Nursery Adventures (open)

Snakekit awoke to the bright shine of sunlight outside the nursery. Blinking open her piercing green eyes, she glanced at her mother, sprawled out behind her. Not wanting to wake her, the black and white kit slipped between her mother's paws and reached the edge of the nest. Only two more moons and I'll be out of here, patrolling, training and exploring! she thought, her mind filled with excitement. It was quite boring and mind-numbing to have to stay in camp at all times, where cats constantly complained about her getting under their paws or messing something up. She huffed as she remembered the latest incident when she'd gotten under a warrior's paws and almost got punished. While she'd been taught to respect all of her Clanmates by her parents, she couldn't suppress a snort. I can never do anything fun...suppose those are the rules, though. Due to her asocial nature, she tended to stay away from most cats, but she was still just a kit who loved to play. Shaking out the moss from the nest out of her fur, she glanced around to see if anyone else was awake.

Blizzardshine padded towards the nursery with her usual gentle smile. It wasn’t uncommon to see her around this place whenever she had a break and decided to not go out on her lone walks across the territory instead. She just liked to interact with the youngest cats in the clan from time to time, getting to know them instead of being a complete stranger to them once they got their apprentice names.

The white deputy chuckled softly as she remembered her own kit days, oh, she was quite a pawful for the warriors and queens back then, running off the nursery each time she had the time and more than once having to be carried back to camp by a patrol as they discovered her trying to explore the territory around the barn. She wasn’t lucky like these kits, born and raised in an improvised camp inside an abandoned barn not far from WindClan territory after SkyClan and RiverClan chased the clan out its own territory many moons ago after a fiery battle that elders loved to tell to the young kits of the nursery.

Grasswhisker lay on her side, purring happily as she watched the kit. It was nice to be curled up in the nursery with her kits during the winter months. Part of her always felt like she needed to be out hunting with the rest of the clan, but for now she was tied to her kits.

"Hello, Blizzardshine," Grasswhisker greeted the deputy as she padded over. But her eyes never Snakekit. She realized the kits need to play and hoped her own litter would wake up soon to join their denmate.

Snakekit noticed a cat's scent coming closer and tensed up. After a few heartbeats, she realized it was the deputy, Blizzardshine. It was uncommon to see the white she-cat around the nursery, so Snakekit decided to leave a good impression on the future leader of ThunderClan. She padded over and dipped her head politely in greeting. "Hello, Blizzardshine." she said, her voice trembling a bit from the anxiety she usually had when talking to others.

She felt a gaze on her and turned to see Grasswhisker, a queen her mother talked too often. She decided it would be best to greet her as well, as she was technically her denmate. "Greetings to you too, Grasswhisker." Snakekit said formally. It was a trait of hers that showed often. Due to her anxiety, she tended to speak formally in order not to offend others. She wondered where Grasswhisker's kits were...

Blizzardshine smiled and nodded respectfully at Grasswhisker as soon as she entered in her camp of vision “Hello, Grasswhisker. How are your kits doing?” She purred softly before looking down at the small kit padding towards them, purring softly as she politely greeted the two of them “No need to be so formal, Snakekit. We may be older than you, but in the end we are just your clanmates” Blizzardshine purred softly. She tended to see the clan more like her friends and family than several cats with ranks, reason behind she was usually so laid back and informal around them. For her, the position of deputy didn’t mean much more than being a warrior or a kit even if for many it was a big deal. She was still a mortal cat that could feel love or bleed like everyone else “Anything you plan to do today?”.

"Oh, they're great. Just sleeping away as usual. They play too hard and then sleep forever. To have the problems of a kit again," She twitched her whiskers in amusement as she glanced at Snakekit. It was funny to see such a small kit be so formal. An idea popped into her head and she tilted it sideways in a question, "Would you want to play with me, Snakekit? If my kits don't wake up soon I'd be happy to join you in a game." The thought of playing like a kit excited Grasswhisker. She had tried to become more serious as a warrior and mother, but in her heart she was still young and easily excitable. Being back in the nursery wasn't all that bad for the young queen, although her legs still ached to run out into the forest like they once had when she was a kit herself.

