Gustclan Post 19

The golden-brown warrior practically leaped out in front of the leader and deputy in a manner similar to how Boulderdash had, except with less swagger to her. Her thin legs landed neatly and squarely as she jumped down off the wall bordering the currently silent thunder-path, and not four steps later, she had paused, one paw suspended in the air for a moment in surprise at seeing two other cats. She seemed a lot more reserved than Boulderdash, although just as confident. She smelt as much of hostility as a young rabbit- not much like it at all.

Neither of the Gustclan warriors had any hesitation about her joining. Chubtail waited for Heronstar to start speaking. “Greetings. I am Heronstar, leader of Gustclan, and this is Chubtail, my mate and deputy.”

“Greetings also. Called am I, Moraine on Steep Slope, and come I from mountainwards. I mean, I come from mountainwards.” Both the Gustclan cats gave her a confused expression at how she described her directions, just as much as her strange syntax, and the newcomer flicked her tail patiently over in the direction she had come from. Her accent was also strange, vowels mostly slurred in tone and slightly nasal, and thick enough that it didn’t help them understand her meaning quickly.

“Would it be alright for us to call you something else, Moraine on Steep Slope?” Chubtail asked, trying to be as gentle about it as possible. Moraine shifted her paws very gently, in a way which indicated that she might be sensitive about it to some extent. “Would you like a warrior name, like ours? Are moraines- whatever they are- normally brown?”

“Moraines are rocks laid out in stripes when huge monsters, glaciers, with fur made of ice slowly crawl through mountains.” Moraine seemed to shiver at the word glacier, like the very idea scared her.

“We’re going to have to ask you more about these glaciers at some point.” Heronstar said, before continuing Chubtail’s thinking. “Moraine sounds like it fits you. Morainestripe? Are you really skilled at anything particularly important for a warrior?”

“I am a good hunter.”

“Morainewhisker?”

Moraine turned her nose up at that. “I’ll just be Moraine if you want an abbreviation, then.”

It was a good thing that Heronstar and Chubtail had already sorted out their wanting to have more kits before Moraine turned up. Moraine refused the few more suggestions that were made, and both of them realised that she really was just using a prefix, and there was nothing they could do about it.