Ask to Join Shade and Sparks

Mew.
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The tiny tom’s nose twitched rapidly as he sniffed at the air outside the Nursery. There was a distinct chill to it that the warm den didn’t hold and for a moment he considered abandoning his little adventure. Skunkkit looked back into the den. In the gloom, his parents were curled, their breath gentle. Whether they were asleep or not, the young tom had no idea, but no one was warning him not to leave the den or to come away from the entrance, so he turned his baby blue gaze back to the camp beyond.

The light was dim in a way that mimicked the nursery but seemed more gray than comforting. Even so, the bustle of the camp beyond excited Skunkkit and he quivered happily. Today he was gonna explore his world a little bit. The kind of mobility he had today was better than yesterday and he felt so sure that he would be able to wobble his way to somewhere interesting. “C’mon Wea’el’it!” the black and white tom chirped before stepping a tiny paw onto the dirt outside of the nursery. Being so young, he struggled to pronounce particular letters, words being rather new to Skunkkit.

Once more Skunkkit looked around the camp, this time his gaze landing on a somewhat familiar form. Something in his memory sparked a sense of familiarity, almost as though his mother or father had described a pelt like the one he was looking at. The small tom blinked and tried to work out what exactly it was that he was trying to remember. Shrugging, he gave up trying to remember and decided he would just go and say hi. Glancing back at Weaselkit, he grinned and then began to try to run toward the cat he had spied. Almost instantly Skunkkit stumbled and fell on his nose with a tiny squeak before sitting up, eyes watering.

If a flower can flourish in the desert, you can flourish anywhere.

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As a black and white blur nearly toppled into her, Coyotebloom flinched for a moment, then calmed herself as she noticed it was just Skunkkit and Weaselkit. She let out a purr of greeting to the two. "Careful there, Skunkkit, you haven't grown into your paws yet" She chirped softly as she used her muzzle to straighten Skunkkit back to a standing position. "You alright, little brother?" She knew that Skunkkit wasn't her biological brother, but she saw Bravesong as a father in placement of the one that dropped her off at fourtrees all those moons ago, so these two were as close to brothers in the clan she could have.

Her orange eyes then moved to Weaselkit, his spotted pelt pristinely groomed and clean, likely from Orchidflame's care but she wouldn't put it past Bravesong to clean the kits' fur as well. "Hey there, Weaselkit! You two out here exploring the camp?" she asked with a soft breath that was something close to a chuckle. For a brief moment, she glanced over to the nursery, to Orchidflame, who had her bicolored eyes cracked open watching her sons. The young warrior let out a sigh of relief, at least she knew they were out here.

Coyotebloom took a moment to focus on the two tiny bodies covered in kit-fuzz and let out a soft sigh that bled into a purr. She was sure that Bravesong and Orchidflame as a pair would be phenomenal parents to these too, if the past experiences with Bravesong were anything to go by anyway. 

Mew.
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Skunkkit blinked in surprise as Weaselkit named the cat he had been approaching. He did, of course, know all about the she-cat who was their older sister, Bravesong seemed to enjoy speaking about her. With how recently he had opened his eyes, however, the young tom hadn’t been able to recognise her from the tales. Still, he figured Weaselkit must have seen her at some point when he had been asleep and he simply broke out into a huge smile, eager to meet their famed sibling. “‘Yo’ie’b’oom! Yo’ieb’oom!” the young tom chirped enthusiastically.

As Coyotebloom purred at Skunkkit and his brother, the little tom couldn’t help but let out his own purr and rubbed on Coyotebloom’s shoulder. He might not have met her while he was awake yet, but the stories that had been shared with him ensured he had no fear or concern about his older sibling. “Uh huh!” the black and white tom hummed in response to his sister’s question. While Coyotebloom may have had no biological relationship to the small tom, Skunkkit was completely unaware of these nuances and simply knew her to be family. To be fair though, that was how he currently viewed the entire clan.

Skunkkit nodded enthusiastically at the question that was more aimed to his brother. “Wanna see! Wanna see!” He might not yet have had the words to actually describe what it was that he wanted to see, but there was no denying the little tom’s enthusiasm. Truly, the world around him had always seemed to spark wonder in his gaze from the moment he had opened his eyes. Recently he had been gaining better mobility and even though he didn’t have the energy yet to keep up with his adventurous spirit, little seemed to deter Skunkkit. Now that he had identified who Coyotebloom was, he was gazing around the wide expanse of the camp with amazement in his baby blue eyes. “Is li’e a big den!” he gasped in awe, eyes glittering with excitement.

If a flower can flourish in the desert, you can flourish anywhere.

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Coyotebloom's gaze softened as Skunkkit shared the enthusiasm for both the kits and a soft purr erupted from her throat. These two kits hadn't even seen the outer lengths of the nursery, they had no idea how big the world was outside of camp. If they thought the camp was big, ThunderClan's territory would blow their minds. "It is like a big den isn't it? The nursery is only a little part of it." Her nose gestured towards the nursery, then to the much larger warrior's den nearby. "I don't think you all should get to nosing around in all the dens without Orchidflame or Bravesong yet though."

