Summer Sunshine [Open]

The nursery, which had always been a place of soft milky comfort as a young kit, had slowly become stifling as of late. Sunkit was growing, and he wanted-- no, he needed to explore!  
The rest of the nursery had retreated from the Greenleaf heat to settle down for a mid-morning nap-- but Sunkit was wide awake and bursting with energy. Now was his chance to get out from under the lovingly smothering paws of his mother.
As carefully as he could, the tabby kit picked his way through the snoozing bundles of fur towards the nursery entrance. Without a backwards glance, he leapt from the mossy nest and out into the bright light of day. Unceremoniously, Sunkit landed and tumbled head over tail into the clearing. He quickly found his paws and shook the dust out of his fluffy pelt. As he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light, he marveled at how warm the sunlight was on his fur and how fresh the breeze was.
Now this was a good day for exploring! He looked around the camp with bright amber eyes. Head and tail held high, he began his search for something-- and possibly someone-- interesting to investigate. Excitement prickled his paws as he imagined himself a full fledged warrior on patrol for anything unusual in SkyClan's territory.
"Nothing gets past this mighty warrior!" He crowed to himself, holding his nose proudly up into the air as he tried mimic what he'd seen from the older cats.

Swiftbranch was curled up in the sunlight as she thought about how silverstar was acting. She knew he wasn't himself but didn't know how to talk to him without him saying he was fine. Even her mother had no such luck with the leader. Swiftbranch sighed as she sat up and shook her brown pelt of any dirt. She smiled when she spotted the newest kit in Skyclan already out of the nursery and playing. She remembered when she was just a little out playing with her 8 siblings and smiled at the memory.

She wondered what the kit was saying and wished she knew. It was harder for her with kits as their mouths were really tiny and hard to read. She watched as the kit walked around like a warrior and for some reason it made her happy. Watching the new generation was always a favorite to her and a little bit of her wished she could have her own kits one day but knew it would be impossible. It wasn't the fact that Swiftbranch liked she-cats, it was because she wouldn't be able to fully care for them like any other queen.

Hailpaw was resting the warm newleaf sun, his white pelt making it harder for him to overheat. The apprentice raised his head when he saw Swiftbranch watching a kit. Hailpaw padded up to the kit, wanting to talk with him. "Hiya! I'm Hailpaw and that Swiftbranch." He stopped for a moment to point his tail towards the deaf she-cat. "Whats your name? Do you want to play a game? I know tons of good games. " He then stopped his quick talking to turn towards Swiftbranch. "Hey, Swiftbranch! Play game with me and him?" Hailpaw started speaking slowly yet loudly so she could understand him.

Sunkit practically jumped out of his fur when Hailpaw came up to him. Not one to give into embarrassment easily, he turned his curious gaze between the apprentice and the she-cat he motioned towards. He gave them both a friendly swish of his tail-- finally, some cats other than the queens to talk to! “Hi! I’m Sunkit!” His ears perked at the mention of games and he hopped from one paw to the other impatiently. “Oh, oh yes, please! It’s so boring today!”

Swiftbranch watched as hailpaw, a tom almost as playful as her sister mudpaw, came up to the kit she was watching. When hailpaw looked at Swiftbranch and then pointed his tail at her it made the older she-cat confused. She easily could read Hailpaw's mouth when he spoke slowly so she understood how that he was introducing her.

She smiled at the younger cats and got to her paws. It would be easier for her to understand them better when she got closer. Once she was close enough, she sat down and nudged hailpaw in greeting before smiling at the kit. She caught the word game and wondered what they would play. It has been moons since she played any gAmes with all that has happened in Skyclan so she hoped they would let her join.

"Ok! So the gamer were play is warriors and mouse. There will be two warriors and one mouse. I'll be the mouse first and hide and you have to go find me using your nose." Said Hailpaw making sure Swiftbranch understood. The game required to use noses so Swiftbranch could hopefully be able to play just as good.

"Ok! Close your eyes while I go and hide!" Meowed Hailpaw.

