Gaius unconsciously dropped lower as he entered the territories near the Clans. He'd always had a bit of a problem with the Clans, and the smell caused him to lay his ears back and draw his lips back. He turned back to Rep and Ori, trying unsuccessfully to keep his expression neutral.
"Welcome to Clan lands kitties. Keep your eyes peeled and your senses alert. And be CAREFUL!"
Rep trailed the older loner. The half-grown tom was a cinnamon point, and, in fact, a smaller shadow of his brother Ori, the third member of this little group. Creamy with warm medium-brown extremities and bright blue eyes, the lab-born cat was slightly overwhelmed by the onslaught of Clan scents drifting in the area. "That... This..." He couldn't quite sum up this new area.
Ori trailed slightly behind Rep, as usual. He glanced around, ears perked up in curiousity. "These Clan cats...are they dangerous?" He meowed hesitantly, sniffing the air.
Ori frowned. "It even smells different!" He exclaimed, with some surprise.
Inkwell, a black warrior from ShadowClan, was padding along the borders. There was nothing else for her to do, and she was growing extremely bored. The warrior did not expect to run into anybody, however, and was in for a slight shock. Pricking her ears, Inkwell picked up the faintest mumbling of other cats speaking. Was it another patrol?
Padding forward, the she-cat eagerly pushed through some weeds and stumbled upon the group. Why, they looked almost identical! "Who are you and what are you doing here?" she tried to sound intimidating, but curiosity crept into her voice.
"Calm down kit kat." Gaius purred, although he couldn't keep a grumpy edge from his voice. Stepping forward to look Inkwell up and down, he addressed her again. "We're just traveling. Looking for a place for these two." He gestured back at Rep and Ori.
Ori instinctively shrank back from the new, possibly hostile cat, even though he was at the back of the group already. He tensed, ready to run, straining to hear the pawsteps of another cat so he and Rep and Gaius could flee before they were attacked.
He nodded slightly as Gaius gestured to him, but started edging backwards. Why couldn't they just stay with Gaius?
Gaius turned slightly, saw Ori backing away, and gave a small, exasperated sigh. "Hey Ori, come right up here between your brother and I. Stick with me, I won't let nothin happen."
Inkwell allowed her gaze to passively wander among the threesome. It was quite clear to her that these cats were raggid and not from around here. The smell was horrid, as if from some stuffy twoleg business. It made sense, after all. The outspoken nature of Gaius grated on Inkwell's nerves, but she swiftly brushed it aside. Ori was the first to move, and that caught her attention. Staring intently at the handsome tom, the warrior considered what to do. "It's against the Warrior Code to bring loners into Clans..." she mused out loud.
Already she felt her heart swelling with sympathy. Her entire life had been easy, she was allowed to live in a Clan. The Clan raised her, took care of her. It was a lovely thing and these cats did not possess it. Inkwell had a large heart, and although she had always been loyal to her Clan, she desperately desired for them to be allowed to join ShadowClan.
"Look they're not really Loners. Closer to kittypets than anything. I had to teach 'em to tall a squirrel from their own tail! But, they're young, and well bred... I'm not sure if they're cut out for Clan life," Gaius lowered his voice, "I'm sure as hell not, but..." He trailed off. He couldn't just send these two into a hostile Clan territory. He decided that if they wanted to try and join a Clan, he would follow them- to the camp at least.
"Kittypets are loners, in my mind. Neither of them inhabit the Clan life as I do." a soft mrrow of laughter escaped her jaws when the issue of teaching them cropped up. The tom blew it out of proportion, she was sure. What cat wouldn't know a squirrel from their own tail? If they didn't, there was going to be serious issues. "If they truly desire to join, I can speak to WinterStar about it."
"Well that's all up to the pretty kitties here." Gaius muttered, looking back at the other two cats.
Rep paused a moment to flick his tail against his bigger brother's, then turned to the adult cats and cleared his throat nosily. "He-Hem... do you two please want to stop talking about us like we're not here?" requested the cinnamon pointed tom with a grumble in his tone. Finally, when Gaius asked him about joining, his ears came forward with interested. Inkwell didn't bother him - he was a little young to be thinking about pretty she-cats - but a few other mentions caught attention.
