[open] exploration

[Dove]

this is open to anyone in general. feel free to intervene with Dove, Natalia , and/or Slate .

"It's just a little bit further ahead!" Dove called back to her mini patrol. She'd expected to just patrol the territory of Deathclan, but she also heard of a cave with a somewhat maze, and it got her thinking - why not explore it with others? It would be a great bonding experience too, with Natalia the grump, Slate the optimist, and Dove the free-willed. An interesting trio this would be.

Soon enough, the Deathclan leader spotted the fabled cave entrance and gave a cry of happiness. It was real! They were here! 'Calm down Dove. You have to be mature for once now. These cats are relying on you.' The tabby shook her head in an apologetic manner, hoping the two were not doubting her leadership abilities yet. It they were, then whatever though. No one seemed to challenge her.

"We're going to check this place out. Maybe one day Deathclan can claim it as our second home. You know, like have two camps."

[Natalia]

Natalia reluctantly followed after Dove.

It seemed they were veering off the original plan to do whatever was on Deathclan leader's mind. Then it struck her that she still did not know the silver cat's name. She'd need to rectify that as soon as she could. Not right now though.

The older she-cat did not seem to be very leader-like in Natalia's opinion. Honestly, she wasn't sure she could properly view the adult as her leader until trust was established and she earned Natalia's respect. Which certainly didn't seem very likely at the moment. With a growl she followed her to the mouth of a cave.

She stared in disbelief. "Why do we need a second camp?" She demanded, couldn't help but have rudeness slip into her tone. She folded her ears back. No. Just because this cat was her leader did not instantly demand her respect.

[Slate]

    Slate padded after Dove, making a circle every now and then. They seemed to have forgotten about the original plan about patrolling and started to explore. He pricked his ears as she mentioned these Caves could be used as a sort of a second camp.

    "That would be neat." He meowed, peering into the darkness of the cave "The Clans would never think to find us there." He turned to Natalia, whining as usual. "Well, if anything happened to the original camp..." Slate trailed off "And caves are usually very warm in Leaf-bare."

[Natalia]

Natalia growled.

"I suppose... It would be practical to have a secondary camp, in case our current one is compromised." She conceded. She huffed. "If we're going to go, let's just go now." She meowed impatiently. 

She felt as if Slate and Dove were treating this is a game, which annoyed her. That wasn't how life worked. You survived... Not much else to be perfectly honest. But life wasn't supposed be luxury, unless you were some stupid kittypet. Then everything was handed to you on a silver platter. Quite literally in some cases.

[Dove]

As expected. Natalia would question her and Slate would agree. Well, Dove was getting better at predicting what cats would say, or she knew enough to categorize the two. They would make fine advisers though, both able to make her think and give reassurance. Just what a leader needed.

"We don't need a second camp, but it would be useful. What if there's another revolt that happens like Badger slaughtering more of us? At least the other half would be able to flee and prosper while the other holds down the camp with honor." Some times the things she said made better sense in her head. Somehow Drought trusted her enough to promote her to royalty though, so she was doing something right.

"But I think it would be a nice decoy too. Having Deathclan's scent all the way out here too for the clans to believe that we have in fact expanded and are growing in numbers."

After this with Natalia's demand to just get this over with, she did not wait for any more commentary, but stepped into the cave, taking in its earthy, wet smell. It didn't seem like anyone was here in a while. A few steps further she went, coming to a stop because there were three paths to take - left, straight, right. To the left, there was an interesting scent, but the leader could not detect it, while straight forward seemed to be leading deeper in. By the way the breeze was flowing, the one to the right felt cool with some noise, meaning it could be an exit or water was there.

Dove then turned around to her clanmates, waiting for a suggestion.

[Natalia]

Natalia had to admit, Dove was clever.

She could tell from Dove's statement about how a second camp would be a nice deterrent from the clans. She didn't particularly hate the clans, she viewed them similar to how she viewed everyone else. All in all, she thought the clans were idiots. She couldn't fathom how all of them supposedly had implicit trust in each other. She just couldn't understand it. Of course, that's why she was in Deathclan and not Treeclan for example.

She followed after Dove and they quickly discovered there was a crossroads. She made similar observations that the Deathclan leader had. Foreign scent to the left, straight forward leading deeper, and to the right a breeze. She scratched at the ground and shook her head.

"I do not care for which path we take... Provided we can remember which way we came." She hesitated before speaking again. "However, I would like to say that the left path has a scent I cannot identify. It could be a danger, such as a larger predator. The middle path... It might become darker and more difficult to navigate and for us to stay together as a group. I... Cannot think of any faults regarding the route to the right." 

[Deleted]

At the moment, Mitch looked like a random ball of dirt against a gray landscape. His face was pressed to the ground, front legs splayed out underneath him. Other loners or rogues who saw him either ignored him or looked at him strangely. After all, who would like that position? Mitch found it an excellent meditation technique, though it did hurt.

He was only seventeen moons, so he used the excuse that he was immature. Mitch was actually pretty mature for his age, but he preferred to fox his way out of things. It was a few hours of blissful yet lonely silence before he heard muffled voices along the tunnel he was in. Forcing irritation down, Mitch swallowed and simply rolled over.

A sudden idea hit him. Ooh, what if- No. They would probably freak out. Sooo.. Mitch blinked and narrowed his eyes carefully. The loner (or rogue?) slowly slid forward on the stone, his green eyes twinkling mischievously. Then he slumped over, becoming a shapeless lump of.. something. Maybe fur? Mitch didn't know if the cats would fall for it or not; it could be possible they could just stare at him and move on.