A Look Around Camp [OPEN]

As soon as her body made her way out of the well-protected den that was the RiverClan nursery, Eaglekit was disappointed, to say the least. Her parents had finally let her play outside the nursery, and she expected to see a lovely, pretty, well-kept camp that was more roomy and elegant than the confined nursery she had stayed in for the majority of her life so far. Instead it was just... a camp. It was well-kept and protected, sure, but where was the decor? The grace? She certainly hoped the other Clans didn't have a better-looking campsite- RiverClan is the best Clan, so appearance is also important, right?

Eaglekit just sighed loudly, folding her paws neatly under herself and curling her tail around as she laid down in a spot not far from the nursery- she didn't feel like walking around, but maybe she would visit the other dens once she got some motivation. Not that they would be any better than the bland camp.

Pantherkit's bold amber gaze flicked toward the she-kit, curious. His last meeting with another kit hadn't ended so well, but, if she was fresh out of the nursery, she wouldn't have heard of his deeds. Wouldn't be biased against him. The massive "kit" stood and padded over. "Hello there, who might you be? I'm Pantherkit." His thick tail swished back and forth gently, a friendly smile on his face. He had been practicing at least faking a kind expression for a while now, and he was happy with the result.

Eaglekit's light blue eyes met Pantherkit's orange ones as she felt his nearby presence. Her brown and white tail tip flicked once with disinterest as the tom approached her, but wasn't surprised- her mother had told her plenty of cats would be willing to meet her once she was exposed to them. She made sure her composure was correct and smiled back at the black and white kit.

"Hi, Pantherkit! I'm Eaglekit. How are you?" Eaglekit kept her smile- she wasn't at all interested in what the tom had to say, but had to be respectful- it would just be another push in the direction of her becoming the best cat in RiverClan.

"I suppose I'm alright. If you count being trapped in this boring place alright." The black and grey tom's fur bristled momentarily with pent-up anger, but rather quickly settled back down. "But I digress. You're a friendly, pretty little thing, aren't you? What would you like to do?" He flicked a black ear, twitching tail the only physical sign betraying his frustration at the world. Frustration at being trapped. Frustration at Jaystar and Scorchstar. Frustration at life.

The tabby she-cat paid no mind to the tom's hints of anger and exasperation. Even if she had noticed, would she care? Probably not, but it could be useful to be more attentive to body language. Falling out of her organized composition, Eaglekit replied, "Ugh, I know, right? The nursery is SUPER boring, along with the camp- and this is my first time out here!" She groaned out loud, only to have her mere complaints taken away by Pantherkit's compliment, her heart fluttering slightly. "Yes, thank you- I am quite pretty, aren't I?" Her ego raised, Eaglekit took a moment to admire herself. "Oh, uh, right. I honestly don't know, and I don't care. It's not like there's anything better to do than just lay around when you're a kit."

Pantherkit flicked his tail, pleased. The she-kit had reacted exactly as he'd hoped. She was a safe one to speak to, he was sure of it now. "Especially boring if you were an apprentice once, able to explore the outside world like I have. But I had that all snatched away after a blundering mistake. When I wasn't careful enough. Cats... they don't usually agree with my worldviews." He lowered his voice. "Eaglekit, what are your opinions on weak cats, fearful cats, cats who do nothing but laze around all day, forcing the strong to care for them when they are perfectly capable themselves? Of course, kits that are too young are exempt from this."

Eaglekit raised her eyes at Pantherkit's first statements and winced. "Wow, that sucks. I can't imagine what THAT feels like."
She was starting to take her earlier thoughts back as Pantherkit went on- is this how normal conversations went? Only when the black and white tom had spoken about his past had Eaglekit really realized how massive Pantherkit was for a kit like her, and was starting to feel a bit uneasy.


"Well, uh..." Her words faded and the tabby kitten went silent, contemplating what to say. If this was someone of higher rank, she would have to say something more reasonable, but considering this was a tom who had been demoted, she let whatever words came to mind spill out of her mouth. "I hate them. They should learn to overcome themselves instead of letting their weaknesses and fearfulness dominate them without even trying. They need to learn to be better, otherwise, they'll just be known as a failure for the rest of their life, and can you imagine that?"

