Little Lives (Open)

Mintkit stirred and slowly sat up, blinking her vivd eyes blearily. A patch of sunlight shone directly into the young one's eyes and she whined in protest, moving her head back in forth in confusion. She stood up, still squinting, and took a few small steps forward. What was out there?

She'd seen Rippedsky and Firpaw both appear from the Outside. Their fur was often filled with strange scents, and more than once they held some strange, furry creature that was nearly as big as her. Rippedsky... Mintkit often watched the other kits play, and each addressed a cat as 'Father'. Apparently every cat had one of these, but Mintkit was at a loss to who her father was. Was Rippedsky her father? No, Rippedsky was more like a Momma. (Another word she had learned from the older kits). Momma spent the most time in the nursery, and Fathers only showed up sometimes. Firpaw was more like a father.

She shook her head in confusion, coming out of her daze. What was she doing? Oh, right. Outside. The little tabby took a deep, steadying breath and squinted at her paws, her ears flicking anxiously. It certainly was big out there...
But if not now, when?
She gave her shoulder a nervous lick and stepped gingerly outside. Immediately she recoiled, squeaking unhappily as a blinding light shone into her wide eyes. "Oww!" She whined, her paws over her face.

But wait... what was that?. She squinted into the bright... Outside. Her eyes following a bright red leaf that was floating through the breeze. Carefully, carefully, she lowered herself carefully towards the ground, her bright eyes glinting with an uncharacteristic mischievousness.  She wiggled and leapt outside, this time making sure to look away from the sun. Mintkit raced through the camp, her ears back. She skidded and pounced on the leaf, her claws outstretched.
"Haha yes!" She crowed, looking around for someone to gloat to.

(occ: I AM A TERRIBLE HORRIBLE PERSON WHO DIDN'T MAKE A TOPIC AND TOOK FOREVER TO RESPOND TO THIS ONE, FORGIVE ME DRIPPY-SENPAI)

Little did the young Mintkit know, a dark shape was stalking her from the shadows of the nursery, setting it's paws down ever-so-quietly on the mossy floor as it crept out into the sunlight of the outside.  It's half-striped pelt blended into the brambles, but with a small twitch of it's sleek tail and a mischievous smirk, the small figure leaped forward with powerful back legs and bowled over the kitten with a laughing purr, similar brown tabby limbs flailing.

"Ha! I gotcha didn't I!?  You never even knew I was coming!"  Fernkit quickly detached herself from her less-exuberant sister, bouncing back to her snowy-white paws with a wide grin.  Though very far from alike in appearance, the spunky young she-cat was very much like her mother in personality.  From the same wondrous sense of adventure gleaming in her identical murky green eyes, to the impatient way her paws shuffled up the dust, as it keeping still for more than a moment was taking all possible willpower, she was Pansyface's daughter through-and-through.  Alas though, the late she-cat was not there to revel in that amusing fact.

OOC: No worries!! Honestly I forgot about that topic too, I just wanted to do a Mintkit introduction. You're fine~
IC:
"Ack! Fernkit...!" Mintkit flopped over dramatically, pretending to be hurt "Owww..."
But her little drama didn't last long. Although Mintkit wasn't like her mother, there were certainly similarities. Her tenderheartedness, sweet naivety and even the way she walked was reminiscent of Pansyface.
And, just like Pansyface was as a kit, she was cheerfully distracted by almost everything that caught her attention.

"Woah!" The tabby scrambled clumsily onto her paws, her murky green eyes wide. "What's that?"
Her eyes followed a cat who was carrying a strange piece of... something. They disappeared into a den nearby and Mintkit immediately followed her to the threshold, ready to investigate whatever was inside.
Instantly nose wrinkled in disgust and she reeled back as a barrage of weird scents hit her nose. "Eww!" She squinted and her ears twitched so she could better hear the dangerous smell.

Fernkit - who had preoccupied herself with pouncing on dappled patches of sunlight - twitched her ears curiously as her sister darted off towards an unknown den, strange scents wafting through the air at it's entrance.  For some reason, the strong odor smelled very familiar...  Kicking up dirt in her haste, the bi-colored she-kit dashed after her sister, peeking in the entrance beside her.  There was a cat in there...and leaves, lots of leaves...even a few flowers and twigs.  What was this weird place?  Her murky eyes widening, Fernkit took a confident step into the den, twisting her head around to look at everything above and around her.  Without looking back, she flicked her tail-tip, beckoning her sister to follow her.

