First Sign of Smoke [open]

Smokekit sat on a smooth rock just outside the nursery. There was no point in staying inside- her mother was back to warrior duties, and there were no other kits in the whole of ShadowClan, at least as far as she knew. No one to play with, no one to interact with.

Smokekit found she rather liked it this way.

Her black fur invisible against the rock and dirt, the young kit watched ShadowClan cats go back and forth, laying prey on the fresh-kill pile, sharing tongues with friends, laughing amongst themselves. No one noticed the small kit watching them with sharp grey eyes.

Smokekit shifted a little, and her white undercoat flashed in the moonlight. A beetle climbed up her rock. She bent over it, completely absorbed, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Mothkit stumbled out of the nursery, her first time out alone without her mother.
Her eyes blinked a few times at the site of the camp, taking everything in with wonder.
She was so absorbed in the new things to see that she didn't even notice as she tripped over another kit's tail.

She gasped as she fell nose first into the dirt, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to scare him.
She let out a whimper before bouncing back up onto her feet, looking worriedly at Smokekit, worried she'd offended them.

Smokekit had been sitting on her rock, minding her own business. Her bug-watching was interrupted as something swatted at her tail. With a hiss, she straightened up and glared down at the other kit.

She scared off the beetle! That kit’s clumsy as… another kit?

“I thought I was the only kit in ShadowClan,” she mewed in surprise. “Smokekit. My mother’s back to warrior duties now, and I’m nearly six moons. Yours?”

With these laconic words, Smokekit hopped off her rock. She sat in front of the other kit, tail tip twitching. What was she doing? She didn’t like company. Her curiosity had overridden her natural standoffishness, and now Smokekit was going to face the consequences.

StarClan, what was I thinking? Now I’m going to have to talk to this kit. Yes, mother, I see you staring at me from across the clearing. I’m talking to her, see?

Smokekit’s tail began to twitch rapidly as she waited for the other kit to reply.

All Mothkit could do for a moment was stare with her big blue eyes, that were morphing colors slowly every day.
She had seen her eyes in a puddle one day, one of the few days she been out with her mother, and she had told her that most kits eyes changed colors.
The concept had fascinated Mothkit. If eyes could change color imagine what the rest of the world could do!
She shook her thoughts away, trying to focus on the kit in front of her.

Smokekit she had said her name was! At nearly 6 moons old Smokekit seemed to be as big as a warrior to Mothkit, who was just over 2 moons old.

"I'm.... I'm Mothkit... Since your six moons old I bet you know all the good spots around camp, huh?" Mothkit asked quietly. She phrased it in a way where maybe it wouldn't seem she was as inexperienced as she was. This way maybe it would seem like she was complimenting Smokekit while also learning more about her clan!

”…you know all the best spots around camp, huh?”

Why was someone asking her? She knew which spots she liked, but other cats seemed to prefer different spots. Maybe it was a kit thing. Maybe this kit would like what she liked.

A small smile appeared on Smokekit’s face. She could tell this new kit was going to love what Smokekit was going to show her. After all, who wouldn’t?

Smokekit nodded and rose to her paws. She scrambled up the side of a rock, and finally perched on the edge. From here, just outside the nursery, she could see it all. No one could leave or enter camp without Smokekit knowing it. It. Was. Awesome.

“Come on up here,” she called. “There’s enough room and a wonderful view. I can see everyone from up here.”

Smokekit moved over a bit for the other kit, her white undercoat showing for a moment. She sat still, blending into the rock as she watched the other kit with her sharp grey gaze.

Ravenpaw had finished eating some prey and lay at the other side of the camp, eyes half open, and only slightly paying attention to the cats around camp. The she-cat was day dreaming about something or the other when movement caught her eye. She watched one of the kits from the nursery jump up onto a rock and talk to another, smaller kit. It wasn't long ago that I was a kit, but I don't think I ever really did kit things. Ravenpaw decided she wanted to play a trick on the kits, so she stretched out and stood, keeping her eye on the kit on the rock, but walked over to the smaller one.

As she approached the pair, she moved her gaze to the small kit. She didn't know their names, and hadn't seen them out and about before, so she decided to go a different route. "Hello," She spoke softly, not entirely because she was talking a kit, but partly because she was still feeling a bit lazy.

"I noticed you were out talking to someone, but I haven't seen another kit." Ravenpaw wasn't really good at these types of things, but she kept her words as smooth as possible, hoping her plan would work.

Mothkit had just been about to jump up after Smokekit when the sound of Ravenpaw interrupted her mid jump. Mothkit stumbled a bit, before finding her footing again.

