Ask to Join Watching the World Go By

Hickorystorm had awakened for the day and gone to use the dirtplace, only to return and make his way across camp after having done so. He couldn't scent any freshkill on the pile at the moment, but it didn't concern him. He'd wait for the hunting patrols to bring back something for him to pretend to hunt before he ate it.

The chocolate tabby and white tom found a spot out of the way along the briar wall and settled himself into a loaf to wait, enjoying the warm speckled sun on his pelt as he did so. His ears relaxed as he prepared himself for to doze a bit before they perked at the sound of tiny paws pattering over to him. One of Clovershine's kits from the scent of it, but as he hadn't met them, he didn't know which one it was.

His unspoken question was answered as the kit demanded to know he was and then announced that they were Redkit. "Not a warrior yet, but one day, you will be." He purred in amusement, whickers twitching before answering the kit's demand. "My name is Hickorystorm. I'm..... one of the elders." It still felt a little shameful admitting his new place in the clan, but he remembered what Shadesleek had told him- he should be proud he had survived the hawk attack, especially with the severity of injuries he had been given.

Redkit sized up the elder, taking in his scars. So he could still tell what Redkit looked like, even without eyes. This was seriously cool stuff! He would have to learn from this cat. He plopped down next to Hickorystorm, and watched Murkkit practice stalking for a few moments before whispering - in a rather terrible whisper. "Stap! He can't see you, that's mean!"

Having said what he wanted to say, he sat back and took another survey of the campsite. There were cats moving about their day, and he had something to say about it. Maybe since Hickorystorm was an elder he could help Redkit out!

"I'm on a super secret warrior mission." He explained to the young elder. "I have to know all about the other warriors of the clan. It's really important." It was important - but just to him. He wanted to know who these cats were; what they did, where they went, what they thought of him and the other cats in the clan. Heck - maybe Hickorystorm knew about other clans!

"So! Who's that long furred red n' white cat. He seems... boring. I bet when he was a kitten, he washed behind his ears when his mom said to" Redkit flopped on the ground beside Hickorystorm, his little body pressing into his side. "Boooooringgggg."

Just as he had heard paw steps and caught Redkit's scent initially emerging from the nursery, so Hickorystorm was able to catch the scent of another kit emerging. He didn't know this kit's scent either, but deduced that it was Clovershine's newly adopted kit for while it's scent became more Shadowclan everyday, a distinct 'not-clan' tinge still linger and tickled the nose.

He turned his head towards Murkkit and lazily batted a paw at the bold kit. "Nice try, but the breeze brought your scent to me instead of taking mine to you." As Redkit flopped on his other side, as the blind tom was aware of where the brighter kitten was as the shifting of his whiskers and the sound of the small form settling in the grass.

Warrior mission eh?

"Getting to know your clanmates is a very good thing to do. Sometimes you can learn important things by doing so." He supposed he could play along and see where this ended up going before agreeing with a 'serious' mew. He attempted to visualize the cat with the description he was given.

A red and white cat with long fur and escribed as a he. Hickorystorm though he knew who the kit was talking about, but he opened his jaws and drew in the air to try catching the scent of the cat Redkit was describing.

"That red and white tom is Dawnflurry. He's the clan deputy. I bet if you ask him, his life is anything but boring. Deputies take over after a leader loses their nine lives, otherwise they support the leader and the decisions the leader makes. as well as plan the day's patrols." He waited to see if the other kit had questions or if Redkit wanted to know who other cats were.

Redkit looked at his brother. "If your dame had 9 lives, I bet she would have given them to you. I know I would give a life to Dazzlekit if I could - especially if I had some to spare. Plus, if I had nine lives I would be pretty sad." He turned to Hickorystorm. "I would be older than everyone else! There would be no one to play with me." A thought occurred to him."When the leader dies, do they get reborn as a kit? That would be pretty fun - but would they be an apprentice again then?"

A pale, white cat walked into camp and started talking with the boring - ahem - the deputy. He had seen her before. She often talked to the younger cat - the black and white one who brought Clovershine a duck that one time. He tilted his head thinking.

"The white cat. Is she the leader? Does she know Clovershine?" He shifted with endless kit energy, wiggling like a worm even though he was sitting still.

