Blood. Smoke. Signs of a Dragon? (Blood/Smoke kits/open)

Dawnkit sat on a stump of a pine tree that had been struck by lightning many years ago and had toppled over, it's long scar split down the trunk on the ground. It was an interesting thing to look at. Dawnkit often sat here and stared at it, stared at the life that now lived inside the body of a mighty pine. The sun's rays hit the coat of the near apprentice-aged kit and gave his entire being an almost otherworldly glow. His eyes were the color of the sky, if they sky was on fire. His ears swiveled around, picking up the sounds of the forest as he learned every animal's foot step, every bird's call and every warrior's voice around the camp. He knew their routines, their habits, their thoughts and even some of their fears. Dawnkit had learned from observing how to move silently and crouch properly just from watching the other warriors. Did he even need a mentor? He didn't think so. Dawnkit felt that he was smart enough to be his own instructor. Another warrior, a feeble-minded worthless creature, would just get in his way and slow his progress. Alas, Dawnkit also knew that he had to follow the rules in order to climb the ranks.

And so he shall.

Mistpaw bounced around excitedly. She was going to be an aunt! Her brother, Bloodstrike, had recently had a litter of kits with his mate and she couldn’t wait to meet them! As she padded closer and closer towards the nursery, Mistpaw saw one of Bloodstrike’s kits. Nearing closer, she asked in a shy voice, “Oh! Hello! Is Bloodstrike your father? I’m your aunt, Mistpaw.” She grinned nervously, hoping that the tom-kit would answer her. He seemed very cold and calm.

Redfall huffed at the fresh-kill pile, watching Mistpaw and Dawnkit interact. He didn't tend to like young cats, or cats that pretended to know everything. Dawnkit seemed to be like both of those, so Redfall was already biased against him. Still, he'd taught Bloodstrike the hunting crouch as a kit. Maybe this kit wouldn't be so bad, but maybe he would. The warrior eased himself into a sitting position, and then slowly stood up, walking towards the tomkit. "And I'm Redfall," he said shortly, "Good friends with your dad."

Beechkit wished that she was allowed out of camp. She was nearly at the age when apprentices were named, so what difference would it make if she snuck out just a bit early? Her parents, she knew, would laugh, her father would tease Smokefeather that their kits had inherited her impatience, and Smokefeather would roll her eyes and laugh. Soon enough, she'd be an apprentice, and could go outside camp with permission. For now, the fluffy kit contented herself with occasionally sneaking to the edge of camp, like she was doing now. She knew she couldn't stay too long without being missed (and Smokefeather seemed to have a way of always finding her, anyways) so she was already making her way back towards the nursery, or at least near it.

"Oh, hey Dawnkit" Beechkit spotted her brother, and figured that, even if he was her brother, spending time outside was better than being in the nursery. An older she-cat was padding up to ask a question, and Beechkit blinked up at the much larger cat.

"He's our father," she confirmed, chest swelling as only a kit's could with a sense of pride at the mention of her parents. Bloodstrike and Smokefeather were warriors, she wanted to be like them when she was older.

"I'm Beechkit, who are you?" Beechkit hadn't really spent much time near the apprentices, usually they were out training with their mentors or doing apprentice-y things. Beechkit wanted to do apprentice-y things too, but Smokefeather seemed determined to keep her out of trouble. One of these days she'd be an apprentice too, and that would change, she promised herself.

And just like that, another older cat was joining them. Definitely a good thing I wasn't caught earlier, Beechkit thought. He introduced himself as Redfall, and Beechkit's yellow-green eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to place him. One of Bloodstrike's friends? Well, mouse-dung, that meant she had to behave, didn't it?

