Scanning the Border [definitely not for Dustfur]

[Kitty]

It had taken Gingertail quite some time to convince her brother to take both of their apprentices out for a training session without her. After a long conversation full of begging, scrutinizing glances, worries admitted, and promises of training Otterpaw tomorrow, she had finally reigned successful and escaped to the gorge to watch the border.

But she definitely wasn't there to look for Dustfur, if that's what you're thinking. Nope. Definitely not. StarClan forbid she watch for a tom from another Clan to purely coincidentally 'cross paths' with her once again. Where would you get that idea? Sure, she jsut happened to be sitting here, staring hopefully over the RiverClan/WindClan border and scenting the air every two heartbeats, but that didn't mean she was waiting for someone, especially not Dustfur.

That's what Gingertail told herself, anyway. She repeated these things over and over again in her mind, trying to convince herself that she just wanted to watch the rabbits run, or maybe see one of her WindClan friends, see how their mate hunts were coming since she last talked to them at the Gathering...aw, mousedung, now she was thinking about Thrushtail and the Gathering and Dustfur and what Thrushtail said at the Gathering. We aren't mates, she reminded herself firmly. He's only a friend. You don't like him like that, she tried to convince herself. But the less rational part of her mind argued, You need to find a mate, and come on, when are you going to stop lying to yourself? You really do like Dustfur, and that's why you're here.

She tried to block out that part of her mind. Really, she did. But the longer she stared over the border the more hopeful she got that a familiar, clean, rabbity scent would meet her scent glands, a gray and white pelt appear across the moors...and then the longer she sat after that, the more depressed and sullen she became when her wishes and thoughts were not granted. Gradually her hopefulness faded, until it had almost completely diminished and she just sat there because she was too shocked at herself to move. Since when did she care?

You always come this way... she thought as loudly as she could. Perhaps she got in her mind that if she thought hard enough, it would travel across the moors and reach a certain gray pelted cat, possibly draw him to the gorge....

But that gray cat was definitely not Dustfur. Nooope...

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Clan life- as much as she loved it- got boring sometimes. It was the same routine, day in and day out, with patrols and hunting and resting, and then repeating it the next day. Different things still happened, like drama between and within the Clans, which usually broke up the dull repetition that seemed to settle over the forest Clans, but that drama often didn't involve her, leaving her just the same as she was before. It made her wish she at least had an apprentice to train, or for something else to occur in her personal life that would spice things up. Not that she enjoyed or wished for something bad to happen, but at least it would be more interesting than the same thing happening every day.

She thought to herself, which was not something she often did. She was one to always be chatting to some cat, laughing and giggling and gossiping every chance she got. But when she was out on her own like this, there wasn't much else for her to do. Her hunting patrol had split up and went their separate ways some time ago, leaving the WindClan warrior to wander on her own in search of prey. Her paws had steadily been bringing her closer to the RiverClan border without her realizing it, but now that she did, she purposely headed in the direction of the gorge. Perhaps she would catch a glimpse of one of her friends, as she had quite a few of them in other Clans, even ThunderClan. If she lucked out, she would spot some cat, and maybe even catch up on the news that she missed during the Gathering.

Heathertail opened her jaws slightly and closed her eyes, allowing herself to concentrate only on the scents that drifted over her glands, brought to her by the wind. She tasted the sweet smell of rabbit, just as she always did on her open territory, and after concentrating a bit more she picked up the scent of RiverClan as well. She continued on, soon reaching the border and instinctively crouching closer to the ground, moving closer with caution. She was not foolish enough to realize that her approaching might not be taken kindly by a RiverClan patrol, so she had to do her best to stay hidden until she knew the coast was clear.

Soon, though, a new scent wafted over her, one she recognized. RiverClan, but the particular scent that made the she-cat leap up with excitement. It was Gingertail! Surely her RiverClan friend wouldn't mind her company. After another quick taste of the air, she found that the other she-cat was alone, so she quickly bounded over the remaining stretch of moor until she spotted the familiar ginger pelt.

"Gingertail!" Heathertail called out happily. "How have you been? I haven't seen you in a moon!" She grinned, realizing it had been a rather long time since they'd last talked, if she remembered right it hadn't been since the last Gathering. It would be good to catch up with her.

[Kitty]

Gingertail had been waiting, concentrating on drawing that one cat who was definitely not Dustfur, for quite a while when she first smelled it. A familiar scent. A rabbity scent. A WindClan scent.