Snakekit smiled at Blizzardshine's words. The black and white kit nodded. "As you say." Flicking her tail, she thought about what she planned to do on this sunny day. "I have no idea what to do at all...it's quite boring being a kit, if I may be honest." She huffed. "What about you?" She knew deputies organized patrols, but didn't know much else. She guessed she'd get to learn more when she became an apprentice and couldn't wait.

She brightened up at Grasswhisker's words. "You'd play with me? Oh, that's be great!" It wasn't often that warriors or queens offered to play with the residents of the nursery, so Snakekit was delighted to hear the queen's offer. "What game do you wanna play?" She knew many games, but she guessed Grasswhisker knew more, being older and all, so she decided to let her pick, her tail twitching excitedly.

Grasswhisker hauled herself to her feet and got into a crouched position, playfully wriggling her haunches, "I could be a Shadowclan intruder and you can be the brave Thunderclan warrior that defends the camp." She suggested, while trying to look like a menacing intruder by baring her teeth lightly. Honestly, the queen would always be a kit at heart. It made her happy to see Snakekit brighten up at her offer. However, Grasswhisker was probably just as excited as the young kit to have the chance to play again.

Blizzardshine chuckled softly, understanding the small kit and his interest for her duties. She would take out the small kit to explore if it wasn’t so dangerous after all…Snakekit’s mother would have her pelt if she even tried to suggest it “You know we had a small border issue with ShadowClan not long ago, Snakekit. So my main focus is to prevent it from happening again” The event had spread like wild fire across the camp and the whispers and rumors still had to die out. Grasswhisker wouldn’t let her lie, as she was one of the cats involved in the discovery of the stolen prey not long before her warrior ceremony. She just hoped the extra patrols would be enough for the clan to relax and to dissuade ShadowClan from trying something like that again.

She sat comfortably and curled her long fluffy tail over her paws as she looked at the two cats playing, unsure of if she should join in or contempt herself with being the spectator of their little kit-adventure.

Laying nearby the chatting cats, Leopardkit lay in the shadows of a bramble bush. His greenish-hazel eyes narrowed, he curled his lip at their casual conversation. The young tom had never been very social at all, or forgiving. His golden spotted fur stood out against the snow, so some cat was bound to notice him soon.

Snakekit nodded to Blizzardshine. She remembered the ShadowClan incident quite well, it had been the biggest news un the camp for a long while. She remembered feeling useless for just sitting in camp while her Clanmates, including her father, were fighting and protecting the Clan. But she knew she was just a kit and couldn't do much. "That must be a tough job, good luck." she said to the deputy. Snakekit had dreams of being the deputy one day as well.

She turned to Grasswhisker and grinned. "Sure, I'll drive you out, ShadowClan cat!" she yowled and flung herself at the queen, attempting to knock her over. She imagined a future situation like this, where she'd have to risk her life to save the Clan from danger.

Grasswhisker yowled playfully, batting a soft sheathed paw at the young kit. She noticed Blizzardshine watching.
"Come on. Thunderclan needs their deputy to keep away Shadowclan too!" The words were light and cheerful as always with the young queen. Not much made her upset, other than if her clan was threatened.

Blizzardshine chuckled with Grasswhisker’s words and nodded, getting on Snakekit’s side and getting ready to help him to fight the supposed enemy cat. It has been so long since the last time she played with kits like this, and a happy yet nostalgic memory of her play-fights with her brother and other kits flashed inside her mind.

Snakekit let out a mrrowr of laughter as Blizzardshine joined her side in the play-fight. It was unexpected of the deputy to play with a kit such as herself. She grinned playfully and wiggled her hindquarters. Glancing at Blizzardshine, she yowled: "ThunderClan, attack!" and pounced on Grasswhisker with her claws sheathed.

Snakekit's yowl startled Rosekit. The bundle of red and white fur immediately poked her head up from her nest and blinked, green eyes surveyed the scene in the middle of the nursery. Her jaws parted in a yawn while she stood and stretched, then settled over the edge of the nest. Curious about the game and the fact that Blizzardshine was there. There didn't seem to be any trouble.

She stood from the nest and stepped out of it carefully. Rosekit sunk low so her belly was scraping the nursery floor while she watched the deputy and Snakekit play attack her mother, lunging a playful counter-attack on her denmate when she thought she saw an opening.