Hickorystorm's ears shifted, one towards each kit, to hear them better as they moved around him. "Which one of Clovershine's kit are you?" He asked Murkkit curiously before once more introducing himself. "My name is Hickorystorm. As for what happened to my eyes.... "

His voice trailed off as he sighed softly. There it was. The kits wouldn't know what happened to him and only have questions when they noticed he was different from them. Well, at least he had a story to tell them- hopefully Clovershine hadn't already told them this one- and maybe hearing their reactions might help bolster his pride over the whole thing. Then again, they were kits, so maybe not.

"I was surprise attacked by a hawk when I was out hunting a few moons back with Clovershine." The chocolate tabby tom's voice started off soft before growing stronger as he continues on. "If you want, I can tell you what I know of the story in between giving Redkit important mission details."

As the other kit lounged against him and heaved a sigh, Hickorystorm's head moved as if he were looking down at the kit- a movement so natural from having had sight that he still did so in blindness as well.

"Unfortunately, it is only the select few leaders who are granted nine lives in service to the clan." He reached down to give the kit a gentle nudge with his nose, an awkward attempt to comfort but an attempt nevertheless. Then Redkit chimed in and the older tom considered what was said. "Queens love their litters a lot. They give up the lives to protect them regularly. But at the same time, not having a guarenteed do-over is what makes life exciting and fun a lot of the time."

When he heard a cat step into camp and start speaking with Dawnflurry, he found he hadn't considered that end to their leader. "Naw, I don't think so, Redkit." He replied after a thoughtful pause. "Leaders are already given nine lives, if they aren't leader anymore, then it wouldn't really be fair to the rest of the clan. It'd be like they have ten lives instead of nine."

Who knew kits could be so deep?

He inhaled softly to see who had gone up to Dawnflurry. "If it's the she-cat I'm thinking of, she's actually not all white. If you look close, you'll see she has darker stripes along her legs, tail and face. That would be our leader, Palestar. If I remember right, she's Clovershine's littermate."

Oh, she did have stripes on her legs. He hadn't noticed that before about Palestar. But Redkit's eyes narrowed as he watched her. So they were related huh? And she still hadn't made him a warrior? Some aunt she was!

"I don't believe you found a Tawnee Owl." He sprang to his feet and hopped after his brother, making half-hearted spits as he went in an attempt to look spooky. "and fought it! You would lose to a mossball!" He wasn't entirely joking with that statement but meant no harm; even if it came off as mean.

"Ahem. But the reason is so that we don't make 'em look bad." Redkit sat up from his 'spooky crouch' and attempted to look dignified. "If kits made warriors look bad, they would be so embarrassed! So Palestar wants to keep us away 'til we are old 'nuff that we won't hurt their feelings with our awesomness.

Hickorystorm listened to Murkkit talking about the owl who he helped chase away and twitched his whiskers in amusement. Of course the little kit helped. "Wish I had you and your dame there to help me." He replied softly as his tail tip twitched. "The fox-hearted brute ambushed me while I was stalking some prey. Caught my completely unawares and by the time I knew it was there, it had already sunk it's talons into me."

Again, his whiskers quivered as he listened to the kits banter back and forth. This was more amusing than he expected it to be. However, when Murkkit said he wanted to leave camp, he gently laid a paw on the kit's tail in gentle warning.

"Your dame was with you on most of your adventures, wasn't she?" He tried to get the kit to think on the fact he had an older cat with them to protect them. "I'm sorry she isn't here to go with you anymore, but unfortunately, I'm not a good candidate to leave the camp with you. You'd have too hard of a time trying to protect me since I can't see anymore." Hickorystorm paused a moment before adding. "You don't want to leave me all alone in camp, do you? Without you and Redkit in camp to protect me, who knows what might come along and try to attack me again."

Redkit:

His brother's sudden spike in aggression surprised Redkit. Was he really that worried about hawks? His gaze flitted from Murkkit to the elder, trying to understand what had been said that caused him to fluff up like that. "Uh, Yeah! We can protect him. The both of us."

It was the job of a warrior to protect those weaker than him, and elders were weakest of all... obviously. He didn't consider his own mortality as he bounced up to Murkkit. "Look, look! If I use this move against a Tawnee Owl, it will totally run!" He was almost nose to nose with Murkkit. "Are you ready for this?"

After a heartbeat of tense silence and prolonged eye contact, Redkit lashed out, bapping Murkkit on the face with a clawless paw, before skittering away cackling madly - hiding on the other side of Briarstorm to avoid the consequences of his own actions.