Rays of Sunshine on Stormy Days [c]

Iriskit stumbled away from the well-intentioned but ultimately futile attempts at grooming from one of the nursery Queens in an attempt to get her to calm down. Sure, she might have been being a bit excitable in her play with the other kits, yes she might have ended up eating mud more than a few times from missing in her pounces, but she was just fine, thank you very much. Shaking off the freshly groomed feeling, she trotted away from the queen to go find herself a playmate. Playtime was only over when everyone was asleep, and she certainly wasn't asleep yet.

Unfortunately for her, many of the other kits in the den were, in fact, asleep, tuckered out from the rough play and general atmosphere of sleepy calm that the rain brought. She couldn't wake them up- she'd been told off one too many times to make that mistake again, thanks- so she had to find some other way to occupy her time. She glanced back deeper in the nursery for a moment in consideration, before flicking her ears in disagreement. No, she wouldn't bother the queens, she'd just get told to take a nap or pulled into another grooming session again. (For some reason, whenever she encountered one of the queens outside of feedings, they always insisted on grooming her. Granted, this might have been due to how disheveled and dirty she was about 50% of the time, but it was still bothersome to have to sit still for that long.) No thanks.

Instead, she cast her gaze to the outdoors. She was momentarily mesmerized watching the effect of rain on the world. She'd not been awake for all that long and had only experienced two rains before this. Every experience still felt just as new and exciting as the first one had. But no, she knew what rain was like. Had bound about in it, enjoying the wet feeling dripping down her short fur. Rain wasn't new, even if it was exciting.

What was new was the cat that sat a short ways away, seemingly content to lounge in the protection of the reeds near the nursery. The pair made brief eye contact, as he seemed to have been absently watching the nursery.

And with that eye contact came something new and exciting. A cat to introduce herself to! Excited, Iriskit bound out in the rain, her progress a bit unsteady with how small she was and how slick the ground was with rain, but determined nonetheless as she approached the tom.

"Hi! I'm Iriskit! You're the first cat I've ever introduced myself to! Mom's usually the one who introduces me to other cats, but she's in the Nursery with everyone else right now I think and I wanted to introduce myself for once. I'm Iriskit! What's your name? What're you doing here? *Gasp* Are you a Warrior, freshly returned from battle, come to rest and contemplate life in the heart of home?"

"Oooooh, I see, not a warrior yet," Iriskit nodded. "But you're still gonna be a warrior really soon! That's still super exciting! I'm gonna be a warrior one day too! Or, an apprentice first. Like you! I'm super duper excited to be an apprentice one day. I'm gonna get so much food that nobody'll ever go hungry ever, because being hungry feels bad. Why's your name Stormpaw though if you don't like storms? That's funny. Maybe you should be Sunnypaw instead? Or, or-" she glances around, eyes landing on the shell he's holding."-or what's that? Is that a rock? That's a really pretty rock, I didn't know they could look like that." Iriskit batted at the ground near the shell, not quite touching it, but close to it. She seemed to have quite a bit of trouble keeping still or focusing, even for a kit, but she was clearly fascinated by Stormpaw as a whole.

Iriskit nodded pseudo-solemnly at all the information. That all made sense. Her tail flicked again in enthusiasm at getting her questions answered so seriously. Most other cats- both older ones and ones her age- just tried to distract and derail her for long enough to walk away when she asked so many questions, put the patience and indulgence was very kind. Though the rain itself was a bit cold, she felt a little bit warmer on the inside.

She glanced at the tom's chest before looking up at the sky, and up and up before falling on her back with a small squeak as she looked up. Rather than both with standing back up, she rolled about until her head was facing Stormpaw, though upside down as she looked back and forth between his chest and the sky. "Yeah, I think I see it, that makes sense! Maybe it is a good name then. My mom chose my name because she likes flowers, but she says that it's become super appropriate for some reason. I don't know why or what that means, but that's how I've got my name," she explained, paws kneading idly at the air.

"A shell..." She looked at it with all of her upside down glory, eyes sparkling a little bit. "It sure is really pretty. Your friend sounds super nice! Momma hasn't let me get too close to the River yet- she thinks I'll fall in, but I think I'd be a great swimmer! Does it really help you feel better? Is it like medicine, but that you don't eat or spread? How does it make you feel better?" she asked.

Iriskit's paws continued their steady knead of the air happily. "I get it, it's like carrying a piece of home around with ya all the time. Being home is some of the best medicine, it always makes me feel better."

With that, she stopped kneading the air and flipped back over onto her paws, almost prancing in place. "Aaah, I hope I get to be an apprentice soon! Home is great, but there's so much more out there to see and touch and smell and taste and do! I wanna go into the River for real and catch all of the fish!" she proclaimed, stomping a paw in declaration.

"Well, not all the fish, because then there wouldn't be any fish left ever, but like a whole bunch of fish! Have you learned to swim yet? Have you caught any fish? Do you like bein' an apprentice?" She gasps. "Can you give me apprentice tips so I can get a headstart?"

Iriskit paused for only a moment at the easy acceptance of her request before a high quick chirrup of joy escaped her as she darted closer to Stormpaw's side.

"Yes! Yes, hunting, I think!" she proclaimed. "I wanna make sure everyone eats well all the time, and the best way to do that is by hunting!" She made for a little pounce at a nearby leaf, to punctuate her claim, landing neatly atop it with her claws out. She grew distracted for a moment tearing the leaf apart, but quickly recovered herself and sat before Stormpaw, looking a bit sheepish. "At least, I think it is. I'll be honest, I don't know what all apprentices and warriors do outside of get food for everybody and protect the Clan and be super cool, so I kinda focused on those things. What does Owlshriek teach you? Is he nice?"

Iriskit listened intently, fixing her posture a little bit as Stormpaw took the time to teach her. Her tail flicked a bit absently. This was amazing! It was like she was already an apprentice! An apprentice to an apprentice. An... apprentice's apprentice? Junior Apprentice? Apprentice in training? Her ear twitched a bit at the thought before she crinkled her nose a bit paying more active attention to Stormpaw. Focus! She couldn't get distracted, it would be rude and disrespectful. She had to be honorable, like a warrior.

As Stormpaw's claws latched into the moss ball, Iriskit's pupils constricted, staring dead at the ball as the tom tossed it up into the air, watching it fall back down. When he rolled the moss ball back to her, she instinctively lowered herself into a crouch, preparing to pounce and bat the ball around. But Stormpaw's instruction caught in her mind, and she managed to stop herself from launching at it. This wasn't play time, it was training! She had to listen to Stormpaw and do it right. She lifted herself a bit from her crouch and began to stalk the moss ball, picturing it as a little fish wriggling in the water (not too difficult a feat with the rain making everything so wet). She kept her steps light, each paw placement very precise and careful as she slowly approached the moss fish, unsuspecting of its fate. Her tail flicked once. Twice. And then with all the might her little body could muster, she batted the moss ball into the air with a paw.

Being as small and young as she was, the ball didn't travel very far, only going just a bit above her head as opposed to the seeming miles Stormpaw had managed to toss it. But in the process of tossing it, instead of tossing it straight up like Stormpaw had managed, she had tossed it slightly behind her. Panicked at how little time she had to move from the small toss, she simply reacted. Rearing up on her hind paws, she caught the moss ball between her forepaws and brought it down to her chest. But she had risen too quickly- she lost balance from her stance and fell on her back with a small squeak of startle.

She stared for a moment up at the sky before turning her head to face Stormpaw. "Like that? Did I do it?"