The first blossoms of... love? [Open;; max 3 cats]

Emotions were difficult for Otterpaw.

The loss of his father, Crowclaw, after such a distant relationship left the tom feeling awkward in his attempts of expressing himself. He had no tom to model himself after, and his mother, Tawnystorm, was amazing but also busy as a warrior and a mother to his sister. He didn't want to worry her, she always seemed so busy or tired, it felt unfair to burden her with his silly feelings. It was better to kept them buried, keep the fluttering in his chest when he gazed upon Shellpaw a secret. After all, she was beautiful and realistically, he had no chance. He saw the way she looked at Sleetpaw, all starry-eyed.

He'd have a better chance wooing a fox. And as dramatic as it sounded, in this moment, he couldn't help feel as though he was destined to die alone with only Frogpaw and Ashpaw to keep him company.

"It's just you and me, I guess." Otterpaw meowed to the rock beside him in camp.

Silentkit slipped from behind the rock she had used as shade and flattened her ears to her head, annoyed. She was taking a nap, but now there was this emo apprentice and she just... Anyway, the Tuxedo she-cat gazed at the sad tom with greenish eyes. 

"True, true." the kit said and layed down at the paws of the appprentice, resting her head on his paws, like on the pillows of moss in the nursery.

Otterpaw startled at Silentkit's sudden words from behind him. The mostly white tabby fluffed up in surprise before licking his fur down aggressively once he realised it was just a kit. "Shouldn't you be in the nursery?" The apprentice meowed, looking mildly embarrassed and annoyed. He should have known better, there was no privacy in camp.

Silentkit sighted and shook her head. Staying in the nursery was mlidly qnnoying for the she-kit. All those mews and shuffle wee just unpleasant most of the time. "Nah, the nursery's boring." she huffed, settling herself in a more comfortable position on the apprentice's paws.

(If you don't have anyone in mind and yoiu don't mind the age gap, would you have them mates? Just sayin')

ooc;; ayyy bun, i like your moxie. on one condition tho, please pick a more readable colour. my old eyes are dying and if we're gonna be mates, i'm gonna have to read her speech a lot ;P

Seeing as she made herself quite comfortable on his paws, the tom resigned himself to being her pillow. Settling down once more, he groomed her gently with his raspy tongue, wriggling his nose when her soft, downy kit fur tickled his nose. "Being an apprentice isn't much better, Silentkit. Getting ticks off Mistfeather is hardly fun. I bet you, you're going to regret not spending all your kithood resting. Thistleblaze is a tough mentor."

OOC: K, ;P

Silentkit nodded dreamily, thinking about how her life as an apprentice would even be. Surely, it would be fun to be around some older and more mature cats than the kits in the nursery. "I can handle." she murmurred up to Otterpaw. Maybe she would ask the tom to be some help when she becomes an apprentice as well, seeing as her other friend, Flintkit, has gotten himself chosen to be a medicine cat. A sharp thought crossed the kit, that they might never share the same bond again.

"Your mother is Tawnystorm, right?" she remembered the she-cat faintly from her adoptive father's stories, Smokeface, but she never saw the cat in person.

Squirrelkit had been deciding whether or not to wander away towards Thunderclan, which she'd heard about thanks to the elders a little earlier that day. It sounded rather nice to her, as she'd gotten lost many, many other times before, as most of the cats in Riverclan—and, daresay, a few other clans—knew.

Then she'd overheard Silentkit and Otterpaw talking.

Squirrel had attempted to eavesdrop on the conversation behind a rock, but of course that hadn't worked out for her. A leaf had startled the tabby kit and she'd run, tail tucked between her legs, to the rock where Otterpaw lay grooming Silentkit. It was then only that she realized it was simply a leaf.

"Erm. Hi." the kit began, looking up at the two sheepishly. Her ear flicked, slightly embarrassed, as she noticed it maybe wasn't the best moment to barge in on them.

"I'm going to hold you to that." The tom uttered lazily, tail flicking back and forth behind him as he continued to slowly groom her. Though his dreary soliloquy had been interrupted by her, he couldn't help appreciate her sudden intrusion now that he'd accepted that he would get no privacy around here. His thoughts before had been negative, and the sort of thing that got cats down in the dumps. It was nice to be in the presence of someone who took life a little more lightly. "Mhm, Tawnystorm. And yours is Morningfog, isn't it. I remember them taking you in. I was newly apprenticed then." Otterpaw thought back to seeing her in the nursery for the first time, he'd come to see his sister, Ashpaw, when he first saw her. He was about to comment on something or other, but then Squirrelkit interrupted him. Apparently, today was the day he got swarmed by kits. "Oh. Hello, Squirrelkit. Nice day... Want to join us?"

Silentkit half nodded half frowned at the menton of Morningfog, since she wasn't really her daughter, only adpoted. And that's mainly the reason she felt a bit awkward, mostly because along that warm family of four, she was a third wheel, somehow. Doing her best to deny those thoughts, Silentkit returned to the present and looked up just in time to catch Squirellkit coming over. "Hay, Squirellkit." she meowed simlpy to her step-sister, wondering how the older cat would pull herself out of the awkward situation she was in.

"Ah," Squirrelkit began slowly, and then perked up, a lightbulb visibly brightening above her head.
"Do—Do you know where Thunderclan is?" her tongue swiped over her muzzle casually. "The elders were talking about it earlier," she added. "If ya tell me, I'll go away. And then you can have your…" she looked over the two, nose wrinkled. "Free time."

Pausing in his grooming of Silentkit, Otterpaw frowned at Squirrelkit's words, a suspicious glint in his eyes as he looked over the little kit that seemed too eager to get directions and leave. Narrowing his eyes, the mostly white tom meowed cautiously. "ThunderClan live in the forest over there." He jerked his muzzle in the direction of the thickly wooded land that bordered their current camp of Sunningrocks. "They're foxhearts, the lot of them. I met some once, they were quick to insult us, trying to steal prey and argue that Sunningrocks was rightfully theirs. They're more rogues than warriors, I wouldn't go near them. Code-breakers the lot of them. I wouldn't be surprised if they killed a stray kit for fun."

Squirrelkit's eyes grew wider as the patched apprentice spoke. But, coincidentally, they weren't wide with fear.
They, of course, were wide with excitement and mischief.
"Great!" she cheered, eyes sparkling. "I—" the tabby paused, ear cocked.

Somewhere, a hawk called.

"That must…be…ah, Morningfog calling me!" she told them seriously, a whisker twitching. "I, ah, better get back! So she won't be mad at me!"

And the tabby she-kit raced off, her tail tucked between her legs. It was in the direction Otterpaw had pointed to with his muzzle.

"Heard it from over here! Have fun…!" she yelled, voice slowly getting fainter and fainter as distance closed in between the cats.