Wakey Wakey

[hedgie]

Morning had come and so had all of Otterkit's energy. Too big to play inside of the nursery, he padded out into camp. Rabbitkit was still sleeping, and that was alright. The little brown-and-white tom would do just fine on his own for a while. It may have been early, but the elders always loved to share stories.

Ah-ha! That was a brilliant idea. He raced across camp and quickly made his way to the Elder's den, his amber eyes bright and mischievous. The sunlight framed him, making him shadowed.He made his way into the den, slowly. One pawstep after the other brought him to a morning filled with stories.

But they were all sleeping! So he had to wake them up, eh?

This would be fun. He opened his jaws, took a deep breath and called out as loud as he could, which wasn't all that loud, really.

"C'mon! Wake up, guys! It's morning!"

[Kitty]

Ripplefur awoke to the sound of screaming cats.

A screaming cat, that is. And not even a cat yet. More of a kit.

Still, she scrambled to her paws, jolted into awareness, the quick movements causing her recently aching joints to flare up painfully. She cast her gaze around rapidly, wheezing, "Where's the fire, kit?"

When the elder realized that there wasn't anything wrong, she snorted. Great, a wake up call. Oh well, at least it was a kit and not a warrior here to take them on a fire drill. "Hello, Otterkit," she greeted, settling back into her nest. She couldn't stay mad at any innocent bundle of fur...

[hedgie]

"Thank Starclan, you're awake!"

Otterkit chirped happily, oblivious to the fact he might've made someone a little angry. He settled down himself, little paws tucked underneath a little chest.

"I was wondering....if you might be able to tell me a story. Rabbitkit isn't awake yet and I was getting really bored!"

[Kitty]

Ripplefur narrowed her eyes and tucked her paws neatly under herself. "Might I be able to tell you a story?" she asked, amused. "Of course!" She searched her mind for a story she hadn't told Otterkit yet.

"Have you heard about the time Tawnystripe and I chased a fox away all by ourselves when we were young warriors?" she asked. This was one of her personal favorites.

((Sorry if any of the other elders feel left out. XD I chose the one closest to Ripplefur's age.))

[hedgie]

Otterkt instantly perked up! Stories were just as much fun as chasing Rabbitkit around camp, maybe even more so!

"No way! That is so cool, Ripplefur!" he hadn't heard this one before. So many elders like to make up stories, but ripplefur knew Otterkit wanted the facts.

"Tell me all about it! Please?!"

[Kitty]

Ripplefur laughed, and launched into her tale. It was a long time ago, but some thigns just stuck with a cat. She was surprised, though, that Tawnystripe hadn't told this story, but oh well. More fun for her.

"So, I'd only been a warrior a few moons, and Tawnystripe only a couple moons longer. We were on a hunting patrol together. We were just about to head back to camp when the fox appeared out of a bush near the river." As Ripplefur talked, her voice becae more enthusiastic, her eyes lighting up, as if she were still a warrior. She really enjoyed revisiting her warrior days, and this was very obvious in her expression and tone of voice.

[hedgie]

Otterkit nodded, smilng as he saw how energized the story made Ripplefur. So he was doing something good for the elder, while getting something out of it. His little brown ears perked forward, and he silently goaded her on.


He wanted to hear more.

[Kitty]

Ripplefur could tell that the kit wanted her to go on. So she began again. "The fox just stood there for a minute, and real quiet, me and Tawnystripe both dropped the fish we were carying. After all, we hadn't been warriors very long, and this fox looked half mad and was starving. That meant it was more vicious than an older, less hungry fox. We hoped that maybe if it saw the fish, it would leave us alone." She shook her head. "That wasn't our smartest idea. The movement, eventhough slow, alerted the foxto out presence. IT attacked immediately." What happened after that? Um, um, um...oh yeah! "Me and Tawnystripe had to fight back. It wasn't long after that I'd wounded my shoulder and Tawnystripe her leg."

Hm, maybe she was being too graphic for a kit. But this kit was nearly an apprentice. He could take it. "But the fox wasn't any better off. Finally, it was tired of fighting, and it backed off. Me and Tawnystripe were tired and had picked up several more scratches from the fox. So we limped back to camp - with the fish, of course - and reported the fox. Then the medicine cat had to take us into the den." She wrinkled up her nose. "Herbs were foul back then, too, you know. But a few days later, we were both back in our warrior duties."

[spike]

Being woken up wasn't exactly Bluewhisker's idea of a good morning. Kits had always been a joy to his life but this was a rare downfall. He was up though he pretended to sleep in. However, rest was not an easy thing to keep when there was talking going around. Finally grumbling sightly, he stood and shook out the bits of morning dew from his graying fur.

He had sat in the back, slowly running his tongue over his chest to smooth the fur down. Bluewhisker had remembered the story Ripplefur told. Being slightly older than her, he had his own few shares of fox-chasing and badger-wrestling. Grinning now, the tom casually walked to sit next to Ripplefur, a silly grin on his features. "That story seems to never get old," he snickered. "A fox, half mad with hunger and half hungry with madness, and you and Tawnystripe would never live it down."

Then he gave a small nod to Otterkit. "When you get to chase your first fox, you'll see how much of a trouble it is. It's not all as great as the stories say. But I must say, Ripplefur and Tawnystripe did an impressive job for their age at the time."

[Kitty]

Ripplefur laughed and rolled her eyes. But she nudged teh old tom in a way that clearly stated that Bluewhisker was correct. It was true: she never tired of telling stories of her youth.

"Ah, and I suppose you wouldn't say no to telling a story if you got tell one about ourself!" the elder snickered. "Come on, Bluewhisker. I bet the kit wouldn't mind another story. Would you, Otterkit?"