:: ℂ𝕠𝕪𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕥 ::
𝕂𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕜𝕪𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟
Giggling under her breath, she managed to wiggle her way out of the soft and downy nest. Small pink nose wrinkling at the cold and dry scent that stung her nose, whiskers drawing back as she gazed out of the den. Snow covered the ground but it was muddy from the constant traffic of cats moving around the clearing. But her focus was beyond the clearing, pale green eyes mesmerized on the twinkling fresh snow that settled itself upon the branches of the birch trees. How pretty. She couldn’t help but think, wiggling her little rump as she tentatively placed a small paw down upon the frozen ground, ears falling back against her skull.
Ignoring the warnings that her mother had given the litter earlier about staying out of the cold, her fur ruffled from the breeze that the nursery had been blocking. Exhilarated from the excitement of something new, she jumped out from the safety of the den, her tail lashing. Ears perked up as she noticed a border patrol was returning, her eyes curiously roaming over the cats. She was still learning names, but she at least knew they were familiar. “Hmmm.” She hummed to herself, kitten fluff around her neck and spine sticking upright against the cold.
However, a familiar pelt mingled in with the returning border patrol, little tail sticking upright as if she were an excited meerkat. “Daddy!” She squealed, voice sharp and high in volume as she hopped and scrambled towards the big tom. With the ground being so cold and her paw pads still so soft from un-use she was jumping from paw to paw, but her smile never faded. Small body colliding with his foreleg as her chin tilted back in order to look up at him. “Hi.” She grinned sheepishly, dusty grey and brown striped pelt fluffed against the cold.
:: ℂ𝕠𝕪𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕥 ::
𝕂𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕜𝕪𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟
Maybe there were a few felines that would frown with disapproval of hearing Tigersnap address his children as brats, but Coyotekit simply giggled at her father’s reaction to his whiskers being played with. “I say think faster.” She taunted playfully, laying on her back as she tried to arch her back, most of her weight on her hips and the back of her head as she reached for those pearly whiskers. But they were out of reach, causing her to roll slightly onto her side with a soft snort. She had lost that round. “Did you think of one?” She asked curiously as her pale green eyes flickered up at the tom as he hummed.
“Gweat War?” She asked curiously, her nose scrunched up in thought as her pale green eyes roamed around with thought. “Dark-cat said sumthin bout a Gweat War.” She shrugged, whatever the dark speckled tomcat had said, it did not stick causing her look back up at her father with expectation.
Blinking as the tomcat moved to roll onto his side, her smaller body following after him as the kit moved to stand on her hind legs, her small forepaws placed on his shoulder blade with her ears perked and her eyes wide as he started with the story. Normally all of her siblings would be talking at once, but right now it was just herself and Tigersnap, getting to soak in the interesting tale. Gasping softly at the knowledge that the former ShadowClan leader had been within their very camp. “Did he tell Horwentstar to weave?” Her speech was slightly under developed with certain words, but her tail wagged behind her. “Yes?” Coyotekit giggled, shaking his shoulder. “Whats next?” She exclaimed.
#f6930d
TIGERSNAP.
warrior of skyclan
Tigersnap blinked in surprise, having expected demands of showing her a warrior move or playing a game. But a story?
The dull orange tabby point released a thoughtful hum to keep any silence from making the she-kit bored, tipping his head back and away as she started batting as his whiskers. "Gotta let me think, brat, otherwise I won't know what story to tell," he griped, the glint in his eye betraying his amusement. She wanted a story, but she also wanted to treat him like a jungle gym.
"Ever heard the one of the Great War yet? That happened between all the Clans a couple years ago, a real doozy that was," he elaborated, seemingly settled on his story. Perhaps she had heard about it, or bits and pieces here and there, but now she would be receiving Tigersnap's version of it. Hopefully she was ready.
Rolling onto his side a bit more so Coyotekit could get a bit more comfortable, he began.
"Everything started after RiverClan went to confront ThunderClan in their own camp about prey they'd found at the border that smelled of Bluefire, who was the deputy at the time. Rumor has it that a fight broke out, at least one death on both sides. Now this didn't make Hollystar very happy, as you can understand. Wisteriastar was likely still upset the ThunderClan deputy had stolen prey, as far as RiverClan knew. Hollystar went to the whack-job Wolfstar for the backing of WindClan, and Wisteriastar to Hornetstar's for ShadowClan's. 'Ventually RiverClan and ShadowClan decided they weren't enough, so they came a'kockin' on our front door, daring to demand SkyClan's help." He scoffed at the notion, remembering how that golden swamprat had marched into the camp like he'd owned the place. "And guess what Firestar did next, squeaker. Guess!"
:: ℂ𝕠𝕪𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕥 ::
𝕂𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕜𝕪𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟
Tigersnap was sweeping her to the side of the clearing, keeping her out of the way of the main trek. She didn’t understand that she could possibly be in anyone’s way, prancing along at her fathers side as her green eyes moved away from the striped tomcat. Instead she was beginning to look around camp, noticing the fresh-kill pile and one of the many apprentices she hadn’t yet figured out. Ears twitching as she could hear her father mumbling under his breath, but what he said confused her. What did peril mean? Turning her chin to look up at the tom, she quickly decided to not bother asking. Whatever he had been thinking had left him with a grumpy appearance, her lips pressing together as she almost had to hop to keep up with the long legged feline.
