Something Shiny [Open]

Ratkit was sitting on the edge of camp when it happened.

He had been laying in the midday sun, letting it warm his fur. A leaf sat between his paws – a fuzzy, pale star – and Ratkit had been examining it gently, turning it over with sparkling eyes. It had been his finest find – the best leaf in all of camp – and, whiskers twitching, the little tom had slunk away near the empty entrance of camp to admire it.

He had just finished feeling the little leaf over – deciding it was worth keeping – when that something caught his eye.

It was shiny.

Ratkit’s ears perked in interest, seeing the little object shimmer in the sunlight from its place in the earth just outside camp. Ratkit hadn’t seen anything like that before.

When Ratkit got to his paws, gently pushing aside his leaf, his tail flicked in interest. His paws hit the damp ground softly as he peeked his muzzle outside the thorn bush. It was a stone, Ratkit saw. But a very pretty one – misshapen and with a little glitter to it under full sunlight.

Before Ratkit realized his paws were moving, he was already under the brambles; paws moving him outside the camp walls. But he paid it only a thought – too distracted by the stone just fox-lengths from him. And so, captivated and curious, the little dark tabby padded further into the marsh.

Goldenkit had been hopping around, go back and forth between all of the cats in camp that she saw; being the energetic ball of fluff that she typically was. She noticed another kit in the camp, get up from where he had been lazing. "Ooo, maybe Ratkit will play with me now too!" She saw him walking off, and began to run over to him, even as he moved. Soon she realized he was leaving camp, oh no come back, she thought. Oh well, if he can go outside of the camp so can she! She was on her way to growing up to be the best warrior ever. She skipped to catch up with, and join him wherever he was going.

Ratkit crouched over the glittery rock, studying it. It was shaped almost like a mouse -- wide in the middle with a thin, tail-like end. It was perfect.

Nodding to himself like making an important decision, Ratkit sunk his little claws into the mud, prying the stone free. He would take it back home and find someplace to keep it.

As he moved to pick it up in his jaws, however, Ratkit couldn't help but stop and be in awe of his surroundings. He couldn't tell from the camp, surrounded by brambles, but the marsh was really big -- stretching farther than he could see; a blanket of dark brown and black and spiky brush. Pine trees scattered the area, far above him.

Ratkit had never felt the urge to leave his nest -- there were many interesting things to play with in camp -- but it hit him, then. That there was so much more out there.

More leaves, and stones, and new, amazing things.

Curiosity tingled at his fluffy kit fur. It was overwhelming.

He was frozen with indecision when he heard the padding of paws behind him. Flicking his tail nervously, Ratkit turned around.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting -- but it wasn't a little golden kit, scampering toward him. The stoic kit twitched his tail in surprise. "Goldenkit? Is -- is that you?"

"Hiya Ratkit!", she hollered out to her friend as she closed in on him. Goldenkit had seen him digging at something, but she couldn't imagine what he thought he was doing outside of the camp. Whatever right he thought he had, she was not going to question him since she was using his frollicking as her own permission to follow along outside the camp boundaries. Before he noticed her, he had been scanning the area, so maybe there were others out here. The thought that something else was out her frightened her just a little, before she returned to her sunny disposition.

"Whatcha doing? Do you want to play? Ooo maybe we could explore!!! This is such a great day, isn't it?!"

Dustpaw walked back to camp to see Ratkit and Goldenkit outside the camp. "Hello there. You two shouldn't be outside of camp. A fox could come and kill you and that would be bad." She said, looking at the two kits.

Ratkit stiffened as his fluffy golden denmate rushed over to him, paws thumping across the damp ground. What was Goldenkit doing here?

Ratkit blinked, but before he could collect himself, an apprentice appeared suddenly behind the kit -- her green eyes worried.

The dark-furred kit's eyes flickered from Goldenkit to the apprentice. Dustpaw, he remembered. Ratkit hadn't been expecting to go that far from camp, though -- just to get his stone.

Or... okay, maybe a little bit farther than that. Just to see some more things.

Ratkit twitched his ears as he padded closer to Goldenkit, resisting the urge to give the marsh beyond her a wistful glance.

"I only came for this..." is all Ratkit said -- or whispered, rather -- to the worried Dustpaw. His tail flicked towards his mouse-rock, just behind him. He paused. "I didn't see any foxes, though."

Dustpaw look down at the kit. "Oh well I'll bring the rock to camp and you two can follow me. Who knows what dangers are out there?" Dustpaw looked at the rock and picked it up.

