cold island [C]

Rookkit

For some stars-forsaken reason, there had suddenly been an influx of new kits in the nursery. Rookkit detested all of them. They had disrupted the stability of the nursery being him, his brother, Sunkit, and the few queens. That was already more than enough cats, and they were comfortable with the company provided. They did not want for more. But more came. They came mewling, crying, wriggling, and being consistently intolerable. The new additions were no longer the squealing mites they had been, and had grown large enough to leave the den themselves and speak in proper sentences. But, they had grown large. The den felt cramped now, and Rookkit was spending even more of their time outside than they had been before. Today, they did not feel like wandering far; they clung to the walls of the den, tail darting left-right.

Their quiet brooding was interrupted by the tell-tale whine of a cry about to start. Sure enough, moments later, a distraught wail echoed out of the den behind them. Their ears immediately snapped downward, pressed tight against their skull, and their head ducked to hunch between their shoulders. They knew the sound of that cry– Toadkit, the loudest of all the younger kits. What had he found to fuss about now? Though they were usually content (not content, but bitterly reserved) to clasp their paws over their ears and wait the wailing out, they did not stop their body from moving when their paws gathered under them and they stepped slowly, leeringly into the den. "Toadkit. Stop." The address was flat and cold. A stray ant crawled over their paw once they'd settled into the dark space, and they lifted their leg to give it a single firm shake. The crawling feeling, however brief, made their teeth grit hard enough they could hear the grinding in their own head, and the set of their jaw made their stony expression look more like an unforgiving scowl.

Toadkit

Toadkit was very quick to decide he didn’t like Rookkit a whole lot. The black and white kit was just a few moons older, just a little bit wiser, yet it seemed like they considered themselves leagues above Toadkit in every fashion. Yes, they were braver, and didn’t squeal and shake at the smallest of things, but that doesn’t make them any better than Toadkit! They were both on the same field, at least to Toadkit— both young and inexperienced. Rookkit just happened to handle the outdoors a teensy tiny bit better.

Yet Rookkit treated him like he was stupid! It was insulting, really; Toadkit could win a spar with them easily, twice over if he had to, he was sure of it! But his mother always told him to never find a clanmate an enemy, so Toadkit always made it a point to be as friendly as he could.

It was for Rookkit’s own good, anyway. He had no idea just how strong of a warrior Toadkit could be.

Rookkit yelled at Toadkit to shut up as he shrieked over a bug crawling on his paw, which was rude, but then he threw a bug at him! and it landed on his face! A nasty, creepy-crawly bug with spindly legs and big nasty eyes right on his poor face! Of course, all Toadkit could do was shriek even louder.

”Rookkkit! the black tom shrieked with all his might, jumping up from his spot on the mossy ground and hopping haphazardly around the nursery. ”Rookkit, how could you! Get it off! Get it off, get it off!!”

Rookkit

Dismissing the ant quickly proved to be a great mistake. No sooner than Rookkit had replaced their paw on the ground, Toadkit's amber eyes went wide, his mouth parted, and another shriek ripped out of him. Rookkit's ears flapped with dismay, though they remained lowered. "Stop," they repeated. Though their voice was soft, there was more force to it this time. Why did Toadkit insist on being so loud? Did his own ears not hurt from all the crying? Did he not feel like every individual fur on his body was itching? Again, "Stop."

But his soft demands were drowned out by the upset. Not only had Toadkit started screaming, he remembered he had paws, too, leaping up and bouncing around the den in a panic. Rookkit lurched to the side, out of the lanky tom's path of destruction. Pale eyes frantically flicked across the den, hoping Larkkit was still here. At least with his brother this would be bearable, but he was nowhere to be seen. A muffled hiss whistled through Rookkit's teeth. "There is not a thing on you," he pressed. This time when Toadkit bounced towards him, he did not side-step out of the way. Instead, he braced himself and ducked, feeling the thud  of his denmate's paws against his ribs as he tripped him.

With the hopping hopefully ceased, Rookkit took the time to pull in a breath before stretching back to height. "You are behaving ill-ly. Stop. Ant is lost in the moss after all your jumping." The idle thought of Toadkit's namesake wandered across Rookkit's mind. They had never seen a frog or a toad before, but they knew the little animals were good jumpers. Narrowing their owl-wide eyes at Toadkit, they refocused, "The crying. It makes me want to claw your ears. Stop." As they said it, they knew it was perhaps a step too far. But, it was true. Even Sunkit, who was boisterous and poor with volume by nature, was not so trying to be around. Sunkit was at least good company; this one was just distressing.