Elmpaw was sprawled out comfortably in the soft moss of the apprentice's den, his head resting lightly on his forepaws as he enjoyed the weak sunlight that dappled down from the gaps in the ceiling of the den. Both of his amber eyes were partially closed as he relaxed, only paying the slightest bit of attention to what was going on outside of the den. The soft chatter of squeaky voices quickly disrupted his dozing, however, and the ruddy colored tom found himself blearily rolling onto is back and grumpily allowing his eyes to fully open. Catching sight of the small shapes of Fernkit and Mintkit, the apprentice allowed his attention to focus on the suspicious movement of both she-kits for several long heartbeats before he let out a little grunt of complaint. Forcing himself to his paws, Elmpaw let out a gusty and resigned sigh as he slowly and quietly strode out of the apprentice's den and after Fernkit and Mintkit.

Following quietly behind the two she-kits for an amusingly long time without them noticing, the young tom watched as both kits curiously began to peak around the inside of Oceanlight and Rabbitfoot's den. That would not end well- either they would tarnish the precious supply of herbs or poison themselves. "And just what do you two think you're doing?" Elmpaw questioned quickly, reaching out with a slender forepaw to pin Mintkit's unfortunate tail down lightly. As much as he enjoyed watching kits cause trouble and subsequently get clouted for it, he knew better than to let two newborn kits wander into the Medicine Cat's den unattended. The last thing he needed was for Rippedsky to bite his head off for letting his foster-kits end up half-dead from eating something they shouldn't. "Aren't you both a bit young to be wandering around?"

Oceanlight laid in her nest, until she noticed two kits wander into her den. She got up and stretched. "What are you kits doing in here?" she asked them. She understood they were kits and kits liked exploring, but... she just didn't want them to accidentally eat poisonous herbs.

Mintkit's eyes widened as a voice spoke up behind her and jumped defensively.
She huffed and her eyes flashed. "Little kits?" She mewed unhappily, assuming an attitude that would've seemed chiding and mothering if she wasn't smaller than a squirrel.
"I'll have you know that Rippedsky says I'm growing bigger by the day!" She squeaked indignantly. "I'm the perfect age to wander around. You, on the other hand, are far too old."

The tabby turned her attention to a much sweeter face, but not before quickly sticking her tongue out in the apprentice's direction. "Oh! Uhh..." She shrank slightly and stepped closer to Fernkit. "We were just looking around, that's all."

Fernkit quickly realized that her sister had been held up by...someone.  Turning back, the small she-cat cast a deeply annoyed glare up at this random apprentice, her green eyes narrowing critically.  Since when do we have to take orders from this bossy furball?  Oh that's right, never!  Cracking a mischievous smile, the brown tabby and white kitten waved her tail sassily and cocked her head to the side, feigning curiosity.  "Aren't you a bit young to be ordering us around?"  With a satisfied purr, Fernkit took a few bouncing steps forward, only to run smack into Oceanlight's legs.  Jumping back, she only hesitated for a moment before smiling and begining to ask questions, ignoring the medicine cat's in the process.  "What is this place?  Why do you have all these weird plants in here?"  Padding away from her sister for a moment, she sniffed at a nearby pile of roots and leaves laying on the ground.  "I've smelled this place before, I think."

Oceanlight looked at the two as Fernkit asked a question. "This is the medicine den, and all these plants are for healing sickness and injury, but some can do more harm than good if not used the right way, so you can look around and smell the herbs, but just don't eat them." she said that last part more seriously. She blinked in curiosity as Fernkit said she smelled the place before. "When you were born you may have smelled some of the plants." she mewed.

Elmpaw's large ears swiveled forwards as he listened to Mintkit and Fernkit's seemingly outraged squeaks, while a near invisible smirk curled at his muzzle. Kits were always more amusing whenever they were riled up, anyways. Letting out an overdramatic sigh, the apprentice released Mintkit's tail with a disinterested sigh. "That's a lot of sass for somecat who can barely walk," Elmpaw stated breezily, his bright amber gaze falling onto Fernkit as he spoke, "Try not to trip over your ego since it seems to be bigger than you." The ruddy brown tom rolled his shoulders in a relaxed shrug as he continued to look down at Fernkit and Mintkit with an antagonizing gaze.

Knowing that Oceanlight was in her den made him feel much more relaxed- she wouldn't let an overeager pair of kits scarf down any herbs.  But that means he had gotten up for literally no reason. Flashing the Medicine Cat an apologetic glance on his behalf of intruding on her likely precious sleep, the young tom dropped onto his haunches near the entrance of the den. Jaws stretching wide in a bleary yawn, Elmpaw reached up with one hind leg to lazily scratch at his ear as he listened to Oceanlight speak.