Primrosekit was playing with a small ball of moss near the nursery, and her ears pricked up when she heard the sound of her brother and sister's voice. Looking up, she could see that they were talking to an around apprentice-aged cat and and an older warrior. Their figures were a little blurry around the edges, but it was something she had gotten used to seeing when she looked at things far away. Not wanting to miss out, she bounded towards the other group of cats. "Hi! I'm Primrosekit!" she turned to the white she-cat, "Are you family? You smell a bit like dad and grandpa and grandma." Just as she was joining the group, she had  heard the red tom mention he was friends with Bloodstrike. I really do like my family, she thought, everyone's nice. Most of the time, her littermates were sometimes just a bit grumpy.

Dustkit had been taking a nap in a small spot of shade just outside the nursery when her ears twitched at the sound of multiple cats speaking with one another. She groaned, rolled over a bit, and sat up to look for whomever thought they could prance around and interrupt her sleep whenever they felt like it. How dare they? she thought to herself as her gaze brought her siblings into view, along with an older and even still older cat in the mix. She wanted to shout and snap at them from her comfortable position but the sun shifted ever so slightly as if it noticed her presence and allowed the shade to be no more, her fur instantly clinging to her body in the heat. Ugh, now it's incredibly warm and it really is all their fault. She scowled and made her way over to the group.

What do you all think you're doing? Dustkit snapped at them, or so she thought. Her mouth had opened but nothing came out; odd, but maybe that was some semblance of thought going through her head to shut it and try to be friendly, she needed to be at least a little bit if she ever planned on becoming anything in the clan after all. So she left it at that, quickly shutting her mouth hoping none noticed before opening it again to let out something else, more along the lines of 'nice' instead. "So what brings you all here for a chat? I don't even know who you two are. Cats of importance, or not?" Her tail flicked as she awaited a response. It might be best she sit back down nearer them too, this whole conversation might go on for a while and she wasn't about to stand during the entirety of it, not in this heat at least.

Mistpaw recoiled as her nieces questions about her. “Yes I’m family. I’m Mistpaw, your father’s older sister. I know, I’m still stuck as an apprentice.” She laughed at the thought of being the eldest out of all of her litter mates, yet still being without her own apprentice. The gray and cream tabby twitched her ears in surprise as one of the other she-kits snarkily asked who they were and how they were important. Frowning at the rude question, Mistpaw shared a look with Redfall. “Redfall was friends with us since kithood. Don’t worry, he won’t bite. He might even be one of your mentors someday.” Speaking of which, where are Bloodstrike and Smokefeather? I haven’t congratulated them yet.

Dawnkit had been very very okay with being left alone. So naturally.... a crowd gathered within seconds. Suppressing a hefty sigh, he glanced back behind him to see a... patchy tabby... thing. His aunt... Okay. He stared at her for a moment, one eye fixed on her as he hadn't even bothered to turn his shoulder away from her. Then a red tabby claiming to be Bloodstrike's friend announced his presence as well. Joy.

Wait... did my aunt say... Mistpaw? Now he finally turned around to face them, all in one smooth, almost flourishing motion with his long, golden-silked tail. Just as smoothly and gracefully as a flock of starlings changing direction together, he sat back down and wrapped his fluffy tail around his paws. Before he could speak to any of them, Beechkit's ungodly voice screeched out to them.... and him. Okay maybe her voice wasn't actually a screech, but as much as she annoyed him it may as well have been.

"Yeah hi." He said quickly and dismissively to his sister before turning his attention back to the adults. He would have completely ignored Primrosekit... if she hadn't asked Mistpaw if she was family or not. She. Just. Said. That. You. Mousebrain. He clenched his teeth together so hard it almost hurt. What he wouldn't give to have free reign to just claw all of his sisters to minuscule smears all over the forest floor. Leave them to be crowfood out in the wilds... anything would be more bearable than listening to either of them ta-

Dustkit. Dustkit was the only one here he sort of liked. Her snappy, brutal honesty without a care in the world was appreciated, since Dawnkit himself had to refrain from being so... blunt.