She took in the view of the bigger cat. Mothkit hadn't been out of the nursery yet, and this cat seemed much bigger than her. But not quite as big as her mother, Darkstorm. This cat had to be an apprentice then.

"What do you mean you haven't seen another kit?" Mothkit replied, trying to keep her voice level which was hard. She hadn't interacted with other cats enough besides her mother, especially being an only kit. "Smokekit just jumped up to that perch..." Mothkit flicked her tail in the direction that Smokekit had went.

Smokekit had been so focused on the other kit that she hadn’t noticed the apprentice walk over. She gave a little jump at the sound of another voice. Oh, good, the apprentice wasn’t talking to her.

She hadn’t seen another kit, hmmm? Smokekit allowed a smug smile to spread over her face. Either her hiding skills were exceptional, or that other cat was blind.

Smokekit preferred the former.

“Butterflykit!” she scolded, eyes flashing. “You just gave me away! I was practicing my hiding skills, not that you’d know what that means,” she huffed.

Her annoyance was stronger than her shyness, and she glared at the unfortunate kit.

“I am Smokekit,” she informed the apprentice. “I was right here the entire time. The kit that gave me away is Butterflykit or Insectkit or something. What’s it like outside the camp?” She asked curiously.

Now, I just hope Butterflykit doesn’t ruin one of my only chances to learn about the territory…

Mothkits eyes narrowed. Butterflykit? Really.
Mothkit decided not to dignify Smokekit's forgetfulness with a response, instead dragging her kit-blue eyes back to Ravenpaw and waiting to hear what the apprentice's answer was.

Mothkit was also very interested in what it was like outside the camp. She knew she had moons left before she was an apprentice, but the sooner she learned about the outside of ShadowClan's camp the better an apprentice she would make!

Ravenpaw couldn't help but to watch the two kit's interact. Her plan didn't work, but it turned out better than expected. She noticed that the smaller kit didn't respond to anything the older one had said. It also seemed that Smokekit had forgotten the other one's name. Before answering the main question, she sat down and wrapped her tail around herself. "What's your name?" She spoke to the small kit.

Smokekit gave a huff. What was sooooo interesting about the younger kit? Smokekit was practically six moons and proud of it. In fact, why was she still here?

Smokekit huffed again and turned her gaze to the camp, pointedly ignoring the other cats. If they were going to talk about boring stuff, so be it, but Smokekit was ready to pounce (figuratively, of course) on any new information the apprentice could give her.

After a minute, she remembered what her mother had always told her about meeting new cats, and turned to the apprentice.

“Erm… what’s your name?”

Mothkit was glad the apprentice had asked her name. That outta show that know-it-all older Smokekit! At the same time that Smokekit asked Erm... What's your name? to the apprentice Mothkid said "My name is Mothkit, not Butterflykit! This is my first time out of the nursery without my mother."

Ravenpaw waited until the younger kit replied. The she-cat looked towards the nursery, wondering if Mothkit's mother was sleeping or was keeping an eye on her from inside. She turned her attention back and looked to them both before replying again. "My name is Ravenpaw." She thought for a moment about how to answer the original question. "Outside of the camp it's very wet and muddy, and quite dangerous. When you become apprentices, you'll learn where it's safe to step and where to never go. There are places even the warriors don't walk. There are things out there that are bigger than even the warriors!" She said the last part in a hushed tone. She was fond of story telling, and Ravenpaw liked to hype things up more than they probably should be. "On my first day of training, I had to face a predator... an owl." She watched the kits carefully to see their reaction.

Mothkit's eyes grew bigger at Ravenpaw's words. Things bigger than warriors? How could that be?

She swiveled her head to look at Smokekit, waiting to see what the older kit had to say. She was secretly a little worried, if Ravenpaw was telling the truth. Mothkit felt so small in that moment. How would she ever grow big enough to face those kind of things outside the safe walls of camp?

She would wait for Smokekit to answer first. So she didn't make a fool of herself.

Well, you’re still here, so it cannot have been too big of an owl, yes?

Of course, Smokekit would never say that aloud to the older cat, but it was true. If an apprentice fresh out of the nursery with no training could fight off an owl, clearly the owl was crow-food. Or was it?

“What did it look like? Was it bigger than an nightingale? Was it really completely silent?”

She had heard that last part from a warrior who had warned her about the dangers of sneaking out of camp. It didn’t make any sense. How could something make no noise?

Smokekit waited for Ravenpaw’s response, twitching her tail in eagerness.