• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
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Springpaw quickly nodded her head to the greeting that Mapleface gave her, giving the queen a rather forced smile to grow among her maw. Did the smile seem too forced? Did it seem noticeable that it was strained? She hoped not. How would Mapleface think of that if she noticed that the young calico’s smile was strained and she was desperately trying to make herself look representative in front of the queen? Her lungs felt very tight against her strained chest as the calico let loose a sharp exhale through her lips, trying to escape the tight embrace that her lungs held so dearly in her chest. A faint flicker of worry was eliminated in the calico’s oceanic blues as her ears took in the rather low, dull tone from the queen in front of her. Was she upset? Well, it was rather obvious that the molly was gravely upset, but what for? Springpaw held herself back from abruptly asking the rather impulsive question, silently biting at her own tongue so she didn’t accidentally spew out anything that the molly would take offense towards. Springpaw didn’t want that.

Oh, well, at least it seemed that Mapleface appreciated the offer of the mouse, much to Springpaw’s liking. The medicine cat apprentice quickly nodded her head once more as she silently sat herself down on her haunches, quickly wrapping her tail around herself as it landed promptly on her white-furred paws. She didn’t seem all that angry about the fact that her teeth accidentally broke through the skin of the mouse, or at least she didn’t notice it. The thought only made a small shudder run throughout the calico, a forced smile mustering its way onto her maw. “O… O-of course, Mapleface! It was an offer to give to you, afterall. At least you won’t be starving for the rest of the day.” She mewed, giving out a bad attempt to joke around with the queen. Great StarClan that was embarrassing to do. Springpaw wasn’t much of a comedian herself, or much of anything of the sorts, but she might as well try to make someone’s day, right?

Her thoughts were quickly diminished as Mapleface began to speak up about her brother, Cracklepaw. In which the name of the young tom only brought a fumbling pile of irritable frustration to run deeply in Springpaw’s chest. Of course she knew her brother, but not in a good way as she hoped. The tom quite literally disrespected the dead more than once and even caused a stir of drama to be caused with a duo of apprentices, Crowpaw and Burntpaw, if Springpaw remembered correctly. She still felt a pang of guilt for accidentally speaking up too loudly during a funeral. Including, to add onto that, her own mother was bearing the loss of a child that was only a kit. Springpaw knew how Dovefluff felt during that dreadful time, losing all her siblings was a major blow to her own chest and she’ll never have a chance to see them again. Now that the pastel calico was thinking about it, she couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Mapleface for having such a positive relationship with her younger brother. She knew deep down that she shouldn’t feel such selfish emotions. All they did was get in the way of her very thoughts.

Clearing her throat abruptly, Springpaw locked her oceanic gaze directly on jade-green hues as words began to fumble against her throat. “Of… of course I know him, Mapleface,” she states, slightly twitching the tip of her tail, “just… not exactly in the good ways that you would probably imagine.” Her voice almost trailed down to a mere mumble, ears slowly pressing against her head. She didn’t speak up more against the situation of what was brought over her mind. In truth be told, Springpaw would prefer to keep her thoughts on the stubborn tom to herself. Even if someone were to ask for her opinions of specific cats, she’d rather speak of the good of them than the bad. That felt that it was rather necessary for those types of conversations. Mentally, Springpaw wished that wasn’t what the queen was asking. She’d rather not give out her thoughts on the tom and then end up spilling out something that’d risk her getting a sharp smack to the face.

But, she couldn’t help but give a short snort of amusement for her comment about him. If Springpaw recalled, her own brothers were the same way. Especially young Winterpaw. A numbing aching feeling began to grow within her heart, a small, sad smile growing upon her face. “Sadly, I remember my brothers being the same way. Summerpaw and Winterpaw. They always bickered and fought and seemed to be at each other's throats twenty-four seven. I’m guessing that’s just how brothers are. Gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve spoken about my siblings. It hurts to think about them at times.” Springpaw forced a sad chuckle to escape her maw, a frown growing on her face as she spoke. Truthfully, it hurt worse talking about them than thinking about them. They were her entire life. They were a necessity to her. Without her siblings, Springpaw became broken. Sad and broken. They disappeared without a trace and never had any full intentions of coming back. That was one of the sad, dark realities of life, she supposed.

Her thoughts were quickly drawn away as Mapleface asked her a question, a question that made her head tilt slightly to the side. Mapleface wanted to know her… age? Well, Springpaw supposed that she could say it. It’s not like it’s going to do any harm in saying how old she was. Hell, she probably looked older than she looked, maybe. “My age? Well… I’m pretty sure I’m currently eight moons old. I’m about to be nine moons old here soon, but I’m currently eight.” Did she really look older than her age? If so, then she must look pretty mature. Well, in her opinion, she didn’t really exactly see that. However, why did Mapleface want to know her age? That was a question that Springpaw preferred to keep to herself, but she’ll eventually ask it once it comes up to topic, that is.

