off to see the world ; acornkit

Echokit's small form was still curled up tightly in his nest. The nursery was still warmed than the general outside. It wasn't long before the little bundle of white-grey fur began to stir. His eyes blinked open, and he was quickly aware of the absence of the other kits. He was already getting to his paws, jaws parting in a wide yawn. He could hear voices just outside of the nursery. As he hadn't made many friends quite yet he couldn't make out any particular voice and made quick work of heading in that direction to see what the hubbub was about.


He sat at the entrance of the nursery, inspecting camp, seeing what everyone was doing. The kits were all out of the nursery stretching their legs. Many warriors were returning from patrols, some carrying fresh kill and others looking tired or irritated, and - oop! something fell onto his head. He immediately puffed up, jumping nearly a foot in the air with fear as he scrambled back into the den, unsure of what had just happened. But then he noticed the leaf laying where he had been. Oh. That was.. embarrassing, to say the least. He had gotten frightened by a leaf. Had anyone seen that? He hoped not. He hoped nobody would bring it up. He let out an awkward laugh and shook his fluffy pelt out.


He padded back over to the leaf, tapping it briefly with his paw and it floated a bit away before landing again. Why was this so...enticing? His pupils grew wide, and he didn't realize how far he was getting from the nursery as he continued the motion over and over again to watch it fall. He was almost pouncing on it now, then pushing it with his paw so it floated a few inches away before pouncing again. What else could he do to entertain himself with all the debris around the camp?

"speech"

Echokit was so enthralled with the leaf he had almost missed the sound of Acornkit approaching him. He let the leaf go, sheathing his claws, and trained his eyes on the other kit. His maw stretched into an equally friendly smile as he turned to face her. "Hi there!" he repeated. He suddenly became acutely aware and self-conscious of his speech disorder. This was his first friend! Besides his adoptive mother Comfreyheart. He couldn't mess this up.

"Join me, join me join me!" he spoke, his words coming out excited and animated, if Acornkit looked hard enough she may see the struggle in his eyes as he tried to say anything else but repeat his new friends words. Why couldn't he just choose his own words? He didn't understand, but he tried to suck it up and pretend as though there was nothing amiss. "We could go rock hunting? Rock hunting. I have a secret rock stash. I can show you where I hid them!" he mewed his small body vibrating in excitement. What if she didn't like rocks? Uh-oh, "I am happy to just hang out with you!" he added, not being able to help but borrow her words.

"speech"

His face heated in slight embarrassment as he watched her reaction to his word vomiting. He liked finding interest in the mundane. Like his rocks, for example, everyone saw rocks every day, around camp, on their patrols to them they were nothing special, but to little Echo he loved them. The tom knew that the rocks would never leave him, they'd always exist for him and never die. This seemed like a lot for a kitten to ponder but if you think about how he was dropped off on the Thunderpath and thrown out like garbage, naturally abandonment and morality may be something he would cling onto. It was all he knew. Until Thunderclan anyways. He shook his head getting rid of the sad thoughts threatening to ruin his day.

"It's over here! My rock stash." he mewed as he started trotting to the nursery, as he reached the backside of the bramble thicket he flattened himself to the ground and pushed himself through the small opening he had made. The space had opened up into a small cave of brambles big enough for the two kittens and his rocks. He made space in his cave for Acornkit and he held out a paw to point at his four rocks he had so far collected, "Ta-da!" he exclaimed.

"speech"

Echokit was one to keep two or three people close to him, give them all of his love and attention and that was it. He's hyper-fixated and doesn't pay any attention to others. Pushing one of the rocks so it was more in line with the others, he looked at Acornkit and smiled as she studied them. He looked at her, then looked back at his rocks and shifted his haunches. Were they ugly to her? Echo suddenly felt unsure.

He squinted at her as if he was trying to gauge what her intentions were, "They are my rocks, but you can touch them....touch them." he said pushing one of them closer to her, "But you can't take 'em. Only touch them." He added, nodding his head. The rock he pushed towards her was grey, like the rest, but was perfectly smooth; one side had white stripes to a Two-leg they'd call quartz but to the kitten, he called it his, 'tiger rock'. Then he pushed the smallest rock towards Acornkit, it was reddish not anything special but if you looked at it abstractly it looked sort of like a crescent moon or a jumping fish, "You can have this one." Echokit mewed, pushing the grey rock back into line.

"speech"

Echokit nodded excitedly when she noticed it was like a pelt pattern, "Yes! Pelt pattern!" He confirmed, he smiled brightly, "It's my tiger rock." the tom said matter-of-factly. He wrapped his tail around his paws as he tilted his head and looked up thoughtfully. A lot of the rocks he had found were just plain gray old things. But, every now and then, he would come across one of these special ones, with stripes or different colors, funny shapes even. He nodded to himself, he was a good rock finder. A rock warrior! Yes, he was a rock warrior.


Giving this rock to Acornkit was a big deal for him, it was also a test. He'd watch and make sure the rock he gave her was taken care of, then he would know he could really really trust her. Echokit already did of course, but this would just mean she was the best! The bestest! Her voice brought him out of his reverie, "Yes, really sure." He stated, nodding his head, "It's all yours." he purred, happy as a clam to be sharing his special interest.

"speech"

She wanted to hear about his other rocks? Echokits eyes lit up and he couldn't hold back his little squeal, "Yes." he pushed the other two gray ones forward, "These ones a warrior brought for me, I don't remember their name. They didn't know how to look for rocks. Just brought me back boring rocks." he confessed, "But they were my first rocks." they were rougher, and definitely had rougher edges than the other stones he had. Those warriors didn't have any idea how to find the best rocks. His nose wrinkled at the thought of taking home any random rock. The only reason he kept these ones was that they were his first!

"speech"