Coyotekit let out a soft sigh of relief as she was told that she didn’t need to go back to the nursery, her toes pressing into the muddy mush with glee as she watched the tomcat lower himself down into a decent patch. Perhaps it was her age or her personality, but she didn’t mind getting dirty and having mud all over her paws. Littledove might have something else to say about it. Little cheeks puffed in annoyance as her father reminded her of the rules. Annoying as they were, her father preached them on the daily. He was no fun. “Yeah, yeah. No more leaving the nursery without Mom.” She hummed in a dreary voice, shaking out her pelt.
As her little chest was poked, she grinned, her short tail waving behind her in glee at the change of her fathers tone. “Oooo, tell me a story.” Coyotekit instantly grabbed the opportunity to hear a warrior story from start to end, without any of her siblings interrupting. Small body waltzing towards his paws as she flopped on top of the large paws, laying on her side as she lifted a small paw to lightly pat at his whiskers. “Maybe a fighting story?” She asked, her pale green eyes shimmering.
#f6930d
TIGERSNAP.
warrior of skyclan
The exact answer he'd been expecting, which both reassured him and unnerved him a bit. If he could already be on such a wavelength with his daughter, he had a faint idea of what other chaos she could get up to when she was older and the very thoughts.... He was still far too young to be worrying about heart attacks, right?
The large tom sighed, sweeping around his daughter to lead the way off to the side of camp, near the nursery, to get out of the way of other Clanmates. "Because Firestar is an idiot who doesn't realize his kits are in peril by even the simple act of breathing," he muttered, mostly for himself but also not carrying if Coyotekit heard. In fact he'd love for his daughter to grow up with a healthy dose of reservation for their leader. It would help ensure her safety, without a doubt. She couldn't go laying down her life for any old tom, not even himself.
"No, brat, you don't have to go back to the nursery," he sighed, easing himself into a seat on a relatively dry patch of ground. "I'm here now after all, huh? Just next time please remember the rules, or find an older Clanmate to help watch your back." One day, soon, he'd have to face the fact his kits were growing up and the rules would need adjusting as they learned for themselves, but today would not be that day. They were still young enough for some healthy coddling.
Reaching out, he poked her in the chest with a playful glint to his gaze. "Now, how can I help entertain you?" Definitely not a reward for bad behavior, but she'd already been reminded of the rules and he knew she'd be pestering him about her boredom soon enough anyways.
:: ℂ𝕠𝕪𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕜𝕚𝕥 ::
𝕂𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕜𝕪𝕔𝕝𝕒𝕟
She might not have always been the smartest of the bunch but she could definitely sense that her father was not as happy to see her as she was to see him. Lips pressed together as she noticed the narrowing of his eyes as he gazed down at her with thought. “Huh.” She huffed slightly as she looked up at the tomcat, finding herself backing up from his warmth as she felt the prickle from his stare. Clearly she had misjudged his reaction. Little nose wrinkling as she slowly ran her tongue over her dry lips. “Well.” She started to say, glancing briefly over her shoulder to see that her mother hadn’t followed after her, but honestly she was glad. Some freedom couldn’t be that bad right?
“Ma is sleeping and so is everyone else.” She whined, small tail lashing in the air behind her as a small paw took a swipe at the muddy snow before her. “I wanted to play in the snow.” She declared with a stomp of her foot, pale green eyes shimmering with defiance. “If Scorchkit and Thornkit can leave the nursery without their Ma, why do I need to wait on Ma?” She squeaked, thin ears falling flat against her small wedged cranium.
“I don’t have to go back to the nursery to I?” Coyotekit whined in a high pitched voice.
TIGERSNAP.
warrior of skyclan
Even if he'd spent many years living in the wild by now, he still hated Leaf-bare. Short pelts were not made for such cold weather, even when they thickened up for the winter. Luckily he'd managed to weasel his way onto a sunhigh patrol, however, so he wasn't nearly so frozen when the border patrol finally managed to stumble back into camp.
The ground was gross and muddy with slushy snow, rather miserable on the paws, but camp provided nice protection against any wind that might pick up. He could go find a nice, sunny patch to lay in and doze for a while, before checking on Littledove and the kits. Now that they were older, he found it only slightly easier to not hover over them every available second he had. It also helped they had such an amazing mother.
His plans were derailed, however, when a familiar squeak called out to him. Pelt bushing up slightly, eyes widening in surprise, he watched Coyotekit barrel towards him before clinging to his leg and peering up at him. He knew this was usually afternoon naptime for kittens sleepy from a full belly of milk, so he couldn't help but scowl slightly at her. What if she'd gotten the mousebrained idea of sneaking out of camp, or a crazed hawk had swooped down and snatched her up before anyone could think to do anything because they hadn't expected an unwatched kit to be wandering around the clearing? Never in his wildest dreams had he thought being a father could be so nerve-wracking.
"Coyotekit. What are you doing out of the nest, the nursery, unattended?" He didn't sound too severe, though his tone didn't leave much room for skirting the question or making up lies. Tigersnap was happy to see her, truly, but also she was breaking one of his very explicit rules.