Turtlepaw's obvious excitement endeared him immediately to Shattervenom; the frigidly stoic warrior felt their frozen mask melt somewhat, softened by genuine appreciation for the apprentices fresh attitude. How Shatter would so adore having such a bright cat to mentor! She patiently awaited whatever torrent of words that Turtle had clearly prepared, a patient expression on her face…
When Owlglide arrived. Shattervenom immediately dipped her head to the more experienced warrior, listening attentively to his thoughts on the patrol.
"Solid plan… I'd like to avoid going underground unless we absolutely need to. Could always send the shorties in for us."
The last part was meant to be a joke, despite the fact that Shattervenom uttered it with a deadpan tone and no change in her facial features. As soon as Tawnypaw bounced up, the ebony-and-ivory warrior slunk toward the nearest tunnel entrance, tapping the talkative Tawny playfully on the brow with her tail.
"Finding cobwebs is easy--just have to find the spiders first." Another monotone joke.
"Cobwebs are the slimiest material ever. They'll stick to everything if you're not careful… right, Owlglide?" The barest sparkle of humor in Shatter's grey eyes sparkled as she glanced at the brown tom.
"You apprentices better keep up, ya know. Wouldn't want to leave you in the tunnels as spider food."
The entrance to the first tunnel yawned like a wide mouth in the earth, swallowing light to leave a path of darkness. Shattervenom shuddered slightly and hesitated just outside of it; luckily, she could already see the fluffy tufts of cobwebs fluttering along the tunnel ceiling. One of her long, long limbs reached in to spool out a pawful.
"This is as far as I'm going, crew."