{|| The Before | Roleplay ||}

[cloud]

ooc: Okay, send your roleplay posts here! Remember, NIF Roleplaying rules apply here, too. 8 Lines of original roleplaying content, please. ^~^

[spike]

((enter Boulderkit!

PS, Cloud, are you roleplaying the guardian cats, or whatever they are? Do they need roleplayers?))

The tom stalked around the land that was supposed to be his. They called it... RiverClan, that was it. His memory was finally coming around. For the tom, his life had been nothing but the peace of this place. This place had no real way of wrestling and harming one another. No cat could just have their way here. Oh, no. You had to learn who you were, you had to learn the rules of being a Clan cat and so many other complicated things. They prepared you for the real world here.

Well, the real world must've been boring because the kit was having a hard time finding something worth kicking the dust up on. His body was bulky and well-built for a kit but he had learned to control the strength in these past few days in this land, this... Before. They had told him when he was born, he'd never remember any of this and all of this would be relearned. But that didn't matter because he already had done it once. It couldn't be as hard a second time.

For a moment, he seemed like a gray cloud. The whisps of fur were natural to his kithood and they would turn to silk, supposedly, once he grew up. He was tired of this 'would' stuff. He wanted to live life! But they had said there was half a moon left to his time in the Before. Boulderkit knew his siblings though he wasn't exactly a fan of them. He wanted to wrestle with some worth-while kits and he wanted to focus on his own powers. But he was unable to in this place.

"Isn't anybody here?" he yowled out desperately. There had to be something to keep his attention. He wanted to play, wrestle that is, and he wanted to allow himself to grow, as the caretakers said. But there was no answer. RiverClan territory in the Before was seeming to be dead. Not even the winds in the far distant, a place he'd never get a chance to touch, could fill his want for company.

[nightstorm]

Amber eyes flecked with green snapped open, and the little she-kit raised her head quickly. Her nostrils flared as a scent swept over her. The little tortoiseshell jumped to her feet, as a voice called out, desperation in its tone. Her eyes widened, and she darted into the nearest bush. She had known that this would not be the best place to take a nap. After all, she didn't know very many kits here, and she didn't know which ones would be nice, and which ones wouldn't. All she knew was that her siblings, wherever they were at the moment, were the only ones she could trust.

Hesitantly, she peeked out of the bush. Her gaze fell on what the guardians called 'the ThunderClan/RiverClan border'. A grey kit was standing in the middle of nowhere, his head swiveling as he looked around. He so much bigger than me, she thought with panic. He looks like he could eat me!

With that happy thought in mind, the little kit began to back up, not wanting him to see her. But as she did, she stepped on a twig, eliciting a sharp crack. She whirled around, her fur bristling, and her small body making more noise as she fought to get free of the branches that now tugged at her fur. "No! Get away from me! I don't wanna be eaten!" With a cry of panic, she bolted out of the bush, and, to her dismay, found herself right in the line of sight of the strange tom.

((And enter Adderkit))

Golden eyes peeked from the shadows, and white-tipped paws crept forward, silently making their way over the forest floor. The little kit froze for a moment, then began to wiggle her haunches. With a hiss, she pounced, missing her target, much to her dismay. The golden butterfly fluttered off, unharmed, and content, save for the grasping paws that had just disturbed its peace. The she-kit shook its head grumpily. She had nearly had it! So close, and yet, so far...

Her ears swiveled, as she caught a distant voice, through the empty silence. So far as she knew, she thought she had been the only one, except for her sister. Not through any fault of her own, but because she had just come here recently, and had not had the interest to meet any others. She wasn't complaining, was she? In fact, it was nice being alone. Everything was so quiet...

With a sigh, the she-kit straightened, and bounded towards where she had heard the voice. Towards RiverClan territory, if she remembered the caretakers' lesson, that is. Her little tail stood straight up, as she made her way towards the edge of her -...what was it? Clan? Yes...- Clan's land. A smirk stretched across her face, as the kit pictured ambushing whoever it was. Yes, she would sneak up on them, and attack. They would never know what happened.

