Not quite alone, but still afraid (OPEN)

OOC: takes place after the sitewide topic, ignore the previous topic as it was redacted/deleted and shoulda been put here; the Sandy Hollow <3


The past few days had been pure chaos, something that wasn't exactly ideal for young kits. Amidst the disorder that had taken place, Curlykit and his brother's parents had disappeared, and despite their best efforts to ask around on who might have seen them last, they'd gotten no clear answer on their whereabouts. After the events at their previous "home" or whatever it was called, they'd been taken back to the Sandy Hollow, a place near their real home but not quite there. Their new quarters had certainly been an adjustment for the curly pelted kit, especially with there being far less cats around them now, but as long as he had Lichenkit by his side everything was fine. Well, sort of fine... hopefully they'd be able to track down their parents soon...

Blinking his eyes open and letting out a long, sleepy yawn, Curlykit rolled over so that he faced away from the others. Sun shown onto the crowd of cats in the sandy clearing, which littered the ground with speckles of sunlight spread here and there. Standing up, the fuzzy kit gave his pelt a shake, though that didn't quite remove the clumps of sand that stayed scattered around his messy fur. The chattering of cats around him peaked his attention, and he couldn't wait to see what was happening today.

Turning around, the lavender colored tom prodded his sleeping brother's side. "Lichenkit, wake up! Lets go outside!" he mewled as he kneaded the soft earth below, his paws itching with excitement. He'd let his brother take his time waking up, seeing as though they'd been through a lot recently, but he was ready to start the day. Scampering away from the sleeping pile of kits and queens, Curlykit squinted his eyes as they adjusted to the brightness. Another day, another chance to make more friends!

Whitewhisker's joints ached! It was alot of travel that he had to do over the past couple days. Alot of chaos and moving all over the forest!

Move out of camp! Move to Fourtrees! Stay there for very poor rest with all the other clans squeezed in on top of them! Get chased around by filthy twolegs who took away a lot of cats including some of his clanmates! Go back to camp!

His old bones and body were not happy one bit with all this.

The poor old man's vision had been getting worse and worse as well. He had almost accidently went home with the wrong clan! If it wasnt for a warrior to spot him at the last second leaving 4trees he would be lost in Riverclan right about now.

The old guy shuffled through camp one paw tiredly and lazily in front of the next as he went to find a nice sunny spot to lay down in.

Plopping down he noticed just how tired he truly felt he thought with a sigh.

Pawsteps made him look up.

A little furball was scampering about. With his poor vision and exhausted state of mind he figured it was an apprentice come to check up on the elders as they were supposed to do according to the code

"oh good ya finally remembered ya poor old man" he greeted with a friendly joking smile.

"have we got any spare moss? My joints are so sore and all that time in 4trees without a proper bed" he complained a little

"mhh you must be the new apprentice... Comfreypaw eh??"

(yeaaa his memory is shady at best he thinks Curleykit is an apprentice and also thinks that Curleykit is Comfreyheart from the past. Comfrey is a complete warrior now and is named Comfreyheart but he doesn't know/remember that)

"Say comfreypaw... could ya do me a favor?" he asked a little embarrassed but also knowing it was the apprentices job to take care of their elders...

"Could ya pick this flea off me? Its right on me neck where I cant reach the little bugger!"

He tilted his head squinting and leaned forward a bit "Gee Starclan comfreypaw! Ya done and gone lost weight on us. All that time livin in 4trees hard on everyone I suppose! Your so much smaller than I remember'n,

he glanced from side to side slowly and put his tail to his mouth signaling a secret

"I wont tell no one if you take an extra prey piece you apprentices been working mighty hard lately! he chuckled accomponied by a horse cough every now and then.

Frondkit had been sleeping peacefully by his mother’s side, tucked into her long fur. It was so odd, being here, someplace he’d been told wasn’t quite home but closer? Fourtrees hadn’t been home, then, so what, and where, was home? His mother had told him stories of ‘camp’, some hollow surrounded by trees… which sounded a lot like this place, actually, but she’d told him that this wasn’t camp either, and that it was dangerous to go back. So. Home was dangerous? It was confusing, but he just followed her lead, and, for now, everything was turning out well.

His eyes fluttered open. There, a lavender tail was disappearing, going away from their makeshift nursery. Huh? Were they allowed to do that? Well… surely the other kit wouldn’t disobey his mother… Frondkit glanced up, his mother’s side still steadily rising and falling. Yeah. Now would be a great time to explore!

The small tom-kit carefully made his way to the entrance of the nursery, sniffing around curiously. There was the kit who had left! He looked excited! Was he supposed to be excited? Okay! Frondkit padded over, looking all about in curiosity- oh. There. Another cat- hadn’t his mother said he was an elder? And to respect your elders? And- wait, the other kit wasn’t a kit, but an apprentice? Cool! Then surely Frondkit himself would be an apprentice soon.

“Hello, Comfreypaw! I’m Frondkit!” he said, dipping his head politely. Why was an apprentice sleeping in the nursery? But then that was probably a punishment, and then Comfreypaw wouldn’t like to talk about it- and whatever else Frondkit might be, he was always polite.

