ShadowClan Kits' Playden

[carmen]

@Estelle
@Wingnettle

A matter she had saved braincells for, Spiritkit skirted around the clearing as she made her way over to the figure who had called her name. She had been waiting for a conversation today, and despite having not a clue why her name was being called, she raced into the den with a sense of urgency that could only be described as furious. As of now, she wasn't quite sure who had called for her, or if it had even been for her, but the word spirit had been mentioned, and if they were going to talk about ghost stories, she wanted to be there for that as well.

It was only upon approaching the den and noticing the singular stuttering cat in front of her, that her excitement dipped. This was for a lesson, wasn't it. She wasn't particularly looking forwards to, well, any of those that she signed up for, but here she was. At least later she could make up some story about Morningstar and tell it to her littermates, say she learned it in history or something. That's what this was, wasn't it. History. She took a seat as she stared at the larger cat, blue eyes focused on trying to recall her name. Blacksomething. Somethingquiver? Darkshudder, yeah that was it.

"Uh, yes. History." What she really wanted to know about was how to be important, be known, but here she was, listening to kit stories about the past. Then again, she was a kit, so it didn't matter much that the most interesting parts of history were usually saved to be shared with kits. Darkshudder wasn't a familiar cat, but with everything considered, she wasn't one that Spiritkit disliked. She was yet to do anything stupid, and yet to make a mistake, so that put her pretty high on the list of partially likable cats. AN accomplishment that only one or two others had managed to achieve.

It was only when the older molly bit out the name of a second kit that her outlook dimmed. Wow, so she wasn't good enough now? Not good enough to have a one and one conversation? Morningst- Dawnstar had sat through it with just the two of them. Why was now different? Hmph. And to think that Moonkit or whatever her name was, was important enough to be called over, even though she hadn't signed up? Disappointing. There was only one option now. She was to prove that she could be better, more studious. The Queen of History, the dominator of learning. Yes, that was what would happen.

What a suck-up, already asking questions. Why Dawnstar was chosen? Because she was buff and powerful, duh. But, she supposed if this battle of wits would begin with a questionnaire, she was to win. "I would like to hear about Icystar. And what's up with us and Windclan?" Dawnstar had brought up that they had some form of back and forth going on with them. "When did they invade?" That's what she had said, right? Invade was what they had done, certainly. The only question was what 'invade meant.' Who was the smart one now, Loonkit? That's right. Her.

[occultation]

Shadowfur flicked his tail as Moonkit complained that the nest building process is complicated. “Complicated things are good. They build confidence and character.”

He watched closely as Moonkit got to work trying to fashion her first proper nest. For being a kit, she did a good enough job. The nest wasn’t the most perfect or pretty looking, but it was functional enough.

The Enforcer nodded. “For a kit, that’s quite good.” He smashed a huge paw into one side of the nest, causing part of it to fall apart. “Warriors and apprentices are often Big Feet who can’t be bothered to look where they’re going. Now fix this.”

( @Wingnettle )

[Wingnettle]

Moonkit (she/her)
Black calico with half face ginger and amber eyes



•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Moonkit had thought Shadowfur was satisfied of her work, instead he'd stomped on her nest with his big, heavy paw and had split it in two pieced. You destroyed it! She frowned at the black tom, staring at him for a few moments before gathering her will and decide that it wasn't worth it.

Instead she decided to keep her mouth shut, knowing that what Shadowfur was saying was true and he was doing this only to help her learn. While she retrieved other twigs, grass strands and moss to fix the gap, she muttered in low voice to herself. Rrrg, typical Shadowclan. Now I have to make it again.

She started with the most sturdy pieces such as the biggest twigs, and used them to connect better the two half pieces. Then she filled the holes in the same order Shadowfur had showed her, finishing up again with some touches of feathers and fur tufts. This time, she left the nest in front of her in case the warrior had another brilliant idea like the previous one. If he only dares to raise one paw against it...!

Moonkit stared defiantly at Shadowfur, trying her best not to look sulky. She was not a kitten anymore - she was 7 moons old now. And my nest is perfect.

[ @Cherry~ ]

[Pitou]

 

Originally Posted by Ashie da WindClanner

@Ravensong @DelM33

Duskkit sniffed the toad and the squirrel. “Ew! She squeaked, wrinkling her nose at the squirrel,”It’s stinky! Get it away from here!” She batted the squirrel away from her

**Elmshadow**

@DelM33

Duskkit's reaction was excessive but at least she had the correct instinctual response. Rosekit hadn't made any movements towards participating and he couldn't be bothered to wait on her so he continued. "Good call, Duskkit. This squirrel is past edible. Commit this smell to memory, it may be one of the most important smells. Not all prey will be so easily distinguished but if you smell any hint of this on any prey, don't eat it. After prey has been dead a while it will begin to go bad and eating it can give you stomach pains and leaving you throwing up for days. In leafbare especially, that can quickly become a death sentence."

