First Uncertain Steps (open)

Turtlekit stumbled from the nursery, blinking in the harsh midday sun. It was his first trek out of the cramped den. The little tomkit had no idea where to go first, looking around the open space with a lost expression on his face. There were plenty of cats around, but should he talk to them? What if they were mean? Turtlekit scuffed his white paws on the ground. His father had warned him to be careful who he talked to, that some of the cats around were dangerous. Turtlekit hadn't fully understood why, but he didn't want to upset his father, so he lingered by the nursery and neither moved nor spoke to anyone who passed by. They wouldn't notice such a small scrap of fur, anyway. Runt was what they'd called him in the nursery; Lucky to be alive was another odd name given to him. Some of the queens were not terribly kind.

The hot weather had cut Larksong's patience thin, and after Viperkit's usual antics in the nursery had gotten a little less than charming to her mother and the other queens, the tabby she-kit had been told to play outside. Viperkit bounded outside with an indignant swish of her tail and quickly looked around camp for a new target. Her bright eyes quickly landed on the huddled shape near the mouth of the den; with a twitch of her whiskers she stalked over to investigate. "Hey! Did you get kicked out, too?" She asked, reaching out a paw to prod Turtlekit in the side.

His short and messy fur fluffed up when the other kit's voice sounded from behind him. "Oh! He mewed in surprise, turning shyly to the she-kit. "Y-yeah, the queens told me to give them some space." He squeaked, shocked, as the other kit prodded him with a paw. "Hey! Who are you?" He was indignant at first, but then his toned softened into a curious timidity.

OOC: Sorry Wisteriakit's so mean!

Wisteriakit had been sitting outside the nursery, waiting for someone to talk to. The queens were all in a bad mood from the sweltering weather, and her mother had asked her to go outside and talk to some other cats, but her long, thick fur was making her feel hot and irritable.
In a desperate attempt to cool off, she shook out her pelt, but the results were unnoticeable. She wished she could cool off by swimming in the river, but kits weren't allowed to swim unattended, and she wasn't really in the mood to get in trouble with the older cats. Luckily, she saw two kits standing near by and decided to go over and talk to them.
"Hi, I'm Wisteriakit, who are you?" She looked towards the other two kits. One of them was a tabby she-kit, the other a small tabby and white tom kit. Before waiting for their answer, she turned on the tom kit. "Why are you so small? How fast will you be able to swim with those short little legs?"

Shimmerkit, who was also kicked out, looked over. She frowned at what Wisteriakit said and contemplated stepping in. Then again, she was probably reading all the signs wrong and Wisteriakit was just joking around. Yeah, that's most likely what's going on. After all, Shimmerkit wasn't good enough at reading the mood and body language to judge.

Slightly curious, she padded closer to the group to listen. What was going on anyway? Are they doing the "talk to other cats randomly" thing that Shimmerkit never understood? Probably... She noticed that the tom kit was surprisingly small for unknown reasons, but Shimmerkit knew better than to ask.

OOC: RPing ignorance is so hard...

Viperkit's whiskers twitched at the wavering sharpness in the tom kit's voice, her eyes narrowing as her interest sharpened. She had learned fairly early that it was fun to bother unsuspecting cats. She opened her mouth to answer when Wisteriakit padded over to join them to ask the same question Turtlekit had. Her tail tip twitched in annoyance as the furball decided to interrupt her a second time.
"I'm Viperkit," she offered with a slight edge in her voice. Giving the other kits a quick glance over, she plopped down and brought a paw up to wash one of her ears.  
"How'll you be able to swim with all that fur dragging you down?" She shot back with a sniff. Bothering Turtlekit seemed fun, but messing with Wisteriakit was sure to be even more fun. Maybe she could even get the other shekit to wrestle with her if she pushed her far enough.

What was going on now? It seemed like a small fight was about to start... But it was probably just all in good fun, right? Yeah, she must just be reading the mood wrongly and the other kits were joking around. With a slight frown, Shimmerkit leaned back, frowning slightly. She began toying with a pebble, all the while keeping an eye-and ear-out for the other trio of kits. Why is it so hard to tell if someone was joking?

