morning warriors [ dawn ]

[➽ blizzardkit]

The nursery always felt so crowded these days. A fluff of white fur was cuddled into the crook of Lilythorn's hind leg, trying to escape the cluttered curve of her stomach that his two brothers were splayed out across. His own family was bad enough, but another queen and her two kits also shared the small den. Sometimes, the little tom didn't even have room to stretch! Two big paws - well, big for a kitten - were covering his face, his tail laying limp over a small hind leg. It was so hot, Blizzardkit had been readjusting his position every hour trying to find a spot that offered any kind of air flow. So far, every time he shifted someone else's body heat just kept warming his pelt until he felt suffocated. Weak light filtered into the nursery, giving the sleeping cats a faint glow. Paws sliding from his eyes, they reached toward the woven ceiling in a tiny stretch. His eyes opened in slits, and gradually as they adjusted widened to show large, blue irises.

It wasn't typical he'd wake this early, but the kit hadn't had any luck with sleeping. So, with a grunt the white bundle rolled to his paws, standing unsteadily until his legs regained feeling. Better be quiet so I don't wake mom, or anyone else. He placed one step after the other as silently as he could, bunching his hind quarters to leap over Lilythorn's fluffy tail. Clearing it with satisfaction, the white tom strode out happily into the clearing. Drawing a quick breath, the sky panned out over him; its vast expanse glittering with dying stars as the flames of dawn burned in the east, reaching across to chase out the fading darkness of night. It was his first dawn, and it mesmerized him. The air still, no breeze stirred the surrounding bushes or trees. Nothing to carry any fresh scents to him, though he could visibly tell not many of his clan mates had yet woken. One or two resided beside the fresh-kill pile, and a movement at the camp's entrance told him a guard was waiting impatiently to be relieved, but besides that he, Blizzardkit had risen with the sun like a true warrior! What kind of things did warriors do in the morning? Eat? Patrol? Hunt? A dry crackle made the tom jump, dropping into an instinctual crouch. His eyes fell upon a fallen leaf that had dropped from a nearby tree. "I'll teach you for startling me!" He growled under his breath, pretending to stalk it. He glided forward like he'd seen Rustlepaw do - boy was he fast - and wacked the leaf with a heavy blow. It lifted with his paw, and then drifted down about a tail-length away. Tail high with triumph Blizzardkit padded over and picked it up, striding proudly past the two warriors he'd seen earlier to place his catch on the fresh-kill pile. Now that he'd completed his morning hunt, the tom glanced around for another duty to tackle. 

[mottledkit ★]

mottledkit was nestled in the warmth of a pearly and black mass of fur. the black portion of the mass was considerably less, as scorchkit made up all of the black next to their silvery mother. splashmist still seemed remarkably small compared to lilythorn and the other vertigoclan warriors he'd seen around though, and at times he was amazed that she was an adult. his dad told him he'd grow up to be a big, strong warrior one day, but privately mottledkit wondered whether or not it was true.

it was early dawn and normally the kit would have liked to sleep longer, but he heard a little bit of movement through his half-awake haze and blinked his eyes open. the pure white kit didn't seem to notice that he'd opened his mint-colored eyes and was watching him, so mottledkit stayed still against his mother's side and watched to see what the tom would do. as lilythorn's son made to leave the nursery, he carefully observed the slow pace taken by blizzardkit. then, once the other kit was out of sight, mottledkit bounced out from his mom's side, paws dancing indiscriminately, stepped on scorchkit's tail (on accident), and followed him.

"blizzardkit!" the young tom yowled, a bit too loud for the time of day, as he bounded over. "what are you doing awake? were you having a bad dream? i saw you leaving. so i thought i'd come too! do you wanna go see if we can find our dads? do you think they're awake already? mom tells me not to bother duneshade but i don't think he'll mind. we should check in the warriors den." his high-pitched squeal stopped for a moment as he caught his breath and he beamed enthusiastically at the tom, who was a moon younger than himself. "have you ever been in the warrior's den? i have! do you think jetfang will be out on a patrol already? what does he do all the time anyway? it seems like he's always in the nursery!!" 

