The Briar Leaves

Leafstorm ducked yet again into the nursery, giving the queens a wide berth.
His serious expression melted away once he laid eyes on his son- the youngest of a litter of two. It was as if the last few moons hadn't happened and the tom felt a rush of joy run through him as he nudged his kit gently. Berrykit had already left the nursery, and today was Briarkit's day.
"Briarkit, it's time." He mewed softly.

Briarkit yawned. A small nudge woke him up from his nap and it took a second for the kit to register the world around him, still blinking away the fuzzy memories of a dream. Then, he stood up, tail swishing playfully as he looked at Leafstorm with wide eyes. "Really? Is it time? This is gonna be so fun!" He chirped.

Berrykit was by the nursery walls as normal busy thinking up what to paint. His ears flicked as he heard his father and brother turning his head his head titled. "Are you going outside today Briarkit? Its..sorta fun out there." He shrugged then looked at Leafstorm wondering if he is going to force him outside again.

Leafstorm chuckled, nudging Briarkit. "Don't worry- everyone is really nice. Berrykit, where are your friends? Maybe you could introduce them to Briarkit."

Briarkit nodded fervently Berrykit, taking his comment as confirmation that it was indeed fun outside. 'Sorta' fun still counted! He looked up to his dad again, and gasped. "Yeah! Can I meet your friends? Ooh, maybe I can make some super cool artwork too out of, I dunno. Sticks?"

Berrykit looked shyly to the ground, "Um...I don't know if they are my friends or not? We only played once.." He looked around the nursery to find it mostly empty, "And I don't think they are here.." At Briarkit's words he blushed, "Sticks would be harder..but they are good brushes..." He glanced up to Leafstorm praying that he doesn't have to go out again.

Leafstorm shook his head, laughing slightly. "How about you go show your younger brother around camp." He purred, nudging the two out of the nursery.

"C'mon, c'mon, let's go!" He said, hopping up and down. He was so, so ready to see the bright, beautiful world, and it felt like time had slowed to a crawl as he waited for his brother. Once they were nudged forward, Briarkit tried tugging at Berrykit's fur, pushing towards the entrance with a grunt.

Berrykit huffed as Leafstorm pushed him out of the den at seeing his brothers excitement he smiled. Rolling his eyes he said with sarcasm, "You know there really isn't much to look at, really just other dens and walls. But whatever." He had to be pushed out of the entrance letting out a long sigh as he did.

Briarkit let go of his brother's pelt with a giggle, amused by his brother's tone. "Well,
maybe they're super interesting dens and walls! I wanna see it all!" He trotted outwards with a grin, but stopped as the sunlight hit his eyes, making him blink slowly. Wow, it was bright out here.

Letting his pupils adjust, he looked back up to his brother, saying, "So, where to first?"

Berrykit blushed out of embarrassment as his brother giggled at him. "Fine if you want to." He sighed as he padded behind Brairkit. As they emerged into the clearing even he had to blink his eyes, he was so used to being in the stuffy nursery he hasn't been out here in a while. He blinked at his brother as he heard a question, "Well what about the warrior's den? Or we can go visit the medicine cats? Or there is the apprentice den, whatever you want." He shrugged.

Gosh, so many choices! Compared to the Nursery, the camp seemed so large and expansive. Tilting his head to the side, he hummed to himself, before making a decision. "Hey, don't you get some of your berries from the medicine cat's den? We should go and see what else they have in there!" In his young mind it made sense; didn't medicine cats go out to find berries? Obviously they were kind enough to donate them to his brother.

"I wonder if how many different colored ones they have. Maybe they even have ones from other clans!"

Berrykit titled his head while waiting for Briarkit to respond, he could be starting that new drawing by now...but he snapped into focus by his brother's voice. Blinking he nodded a moment later, "Sure! I need some blue ones anyways! But I try to make sure I don't mess up their storage, they get really grumpy when you do." Now he was excited, he always liked visiting the medicine den and looking at all the different color herbs. "Oh they have sooo many different colored ones! Some even have two colors in them those are my favorite! I'm not sure about that since I don't really know what the herbs are they don't really tell me but who knows they might be." He shrugged as he started marching to the medicine den taking a slightly longer route this time. They passed by the prey pile stocked high with prey, his belly rumbled a bit but he continued on.

"Yay!" He chirped, tail swishing around. His brother's genuine excitement over their decided destination was contagious, even if Briarkit was already more than prepared to explore. By the sounds of it, there was even more variety than he'd previously thought. He could only imagine what sorts of colors, sights and smells were out in the wider forest.

Speaking of smells, Briarkit widened his eyes and sniffed at the air obnoxiously once they passed the pile. Starclan, it was delicious! He wasn't completely sure on what was in the pile - just that they, too, varied a lot in color and shape. "Wow, what is that? Is that food? It smells like food. Yummy food, too," He sniffed again, "Can we take one with us? Please? It can be like a gift!"

Berrykit chuckled at seeing his brother's excitement, really he was so different then him but that didn't matter to him any. Even though he didn't really like going outside the nursery he already knew where everything was, really it was Leafstorm who forced him out from time to time. And sometimes he had fun and well sometimes not. But he suppose that is life.

He noticed Briarkit slowing down and turned to find him already slowly heading towards the prey pile and chuckled at his reaction. "Yes they are food. And I suppose we can take one make sure you don't bump into any warriors. They can be grumpy to." He weaved his way nearer to the pile, really making sure he doesn't bump anything. He made sure Briarkit was right behind him. When they made it he picked whatever was at the very bottom and pulled it to his brother.