For a moment, Coyotebloom looked around the camp, and then the fresh kill pile was noticed. She gave a look of 'could I show them?' to Orchidflame, surely she would like to be the one to show them around the camp. But Orchidflame simply looked towards the lilac warrior with soft eyes and nodded. Coyotebloom assumed it was because she could have all the time in the world to show her kits around, she let the fresh kill pile be Coyotebloom's trip with them as their big sister. She was forever thankful.

"How about... a trip to that pile of prey over there, to show you what you'll be trying in a couple of moons." The lilac warrior chirped, trying to sound a little more chipper as she rose to her paws. Allowing the small toms to ready their tiny paws to follow her, she would be slow to the pile, to make sure that no kit was left behind, she made sure both kits were beside her as she led her way to the pile of prey.

Mew.
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Skunkkit stared in wonder around the expanse of the camp, trying to make out the shapes that were further away. He had only opened his eyes recently and his ability to refocus his gaze or see over long distances was still developing properly. Not that he knew any different, to him taking time to make out shapes and having no clue what was happening on the other side of camp was completely normal. It wouldn’t be long though before his normal adjusted and he would be able to see about as well as most of the clan. “Dere’s uder dens?” Skunkkit mewed with awe and stared back up at his big sister. Suddenly all that he wanted to do was explore every nook and cranny that he could find in this large den area that was called the camp.

The little black and white tom stared around the camp once more, plotting about where to go first when Coyotebloom spoke again offering to take them somewhere. “Yus! Yus! Yus!” he chirped in excitement. Honestly Skunkkit had no clue about where they were going, but exploring sounded fun and he was enjoying seeing things. The little tom bounced about for a bit, fell on his butt then side as his enthusiasm unbalanced him, and then got straight back up, tail pointing straight up as he grinned widely at Coyotebloom.

As the older she-cat began to make her way to the fresh kill pile, Skunkkit trotted along beside her, wobbling and stumbling constantly but completely undeterred. The young tom’s enthusiasm kept unbalancing him as he tried to go faster than his body was ready for, causing frequent stumbles and falls. More than once his chin ended up on the ground, but each time Skunkkit simply righted himself and kept going, grinning widely.

If a flower can flourish in the desert, you can flourish anywhere.

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As Coyotebloom walked, she stopped every now and again to help Skunkkit to the paws he was still getting used to and turned to give a smile to Weaselkit. An encouraging smile that she hoped would encourage him a little closer. She remembered being a similar way to Weaselkit when she was a kitten, but for... a very different reason. At Skunkkit's comment she let out a gentle giggle "Yeah, lots of dens. When you're older you'll be able to see all of them." Coyotebloom replied with a purr as the Coyotebloom and the little gaggle of kittens found their way to the prey pile.

"Among other things, yes. The fresh-kill pile is where mice are." Coyotebloom replied softly with a curl of her tail "Although, you two still have some time to go until you're able to eat anything from it yet." She added and a soft huff. "After all, Big strong warriors know how to wait for their turn right?" She chirped lightly, pulling a mouse from the pile, while they weren't able to eat the mouse, there was no harm in showing them one.

From the scent of it, it was freshly brought in, but she couldn't exactly recall who did, she wasn't exactly looking out at the patrols prior to the little tour. It didn't really matter in the end regardless really. "This is what a mouse looks like. I'd think that you two might have seen Orchidflame and Bravesong munching on one of these at some point right?" she mewed , rolling the mouse over onto its back and it flopped limply on the ground as its slightly lighter belly faced skyward. "Looks silly all limp like this doesn't it?" she trilled, lowering herself as low as she could to move to the tiny toms' level.

Mew.
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Skunkkit grinned each time that Coyotebloom helped him up. He wasn’t the sort to see the help as judgement of his inabilities. Rather, he was simply grateful for it and glad that he was able to keep moving forward. He hoped that one day he would be able to stride as smoothly as the warriors did, and he had no true doubts that he would. After all, he was going to become Thunderclan’s greatest warrior ever! Or second greatest. The little black and white tom looked back toward his brother with fondness. It was possible that Weaselkit would be the actual greatest, he was already so determined and precise. To the young tom, his brother already showed immeasurable skill compared to his own abilities and he was proud of him for it.

“All of dem?” Skunkkit gasped, eyes wide. “Will I weally be able to see all of dem?” To the young tom it seemed impossible to have such energy and time to explore so much. He was already getting tired from his outing, and sort of hungry too. It didn’t help that there was delicious smells coming from the direction that they were headed, although his mouth didn’t yet water at the idea of prey in quite the same way as it did for milk. Being a little less than a moon old, he wasn’t quite ready to try meat, but within the next few days he likely would. Within a half moon he would be almost purely eating prey that was brought to him, but for now that was an eternity away for the young tom.

