[ti]Private[/ti]New Meetings, Strange Beginnings

[Ravynsong]

    Finchkit was in the nursery. She hated the nursery. It was small and cramped and loud. She could put up with the other kits for a little while -they had fun games, after all- but there was no place for her to be alone. Finchkit wanted to gather her thoughts, maybe sleep without being trampled, or, better yet, see what was going on outside the den. She could hear other cats, and, the one time she'd gone to look, had nearly been bowled over by some harried warrior racing out of the camp. Logic told her not to get close, she'd get reprimanded, or worse, kicked around by unsuspecting feet. She'd already been stepped on enough by her fellow tiny denmates, she didn't need to try full sized paws, no thank you. Her eyes darted towards the entrance. She squinted. She tilted her head. Did she want to? Nah, not worth it. Finchkit turned back to the nursery.
    The moss was soft under paw and proved enough of a distraction for the small kitten to get her mind off wandering. Finch rolled a chunk of loose moss into a ball. It was just the right size for her to bat around. She stared at it. She twisted her head. She squinted. She wondered, once more, what was outside the nursery, and she pounced.
    Her tiny, needle-like claws sunk into the ball of moss and she flipped herself over. Her back paws scrambled clumsily at her imaginary prey, sending tufts flying out of the ball as she tore into it. A small, squeaky growl rumbled out of her chest and she clamped her teeth into the moss. Instant regret. Finchkit leapt to her feet, spitting the clinging fibers out of her mouth. Her claws, too, were clogged with bits of green.  Hissing to herself, Finchkit plopped down on her rump and decided the only solution was to glare balefully into the middle distance. 'Let the moss feel bad for hurting my feelings,' she thought childishly, a pout slipping into place as she slouched. 'Dumb moss.'


noctemq

[noctemq]

Cherryhawk was curled up comfortably in the nursery. She was the snuggly type, so the crowded bustle and hustle didn't stress her out one bit. Good thing that she wasn't letting this get to her head, especially since she was unknowingly carrying kits at the time. Now where were they? She lifted her head up to do a count. There's Lionkit, Batkit, Leafkit, and... where was Berrykit? Out of all of her wild spawn, Berrykit was the least rowdy and Cherryhawk didn't feel worried one bit. She allowed herself to put her head back down and continue relaxing. Though she felt guilty for not helping out and taking up a foreign camp's resources, she couldn't help but feel lucky. This was perfect timing to be with kits, sort of, just because she wouldn't have to worry about duties such as hunting for three billion cats everyday. Her duties came as demanding hungry fuzzballs, and that was enough work.

---

Berrykit was tired of tumbling around with the other kits. She and her siblings were the youngest of the bunch and had a hard time keeping up with the older ones. She was much smaller, maybe even the runt of the litter, and that left her vulnerable to random sneak attacks at any moment. The little she-cat sometimes felt like she was Preykit, but it was all in good fun, right?
Her bright lavender eyes blinked absentmindedly as she began to wander to a less-stuffed side of the nursery. And there she saw Finchkit, covered in moss. Berrykit thought about how her mother would groom her if she played too hard. Did this other kit play too hard? Probably. She waddled on over and stuck her tiny little tongue out at Finchkit, approaching from behind. Yes, this is how to share tongues. Just like what warriors do. Without permission, she licked the back of Finchkit's head before grimacing once she felt a tiny bit of miss cling to her tongue. This wasn't as fun as the older cats made it look! She swiped the now wet bit of moss out of her mouth and onto the ground next to Finchkit. "I'm never sharing tongues again," she said sadly. Though Finchkit was still messy, and Berrykit felt a sense of duty to finish what she started. Once again, her tongue stuck out of her mouth and she leaned towards the kit.

[Ravynsong]

Finchkit had, most definitely, not been expecting the attack from behind. The tiny tabby flinched, stumbling forward on her awkward kit paws as she felt a tiny tongue lick at the back of her head. Her paws tangled in the moss below her, and Finchkit just barely managed to catch herself from toppling onto her face. Today really wasn't her day.
"What-" She blustered, turning around and coming face to face with Berrykit. Finch gaped for a moment, a mirage of emotions ranging from offense to a little bit of amusement twisting her face. More than anything, Finchkit kind of wanted to scream. Her jaw clenched, fur bristling along her spine. She was half prepared to lash out, but all that came out was a high pitched, "W-why did you do that?"
The embarrassment of her less-than-barbed question only lasted a second as she had to dodge the next lick from the younger kit. 'Sharing tongues?' Finch's confusion was only growing. Her urge to push the other kit away faded as her fur settled along her spine. She... didn't know how to handle this interaction. Finchkit puffed herself up, pulled her shoulders back, and did her best to glare at the other she-kit. Plan A not working? Attempt to intimidate. Finchkit had the whole world figured out, 100%.



