Brave New World [Open to Any/All]

Bloodkit lay quietly next to the other five bundles of fur known as his siblings as they napped, but he couldn't sleep, no matter how long he closed his eyes. His heart was pounding and the albeit weak but newfound strength in his four wobbly legs tingled to be used to explore. Sometimes the breeze would blow in through the nursery and he would catch the scents from the rest of the Skyclan Camp. He could smell it all: The prey, the other cats, the herbs from the Medicine Den, the flora that surrounded the only home he ever knew... Bloodkit opened his eyes and carefully stood up so as not to wake the other kits. That said, he was still wobbly and unsure on his feet, so he may have nudged one or two of them enough to wake them, but he wasn't about to find out. He waddled toward the entrance of the nursery as his heartbeat quickened. This was exciting! The thought that he may get lost or the camp could become under attack at any minute never crossed the new kit's mind. As he cleared the entrance of the nursery, he inhaled slowly and deeply to drink in the scents of the outside world. The sounds of the other Skyclan members' voices, some calmly conversing and others grumbling as they went on about their day had his ears swiveling this way and that way.

Bloodkit hesitated just over the edge of the boundary between the nursery and the rest of the camp. Would he get in trouble if he just walked around a bit? Mother had explained to him that this was his clan. They weren't dangerous to him, right? He glanced around for his mother or father, hoping they'd show up and give him guidance. On second thought, they would just put him back in the nursery probably, so maybe it was better that they were not present. Bloodkit took in a deep breath and steadied his resolve. He started plodding forward on weak kit legs. The earth beneath his feet felt different as he walked across dried leaves and decaying plant matter. A leaf crunching caused him to tense and stare at it with surprise. Only a moment later, Bloodkit dug his claws into it, curious and fascinated by this new sound. He giggled briefly before jumping on one leaf, then another... and another... and another. This was fun! With all of the vicious ferocity he could muster, Bloodkit tackled a particularly large dried leaf and, with wildly uncoordinated "attacks" began to shred the leaf to pieces.

Once it was thoroughly destroyed, he glanced back behind him where he had come. The nursery was maybe 12ft away, but that was still more steps than he'd taken out of it so far. He wished his siblings had woken up and followed him to play this game with him. Maybe they would wake up in a few minutes and come investigate the noise. Until then... Bloodkit's eyes settled on another dry leaf. He charged it as fast as his wobbling limbs would allow and proceeded to demolish that dry leaf as well.

A slight chuckle emitted from Redfall as he watched a kit shred a leaf. The black and brown pelt seemed familiar... it was Bloodkit, wasn't it? One of Blossomstep's and Wolfcall's kits? The name seemed... a bit cruel, but fitting. The russet warrior rolled over on the large, flat rock he currently occupied, and stood up, shaking out his pelt. He trotted towards the kit, trying not to look imposing. Redfall nodded towards the two shredded leaves. "Bored, huh?" Or maybe the kit was having fun. He wasn't sure.

Mistkit opened her eyes too the bright sunlight that was pouring into the nursery. Guess I should explore camp today...it’ll be fun, right? Mistkit told herself, hesitating as she stepped out of the nursery and took the view of camp in. “Wow...this is cool!” The little cream and gray tabby whispered to herself. She spotted her brother, Bloodkit and an unfamiliar warrior. Mistkit was a bit nervous...and scared to approach the warrior. She didn’t like strangers...especially because she was too shy and too small. Blossomstep and Wolfcall were all so confident...so why was she like this?

Bloodkit had been so preoccupied with destroying his leaf adversary that he never saw or heard the red warrior approach him. It wasn't until the shadow of the older tom fell across himself and the earth beneath him that he realized he wasn't alone. Bloodkit spun... well... maybe staggered is a better word... to face the unknown cat. He froze there for a moment with his back arched and his tail floofed out to maximum capacity. It was a tense moment that lasted maybe a heartbeat or two, but then Bloodkit took in a breath to steady his nerves. He'd had so little interaction time with the rest of the clan that he wasn't sure what to say on the spot. Bored? Nnnooo? A voice inside him immediately began to scold him.

This is important... Stop being afraid!

Bloodkit relaxed the muscles in his body and settled his form back into a normal cat position. His tail remained.... poofy for a bit longer, however. His ear swiveled toward a noise back near the nursery. It was his sister... he hadn't quite caught what she said but he knew her voice, even in a whisper. Knowing that she was nearby, Bloodkit stood up straighter and held his chin a little higher. He would always be strong for his shy sister. He felt like she needed him.

"I was just showing this leaf who's boss!" He proclaimed in the strongest and most confident sounding voice that his squeaky kit vocals could muster. He did his best to hide the fact that he was intimidated by the larger tom. He tried to casually look over his shoulder to see Mistkit, and there she was! He turned a bit, trying to move as smoothly as possible on his untested, wobbly legs.

