Dattebayo! [OPEN]

What happened when kits were out unsupervised? They got in trouble, that's what. Darkkit was about 4 moons old, old enough to probably know better than to do what he was doing but still lacking the good sense to never ever do it. His mischievous side had gotten the better of him today, and once he saw the medicine cat leave to go herb gathering, he slipped out of the nursery and ducked into it. Why wouldn't he? So many interesting smells were rolling out of the entrance just teasing his nose and tugging on his curiosity. He stepped lightly and quietly so he wouldn't wake up the sleeping patients inside. It wouldn't do to have them yell at him. He approached the cracks containing the herbs (hoo boy did they reek) and reached in and hooked a few with his claws. The moisture in the air caused the herbs to bleed a little, staining his toes with greens and browns. He used his other paw and pulled out... berries? Dried berries? He squished one undertoe by accident, staining his other paw in a blackish purple.

Seeing them leave a streak on the floor of the medicine den, his ears pricked forward in curiosity. Slowly... his eyes narrowed at them and a smile crossed his face. He grabbed a few more, not entirely understanding what the harm was in taking the herbs and berries. The medicine cat was out to get more of these things anyway. After his paws were sufficiently covered in leaf and berry juices, he bolted outside and immediately swiped his paws all over everything that he could. Streaks of browns, greens and dark purples covered several surfaces, one including the leader's den. Because of the snow on the ground, there was a lovely colorful trail to follow from the medicine right to... Darkkit.

He debated finding his siblings and including them in his frenzied graffiti spree, though something inside him told him that might be a bad idea. Stars knew that Comfreykit was the Ruiner of Fun. She'd probably just tell him to stop. Maybe Eveningkit would want in on this! He scampered back to the nursery with the intent of telling his brothers at least what he'd done. Maybe they'd join in! ... Until a voice hollered at him and he stopped in his tracks. "Oh great..." He muttered under his breath.

"Darkkit!" Atalante's whiskers twitched with barely suppressed laughter as she'd spotted him making his way back toward the nursery. He and his siblings were her half-siblings, though she'd been careful to keep that fact hidden from them and tried to keep herself inconspicuous. She'd mostly watched them all from a distance so far, but now seemed like a good opportunity to interact as any. She wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of half-siblings still, but it wasn't their fault. She'd protect them just as Klaus had ordered her to.

"What have you gotten into, kit?" Herbs, it seemed, as there was quite the trail leading from the medicine den to a few spots around camp... Clearly made by Darkkit's paws. "I'd offer not to tell, but I think others will notice that faster than I can speak."

Comfreykit peeked her head outside the nursery in search of Darkkit, and to her surprise finding him running around camp making a mess. All over the camp were various shades of green, brown, and.. purple? Where in Starclan would he get purple? Unless.. Comfreykit could figure out from the herbs in her brother's claws that he had stolen from the medicine den, but could she believe it? Nothing she had seen of him suggested he was so reckless like this. Maybe he doesn't know, she hoped, padding toward the duo-colored tabby.

She opened her maw, preparing to tell him what he'd done wrong, but she paused. The she-kit didn't want to be a buzzkill again. What if Darkkit got mad at her? But.. this is wrong. He's done a bad thing. Thunderclan needed those herbs.

Her thoughts quickly cleared up as she saw someone approach Darkkit, maybe a bit too quickly. Perhaps she wanted to leave the troubling moral questions for another day. Comfreykit walked up next to Darkkit, her tail brushing against his flank was her only greeting this time. She was careful to avoid his paws, preferring to keep hers clean. Literally and figuratively.

She hadn't caught whatever they were speaking about before, but assumed the topic was Darkkit's mischief. The she-kit decided to try picking her words wisely. "I hope you don't get in trouble for that Darkkit," she told her brother, "I wouldn't want you stuck in the nursery for the rest of your life." She pawed her brother's ear just so he knew she was being playful. Comfreykit wanted to neither scold nor encourage him. She just had to hope he'd learn his lesson.

Darkkit turned his head to look at Featherpaw, the... entirely too big to still be an apprentice... apprentice. He was immediately surprised by her willingness to cover for him. Why would she do that? Before he could ponder it too much further, the Ruiner of Fun Herself came out of the nursery. Mousedung! He would have liked to include Eveningkit in this but he couldn't with her around. Featherpaw probably wouldn't offer to cover for him too... would she?

"Minnowfin and Stoatstar wouldn't do that to me." He said, sounding very confident. "The medicine cat is out getting more of them anyway. What's the big deal?" Despite his confidence and his words, he began to try to more or less scrub his paws clean on the snow. It sort of helped, but in exchange he got very cold and wet paws that were still lightly stained.

"I'm sure it will come off eventually." He flicked his tail at the stains covering the camp dismissively. He sat down and began to try to lick his paws dry. Not clean because that would mean he had to acknowledge that he may have done something dumb. Just dry, because cold, wet paws were annoying.

...

Yuck, these herbs had a bitter taste to them. Thankfully the taste wasn't too powerful now that it had been diluted down from the snow and from wiping most of it all around camp. Once he felt like he was done, he turned to pay attention to Featherpaw. "So what's being an apprentice like, Featherpaw? How much prey have you caught? What predators have you killed? Have you fought any rogue cats?" He could barely contain the excitement in his tone. He couldn't wait to be an apprentice... and then a warrior after that!

The nursery was so boring!

His sister (Ata was pretty sure) was smart to try not to get any of the... whatever herb... on herself. "Him getting into trouble isn't up to me. And you're Comfreykit, right?" She asked.

The kit turned to lick his paws, and Atalante sighed. "You should probably be careful. You don't know what herbs do what and neither do I. And I'm sure the medicine cat wouldn't appreciate his stores being rummaged through." She admonished gently.

"Training is... Something, I suppose. If I never have to see another raccoon, I'll be happy. We fought off four of them in one day just trying to catch a few squirrels! They're everywhere." She responded to the question, "Starlingflare is my mentor. Even he couldn't believe how many we keep running into." Talking about being an apprentice might distract the kits from getting into more trouble, at least.

It was the trail of colour Littlekit noticed first. Her eyes followed it to Darkkit licking his paws. Neither Comfreykit or Featherpaw seemed bothered, but... 

"What... happened?" the tiny kit asked softly, and her face didn't know whether to be serious or laugh. The smell was strong, and it looked like Darkkit had painted the camp with every herb in the medicine den. "You probably shouldn't lick that off!?" she mewed in alarmed agreement with Featherpaw.

A second later, Littlekit's mouth dropped open, "That's so many!" mewed the tiny golden tabby with genuine horror, "are there more raccoons in the forest than squirrels?" Her heart raced from all the excitement, and... she was definitely going to have nightmares about RaccoonClan. "I'll fight them!" she mewed,  deep blue-green eyes narrowed determinedly.