Simply Spectating [Open]

Webkit sat in front of the nursery entrance. Being a young kit, he hadn't been out of the nursery much before this and was still a stranger to much of clan life. In front of him, the routines of clan life were playing out like a foreign choreography. Wide-eyed, he tried to soak it all in with his gaze darting from cat to cat. There were too many to keep track of as they went about their lives. He wondered how they all knew what to do.

Webkit only knew that one day he would join them. He would become an apprentice and would... well, he would do whatever it was that apprentices did. Some of the apprentice duties had been mentioned by various queens and older, more knowledgable kits in the nursery. He remembered being told that apprentices got to leave camp to hunt and fight while he had to stay inside, but what exactly did that look like? And, how would he know how to do it when the time came?

Wolfpaw had just finished some apprentice work, helping out the elders. Not that she didn't like them, but they didn't really have the energy to match hers, so when she saw what looked like a lonely kit, she swooped in like a hawk. Once her amber gaze came upon, whichever kit that was, Wolfpaw rushed over. "Hey there, uh, what's your name? Any way you look lonely, oh I forgot to introduce myself I'm Wolfpaw! Need a play-partner or something?" The words fell out of Wolfpaw's mouth as she came up, and sat down in a matter of heartbeats. While, impatiently, waiting for an answer, she rubbed her paws into the dusty earth beneath her, making marks where she sat in moments.

A movement heading towards Webkit caught his eye. He shrank back momentarily at the intensity of the tabby's energy as she was suddenly in front of him, spewing words. During the moment it took for him to process her words, his shock state eased into one of curiosity. Wolfpaw. He said the name in his mind, taking note of the suffix. "You're an apprentice!" he exclaimed, a mixture of excitement and admiration shining in his yellow eyes. Then a look of awe came across his face as he jumped to a very hefty conclusion. "Starclan must've sent you to answer all of my questions about what apprentices do! Do you know how to fight and hunt for the clan? And take care of the elders? And all of the other things an apprentice does? Is it hard?" With all of his important questions voiced and out of the way, he finally addressed her questions. "My name is Webkit. Sure! Can you teach me how to play like an apprentice?"

Wolfpaw almost jumped in surprise, a kit was just as energetic as her! Maybe she was just getting less energetic... nah. The apprentice took up replying just as quickly as Webkit had asked questions. "Probably not sent from Starclan, I do know how to fight and hunt and take care of the elders n' stuff, and yeah it can be hard but you gotta work hard to be a good warrior someday!" She quickly held up her striped tail as if to say 'hold that thought' as she ran to grab a moss ball.

Wolfpaw set the moss ball down quickly, moving to mark a line near it. "Ok! Here's a game that I loved to play as a kit but is still great and I do it sometimes! Basically, you whack it as far as possible, and then you mark where it lands. I think I'll bonk it farther than you because I'm bigger, but the aim of the game is to just do better than you did on your first try! It shows progress and growth, and usually makes you feel pretty good about yourself! Go for it when you want, I believe in you!" As Wolfpaw rambled, she had been moving out of the way, sitting down on the ground.

The answers to his questions left Webkit feeling unsatisfied. All he really got from them was that it was hard, but hard work was necessary and not necessarily a bad thing. However, it didn't make it any easier to visualize what being an apprentice and doing apprentice duties would actually look like. Maybe he could ask her if he could watch her do some of the in-camp apprentice duties at some other time, such as taking care of the elders? Before Webkit could dwell on it for too long, Wolfpaw was dashing off and returning with a moss ball.

It sounded like the game she wanted him to play was both a kit and an apprentice game. Were there fewer boundaries between being a kit and an apprentice than he thought? Could something be both a kit AND an apprentice experience? Well, he was playing with an apprentice, and an apprentice was playing with him, so it had to be true!

At first, the concept of the game didn't seem too appealing. What was the point in whacking a random chunk of moss just to see how far you can whack it? It seemed, well, a tad bit ridiculous. But then the she-cat apprentice spoke of progress and growth. They were abstract concepts that he couldn't entirely understand and visualize on his own at this stage of his life, but the image in his mind that her words had started a trickle of understanding. The point wasn't to see how far he could whack the moss, it was the challenge of whacking it farther the second time! His eyes widened as he looked up at Wolfpaw in awe and admiration of her seemingly otherwordly wisdom. The game was suddenly very fascinating. Not to mention that he would be doing the same things as his new apprentice friend!