"Hi sister!" He called to her, still trying to look and sound far more confident than he felt. He wanted to encourage her to come out and explore a bit with him, so while he acknowledged her, he didn't approach. Besides, he didn't exactly feel comfortable turning his back on the stranger just yet. Not that it would matter much if the warrior decided "Ooo! A kit to demolish! Yay!" and then killed him. Bloodkit turned his attention back to the orange tom.

"So. How many leaves have you killed.... uh... What's your name?" He said with a straight face. Throwing in a bit of humor... maybe? Was that funny? Bloodkit was just now discovering that the way he hid his fear and uncertainty was with sarcasm. Maybe it would work....

Mistkit padded up slowly towards her brother. “Hi...and uh...no I haven’t um...murdered any leaves yet. Why?” As her younger brother wobbled on his weaker legs, Mistkit supported his flank and flashed the warrior a look that said “don’t scare him or else”. Mistkit cast a concerned look at Bloodkit, then after making sure he was okay, she looked at him again. “Have you been...murdering leaves?” She asked quietly.

What Firekit had expected from the day was waking up at her own pace (more specifically, just after sunhigh) and positioning herself at the entrance of the nursery, observing all the Clan's comings and goings and various... warriorly actions- like how the older cats always brought a seemingly-infinite supply of fresh-kill over to the pile, and how the medicine cats (the smart ones who kept fussing in the days following her birth) seemed to be intensely fascinated with dragging weird-looking herbs back into their den, and how on occasion, her father Wolfcall and the spotted ginger one (Spottedstar, she'd learned- the big boss, even if he didn't look it) conducted so-serious talks from atop a rather tall branch. She'd been studying how in the heavens they got up there so smoothly-- but to be fair, she'd been watching SkyClan for a while now, a vigilant observer who really didn't involve herself in things nearly as much as she should've. So when she awoke earlier than usual, and found not five kits beside her, but three, Firekit usually would've just gone back to sleep-- but this time? Well, Bloodkit and Mistkit were missing, and those two were probably up to something.

So with an acceptant sigh, the she-cat padded out of the nursery, giving a respectful nod to the nearby warrior as she approached her siblings, taking in the scene with a mixture of amusement and resignation. Bloodkit, true to his name, was shredding leaves, and Mistkit was seemingly just as puzzled as Firekit herself. And the older warrior was likely there to judge their performance and go 'wow, that's really not how you hunt leaves'. Either that or Bloodkit had disturbed the warrior's rest too... "Shh. Do you hear that?", she murmured, her gaze flicking over to the great tree from which the Tallbranch sprouted. "Listen real closely. That's the sound of all the trees in the forest, quaking in their roots and soiling their plants." A quiet, melodic laugh, the orange she-cat's amber eyes sparkling with humor for a moment, and then she tilted her head and asked, "I hope I didn't miss anything good?"

“N—no. Hi, Firekit. You didn’t miss a lot. Just that...Bloodkit was um...teaching me to hunt leaves.” Mistkit offered her sister a small smile. Her quiet voice probably couldn’t be heard, but Mistkit tried anyways. “I would rather go play moss ball like a “proper” kit, since leaves...well...I don’t know. They’re really big and they...make a lot of sound.” Mistkit didn’t like loud sounds. She preferred the quiet and peaceful environment. Sometimes she would try to sneak out of camp to enjoy the forest but she would always be too scared to. Mistkit scanned her two siblings. I wonder why they look so different from me? Mistkit thought, seeing Bloodkit’s and Firekit’s orange-red pelt colors. I think I look more like Mom, while they look more like Dad. The little she-kit liked to be thoughtful, and quiet, of course.

His kits were growing so quickly, it was hard for Wolfcall to keep track. One moment, they were tiny bundles at Blossomstep's belly, the next, they were clambering around the nursery. Now, he noticed as he padded back into camp with a fat thrush between his teeth, several of them were out and about, speaking to Redfall. Wolfcall smiled, glancing upwards towards an overhanging branch, and then crouched and leaped up, claws sinking into the bark. He settled there with the bird between his paws, shadowed by fresh leaves, and watched.

The deputy wanted to interact with his kits, to shower them with love and affection, but sooner rather than later, he'd be tasked with assigning them apprentices, and if he was going to do that, he needed to get a handle on their personalities - the personalities that showed when dad wasn't hovering around in plain sight. So he settled therein the shelter of the foliage and watched, amber eyes soft and attentive.

Redfall’s ears twitched as Bloodkit turned back to him. His head tilted slightly. Was Bloodkit afraid of him? Why would a kit be afraid of him? He was a warrior of their Clan... and also a lot bigger and stronger than the little kit. Yep, he could see why. He remained straight-faced as Bloodkit asked him how many leaves he’d killed. Humor wasn’t an area he really understood, but he hoped it was humor and not a serious question, as he responded, “I bet I’ve killed more leaves than you!” he teased, in a playful tone. He frowned slightly as Mistkit glared at him, ears angling back. What did I do?