The medicine cat turned to slip the freshkill out of the way and pulled out the rest of his herbs. He had only a sample of each but spread them out individually. He went down row, pointing with a paw as he explained each. First, his paw hovered over the spiny green sprig with a bulbous purple end, "This is burnet. If you find yourself out in the field and struggling to get back due to exhaustion, starvation, or even wounds. This plant is safe to eat and will give you a good bout of extra strength. Do not overuse it, but in an emergency, this could make the difference between getting to help and getting stranded in the forest." His paw moved to the next, a bright round flower, "Marigold. This is a commonly used herb. It can help fight infection for open wounds. You shouldn't need to worry about this, it's one of the first things a medicine cat will handle, but if you're going to be a day or more without a medicine cat, this can save your life. You chew it to a pulp then spread it over a wound." His paw stopped again over a broad green leaf, "This is a dock leaf. Sticking one of these in your nest can help relieve certain aches. They're good after a hard battle or for elders." And then he paused for a brief moment before moving to the round flower with tiny black seeds. He'd considered not showing the kits these as taking it upon themselves to eat any good have catastrophic affects but then this was learning and them knowing about them, both benefits and dangers, could save them from doing something frog-brained like eating too many just because. "These little black seeds are poppy seeds. You'll come to know these well as apprentices and warriors. They're used often for pain relief and to help encourage sleep. But they can also be very dangerous. These should not be taken unless given to you by a medicine cat, do you understand? They may look small and harmless but that makes them very easy to eat too many." He sat back and looked over his charges, relieved to see the end of the bulk of the learning portion. The last "lesson" he was sure the kits would be more inclined to, but first he meowed, "Do you have any questions about these?"

[occultation]

Shadowfur nodded continuously as Moonkit worked diligently to rebuild her nest. He was sure she didn’t appreciate him smashing her nest, but he didn’t appreciate full grown warriors doing it to his. If Moonkit remembered how annoying it was for her nest to get squashed, then perhaps she wouldn’t do it to her denmates.

Once she was done, he gave a mrrow of approval. “Good. Now, on to the final thing: patching up dens. Drafts are annoying, and it should never be the responsibility of a few to patch up a den because the rest are too uneducated to do it themselves.”

He scooped together a clump of mud. With a paw, he jammed a hole into it. “You can use all sorts of things to patch up holes. Mud, feathers, moss, twigs, et cetera. Use the feathers and grass that are left to patch this hole up.”

( @Wingnettle )

[RavensCall]

Duskkit nodded, and made sure to remember the stinky smell. She listened carefully as Elmshadow listed various herbs and their uses. Burnet… Marigold… Dock leaf… Poppy seed… She waited for Elmshadow to continue.
@Ravensong

[Wingnettle]

Moonkit (she/her)
Black calico with half face ginger and amber eyes



•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Awwww, still doing nests. I've got it already, but he keeps making holes and destroying and...
What was Shadowfur saying now? Oh, right. Now there's mud as well. She threw an exasperated look at the sky but didn't complain out loud as she approached the.. hole.

"Oh, well.. I guess it can't be worse than that." She murmured between herself, pushing and squashing mud between the twigs she was wedging in the edges of the hole. Eww, it stinks..
Moonkit tried to cover the slimy mud with the remaining materials. First moss, then more moss, more moss, moss... "Grrrr, I would need an endless source of moss to cover up the smell of that!" She ended up with a final complaint, but only after she had finished the job.

The black and orange she-kit sat down with a thump and gave Shadowfur a defiant glare. She wanted so much to pull her tongue out and smirk at the black tom, but she did her best to contain herself and think about all the useful things she had learnt today. Deep down, she knew not many cats would've offered to do his job and help her learn such work, always taken for granted.

[ @Cherry~ ]

[Pitou]

 

Originally Posted by Ashie da WindClanner

Duskkit nodded, and made sure to remember the stinky smell. She listened carefully as Elmshadow listed various herbs and their uses. Burnet… Marigold… Dock leaf… Poppy seed… She waited for Elmshadow to continue.
@Ravensong

**Elmshadow**

Brushing the herbs to the side, Elmshadow pulled the cobwebs out. Deftly tearing off a small bundle, he placed the wispy puff in front of Duskkit. Cobwebs were sticky and manipulating them didn't come naturally. Over time, many warriors grew to use them as second-nature. A warrior who didn't know how to have some level of competence with cobwebs was risking far too much out in the forest as not all wounds wound allow a trip back to camp. But coming by that experience naturally was a risk. "Cobwebs are sticky and they're absorbant but they don't always stay together and go where you want them to. Do you know what they are used for?"

He paused briefly but moved on, "If you can get a wound that is bleeding a lot patched up before getting back to camp, it makes my job that much easier and your chances that much better. What I want you to do seems simple enough. Make a ball." He sat down and waited to watch the kit's attempts. There wasn't much to say, there were a few tips and tricks that the medicine cat could maybe offer if she was struggling too much but the real test was simply getting her used to touching it and manipulating it. Most of the technical stuff came from nothing more than paws on experience.

[occultation]

Shadowfur watched her, his interest piqued as she opted to re-shape the mud instead of packing the hole. It was rather smart, since it conserved resources while solving the problem. Maybe ShadowClan’s future isn’t going to be clouded by idiots, after all.

When she finished, Shadowfur scooped the mud and threw it away. He did not look where he was throwing it, and it promptly flew in Mirehound’s direction. “Well done, Moonkit. You’ve passed the life lessons class. If you want help with anything you’ve learned, you’re welcome to seek me out. Dismissed.”

( @Wingnettle @daenerys This lesson is complete! )

[RavensCall]

Duskkit nodded as Elmshadow continued. She made a ball, as the medicine cat intended, shaping and packing it like she would a mossball. “Tada!” Duskkit squeaked,”I did it, right?”

@Ravensong