stick season [closed]

It was an especially chilly day; the turbulent sky awash with the blustery grays of lingering rains, the stifling stillness of perpetual cloud-cover broken only by the fierce bite of northern winds. Evidently too cold and dry for any proper snowfall, the winter barren grounds overrun with a familiar dusting of frost. Thoroughly bristling and fluffed against the persistent teeth of winter, Jaykit scampered away from the relative warmth of his mother's side, scuffed tail proudly kinked high above his little back. Was it technically against the rules for him to be venturing out without permission? Yes! Did he particularly care, especially when there were no others paying attention? No! The world, as drab and lifeless as it currently happened to be, was still much too tempting for him to abide by any semblance of order or rules.

"Minnowkit!" Jaykit carelessly tossed over his kitten-fluff softened shoulder, uncaring for those who might hear, "Hurry up- I have 'n idea!"

Ears pressed flat against her head, a small fluffy silver cat slowly followed behind her brother, retribution shining in her innocent eyes. Where his tail acted like a marker to anyone around, hers twitched slightly behind her as she walked, wishing to be curled against her feet, warm and away from the annoyingly cold and crunchy ground. Every 10 steps or so she could pause and attempt to groom down the stuck fur of her cheek from where it got stuck in sleep, all while keeping her annoyed stare on the troublemaker in front of her. The further from the main camp they got, the smaller she attempted to make herself, her shifting coat sometimes blending in with the dreary white and grey background of their temporary home. The fluff of her coat still did not to much to cut the cold from the air, however, and that laced her thoughts and voice.

"If a big bird comes down and grabs you kicking and screaming into the air, I'm telling mama that you instigated it all. And I won't even be sad." The words were mumbled, not meant for her brother ears as she finally shook off the last dredges of the warm den and quickened her pace to fall into step with Jaykit. "Yes yes I'm here. What chaos are you creating for us today?"

A darker, more ill-kept mirror to Minnowkit proudly forged ahead; jagged, soft-edged clumps of snow happily attaching themselves to the soft, undefended underside of Jaykit's belly as he all but pranced forward. It was as though Jaykit wholly lacked the ability to not be proud of every little insignificant thought that rattled around in his head- even if they happened to be truly horrible schemes that would only result in a thorough pride-lashing in consequence. "Don't be so dramatic," he scolded, dark gaze flashing with a slippery undercurrent of mischief, "a bird couldn' get me. Besides, it would probably want you first, considering you're crawlin' around like a scared frog!"

Carelessly brushing past idling Clanmates as though they were little other than secondary figments of his imagination with little autonomy to be had, the roughly-drawn and poorly observed reaches of the temporary camp quickly came into reach. Proudly lurching pawsteps slipped across silky, partially upturned snow as though a delicate attempt at decoration; a sinister red-flag leading directly to trouble if happened upon by any Queen with any kit-rearing experience. "We're gonna practice huntin'!" Jaykit proudly announced, dark gaze alight with a youthful spark of intense pride, "Maybe not with, y'know, real prey- but still. We'll find something'."

Changing her pace to fall behind him, Minnowkit literally followed in her brother's footsteps, primarily so she didn't need to hit any newly-fallen snow or a hidden rock or twig. Much better to have Jaykit experience that danger first, she decided. Especially with this current adventure he was leading her on, an experience she got no heads-up regarding.

"How're we going to do that, Jaykit? Is it going to be like.... hide and seek? Someone hides an item and the other person needs to go out and try and find it? Are ... we going to be hunting down the other? I feel like this is being made up as we walk." the small feline missed a foot-hole, going claws-first in a batch of soft snow, which she quickly flicked against the backside of the cat in front of her. "Oops."