[ti]Private[/ti]Dangerous Make Believe

[Broadwaykat]

Cats were magnificent creatures. They could stock creatures that were almost double their own size, and many feral were fierce enough to take them down. Cats were masters of no one. And kittens, well, they were exactly the same; just in smaller, more fluffy bodies.

"Bloomstar creeps up on the Ivyclan-death-squad, seeing them in their sights!" One particular kitten, Bloomkit, was taking advantage of his mother's sleepiness by striking out on his own. The white and brown tabby crept around with his belly pressed against the ground, inadvertently sweeping up quite the collection of abandoned moss and twigs as he did so, tangling up in his kitten-fur belly.  "They have stolen the best sunning spots for the last time! Bloomstar will have the revenge for all his clan, and win eternal glory for Mothclan! All the mice you can eat and NO MORE UNNECESSARY NAPTIMES!"

With that triumphant battle cry, Bloomkit lept; promptly tripping up over his own front paws and tumbling head over tail until he hit a rather soft and squishy wall. It wasn't until his head stopped spinning that he realized he had run into not a wall, but another cat.

"Ach! Issa swamp monster!" He squeaked in terror. In truth, it was just a cat known for rather lax grooming skills.

bits

[bits]

Now, Sootk- Sootpaw was still fairly new to this whole 'not-being-a-kitten' thing, and she wasn't completely sold on it yet. Apprenticeship seemed to be a lot less engaging than she had been hoping for. She had to do as she was told, had to go here and do this, and she wasn't just permitted to come and go as she pleased. Sometimes, she looked almost enviously in the direction of the elder's den. If only her growth had been just a little more stunted, she could've pulled a Ruekit (or whatever his 'warrior' name was) and spent the rest of her days digging and messing around to her heart's content.

And as she was grumbling to herself about this unfortunate turn of events, something knocked into her, putting the young molly on edge. She had her claws out by the time she turned to see who was attacking her, fur puffed up in the spots not glued down by muck. Sootpaw was initially ready to retaliate against her unknown assailant, but there was no one of any proportionate threat, and that assumption was cemented by a kitten's cry of monster!

Upon realizing that it was just an unobservant kitten, the apprentice seemed to settle. Her expression didn't look welcoming by any means, but it was no longer the ferocious scowl it was before - instead, Sootpaw settled on a slightly put off frown, her ears slanted back as she gave Bloomkit a much calmer version of her go-to glare.

"You're messy too."

She pointed out in her signature monotone.

[Broadwaykat]

Bloomkit was nothing if not able to bounce back extremely fast. Even faced with the scary, messy visage of Sootpaw, half messy, half spiked - the moment her familiar monotone broke through, he was giving his head a little shake. He knew this cat - no monster, not really. In fact, she was the interesting sort of cat that he thought he might want to be - despite the fact that his mom did her best to remind him he should keep his distance. 

"Soooooooooot!" Squeaked his delighted voice - forgetting the second part of her name only because he had honestly forgotten it. "Are you busy bein' a 'prentice?! I can be one to, you know! I'm this big!" He did his best to to stand at attention, flexing even his ears to give himself the extra height, and puffing out his chest. It would have been more impressive if most of his face wasn't wide, shiny kit-eyes, and most of his body weight pure fluff.

"Can I help you and your warr'ya? Cause I totally can!" He bounced up, coming down hard on his front paws and landing with a - umph - on his belly. "We can save Mothclan together!"

[bits]

The child was not disturbed by her lack of engagement with him, and for some reason that made Sootpaw even more uncomfortable. She felt her ears against the back of her head, her yellow eyes looking almost incredulously towards the carefree Bloomkit. What was happening right now? Why was he excited to talk to her? The apprentice stared on, too gobsmacked to speak, while Bloomkit showed off with a puffed out chest. Were she any less blown away by this whole exchange, she may have found some humour in the way the kid tried to make fluff and fur intimidating. Instead, she blinked slowly as the child continued to hype himself up. It wasn't until he asked if he could help that an interesting idea occurred to the sour apprentice.

Maybe he could.

"... sure."

She needed to consider this for a few more moments. How best could she wield a weapon of fur and innocence? Bonus points for being able to wield him against her mentor. Unfortunately for Sootpaw, her intellect was more suited to survival than revenge - for now.

"I heard that there's a secret Mistclanner in our clan... someone in our high ranks... y'wanna find 'em with me? We gotta be sneaky."

[Broadwaykat]

Bloomkit, truth be told, was not entirely used to bigger cats going his way on things. Sure, he could usually get his siblings to join in his antics easily enough. But his mother was more of a scolder than a player, and the older kits frankly scared him just a bit. The warriors of their clan were usually to busy to bother with a kit unless they were getting into trouble - or, as Bloomkit often assumed - anything fun. The two often went hand in hand.

But Sootpaw seemed like she would go along with things; in fact, she was throwing an interesting development into their game. His little eyes became comically large as he listened intently. "Mistclan?! Here?! Lemme at 'em!" His on-end fur could not possibly fluff anymore, but it would have through sheer act of will if he'd been able to. "I'll have their pelt to line my nest! I'll drive 'em out and feed 'em to the squirrels!"