Great StarClan! she thought with a mixture of surprise and excitement. Did it work? Please say it did! I didn't think just trying to think someone here would be possible! But apparently it i-

Her eager mental ramblings was cut off upon further inspection of the scent. Firstly, the smell in her nose was not male. This was a she-cat. Huh. She should probably hide, because her visitor probably wouldn't appreciate having a RiverClan cat lurking on the border. But this scent was still so familiar...and it really was close to the one she was looking for...The answer hit her only a heartbeat before she heard the voice.

"Gingertail!" came Heathertail's voice as she suddenly materialized before the RiverClan she-cat. "How have you been? I haven't talked to you in a moon!"

This would explain why she'd been confused; Heathertail and Dustfur were siblings.

Letting out an enthusiastic purr, Gingertail covered the distance between them (stepping over the border in the process) and greeted her friend with an affectionate nuzzle. "Heathertail!" she exclaimed. "I didn't expect to see you here. I mean, I guess it is the border and all, but still! What a wonderful surprise, we haven't talked in, like, moons!" Really, Heathertail's estimate at when they'd last spoken was much more accurate; Gingertail was exaggerating a bit. She composed herself and smiled at her friend. "I've been pretty good. I've got an apprentice, did you hear?!"

Perhaps Dustfur had told her. Did he ever talk about her? Gingertail wondered. Would it be too conspicuous to ask Heathertail? Would she just give her a look and then run back to camp and blab about Gingertail asking about him to Dustfur? Heathertail wouldn't do that, would she?

Gingertail decided to wait to ask that question. Get reacquainted first. There, that was the right idea.[/blockquote]

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Heathertail let out a purr as Gingertail crossed the border toward her and returned the RiverClan cat's greeting with a friendly nuzzle of her own. It had seemed too long since they'd talked, and what a coincidence it was that they were both by the border at the same time! Not that she was disappointed! It was much better that it was Gingertail she ran into instead of a patrol or some aggressive RiverClan tom or loner. "I know! It's been ages! I can't believe you're here though, what a coincidence!"

Her eyes shone as she dove right into gossip with her RiverClan friend. This was what she was talking about! Being on her own was much too quiet and boring for her. She didn't understand how cats did it. "An apprentice? Really?" Heathertail's eyes widened in shock and delight at the news. "That's great, Gingertail! I've never had an apprentice, and I think I'm older than you! How does that work?" She shook her head briefly, ending her small rant, and smiled brightly. "What's it like having an apprentice? Tell me about it!"

[Kitty]

Gingertail was enthusiastic when her friend returned her nuzzle; so she had missed her over the past moon or whatever! If only she was as good friends with Thrushtail and Doveclaw and Robinwing and Littlestream, she thought wistfully. Then she could have been involved with all the fun (and frustration) of their little let's-all-find-mates-and-have-kits-together plot, only not all together. All at the same time, is what she meant. All together would just be creepy.

Sympathy flashed through the ginger she-cat for her friend. How had she not had an apprentice yet? she wondered. Apprentices were great! So fun and amusing and...fun. Which reminded her, she really needed to stop looking for Dustfur hanging out near the WindClan border and neglecting him go out training sometime. She really owed Darkfoot for this. Great StarClan, Otterpaw probably thought she hated him! "Oh, Heathertail! I'm sorry, I'm sure you're turn is coming soon. I mean, I'm just getting my first apprentice, and you've been a warrior longer than me, so surely the day's coming, you know?" Gingertail babbled, trying in her own way to cheer up her friend, even though she didn't seem so down about it.

She smiled and got right down to business in answering Heathertail's question. "Well let's see...they're only occasionally a little teensy bit annoying, but Otterpaw's pretty amazing. You've gotta get up earlier and train 'em and all that 'be responsible' stuff gets shoved onto you, but otherwise its pretty fun." She shoved away the reminder nagging at the back of her mind about how she wasn't being very responsible in caring for her own apprentice and continued. "My brother got my apprentice's brother as an apprentice so we've been doing a bunch of the training stuff together and its been pretty great. You'll love it when you get your first!" she trilled.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Heathertail really wished she had an apprentice. They sounded like so much fun, and all most of the warriors she talked to who have mentored said that it was one of the best experiences of being a warrior. Unless of course if the apprentice was a troublemaker or defiant, because then it obviously wouldn't be very fun. Though Heathertail's own brother had been taking a bit of Ripplepaw's training as his responsibility and he seemed to be doing fine. Though Harewhisker had always been talented so maybe taking on the stubborn apprentice was no hard feat. Maybe she should ask him about it, he might even be able to talk to Ravenstar about getting her an apprentice!