Webkit directed his focus on the moss ball, his tail twitching in excitement as he lowered himself into a crouch. The goal is to get the moss ball to go as far as possible. How can I do that? The answer came to him in a flash of instinct. The intensity of his stare grew and the movement in his tail stilled as he visualized what he was about to do. Then, he pounced. Landing with his front paws on the moss ball, he sunk his claws in. Pausing only long enough for his hind paws to land with steady footing on the ground, Webkit tensed his hindlegs again and sprung, pushing off of the ground. As he did so he flicked out his front paws and sheathed his claws, flinging the moss ball into the air. The technique wasn't perfect and the moss ball's trajectory was more upwards and less outwards than he would've liked, but nonetheless the moss ball landed some tail-lengths away from him and then rolled one or two more before coming to a stop.

Feeling proud of his work, Webkit looked towards Wolfpaw to see what she would make of it. Then, for a terrifying moment, he remember that she had said "whack" and "bonk," not "fling" or "throw." Had he broken the rules of the game? His proud demeanor wilted away, he sheepishly mewed, "Does that count as a 'bonk?'"

The tabby apprentice watched eagerly as Webkit, unlike she had done as a kit, pounced on the moss ball, throwing it with two paws. Her head tracked the ball as it made its way through the air, falling a short way away. Wolfpaw was pleased and intrigued by the new style of throwing. After watching for a breath longer, she turned her amber gaze onto Webkit, showing off a huge smile. "Well, I always bonked it, but that sure does count!" With a short trek over to the ball's final resting place, she marked a line with a paw where it landed.

Grabbing the ball in her jaws, she made her way back to the starting line, plopping it down. Before starting her own bonk, she gave another look at Webkit. "You're a natural, you'll probably end up being a great hunter." For once, Wolfpaw meowed this in a softer, slower way, making sure the words were heard. After a pause, she continued "Now watch how I do it, we might have different styles, but they both work!" Wolfpaw turned slightly away, winding up her right paw, and thwacking it as hard as she could with a twist of her body and an upward swipe of her paw. The moss ball traveled further than Webkit's and landed a few tail lengths farther than his had gone. Before Wolfpaw darted off to mark it, she turned, "Just because I got further doesn't mean that I'm better, I'm bigger and stronger right now. Someday, when we're both fully grown, we should figure out if one of our ways is better than the other! An equal test." With that said in her usual, quick way, she darted off to mark the line where the ball had once again come to rest, bringing it back a short time later and dropping it back off for Webkit.

The kit openly beamed at the apprentice's words of praise. He was a natural! Webkit wanted to test Wolfpaw's theory that he would end up being a great hunter, but that would have to wait until his apprentice days. For now, all he could do was keep playing the moss ball game.

Webkit watched wide-eyed, observing Wolfpaw's technique as she bonked the moss ball in her own way. He nodded at her words as she explained her advantage. His whiskers twitched in excitement when she mentioned testing their methods when no disadvantages existed between them. "Yes!" he eagerly squeaked, "I would love to test that!"

Really getting into the game, Webkit crept up to the mossball. His rump gave a little wiggle as he focused on the moss ball and replayed what Wolfpaw had just done in his head. He draw back his paw and smacked the moss, trying to swipe his paw upwards at the end. The movement felt clumsy to him, and the moss ball didn't go as far as it had with his own method. He bounded over to mark where it landed and brought it back to Wolfpaw. "I'm not as good at bonking it your way, but that's ok!"

Watching Webkit wiggle, and bonk the moss ball away, Wolfpaw smiled. Shortly after, she pursued the ball, marking where it landed and bringing it back. "Here you go!" She mouthed this around the ball, dropping it back in front of the kit. When hearing Webkit's words, she Wolfpaw gave a vigorous nod. "It sure is ok!" She looked over her shoulder for a moment, before continuing, "I should probably go do some more apprentice things, but I think you'll be alright without me! Especially since this game is one cat too, you can play this whenever you want, or you can teach it to friends! Or your enemies, so you can show them how much better you are!" Wolfpaw trotted over to her line, checking the surroundings to remember a bit about where it was, and then erased it with a few scratches in the ground. "Ok, I should probably go now bye!" Her last word trailed off as she trotted away, going off to do some menial apprentice labor, thinking on her game, and how to improve it.

Webkit's mind was too literal for its own good at times, and before he could point out how ridiculous it would be to take the time to teach the game to any real enemies who would be a threat to him, Wolfpaw was bounding away. "Ok!" he squeaked after her, "Good luck with your apprentice duties!" He was disappointed that she was leaving, and a bit jealous that she was able to re-enter the world of apprenticeship that he did not know. But there was nothing he could do about that. So, he turned his attention back to the moss ball and gave it a good whack.