The Feeling Of Anew (OPEN)

Otterkit flicked his tail as he stood outside the nursery, light purrs leaving him as he played with a moss ball by himself. The kitten laid on his back as he grabbed the moss between his two front paws and kicked with his back legs, shredding the greenery with his tiny claws against the ball. He flipped himself around with what was left and carried the rest of the moss in his mouth as he laid in the rest of the torn apart mess, rolling in it just to get his fur messy. He was brown anyways, so he was sure that no one would notice him playing in the dirt.

Clutched between the tailless warrior's teeth was a skinny robin. He padded slowly through the entrance, enjoying the warmth of this day. His gait was casual and reflected that of a cat who did not possess irrational amounts of anxiety and fear. It was incredible how much he had grown after the past few moons. Between finding a love of climbing and a confidence that came with the skill, along with the fact he had learned to manage the torrent of conflict inherently bred within him. Mumblefoot's focus was now on his daughter. Knowing she was safely under Poplartooth's watchful eye, something he had learned to trust more and more, he was rather contented for the moment. Although, he still jumped ever so slightly when out of the corner of his eye he watched the dirt move of its own accord.

Head snapping quickly in the direction of the moment, a muffled sigh of relief left his maw when he realized it was a kit. Internally he chastised himself for a reaction over nothing but a brown kit rolling around in the dust. If he remembered right, it was Otterkit. For the longest time, despite spending extra moons in the nursery, he had been hesitant to interact with kits. But, having Drizzlepaw had certainly changed that about him and he didn't mind it so much anymore, even to the point of enjoying it. The warrior had been prepared to settle down after a day of increased patrols. However, he decided that maybe it would be better to try to connect with the young tom. It was characteristics like this in him that Rippedstar had instilled before his transformation into leadership. As the black and white cat padded over, he set the bird down on the ground and meowed, "What are you up to, Otterkit?"

Otterkit was distracted slightly as Mumblefoot made his way into the open of the camp, his green orbs watching the movement of the the much larger tom. All though his attention span failed to let the younger feline gawk at the sight of the warrior and other cats he went back to playing with his ball before he even bothered to speak to anyone.
Ear flickering again as the bird was dropped to the ground by the leader, he turned to him again. The kit rolled to his stomach and stood up, his eyes gazing up at the leader in wonder. "Playing with a moss ball!" He explained excitedly, his words muffled as he still had the stream growth in his mouth, "I like your bird. I saw one fly by not too long ago, I can't wait to hunt and be a big cat like the rest! You know my dad says that I could be the best hunter ever if I trained good enough. The clan will never go hungry again when I'm around!" The words just flew out the feline in all sorts of positivity as he let go of the ball finally and put his paw down on it to squish it. He laid himself back down next to the tom as purrs rumbled from his vocal cords, "Birds are nice though, I wish I was one. I wanna see all the trees!" He batted the moss at the leader, just to see if the feline would bat it back.

Mumblefoot had expected a simple answer, and he was certainly wrong. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he took in all of the jabbering on from the young cat. He felt like he had never known a cat to talk to so much. Flicking his ear a little bit, as he normally did in the absence of a tail, the warrior waited for the barrage of words to stop. When it finally did, he let out a soft sigh. There was a bit of a lightness to it, almost a chuckle, and his whiskers twitched in amusement. At least Otterkit had some positive things to say. For a moment, the black and white tom mulled over a proper response. So many things had been said, which one was he to address? After another breath, he meowed, "I think you will be a good hunter. Surely even better than me."

As the moss ball rolled to a stop in front of him, he considered batting it back but paused for a moment. It seemed like just yesterday he had played like this with Drizzlepaw and now she was well on her way to becoming a warrior. Even stranger still, it felt like his many moons in the nursery was not that long ago. They were. He had changed so much since then, in more than just size which itself was not that impressive of a change. Mumblefoot shook his head to clear it of the threat of reminiscence. He could wonder about how old he was later. Instead, he managed a soft smile and batted back the moss ball. As his eyes trailed over the brown kit, he found his head cocked in confusion about how the tom rolled through the dirt as if he was almost attached to it. As he awaited the return of the ball, Mumblefoot dared to ask, "What is that you're doing? Rolling?"

Otterkit had grown bored by the time that the other tom thought about an answer. His pupils growing wide as he rubbed his face against the dirt and flipped himself onto his back once more when Mumblefoot responded, "Well, you've been a warrior a lot longer than I have, I'm sure that when I'm getting trained, you're hunting skills will be a lot better than a kit!" He broke out between the two replies he had gotten from the black and white friend. "You know, because you've already hunted a lot more than I have, and when I start hunting you'll already be a paw ahead of me! N' I don't mind that! Only because you seem nice, I've seen you around but you always look busy, but I'm too scared to talk to other cats other than my brother n my mom." He rambled on, it was completely about nothing important and he was shifting around in the loosened earth below him the entire time he spoke. "Oh rolling?" He asked, twisting himself onto his stomach and hitting the moss back to his newfound friend. "Tawneyfur tells me to stop doing it all the time because it makes my fur look dirty and messy but I like doing it because it makes for comfortable laying spots where I like to sleep in when I'm not next to Raccoonkit! I also like rolling because if you shake your pelt really fast then you can get dust everywhere and it's fun to play around in. I don't really know why I do it other than just to play?" The kit was unsure on how to give an answer so he said every answer that he could think of, his claws gently kneeding into the dirt as he continued to purr throughout each and every word.