided to have a quick check along the RiverClan border first. It's a good thing I did, he thought with a frown as his stare zeroed in on a silver tabby she-cat in the distance. It was a RiverCat, seemingly without a care in the world as she headed straight towards the border between their territories. 

His weary muscles ached in protest as he quickened his pace, weaving through the brush to close the distance between them. He may have been tired but he would not neglect his duties as a warrior; he couldn't allow her to trespass.

He stalked out from the shadows when she was a few fox-lengths away. "Stop right there!" he hissed, his light chartreuse eyes flashing. "Don't you realise how close to the border you are?"


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: Pigeonstep OOC Notes: YIKES he's not exactly prince charming

Slatefur blinked in surprise as the she-cat suddenly burst out laughing, but while she thanked him his baffled expression shifted to one of exasperation. His usual frown settled back into place and he closed his eyes for a moment, a long sigh escaping his lips. StarClan give me strength – two laidback cats from other clans in one day? When did everyone become so friendly?

Reopening his eyes, he saw that Ripplestripe had sat down and seemed to be in no hurry to go anywhere. On any other day he might have stood there until she left to make sure she wasn’t going to cross the border when his back was turned, but, quite frankly, on that day he couldn’t be bothered. He decided he would at least answer her question. “I’m Slatefur,” he said shortly, “watch where you’re going next time.” Without deigning to say goodbye he began to continue walking along the border towards the lake, expecting she wouldn’t follow him. Maybe he’d catch another RiverCat making the same mistake Ripplestripe nearly made.


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: Rowanoak(ish) OOC Notes: ---

Slatefur’s ears flicked as Ripplestripe dashed after him. He couldn’t say he hadn’t predicted this turn of events; with his luck of course the too-friendly she-cat would want to chatter away at him. “I don’t bite!” she mewed, and he did a double take, almost tripping over his tired paws at her sudden flirty tone. But as soon as the somewhat suggestive voice had appeared it had gone, allowing him to regain some composure while she rapidly shot questions at him.

“Kits…?” he slowly repeated one of the only words he’d managed to pick up in her spiel. “I guess they are.” He eyed her warily. Her questions had seemed harmless enough, but what if she had an ulterior motive? What if she was looking for information that RiverClan could use in a fight against ShadowClan?

To divert attention away from himself and his clan he decided to flip her questions back on her. “What’s it like in RiverClan?”


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: --- OOC Notes: ---

Slatefur tilted his head, watching Ripplestripe’s blue eyes light up. There was something endearing about how passionately she spoke about her home, and it made his tense muscles relax slightly as they padded along on their respective sides of the border. His brow furrowed. “Why do you river-cats love it so much? I mean, I suppose it could be nice to wade into the water when it’s really hot, but doesn’t it cling to your fur for ages afterwards and make you freeze? I imagine that’s an easy way to catch a cold.” He paused their walk as they came across a part of the border where the Shadowclan scent marks were faint, and he rubbed his pelt along a shrub to renew them. Satisfied with his work, he continued onwards.

“How old do Riverclan kits have to be to play in the water? Couldn’t it be dangerous for them?” he asked, imagining how easy it would be for their tiny heads to slip under the surface of a mere stream. He didn't dare to think how easy it would be for a river to sweep them away.


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: --- OOC Notes: ---

Slatefur hummed in acknowledgement. Ripplestripe’s explanations made sense and he was pleased to be learning new things about her and her clan. His tail twitched. He should have predicted she would ask about his own kithood, but it still caught him off guard when she did.

The tom was unable to meet the she-cat's gaze for a moment, not knowing what to tell her. He hadn’t been the type of kit who'd done things for ‘fun’. He’d spent his kithood practicing hunting techniques and fighting moves that he'd learned from watching the apprentices, and asking elders about battle strategy instead of fantastical stories.