noctemq

[noctemq]

Berrykit jumped back in response to Finchkit, her tongue still sticking out. Her expression was filled with more confusion than anything else. Usually, cats enjoyed sharing tongues! She must’ve been doing something wrong, but didn’t understand what. She was still new to this whole socializing thing and still preferred the warm company of her parents. Some kits were hesitant to admit that, but the fuzzy tortoiseshell felt no shame. This was one of her first attempts to make a friend, and it didn’t seem to be going to hot due to her artless communication skills. Berrykit’s tongue slowly retracted back into her mouth as she lowered her position, as if she was trying to make herself look smaller. She was thoroughly intimidated at the moment.

”You looked like you needed help,” she answered, though the tone in her voice made it sound more like a question. Berrykit felt like she made a mistake; this other kit could have been doing something important with the moss and she just came over and messed it up! Her wide eyes drifted towards the little speck of wet moss she had spat out. ”Did… did you want it back?” She had no clue what she was saying, and this was her best idea for a reparation.

[Ravynsong]

Finchkit felt a bit of regret at her actions as Berrykit shrunk into herself. She took a slight step toward the other kit, unsure how to offer comfort or an apology. Berrykit's admission to help brought with it a bit of indignation. She didn't need help. She was a big cat! Finchkit opened her mouth to snark back when Berrykit brought her attention to the fallen lump of soggy moss.
"Er, no, I don' wan' it back," she muttered instead, words a bit clumsy as she talked slower. The thought of touching the spit covered blob sent a bit of a shiver down her spine. Glancing back up toward the little tortoiseshell jolted Finch back to the present situation. The other kit seemed lost and a bit scared. While that was... kind of what she wanted, seeing the effects made Finchkit feel bad. Maybe intimidation wasn't the best tactic to get someone to leave her alone, especially with such a despondent face. Besides, maybe having an... accomplice? a sidekick? a friend, possibly? could be a good thing. She was going to be stuck in the nursery for the next three moons, after all. Biting her lip and nodding to herself, Finchkit briefly touched her tail to Berrykit's flank. "Th-thanks for tryin' to help, it... It was nice of you."

[noctemq]

Berrykit's form quickly perked up again once she noticed the other kit's body language change. Her feelings were easy to change and was as obviously worn on her pelt as the black and orange blotches across it. She side-stepped to block the soggy moss ball from view, as if she was erasing the whole situation from her mind. "I'm not very good at cleaning, so if you wanted to get all of that moss off, I could bring you to my mama. Her tongue is waaay bigger," Berrykit babbled on. She was only a bit younger than Finchkit, but her age obviously showed through her mannerisms and speech. Her tail stood up straight behind her, a single twitch of excitement vibrating through it. Was this what friends did? Though friends knew each other's names, so introductions were needed before she could slap that label onto their relationship.

"I'm Berrykit! I don't know why. Batkit's fur is black and Lionkit's fur is red... and I don't know why Leafkit is Leafkit either," she offhandedly mentioned her sibling's names as well, not remembering to mention her relation to those other names. "They told me that I'm Mothclan, whatever that means." Berrykit shrugged. She was born in a weird time where three clans were one, so distinctions between them didn't seem very important. All she knew was that there were more friends to play with, and that meant more extreme and chaotic games of hide-and-seek-tag.

[Ravynsong]

Finchkit blinked, a bit taken aback by Berrykit's sudden change in demeanor. She hoped she wouldn't grow to regret her change of heart. Berrykit was talking a mile a minute, and Finch's head shot up at the mention of taking her to see the other kit's mother. "No!" Finchkit nearly yelped before regaining her composure, "I-uh, I can probably get it all. It's fine."
The young tabby stepped back and raised her shoulders a bit, eyes low. She didn't mean to snap, and the familiar feeling of embarrassment ticked her back like fleas. " 'M Finchkit," She muttered. A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips as Berrykit mentioned Leafkit. "Maybe Leafkit looked like a leaf when they were born," She joked clumsily before clearing her throat. "I'm MothClan, too." She had been found by them, so she was theirs. She still didn't quite understand what was happening or what being MothClan implied other than being imprisoned to the nursery. She'd heard mention of becoming an apprentice, but as long as it was her ticket out of this packed den, she didn't care what it meant. Finchkit opened her mouth before confusion took over. What could she say? Play any good games of tag recently? Instead, she asked, "Is there anything you'd like to do, Berrykit?" There goes her wish for solitude, but, hey, if it meant at least knowing someone, maybe it was worth it.