Of course, in his mind a Mistclanner couldn't possibly hide amidst them. They were horrible ten-foot monsters with razor teeth - not normal, noble looking cats like those Mothclanners. He hissed, spit dribbling a bit down his chin as he put a little too much emphasis on the 's'. 

"How'm you know they're from Mistclan? They must be 'real good at hidin'!"

[bits]

Broadwaykat

Sootpaw nodded, slow and sombre. She seemed to be giving an air of responsibility and severity in order to feed the kitten's desire to help - if she acted like this was a deeply important issue, it might encourage Bloomkit to do what she wanted the kid to do. This would be entertaining for both her and the kid. And maybe, just maybe, they'd find a way to annoy her new mentor so she could avoid responsibility altogether.

"Shh, you gotta keep your voice down. There're spies around."

She leaned down conspiratorially, looking from left to right as though checking to see if anyone was overhearing her. Seeming to be taking this seriously, the apprentice began stage-whispering to Bloomkit. 

"I've heard that Eveningblaze's been replaced by a Mistclanner. They can change their appearance to look like anyone and Eveningblaze has been acting funny. I followed him one day, and heard him talking to a Mistclanner."

There, the set-up. Get the kid in on a little conspiracy, a few whispered words (probably more than she'd ever spoken to a single person) and she had her plan in action.

"I can't too close to him - he'll catch on too fast. But you're a strong Mothclanner, practically a warrior at your size! If you ambush him, you'll take him down in no time!"

Sure, this wouldn't do anything in the end. Bloomkit was a kitten, and for Eveningblaze, this would be akin to a thorn in the paw if that. If nothing else though, she could annoy her mentor in a roundabout way.

[Broadwaykat]

Of course, Bloomkit took Sootkit's first warnings a little too literally. Not only did he then choose to keep his voice down, but dropped down altogether - pressing his belly to the ground like a snake and even flattening his own ears back against his head. "Sorry!" He said at a half-roar - but his mind the quietest of quiet voices.

But even this quiet seemed to last for only a millisecond of time.

"They got to Eveningblaze!?" He exclaimed, fueled equally by excitement and fright. "But...But...he's like, the biggest and bestest of them out there!" Maybe only a little bit beyond the leader themselves. Bloomkit play acted at BEING Eveningblaze. How could he be a traitor. It was almost a little scary, even to think about.

If those horrible Mistclanners could get to someone like Eveningblaze, who was next? His momma? His brothers and sisters? Was HE going to be taken over by Mistclan.

Sweet, Starclan - they were snatching everyone up!

"I won't let you down!" He cried, once again excitement pulsing through his very being. He had to stop this, and fast - he and Sootpaw were the only ones to know of this conspiracy, apparently. They were their clans only hope - and he was ready to shoulder it on his puny little shoulders.

There was only one problem.

"Er...Whadda I gotta do again?"

[bits]

Sootpaw nodded severely. Bloomkit was eating up this whole make-believe event, and she was aiming to have some entertainment at the expense of her mentor (and possibly this kitten - but she'd had her fair share of scoldings from the queens and she was fine). So she let Bloomkit get riled up, let the kitten think of the fear and excitement of the situation. She didn't feel the same kind of excitement about much, so it was as though she was living vicariously through the pumped-up kitten.

She let the kid get riled up a little more, before she listened to him declare he had no idea what to do. Excellent - now all she had to do was figure out the perfect application of this kitten's rage and indignance.

"It's not too hard. Mistclanners in disguise have a weak spot, at the end of their tails. If you bite really hard on his tail, he'll be sent back to Mistclan, and we'll get the real Eveningblaze back."

She was still in full-blown conspiracy mode, yellow eyes darting to and fro as if afraid that the sneaky, skin-changing Mistclanners would appear. Was this a weird thing to tell a kid? Absolutely. Was this potential nightmare fuel? Probably. She wanted some mischief though.

Broadwaykat

[Broadwaykat]

Bloomkit was doing his best to take in the seriousness of this situation. But the truth of the matter was, he couldn't sit still for all that long. He found himself wriggling with the excitement of helping his clan, even as the rest of his muscles seemed to tense up to keep him from moving. The end result was a slightly odd looking kit who appeared to be vibrating with pure excitement. 

"I can do that! I can totally do that. I'd be so good - like a shadow. He'd never see me comin' until he's in a whole world of hurt!" He promised, solemnly. "So long as it gets the real Eveningblaze back - I'd do anything and everything that I can! He's a hero."

Of course, he realized, it must have been so hard for Sootpaw to admit this too. Wasn't she his apprentice? She must be so brave to not be scared of the Mistclan interloper.

"Do you think I should track him? I think I should track him!" He yelped with delight. Of course, he had no real idea what tracking meant...just a lot of creeping along the ground with your belly in the dirt, he knew.