Unable to think of anything interesting from his youth, he thought about his sister's. He smirked slightly as he mused that Pigeonstep's behaviour hadn’t changed much even after becoming a warrior. As a kit she'd undoubtedly been more playful than him, though she'd occasionally (uncharacteristically) given suggestions to improve his unofficial training programme, making him search for her to test his tracking skills and catch leaves to practice catching birds--

And then it hit him.

Slatefur finally realised after all this time that his ‘training’ sessions with her had actually been a clever ploy to get him to play. I’m gonna cuff her over the ears when I get back, he promised himself, an amused huff escaping him. “We played hide and seek a lot. Shadowclan’s camp is very, well, shadowy, so when you're kit-sized it’s quite easy to remain hidden for as long as you have the patience to sit still.” His tone was fond as the memories resurfaced. “In newleaf a few of the nearby trees would blossom. My father used to climb up and shake the branches that hung over the camp, and my sister and I would be waiting below where we'd compete to see who could catch the most falling petals…” He trailed off and released a wistful sigh. He missed his father and regretted not appreciating him enough while he was still alive. 


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: Pigeonstep, Badgerstep OOC Notes: ---

Slatefur was silent for a moment. He wondered whether he should offer his condolences for Ripplestripe’s deceased sister, yet the silver tabby didn’t seem too upset and she’d said it was a long time ago so he decided there was no point. The tall warrior eyed her as he realised she was suddenly a lot closer to him. If he sidestepped in her direction their pelts would almost brush. Although she was pretty much toeing over into Shadowclan territory, he elected not to reprimand her; other than her obvious status as a cat from another clan, there had not been any sign to indicate she was a threat.

He opened his mouth to divulge some information about his own sister but before he could he was rewarded by a pawful of snow being flicked at his face. He stopped. And slowly turned to face Ripplestripe who was sporting a mischievous smirk. Very quickly he glanced around and sniffed the air. He couldn’t detect any of his or Ripplestripe’s clanmates nearby, and his impromptu check of the border wasn't an official patrol, so…

An idea popped into his head as he spotted a snowdrift behind Ripplestripe, and he narrowed his light eyes playfully at the female. "You're gonna regret that," he murmured. He abruptly lunged at her, pushing her into the snowdrift and managing to spray himself with snow in the process. Instant karma.


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: Minnowkit, Pigesontep OOC Notes: ---

He smirked at Ripplestripe’s teasing. “If you ever tell anyone I’ll deny it and no one will believe you,” he hissed playfully, though there was an aspect of truth to his words. In retaliation to her pawing at him he used his own paw to lightly bop her on the nose, a purr rumbling through his chest as he did so. It suddenly struck him how lovely the she-cat was. With the stark white of the snow contrasting against her silver fur and her blue eyes holding the same warmth as a greenleaf sky, she looked like a vision sent from Starclan. Unconsciously Slatefur started to lean towards her. He felt an odd amount of… something towards the warrior he’d just met. It was almost like–

Slatefur jerked and quickly backed away from Ripplestripe until he was back in his own territory. He schooled his expression into an impassive mask and shook himself to dislodge the snow that was starting to melt into his fur. After reality had hit he felt a lot colder; he'd been able to ignore the temperature before since he'd been so caught up in their interaction, but after distancing himself from it he realised his short pelt wasn't doing much to protect him from the freezing weather. He looked away from her. “I need to carry on,” he excused his sudden change in behaviour tonelessly. He continued along the border, noticing they were almost at the lake and therefore he'd be able to return home soon. And yet, a part of him didn't want to go.

Although he kept his face blank, he began to feel a bit hysterical. What was wrong with him? He couldn’t like a cat from another clan! This was the second time he'd started to have feelings for someone completely off-limits. Was this the reason Shackledstar hadn’t given him an apprentice? Had the leader somehow sensed that despite all of Slatefur’s hard work, he would inevitably be unfaithful to his clan?


Addressed: Ripplestripe Mentioned: Rowanoak, Shackledstar OOC Notes: ---