"And what," A low, threatening voice suddenly rumbled, "do you think you're trying to do? Poison the mind of a kit just out of a nursery?" RiverClan's deputy stood tall behind Pantherkit, pale green eyes flashing as he gazed upon the two younger cats.

Scorchclaw had just returned from a tiring, fruitless hunting patrol, and he was not in a good mood. Well, even worse than usual. Upon entering the camp, he had caught sight of the two conversing and had headed over. When he had drawn close enough, the contents of their conversation drifted to his ears. "A blundering mistake? You weren't careful enough?" With every phrase he quoted from the young tom, he seemed to grow angrier. Dark, feathery tail lashed the air, a snarl forming on his maw. "You deliberately blinded an apprentice from an allied clan, on neutral ground. And now you say that we don't agree with your worldviews." His gaze, as it met Pantherkit's, was piercing. "You certainly don't seem to have repented of your actions. How would you like to be stuck in camp for an additional moon?"

Pantherkit's ears flicked back as he looked at his paws. He had been caught, again, by one of his mousebrained Clanmates. He was beyond annoyed, but took up a submissive posture in hopes of pleasing the deputy. "No, Scorchclaw." He wanted to claw the snarl off that face so badly, but that would only drop him down a deeper foxhole. Angry as he was, he took a breath before padding off to the nursery, casting a glance over his shoulder at Eaglekit. A look that plainly conveyed the fact that she had made a friend today, and ally. He just hoped she felt the same way in return. He smiled at her once more before disappearing into the den.

"Eep!" A tiny squeal escaped the kit's mouth as she heard the lumbering voice, jumping up from her relaxed position, fur bristled and pupils wide. As she turned to meet to meet the newcomer's gaze, Eaglekit knew at that moment exactly who it was- his scorching, piercing eyes perfectly matched his given name.
Scorchclaw... the deputy...!
Eaglekit didn't even have a moment to curse herself for her loud-mouthed words- Scorchclaw's intense, violent green gaze was one she could not look away from. All she could do was listen to what he had to say with a surprised, open mouth. When he did speak the tabby kit finally broke away from his bitter look, only to steal a few glances at Pantherkit with surprise.

Eaglekit stood stiffly still as she watched the black and white tom, his size now nothing compared to the deputy, be forced to comply to Scorchclaw and walk away. She could not make any other expression than what was plastered on her face at the current moment as her eyes followed Pantherkit into the nursery, not sure how to react.

As the demoted kit vanished into the nursery walls, Eaglekit could not meet Scorchclaw's gaze again, only being able to shake underneath her own paws and look down at the ground with quivering eyes, waiting for the dark tom to speak again or walk away. Ironic- she had just blabbered on about how she hated weak cats, and here she was, trembling underneath a cat in her own Clan.

Scorchclaw's scathing gaze followed Pantherkit all the way back to the nursery. Only when the mottled gray tom had passed into the well-woven entrance did he let out a rough sigh. Pantherkit--or rather, Pantherpaw--could have been a promising young tom. Instead, he was going down another path. When Jaystar had announced his demotion before the clan, Pantherkit had been regretful--not regretful that he had blinded another apprentice, but regretful that he had been punished. He could put up a good act, but Scorchclaw wasn't fooled that easily. The fluffy deputy had been doing his best to keep an eye on the troublemaking tom ever since that day, but Pantherkit seemed to have been lying low. When "Pantherpaw" was restored, Scorchclaw would need to have a talk with his mentor. There was still hope for him, but only if he was willing to acknowledge his wrongs.

The problematic one dealt with, Scorchclaw redirected his gaze to Eaglekit. As he took in her state, his heart sank. The she-kit was hunched over into a bristling ball of fur, and he could see the trembling that had taken over her small frame. Great. Just, great. Had he overdone it? It was all too easy for his short-temper to slip out. He had only been trying to prove his point. What was he to do now? The large tabby had never liked kits. There were several reasons for this bias, but the main one was that he simply didn't know how to handle them. At that moment, he fumbled about for words that would calm Eaglekit down. In an attempt to disguise his fluster, he coughed twice. "You speak well, Eaglekit." Making an effort to soften his voice, he lowered his head to hers. "If that is truly your belief, you will become a strong warrior of RiverClan one day. Keep in mind, however, that there are different opinions on what weakness is. Not every one is correct. You will need the wisdom to distinguish between strength and true weakness." As he spoke, his voice was filled with surprising earnestness. His "encouragement" ended up as a partial lecture, but he tried. He really did.