He stepped back slightly as another of the litter, this one Firekit, came up to Bloodkit and Mistkit. They started chatting, and Redfall was pretty sure his presence just made everything worse - Bloodkit afraid, Mistkit glaring at him, yet quiet, and Firekit hadn’t seemed to notice him. He didn’t want to leave, though, because he wanted the kits to think he was strong. He was, wasn’t he? Strong enough to handle a conversation with a couple of kits, right? Yes. So he sat down, listening to the conversation, and waiting for a way he could enter the conversation.

Mistkit relaxed as the warrior sat quietly. Perhaps she shouldn’t have glared at him like that. “Hello. Redfall? Is that your name? We could murder leaves together.” She smiled at him cautiously, not wanting to seem hostile again. “Bloodkit? Do you want to teach us?” She whispered quietly.

Bloodkit glanced at Mistkit and tried not to snicker at her when she mentioned that she was afraid of leaves, in fewer and not those exact words. Had he been murdering leaves? Oh yes. He had not regrets of doing so. Firekit appeared then, and he turned his head to look at her as well. "Shh. Do you hear that? Listen real closely. That's the sound of all the trees in the forest, quaking in their roots and soiling their plants." She said sarcastically, to which Bloodkit stood up straighter and lifted his chin and tail to an exaggerated pose.

"Yeah, they'd better! He replied in the most serious tone he could muster. To Mistkit answering that Firekit hadn't missed anything, Bloodkit got out of his "proud stance" and looked Firekit in the eye again.

"Mistkit just didn't want to scare you, Firekit, but you missed me shred the one that tried to leap on me from the trees." Bloodkit leaned in toward her with eyes like green flames and dropped his voice really low, "I almost died." At the end of that proclamation, Bloodkit couldn't keep the act going anymore. He cracked a smile and started giggling. Well, it was fun while it lasted and he was fairly sure he hadn't been fooling anyone anyway. That would have been amazing to witness. Upon hearing the mention of moss ball, Bloodkit couldn't help but roll his eyes. Moss ball was fun for maybe... a few tosses and then he was bored. There was no challenge in it and he didn't quite understand what the point was, but oh well. Maybe that's just how girl kittens were. Upon the challenge from Redfall when he finally spoke... Has Mistkit met him already? He wondered briefly before addressing the tom.

"Sounds like I've got a rival then," Bloodkit gave Redfall a half smile and a joking sideways glance. A warrior that was tough but still down to joke around were going to be his favorites, he could tell. Not for one second did Bloodkit doubt the warrior's strength, nor would he dare question it without reason. His ear angled toward Mistkit as she again began to talk. For being usually so shy she was pretty chatty today.

Murder leaves together... Bloodkit do you want to teach us? Bloodkit almost wondered if she thought that this was serious business. She wasn't smiling.

"Of course I could give lessons..." His gaze slowly and dramatically settled back on Redfall, however. "But we've got a real warrior right here... and he claims to have killed more leaves than me." Bloodkit padded closer towards Redfall. He stopped just in front of him and slammed his tiny claws down on a leaf just on front of the tom and pinned it there as if it were helpless prey. His tail twitched once at the crunchy noise. He wasn't sure why he loved that sound so much.

"I want you to teach us. Don't hold back on the violence just because we're kits." Bloodkit then proceeded to scrape his claws back along the dirt to tear claw marks into the leaf as if to deliver a brutally slow killing blow. "We're ready for this!" He said with as much intensity in his voice that he could muster. Whatever game this was called, it was turning out to be more fun than Bloodkit expected to have. It all started with just shredding leaves... The outside world was much more fun than being stuck in the nursery all of the time. Hopefully his parents weren't about to waltz up in here and ruin the fun. Despite being out in the open, he didn't feel very cold for once. Maybe he was getting used to being outside now that he wasn't a new new kit now.

"Almost died, I'm sure," Firekit echoed with a wry smile, shaking her head in amusement and suppressing a giggle as she observed the other cats for a few moments. Mistkit - quiet as ever, thoughtful as Firekit herself, and as gentle as her namesake; Bloodkit- vibrant as blood, characteristically boisterous, and clearly chasing apprenticeship just as much as he chased the leaves; and Redfall, seemingly a little out of place, and yet with a raw power and energy that all the kits combined couldn't match. Honestly, she could do much worse than this company. (And, of course-- she couldn't shake the feeling of being... watched, from somewhere. Her eyes darted around ground-level for a few moments, but saw nothing. In time, perhaps she'd learn verticality as all SkyClan cats would.)