"Wooow, it sounds like so much fun," Heathertail admitted once Gingertail had finished speaking, "and he sounds adorable. I'm sure you're a great mentor, Gingertail~ Oh, you both have apprentices! I wish I had an apprentice with Harewhisker, but his is going to be made a warrior soon..." The she-cat's tail flicked from side to side as she thought out loud, completely relaxed while talking to her friend despite them being from different Clans. Heathertail didn't know the meaning of the word 'caution' when it came to her friends from other Clans. "Maybe Dustfur and I will get apprentices together! Sandtail's daughters are getting close to their sixth moons... and then there's Mintleaf's litter, who have been getting more and more active lately. They're so cute, I wish you could see them Gingertail!"

[Kitty]

Aww, poor Heathertail! She didn't really seem so upset to not have an apprentice, but that was just on the outside! Who knew how she felt on the inside about the subject? Maybe she was really bitter about not having an apprentice, or maybe- no, she really didn't seem to mind. She seemed a bit sad that she didn't have an apprentice at the same time as her brother, like Gingertail had, but Harewhisker's apprentice was going to graduate soon. Maybe she was right and she'd get to get an apprentice with Dustfur in the next couple litters.

Hm...Dustfur with an apprentice...Gingertail wondered how well he could teach an apprentice. SHe recalled their training lesson, the time that she learned to catch rabbits. Probably he'd be a pretty good mentor. He taught her to catch one of the furry brown creatures, anyway!

"So..." Gingertail began, trying to decide how to word her question without seeming weird. Maybe now would be a good chance to ease her way into talking about Dustfur and seeing if he'd mentioned her! "How does Dustfur like the idea of training a young cat?"

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

"Hmmm? Dustfur?" Heathertail stopped her extended rambling for a moment, looking questioningly at her RiverClan friend as she did so. Honestly, Heathertail had never asked Dustfur about whether or not he would like to have an apprentice. Didn't every warrior hope to become a mentor one day? But then again, Dustfur was a rather odd tom, and she wondered if maybe he wouldn't like an apprentice. Although she still couldn't even imagine not wanting one...

"You know, I never really asked him before!" Heathertail thought to herself out loud as she replied. "I mean, I think any cat would like to have an apprentice, but you never know..." She shrugged a bit, tilting her head slightly in thought. "Why do you ask?" Of course, there was nothing really odd about Gingertail asking about her brother, but as far as Heathertail knew the two didn't really know each other.

[Kitty]

Gingertail nodding in comprehension as Heathertail mused aloud that she had never really asked Dustfur about whether he wanted an apprentice or not. That was understandable, she supposed; Dustfur was a bit forgettable if you didn't really know him, although she was sure his sister knew him pretty well and wouldn't forget about her own brother. But, he did seem pretty agreeable. If you asked him to do something he seemed like he'd pretty much go along with it. Gingertail was just glad that Heathertail didn't ask he why she wanted to kn-

"Why do you ask?

-mousedung.

That was exactly what Gingertail had hoped Heathertail wouldn't ask. Why did she pick now to be observant?! Gingertail had counted on her WindClan friend to be her usual bubbly self and carry right on without pausing to wonder why she'd asked! The ginger she-cat hadn't decided on an excuse for asking yet!

For that reason, Gingertail was still floundering around when she replied. "Well, um...I guess he...um, well.... He's kinda hard to, you know, tell about...I mean, uh, well, some cats, you can, you know, tell whether they want kits - I mean, an apprentice, really easily, but, well, I guess he's not like that, and I was just, you know, kinda curious because, I dunno, maybe sharing mentoring strategies with him would have been kinda...cool."

There. That would do.[/blockquote]

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Heathertail's confused look turned into one of even less understanding as Gingertail seemed to become really nervous and ramble out a response to her question. She had only asked why her friend was so curious about her brother, that hadn't been a bad thing, had it? Obviously Gingertail didn't know how to respond, but could there be some other reason behind it? Heathertail was reminded of the time all three of them had met up on the border over a moon ago. Thinking back, she had thought that the interaction between Dustfur and her friend had been amusing and more than a little awkward, and she had done a bit of speculating since then.

(It was a good thing that Heathertail hadn't caught Gingertail's slip-up, or that would have just increased her speculation even more.)

Heathertail turned her attention away from her thoughts and onto her friend, staring at her a bit before speaking. "Hmm.... yeah, it would be cool! That's why I want us both to get apprentices at the same time! Hey, why do you seem so nervous though? I could ask him for you if you want~!"

She grinned as she paused, ready to judge Gingertail's reaction. Her curiosity had returned.

[Kitty]

Gingertail heaved an incredibly relieved sigh at her friend's familiar unobservant personality. After only a moment of consideration on Gingertail's odd answer, Heathertail had gone right on without missing a beat. She obviously didn't think too much of it, even agreeing with her on the completely improvised idea that sharing mentoring strategies might be a good idea (despite the fact that she and Dustfur lived in two different Clans and that they had to train their apprentices in slightly different ways).

