Not What You Imagined [c]

The mossball Woolykit had been fervently doing some variation of keepy-uppies with rolled out of his reach. Up until recently he'd been playing catch with some of the older kits, but they'd all gone to sleep or play a quieter game so now Woolykit had been left playing on his own. But now he wasn't playing at all, as his mossball was at the paws of a fluffy grey apprentice. Or maybe a warrior? He was older than a lot of the apprentices Woolykit had seen, anyway.

The apprentice spoke and Woolykit didn't quite know how to answer- Mother said he always had to start with "hello, I'm Woolykit, how do you do", but this cat already knew his name. Maybe he knew Mother? Some cats already knew Woolykit's name because they visited him when he was very little and couldn't hear or see. After standing in silence for an uncomfortable few seconds, Woolykit decided on an alternative greeting that was also Manners. "Hello! Yes, sir. Woolykit's my name. What's yours?" He caught the mossball, making a big show of unsheathing his claws and pinning it in place. He wanted to look cool in front of the apprentice, after all.

It took Woolykit approximately 2 seconds to connect the name Stormpaw in his brain. He looked Stormpaw up and down, eyes wide, before jumping excitedly on the spot like he'd been hit by lightning. "STORMPAW! The Stormpaw! Wow! You're different from how I pictured! Not in a bad way. Wow!" He circled the older tom, mossball abandoned. "Did you really kill two snakes? Poppyshine said you did, and that you vere very brave. She said you were a stellar apprentice. And that you're going to be a warrior soon! Is that true?"

He collected himself for just long enough to process that Stormpaw had asked him a question. What game was he playing? "Oh! It doesn't really have a name. I just throw it up, like this-" He grabbed the mossball, tossing it into the air, "and then I make sure it doesn't hit the ground!" He demonstrated, batting at the falling ball and sending it back into the air. He missed on his second attempt and it landed on the ground with a soft thump. Oops. Trying to be impressive in the eyes of his hero, he said "That was on purpose. So you'd see what happens when the ball falls." Was that lying? Lying was rude, but he didn't want Stormpaw to know he'd missed the ball.

Woolykit watched as Stormpaw appeared to freeze, apparently startled. Dread filled the little kit as he ran through what he could have said to cause this reaction. Had he not done Manners properly? No, he was sure he'd done it right. Maybe he should've answered Stormpaw's question before asking about the snakes? Stormpaw was older, so maybe his thing should've come before Woolykit's. Had he ruined his chance? He really wanted to be friends with Stormpaw, maybe learn a few fighting tips... It would be awful if his rudeness had cost him that. Thankfully for Woolykit's heart though, which was now beating at an alarmingly fast rate, Stormpaw was simply taking his time to answer and there was no annoyance in his tone. Woolykit knew he had the Manners right after all!

He listened to Stormpaw's account of the tale, deflating a little at the revelation that the second snake got away. 'But it still died because of Stormpaw, probably,' he reasoned to himself. Yeah! Stormpaw was still really cool. It was actually cooler that he'd let it die on its own, because then it was like a warning to all the other snakes. Don't mess with Stormpaw. "Yeah! Poppyshine's really good at stories. She says that maybe you can be my mentor! Then you could teach me to kill snakes." He beamed. He was being less polite than he maybe should have been, usually he should say Sir or Mister or something like that, but he was far too excited to remember the exact vocabulary to use with an older cat.

"It is a fun game! I was playing catch with the other kits, but they had to go back to their mothers to sleep. Not me though, I'm old enough to play on my own. Mother and Father say I'm plenty smart enough not to get into trouble. And with you here there's no way anything could happen to me!