Large and in charge (open!)

Being born during such a disorderly time as this had made things very confusing for Fuzzkit, especially since his mother lost her life after his birth and his father had disappeared without a trace. Who was he supposed to ask questions to? Why were there so many cats here? What clan was he in again, WindyClan or something? And of course the most important question; where could he get more to eat.

For the chunky gray kit, not having parents around had of course been some level of encumbrance as far as learning basic clan knowledge and such, but when he really thought about it… his situation hadn’t been too much of a burden for him mentally, as his mind was only ever really on one thing; food. Why, the first memory he could think of was being hungry and having to share his meal with his foster siblings, which he hadn’t been a very happy camper about. Luckily for him, today was the day he finally got to try solid prey for the first time, which meant less having to share his meals, and he couldn’t contain his excitement.

As soon as the sun rose into the sky, Fuzzkit jumped up from his makeshift nest with the other kits and queens. Ignoring the occasional sleepy protests from cats as he climbed his way over them, the pudgy kitten gave his pelt a shake as he reached the end of the sleeping pelts. Glancing around, it didn’t taken long before his amber gaze locked onto his target. Scampering across the clearing with his fat paws plopping against the earth, he was on a mission and no cat could stop him.

Dropping his jaw, Fuzzkit couldn’t believe his eyes. Sitting in front of him was a pile of prey bigger than he was. How in StarClan’s name did it all get here? There must’ve been enough here to feed like… like… a hundred kits!

He hadn’t been taught what was what yet, but it didn’t matter as food was food. Grabbing the long bushy tail of one of the pieces of prey, Fuzzkit drug it out from the bottom of the pile. Planting his rump down on the ground, his mouth watered as he stared at his meal. It all looked and smelt amazing, where was he even supposed to begin?


OOC: fuzzkit unknowingly took a squirrel from another clan's freshkill pile… whatchu gon do bout it??
THIS TOPIC IS OPEN FOR ANY CLAN CATS, NOT JUST WC!! pls get angry at fat man

Russetpaw woke up with a start, as she always did- one moment so sound asleep that she could’ve slept through another earthquake, the next wide awake and wide eyed, fur prickling. She lifted her head, sneezed, and shook her fur out. Glancing back at herself, she noticed that she somewhat resembled Bushface… heh. She could groom her pelt down later, but for now she’d go show Sleepypaw- speaking of, where was Sleepypaw? Russetpaw could’ve sworn she was just here when she’d dozed off-

There! Target acquired. Russetpaw let a grin spread across her face and slowly began to stalk her friend, weaving around the apprentices- until she decided that this pace was way too slow and bounded over, hoping Sleepypaw would be too focused on whatever she was doing to notice the red-pelted apprentice.

Wait.

A kit.

Not just a kit, the fuzziest kit she had ever foxing seen. All thoughts of surprising her friend fled her brain. Russetpaw galloped over, weaving around the other cats, skidding to a stop in front of them, just in time to catch the tail (heh) end of their conversation. “Yeah ‘kit, our pile’s over there! I’m sure Sleepypaw and I can help you finish off a rabbit!” She pointed with her tail, totally forgetting to replace the other Clan’s prey on their pile. “Also- don’t I look like Bushface?” she turned in a circle, showing off her clearly ungroomed pelt. She could clean herself up later. Besides, maybe it would make the kit laugh?

”Hey!” An indignant voice squeaked, half-hidden behind the pile. ”Just what do you think you’re doing??” Applekit emerged from behind the pile, wobbling forward angrily. His fur stuck out from the rest of his body like the prickles on a burr, a gesture he assumed made him look big and scary. He’d been eyeing that same squirrel, intent on dragging it over to his family and telling them he’d caught it himself, when these two rudely stole it from him. He had very little regard for the “ownership” of the pile, whether it was Thunderclan’s or Lightningclan’s or whoever, but he’d claimed that squirrel as his own and he wasn’t about to let some other cats steal it from him. Before he could snatch the squirrel away, another cat appeared, and he gave them the same furious glare their companions had gotten.

”Thats my squirrel!” He protested, raising his chin petulantly.

Now having half of his fluffy body atop his meal as he wondered where to begin, a couple of approaching voices made his ears perk. Turning his gaze, he assumed they were apprentices, seeing as though they weren't the size of the queens that resided in the nursery, which meant they weren't any real threat to the situation.

