Bedtime Story [C]

Woolykit was not sleepy.

This was an irrefutable fact that, in his mind, would never change. He'd already slept today and he'd probably never be tired again. He wanted to go outside, play, hang out with the apprentices and warriors. He was almost an apprentice anyway! They didn't have bedtimes. He bet they didn't even feel sleepy. And Woolykit didn't feel sleepy either, so clearly he was too old for the nursery. He didn't dare say a word of this to Mother, though. That wouldn't be Manners, and Mother was the cat he had to do Manners with most of all. Instead, he sat in silence by the entrance to the nursery. He could hear Mother sigh, which meant "you really should be sleepy and it's rude that you're not", but he refused to turn around and kept his eyes trained on the outside world. It wasn't even that dark, he thought petulantly. Sure, the sun was low and the sky was pink, but the moon wasn't out yet and neither were the stars.

Just when he thought the boredom would drive him to sleepiness after all, he spotted a cat approaching the nursery. His ears pricked up and his eyes widened a fraction. A warrior! Warriors were much less bedtime-y than queens. He bet this approaching cat, whoever they were, would talk to him. She finally reached the nursery and Woolykit immediately went up to her, visibly excited. "Hello! I'm Woolykit. I'm not sleepy, and Mother won't talk to me because she is sleepy. Can you tell me a story? Something with foxes, or bears. Or hawks, maybe!" He didn't really mind what the story was about, so long as it was true, but bears were cool so he figured he might as well ask for a bear story. If she had any.

As Poppyshine entered the nursery and Woolykit got a proper look at her, he realised with a start that her belly was very large. He recognised the condition, though he couldn't quite remember what it meant. Lots of the queens had large bellies, but Mother told him it was rude to ask why. He decided to hold his tongue about it with Poppyshine too, though he burned with curiosity. It was cast from his mind, anyway, when the she-cat confirmed that she had a story for him. His face brightened and he followed her to the shady spot she found, lying down next to her. Snakes! Snakes hadn't even occurred to him, as he'd never seen one before. He'd spotted a hawk overhead once, and heard foxes crying out at night, but never snakes.

He shuffled on the spot with restless excitement as Poppyshine began her story. She was a wonderful storyteller- He was hooked from the first word. He audibly gasped when the snakes attacked, picturing it in his head. He didn't know what Stormpaw looked like, but he imagined him very big and strong and lightning-fast. Imaginary Stormpaw dashed behind the snakes, quick as a wink, and stunned them so he could go in for the kill. Woolykit found himself in awe of Stormpaw, although he'd never met him. He jumped up, amazed at the story. Were apprentices really that good? Woolykit had assumed only warriors did cool things like kill two snakes in a row. "WOW! Did he really kill both snakes? Were they venomous? I heard that snakes were venomous. Like poisonous, but they have to bite you. I hope Stormpaw didn't get bitten!" His eyes were wide with worry and curiosity. "I want to be just like Stormpaw when I'm an apprentice! Do you reckon my mentor will teach me to fight like him?"

Woolykit beamed, both at the assurance that Stormpaw wasn't envenomed by the snakes and that his guess that they were venomous was correct. Of course someone like Stormpaw wouldn't let the snakes use their venom! He was way too fast, Woolykit figured. Seeing Poppyshine lean in, he pricked up an ear- and then widened his eyes in shock at what she said. Stormpaw be his mentor? Or Stormpaw's own mentor be his mentor?? The idea was so incredible that for once in his life he was at a loss for words. But not responding when another cat spoke to him wasn't Manners, so he quickly composed himself as well as a restless kit could. "He can do that?? Be my mentor, I mean? I bet I'd be the most fearsome RiverClanner ever if he was my mentor!"

He nodded happily to her question. "Yes, ma'am! Being a kit is good because everyone talks to me and tells me stories and I can sleep in the same den as Mother but I have bedtimes and the only fun games are Mossball and Pretend Clans. When I'm an apprentice I can go out and hunt! And fight snakes! And I can go to Gatherings and meet ever so many new cats. Are gatherings fun? I imagine they are, you get to see all the other Clans! Though I bet they don't have warriors as good as we do." He shuffled closer to her excitedly, keen to hear everything about warrior life. If he wanted to be a good apprentice he'd have to know what to expect!

Woolykit waited for an answer as Poppyshine stopped talking for a short moment. He wished he knew what she was thinking about, but he couldn't read minds. He'd tried, once, when he heard that StarClan cats could go into your mind. But he wasn't a StarClanner and that meant he had no idea why Poppyshine had stopped speaking. It only lasted a few seconds, though, before she opened her mouth and spoke again. Woolykit smiled, happy that another one of his deductions was correct- Gatherings were fun! "I can't wait to meet them, then! I promise I'll be respectful. Are Manners the same for other Clans as for RiverClan? If they are then I'm bound to get along with everyone there!" Manners were the quickest way to get others to like you, Mother had said.

The little kit yawned, showing his pointy kitten teeth, and blinked a heavy blink. All this talking was making him... Sleepy?! No, he wasn't sleepy! He wanted more stories, and he could hardly listen to them if he was asleep. "Ma'am, can you tell me about the- yawn- Clans? What are they like? I hear ShadowClan is reeally scary. Is that true?"He yawned a third time, this time stifling it a little.

Woolykit looked at Poppyshine with interest as she answered his question. So ShadowClan wasn't as scary as he'd thought... When he played Clans with the other kits, ShadowClan were the mean ones. Nobody really wanted to play them. But hunting at night was actually, in Woolykit's opinion, pretty cool. They had to have really good night vision then! He was going to say so, but then Poppyshine kept talking and he didn't want to interrupt. Plus, his head felt oddly heavy and he didn't really have the energy to say all that much. He wasn't sleepy, of course. Just a little bit slow because he was busy focusing on all the cool things Poppyshine was telling him. She faltered a bit when she spoke about ThunderClan and SkyClan. Woolykit had no idea why, and he didn't ask- that would be rude, not to mention he was far too sleepy to wonder that much about it. He was too tired to deny the sleepiness now. Poppyshine's soothing voice and the warmth of the nursery was lulling him to sleep after all his insistence that he wouldn't fall asleep. As a last ditch attempt to fight the sleepiness, he mewed "When I'm a warrior, I'm gonna..." He faded off, words replaced by quiet, squeaky snores. He subconsciously squirmed closer to the deputy as he dozed off, finally falling asleep for good as he curled up by her chest.