Before he was able to explore much, an elder approached and began going on about this and that. Comfreypaw, who was that? Did he think he was Comfreypaw? Before he was able to reply to the rambling elder, another kit approached, one that he hadn't formally been acquainted with, even with them all being so close together in their make-shift nursery. Then, another voice approached, one that was calm and somewhat soothing. Turning his amber gaze, a warrior made her way over to them and began to explain the situation to the edler. Thank the stars she had come along, he wasn't quite sure if he would've been able to break it to Whiskerear, considering the older tom had seemed so confident in his ways... he wouldn't want to crush his spirit or something.

"Yeah, I'm not Comfreypaw, I'm Curlykit!" the lavender-grey tom laughed and clawed the soft ground with his needle-like kitten claws. Elders sure were silly, but he would make sure that he did help this one with his ticks at some point, seeing as though this tom had probably been through so much already and he probably deserved a good look over for the annoying pests. "I can help you with your ticks sometime though!" he purred with a wide smile, before turning back to Frondkit and then the real Comfreyheart, his curl-covered tail flicking back and forth in eagerness. "Nice to meet you both!"

With his young mind filled with excitement, Curlykit innocently forgot about how Whiskerear had asked for help with his ticks and turned back to Frondkit. "Wanna play?" he mewed, crouching into a play stance with his fuzzy ears pinned back mischievously.

Whitewhisker was getting more and more confused by the second when he saw 2 comfreypaws standing before him next.

He squinted wondering if his vision was doubling up or somthing.

The bigger comfreypaw began to explain and he slowly understood.

"oh... is that right? he mewed after a bit understanding now.

"Comfreyheart.... Comfreyheart... Fawnshines sister! he purred his shaky memory finally getting somewhere.

"aww youve gone off and gotten all grown up on me he purred coughing a little into his paw.

"ITs good to meet you too Curlykit! thats a fun name

(Sorry for the short post :( idk what to do with elders usually XD )

“Ohhh,” Frondkit echoed the larger black molly. She was Comfreyheart? That was a nice name. “I’m Frondkit,” he repeated obediently. He’d already said his name, but he wasn’t about to disobey an older cat, especially not a warrior. Whitewhisker, that was the elder’s name. Okay. That was alright. Curlykit, was the other kit’s name, not an apprentice yet. Playing, though? He- he hadn’t really played with other kits before- his mother was too worried about them being too rough- but Curlykit was nice! He wouldn’t be too rough, surely. The small tom-kit turned his head to look at Comfreyheart, the cat in charge of this situation, he supposed. “Can we play?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. He didn’t want to be impolite. “Curlykit,” he added, turning back to the other kit, “If Comfreyheart says it’s ok I’d like to play!” This would be fun! And maybe it would prepare him for being an apprentice… that would be great.

She was so tired, but as the familiar scents of ThunderClan met her senses, the black and white she-cat felt a jolt of energy. Her pace picked up, her ears pricked to catch the voices of her Clanmates. Patchpaw was a little taken aback when she realized that the freshest scents of her Clan did not lead her towards the camp. A pang of worry hit her. She had been gone for moons, she could have and likely did miss so many things. She had no idea if this meant that they had been driven from their camp, or why they would have left.

She soon realized that she was being led to the sandy hollow, and fond memories of training there flooded her brain. What she wouldn't give to go back to the beginning of her apprenticeship, and have all of her siblings together again.

She had made no efforts to hide her presence, so she was a bit surprised that she made it to the sandy hollow unchallenged. Patchpaw pushed her way through the last bit of undergrowth into the clearing.

"Hello, it's me, Patchpaw. I'm back," her voice shook a little, the emotion of being back finally washing over her.

"Yay!" Curlykit mewed with glee. Turning to Frondkit, the curly-pelted kit stuck his rump in the air and wiggled in back and forth. "I, the great Curly, uh... Curlyclaw challenge you to a duel!" he mewed strongly, trying his best to imitate what he assumed a warrior would sound like. Jumping forward, the young tom batted at Frondpaw with a sheathed paw. If this is what being a warrior was like protecting the clan, he couldn't wait!

Too enveloped in their play-battle, Curlykit somewhat noticed another cat approach, Patchpaw they said? He'd definitely have to say hello when they were done.

Patchpaw realized that the cats she had approached was compromised of half very young cats. She shuffled her paws, hoping her appearance wouldn't frighten them too badly. Luckily they didn't even really seem to notice the black and white cat. She was, however, approached by a warrior. Younger than she was, although for a short moment, Patchpaw thought that it was her mother. She felt a pang of longing, it had been so long since she had seen any of her family, and she especially missed Waterlily, whom she had clung to after Wasppaw's sudden death had rocked her world.

"I-i don't think we have, I've been gone a long time. A two-leg managed to catch me, tried to tame me into a kittypet for their kit." She bristled a little at the memories. It had been a long time before they had admitted defeat and allowed her back outside, but even then if she strayed too far it was back inside she went. At least they'd had places where they'd put seeds for birds, allowing her to every so often still taste fresh-kill until she'd managed to get away. The twoleg kit had been so horrified when they'd found the feathers, which had almost made Patchpaw feel bad.

She wanted to mention how closely the warrior resembled her mother, but it wasn't like it was unusual to be a long-haired black cat in ThunderClan. She was probably imagining it, along with the strangely familiar hint in her scent.