A Friend is Just an Enemy Waiting to Pounce [open]

Duskkit had been wandering around camp. He was still too young to be named apprentice but was starting to grow a bit too old to be amused by the everyday comings and goings in the nursery, regardless of how much the inquisitive kitten tried to find new mysteries to uncover. He had turned every rock and moss, he had discovered every nook and cranny, he had even successfully made most if not all the queens run out of stories to tell him at this point, as well as made at least one or two a bit uncomfortable for some reason due to his incessant questions.

It wasn’t his fault that they used to think giving half of the information to him would be enough, especially when what they initially swore as truth only came to clash with another one of their stories, causing him to try and clear out the discrepancies between tales, be it old tales of the great ancient clans, or of recent events…the latter usually being more problematic than the former for some reason he still couldn’t fully understand.

And so, he had decided to start heading out from the nursery more often as of late.

The camp was a lot livelier, the warriors no longer seemed so stressed, and only earlier that same day, his mother had introduced him to this new kind of meat she called “fish”. It was tricky to eat at first, the scales making biting into it harder than the voles and mouses he had been eating until then, but the meat inside was unquestionably tastier than the furry creatures. Apparently, this was what he was supposed to be having as his main diet since he started to eat meat instead of drinking milk, but twolegs and their dogs had been hoarding it all to themselves until then. He had already heard nasty tales of the two creatures in the past, but knowing they had been so greedy as to keep the clan from their main food source all this time? Oh StarClan, was he learning to dislike them greatly.

He was looking between the growing pile of fresh-kill, which now held the shiny fish that warriors and apprentices brought back with them, and the chatting warriors whose faint conversations were just far enough to avoid him picking them up, trying to decide if he wanted to go and listen in or even attempt to converse with the older cats or if he was hungry enough to try and get another bite or two of fish when a soft voice reached his ear, which immediately flicked towards its source to try and pick up the words better.

He recognized that voice, he was sure he had heard its mewling before…

Duskkit turned to face Ploverkit, one of the youngest kits of the nursery. That’s where he knew the voice from. He had seen the kit around the nursery in the past, but he rarely seemed eager to interact, that and the fact that he probably didn’t have a lot of tales to tell due to his age made it so Duskkit just let him be for the time being, more interested in other things, but he wasn’t about to turn down a chance of getting to know him a little better…who knows, maybe he was more interesting than he was letting on? Only one way to know for sure.

However, a reply didn’t come right away from the bicolored kit as his amber eyes quickly examined Ploverkit. His stance, the expression on his face, body language…everything being processed as quickly as possible in his still-developing mind, hints of what he could grow to become. The small hints of irritation from his actions, the hints of nervousness from his quiet sentences. A theory brewing in his mind even if full understanding was far from his young, inexperienced grasp.

At the other kit’s question, he couldn’t help but stammer a bit. He wanted to provide an answer, but not being a warrior, not even an apprentice, he could only make guesses “Uh…I think…I think it’s going well? Better than before at least…have you tried fish yet? I did this morning, it was good” He tried to get in a more comfortable position to address Ploverkit properly “Is this your first time out of the nursery?”.

Currently on his break from the chores assigned to him, Robinpatch lay comfortably in the shade somewhere at the perimeter of the camp. Chin sat delicately on his paws, and eyes lidded as he observed his clanmates go about their day. Sighing in frustration, the old warrior pushed himself to sit up. Just sitting around wasn't as relaxing as he'd hoped it'd be. The others made it seem easy but as per usual, nothing was just easy for him. He needed to be doing something, or at least find some sort of recreation to occupy his free time. Perhaps he should just go strike up some chatter with a clanmate. He still needed to get to know some better after all.

"Who here'll have the misfortune of having this ole tom join their conversation..." he muttered under his breath as he searched the clearing. He was sure he got some weird looks when he spoke to himself like that but it was something that brought him comfort. He only had himself to keep him company out in 'The Great Beyond'. Nobody was your friend out there. He learned that lesson the hard way. The few allies he'd acquired weren't the comforting types. He was only with them because of the promise of protection in exchange for his ability to provide better sustenance in the form of large rats, birds, and mice. Most cats out there had to fight for scraps of twoleg food but his decent hunting skills had allowed him to eat a bit better than most. However, showing such talents brought him attention, unwanted or otherwise. It earned him a decent amount of 'partners' but gained him foes as well. His greatest allies had gone by the name Fazio, Laurette, and Benji. He stuck by them like a kit to their mother or father. Out of all the groups he'd come across during his travels, they had been the least threatening. He was certain that at one point, one of the nomad groups had tried to capture him for their meal. Overall, it hadn't been a pleasant time, but it did have it's ups.

The dilute calico snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of two young voices not too far from where he'd wandered. It seemed like the kits had wanted to escape the noisy nursery and find a more tolerable environment. "Hello there kiddos. Find anything interesting to chat about?" he meowed once he'd approached within earshot. He was sure they had no clue what a kiddo was but they seemed smart enough to understand it based on the context. He never meant to adopt outsider lingo into his vocabulary but it just happened after a while surviving 'out there'.