Operation: Brighter Hays [Open]

It wasn’t fair.

Muddykit grumbled as he sat outside of the nursery, tail thumping against the ground as he grumbled to himself. He had just been kicked from the nursery for ‘playing to rough’ or something like that. He didn’t get it - he was just playing! It wasn’t his fault that the kits didn’t get it - they always got upset whenever he tried to play with him and…! His ears slicked back as he lowered his head. He just...Didn’t know what the problem was. He didn’t feel like he was playing rough - he didn’t mind getting pushed around like that but they always complained and it just didn’t make sense to him.

Of course, his momma didn’t want to play either - she always seemed nervous at the idea of play fighting and never seemed to have the energy to play with him when he tried to suggest something else. It sucked, he liked his momma but...He just didn’t know how to make her smile. She was sad - he knew that much, but not why or anything about it but...Maybe if he could make momma Hayglow happy, he could play with her and she wouldn’t yell at him but he just...How was a kit like him supposed to make her happy? ...He spared a glance at the nursery, then at the cats who littered the open camp clearing. But...Maybe if a kit like him didn’t know, one of the older cats would have an idea…?

Sunnykit had been woken up from a nap as Muddykit was ushered out of the nursery, and she quickly bounded out behind him. She wasn't sure why he was kicked out of the nursery, but maybe they could play together! The sun felt very nice on her pelt, and she purred as her head butt against her brother's shoulder. As she pulled back, she noticed how upset he looked, and she tilted her head. They both had noticed how sad their mother seemed all the time, and she wondered if this was something to do with that again. "What you thinking about Muddykit?"

Muddykit blinked as he heard pawsteps behind him, fur prickling that it was one of the queens ready to usher him even further from the nursery but to his relief, his sister was the one that poked her head out. "Oh, hey Sunnykit!" he greeted, letting out a little sigh of relief as he spared a glance past her to where Hayglow had barely moved even as her two kits had left the nursery (and one, not by his own choice.) "I'm thinking...Of how to make momma happy," he meowed, his voice lowering to a whisper as if it was the most important secret to keep. "I dunno why but momma hasn't been happy in..." he drifted off, nose scrunching as he tried to think back. Had he...Ever seen Hayglow happy? He had heard whispers that she normally was but nothing that she seemed to do lined up with how he was told (and felt) like happiness was. "...I wanna make her smile, but I dunno how. Do you got any ideas?" he asked.

Sunnykit blinked a pawful of times before she tilted her head and looked towards the sky. "You're right!" She suddenly exclaimed, eyes widening before looking back to her brother, an expression of desperation on her face. Lowering her voice drastically to match Muddykit's, she mewed. "I can't remember when she was last happy, so we need to make her smile!" Her small tail flicked behind her as she thought about what made her happy. Food, sunshine, feathers, playing with Muddykit, pretty feathers, spending time with Hayglow, ugly feathers.... Her face brightened. "I've seen some warriors and queens put feathers and soft things in their nests, what if we get some for momma? We can make it nice and soft and pretty!" She bounced on her paws joyfully, hoping that Muddykit agreed.

Muddykit sat back as the two siblings tried to think of what would make their momma happy. He was having trouble - all he could think about was how much he liked fighting and playing but Hayglow wasn't happy enough to do either of those so they wouldn't work. Hmmm... Finally Sunnykit started to bounce at his side, throwing out the idea of finding feathers and soft things. His eyes widen, jumping to his paws. "Sunnykit, that is brilliant!" he squeaked, before he glanced around the camp. But...Where would they find those soft things? They couldn't leave the camp - if they got into trouble, it would only make Hayglow more sad. And he got into trouble enough that he didn't want to risk that. "But where do we find them?" he questioned, before his eyes fell onto the fresh-kill pile. Oh! "Maybe we can scavenge around for what remains of meals? Or maybe sneak from feathers from a bird in the pile..." he added, his voice falling low. Besides, who would even care if their bird was down a few feathers, nobody ate them anyways! There had to be feathers scattered around the camp that hadn't been dealt with yet.

