A wolf in the loose [Open]

Wolfkit just finished grooming himself before rushing through the nursery's opening into Shadowclan's camp. He wanted to look as presentable as his... appearance allowed him. The tom shook his head, trying to scare those thoughts of disdain for himself. Remember Wolfkit... you have to act confident so they won't laugh at you and your hairless face! He thought, cheering himself up.

His big green eyes scanned the camp in search of his objective: the fresh-kill pile. A wide, mischievous smile appeared on his face as he thought: I'm sure all the kits in the nursery will lose their minds when I bring a mouse with no warrior catching me! That will show them. The dark-furred tom looked around, making sure no one was seeing him. It was too early for most of his clanmates to be up and Wolfkit was going to take advantage of that. Crouching, imitating how apprentices are thought to stalk, the kitten made his way to the fresh-kill pile. As he got closer, he let his belly touch the ground and crawled toward his prize. Wolfkit extended his paw to the closest and smallest mice he saw. Surely no one would notice such a small animal missing from their storage...

Nightstar was trying to rest for once, between his work as Shadowclans leader, and doing his best to provide for his clan, he had found himself exhausted. But while he was trying to rest, it didn't mean that he would be allowed to, as the leader noticed that a kit was acting mighty suspicious. Sighing softly, the tom got to his paws and padded over to Wolfkit, one of Shadowclans newest additions, who had quite an odd look to him. Nightstar stood over the patchy-haired kitten for a moment, silent as he waited for the kit to notice him, when it didn't he meowed, "A little young to be eating prey, aren't you?"

"Eek!" The small kit yowled surprised as he tried to turn back towards the black tom and almost tripped with his own tail. At last, he fell down on his rear and lifted his head to meet Nightstar's gaze with wide and scared eyes.

It was his first time seeing the leader so close... Wolfkit had only heard his voice from the nursery when he calls for clan meetings and had only seen a peek of him from afar. Looking at the large, scarred tom so close was... intimidating. "I-I-I was just-" Wolfkit was starting to panic, in fear of being punished for his little stunt. What if Nightstar didn't make him an apprentice for doing this? Or maybe... he was testing him? This is no time to back down... you have to be assertive just like mom said and show him you're warrior material. The oddly-haired kitten gulped and stood up, his stance firm and meeting the leader's eyes hiding his fear. "I wanted to bring my mom something to eat. She was going to let me have a taste this time." It was a half-lie but Wolfkit still felt bad for it. It was no good to lie to the leader of his clan... and maybe... he would consider his attempt brave in some way? "I also wanted to impress the other kits with my stalking skills. Show them I'm going to be the best warrior in the clan!" Proudly, Wolfkit puffed his chest and forced a confident smile. Inside, he felt awful. Now all the kits would laugh at him for getting caught by no other than Shadowclan's leader.

Skunkkit was up at this hour, StarClan only knew why. He liked having friends and all, but they were so loud. There was something about the sacred silence, when everyone was asleep, that he found comforting. The earth sighed under his feet, his whiskers pricking the soft dirt below. Rain had made their camp so soft, yet so hard to traverse.

He squinted into the clearing. There was a form, dark and soft edged, prowling by the fresh-kill pile. Skunkkit let his paws brush the earth as he approached Wolfkit.

"Feedin' yo' mate and kits with that? What are they, owl pellets? The missus' only having a chew?"

Skunkkit cackled a little bit, then realized it was Wolfkit. "Hey, you got more o' that? C'mon, I'm hungry n' the queens don't give us nothing!"

A huge black cat approached from behind.

"Who're you--"

He almost choked on his tongue as he leaned his face further towards them.

"Nightstar?"

Nightstar merely quirked a brow as he listened to Wolfkit flounder in his panic. Just wanted to impress the other kits, huh? Nightstar was about to give Wolfkit a tip on his hunter's crouch, before another kit padded up, with a rather disrespectful tone that the tom did not like, at all. He'd be wise to crush that behaviour under toe right away, "Is that any way to speak to or about your peers, Skunkkit? We are respectful to our clan-mates, they keep us safe, fed, and warm after all." Nightstar scolded, frowning disapprovingly at Skunkkit before he turned his attention to the nervous ankle-biter named Wolfkit. "Your crouch will need some work, but there is plenty of time for you to try to beat my title as Shadowclans best warrior. Keep your belly fur from touching the ground, it makes noise." Dear Starclan kits were so rowdy. "And perhaps consider that honesty is the best policy. It's very disrespectful to lie to your leader's face." The tom huffed, also giving Wolfkit his own frown.