"Yes... an apprentice at my father's age?" He entirely dismissed his sisters at this point. "Did my father just... do so well that he left other apprentices in the dust or.... do you just have some catching up to do?" He could tell she was uncomfortable, he just didn't care. His eyes landed on Redfall. A mentor... stars why did he need a mentor? "I'm sure warriors like you are so thrilled to have to babysit young cats with no sense." He glanced in the direction of his sisters as subtly as he could, but it probably wasn't that subtle.

"Maybe you'll be assigned to me. I'll be the easiest to teach out of this bunch because I already know the basics." Yes, he did mean to say it that was.... you assigned to me. He then had his eyes on Beechkit, who would most likely open her fat mouse-brained mouth and say something.

Good if she did.

Redfall was regretting his chance to come over when a few words out of Dawnkit’s mouth caught his attention. “You, my mentor. What a thought.” He rolled his eyes, tail twitching. Clearly everyone here had no sense. The warrior contained his annoyance in a tail twitch. Thinks he knows everything, I’m sure... I almost hope I’m his mentor. Just so I can show him that he knows nearly nothing. Huffing, the small warrior turned around, adding, “If you want to be a mentor, kit, you’d better learn how a Clan works in the most basic terms. For example, kits aren’t mentors. Another example, there’s this thing called respect that’s good for you to learn.” He rolled his eyes and stalked away. I don’t care. May as well let him get torn to pieces in a battle, that’ll be a better example.

Beechkit waved her tail at Primrosekit in greeting. The one sibling she could count on to get along with more often than not.

Soon enough Dustkit was joining them, and Beechkit felt her whiskers twitch at the expression on her face. Her sister was annoyed, and certainly looked to have been woken up- by the awful heat, or by their talking, Beechkit wasn't sure which. Probably both, if she had to guess. The heat certainly wasn't helping her own mood, and... her brother was speaking again, and that definitely wasn't helping. At all.

Yes, I'm sure Redfall would be thrilled to mentor a self-important mouse-brain with no manners, brother. Beechkit thought snidely, ears twitching back in irritation at her brother as he spoke. Still, she kept from actually saying the words out loud. While she wanted to, there was no doubt that Smokefeather and Bloodstrike would scold her for doing so. They were more prone to butting heads than anything, it seemed, and Beechkit knew her mother had very little patience left for their bickering, much as she tried to hide it. Her brother's head was turned still, so he couldn't see the glare she threw in his direction, which was just as well.

Either way, Redfall seemed less than impressed and more than a little fed up with Dawnkit already. That had to be a record, making someone angry that quickly. If he was actually friends with Bloodstrike, she highly doubted her father would be amused by his antics.

"Believe it or not, our parents did teach us manners," Beechkit shrugged apologetically to the... very uncomfortable looking Mistpaw. She met her brother's glare with one of her own. She knew he expected her to say something more, and this time she stubbornly kept her mouth shut. It was too hot out to argue, and they'd never hear the end of it if they started up again now.

Of course, she was fully expecting to be drawn into arguing with her flea-brained brother anyways, because that was just what the pair of them did, apparently. He probably knew he was being an insufferable mouse-brain, and simply didn't care. Or her obvious irritation would just encourage him.

Time to change the subject, quickly, she decided. "What's it like out in the forest?" Beechkit turned her attention back to Mistpaw, and was going to attempt to just... ignore the pale gold furball. Not that she'd succeed at that, but she could still try.

Primrosekit sat watching the conversation, interested in Mistpaw and Redfall's answers, but not feeling the need to add any more to the endless pile of questions. Even though Beechkit's long pelt was only just brushing her short one, she could feel her tense as she considered arguing back at Dawnkit. He should really watch what he says more, she thought, he's already annoyed Redfall. It was surely fine though, he couldn't ever directly mean what he said, but could he? At times, he was definitely fairly arrogant, but there was nothing wrong with having confidence. Beechkit always felt the need to shoot him down, but it was probably good to keep him balanced, so that he wasn't too confident.