As Heathertail spoke, Gingertail realized that she hadn't been quite as unobservant as the orange she-cat had originally expected. Her paws shifted a bit uncomfortably as she stifled a blush. But when the WindClan she-cat suggested that she could ask Dustfur for her RiverClan friend, Gingertail's heart leapt. She spent a few heartbeats considering this, poring over the two options she saw she had. One, she could allow Heathertail to ask, but then she might get nosy and ask why she was so interested in dustfur. However, Gingertail wouldn't have to ask him herself. (She probably wouldn't work up the courage to, anyway.) Option two would be letting it go, probably the wiser of the two options.

Today, Gingertail wasn't feeling so wise. "Can you?" she asked cheerily. "That'd be great! I mean, unless its too much trouble or something. I don't wanna be a bother, you know." She wasn't sure whether it would be...after all, asking your sibling if they wanted an apprentice wasn't strange, was it? Unless....Heathertail mentioned Gingertail's name.

....hopefully she wouldn't do that.

[/blockquote]

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

"Of course I can ask! I would for you, Gingertail, and it's no trouble at all, really! I'm curious myself, actually, although getting him to actually talk to me will be a challenge..." Heathertail laughed a bit at this, wondering how- if she had never heard Dustfur talk about wanting an apprentice before- that she was going to get him to speak. "Do you remember that time the three of us met up on the border about a moon ago?" Heathertail asked her friend, cocking her head a bit slightly as she tried to remember all the details herself, "That's what he's normally like, even around his Clan mates. I have been trying to get him out of his shell a little bit more, but..."

((Sorry it's so short v-v))

[Kitty]

Yay, Heathertail's suspicion seemed to have dropped! Gingertail was clear. Heathertail wasn't curious about her nervous babbling anymore; she just seemed to be considering ways to get Dustfur to actually talk. Gingertail understood this. She'd always managed to get him to talk pretty well though, even if it was a little nervous and awkward. It was one of the things she loved about. Oh mousedung, loved! Liked, she meant, liked! Definitely not loved....

Unless she somehow discovered that Dustfur liked her...then, yeah, loved would be okay.

Until then, however, she only liked things about him. Gingertail told herself firmly. No more...no more than liked....

"Oh, our first meeting? He seemed a little awkward then. But it was kinda adora- I mean, it seemed normal. Every time we've talked since then he's seemed a little more comfortable around me though!"

....oh mousedung, had she just admitted to meeting Dustfur more than once? What a mousebrained she-cat Gingertail was! Even Heathertail would be able to notice that she was blushing underneath all her orange fur!

[/blockquote]

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

"Wait... what?" Heathertail blurted out, staring at her friend once more with an even more perplexed look on her face. Had she really just heard that she thought she heard? Gingertail had been talking with Dustfur? Surely that wasn't possible, since Dustfur was the least social cat she knew of, and especially since Gingertail was both a she-cat and from another Clan... Heathertail was shocked to hear that to say the least, and would not have believed it if it weren't for Gingertail herself standing right here, telling her about it.

"You've been talking with Dustfur? When? How?" Heathertail questioned, taking a step closer to her RiverClan friend. When would they have had any chance to speak with each other? It just didn't make any sense, and as Heathertail took a second step closer as if to make sure she had heard right, she couldn't help other thoughts from whirling through her mind.

Calm down. This is probably nothing, there's no need to act so surprised.

[Kitty]

Of course, Gingertail had made too many slip-ups in this one conversation for Heathertail to remain her oblivious self, and so she hardly cringed when Heathertail caught her most frequent mistake. Instead she attempted to act her innocent self. "What? Oh, meeting Dustfur?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and widening her eyes slightly. Hopefully she pulled off looking innocent pretty well..but Gingertail was no actress and she wasn't sure.

"Well, its not like we met on purpose!" she protested. I just waited by the border in hopes he'd walk by...totally not on purpose. "We met once a little after we first met because I accidentally plowed headfirst into a thorn bush and got stuck. He just helped me get...unstuck." No need to add on the little rabbit hunting expedition that ensued afterward. She thought back to their other meeting. "There was one other time, before that, that I smelled him while I was fishing and sneaked up on him." She snickered at the memory. "Did I scare him! It was priceless!" Her face fell a bit as she recalled that that was also the time that she told Dustfur about her and her friends' plot...no doubt admitting that she liked him now would only make him suspicious that she only wanted him for her plot. How depressing to think that their relationship could never work out, and not because they were in different Clans. "Its no big deal, Heathertail, really. No need to get your tail in a twist."

[/blockquote]