"So?" Fuzzkit mewed in reply, not seeing the problem that sat before him nor the consequences he might have to face later. "Food is food, doesn't matter which pile it's from," he added boldly, with a confident nod of his head. Looking back down to his meal, a purr escaped him. Finally, he could-

Then another cat appeared, this time a kit. Great.

Staring at the ginger and white kit, Fuzzkit couldn't believe his ears. His? There was no way in StarClan he was going to give up the pearl, or whatever he'd called it.

Not saying a word, the fuzzy grey kit locked eyes with the other kit who dared to say this belong to him. Like he was about to give up a perfectly good snack, in his dreams! Leaning down every so slowly he opened his jaws, his amber gaze not leaving Applekit's. With a quick flash of movement before anyone could stop him, he bit into the prey, practically starving at this point. The taste of blood seeped into his mouth and for a moment, the sweet scent overwhelmed his senses. Wow, so this was what real food tasted like! So much for milk, after this experience he was never going back.

A cinnamon kit padded smoothly out of the shadows next to Applekit. “Brother, brother, brother. Don’t you see there’s enough food for all? Besides, these cats smell of grass and rabbits, and I heard someone say they’re our allies,” he mewed, white-tipped tail held high. “Now, might I get an introduction? I’m Sunkit, and this furball is my brother Applekit.”

Nightstar was alerted to the bickering of kits, not too far from where Shadowclan had secluded itself. Rising to his paws, albeit a little tenderly, the tom strode over to the cat bickering over the fresh-kill pile. Shadowclans fresh-kill pile. A deep rumbling growl pulled itself from the tom's throat as he glowered at the kits, a fat pudgy grey one saying "Food is food, doesn't matter which pile it's from.' anger bubbled simmered, but he forced his tone cool. "Windclan right? One of you? Go grab Coyotegrin." He snarled, his eyes also narrowing at Sunkits words. "Windclan are our allies, but we do not share our prey with them." Nightstar turned his attention back to the fat grey one. "It does matter. Each one of my clanmates has gone into territory which is now dangerous, and into territory unfamiliar to catch that prey for their clanmates. Acts like this can damage an allyship, the safety you've known these past few moons, despite the great shake, is because of Shadowclan. I expect thanks, not thievery." Nightstar spat.

"Coyotegrin can deal with you, and Shrikestar in turn I'm sure." Nightstar hissed, pulling the squirrel from the kitten and pushing it towards Applekit and Sunkit. Then, he leaned down and grabbed the kitten by the scruff, giving an audible grunt as he did so, turned the kit around and shoved him to get him walking towards Windclan. It'd be slightly less bad if his back didn't hurt.

Coyotegrin had been busy trying to sort the clan through this problem. Help Smallbean send out patrols, tend to small issues so shrikestar could deal with bigger issues. That sort of thing. A small tugging on her tail caught her attnetion and she found a kit behind her, scared and sniveling. Crouching down, she drug out of the kit that Nightstar had called for her with a kit issue. Sighing, Coyotegrin stood and weaved her way to the problem with the kits anxious guidance. A groan escaped her lips. She was so tired, and dealing with politics over a kit on a fresh food pile was not what she wanted to do. But the kit had lost both of his parents and she supposed she needed to take the kit under her wing now. Many kits lost their parents, and she would adopt all of them. With a few long strides, the frustrated queen walked to ShadowClan's fresh kill pile and grabbed Fuzzkit by the scruff. The kit wiggled in her maw, and she turned sharply and set him down next to Sleepypaw. Composing herself, she turned to Nightstar. "My apologies, Nightstar. This kit lost both parents shortly after birth. With all this chaos, manner-teachings must have been overlooked. It's not usual for a kit to be in a situation like this, he doesn't understand boundaries yet. It's a tough lesson for all kits for sure. I'll see to it that this doesn't happen again. I'll bring over a spare piece of prey later today if we have one. Tomorrow if not." She turned back to Sleepypaw and Fuzzkit and crouched down. "ShadowClan is our allies, but their bellies must be filled from their own food. Yours must be filled with our food. Please ask a nearby cat if you're confused on which pile is yours. Or, better yet, I'm sure Sleepypaw wouldn't mind you following her around for now, until we can get back to camp." Coyotegrin glanced to her daughter, her eyes a quiet plea to accept, the weariness backing the expression in her face.

More kits appeared- Russetpaw’s eyes lit up. Orange and white ones, coloring not too terribly unlike her own! She crouched down to talk with them when-

A voice cut across her thoughts and Russetpaw stumbled back, ears pinned against her skull and fur standing on end. It was- the tall, regal black tom with such an air of authority could only be Nightstar. And he was- absolutely terrifying. Another step back until she was standing right beside Sleepypaw. They’d been trying to get Fuzzkit away, why couldn’t he see that? It’s was his Clan’s kits that distracted them!