[noctemq]

Berrykit jumped up a bit at Finchkit's response, but was otherwise not too phased. It was more of a subconscious reaction than what she actually felt, which was surprisingly pleased with how this whole mess of misunderstanding turned out to be. She was a flighty little thing, though curiosity and the willingness to make friends overpowered that.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm," Berrykit drawled out as she looked Finchkit up and down, her eyes slightly narrowed in deep focus. "I guess you look like a finch. I think that's a bird, and you could look like a bird if I squinted hard enough." And she ended her observation with a nod, clearly satisfied with her reasoning. "She kinda does look like a leaf, like those ones that are falling out of the trees right now- hey! That's what we should do! I've never seen a yellow leaf before. Only the green ones and the brown ones. We can go look for one of those." Colors were very important to Berrykit. She often found herself trying to arrange piles of rocks or moss balls according to their specific hue. The other kits would tell her that they're all the same color, gray or green respectively, but she couldn't bring herself to agree.

"I have a red one and a brown one and some sort of pointy looking greenish one," Berrykit prattled on, ready to tell her newfound (and rather patient) listener about all the cool things she had found. "Just not a yellow one." She usually wasn't the chatterbox type, especially since there weren't many cats that would sit down and listen to her, yet Berrykit just couldn't help herself. The idea of breaking the monotony of the nursery and finding this elusive color sounded like an adventure.

[Ravynsong]

Finchkit felt the corners of her mouth twitch up. Berrykit seemed easy-going enough and having her move past Finch's mistakes helped ease the young tabby's anxiety a bit. Finchkit didn't want to do any harm with the first real interaction she'd gotten with another kit. That almost went out of the den as Berrykit compared her to a piece of prey. 'At least being compared to a bird is better than being compared to a leaf,' Finchkit mused, letting her hurt pride simmer in the background. It was the mention of finding a leaf that caught her attention. Her ears shot forward and her tail twisted, eyes lasering in on the younger kitten.

"Would these leaves be outside the den?" Finchkit questioned, voice filled with faux innocence as her eyes darted towards the entrance for a moment. There were no leaves inside to her knowledge, and this would be the perfect excuse to get outside this... this dumb den. The thought of starting a leaf collection also intrigued the young kit. Having something colorful and new and interesting all to herself... The thought was quickly cast aside. She knew that they wouldn't be staying here for long, this wasn't 'MothClan', or where ever they were supposed to be. Finch also couldn't help the selfish hope that her mother would come back for her. She didn't have much of a memory of before, other than warmth in the cold nights, void of the obnoxious noise from other puny kits and yowling cats.

Finchkit shook her head, blinking back at Berrykit as she rambled. The other she-kit was too... innocent? good? She may tell Cherryhawk or someone else where they were planning on going, and Finchkit didn't like the thought of being supervised more than she had to. Biting her lip to hold back a sly grin, Finch attempted to make the kit forget any need of informing an 'adult'. With not-exactly-faked urgency, the tabby danced toward the entrance. "We should go before the wind blows all the good leaves away."

[noctemq]

Berrykit thought about Finchkit’s question for a moment, a cold realization hitting her that she had barely spent time outside the nursery. The yellow leaves were definitely not in here, but she also had no idea if they were outside. Sometimes, she’d hear the warriors and apprentices passing by, talking about how the seasons were changing. Changing seasons meant different-colored leaves, which meant there could be a chance of finding what she was looking for; at least a better chance than she would get staying in here. Though Berrykit didn’t seem like a good listener, she could be if she put her mind to it. Since there was nothing else to do in the nursery den, it was easy to put her mind to anything when she wasn’t preoccupied with the other kits or sleeping. She nodded to Finchkit with some hesitance, indicating that she didn’t know the exact answer.

Her paws shuffled underneath her, rearing to go. She had never really left the safety of the den yet, especially since the outside seemed so chaotic. There seemed to be so much happening and Berrykit felt like she’d get washed up in a crowd and never find her way back home, even if she just got lost in the camp. That’s what parents were for! If she got too lost, Berrykit had faith that either Redwing or Cherryhawk would be able to find her. Though they seemed to be busy doing their own things, the two kept a watchful eye over their kits, especially since they were well aware that their exploratory genes were passed down. Berrykit also felt more confident leaving the den knowing she was going to be with the older, and presumably more experienced, Finchkit.

Berrykit perked up at Finchkit’s last comment, sparks flying off of her pelt in anticipation. ”I think I heard someone say it was going to be really windy later, we should hurry!” She exclaimed excitedly before running ahead towards the entrance of the den. She wanted to complete her collection sooner rather than later, especially since her first red leaf was slowly turning brown with age.