Outside the Box (closed)

Sneezingpaw woke up early that morning, the gears in her brain turning (truly, this was the most effort her brain had used in a good couple of moons) as she trotted sleepily out of the den. "Mountainmenace! Wake up!" Sneezingpaw nudged her sister, sneezing afterwards. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief, "Betcha I can beat you to Sunnin'rocks!" The molly challenged, wriggling her rump.

Dashing out of the apprentice den, Sneezingpaw exploded across the camp, mewing a hasty sorry to Carpsplash as she darted past. The world seemed to go by in fast-forward, and before she knew it, she was at the edge of the river. Wiggling her hindquarters, she giggled and prepared to leap. Springing forward with her power hindlegs, she kicked her way over to the third stepping stone, bunny hopping to the next until she reached Sunningrocks. "Told'ya you wouldn' -- achoo! -- catch me!" Sneezingpaw boasted, grinning goofily.

Plopping down ungracefully, Sneezingpaw sprawled onto her back, stretching and purring, the heat of the rocks feeling oh-so nice. "Hey Mountainpaw? D'ya know what it means to be a she-cat or a tom? Like... What'sa point of it?" The speckled molly pondered aloud, turning her head to look at Mountainpaw with a grin.

Mountainpaw yawned, a big, tongue-rolling yawn that showed all her teeth and made her eyes go all squinty. Looking at her, how she rolled about and groaned at being awoken by her sister, the uninitiated might assume she was grumpy at being woken up. But as most RiverClanners had learned the hard way, this sleepy-looking ritual was actually a wind-up to the (in reality, very awake) cat's explosion to her feet. Finally finding her feet beneath her as opposed to above and around her in various uncomfortable-looking arrays, she unfurled her muscles and shot to her feet with surprising speed and a dangerous amount of force like a deadly jack-in-the-box.

"You're on! I've been practicing with Dennisbro, I can totally outrun you now!" The practicing was, in fact, physiotherapy Dennis had assigned her to help with in a total absence of other things to do, and there wasn't much a three-legged cat could teach her about running anyway, but that didn't stop her confidence from rising like a heated balloon as she shot off like a poorly piloted rocket after her sister.

Her heavy footsteps seemed to shake the earth while she ran, announcing to half the forest her presence. She whooped as she gained speed, not even noticing that Sneezingpaw was pretty far ahead of her now by virtue of her hind legs. Finally reaching Sunningrocks, she plonked herself down next to her sister and spread herself out like a starfish to absorb the early morning rays. She didn't look over at her sister when she spoke, but her ear swivelled in her direction. "Y'know, I never think about it. I'm a she-cat because ma says I'm a she-cat. She's smart, I don't much ponder what she says." Ponder. A big word, a good word. It reminded her of fish. "Hey, d'you reckon fish can be toms or she-c- uh, she-fish? Do their mas tell them too?"

As Mountainpaw spoke, Sneezingpaw bobbed her head along with her eyes closed like some ancient elder approving of some important task. "Oh yes, if Moms say it, it must be true! Mama wouldn't lie to us 'bout nuffin'!" She stated with a squeak at the end, followed by a giggle snort.

"I wonder what happens when you don' have a mom. Are they just.. Cats? I thinkin' I like that. Why d'ya have to be one or the other? Why not... Both? Or maybe none!" Her eyebrows smushed together, and she rolled over onto her side to flash her sister a mischievous glance.

At the mention of fish, her ears swivelled up, and it was clear Menace had her full attention. "Wowie, Menacepaw! You're so smart, I never would'a thought of that! I'm sure the Momma fishies tell the baby fishies what they are, otherwise they'd be all upside downy brain on what is who and who is what! You're so clever!" She stated proudly. Clever was a good word. It sounded like Clover, and Sneezingpaw liked clovers. Clovers were pretty. She liked the ones with four leaves best, they were special.