When Birch trees sprout in Mud... [closed]

The fluffy tom padded through ShadowClan's Territory and let out a yawn. Usually ShadowClan cats were predators of the night, but for some reason Mudfoot felt like a solo morning patrol since he'd woken up too early for anyone else's liking. So far he caught two voles and was on the look out for any squirrels or maybe some frogs that hadn't yet started hibernation.

Staying as quiet as, the warrior crouched low to the ground, making sure not to make a sound, for even the snap of a twig would alert any prey that was about. Opening his jaw, the tom finally caught the scent of a vole and snuck under some shrub, just in time to see it nibbling on a leaf. You're mine, he thought to himself with a smirk, happy that he was helping the clan and being useful instead of sleeping.

Preparing himself for the kill, the vole's head suddenly shot up in alarm at the sound of something and it scurried away faster than Mudfoot could get up to chase it. "Mousedung!" He hissed under his breath and crawled out from under the bush, looking around to see what had caused his prey to run away. Was it another piece of prey being clumsy? No... it smelt more like... a cat? "Hello?" Mudfoot meowed, unsheathing his claws and digging them into the dirt, not knowing what to expect.

The forest had the nipping of a cold coming winter, settling in over the evergreen and speckled deciduous trees a soft cold air swirled. The sun was beginning to reach it's highest point in the sky, giving little warmth to the dense forest that Shadowclan inhabited, most of the clan would be quiet, stowed away in their dens to catch up on sleep after stalking for prey and such most nights.

Small ears twitched in the cool air, a fluffy frame pondering through the forest clumsily, as though it had never been taught the lay of the land. A soft laugh came from the tiny feline, she moved quickly, chasing something... Something that seemed to float just out of her reach, seeing as she leaped and made haphazard lunges at trees and undergrowth that was taller than herself. After a bit of chasing what would be thought to be a butterfly, she seemed to give up, instead her attention was caught by something else, a vole scuttling among the foliage. She lowered herself to the ground, watched it, then quickly bound after it, stepping on twigs and throwing leaves into the air behind her. The vole, smart enough to hear her terrible attempt to catch it, quickly ran.

She watched as the vole vanished and went skidding to a stop, sat down and gave a small pout. "None of them want to play with me," She whined, her broken calico face turned into a sad sort of frown. Her short attention was then caught by the sound of another felines voice, to which she flattened herself, making movements to escape the males voice, or at least make herself less visible, if possible with a coat as white as hers was.

Turning around at a small meow, Mudfoot faced a cat around a kit's age. The small little bundle of white fur looked pretty terrified and he couldn't blame her. Being alone in the forest was definitely a scary situation to be in. Looking around, the tom wondered what a kit was doing in the middle of the forest, especially ShadowClan territory. Where is StarClan's name was it's mother? Making sure that no other cats were waiting to attack him when he let his guard down, Mudfoot relaxed when he was sure the coast was clear.

Looking back to the kit, the warmhearted tom sat down and tilted his head in a curious sort of way and let a smile rest on his muzzle, not wanting to look threatening. "Hello little one," he meowed softly. "Where might you be from?"

After a few moments her ears perked up a bit, he seemed to be no threat, but then again, this was the forest and for a kit her age, everything was a possible threat. The color-point kit gave a soft hiss, "M-mother will be back soon!" She lied. Her mother hadn't been back in about three days, perhaps she'd been attacked or captured sneaking across boarders to catch prey or some other terrible thing had happened to her. Or perhaps she'd thought she couldn't take care of Birch any longer and had left her somewhere close enough to a clan that they'd find her eventually.

The smile that occupied the toms face was calming, as was the many scents of cats that filled the air around him, clearly he was from the clan, or somewhere safe. "You don't eat kits... Do you?" She squeaked, her whole body tense as though she'd bolt right out into the forest if he said anything wrong. After a few more moments with the tom she seemed to have calmed a bit, the wafting scent of many cats was a calming thing for most kits, it made them feel secure, safe if at all possible.

It was obvious that the kit had no idea where its mother was and a pang of pity grabbed hold of his emotions. How could anyone just abandon a kit like this? Of course there was the possiblity that this kit's family was in danger or trapped somewhere, but the tom highly doubted that. Listening to the small cat, Mudfoot couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "No, I don't eat kits. If I did, my mouth would be full of fur!" he laughed. Eating fuzzy little creatures like kits was not on the tom's agenda and he couldn't even imagine the horrible thought of killing kits like that.

Trying to shake away the gruesome thoughts, the tom let his tail flick back and forth as he wondered what to say next. The kit hadn't really answered his question, so maybe she just didn't know. "Do you have a place that you're staying at?" he asked again.

