The Beginning of the Journey

"Then I hit him, but he got all, 'raw raw raw!' So then I hit him harder!" Sunfire exclaimed to Moonice, raring up and attacking the invisible fox. Moonice shook his head at Sunfire who failed to notice he didn't care. The very feminine tom left Sunfire and trotted toward the front, the vast expanse of WindClan's territory seeming endless. Crowfeather was verbally abusing his son, his green eyes suddenly flashing from orange, to pink, to green, to red, then back to green. Moonice rolled his dark blue eyes.
Tanpaw noticed Leafpool and Nightcloud. He trotted up to Nightcloud. "So, Crowfeather's your mate, and Breezepelt's your son?"

"Sure." Nightcloud said flatly. "I guess you could say that." Tanpaw stared at her with bewilderment.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Well, he's got to be the worst father and mate ever." Nightcloud growled. "Just look," she waved her tail at Crowfeather and Breezepelt.

"So why are you even together?"

"So that he can prove he's 'loyal'."

"What?" tanpaw tilted his head with false surprise.

"He ran off with her not too long ago," Nightcloud spat toward Leafpool, who had approached Breezepelt and Crowfeather. "He only picked me out from my dumb luck."

"Well you don't deserve that!" Tanpaw gasped genuinely. "That's just stupid!"

"Life's stupid," Nightcloud told him. "It's the way it happens. Especially in this series." She seemed almost disturbingly matter-of-fact about this, as if she didn't care in the least.

"Okay then," Tanpaw said, almost hoping that he wouldn't have to worry about this.

"Eh, you'll find out if you stick around soon enough," Silvereyes veered over next to Tanpaw, hiding the fact that she had been evesdropping the whole time oh-so-well. Tanpaw blinked, starting to wonder if he really wanted to be on this totally weird journey with these totally weird cats. Who did and said totally weird things. He glanced at Breezepelt and Crowfeather, who had separated and were now on opposite sides of the group. Crowfeather shot a glare at his son, his eyes flashing suddenly with a shade of teal.

Moonice trotted at the head of the group, feeling as if the begining of unfamiliar territory was just ahead. He squinted against the wind, which cut at them like claws. A dark brownish red cat veered up next to him, and he glanced at him, realizing it was a NaziClan cat.

"Hello," the red cat said. "My name's Redclaw. I just so happen to be one of Fluffystar's top warriors," he said with an annoying haughtiness. Moonice said nothing and just rolled his eyes. "I also happen to be the best hunter in our Clan," Redclaw continued, and like Sunfire, failed to realize that Moonice really didn't care. At all. In the slightest bit. Period. Get it?... "So you're a... fine example of a beautiful Burmilla cat." Redclaw went on. Moonice gave him a slightly creeped out look, which Redclawalso failed to notice. "I bet we could have some beautiful kits together." Moonice now gave him a completely horrified look, completely disturbed by this thought.

At this point, Sunfire trotted up to spare poor Moonice from further disturbia. "Uh, dude? Moonice is a guy." he said, his blue eyes slightly bewildered.

Redclaw looked very, very blank and embarrassed now and, finally, was totally speachless. He finally said, "uh... right." and fell toward the back of the group like nothing ever happened. Totally and 100% embarrassed - if he was a hairless cat, he'd be completely red from blushing if a cat could.

"Thanks, Sunfire. Thanks." Moonice sighed.

Sunfire shrugged. "Eh, when someone's as feminine as you, I figure I'd have to come to your rescue eventually. You totally owe me a dawn patrol," he added, grinning.

Moonice sighed, and said, "Yah... I guess."

Jayfeather had been listening to poor Moonice's delima the whole time, and not paying attention to where he was going. And because of the fact that he's blind, ran right into another cat who had apparently been walking in front of him. Rolling a few yards, eventually the cat snapped, "Watch where you're going, you idiot!" before leaping up. Jayfeather scrambled to his paws, glaring in the cat's general direction.

This brought Silvereyes's attention back to what she was supposed to be focusing on. She made her way over to where Jayfeather and the NaziClan cat were. "Sorry, Jay," she apologized, glancing at the cat.

Jayfeather growled. "You're SUPPOSED to be my eyes here, you know. I can't not run into a tree or something if I can't tell it's there."

"Yah, I know, but that conversation was far more interesting and I just had to join in," Silvereyes replied smoothly. "And besides, you'll be fine out here on the open plain."

"Not if I run into a rabbit hole, or, say, a CAT," Jayfeather pointed out, probably acting so short-tempered because he was embarrassed.

"Yes, well, I figured you'd be listening," Silvereyes said.

"Or, you know, SMELL the cat," the tom who had been silent until now cut in sharply.

"Exactly," Silvereyes purred. Jayfeather just rolled his eyes.

"So, you're a NaziClan cat?" Jayfeather asked, ready to leave the topic behind.

"Yes," the tom said. "Shadeheart."

"Wow, no flashy 'whatever of Naziclan' or something? No showing off you're purebred?" Silvereyes cut in. "Wow, that's a start."

"What's the point? You'd already know if you listened to a word anyone else in my clan says, especially, say, my brother, Soulstalker?" he pointed out.

"So, you're the deputy's brother," Jayfeather said, obviously pointing out the obvious.

"Yup." Shadeheart trotted ahead. "The foothills are coming up here, you better get ready to not trip over tree roots and.. stuff." Jayfeather sighed, but was curious at why Shadeheart was so different from any other NaziClan cat he had ever heard speak. At all.