Puddle Hopping [Open]

A kit’s job is to do three things: to sleep, to eat, and to grow up big and strong to carry the Clan into a future full of proud, strong warriors. It was an instinctual fact bred deeply into each and every kitten that was born to a Clan— but, at present, Toadkit was finding it hard to fulfill those needs.
She had spent the night tossing and turning. Her short stints of sleep had been broken up by the sharply prodding paws of her denmates trying to silence her snores.
Dawn eventually broke and the rest of the camp begun to greet the new day.
Sluggishly, Toadkit rolled onto her side and tried to rouse her mother for breakfast. Her mother had, at some point in the night, had turned her back to her kit and her snoring.
“Go get something from the prey pile!” Her mother snapped at her, curling back up into a tight ball to try and reclaim some of the sleep she’d lost the night before. “It’s your fault the whole den can’t get a wink of sleep!”
It’s not like I do it on purpose! How in the name of Starclan was she supposed to control her snoring? Toadkit bit back her frustration. She knew it was better to do as she was told than try to argue with her mother— she’d seen firsthand how prickly the queen could be. Indignantly, she heaved herself up from her nest and out into the center of camp.
The marshland grounds were always damp, but this morning it was exceptionally wet. Toadkit’s round paws sank easily into the muddy ground. She snorted and began to pick her way towards the remains of yesterday’s freshkill pile, her tail lashing from side to side.

Sootpaw was doing her daily grooming near the freshkill pile when she saw a mottled kit approaching, a kit she had not seen before. She has to be one of the newest members of ShadowClan...Too bad I am far from familiar with the queens. She had not paid much attention to the nursery ever since she became an apprentice. "Hello there." Anyway, Sootpaw greeted the kit wiggling her fluffy tail, then continued with her grooming business.

Toadkit’s stomping slowed to a careful trudging as she neared the prey pile and the older cat. Being as little as she was, any cat older than a few moons looked as big as a full grown warrior to her-- and, given that she hadn’t had the luxury of meeting every cat in the Clan just yet, she had no way of telling the apprentices apart from their mentors. She dipped her head politely to Sootpaw. “H'lo,” she mumbled as she crouched down to sniff at a mouse left over from the day before.

"Oh, you are hungry?" Sootpaw stopped her grooming as the kit greeted her. It looked like the kit wanted a mouse. So why not? She reached the mouse with one of her fluffy white paws, gently pushing it towards Toadkit, "May I have your name?"

Toadkit flashed a grateful glance at the apprentice and very quickly set to work on eating her breakfast. She paused between bites and nodded up at Sootpaw. "My name's Toadkit," she chirped with a cheerfulness that came from having a full belly. She drew her tongue over her whiskers to clean them. "What's yours?"

"I am Sootpaw." meowed the apprentice, "But I'm working hard to earn my warrior name. Maybe very soon." There was a glow of pride in her words. Yes, she just could not wait to be a warrior, though there were still trainings to receive.