The lightless day (open)

Its been awhile since Larkkit first opened his eyes.

Right away the tom knew there was something different about him. The first thing was that he didn't have a mother or any siblings. He was told by other queens that his mother caught a sickness right after birth, and his liter mates weren't strong enough to survive the bitter cold of leafbare. None of that really bothered Larkkit, it made sense too him - this leafbare has been colder than usual. It was pure luck that he alone survived.

The only thing that bothered him was the stares he got. Some of the queen's stared at him for a long time, not saying a word. After they got done staring they often whispered too each other, not hiding the fact that they were talking about him. Larkkit was puzzled about it, what made him so different? It was only a few days when he found it, by overhearing it in the queens conversation. One of his eye's failed to change colors. Every kit's eyes are born blue, they change when they get older. One of Larkeye's failed to change color, it remained an icy blue hue. The other one changed to a normal yellowish hue.

When he figured it out, again Larkkit didn't care much. The tom also wasn't sure why it was a big deal to the other cats in the nursery, but he wasn't going to try and figure it out. Since Larkkit had thicker fur then the other kits, he was able to venture a little out into camp, which he did today.

The tom found it strange how it was the middle of the day, and already the sun seemed to vanish. He laid his head on top of his paws and wished for the warriors to have a safe and good hunt during the patrol.

The wind whistled between the trees, disguising the already quiet sound of a small ginger she-cat stalking through the thick underbrush. A rat, unusually plump given the time of year, hung limply from her jowls. She had originally been joined by Flintshard and a few other cats on the patrol, but she had been told to return to camp and check if the kits, queens and elders had enough to eat.

Goldenpaw emerged into camp and immediately dropped the rat, fastidiously grooming out the brambles and twigs from her usually pristine pelt. Once satisfied, she picked up her quarry again and dropped it off at the elders' den. Then, once she was assured that the elders didn't need anything, she headed towards the nursery. What stopped her was a little black tom, barely two moons old. She was a bit embarrassed to admit she didn't know his name, though she did recognise him. She'd heard whispers, both scathing and awed, about his odd eyes. She didn't really give a rat's tail to be honest, a kit is a kit after all. She supposed she could be considered odd herself, given her ears were curled back to the point of looking unnatural. He seemed to look bored, so she attempted to strike up a conversation. "Hey there! I'm Goldenpaw, what's your name?" She kept her voice uncharacteristically friendly so as not to unnerve the kit.

Larkkit closed his eyes for just a moment. He wasn’t napping or anything, the Tom cat just decided to pretend being asleep. Since there wasn’t much a kit could do other than napping or playing. Larkit also didn’t like staying in the nursery. He felt too many eyes upon him, and some kits just didn’t know when to leave him be. There was a surprising number of kits this leafbare. However larkkit didn’t exactly consider that a good thing. There were just too many mouths to feed and not enough prey to do so.

He didn’t want to spend so much time stressing about it, after all. Warriors hold that responsibility. Lark kit ears perked up when he saw a lone she cat entering the camp. He was impressed at how quiet she was, he assumed that she was a warrior and a good hunter.

He chose not to approach her, since he knew that the next stop on her list would be the nursery. Larkkit places his head on his paws again and closed his eyes, when the she-cat approached him he acted surprised.

To be honest larkkit was a little surprised, he figured that the silent she-cat would be a
Warrior, not an apprentice. He respectfully dipped his head and met her gaze. “I’m Larkkit. ” he mewed proudly, he now sat up becoming more interested in the life of an apprentice, Well how was the hunt today?”

Goldenpaw smiled a bit, taken aback by the kit's show of respect. Being only a young apprentice, she had never really been treated as someone that important. The other kits in the nursery looked up to her whan she was little, of course, but now she was kind of earning respect as she went. The fluffy golden she-cat crouched down to Larkkit's level. "Nice to meet you, Larkkit. The hunt was very good, I caught a big fat rat and Flintshard even caught a rabbit." She flicked her tail questioningly. "Are you looking forward to hunting with the Clan?"

He was relieved to hear such good news. Larkkit knew what it felt like being hungry for days on end, and he didn't want the other kits to go through the same thing he did when he was younger. The black cat tilted his head at the apprentice's question. Larkkit did want to learn how to hunt.. the thing is he really didn't want to fight other clans. Or see his clanmates become injured fighting for food, since everyone in the forest is trying their best to survive.

"I'm excited to learn hunting.. though I'm not so comfortable with the idea of fighting other cats." He mewed, curious to know if Goldpaw felt the same way as he did. Or maybe he was just a coward - the type to run away with his tail tucked under his legs.

The fluffy apprentice shuffled her paws awkwardly, taken a bit by surprise by the kit's honesty. "Well, Larkkit, not everyone is. I don't really fancy the idea myself, though I bet I'd rock at it! Nobody's good at everything, and no one expects you to fight for them left right and center. Being a good hunter is great too!"

Though the words coming from her would have sounded wise coming from somebody else, they felt alien in Goldenpaw's mouth. She wasn't really used to reassuring others in any capacity, but she hoped her awkward comforting was good enough for Larkkit.