At length, Scorchclaw tilted his head, inquisitive green eyes scanning the kit. "Is this your first time out of the nursery, Eaglekit?" It was a hopeful attempt to distract Eaglekit from what had just transpired.

The moment Scorchclaw spoke, Eaglekit's wide sky-blue eyes instantly snapped to his. Her shakiness seemed to diminish as the brown tom kept talking, instead replacing her stance with a formal sitting position. 

She was surprised to hear the deputy approved of her words, only dipping her head in response as her mother had taught her. She didn't know what else to say, so perhaps a bow would please him.

Once the subject was changed, Eaglekit seemed to lose any and all fear that was evident in her before, and her face and eyes returned to their resting position, eyes laying on Scorchclaw's now softer green ones. "Yeah, it is! I don't have much to say, so instead, how has your day been so far?" It wasn't a very smooth transition, but her mother had taught her to change the subject to the cat she was talking to in order to make them a more friendly acquaintance. She just hoped she was doing it right and waited for Scorchclaw's response.

Blossompaw padded into the camp. A fish was in her jaws which she laid onto the fresh-kill pile with a cheerful smile on the young apprentice's face as she swiped a paw over her muzzle to clean it. Her green eyes looked over the camp, when she spotted what looked like Scorchclaw and ... a scrap of fur. A tiny little kit, and was that pantherkit's tail she spotted going into the nursery? A curious look came onto the she-cat as she padded over to the scene. She noticed the young kit shaking and rolled her eyes before padding up to the deputy and giving him a nudge with her pale calico shoulder as she padded past him to the kit.

"Hey! You're out of the nursery now!" She meowed cheerfully, "Don't let this big fuzz-ball scare you." Her tail wrapped around Eaglekit to comfort her. A gesture she had learned from her mother when cats were being scary or mean. "He's a big old softie. So, what's your name?"

Fortunately for Scorchclaw, his efforts paid off. Eaglekit steadily calmed down. Before long, she had stopped trembling altogether. She sat at his paws, staring up at him with her big blue eyes. He sighed inwardly with relief, though he wore an impassive expression outwardly. Eaglekit was surprisingly well-behaved, a detail that he couldn't say he disliked. Despite her young age, she seemed rather mature, even directing the conversation towards his direction. While he knew there were exceptions, Scorchclaw had gotten used to thinking of younger cats as a rowdy, selfish bunch. The problem solved, he would have liked to leave the young she-kit. As he had been the one to chase away her companion, however, it didn't feel right to just leave. What was this? His conscience? Perhaps it wouldn't hurt too much to humor her a little longer...

Just when he was about to respond to Eaglekit, a familiar apprentice arrived on the scene--Blossompaw, Dewshine's daughter. Scorchclaw shot the calico a glare, not appreciating the nudge that she had given him. "Please abstain from referring to me in such a manner." He remarked dryly. Still, he was glad. If the two of them had been left alone any longer, he didn't know how things would have turned out. Blossompaw was clearly better at dealing with such a situation; he would just leave it to her. Turning his green gaze back upon Eaglekit, he remembered to answer her question. The corners of his maw quirked into a thoughtful frown.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, I suppose." Would that do for an answer?

Jaw opening slightly with curiosity, Eaglekit's head leaned to the side and fixed her gaze onto the approaching figure the kit could spot coming from behind Scorchclaw. She didn't recognize the cat, but it was very unlikely that she would recognize anyone new besides the deputy or leader anyway. Her eyes followed the cat completely the moment she spotted it and was able to recognize that 'it' was a she-cat and was about Pantherkit's size as she advanced closer. 

The action may have startled her at first if she was still fazed from Scorchclaw's intimidation, but Eaglekit found comfort in the gentle voice and tail-wrap she was now enveloped in and ever so slightly leaned into the touch. 

A big ol' softie? Yeah, sounds about right. Eaglekit silently thought to herself before replying eagerly to the pale calico, "Eaglekit! My name's Eaglekit. What's yours?" Her tone was cheerful, but not too excitable. The tabby she-kit momentarily turned to Scorchclaw to nod and give a small smile, before returning back to the more lighthearted she-cat that had just come a few moments ago.