[ti]Private[/ti]Branching Out

[Fireflake]

Pepperkit leaned against the nursery entrance, staring at the apprentice den. She was perfectly happy in the nursery, as she always had been, but it wasn’t really where she was supposed to be. She was seven moons old now, almost eight, and she should have been apprenticed over a moon ago when her littermates where. She would have been, too. If only she hadn’t been playing in the wrong place, and if only she’d taken a deep breath when told she’d have to wait, instead of throwing a tantrum and breaking her leg worse. Pepperkit had come to accept this. It was the approaching ceremonies, in which she would likely be apprenticed, that she caught herself thinking about when she tried to lay down to sleep at night.

Moving to a new den, and frequently being out of camp, didn’t keep Pepperkit’s sisters safe from her loving shenanigans, nor did it protect them from her curiosity. She had stayed as close to them as she could. She’d seen the things that they, and the other apprentices, could do. She’d seen them racing around camp on chores and showing the kits how to do moves. Pepperkit herself had been doing much the same thing, running errands for Twistedbranch, Lilydawn, and the queens, when they would let her, and looking after the other kits as if she wasn’t still considered one herself.

The ginger she-cat liked to consider herself an expert at these chores and games, but when she too tried to tentatively copy the moves the apprentices showed, she still felt unsteady and would always plant her paws firmly back on the ground instead of trying to follow through. She just couldn’t hurt herself again. Her leg had only just been released from 'Clingykit', as she’d jokingly named the splint that Lilydawn had affixed to it, but the limb was still bent slightly outward when she sat, and left her with an uneven stance when she stood. Like most wounds, actually seeing it made it seem worse in her mind.

So, stepping away from the nursery, Pepperkit did what she usually did when her leg gave her trouble and made her worry for her future as a warrior. She ran (okay, padded slowly, but the spirit was there) along to the elder den. Seconds away from the entrance, she suddenly paused, then padded at a slightly faster pace toward the fresh-kill pile and back. When she did enter the den, there was a squirrel swinging lightly from her mouth, held by the scruff like a kit would be. The young she-cat placed the prey on the ground in front of Twistedbranch and sat with perked ears. “Look what I brought for you, Twistedbranch! A squirrel and a me.”
Her whiskers twitched happily as she momentarily forgot the nervousness that had summoned her there.

[gingersnapsdacat]

    Twistedbranch sat in his nest, calmly listening to the sounds of the camp. From his spot in the Elder’s den, he could see and hear the goings-on of the clearing. Apprentices padded to-and-fro beside their mentors, queens looked after their kits; everything was perfectly normal.
    “Look what I brought for you, Twistedbranch! A squirrel and a me.”
    Twistedbranch grinned, greeting Pepperkit brightly. He had started hanging out with the bum-legged kit shortly after the ceremony, when he had seen how upset she was.
    “Well how did you manage to bring two of my favorite things?” he purred, taking the swuirrel.

[Fireflake]

Pepperkit lit up at the old tom's words. At a different time, she might have tried to come up with a way to return the compliment, but the only thing that rolled off of her tongue when she opened her mouth was a vibrant, warm purr. Nodding to the prey, she squealed, "Eat it, eat it!"
Moments later she stepped back with a briefly wrinkled nose and very serious face. "But not me!"

The ginger kit stepped backward once more before settling into a sitting position. Her perked ears slipped down a bit as she noticed her leg pointed somewhat outward. The she-cat pressed it lightly as if she could nudge back into place whatever the medicine cat and almost two moons of healing hadn't been able to fix. Looking back up to her elderly friend, Pepperkit scolded playfully, "Twistedbranch, you're /too/ good at making me happy! I always forget what I came in here for in the first place."

[gingersnapsdacat]

    Twistedbranch grinned, seeing the way his charming words lit up the young she-cat’s face. He did not always like to admit it, but charming young kittens was one of his favorite things.
“Eat it! Eat it!”
    The old tomcat chuckled at the kit's enthusiasm, grabbing the kitten’s offering. As he did, his outstretched paw rubbed against her, pulling her closer.
"But not me!"
“Hmmm...maybe you would make a good meal,” the tomcat teased. He pulled the kitten over to him, where he gently nibbled on one of her ears. “Awful lot of fluff though.”
He let the kitten go, returning to his squirrel.
“Twistedbranch, you're /too/ good at making me happy! I always forget what I came in here for in the first place."
“Well, that is my job, innit?”

[Fireflake]

Pepperpaw squealed in protest and tried to wriggle away as Twistedbranch pretended to eat her. So this was the elder everyone was talking about when they said elders liked to munch up little kits! She should have guessed that Twistedbranch would be the center of this tale as well. One of the young she-cat's front paws drew back, ready to smack him across the face, but he let her go and she remembered how much she liked him just in time to catch herself. Tantrum averted, this time. "No, it in't!" she argued instead, taking a guess at what the opposite of innit could be.

Her voice softened considerably as she went on, "Your job is to be amazing, and tell stories, and help me not fall over."
Pepperkit's tail-tip flicked in a scolding way, but it was clearly good-natured by this point. In truth, his job was more encouragement than anything else, but it seemed so helpful coming from the tom that had an odd leg himself. Speaking, or, err, thinking of which...
"And, I came in here to talk about this thingy. My leg. Do you think... I could be an apprentice just using my other three, and leave it alone? I mean, I have three great legs, I don't really need to use this one too, do I?"

[gingersnapsdacat]

    Twistedbranch chuckled, amused by Pepperkit’s near-attempt at battling him. Even with his advanced age, he knew that he could still take the inexperienced kit in a real fight. As it was, however, he was content to let her admonish him.
    "And, I came in here to talk about this thingy. My leg. Do you think... I could be an apprentice just using my other three, and leave it alone? I mean, I have three great legs, I don't really need to use this one too, do I?"
    Twistedbranch had to think for a second, going back to his own kit-hood. Of course, he had been learning to walk differently since he was born, so there was still some advantage over Pepperkit. But still, he was the best option that she had.
    “Well yeah, you don’t have to use that leg,” Twistedbranch purred. “You can certainly be an apprentice with the other three. I’ll fight any cat who says ya can’t! But ya might as well try to use all of them when ye can. It’ll be like a secret weapon.”

[Fireflake]

Pepperkit’s features softened in relief. There was a glimmer of excitement, even. "A secret weapon sounds good. I want one of those."
The ginger kit stretched out her leg a little, then seemed to think better of it and tucked it in closer to her body with her front paw, as if it was a prized possession needing shelter. She giggled quietly before adding, "And I'd love to see you fight someone for me, Twistedbranch, but we should probably not start trouble."

She remembered back to the day she'd heard that she wouldn't be apprenticed on time. She had wailed, and shrieked, and, wrapped in a hurricane of a tantrum, kicked the ground. And made it worse. Maybe she already had a hidden weapon, with outbursts like that, but if that was true then it was a self-destructive weapon. She flicked an ear. Just as the pain was subsiding and she had time to focus on how upset she was over what had happened, Twistedbranch swooped(limped, but again, the spirit was there) into the medicine cat's den, in to save her. Pepperkit smiled. "But... I would like, a little bit, if I can use them all, all the time. You're sure it won't snap again if I do lean on it?"