Saving the conversation from becoming a Beechkit vs. Dawnkit argument and shouting match (that her parents would undoubtedly have to break up), Beechkit asked about the forest. She had wondered what it was like, but never had been as interested as her littermates to explore the large green blobs outside of the camp's walls. Do they see the same as what I see? Her mother had questioned her on her vision a few sunrises earlier, after she had asked how she knew which warrior was which from a clump of fur coming back into camp after a patrol. It was just as she'd always seen, but her mother had seemed extremely worried.

"Do you like climbing the trees?" Maybe she would help Beechkit avoid the argument with another question, distracting Dawnkit and the others from what have might have happened.

OOC: Xeli, the player of Dustkit, is okay with me posting before her. :3

IC:

“You, my mentor. What a thought.” Dawnkit stared for a moment, trying to take in Redfall's words. They didn't quite... click together.

"...Wha-?" He began to ask, confusedly, before Redfall was already talking again.

“If you want to be a mentor, kit, you’d better learn how a Clan works in the most basic terms. For example, kits aren’t mentors." Dawnkit made the connection as to where the confusion was, and it wasn't with him. The blonde kit snorted and tapped his tail on the ground in front of him.

"I meant you be my mentor... Does that make more sense or should I talk slower?" Dawnkit sneered. He didn't listen to whatever else Redfall had to say. He got to his paws and flicked his tail in Redfall's direction dismissively. He looked at Dustkit and snickered. He leaned in close and talked to her in a low voice, mischievous blue flames dancing in his eyes. "Clearly Redfall isn't important... he can't even follow a conversation with a kit. Mistpaw is... well... Mistpaw. So that about sums that up, doesn't it?" His voice was low, though definitely not so low that Beechkit couldn't hear him.

At Primrosekit's question... to... who? Everyone maybe?

"Uh... It's okay I guess? I've gotten really fast!" He felt a flutter of excitement before he shot up the closest tree in a speed that could nearly rival a squirrel's. He swung himself effortlessly to the top of a branch and puffed his chest out with his chin high. "See? Easy! But what I want to try to master, is jumping from branch to branch like dad does. He doesn't think I'll be as big as him, but he also said that I might be able to jump farther because I'm lighter!" His eyes landed on the limbs of a neighboring tree. He was very tempted to try it...

Dustkit stopped flicking her tail. She was not satisfied with the response she got at all, but was a small bit amused at the attitude change in the older cats. Mistpaw seemed uneasy, and the other well...'Redfall' was it? They seemed so put off that they had stalked away from the group, though that was mostly her brother's fault she'd like to think. Good on him for making an older cat so angry. Her amusement rising even more still with each word coming out of her brother's mouth, all of them poised to grab the attention of that older cat again and maybe get clawed at in a bit, who knows, certainly not her. When Dawnkit would lean in with his own answers for her previous question she couldn't even stifle her laughter. Maybe Beechkit would hear, maybe not, she didn't care!

"Haha! You're completely right Dawnkit! They definitely couldn't possibly be important cats at all if this is how they're acting toward a simple question such as mine." It would be a small bit but eventually she would recover from her laughing fit and regain her composure...sort of, she was now wearing a smirk that probably won't be going away for a while yet. Though mildly curious and not entirely sure that Primrosekit's question was really toward Dawnkit, she watched him answer it in his own way by shooting up the tree nearest them. Dustkit was a bit jealous at how easily and quickly he had gone up that tree though... I definitely need to work on these things if I really do want to be the 'best', but I've got an inkling that that won't be the case with Dawnkit around, hovering above me at a level I may not be able to reach...at least not in the same amount of time as him... Her thoughts would trail off and she'd tilt her head in an attempt to look curious and have both Beechkit and Mistpaw in her sight. What was the outside like, and how would Mistpaw answer this, or even the angry Redfall if they deigned to come back at any point after Dawnkit's extra comments as they walked away? And how exactly would Beechkit respond to those comments as well? Dustkit found it hard to believe if her sister really had missed it.

Regardless, this was about to be really fun if Beechkit hadn't missed it.