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@Rose [ :sob: deeply apologize for the late response! I was out camping and I sprained my wrist! I love Maple and she’s now going on to be one of my favorite characters list, lol]

• Lambkit •
long-furred, round-bodied, dark brown flame-sepia point tom with icy blue eyes; singular white spot on chest
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Well, it seemed that the mysterious kit was taking his gift for granted, that’s for sure. It was a feeble attempt to simply make the mysterious tom-kit used in the nursery, and it seemed that it was going well. He looked content and he didn’t seem as tensed up as Lambkit saw him as earlier. It was going to take some process, but at least this was a step to start it off with some gift-giving. Heck, even if the other tom-kit didn’t want any involvement around Lambkit, he could still give him an occasional gift or so of good measure. It was how the round-bodied tom was, having a passion to give away his treasures to other cats. He didn’t mind if it was something that he had recently found, or if it was an old, worn down object, he would give it anyways. He saw it as a sign of gratitude and there was no reason to give him anything in return. It was a simple act of kindness, after all.

As the mysterious kit glanced up in the other kit’s direction, Lambkit squinted his little eyes to get himself a better look at the fellow kit. From what he noticed, the other kit looked… quite similar to himself! Well, minus the deep, emerald green eyes and lack of whiting on his body, they both shared the same chocolate brown coloration on their fur. How cool was that? Lambkit thought it was cool, in his personal opinion. Heck, he even looked similar to a couple of his older sisters, Leafkit and Lightkit. However, they both had much paler, shorter brown fur in comparison to his longer, thicker, and messier dark chocolate brown fur. His eldest sister, Lavy, had looked the same way as him, but she had left a long while ago without even saying a word. He didn’t really like to think about his older sister much, but she looked pretty identical to him at most. If he and this mysterious tom-kit were somehow related—even though he knew they entirely weren’t—he would’ve been jumping himself out of his heels at the very moment.

Little rounded ears quickly perked up as a soft mumble came from the mysterious tom before him, icy blue hues glinting with curiosity as they locked with his emerald hues. What did he just say? Did he just… say his name? Shaking his little head, the tom-kit squinted his little eyes as his brain worked to work on what the other kit had just mumbled out. It indeed did sound like a name, but what was it? Something with the letter ‘s’… Hmm… Was it Snakekit? No, that sounds too fierce. This mysterious tom-kit didn’t seem all that scary. Besides, it sounded like there was an additional ‘p’ right next to the ‘s’ as well. Spikekit? Wait, was that even a name? Well, if it was. It did not sound right. It sounded weird. Silently huffing to himself as he continued to think, he tapped a dark-furred forepaw against his chin to contemplate the mysterious tom-kit’s name… hmm…

Wait. Was it Sprucekit? His icy gaze landed directly at the other tom once more, cocking his head to the side as his little brain churned with the name. Could that be his name? It sounded like it. And, looking at the mysterious tom-kit better, he seemed like he would look like a Sprucekit. From how dark his fur was, Lambkit could’ve thought that his fur came directly off of a spruce tree itself! But he wanted to be sure that the name was correct. What kind of kit would he be if he was quick to assume that the other kit’s name was Sprucekit if it wasn’t? So, with a shaky swallow, the tom began to speak, fighting against the itching feeling in his throat as he uttered out a word. ”S… Spruce?” his voice was quite wobbly as he spoke, curiosity itching at him as the flame-point continued to look at the equally colored tom-kit. Was that his name? Did he say the right name? Lambkit hoped that was the case, or else he would feel entirely bad about it if he didn’t say the right name. That’s just embarrassing.

Oh! He should probably introduce himself as well, right? If the mysterious tom-kit introduced himself to him, why not tell him his name as well? It wouldn’t be much of a problem to just simply introduce himself to the other kit. It’s not like the other kit seemed to hate him… or so it seemed. He was just new to being around here, that’s all. So, in response to this, he raised up a forepaw and lightly tapped himself on his dark furred chest, tapping himself a few times as if to try to make it seem to that he was going to state his name. He then began to speak once more, a little smile growing among the corners of his his maw. “L… L-lamb!” He liked to call himself ‘Lamb’. It felt better to call himself that instead of his full name because it felt more approachable to other kits. Maybe that’s how the mysterious tom-kit felt about introducing himself? Well, if that’s the case, then Lambkit didn’t really mind! Besides, the dark-furred kit liked to meet new kits all around the nursery and this surely wasn’t a first.

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@Alchemist Kitsune