Muddykit's question shook Sunnykit from her victorious thoughts. "Ummm..." She mewed, ears flicking as she looked around the camp. If they left camp they would get in trouble.... Muddykit's voice broke her thoughts once again, and she brightened again. "Yes! That's a great idea, Muddykit! I'm sure the warriors won't mind, especially if we say it's for momma! We could look around where they eat first, and around the fresh kill pile for any loose ones. If we don't have enough, we can... We can take a bird to the elders!! I'm sure they'd let us have some feathers!" The little she-kit was bouncing on her paws again, slowly heading towards the fresh kill pile with each hop.

Muddykit's face brightened as his sister quickly agreed to his plan, straightening up to bask in the sense of joy it brought him. The fact that it seemed that the two had so easily solved their problem by working together...It meant that his plan had to work, right? They would get momma Hayglow so many feathers that she...She could toss out her moss nest and have a nest of just feathers! He bounded after his sister as they beelined their way toward the towards the fresh-kill pile. His heart sank the moment he saw that there weren't many birds. Right, they preferred rabbits and hares. They were soft but not what they were looking for. But there was one bird that caught his eye at least, mostly gray but its neck seemed to be pure white. "Okay, uh, you look over there-" he motioned toward one side of the fresh-kill pile with his tail as he spoke. "-And I'll take the other side. We can pile up the feathers and if we don't have enough, maybe we can drag that to the elder's den?" he noted, pointing out the bird they had spotted. It was a pretty big one but he was certain that the two of them together could get it to the elder's!

As they bounded towards the fresh-kill pile together, Sunnykit noted that there was a significant lack of birds. Rabbits and hares made up most of the pile, and she blinked as she circled further in an effort to find one. Surely there was one, right? There had to be! If not... They'd think of something else! She looked to Muddykit as he spoke up again and nodded. "Good plan!" Moving to the area he had pointed out, she searched for any feathers that were soft, and pretty. She found a good number of them, and piled them carefully together. Picking them up gently, she moved back to where Muddypaw was and set down her finds tenderly. "Here! These are soft and pretty, I found all the ones I could though.... How about you?"

The member 'Mosspelt' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6

Muddykit padded off to his side of the fresh-kill pile, snatching up any feather that caught his eye. At first, he thought he had found a lot but as he stopped by each one, he realized a lot had been discarded without care and wouldn't be useful for a gift. So, he keep looking and soon made his own pile but as he stood back to gaze upon it, e realized that it wasn't that big... He glanced up to see that Sunnykit was moving her pile towards him, having gotten slightly more but... His ears slicked back, worrying for a few heartbeats that perhaps this wasn't enough. He wanted to surprise Hayglow with the best surprise! They had gotten a few pawfuls of feathers but... His eyes drifted over to the bird in the pile, before he shook his head. "I found some! A lot of the ones I found were ruined but..." he glanced between their two piles. Maybe even if they didn't have enough to make a brand new nest for their momma...Maybe it was enough? "I-I think we got a good number between us. Should we get these to momma?"

Muddykit had his own pile, and as Sunnykit looked between the two she noticed all the ruined feathers among them. She hesitated for a moment, peering closely at the worst of the feathers before looking up to her brother. "I think this is a good start, at least. We can take them to her and see if she likes them, and then we can keep an eye out for more! We could clean up the worst ones, groom them like momma grooms us!" Pinning a feather under a small paw, the she-cat started to lick it before straightening, trying to spit out the sand that now stuck to her tongue. "Th-that was a bad idea." Lifting her paw, she ran it against her tongue to try to loosen the sand that clung to it. "On second thought, let's just get these to momma!" She scooped up half of the feathers, holding them carefully and let Muddykit lead the way back to the nursery. It was his idea, after all!