For The First Time {Tagged}

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

ooc; @lilykit for Maplekit! c:
ic;

A storm that had been brewing all throughout the previous day had broken over night, leaving the camp damp that morning and bringing a chill despite the Greenleaf sun that peeked between the (now) white clouds, low on the horizon. When the sun finally showed it's head, a young, brown tom climbed out of the nursery to watch the camp as it woke up. Otterkit was seated just outside of the nursery, seeking escape from the stifling body heat of the queens and several several kits that bundled around. He was reaching the age of being too old for the nursery, and he certainly looked it with his large frame. He had carefully chosen a spot to sit that was a good tail length or two away from a mud puddle that had formed due to the overnight rain. Certainly, once the younger kits were well awake and fed, they would be playing in the filth.

Instead, Otterkit sat on the driest part of ground that was within a rabbit hop from the nursery entrance, meticulously grooming his long, dark chocolate fur. He would be getting an apprentice name soon and he couldn't risk being seen as a liability instead of a strong, young cat suitable for the clan's growth. The kit just hoped he would be good enough for the mentor he was given.

[Deleted]

Although Maplekit was afraid of the cracking lightning and the rumbling thunder that came with the storm, she was always grateful for the aftermath. This was because she came from the warm, suffocating fur of her mother to the coolness, but a bit humid, outside. With pretty dew drops hanging on leaves, rolling down and dripping onto her cute little nose. Not only did it feel good, but it looks absolutely gorgeous in the eyes of a young kit. The sight of the glistening drops, caused by the sun, just stuck awe in the young kits heart. She lived for this kind of beauty; beauty that she knew could not be tampered with or taken away.

It was still early morning, as far as Maplekit could tell, and her mother was fast asleep. The little kit could understand, though. Not only did her mother have to take care of her own five kits, but she took in another litter of five kits from a fellow clanmember. It was amazing, really, that she could have enough energy for all of them. Naturally, Maplekif let her sleep when she needed it. Maplekit, herself, took on a motherly role whenever Roseheart was out-of-duty, and it made her dream of the day when she'll have kits herself. The day that came was the day Maplekit would be the happiest car in the world. Being able to raise her own litter was the little kit's biggest dream and desire. However, she wanted to make sure that this litter was with the one she loved. Otherwise, she'll die a kitless mother. That was her worst nightmare.

Maplekit was in the middle of her kithood: not yet ready to be an apprentice, but certainly identifiable from the energetic newborns. However, to this kit, she felt as though she could take on the world already as an apprentice. She was ready to escape the camp and learn about the big world out there. Who knew that there was more to the land than just their camp? Which, by the way, was huge by itself! She just wiggled and squirmed with excitement at the thought of escaping the crummy nursery with other kits climbing all over her mother and entering the world unknown to those except warriors and apprentices.

Shyly, she stuck her head out of the nursery. In taking the different smells of cats as they entered and existed the camp, she was able to scent another kit. It was Otterkit's scent. She knew about him. He was almost an apprentice, and he was the son of the daughter of the deputy. However, that fact didn't really sway Maplekit. She would only become friends with him if he was nice, not because he was related to the deputy. She just couldn't stand rude and mean people, and Maplekit just hopped that the young Tom wasn't like that. She followed the scent, spotting him in one of the few dry areas of camp. She called out to him with a chipper littler voice, her paws thudding towards him, "Hey, Otterkit! Did your mum not do a good job grooming your pelt already?"

[εℓιzαвεтн.]

Otterkit had been craning his neck to get the patch of dark fur on his shoulder that had a tendency to fluff up in the 'after-rain' humidity when he heard the thudding of paws hitting the ground, coming to him. He paused in his grooming to look and see a younger it heading his way, the young she-kit known as Maplekit. Heat flushed through his face at his words about his grooming. She wasn't exactly wrong, seeing as his mother hadn't woken up quite yet and he had no intention of waking her just to have her groom him. He should be able to groom himself, really, but it did seem a little silly in hindsight. Was he trying to hard to be a grown up?

He straightened up as he said, "Um, no, she's, uh, still asleep, so I thought I'd clean myself today." His ears were burning, though it was hard to say exactly why he was embarrassed. The warriors around the clan often bathed in the middle of the clearing and didn't care if others saw them. Maybe it was simply because he was still a kit that should (and realistically still did, no matter what he thought) rely on his mother for the tasks such as grooming. And he never did want to seem like he was bigger or more mature than any of the other kits, because he was kit, too, and just like them really. Otterkit wasn't very good at it anyway, never quite making his coat nearly as shiny and put together as his mother did when Smokepounce would clean him.

The pine trees that belonged to Stormclan towered above them. Last night's rain and the morning collected on the sharp needles and premature pine cones that hung from the branches. The dampness of the morning muffled the scents of the camp and the forest, creating what could only be described as a dullness that wrapped around the camp and settled upon it like a thick fog. By a very unfortunate stroke of luck, a branch above Otterkit had water droplets on the pine needles that pooled on the tip. As the water collected, the weight became too much and the water fell, hitting the dark brown tom between the shoulders.

By reaction, the young tom tensed in shock at the sudden feel of water hitting his back. He shook his fur, trying to get rid of the heavy dampness and only succeeded in ruining any sort of proper grooming he had done that morning. The fur on his shoulder had fluffed up again and he though about going back to cleaning himself up. but, as he reasoned, Smokepounce would be waking up soon and she would probably want to give him a good bath, so he gave up any idea of preparing himself for the day.

At least Maplekit hadn't done something silly, like pushing him into the muddy puddles that littered the camp. Otterkit had a bad feeling that one of his litter mates certainly would try, always trying to play despite how old they were getting. "Is your mother asleep, too?" he asked, polite curiosity trying to cover up the previous embarrassment at his self grooming.