The Colony Sit and watch the leaves turn// baby exploration

[Sealpaw]

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All the adults seemed particularly preoccupied today, either settling in with their catches or squabbling with each other. Some slept. Others spoke quietly amongst themselves. None paid any mind to three kits sneaking as best they could to the edge of the colony's camp.

A visible puff of breath left the tabby kit's mouth as she darted away into the treeline, earning a small noise of surprise at the sight. That had never happened before. It was getting colder, and Seal had been told that it would only get colder still until everything would be covered in a sheet of white. Snow. She didn't quite believe it. What she DID believe was that it was her turn to hunt amongst the red and gold leaves of the forest. She was big enough. She wasn't scared..!

"Hurry up..!" She called over her shoulder, blue eyes searching the undergrowth for her companions. "Or I'm gonna catch everything before you two snails even SEE anything!"

The breeze picked up, sending a fresh flurry of leaves to the ground, covering Seal. A paw was lifted to experimentally bring down on a particularly large one. Crunch.

….

……..

crunchcracksnapcrunchcrunchcrunch.

...Maybe hunting could wait.

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[Tremblepaw]

Blue's nearby presence had somehow gone unnoticed- or had been ignored- as the other three had excitedly made their way past him and towards the edge of camp. He stared after them with wide eyes. He'd wanted to ask if he could join them, Mallow had told him to try and make friends and this might be a good chance to do so. But then he'd also remembered Mallow telling him it was dangerous for kits to leave camp alone. He'd hesitated, and had missed his chance. The little tabby was left with having to make a quick decision. On one paw, Mallow said it was dangerous, and Mallow was always right. But on the other paw.. Blue really wanted to make friends, and know what outside camp was like. Would it really be so bad with four of them? At the very least, Blue could follow them and then run back to camp to find Mallow if something happened. Blue was fast! It would be fine. He just.. needed to be quiet too. And then he could pick a good moment to ask to play too! Yeah! That's what he would do.

Decision made, Blue followed after the other three as quietly as he could, fur fluffed against the chill of the air and the small thrill of adventure.​

 

[serpentberry]

Her role as a mother-to-be was to learn from the mothers-who-have-been... but as tired eyes watch a parade of kits beeline for the nearest hole in their clearing's perimeter, she decides she'd have better luck learning from an oppossum than one of her fellow mollies.

Serpent waits, admittedly, too long for the kittens' parents to arrive and corral their own youths. She's getting too large for a game of chase - and her patience is already worn thin merely because she's forced to stay in place. But as one kitten presses the threshold and rends a loud leaf beneath their paw... she no longer has that plausible deniability. Her ears perk of their own volition with the new noise and with a worn groan, she heaves herself to her legs and ambles towards the wayward kittens.

"Hunting?" she eeks out, a tone hardly sweet to those who can hear its sharp edges. "Oh no, littlelings. Out there, the scary things hunt you. That's why we wait until you're big enough to go out there, y'know..." she doesn't round them, doesn't block them from leaving; at most she entices them with fear of the world beyond them. "A fox may eat me in two, maybe three bites. But you? Oh, a fox would eat you all in one fell swoop. I don't think it'd even bother to chew."

 

[Sealpaw]

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Seal was stopped in her tracks from her playing in the leaves hunting down prey by the voice of one of the adults at the edge of the colony's camp. Serpent. Slowly the kit turned, careful not to step on any more leaves that could potentially draw more attention from other adults. Oh- Blue had followed the three of them too. She hadn't noticed him nearby, but it didn't look like he had brought the queen to admonish them.

"Yeah," Seal brought herself up to her full height, trying to seem as big as she possibly could. "I'm big enough to hunt..! I'm not scared of some fox, maybe I'll eat it before it eats ME..!" Still, there was the faintest of wobbles in the kit's voice. She vaguely recalled Leopard telling of an encounter she'd had with a fox when Seal was too young to remember…

She wanted to help, and the best way to do that was to hunt, clearly. She needed to be brave! She was just trying to help! "I'll catch something big enough for everyone, and I'll bring it back to you, you'll see!" Without looking to see if the other kits would follow, Seal turned on a paw to bolt into the undergrowth.

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┍ ─WAVING THROUGH A WINDOW─ ┙

• 
  @RYUJI
• 
  
  
  Seal
  — Future Shadowclan Apprentice
  — She/They
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  — Grey, Rosetted Tabby With Blue Eyes And A Bobbed Tail.
  #4c66bf
  
• 
  

 

[Manzanita]

*+:｡.｡

Manzanita was a good girl. Every time Gecko called her such, the colony princess would beam, wearing the praise like a badge of honor. Or rather, like a hall monitor's sash. Today, she would brandish that self-proclaimed rank with pride, puffing out her speckled chest and stomping forth on delicate paws. "

You will NOT!

" Manzanita crows, leaping past Serpent, aiming to block Seal's path at best and grab her by the scruff if manageable

"

You're being very naughty!

" she announces haughtily, smirking in satisfaction knowing how proud Gecko is sure to be, seeing how much better Manzanita is compared to the other colony kittens. Hoping to earn her rightful praise sooner rather than later, Manzanita looks over at Serpent and stomps her feet, "

Isn't she so bad? GOSH! And selfish too!

Manzanita aims to poke at Seal's chest, perhaps a little roughly, and continues, "

Look at you, making a scene! And you even forced poor Missus Serpent to move when she was resting - don't you know how much it hurts a pregnant lady to walk? How HEAVY they get with kits? You're gonna make her old bones break!

" This was a fact, by the way; Manzanita heard it from some queens once, complaining about swollen ankles. Manzanita truly was impeccably smart! And a great listener!

"

Besides, do you even know how to hunt? And catching fleas doesn't count

" she says with a smirk, nose high.

Oh yeah, Manzanita was the greatest girl.