[ti]Private[/ti]What's This? Where Am I?

[Dragon]

Maplekit watched as Petalkit and Pumpkinkit were made apprentices. He was happy for them but at the same time, he hated them. He should have been up there with them. What made it even worse was that Halfkit was up there and became Halfpaw. He wasn't recovered from his injuries yet but he was still made an apprentice. Why couldn't he become an apprentice? He smiled and cried their names out really loud and made it look like he was truly happy and proud of them when he wanted nothing more to be up there greeting his mentor.

Once the gathering was over the medicine cat helped him back into his nest. They fetched him a mouse which he quickly ate then curled up as best he could with his broken leg stretched out at an odd angle and fell asleep. As he began to dream at first all his worries and anger disappeared and it started out like any normal dream with him running through a forest as he chased a rabbit. His leg was perfectly fine as he ran. He got closer and closer until Maplekit was close enough to leap onto it. He pounced pinning it to the ground and sank his teeth into it. But something went wrong, more blood spilled out of the rabbit then it should have covering the ground until everything was dark. "Where am I What happened to the rabbit," he mewed softly for it was no longer under his paws. When he got up to move he hissed from the pain in his broken leg. He wasn't awake but he wasn't asleep... was he?

[LupTacco]

The dusty, dark air seemed to swirl around the tom's legs as he prowled through the tall grasses, brushing his sides along their stalks with a slow stretch. As much as the forest seemed infinite, it always felt limited to who was in it. That same old log where that one sad-looking fellow was always rolling about had passed by his peripheral vision many times as he walked in what he felt was a straight line. He had long stopped being annoyed by it; just another pleasant quirk of his resting place. He could still see the claw marks he'd left when he first came here, trying to make sense of the landscape by marking the trees as he went. How naive. 

Suddenly, there came a sound that wasn't the grass nor his own pawsteps- a voice? Yes, it had to have been, and not one he knew. A new arrival, or a new potential apprentice? A sly smirk tugged his muzzle up, flashing his teeth for a moment before his expression smoothed out a neutral smile, though it lacked any real emotion. "Lost, little one?" he announced himself with mock concern as he stepped out from the grasses to see a red-furred little tom with a crooked leg. "Are you an apprentice, lost one? Surely you have a name- I'm Sootface," he sat down, dipping his head in an exaggerated gesture of politeness.

[Dragon]

Maplekit limped in a circle looking around fear coming off him in waves. Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was he dead? If he was dead then was this Starclan? So lost in his fearful thought he never saw, heard, nor smelled the stranger come up towards him. When they spoke asking if he was lost he jumped but gave a small yelp when he bumped his broken leg. "Yes I'm lost can you help me?" Stootface? Then he was a warrior cat. He sighed with relief and relaxed automatically trusting the tom. He padded closer to him. When Sootface asked if he was an apprentice he gave a growl and anger filled up inside of him. "No, I'm still a kit. My name is Maplekit but it should be Maplepaw. My littermates were all made apprentices while I'm forced to stay in Frostfall and Daisypetals den until my leg heals. It's not fair Halfkit was made an apprentice and he was injured in the flood too." Maplekit cut himself off from ranting on when he realized he really shouldn't be complaining to Starclan.

[LupTacco]

Help? For free? This kitten really was lost if he thought this was a place where cats helped one another out of the goodness of their wretched little hearts. An expert at this shtick by now, though, he kept up his benign smile. "Ah, of course I can," he murmured, waiting for something of use. And the kitten delivered in spades- resentment was thick in the young tom's voice as he explained why he wasn't made an apprentice yet. Sootface made a gently chastising sound, shaking his head, "Tut tut, that's a shame. You seem perfectly capable to me- bum legs heal, after all. There was no reason to delay your training at all." His smile grew a little wider when Maplekit quickly stopped himself. "You're right, that's not fair at all. You really ought to have a mentor by now- but, is there any warrior in your clan willing to break a leader's order?" He stooped down low, getting to eye level with the young cat.

"No," he shook his head gently, whispering now, "I don't think so. But, you're not all out of luck. If you're willing to train hard, I could offer my knowledge to you- no-one else would ever know. You'd learn things not even Halfpaw will."

[Dragon]

Maplekit smiled when he heard Sootface would help him. He would soon see just how much the tom was willing to help him. His eyes lit up when Sootface agreed with him and said he was perfectly capable to start training. The tom agreeing with him gave him the courage to continue his little rant. "I know right? Bearstar had no right to hold me back. If she had just given me the slightest chance I could have proven myself to her but no she just threw me to the side like a piece of twoleg trash." Maplekit sighed and shook his head, "No all the cats in Mistclan are too cowardly to go against Bearstars orders. If I was a warrior I would have."

What Sootface next filled Maplekit with such excitement and joy he wanted to pounce playfully onto the tom. But he pushed back that urge. He wasn't a kit no more no matter what his name and he would prove that to his clan. "Yes I would like that very much Sootface." Maplekit pictured himself finally made an apprentice and then in a practice fight with Halfpaw and beating him so easily. "When can we start? I want to learn everything you can teach me," excitement filled him and mixed with his newfound hatred for Halfpaw and Bearstar. He would show them all someday.