"What is this Clan you're from? And what's a Warrior code?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know your names? I don't feel comfortable addressing you as 'hey you' or something like that. Also - how old are you guys?" Inkwell offered a soft smile at Rep, but her interest was locked on the tom that looked to be a bit older. Ori had shied away from her as if she were going to claw his ears off, but she wouldn't do such a thing. Even if they were loners, they were a peaceful bunch that didn't deserve any violence from her. "I'm from ShadowClan. There are four main Clans: ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan, and WindClan. Then we have the outer Clans of SunClan and SnowClan. And of course the two Tribes. But ShadowClan is the best, by far. Our leader is WinterStar and our medicine cat is Moonlightring. Oh, I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Inkwell." with a flick of her tail, the she-cat took a seat and blinked pretty blue eyes at the threesome. "The Warrior Code is something we live by. Oh dear, I'm not sure WinterStar will allow you to stay if you don't know it...would you like me to teach you?"
Even though this she-cat talked more than just about anyone Rep had met in his short life, he was highly interested. Four clans... Shadowclan. Hmm. His cinnamon ears flicked to and fro and the tip of his tail twitched. "We would like to learn the Warrior Code." Even saying it aloud made it feel important. Rep turned to Ori and gave his brother a quick, confused blink. Why was he sitting there, saying nothing? He gave him a nudge with his forepaw. "Right, Ori?"
Gaius plopped down heavily. "Great. Nursery school for dirty Clanners." He grumbled, but he made no move to leave. He would stick it out, if only to make sure Rep and Ori made it okay.
Ori nodded furtively as Rep nudged him. "Y-yeah, pl-please teach us." He meowed, stutter back and more nervous than ever.
Would living in a Clan mean that he'd be surrounded day and night by cats like this? Gaius was good company, but living in a huge crowd didn't sound too appealing.
He realized that no one had answered the she-cat's questions, but, well, maybe she'd be offended if he didn't speak up. "I-I'm Ori. This is Rep. He's my br-brother. A-and that's Gaius."
How old were they again? Ori didn't remember too well, and shrank back again. Powers of invisibility would come in handy right now. He glanced over at Gaius, a slight frown on his face.
"Y-you don't approve?" He asked tentatively.
Gaius snorted when Ori said his name. "I don't 'not approve,' but hell it's a Clan. Not really Gaius-chic if ya know what I mean."
Inkwell felt her maw spreading in a tender smile. It almost felt as if she were mentoring some kits in the Clan. Slowly her gaze roamed over to Gaius, curiosity scrawled across her black face. ”What’s a nursery school?” she inquired softly, hating the fact that she didn’t understand something. Inkwell prided herself in being quite intelligent.
Shaking her head, Inkwell turned her attention back toward the stuttering male. Had they been assaulted before? Ori seemed to be very skittish at the least. ”Those are interesting names, shall we start now?” Without waiting for an answer, Inkwell started to explain the warrior code. ”Before you can really start to understand the warrior code; you should understand how a Clan is organized. We start out as kits, with our name reflecting so, it ends in kit. Like Inkkit. Then we go to apprenticeship and our name changes to paw. Like Inkpaw. That’s where we train to learn the code and how to hunt and fight. Then you’re a warrior, responsible to take care of the clan with the knowledge you’ve learned. I’m a warrior, that’s why I have the name Inkwell. When you’re too old to be able to follow out your duties, you retire to an elder. Then there is the leader, who takes care of the Clan. His or her word is law; their name always ends in Star. The deputy is under them and takes over if the leader loses all nine lives. Finally, we have the medicine cat who heals the clan and his or her apprentice.” it all seemed really simple to her, and quite the mouthful to explain, but would these cats understand? Pausing, the she-cat flicked her tail and glanced over at the trio. Tilting her head gently, the she-cat purred, ”Understand? Any questions?"
Rep wasn't lacking for intelligence, even if this she-cat did talk and awful lot. Very little she was saying was familiar to her, but he did his best to drink it all in. The different names for ages was interested... he supposed it was an easy way to tell cats apart, organizing them into rough groups. "Yes. I do have a question." He tilted his head. "What was that about nine lives? Isn't that just an old queen's tale?" He even remember his mother saying something to the effect once, some tale about cats who had nine lives.
"Speaking of queens, that's another group! How could I have forgotten? They have their kits and take care of them, they are really important to our Clan. They take off of warrior duties while raising their kits. As for the nine lives, the leader gets nine lives from StarClan. It's what makes them able to lead their Clan so efficiently. That leads me to the next thing, StarClan. In the sky, when you see stars...those are our warrior ancestors. They made the code that we follow. Medicine cats and leaders speak to them." Inkwell purred, swishing her tail side to side. It was fun to teach cats, especially if they were intelligent enough to understand exactly what she was saying and were interested enough to pose questions.