She slid into the cover of the bushes smoothly, and continued. Soon, she came upon the source of the yowl. It was another kit! Her golden eyes widened. Perhaps she should rethink this plan...she was smaller than him. Still, maybe her speed would help her. Preparing to leap out, the little kit faltered as another kit appeared out of nowhere, and, from the looks of things, was freaking out about a bush. The kit cocked her head. What was wrong with her? It was just a bush...

Frustrated that her plan had been foiled, the kit opted for merely sliding out of the bush, and padding forward somewhat cautiously. She stared curiously at the two kits. "Hi there," she said, somewhat surprised with her friendly tone. "Who are you?"

((Quick question...do they know their names? I mean...they haven't been born yet... 0.o))

[spike]

((I assumed we would. At least StarClan would have that much control, right? Allowing them names? How else are you supposed to label the cats?))

[Kitty]

Where were her siblings?

This place was so lonely without them around. The silvery white she-kit hadn't been in the Before long enough to meet any other kits (save her brothers and sisters, of course). A white head poked out through a bramble bush and glanced around. Where was anybody? Sofar the only other cats she'd seen here had been....well, actually, there hadn't been any others. How lonesome. Maybe one of her sisters were around...or possibly even a brother. She was in the mood for some playfighting, after all.

Why was...ThunderClan, right?...yes, ThunderClan. Why was ThunderClan territory so...you know, lonesome? Cloudkit sighed. What was a kit to do without any other cats to talk to?


A lone she-kit crouched in the shadow of a bush, waiting for her prey to pass...Her amber eyes took in everything, every drop of leaf, move of creature, and...cat.

Aha! Here came her prey now, sprinting past. As it passed her hiding place, the dark tabby and white kit sprang out, but her white paws closed around nothing, and her sister shot on past.

"Mouse dung," the she-kit spat, and rose from the floor of ShadowClan's territory in the Before, where'd she'd spent the majority of her time in the past two moons. She'd be leaving soon, and she couldn't wait. The Before was a bit lonely now that the five other ShadowClan kits that had been sharing their territory two nights ago had already joined the real world.

But where was that gray she-kit headed off to? Curious, the kit that would soon be known as Ivykit bolted off after her sister, soon to be known as Adderkit. she followed her straight to the RiverClan and ThunderClan border (she'd been all over the Clan territories in the Before since she started living here) and wondered what could possibly bring Adderkit here. Ducking behind a bush, Ivykit noticed two other kits already here and felt a pang of jelousy. Had Adderkit found another friend - two of them, at that! - without telling her? And one that wasn't her, what's more! But that feeling soon vanished upon hearing ADderkit ask who they were. Grinning for her cleverness at sneaking in without them noticing her, Ivykit settled in to wait and watch.

[hedgie]

This, to her, was the end of the world.

It wasn't really. No one knew where the world just stopped going on. Following an unexplained instinct, the pretty blue-furred queen stood by a mirror image of the river she'd spent her living days beside, the breeze playfully ruffling her long, silky fur. The Before was her place to be and she knew when kits where coming. The weather changed. When kits came along their way, a breeze danced around her like their playful little bodies and sweet, milky scent that wrapped around a young kit filled her lungs with it's air.

She'd never taken time to notice if she was the only one to feel it. Surely the other kits around here noticed that new arrivals were on the way.

But anyway...back to the job at had. Her eyes, wide and kind, watched her familiar surroundings. She was so eager to see these little ones. She purred softly and kneaded her paws into the ground, anything to keep herself busy.

[Ki]

((Lets hope I do this right))

What was going on?

Where was he?

Who was he?

