Cat Watching [Open]

Ebonykit laid just outside the nursery, the feather he had so valiantly hunted a few minutes before held between his paws. His feathery tail flicked with interest as he chewed at it, the down getting stuck to his sandpaper tongue and becoming frazzled. His attention would periodically shift upward from his prey to watch the cats walk in and out of camp. Some had prey, others were talking in a group, one or two were alone like he was. It was interesting to watch cats go about their day, allowing him to visualize their lives and what they were doing. He was sure one cat was super excited about the mouse they caught from the way they were prancing with it. The cat next to them was feigning happiness, empty-pawed from their own hunt.

He was excited to do that too, to leave the camp and have his own adventures. Even if he missed every prey item he tried to catch, it would be interesting to walk along the river or see what was beyond camp. However, that thought left him with a bit of guilt in his stomach, fidgeting with his feather. He should be glad for what he had, he shouldn't be so hasty to leave camp. He would be an apprentice soon anyway in a few moons, there was no need to rush. Ebonykit's sharp kitten teeth nipped at the feather once more, continuing to ruin its deep black down.

Scarletriver sat at the edge of camp, bored as could be.  She stared out the entrance, debating whether or not she wanted to go out to hunt and risk the dogs.  She hated that the twolegs had to come and of course bring their stupid dogs to hunt with them, making food scarce and a never true feeling of safety.  Even now as a warrior, it all seemed to be frightening to leave by herself, she still remembered when she was a kit.  However, the growing strive to prove herself worthy of her parents love and pride continuously made her want to do something big.  Something that could show how worthy she really wanted to be.

After a while, she simply decided against it and spun around back to camp.  She walked through the camp and noticed a kit sitting by himself.  She walked up to him with a kind smile across her face.  She decide that it could not hurt to talk to this kit and it might help to cure her great boredom.  "Hello," she said kindly.  She noticed that she did not know this cat.  "What is your name?"

Ebonykit's oversized ears flicked as a cat approached him, lifting his head from his feather. The she was unfamiliar, but friendly-looking, prompting him to return her kind expression with a polite smile of his own. "Hello," he responded, his voice soft yet squeaky with youth. He sat up, keeping his feather close underpaw as his tail curled around himself.

Despite his rampant eavesdropping, he hadn't seen much of this cat before. He usually preferred to watch the older warriors, busy with essential duties that he didn't quite understand yet. They were boring to listen in on, especially since most of it went over his head, but it made him feel older and important to overhear them. "I'm Ebonykit, what's your name?" While he usually preferred to sit and watch, talking to another cat did sound nice. It was probably for the better to have his own conversation than to listen to someone else's.

"I'm Scarletriver," she responded. She noticed the feather he kept under his paw. She wondered what she should say next or if this cat even wanted to talk to her. There were certain days were she slightly enjoyed the company of other cats and other days she wanted nothing to do with them. "What were you doing?" She asked, curious.

"Nothin', watching everyone else I guess." Ebonykit shrugged, his eyes shifting briefly back to the clan. "A lot of cats have been staying inside camp, there's a lot to listen to." He was mostly unaware of the dangers that lay outside the camp walls, born during the two-leg invasion and knowing no different. Thin cats and talks of caution before a hunt were all normal to Ebonykit, oblivious of the severity of the problem at hand.

"I found this really cool feather though. I think it's from a crow," he chirped, genuinely proud of his catch. He pushed it toward the she-cat in front of him, excited to show it off. Crows were the only black birds he knew of, though the iridescent shine to it would tell a more experienced cat it was actually from a magpie. "I kinda ruined it while I was hunting it, but you shoulda've seen it before. It was really pretty."

Scarletriver looked at the feather curiously.  She was pretty sure that is was not a crow feather, but decided to not say anything.  She nodded at it.  "It's still pretty," she assured him.  She thought for a moment about what next to say.  For her, keeping conversations going was always hard for her.  "When are you going to be an apprentice?"  She asked, then realized that she could have just said "how old are you" and felt bad about how she should have said it better.

Ebonykit didn't skip a beat before responding, the answer having sat in his head for quite a while. "About two moons. I'm excited to get outside and start training. I wanna hunt real things." He pawed his feather for emphasis. As proud as he was for catching it, it didn't move unless he purposefully knocked it around. He wanted something with a bit more challenge that could help the clan.