Skunkkit’s eyes went wide as Coyotebloom deposited a mouse in front of him and Weaselkit. It looked to be half his size! While the black and white tom had certainly seen his parents eating mice and birds and other such prey, he had never exactly gotten this close. After all, his meal was near his mother’s belly rather than her mouth. “Is huge!” the young tom exclaimed. “Will I weally catch these one day?” Skunkkit looked up at Coyotebloom with wide, blue eyes. His young mind understood that he would one day be as big as her and the mouse wouldn’t look so huge by then, and yet he also struggled to truly believe that he would actually grow to be so big. Minor doubts about his dream to become Thunderclan’s greatest warrior weedled their way into his mind, but he determinedly ignored them. Even if he was small, he would make it work. He had to so that he could always make his ma and pa proud of him!

As Coyotebloom rolled the mouse around and made her comment on its limpness, Skunkkit couldn’t help but giggle and reach a paw out to tap at it. The fur felt soft and yet rough at the same time and he blinked in confusion. He had never imagined fur to feel anything but the pleasant cuddliness of his mother’s and father’s. “Why’s it so squishy an’ weird feeling?” Skunkkit asked as he stared at the mouse. His stomach clenched at the idea of eating something so weird feeling, and suddenly the smell of it no longer seemed enticing.

If a flower can flourish in the desert, you can flourish anywhere.

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"All of them." Coyotebloom confirmed softly to the more enthusiastic of the two kits as they asked their expected questions. Coyotebloom seemed to favor these kits over the last ones, she enjoyed the company of them, but Bravesong's kits felt like kin, just as Bravesong felt like kin enough as well. They were probably the closest to little brothers she was going to get in ThunderClan, and she was fine with that. "Every cat catches prey, you'll both get your chance. Your mentors will teach you." She purred before turning her orange gaze to Weaselkit.

She noticed his confusion, Coyotebloom lowered herself, placing her head on her paws and glancing at both the kits. "Food doesn't come as easy to us as it does for you two sadly. We have to put in effort to get it. They were also once alive like us." She spoke kindly, not wanting to make the kits think that it was impossible to hunt them or scare them away from hunting at all. "We're built for catching them, and they're small enough for us to eat. When we eat them, we make dirt, which soaks into the soil and helps the land flourish, the mice and prey eat from the earth and make more prey for us to eat. And the cycle begins anew." Coyotebloom meowed gently, hoping the kits would at least understand the basic concept of what she was saying, if not, she could just explain it again when they could, she had no problem with that.

"We eventually give our bodies back to the forest too, we help the prey survive as much as they help us. We have to respect the fact that StarClan gave us this order." She spoke, as if she were telling an elder story, maybe the kits would be more captivated by a story-telling tone. As well as not saying the word 'death' that was definitely something she'd get skinned for telling kits all about.

Coyotebloom, who had already eaten, placed the mouse back into the pile then rolled onto her belly. "How about you two practice some climbing skills by scaling your big sister? I bet two strong kits like yourselves will be able to do swimmingly." 

Mew.
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Skunkkit kept patting at the mouse as Weaselkit spoke. He was both disturbed and fascinated by the feel of it, although he truly couldn’t imagine ever being able to eat one with how it felt. He honestly couldn’t understand how his parents and other cats managed to stomach mice. As Coyotebloom spoke, Skunkkit dragged his attention to her instead of the mouse, his eyes going wide at the idea of being able to catch food for his clan. “I can’ wai’!” he chirped, eager and enthusiastic. He mightn’t like the feel of the mouse, but other’s certainly seemed to and so he would catch as many as he could to make his clanmates happy, especially his parents.

The young tom’s brow furrowed in confusion as he tried to imagine the various creatures on the pile walking and moving like he and his brother did. He looked at the wings of one of the birds and tried to imagine it walking on all fours with them, his whiskers twitching in amusement. “Some mus’ move weally weird!” he exclaimed with a giggle. THis being his first outing, he had never seen anything alive other than some bugs and cats, and to his young mind, bugs were a completely different type of thing to him. So when Coyotebloom claimed that their food was like them in some way, he tried simply to imagine them acting like him and his family.

As Coyotebloom moved on to speak of the natural cycle of life, Skunkkit couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose in disgust at the mention of dirt. His pure experience so far was the utter reek that came out of him and his brother when they made dirt and then the way their mother had to clean that up. Given that he had never seen either of his parents make dirt, he had assumed that the horrid process eventually stopped. Skunkkit didn’t know it yet, but in a few days he would be taught to use dirtplace and to bury his own dirt, but for now, while his legs were too wobbly and his body was learning how to care for itself, Orchidflame cared for him.

The overall concepts of what Coyotebloom was talking about was completely lost on Skunkkit. He couldn’t imagine dying, and her words were too vague for him to make the connection of her talking about becoming like the prey next to them. Even so, he listened attentively, head cocked to one side as he tried to work out what was being said. Something about respect and Starclan. The black and white tom was given an out from debating the meaning when Coyotebloom rolled onto her back. Skunkkit’s eyes lit up excitedly as he chirped, “Yus!” and promptly pounced onto her side, likely pinching her between his pokey little paws and the ground. His claws were still kitten-soft but beginning to harden and he wasted no time in hesitating to use them as he tried to pull himself up Coyotebloom’s much larger frame. Glee was written all over the young tom’s face and even though he hardly made any headway up, he continued to try, giggling all the while.