Sunkit's Fearsome Foe [Open]

Sunkit stumbled curiously out of the nursery, enjoying the feeling of the sun, her namesake, on her fluffed out fur. She loved the coziness of the nursery, but found it to be occasionally stifling. Today was one of those days.

She strode out on her awkward kitten legs towards the center of the camp when movement towards the edge caught her eye. Instantly, she sank into a hunter's crouch, her creeping more of a bumbling as she made her way to whatever was creating the movement. As she got closer, she realized with a shiver that it was a daddy-longlegs spider, and a big one at that. The other kits would sometimes practice hunt them inside the nursery, but they always creeped Sunkit out. Nonetheless, and with no small amount of courage, she creeped closer until it was within batting distance.

Sunkit raised a trembling forepaw and held it there for what felt like an eternity. Until finally, she closed her eyes and struck out twice.

She missed the first strike, but the second strike landed. The terrible creature lay dead at Sunkit's paws.

Sunkit felt a beam of pride and wondered with delight if anyone saw. For a moment, she almost felt inclined to add it to the fresh kill pile, but then thought better of it. Nah, this piddly little thing won't feed anyone. Regardless, Sunkit felt no small amount of thrill at the thought that she had just killed her first prey and pretended for a moment that it was the juicy hare she once saw Patchpaw catch.

Thrushpaw, ever the nosy little cat, had been watching Sunkit as she caught her first "prey". She giggled a little as the awkward kitten flung out her little paw and killed the spider. As a bit of fun, she walked slowly and carefully towards the kit, despite her big, bumbly form, and with a stroke of luck noticed another spider, even bigger, crawling out of the little hidey-hole that was the nursery. She swiped at it with her claw, and held it up before shoving it in Sunkit's face from behind. "Sunkit, watch out!" She squealed, the childish apprentice aiming to scare.

Alas, Thrushpaw's prank worked all too well. Sunkit jumped about twice her height, flailing her little paws at the giant spider that was now in her face before landing with a thud back on the ground. Once the spider was dealt with, Sunkit rounded on Thrushpaw, pretending like her fur wasn't bushed out making her look twice her size. She would have said something mean if a kit had done that to her, but since Thrushpaw was an apprentice, Sunkit opted to play it cool and collected.

"I wasn't scared", she squeaked unconvincingly, feeling a hot flush of embarrassment wash over her.

Thrushpaw giggled at the kit who was clearly attempting to regain her dignity. "Sure you weren't," she replied, snorting a bit at her. "Aw, I'm sorry, it was just so easy. Here, how about to make up for it, you play a game with me?" The she-cat wasn't so cruel as to prank the kit and leave, and so she decided it would be best to reconcile with some fun for the kit. She had quite a few games in mind.

Immediately, Sunkit forgot her embarrassment and started beaming. She loved games. What kind of game? She asked with a little hop.

"We can play 'prey'. You know how to play that game?" Thrushpaw asked, beaming too. She was great with younger cats, honestly- sure she had plenty of friends but there was something special about taking part of 'raising' the kits in the clan communally. She thought of ways to explain the game- she'd grown up with it being rather ingrained, so hopefully Sunkit did too.

I think so! She replied. I've seen the other kits play it, but I've never played it myself. This was true. Sunkit had a tendency to keep her own company, rather anxiously. But she would never turn down a direct invitation to play a game. She found she instantly liked Thrushpaw for making her feel included. Can you remind me how it goes anyway?

Thrushpaw felt a little giddy, this day really was going great- this kit would soon be an apprentice, and another trusted friend for her. "Okay," she replied, stretching her legs quickly and standing at full height. "One of us can play as the warrior, and the other the prey. The prey goes ahead and hides," she paused, "and the other looks for them. If the warrior finds the prey, the prey runs and the warrior has to catch you! If the warrior can't find the prey, or the prey outruns them. How's that sound then?" Thrushpaw smiled as she explained.

Game on! Sunkit squeaked, already formulating ideas for hiding places. I wanna be the prey! I'll be a lot harder to catch than that spider back there!"

"Alright," Thrushpaw replied, a laugh leaving her before she could contain it. Sunkit's enthusiasm was adorable. "I'll wait here and close my eyes. Go hide!" She exclaimed, and turned around, keeping her eyes shut tight.

Sunkit wheeled around as fast as her little legs would carry her, gathering speed across the camp. When she got to the edge, and without so much as a precious second thought, she launched herself headfirst, and noisily, into the prickly gorse surrounding the camp. Clearly, she hadn't quite learned that the edges of Windclan's camp were notoriously sharp.

Sunkit hissed, having sustained some scratches, but remained still. Surely, this spectacular hiding place was worth the discomfort.