A lanky silver and gray kit uncurled himself and stared at the world around him. He was in some brush, and nearby he could hear the sounds of moving water. The kit didn't know where he'd come from; it seemed as if he'd just appeared. The kit took a few hesitant steps forward before wriggling through the brush. He tumbled out on the other side with a shrill mew. Shaking his head, the kit righted himself and looked around again. There was a she-cat by a river, smiling and kneading her paws. Somehow the kit felt he was supposed to go with her, and he padded over. The kit was a handsome little thing; a light gray pelt with darker gray spots dappling his pelt. His amber eyes were both intelligent and cautious as he approached the she-cat. From his build one might suspect him to be born into WindClan; he was rather tall and long. But this she-cat would know better.

"Who're you?" the kit mewed. He paused, then mewed, "Are you my mother?" Wasn't he supposed to have one of those?

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

The little kit opened her eyes to a whole world. She saw all sorts of colors and shapes, daylight and shadows. Looking up she saw a blue sky with white things in them; clouds? Looking down she saw her paws, which were white like the clouds. Where was she? What was she? The kit blinked a few times and thought she saw some movement. Not far away, she saw some bushes rustle and another light gray kit disappear into the undergrowth. She felt a strong tug toward him, almost kin-like. Maybe he would know what was going on.

Quickly the brown and white kit got to her paws, a little wobbly at first, but she could stand. Strange, but it felt natural to her. She trotted after him, calling "Wait!" in a tiny voice. Soon she emerged and saw the kit again. But she also saw another, much larger cat. Her kit-blue eyes looked around in confusion, and she stayed shyly quiet. What was going on?

[hedgie]

Who? What? When? Where? Why?!

Who was he?

What was he?

When did he get here?

Where in the world was he?

The most important thing though...

Why was he here?

Round eyes opened and flashed about the little clearing the spotted tom had woken up in, ending on two tiny front paws. The little tabby kit raised himself to surprisingly steady paws, though his steps were a bit wobbly as he walked around. Confused, he watched as two kits disappeared into the undergrowth, one after the other. The first one, another Tom, looked like him right down to the spots, except he was kind of silver-y in color. The other was a she-kit, tabby and white, and a bit smaller than him in size. Seeing them leave shocked him and he bolted on after the pair, accidentally flying past the she-kit as he fell and tumbled down a small hill, rolling right into the other one, that spotted tom.

Flat on his back, the speckle-furred kit blinked his eyes and laughed as a wide grin swept across his face.

"Hi!" he chirped, both at the tom and the blue-gray she-cat that stood over them. 'Who're you?"

Blueflower watched, still smiling as she watched one kit tumble down to meet her. He was a handsome little thing, though a bit ruffled from his incident. She chuckled as he righted himself, and laughed as another tom, this one spotted like his brother, but brown in coloration, rolled down the small slope and right into the first arrival. He was completely unfazed by his own accident, his personality already much different from the other. A she-kit, much more careful than the first pair, traveled down to meet her. Their questions were all the same, and she looked them all over before replying.

"Quiet, little ones. I'll tell you everything soon. First of all I am not your mother. But don't worry, it won't be too long until you see her yourselves. My name's Blueflower, and I'm here to take care of you while you stay here. Now....we must wait. you're not all here yet."

[Ki]

"OOF." The tom toppled forwards and hit the dirt again. He hissed in frustration, turning to see who had knocked him over. It was another kit, a tom like himself. The gray cat looked himself over. He was spotted like this new kit, who was now greeting him and the she-cat. There was a strong tug towards this kit, almost kin-like. The tom turned around to see another kit, this one a she-kit, stumbling towards them. The connection was there with her too. But there was also a feeling of emptyness. The she-cat-Blueflower, was it?-was right. There was someone missing. He kneaded his paws anxiously against the ground as he waited. Whoever was missing he hoped they'd hurry up. This feeling was like a hole inside of him. And he didn't like it at all. Then there was the burning curiousity. Who was he? Why was he here? Who were these other kits, and why did he feel connected to them? If Blueflower wasn't his mother, then who was?

Finally, he couldn't help it. Whoever these others were, he could fill them in when they got here. "Who am I?" Surely she could explain that, right?