Sunkit listened intently, giving Hailpaw an excited nod. He dropped down onto his belly and closed his eyes tightly-- for added commitment, he laid his bushy ginger tail over his muzzle.
"Okay! I'm ready!" The tip of his tail twitched-- he could barely sit still. This was much better than pretending by himself. Now he could prove he was going to make a capable warrior!

Swiftbranch closed her eyes as hailpaw started to hide. She really wanted to show herself not useless but decided to let sunkit find him instead. When hailpaw was done hiding, she nodded to sunkit before looking for her young friend. She knew hailpaw was learning from her mother, breezebranch, so knew that this would be tricky. Her mother never gave up on training until the apprentice was good enough.

Swiftbranch sniffed the air and easily caught the scent of hailpaw. She decided to go to the opposite side of camp where hailpaw wasn't hiding so sunkit could find him. Her dark brown tail swayed as she walked around trying to 'Find' hailpaw.

Hailpaw scurried off towards some bushes on the outskirts of camp, curling in a ball and letting the leaves cover his fur. His scent mingled with the leafs'. He waited patiently for one of them to find him. He couldn't see them which meant either two things. They can't see him and he can't see them OR they can seem him but he can't see them.

I wonder how good Sunkit's nose is. Probably not as good as Swiftbranch's but probably pretty good. Thought Hailpaw as he waited.

Sunkit leapt to his paws and beamed up at Swiftbranch before turning away with his tail held high to begin searching for Hailpaw. He closed his eyes and lifted his nose to sniff at the air.
At once, Sunkit realized this was going to be harder than he had originally thought. All the scents of camp were all mixed in together. With a frustrated flick of his tail, Sunkit sniffed at the spot he knew Hailpaw had been standing, making an effort to really concentrate on the scent.
He stepped back when he was satisfied he got it and started to slowly search for the apprentice.

Swiftbranch looked back and noticed sunkit finally get the scent of hailpaw. She decided to stop 'looking' and follow sunkit in case the little kid needed help. She enjoyed watching the kit improve so fast and he wasn't even an apprentice yet. Swiftbranch knew exactly where hailpaw was and waited to see what sunkit would do.

Hailpaw waited and tried sniffing the air. He smelled Swiftbranch and Sunkit near by which means they were close to finding him. Their close but not too close.

Sunkit followed the scent up to the clump of bushes before it was lost among the leaves. His ginger pelt fluffed up in excitement, he glanced back at Swiftbranch to get the older cat's approval as he dropped down into a poorly stanced hunter's crouch. He crept closer to the bushes and paused for a moment, preparing himself before he leapt with a triumphant yowl. "Found you!"

(Swift would be a great mentor to sun! It's so cute!)

Swiftbranch smiled as he looked at her for approval before pouncing on hailpaw. Once the apprentice was found Swiftbranch started wondering if they would pick a new game or pick a new hider. She knew sunkit hadn't heard her speak at all and didn't sign to shock the young kit when she did but Swiftbranch needed to know the answer to the questions.

"Are we new game or new pick? I can't be pick." She mewed. She was getting used to talking better but she still struggled on longer words and sentences as she couldn't hear what she was saying just copying what she saw in mouth movements.

Hailpaw chuckled when Sunkit pounced on him. "Haha you found me!" Said Hailpaw. He sat up looked to Swiftbranch. "We could pick another game." Hailpaw said. He turned to Sunkit. "Sunkit what other game do you wanna play?" Asked Hailpaw.

Sunkit flicked his tail from side to side thoughtfully. "We could play mossball," he suggested. He paused and gave his chest fur a few bashful licks before admitting, "I don't really know that many games..." Being the only kit in his litter meant he didn't have any playmates his own age-- and since he was growing up like a weed, he was getting too big to play with the other kits in the nursery.

(Leader says is a game like Simon says but one person is the "leader" it's in my rp games for kits/apps topic)

Swiftbranch didn't know what to say so waited for hailpaw.

"Yea mossball sounds nice. OH WAIT I thought a new idea for a game! Moss chase! Someone will run away with a mossball and the other cats have to try to touch their paw. Once a cat does the cat with moss ball has to drop it and the cat who touched their paw has to grab the mossball." Said Hailpaw loudly and in a way for Swiftbranch to understand even making motions with his tail and paws and a nearby moss ball.