Goldenkit waited briefly for Ratkit to respond, when she realized he had seen something; and then she heard it for herself, another cat. She looked at the apprentice as he spoke, finally seeing her. Ratkit softly walked towards her, positioning himself closer to camp. He showed off a glittering rock, which he held as the token for his adventuring. "Whoa... It's. So. Beautiful!", she replied to her friend.

"A fox?! Have you seen a fox today? Is it nearby?" At first she was terrified at the idea of coming across a fox that could so easily hurt a kit her size. But then, trying to be brave, she said, "If there's a fox here, surely between the three of us it would be scared enough to just run away! After all, we're all gonna be big warriors soon!" As she finished her last statement, she began to hop up, down and side to side while facing the marsh with sweetly bared teeth, assuming this was how you might act the part of a terrifying warrior.

"Even a warrior can die to a fox, and none of us are full warriors. If you want, I'll play with you at camp, but only if you follow me back to camp." Dustpaw said, walking towards camp with the rock in her jaws.

Ratkit had known Goldenkit to be friendly, if a bit... excitable -- sometimes a bit too excitable for the quiet kit. As the she-cat stared at his shiny stone, admiration in her voice, however, Ratkit gave her a surprised glance -- reconsidering. Goldenkit looked genuine.

Not that the kit ever seemed not genuine to Ratkit. But the dark tom gave her a small smile. He was glad she thought it was worthy, too. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Ratkit wasn't sure if Goldenkit heard him, however -- when she started mewing about foxes and spinning around with more energy than Ratkit knew what to do with. She bared her teeth at the forest, as if warding those foxes away, and the dark kitten wondered if he should do that, too.

Ratkit was preparing to bare his teeth in a subdued imitation of Goldenkit when Dustpaw intervened -- telling them to come back to camp, with the promise of playing with them instead.

He flicked his ears as the apprentice picked up his treasure, already walking towards camp. He should follow Dustpaw -- his mother always warned him not to go far from camp -- but part of him felt strangely... disappointed?

Ratkit glanced behind him, at the sunlit, open marsh. He realized that he still wanted to explore...

Still, Ratkit hesitated, looking to Goldenkit -- who had seemed ripe for adventure herself. Deciding the she-cat wasn't so bad, Ratkit looked to her. "I guess... we should follow Dustpaw, then?"

Ratkit said it quietly -- but it actually came out as a question.

"Hey," Goldenkit said, "that's Ratkit's rock. He can carry it." She looked to Ratkit expectantly, assuming he would make his move to get his rock back.

"Where were you going anyway?", she asked her kit friend. She was aware that Dustpaw wanted them to go back to camp, but she was to excited about being a few lengths outside the camp to want to go back already, so she was trying to prolong their conversation. Besides it was hard for a kit, especially such an excitable one, to stay on topic for something that wasn't really her desire.

Dustpaw looked at the kits, sighed and walked back over to them. " Do I need to pick you up or are you going to come back to camp with me? " She said.

At Goldenkit's reminder, Ratkit's eyes snapped to his treasure -- now in the apprentice's hold. He felt a surge of possessiveness -- it was Ratkit's. Why was Dustpaw taking it?

But then Dustpaw came over, exasperated -- probably irritated that Ratkit hadn't followed immediately -- and a flicker of indignance stirred inside the quiet tom, too.

She was obviously just tired, and trying to get them to hurry -- but Dustpaw's phrasing had unease settling in Ratkit. Saying she'll pick them by their scruffs if they didn't follow? It wasn't as if Ratkit or Goldenkit were running away -- and while Ratkit was normally hard to bother, the poke against his independence made his ears twitch. But it was also more instinctual, the way he edged around the apprentice...

Ratkit hated being touched.

Dustpaw was only doing her duty, as a responsible apprentice -- making sure the kits didn't wander too far, or be killed -- but Ratkit felt on edge, suddenly.

"I can find my own way," he said in almost a whisper, dark kitten eyes watching Dustpaw warily. "And I want my rock back, please."

He stared at the rock in the apprentice's hold, but he didn't dare move closer.

Oblivious to the growing tension between the two cats, and the change in Ratkit's demeanor, Goldenkit thought this was to be part of their playing. "Well that's silly," she said chuckling, "You can't catch both of us at once. And you surely can't hold us and the rock in your mouth." Little did she know, she was just fueling the awkwardness of the situation.

She stepped a little ahead of Ratkit, towards the apprentice, trying to tease. She stood poised to jump away in playfulness, seeing what Dustpaw would do.

Dustpaw smiled and said playfully "You want to bet?" She then picked up Ratkit in her jaws. She went and picked up Goldenkit as well. Though it was muffled, she said "Ha I win!"