For a moment she seemed skeptical, but as young as she was, feelings of doubt quickly passed. "I guess that makes sense," The she-kit purred, glancing over the toms maw to make sure his words matched his appearance. Her ears pricked at his pushing of the question, she wasn't really staying anywhere, she was told it wasn't good to stay in one place, it made her easy to find if there were foxes or other large predators that wouldn't mind a fuzzy little snack. "Uh... Not really anywhere, kind of everywhere, I'm not sure what a fox smells like, so I try to stay away from new smells when they get too close," She mewed softly, seeming a bit uncomfortable at the prodding.

The forest shook for a moment with the chilling of a breeze, before falling calm and peaceful once again, many scents of felines rose through the undergrowth both stale and fresh. The cool air caused the fluffy calico color-point to shiver for a brief moment, but she didn't seem to have minded the cool as she seemed sharp and still playful. "And you, you live somewhere close, lots of other cats are there too, I can smell them!" Her blue eyes, a true blue, not the grey-blue that young kittens have until their true eye color develops, shone bright in the undergrowth of Shadowclans territory. She seemed interested in the other cats, but something in the tone of her voice showed an uncertainty, as though she didn't know if she would want to go to that place.

Mudfoot's ears perked when he heard about foxes and couldn't help but shiver at the thought of those horrible creatures. Their beady eyes, sharp fangs, and odd stench, Mudfoot couldn't stand thinking about a kit in the jaws of those monsters. Trying to shake away the thoughts, his attention was back on the small cat. The tom was surprised that she knew when to run from strange scents and knew that something like that could be of use in the clan. Besides, she'd seemed like a pretty smart kit from the beginning, so maybe she already knew about clan life?

"Yes, I live with my clan which is ShadowClan," the tom meowed with a smile. Maybe she would want to join him and his clan mates instead of being out here, all alone? Excitement prickled through his pelt as he thought about the kit joining ShadowClan but he forced himself to calm down, not wanting to jump to conclusions and have his hopes let down. "We are one of five clans who all have cats in them," he started again. "Would you like to come back to the camp with me? I can explain everything about clan life to you and I bet you'll like it!" It was a somewhat far fetched question, but it was worth a shot.

Birchkit tilted her head to the side, lifted a leg and scratched behind her ear quickly, a bit of a nervous tick. The thought of being around a lot of cats made the kit both comforted and highly anxious, due to the nature of the few other cats she'd met, rude Kitty-pets who'd gotten loose and traveled far, only to make jokes about "getting" other cats and eating kits.

For a moment she seemed hesitant, giving thought to how her mother would find her through all the scents of the clan cats, but quickly the thought was no more, as she began to idolize her mother. Of course she'd be able to find her in the clan, she's the perfect mother! Plus, Starclan would obviously not lead a kit into danger. In her mind the whole thing made sense, it was all a plan from Starclan, her mother had taught her to be very religious and believe deeply in their ancestors.

"I'll go, my mother will be able to find me there no problem!" The kit meowed, a tone of certainty in her tiny voice. At the mention of learning about the clan her eyes widened, "You'll teach me all about it?" She seemed awed by it, obviously she'd heard somewhat about clans and knew that they were safe for almost all cats if they were part of that clan. As far as she knew, there were two clans, Shadowclan and Thunderclan, her mother had told her of those two, never mentioning the other three that lay beyond their reach.

Mudfoot nodded his head. "Yes, I'll explain everything on the way to camp," he meowed with a smile upon his muzzle, standing up and giving his back legs a stretch. He couldn't wait for the kit to come back to camp with him and hoped they kit would be accepted without questions. Turning around, he took a few steps and waited for the kit to follow him.

OOC: I'd love to rp with ya more but really busy with other stuff, so maybe let's finish this up?

She followed quickly, sticking close to the tom for fear of other animals in the area.

(OOC: Sorry for the super long time away, I had to get a new laptop, my old one died x.x)

OOC: No worries. Also, time skip ;D

IC: As the two made their way through the forest, Mudfoot explained everything to the small kit in hopes that she'd be able to understand. Kits were known to forget things faster than you could meow rabbit, and so the tom kept everything short and sweet. The pair finally made it too camp and he looked down at the kit. "Welcome to ShadowClan."

Her eyes grew big at the sight of the camp, there were many felines around, some sunbathing, others sharing tongues or prey, the camp was much larger than the small kitten had thought and the openness of it surprised her. For a bit she just stood in awe, but seemed to come back to her senses after a moment and crouched. "Everyone here is friend?" She seemed concerned as she caught the glances of a few who seemed intrigued by a warrior going out to hunt and returning with a kitten.

Mudfoot nodded when Birchkit asked a question. "Yes, everyone here is a friend, and although we might not get along at times, we're always be loyal to our clan," the russet tom meowed, although part of him doubted the last part. After what happened with the DarkForest, Mudfoot felt as if it was hard to trust cats these days, even if they were in the same clan.