Skunkkit was unaware of a frown, he could barely see the leader's eyes from the distance he was. "I was jokin', sir, I know the guy."

The dark grey and black tomkit turned to his friend, in shock from Nightstar's intervention. "You lied? To the leader? Oi! Why ya doin' that?"

Well, this was a right mess to be in. Skunkkit just wanted to know the commotion. There was nothing wrong with that, right?

A fellow denmate joined the mess and Wolfkit almost let out a sigh of relief when Nightstar seemed to direct his annoyance toward Skunkkit instead of him. But that hope soon vanished. Wolfkit's ears lowered a little, embarrassed about getting caught by his leader and denmate. But he tried to remain with a proud stance. Fear was for the weak and he couldn't share his weakness with his clanmates. It was bad enough with his hairless face.

"I wasn't lying, silly Skunkkit!" He mewed back at Skunkkit with a playful tone, trying to de-escalate the situation. With a relaxed movement of his small tail, Wolfkit returned his focus to the leader and bowed his head to him. "Thank you for the tip, sir... And I understand what you mean, but I wasn't lying. I did want to bring a gift to my mom and impress my denmates in the process. But I guess I will have to find another way to do that now."

The tom faced the other kit once more and walked towards him. He nudged his shoulder with his and mewed with the same friendly, yet impish voice. "If you're hungry 'mate', let's see who can catch a bug first. The queens will surely reward us with prey for showing off our hunting skills!" It was the first time Wolfkit acknowledged Skunkkit so closely. He was an odd kitten with strange speech... but his short-sight made the patchy-haired kitten feel less conscious of his appearance. If the tom-kit couldn't see him well there were fewer opportunities for ill-intended jokes towards him.

"You're on!"

Skunkkit knew he was at a disadvantage. Bugs moved, a lot, and the other kits were a lot better at this than he was. He wasn't going to go down without a fight, though!

The dark furred tomkit pricked his tipped ears around, trying to hear any odd movement. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could focus on the sounds better, so that was what he was doing.

Chirp!

Skunkkit swiveled his ears, brushing the earth with his feet. He had to find this bug before Wolfkit, or Wolfkit would never let him hear the end of it. He could sense Wolfkit was nervous about something, though he didn't know what.

He dragged his paws, eventually locating the beetle that was chirping.

Skunkkit squared off, carrying all the spring in his back legs. His tail perked to the air as he stared down where he thought this beetle was.

Truthfully... he couldn't see it. At all. Springing at this thing was a shot in the dark and he knew it. The darn thing was too small to see. But, if he didn't try, that would have been even worse.

Here we go. Now or never.

Skunkkit sprang, aiming to squish the beetle with his front paws.

The commotion just outside the nursery was enough to awaken Swiftheart, who cracked open her eyes glancing around. Still practically half asleep she felt around with her tail ... was that her kit making all this noice, stars she hoped not it was too early to be waking everyone up.

She sighed a bit relived realizing burnkit was right there still asleep.

Ears focusing a bit she was able to make out Wolfkit and Skunkkit. She still felt exhausted but pushed herself up to her paws.

glancing out the warrior-queen spotted her brother was luckily keeping an eye on them. What were they doing anyways?? ohh.... looking for bugs the way that Skunkkit was moving. hmm fun!

If she wasn't just completly exhausted she would probably join in on their game, she loved playing with kits: hide and seek, tag, bug hunting... all of it: she was still very young at heart and enjoyed being around them lots.

Today however she just felt like her whole body was dragging.

She groggily went over to sit next to her brother, her fur was all bed-head like sticking out in rough patches and her eyes were still struggling to stay open, bags under them showing the lack of sleep and stress her body was under. Ugh where was all her energy she wondered. She watched the kits have their game hunting bugs. At least it would give them good practice.

Skunkkit had found a beetle it looked like, she could see it from where she was sitting... and yet the kit was not immedietly going for it. Hmm curious. watching a little longer she wondered if the kit had bad eyesight maybe or maybe it was just too early for him too, she understood that for sure.

The kit with no fur on his face seemed to also be looking for bugs she tried to think of advise to give them both but she was so tired nothing came to mind, so for once: the usually so talkative she cat sat there silent just observing for now how the bug catching game would go