The Best Dreams Happen When You're Awake

The queens were outside the nursery, and Darkkit had come with them and the rest of the kits holed up in there. It was kind of dark and boring and cramped and he needed to breath. But still, the sleek kit moved not far from his mother, moving in slow, small circles around her. The camp was large, too large. There were so many other cats and it was kind of overwhelming. But he knew he'd have to get used to it, this was what he was growing up in. Cats ran by, some walked, the elders were nearby sharing stories and generally mumbling and grumbling about how old they were and how annoying that was. It made Darkkit want to laugh. What silly old cats.

But he knew he musn't bug them. So he stayed near. The other kits were zigzagging amongst the legs of the others that came and went, wandered and talked. It was generally a buzz of activity, and it sort of frightened Darkkit. The young kit sat, crouched, close to the ground, watching everything from there. He knew he was taller than most of the other kits, but he didn't really like that. Sure, it would make him feel better to not be so short, but he still wouldn't be able to see over the other cats, and that frightened him. So the only solution was to watch between their legs.

It was fascinating, the way the warriors were given orders, went on patrols, trained their apprentices. Sadly, he had a long way to go before his name became Darkpaw. But it sounded nice. It made him think further ahead. What would his warrior name be? Darknight? Darkflight? Darkwing? Darkriver? There were endless possibilities and they all made his head swim and fuzz and go berserk and he got dizzy and before he knew it he was dragged back down to camp by the mewlings and laughings of the other kits playing around him. He liked to ignore them. Though his siblings enjoyed pestering him. They learned to leave him alone after a while.

The life of a kit was simple. Too simple, if you asked him. But no one did. Although, there was a nice looking piece of moss being kicked around by the busy warriors and other cats wandering. No, it was a mouse. Darkkit's bored crouch became a low stalk, his rear wriggled and his shoulders shuffled. He'd heard the key was light on the feet. He knew he was light. Or was he? That was something he'd convinced himself he was, but there had been no one to tell him if this was so. Oh well, it wasn't an actual mouse, anyway. He leapt.

MidnightPaw noticed the little kit stalk towards the mossball, he looked at the little kit with interest. He's pretty good.

The moss hadn't moved in a few seconds, so the mouse that he was pretending it was was nibbling on some food or something. But Darkkit suddenly felt the pressure of eyes on him and his flicked to see who it was. The older cat was kind of creeping him out, but he knew that he wasn't in danger, they were clanmates, they wouldn't hurt each other. No one would attack a kit. But when he flicked his eyes back to the moss ball, it had moved.

"Mouse dung," he cursed under his breath, turning course and making way toward it there. His method wasn't perfect, his steps heavier than he imagined them. But he was a kit, not yet old enough to learn the proper hunting style. Darkkit knew he wasn't perfect, but he had to practice. He needed to make his clan proud.

The little ball rolled this way and that, suddenly the mess of cats thickened slightly and the ball was out of sight, caught on a paw until the cat reached the exit and realized that it was there. There came a small grumble from Darkkit's throat, but he sighed and turned away from the prey that might have been his. Instead he sat up as tall as he could manage and began to shake off the dust on his coat. He liked the dark color, and the dust was in the way.

Midnightpaw found another mossball near his paw. He flicked it toward Darkkit.

A small presence landed at the feet of the stock straight cat and he glanced down in curiosity. The sight of the new moss ball startled him and he glanced up to see the apprentice that had been watching him, still watching him, and slightly looking like he expected Darkkit to play with it again. In all truth, the playful edge in Darkkit was peeked when he saw the moss ball, but he took the offer of kindness the wrong way and thought this cat wanted to watch him play. That was a little creepy and he didn't really want to play, anyway.

So he pawed the thing back in Midnightpaw's direction and tilted his head as if to say 'no thanks.' But it was getting tiring just sitting there and watching the busy cats surge around him. He wondered why Midnightpaw had nothing to do and kept shyly glancing over at the older cat in curiosity. Eventually, the sense to ask questions took him over. He padded slowly and warily over to Midnightpaw.

"Why aren't you busy doing something?" He'd seen the cat in the apprentices den, so he knew that he was definitely an apprentice. "Is your mentor too busy? Or did they give you a break?" He didn't know that cats got big breaks, sure they normally did at night time when they were allowed to sleep, but this cat seemed in no way worried that his mentor would come over to ask him to help him with something. He had heard when apprentices got bored they had to give the elder's new bedding. Maybe it was a myth. But he still stared with intense curiosity at the grey cat in front of him.

Firepaw came over and joined Midnightpaw.
"Hi," she said.

In the middle of his spewing questions, another cat came up and joined them. Looked like it was 'free the apprentices' day. Darkkit looked confusedly at this cat too. But he guessed that there were enough cats in camp they didn't all need to do something. That made sense. A patrol walked into camp as they spoke and a patrol to replace them walked out only seconds later. Alright, so no apprentices being needed. So maybe his questions were a little out of place. Whatever. He sat up and looked down at his paws. Not out of embarrassment, but out of something to look at. Staring at these cats was a little creepy.

The other cat had said hi. Was that to him or to the first apprentice? Or was it to both? Darkkit couldn't tell, so he just nodded his head by way of greeting and hoped that this wouldn't be too rude or a bad assumption. He disliked assuming things and being wrong. That was part of the reason he didn't want to come up to the first cat in the first place, he was sure his questions would be bad to be asked and he didn't want that. But still, he sat and waited for some kind of answer in case it came.

"Oh. Hello Farpaw." He smiled at the older apprentice. "I'm just relaxing. I miss being a kit sometimes." He looked down at Darkkit ."you're pretty shy, aren't you?"

Neither cat really introduced themselves, though he caught the name of the cat that approached just a few minutes ago. But he wasn't sure if he had heard right. He probably didn't really need it. Maybe later, when he was an apprentice and they'd be in the same den together for a while. Then names would be more important.

Missed being a kit. Darkkit was sure that that was true, he saw what they had to do (well, for the most part) and how they almost never got breaks. It wasn't as bad as warriors, who got most of the work since they were fully trained and knew what they were doing. But he sort of understood from watching that not getting a chance to sit still could get annoying. He loved sitting still when he wanted to. Working or playing was also very tiring, so he nodded his head at the apprentices comment, visibly agreeing.

This nodding stopped when the cat asked about him being shy. Who would just outright ask a stupid question like that? For one thing, it would be obvious he was if they spent more time together and he was more open as they talked. For another thing, pointing out or asking a cat if they were shy ruffled Darkkit's fur a little bit in the wrong direction. "What makes you ask that?" He wondered with his noes in the air. He didn't really want an answer, but there was a very likely chance he would get one.

He smiled at the young kit. "Well I'm just trying to get to know you. My name is Midnightpaw and this-" he motions to firepaw. "Is Firepaw."