[lone]

Originally Posted by Empress Of Evil

Small paws stood shakily on the ground, blue eyes blinking slowly from the entrance of the nursery. Silentkit was still very young and had bumped into quite a bit of trouble when it came to walking.

The tom was extremely quiet in the nursery, only whispering to his family and staying silent towards others. Because of the fact that he didn't respond to others, others either considered him rude, or mute. But really, he wasn't. He was just born a shy cat. Or, more shy than the average cat anyway. Shaking his head softly to clear out his thoughts, Silentkit took a deep breath and caustiously placed one paw out of the nursery. It was like he thought the ground was lava, burning his paws with every step. Slowly, his other paws followed by example and a few moments later, he was out of the nursery, and in the clearing.
Gazing around, Silentkit could feel his bottom jaw drop slightly. This was the first time he had ever been out of the nursery since he wasn't as adventurous as most kits. With a mere scan of the camp clearing, he could already see this wasn't what he had imagined. It was certainly louder for one, and Silentkit almost winced at the volume of everyone else's voice. Not only was the kit extremely quiet, he didn't like loud noises either. It also smelt different. The ShadowClan scent was much stronger than it was int he nursery, and it didn't smell like moss and milk. It smelt like....trees? Was that what trees smelt like? Silentkit shrugged and decided to just go along with that.

All the noise was making his ears ache and he was tempted to return to the peace and warmth of the nursery. No, don't go now. You're already out here! Silentkit thought. He couldn't go back, he had come out here to see the clearing, and he was going to explore it whether he liked it or not. The young kit shakily scampered off to a more quiet part of the clearing, getting rather sick of all the noise. As Silentkit had just sat down, he spotted the pelt of a familiar cat. Dad! The kit rose to his paws and ran to the figure as fast as he could, stumbling every few steps. "Dad!" Silentkit whisper-shouted as he approached the figure. The kit pawed at his fathers belly and stood on his paws, trying to gain his attention.

A familiar voice reached the tom's ears, though it sounded more like a whisper then anything else and for a moment, Ocelotpath wondered whether it had just been the wind. But then he felt something ruffling his belly fur and glanced down to see a small kit there. His kit. "Silentkit? What are you doing out here?" Over the time he had spent with the young cat, Ocelotpath had gathered that he didn't like louder noises. And that he didn't speak very loudly at all. No wonder he hadn't thought it was anything! With a worried glance, the tom dipped his larger head down so that he was able to give Silentkit a quick nuzzle. "You're fine, right? What-- did something happen?" He asked, glancing towards the entrance to the nursery. Since none of the other kits were out in the clearing, he assumed something must have happened to the little cat before him to make him come out here. There wasn't anything wrong with the others, not as far as he knew.
Then again-- it'd been a while since he visited, maybe Silentkit just wanted to spend some time with his Dad. That was the most logical explanation, yet Ocelotpath skipped it over. He didn't really think of himself as a very good Dad. Maybe the kit just wanted attention, or maybe he wanted Ocelotpath to be around more and was coming to ask him to do so. Either way, the tom felt slightly guilty and lay down so that he was more around Silenkit's size. "That's better, isn't it?" He asked with a small smile. Although he had thought he would be used to this by now, used to being around younger cats and having been a Father for at least two moons now. Or was it longer? Ocelotpath wasn't quite sure, all he knew was that it felt like forever to him.
The day when they became apprentices would probably be a pretty bittersweet day for the older cat. A thought came to him-- what if I were to take Silentkit with me into the territory? I bet he'd like that, what kit doesn't? and then left just as suddenly as he realized Moondancer probably wouldn't like that, not to mention she might get in trouble for allowing her own kit to escape into the territory where he wasn't supposed to be in the first place. Plus, he didn't want the younger tom to get in trouble. A sigh escaped the older one and he rolled over onto his side, hues still glancing at the kit. At this point, Silentkit was just a little bigger then his head-- which meant Ocelotpath had to be careful, he wouldn't want to accidentally squish the smaller cat beneath him or anything like that. That would be something to tell Moondancer-- 'Hey, I accidentally squished our son because I was trying to play.' or something along those kinds of words.
The tom glanced at his son, who bore a resemblance both to him and Moondancer-- he had Moondancer's coloring, but more of the older tom's pattern. Quite a handsome cat, one that would probably do well when he got older. Though that wasn't as important as being a good warrior and loyal to the Clan... that was the most important thing. Well... almost. Family would always come first, above everything else, even the Clan in Ocelotpath's mind. While some might call that disloyal, he thought it was extremely loyal... after all, what was the point of being a loyal warrior to the Clan and ending up always alone, always by yourself without a single family member or friend? There was none. There would never be one.