The tomkit's attention turned to Wisteriakit as she approached the pair. "Uhh, Turtlekit." He meowed before going silent as she criticized his build. He dropped his gaze to his paws, embarrassed and too self-conscious to come up with a good retort. Fortunately it seemed Viperkit had his back even though they'd just met. Turtlekit glanced up at her, a grateful smile curlng his mouth gently, and then turned back to Wisteriakit as she responded to the first she-kit's challenge. Things were getting a little too heated for the sensitive tom's tastes. He'd already forgiven Wisteriakit for her comment anyway. "I-it's okay! It doesn't matter!" Turtlekit piped up, taking a daring step forward while he attempted to defuse the situation. "I'm sure we'll all be great swimmers. That's what mentors teach us, right? So we'll all be fine if someone teaches us what to do. And look, there's another kit. Maybe we should ask her what her name is." Maybe if he directed their attention elsewhere, they would both cool off. And maybe the other kitten would be friendly.

Streamtail heard some commotion outside of the nursery and decided to check it out. Her eyebrows rose as she saw a group of kits mad at each other. “Oh! What happened?” RiverClan had seemed to have an unusual number of kits these days and the warrior decided to meet some of them. “No fighting, please. All of you will be good swimmers someday. That’s what RiverClan is good at.” Smiling in understanding, Streamtail thought of her own kits. One of them already had her eyes set on becoming the next medicine cat apprentice. She was really proud of them.

Shimmerkit’s ear twitched at the sound of another cat. Should she tell him what happened? Maybe she should... After all, the other kits were probably buased in their opinions, assuming they were fighting. “Wisteriakit asked Turtlekit why he was so small, and how he was going to swim.” She told the warrior. Her heart was pounding, but it was too late to turn back now. “Then Viperkit asked Wisteriakit how she would swim with all that fur. I’m not too sure if they’re fighting or not...” She coiled in on herself. Why did she decide to do it? Talking was such a bad idea! What if he didn’t listen to her?

Viperkit had begun to open her mouth when yet another cat interrupted her— looking up at the new voice, this time it was one of the queens. She quickly shut her mouth and gave the rest of the camp a glance over. If her father caught her making a scene in front of the rest of the Clan, then she could just about kiss her apprenticeship goodbye. Her fur prickled at the very thought of starting her apprenticeship long after the kits around her had been given their warrior names. She let Shimmerkit tell the tale instead, throwing Wisteriakit a narrow eyed glare.
”Wisteriakit started it,” she piped up indignantly when the shy kit finished, rolling back up onto her paws to stand in front of Streamtail. The tabby kit flicked her tail in Turtlekit’s direction, giving him a slight nod.”It’s not Turtlekit’s fault if he’s small, and any cat would know that!”

"But..but..I was just asking a question!" Wisteriakit had not expected anything to happen this way, and now there was a queen getting involved who might get her into trouble! "Ok Turtlekit, I'm sorry you're small and I was just being curious, and I'm sorry Viperkit that you got angry so easily, even though you really didn't need to!" Calm down, breathe, she turned to the queen. "I said I'm sorry now please don't tell on me," she begged. She wished she could properly argue with Viperkit, but didn't want to risk getting shouted at. One day Viperkit.

Oh no, an adult was coming over to punish them! Suddenly too afraid to speak to the big she-cat, Turtlekit ducked his head and pressed himself to the ground as if he could blend in with the soft camp floor. 'Father's going to be so upset with me! He told me to be careful around other cats and I still got in trouble the first day I left the nursery!' The thought of his rather stern father being upset with him made Turtlekit shudder. "I'm sorry too!" He meowed rather pitifully. He didn't know exactly what he was apologizing for, it just felt like the proper response. He wanted to be an apprentice with all of his other denmates, and angering the big cats was a sure way to be held back.

Streamtail couldn’t help it any more. She laughed softly, before crossing her front paws and laying down on the floor. “Wisteriakit, that wasn’t nice of you. Any RiverClan cat can learn to swim, no matter how big or small. Don’t worry, I won’t tell and you all will certainly not get punishments. Your apprenticeship won’t be delayed in any way.” Chuckling softly as she told the kits not to worry, Streamtail flicked one ear. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll be a mentor to any of you in the future.”