Seeing Double (o)

"C'mon Dusk let's go!  The sunhigh patrol is coming back soon, and I want to see them!"
Dawnkit trotted out from the darkness of the nursery, blinking her mismatched eyes against the sunlight.  It was a wonderful, beautiful day outside, and she wasn't going to let her brother's gloomy attitude keep them from enjoying it!  Gazing around the camp, the golden tabby she-cat purred seeing the action happening; she could see warriors helping to repair one of the dens, weaving reeds into the walls with skilled paws.  The elders were laying in a sunny clearing, and a couple of apprentices were practicing battle moves by their den.  Smiling, she kneaded her paws against the ground impatiently before hopping around and hissing back into the nursery entrance; "Dusk, out!"

"Jeez, you know you can go without me right?  Stop yelling, you're gonna get us in trouble."  Duskkit, slowly emerged from the den and pointedly took his time with a long backstretch before padding up to his twin sister, rolling his similarly mismatched eyes.  'What's so exciting about the sunhigh patrol anyway?  You see them every day."

"Well, yeah!  That's kind of the thing with patrols, different stuff happens on them every day!  Maybe they found something cool or fought some WindClan cats, or...I don't know, you never know!"  Dawnkit was practically squirming from excitement at this point, but Duskit averted her gaze and sat down, curling his long tail around his paws.  Yeah...or announce that someone's loved one is dead.  Like Mom.  It wasn't that Duskkit had zero interest in the patrol, but he knew that anything worth caring about wouldn't be shared with kits like them.  Everything of substance like intruders or threats was either sugarcoated, avoided, or boasted about so much that the vital details were lost.  The only way he could actually get a true picture of anything is if he was out there to see it for himself.

Dawnkit's smile dimmed as she looked over at her brother, seeing him go into that 'I'm thinking don't bug me' trance he did a lot, but shrugged it off.  She knew why he might not like watching patrols come home, and it scared her too sometimes to think of hearing about another death like their mother's, but she had to look on the bright side.  As their mother Shimmerlight used to say, 'If you don't try to find the light, you'll get lost in the dark'.  Sitting down beside her brother, she wrapped her tail around his back and waited, her blue and amber eyes locked on the camp entrance.

Oh- two kits! An excuse to stop this senseless sparring she’d been roping into! Drizzlepaw would much rather have been helping the warriors reinforce the dens (useful) or even laying in the sunlight with the elders (very very nice-feeling) than this (barely held-back violence, always a short temper away from going horribly wrong). Nodding to the other apprentices, the ginger-and-cream molly ducked away from their impromptu sparring session, electing instead to silently sneak up behind the kits, who were watching the camp entrance. She was reasonably certain she knew their names… Duskkit and Dawnkit, but which of the nearly-identical kits was which was up for debate.

Scaring them would’ve been fun, but not responsible, and so Drizzlepaw elected instead to gently bop one (which one was anyone’s guess from behind) on her head with a soft smile. She hoped they knew her name… probably? They’d been in the nursery long enough to remember Lavender, probably, and he would’ve told them her name; although, kits’ age was anyone’s guess. Maybe they were too young, at which point she would simply have to hope they’d heard a warrior calling after her. It really would’ve been more sensible for her mother to name her Whitekit or Sunkit or something she could point to; although, sometimes, she wondered if certain cats would even be able to pick up that hint. No matter.

While Dawnkit had her eyes set firmly on the camp entrance, Duskkit's always perceptive eyes noticed an apprentice break off from the group in the corner and begin sneaking around the camp towards them, obviously hoping to scare or prank some unsuspecting kits.  Eyes flashing back towards his sister, she was oblivious as always, too focused on the one thing she was excited about.  Smirking a bit, Duskkit let this scare-in-progress happen.

Dawnkit's intense concentration (not an easy thing for her to accomplish normally) was suddenly interrupted by a gentle pat on her head, and despite its playful nature she couldn't help but startle a bit and let out a small squeak.  Jumping around, her eyes first shot to her brother, her voice a playful growl; "Hey, was that you?"  However, she noticed another cat, and turned to look at the older she-cat who was directly behind her, and obviously the culprit.  "Oh, it was...you!?"  She recognized the apprentice, she really did, but...what in StarClan was her name again?

"Drizzlepaw.  You really should've seen her coming, she was right next to where you were looking.  Imagine if she'd been a fox."  Duskkit bared his teeth in his sister's face, laughing when she pushed him away.  Dawnkit rolled her eyes, trying to keep hidden the embarrassed blush on her face.  "Hi Drizzlepaw, what's up?  I'm waiting for the sunhigh patrol to get back!"

Drizzlepaw couldn’t resist smirking playfully as the she-kit squeaked, whipping around to accuse her brother. Ah. Siblings. She nodded at the question, flicking her tail and sitting down next to the kits, smiling at their antics. She’d been a kit herself not too long ago, playing with Lavender in the sunlight, and now that she was older and, supposedly, wiser, she found herself already missing those days, full of grand plans and safe under her mother’s wing. At least these kits seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The ginger-and-cream molly responded with a shrug. She hadn’t been up to much, no, just getting roped into spars she hadn’t wanted to participate in. She tilted her head slightly to the side at Dawnkit’s remark; the sunhigh patrol would be due back soon, but why would they wait for it?

What are you up to, kits? The wispy-pelted she-cat thought, bumping her shoulder gently against Dawnkit with a smile