Thank the stars, Coyotegrin appeared, and Russetpaw let the fur along her back finally lie flat. Coyotegrin wouldn’t let Nightstar eat them- not that she thought he would, that was ‘kit talk- he was just scary. “Sir Nightstar sir,” she began, voice a bit unsteady, but thankfully before she could mess anything up Coyotegrin began talking and smoothed things over.

Russetpaw dipped her head to the ShadowClan leader- any lower and she might’ve tipped over- and turned to her friend. “I’ll help you out, Sleeps,” she started to volunteer, but then Sleepypaw returned with a hare- and though Russetpaw believed her friend, she wasn’t sure Nightstar would see it the same way- and how could Sleepypaw not see that the best thing to do right now would be to appease the ShadowClan leader-

“Or, sir Nightstar sir,” she piped up, voice trembling, “If it’s for one of your uninjured Clanmates, sir, I could grab a slightly fatter hare? I- I wouldn’t mean to presume to- to know better-“ she nudged her friend sharply in the ribs. If Nightstar was pleased with this offering, she could grab Fuzzkit and the three of them could go hide somewhere very far away and pretend this never happened.

Applekit's eyes widened in outrage as Fuzzkit began to tear into the squirrel, practically taunting him. "Why you little-" He started, his mouth open to let out a flurry of admittedly immature insults. Before he could speak, his brother appeared, Sunkit's calm greeting doing little to quell Applekit's fury.

"Stay out of this Sunkit, the squirrel was mine - fair and square! I oughta give this rabbit-brain a good thrashing so he'll have something to think about the next time he-" Applekit was once again interrupted, this time by a looming, familiar shadow sweeping over him. Pale green eyes narrowed as the leader spoke, and although he should have been happy with Nightstar's interference, the "victory" over the squirrel would have felt more triumphant if he'd wrestled it out of the Windclan kits grip himself. Nonetheless, watching the apprentices trip over themselves to impress Nightstar was entertaining to say the least. Applekit smirked, biting into the squirrel smugly.

Startled, Sunkit turned to Nightstar. “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll remember next time. No cat steals ShadowClan’s food. But I only brought up the alliance because my brother looked like he was about to attack the WindClan kit, and even I know that’s a bad idea.”

Within moments, Fuzzkit’s world exploded. Cats began to gather all around him, everyone saying he couldn’t eat this squirrel or something? All he wanted to was eat in peace, was that too much to ask?

Then, some older cat came over and had the audacity to grab him from his spot. Upon being placed down and shoved away from the food, Fuzzkit tumbled to the ground  from the force of the cat’s large paw. Jumping up and giving his gray pelt a shake, Fuzzkit’s blood boiled hotter than the sun. Twisting around, the kit let out a hiss. Snapping his gaze over to Applekit who was now chomping down on his meal, his pudgy stomach let out a growl. Cats left and right kept chatting away to the black tom and soon he realized it was a leader that had so rudely stopped him. So he was leader of some clan? Like he cared.

"I. Am. HUNGRY!" Fuzzkit yowled in anger at the top of his lungs, ignoring his own clanmates that tried to sooth him with another piece of prey. He didn't want that one, he wanted that one! Racing forward as fast as his little legs could carry him, the disgruntled kit ran straight towards "what his name was" and opening his jowls, he clamped his needle-sharp teeth down onto one of the leader’s hind legs. Nobody got in the way of his hunger, not leaders, other kits, or the stars themselves!

Before Nightstar was able to acknowledge the apprentice's kindness and forthcomingness, a fat chubby kit had made its way over and clamped onto his leg before he had the chance to realize what it was trying to do, howling with rage as tiny kit teeth clamped into a back leg, which were a little tender from his spine getting crushed under a tree. With a deep growl, Nightstar picked up and pulled back his leg before kicking it out with such force the kit was expelled from his leg. He did not care for where that little brat landed. With a hiss Nightstar looked to the two apprentices with vitriol, "Thank you for your kindness. Get away from my pile, and keep your children under control." turning towards his clan's kittens, he pushed them towards the rest of his clan. "If you two ever get like that, I'll send you out into the marshes to survive off of the carrionplace, do I make myself clear?" He hissed to Applekit and Sunkit as he directed them.