"You're lucky. You have the whole outside to explore in! There must be a lot of feathers out there."

"There are quite a few feathers, yes."  She said with a slightly laugh.  Not a mocking laugh, but just a laugh remembering how excited she had been too.  "But don't worry, you're going to be able to go out of camp really soon."  She honestly at first assumed that this kit was younger, so she was happy that she asked instead of just assuming.  She remembered counting down the days until she could be an apprentice, even if no one knew about that but her.  "What would be the first thing that you'd want to do as an apprentice?"

He purred quietly at her Scarletriver's reassurance. Two moons seemed like an eternity when he had only lived through four, his apprenticeship half a lifetime away. However, the she-cat was right. He had already made it two-thirds of the way there, he just needed to wait just a bit longer before he could start training.

Her question made him pause in thought. In his excitement to leave the camp and start his apprenticeship, he didn't really consider what he wanted to do first. It was hard to choose when he wanted to do everything at once. "Um... I wanna go exploring. I wanna see the whole of Riverclan!" That seemed fitting, to do the total opposite of being stuck in camp. "Then maybe catch a bird. I wanna fill my nest with feathers."

"What did you do first? As an apprentice, I mean." The question was spawned both out of curiosity and possibly for suggestions. If her first day as an apprentice sounded fun, he might shamelessly steal it to gain the same experience... if his future mentor didn't already have plans that day.

"You'll definitely be able to catch a bird!"  She told him.  The next question made her think.  It was a while ago, that was for sure.  "I only did boring stuff after becoming an apprentice."  She told him with a laugh.  It was true, she did not do too much.  "After I became Scarletpaw, I think I stayed mostly in camp."  She loved hearing "congratulation" that so many cats would say after she got her apprentice name, even if she never knew how to respond.  "Until the day after. Then I went exploring the territory with my mentor"

Ebonykit's large ears drooped a bit, as though his head couldn't bear the weight of them after hearing her first day had been boring. Would his be boring too? He didn't want to wait a day before doing anything fun. However, he was quick to remind himself to be patient and grateful. Being too ambitious or greedy could be unhealthy... though no cat would call a kit excited for his apprenticeship greedy except his own internalized fears.

"Was the territory fun though? Is there anything cool out there?" With the current lockdown, he had never seen beyond the river that circled the camp. Elders told stories, but they were usually of history or fables to teach lessons, nothing as mundane as a strange tree or a beautiful flower field. That's what he truly wanted, just a change of scenery.

"It is really fun," she said remembering the first time she saw the territory.  "It's also really big.  When I first went out I found it pretty overwhelming."  She quietly laughed to herself.  When she was a kit it was all about what imagining what the big territory would look like and anxiously waiting until she got the first taste of freedom, going out to explorer.  Now, as a warrior, it seemed pretty normal.  "Although I will warn you to stay away from the river for right now.  There are some dogs there."

"Oh!" Ebonykit gawked, things starting to click into place in his head. Was that why everyone was stuck inside? "Dogs are really big scary things, right? Big teeth?" Perhaps a bit of an understatement, but elder stories didn't go into too much detail about the damage they could do. In his head, he was picturing a cat-like creature the size of a bear with absurdly long fangs. Still frightening, but not accurate at all. "What are they doing there? Can they even fit in the river?" Fishing was the first thing to come to mind, but he couldn't imagine how much fish it would take to feed a dog! Probably one hundred or more!

"Yes," she responded to the first question.  "They are here with their twoleg owners.  I don't know exactly why, but they have been hunting our food."  She wished that they did not come at all.  Food was harder to catch and every time she went out of camp she was afraid of them.

OOC: Sorry it's short!

Ebonykit glanced towards the entrance of camp, as though he was waiting for a dog to burst through at any moment. However, of course, none did. For now anyway, perhaps they just haven't found it yet. He shuddered at the thought, choosing to push it out of his mind before the came to the queens with nightmares. "Scary..." he murmured. "Hopefully they go away when they're full. It's polite to share but I don't think they understand how sharing works." Sharing was when two cats got an equal amount of something they both want, but the dogs seemed to be taking more than half. And hurting cats. Sharing definitely didn't include hurting cats.