[➽ blizzardkit]

"blizzardkit!" great Starclan, he'd been sold out! Had it been Pallidkit? The white tom thought his pale brother could be a little shady...or was it his imagination? Who cared; his secret warrior duties had been interrupted. Whipping around he watched a kit not too much bigger than himself racing towards him. mottledkit! Oh no! this guy could never shut his trap! He babbled on and on and on in the nursery. "what are you doing awake? were you having a bad dream? i saw you leaving. so i thought i'd come too! do you wanna go see if we can find our dads? do you think they're awake already? mom tells me not to bother duneshade but i don't think he'll mind. we should check in the warriors den." So many words and questions flew from his den-mates lips Blizzardkit's head whirled. "Well I uh -" He began to mumble, but then was interrupted yet again. "have you ever been in the warrior's den? i have! do you think jetfang will be out on a patrol already? what does he do all the time anyway? it seems like he's always in the nursery!!" He was sure more cats had appeared from their den to see what the darker tom's excited yipping was about. "Intruder!" It was like a snowball had been hurled at Mottledkit, the white tom flung himself so heavily onto the other. Maybe it was just an excuse to shut him up for a minute, but the white kit rolled off clumsily to his paws. "You'll wake the forest! We're warriors, rising with the sun," His large blue eyes flicked up at the orangey pink sky above. "I've already hunted for the clan, but now it's time to go on dawn patrol!" He squeaked, keeping his voice low.

"...I guess we can start at the warriors den." It was closest to the entrance anyway. He failed to mention they were patrolling camp, but wasn't that a given? They had to make sure the dens were secure! Without waiting for a reply he scrambled towards the large structure of brambles and vines, pausing to crouch at the entrance in wait for the rest of his patrol to catch up.

Ooc.// "dope on a rope"

[mottledkit ★]

mottledkit screeched in alarm as blizzardkit leaped upon him. he was quite literally crushed under the white tom's weight until blizzardkit rolled off, leaving mottledkit too stunned to do much of anything for several moments. he resolved to take his denmate more seriously from now on. "jeez, you're heavy," he commented, still dazed, but unhurt. for a moment he just blinked in confusion, eyes wide.

finally mottledkit came to his senses and narrowed his eyes to peer at the other cat in irritation and confusion. "dawn patrol? only warriors go on-" he began to state impatiently, before it hit him that they were playing pretend and he ought to play along. "oh." the small kit murmured simply, eyeing blizzardkit and wondering how the snow-white kit had managed to sneak out of anywhere unseen, let alone the nursery. "great! dad's probably already gone though..." he hastily corrected his familiar sentence adding, "uh, my dad that is." he gave blizzardkit a quick side-eye out of minty green orbs. as he watched the other tom go off, he became distracted by a tiny speck of black, floating toward his vision, some sort of dust or dirt or something. realizing that his patrol leader was waiting for him, he scrambled to catch up and toppled over blizzardkit, half on accident, half on purpose to get him back for tackling him earlier. he didn't know whether the tom would catch on to this. when he rolled over away from the white kit, he flashed a big, innocent grin at him. "oops!"

[➽ blizzardkit]

"jeez, you're heavy," Blizzardkit beamed, little tail raising behind him. "Thanks!" He took that as a genuine complement - grown cats were heavy! Mottledkit seemed to be staring at him an awful lot, he thought suddenly. "You've got some big eyes," He announced, lifting his chin a little higher. "I bet you can see everything. Your skills will be very valuable on this patrol." Er, hopefully that wasn't offensive. The white tom certainly didn't think so. "great! dad's probably already gone though..." A quick pause. "uh, my dad that is."

Blizzardkit was growing mildly impatient waiting for his den-mate. What was taking him so long? What if Vertigoclan attacked? Or a fox? He wasn't sure if he could fight them off solo! He'd just began to turn around when a great lump bowled over him. "Hey!" He cried, white fur being pressed into the ground under the other kit's weight. Once Mottledkit finally rolled off, the tom scrambled to his paws. His underbelly and right side were all smudged with dust and dirt! "oops!" The white kit's blue eyes flashed back with annoyance. "Watch out! This is serious, the clan is depending on us!" He snapped, looking down once again at his dirtied fur. "We..." His words trailed off as he became transfixed on the smudges. "That's it! Mottledkit you're a genius!" He cried, giving an excited bounce. Suddenly he plopped to the floor, rolling this way and that, until his entire pelt was covered in brown. His beautiful snowy fur was completely dirtied! Oh what would his mother say! From under the grit and grime, his light blue eyes shined brilliantly. "I'm camouflaged!" He squeaked in triumph, getting to his large paws. He looked almost unrecognizable - even his scent was tinged with earth. "Alright, come on!" He whispered, not waiting to see his friend's reaction. Slowly he crept to the mouth of the den, peering in with caution. Gingerly he took his first few paw steps inside, eyes widening at all the bodies still curled tightly in their nests. They were huge!