"I suppose now I'm awake, I might as well stay for a while," the kit murmured offhandedly, trying to hide her excitement- she absolutely wanted to partake in these shenanigans, but it wouldn't do to play that card right away. She turned to the older warrior after a moment, watching the tom with an inscrutable expression before finally pleading her case. "Alright then- Redfall, was it? There are a lot of leaves in this forest, and if we're going to shred them all," - a glance to the destroyed leaves around Bloodkit, and she let out a quiet chuckle- "We'll need someone to show us how a real warrior hunts. Preferably using leaves as the target and not us. If you're as skilled at leaficide as you claim-- well, it should be no problem for someone of your ability, right?"

A grin deepened on his face as the kits bickered among one another, before Bloodkit spun around, crunching a leaf right in front of him, a daring challenge in his voice. Redfall stretched, tail lashing playfully. He reared up, swiping a couple of mock blows, as Firekit challenged him. It may have been playful, but Redfall was extremely competitive, and as Bloodkit had said, would not hold back. Amusement lightened his voice as he responded, managing to keep a straight face, "...alright, then, we're doing this." He glanced around, tail flicking towards a pile of leaves. He had probably killed a lot of leaves as a kit and apprentice, but he didn't exactly remember how he'd done so. Still, it couldn't be different from actual hunting - easier, even, since your target didn't move. "Hunting leaves is a bit easier than prey, since your target won't move, but it's the same basics. So, first things first, I'll teach you all the hunting crouch."

The position was second nature to him at this point, and he sank back onto his haunches, tail slightly lifted in the air so it wouldn't drag on the ground, and head tucked beneath his shoulders. "Try to copy this position. Your tail shouldn't drag on the ground, but you need to be aware of it so that it won't brush onto stuff and alert your prey. It doesn't matter as much for leaves, I guess, but - hunting crouch." Redfall rose back into a standing position and looked at the kits. "Now you try," he said. He enjoyed teaching the kits, and he wondered if mentors felt like this all the time. He decided he'd like to be a mentor. Of course, there were downsides, but... even just teaching kits made him feel empowered. Imagine what it'd feel like to be at your apprentice's warrior ceremony, he thought.

Mistkit watched the warrior carefully as he dropped onto a hunting crouch. Very carefully and tentatively, she dropped into the same position, lifting her tail up. “Did I do it?” Mistkit whispered, asking the warrior. She turned back towards her two siblings with a questioning look. She observed Redfall again. Mistkit’s tail was raised too high, her chest was waaaay to high above the ground. Struggling slightly, she finally settled into one position, watching the warrior as he made his next move.

All Adderkit wanted to do was sleep. She wasn't particularly tired, but she wasn't anything else at the moment either so her desire to stay bundled up by her mother's side won over her slight itch to get up. Still, it was hard to sleep with her siblings all yelling about leaves and the best way to murder them. Could you even murder a leaf? Were leaves alive? Could they feel pain? Adderkit added that to her mental list of things to investigate. For now, though, she wanted nothing more than to stay here. It was only once Firekit accidentally bumped her with a paw that Adderkit begrudgingly opened her eyes. The world was still too bright for her, too busy. She blinked a couple of times, hoping that the assault on her eyes would lessen. Once her eyes grew accustomed to the unrelenting morning rays, she yawned a silent yawn and crept out of the nursery.

Eyes wide, she looked over at where the other kits were. They appeared to be hunting, though there wasn't any live prey as far as Adderkit could tell. No, they were hunting leaves. That must have been what she'd overheard earlier from Bloodkit. A red-pelted warrior, one whose name she didn't know yet(add that to the mental list), was showing the other kits something. A hunting crouch? Yeah, that was probably it. She watched intently, though she didn't come any closer to the group. She could test out leaf hunting on her own later. For now, she was content watching from far away. Mistkit was attempting to copy the warrior, though her crouch was a bit different to the older tom's. Maybe Adderkit should give it a try? It would certainly help her with her solo leaf-hunting training later. Studying the russet cat's movements closely, she tried to mimic his crouch. It felt weird, her legs were all scrunched up and she had no idea what to do with her tail. Swish it? Keep it still? She made a mental note to test both on the leaves and see what would work better. She tried to take a step forward in her rendition of the hunting crouch, teetering slightly. Maybe if she straightened her legs out a little bit? She tried to take another step with less bent legs, a little spark of excitement glimmering in her chest as she didn't wobble. She took another step, and another. But although her balance was good, there was one thing she wasn't doing: watching where she was going. With a soft thump, she crashed into her slightly older brother Bloodkit. She was so focused on her crouch that it caught her off guard, sending her tumbling onto the ground.

Foxdung, her cover was blown. Now she had to... mingle. Mental note: Keep your head up next time you crouch. She looked up at Bloodkit balefully for a split second before quietly sitting up and diverting her attention towards the warrior again.