Closed Thread I Wanna Help!

Brightkit emerged from the nursery blinking against the sun. The gust of wind blew his way ruffling his fur, there, in front of him, was the Wind Clan camp just as it usually was. Even after just waking up Brightkit was already bursting with energy in his usual fashion. His eyes darted around the camp, maybe he would find someone who had something for him to do, anything to put his energy to good use. 

((Welcome! Quick question, which day is this thread taking place in? Here's the dates list for reference))

At moments like this, Shadesleek felt more like an apprentice than a warrior. She was in the process of rolling a big ball of old moss away from the elders' den, because somebody had to do it since there weren't any new apprentices yet.

Yet so far anyway, she thought when she noticed someone leaving the nursery. "Hey, Brightkit!" Shadesleek meowed, half-greeting half-calling her Clanmate. An idea quietly took shape in her head. Kits didn't really have any responsibilities. That meant they had free time. And Brightkit and his siblings were really closer to apprentice age than little kit age, weren't they?

"Finally awake?" Shadesleek asked brightly. She let the mossball sit by itself as she padded closer to the nursery entrance with her now upright tail gently curling. "Wanna do something fun?"

Boulderdash had been helping her sister in cleaning the dens and had just come into camp with a ball of fresh moss tucked under her chin and a ball in her mouth. Mismatched blue and green eyes sparkled as she saw Shadesleek approaching one of the kits near the nursery. Setting her bundles down, she called to her dark sister, tail and whiskers twitching. "Is it time to take a break to play with the kits?" A bit of fun was always a good break from the seriousness of warrior duties. Especially since the clan didn't have any apprentices currently. "I brought the moss and there should be plenty for the elders. Just give me a moment and let me take this to them to smooth out their nests and I'll join you two if you like."

Brightkit's eyes sparkled as he saw Shadesleek coming toward him. He always loved it when warriors took notice of him. "Ooooh, something fun?" he repeated, ears pricked up with curiousity, "What is it?" 

"Well--" Shadesleek started to say, but then heard her Boulderdash's question. Time to take a break and play with the kits?! the black warrior. No, you mouse-brain!

"Actually," Shadesleek meowed, containing herself so that she didn't ruin her own plan by being snarky at her sister, "I was gonna say we could teach Brightkit how to make the best moss balls." She looked at Brighkit and continued in a nonchalant tone, "Buuut if you'd rather just play instead of learning such a valuable skill, I guess that's fine too."

Brightkit blinked. A valuable skill? If a warrior was saying it was valuable it must be, and he could play any other time. "I can learn!" Brightkit exclaimed, excitedly "I'm good at learning! I'm the best at learning!" Brightkit started toward Shadesleek. This would be great, this would be amazing, it wasn't everyday kits learned from warriors. 

Realization dawned in Boulderdash's eyes as her sister responded. Ah, yes. She forgot Shadesleek was masterful at passing on some of the apprentice duties when they were younger. Granted Boulderdash had never complained because she was good at those chores that her sister didn't like as much. "Making mossballs is a very good skill to know." She replied solemnly. "Learning that will help in many aspects of apprentice life." She padded over to them with her tail held high and waited for Shadesleek to start teaching Brightkit. She'd take over and teach the kit how to spread fresh mossballs to make himself brilliant nests when Shadesleek was done.

"Uh, uh, uh,'' Brightkit bounced up and down as he searched his brain for moss knowledge. If he didn't say something they'd probably think that he's stupid. "It's uh, green!" he desperately tried to remember what Shadesleek had been doing before, "And you roll it, that's what you do, it also, it uh, it's what you make balls out of!" Brightkit stood a little taller, his answer turned out quite well, at least, in his eyes. 

Boulderdash stretched out and watched the two with kind but amused eyes, staying silent as Shadesleek and Brightkit interacted. Shadesleek wanted to teach the kit, so she'd let her sister teach. The kit was trying to appear smart, stating the most basic and obvious facts about moss, but she couldn't fault him for that. Maybe with their help, he'd have a small foot up from his sibling when his apprenticeship actually starts.

Brightkit followed as Shadesleek headed toward the elders' den, feeling even more sure of himself from Shadesleek's approval. Bedding though, why hadn't he thought of that? As he followed he looked back at the nursery and squinted to see if he could spot some moss. Had that always been there? Weird. And what do you think is easier to roll up? Old moss or new moss? Shadesleek's question brought his attention back to what he was doing. 

"New moss!" Brightkit replied, immediately. 

Bobbed tail twitching in response to her sister's question, Boulderdash stretched out on her side and listened. "I'm with Brightkit on this one." The tabby and white she cat drawled in response before her response became a bit more of an explanation towards Brightkit. "Old moss is dried up and more brittle. The thing that helps me ball them up is the fact there's cat fur in the nests that help keep the moss pieces together. Fresh moss, while it can be overly moist, is able to hold it's shapes better and as such it and compress better to expand. At least, that's what I think."

Brightkit's tail swished back and forth in the air. So he was right. It made a lot more sense when Boulderdash said it though. He looked to Shadesleek in order to make sure. 

Boulderdash watched the kit paying rapt attention to them as she and Shadesleek explained about how to work the moss in their favors. She waited patiently as her sister took Brightkit into the elder's den, the ball of fresh moss not far from where she her set it down. Hopefully, he would soak this lesson up and remember it when he became an apprentice.

Brightkit listened intently as Shadesleek explained. Nodding along to show that he was listening. 

Simple enough, right?

"Yep!" 

Despite his upbeat tone he copied her example rather cautiously at first, afraid he might accidentally do something wrong. He quickly noticed that it was rather easy, and even better, it made him feel useful. Brightkit never understood why other cats complained about their chores. 

Boulderdash purred as they worked at cleaning out the den. Shadesleek seemed to be a pretty good teacher, even if it was manipulating the kit into helping her. Maybe she'd end up with Brightkit as an apprentice. It made her wonder who might get the other kit. She wouldn't object but she knew that it was up to Badgerstar.

Once they were done cleaning the den out, Boulderdash was ready to show Brightkit how to spread the new moss, unless Shadesleek wanted to show him that as well. If they did that, she could bring some more back for the dens and have some excess for Rowanglade.

The tabby and white she-cat had made to roll onto her back, but as she did so, an itch amade itself known and so she started to wiggle, hoping the ground might give her back a good scratch.