Hello, world (OPEN)

Honeykit blinked against the harsh sunlight that filtered into the nursery. With a quick yawn and a stretch, Honeykit wobbled to her feet. This is it; today's the day! she thought to herself. She had been putting off her first excursion outside the nursery for too long. With leafbare setting in and the days turning chilly, it had just been so tempting to stay curled against her mother, warm and safe inside the den. But today is unusually clear and sunny and, though still a little brisk, probably one of the last warmer days of the season. Mustering her courage, Honeykit puffed up her fur and began her uncertain trek to the outside world. Bending down into a clumsy approximation of a crouch, Honeykit drew in one final breath and, with a mighty squeak, pounced out of the nursery entrance. Honeykit picked herself up out of her sloppy landing, fur puffed with pride and nervousness temporarily forgotten to the excitement of starting a life full of adventure.

Swanpaw had taken to lazing about the camp, and wondered idly if her mentor was actually rubbing off on her. Then again, she at least managed to remember she had a mentor, and who he was. Regardless, one of the major reasons she liked staying in the camp as opposed to finding a particularly quiet place - as she would have just a couple moons earlier - was watching kits play. They were adorable to watch, and she didn't struggle to interact with them like she often did with older cats. She just couldn't be particularly harsh on kits - they were kits, after all. It was with that thought that she made her way closer to the newly emerged kit, laughing a little. "Hello there. Who might you be?"

Startled by the sudden appearance of the apprentice, Honeykit jumped into to air with a frighted squeak, landing with an arched back and poofed out fur. With wide eyes and flattened ears, Honeykit shuffled her paws, more than a little embarrassed at being caught in her silly antics. "H-Honeykit," she mewed shyly, the bravado she had mustered only moments before all but dissipated.

"Well then, hello, Honeykit. I'm Swanpaw," the warrior-aged apprentice purred softly, brushiing aside the annoyance she felt at remembering her age in regards to her position. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, gesturing to their surroundings. Sure, the season brought with it concerns, but it left a beautiful effect that she enjoyed just watching. Far preferred to interacting with most of her Clanmates, if she was honest. And of course she thought RiverClan's territory was the most beautiful place in all of the Clans. The tall reeds, the streams that ran through it.

Ofcourse, Honeykit knew nothing yet of the streams and reeds in her territory, but as a young kit, everything appeared beautiful to her as she experienced it for the first time. Easing out of her nervous crouch, Honeykit looked around her home camp. "Mmm-hmm," she purred, her previous excitement coming back. "I-I never explored the camp before," she blurted in her excitement, bouncing from paw to paw.

Sweetpaw spotted the new kit was finally out of the nursery, and she purred happily as she padded up to greet the little she-cat. She always loved kits, and she always dreamed of mothering kits of her very own one day. She gave Honeykit a little greeting lick on the ear. "Well, aren't you an adorable little thing? I'm Sweetpaw. It's very nice to meet you."

It was really the first time Honeykit ever interacted with cats other than the queens and kits in the nursery, and she wanted to make a good impression. Making an extra effort to be polite, she sat up straight and mewed, "It's nice to meet you too." But a small kit can only sit still for so long, and Honeykit was soon wriggling with barely contained energy. Suddenly, Honeykit bounced to her paws. "I'm on a mission to explore the camp!" she said, practically vibrating with excitement while looking to the older cats in the hope they'd join in on her game.

"Well, do you need any assistance on this mission of yours?" Swanpaw offered. "After all, I should say that I do know this camp almost better than I know myself." That, at least, was true - an inevitable result of spending almost all her time here. She may not know her Clanmates especially well, but she knew their shared living space. "Who knows what could possibly happen here?"

Honeykit looked Swanpaw up and down, as if considering her merit to join Honeykit's mission. Finding Swanpaw satisfactory, Honeykit nodded seriously and gave her approval: "Yes, you may come." Turning to Sweetpaw, she mewed, "And I suppose you can come too, if you'd like." Then, as if a switch was flipped, Honeykit bounced up and took off in a clumsy sprint to the center of the camp. "Let's go!" she purred delightedly to her two travel companions.

Sweetpaw purred with laughter. "Oh, isn't she such a little dear?" Tail waving happily behind her, she followed the kit.

"Kits," Swanpaw murmured to herself, obediently following Honeykit. It was a mixture of joy and sadness that she felt at the moment - they were so sweet and innocent now, but they would hopefully become strong and fierce warriors someday. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it, but it was still nice to spend time with them, she supposed.

Honeykit sped towards the fresh-kill pile. Stopping in front of a freshly caught mouse, she playfully batted the prey a few times while purring happily. Then, turning towards her two traveling companions, she suddenly turned serious and said, "Okay, apprentices, watch closely. I'm going to show you how to hunt a mouse. First you just..." Honeykit dropped into a crouch. "Then you do this," she  narrowed her eyes wiggled her rear end. "And then you jump!" And Honeykit pounced onto the dead mouse. The little kit purred with pride in her skillful catch and dragged her 'kill' over to her two companions. "Here, I caught this for you!" she mewed sweetly.

Sweetpaw decided to play along, adoring the kit's innocence and enthusiasm. She licked the tabby between her ears. "It looks absolutely delicious, thank you. But if any cat would appreciate that mouse more than me and Swanpaw, it would be Shellwater. She would love it even more once she knew it was caught by you." She wanted to tell the little she-kit that playing with fresh-kill was dishonorable to StarClan's gift to RiverClan, as well as to the little rodent's life it gave up to feed the Clan, but she figured she could tell her another time.

Swanpaw was less gentle and soft, despite her fondness for the youngest members of the Clan. Still, she wanted to be at least somewhat nice about it. Having all the kits of the Clan think of her as 'that mean apprentice' wasn't in her agenda, after all, but some lessons did need to be learned. "You shouldn't play with the food StarClan provides us with, Honeykit. But Sweetpaw is right. I think Shellwater would appreciate it." Regardless of her personal opinions on their starry ancestors, they did continue to provide RiverClan with fresh-kill and she certainly wasn't happy to see that gift being mocked - unintentionally or not.

Taken off guard by Swanpaw's criticism, Honeykit's cheery mood stuttered and her tail drooped a little. "Why not?" she asked. The mouse was just food, right? She looked to Swanpaw for her answer, truly wanting to understand what she did wrong. After all, her mama always tells her that only good kits get to become warriors, and Honeykit wanted to be good kit and make her mama and her clan mates happy.