Hoppin' around the (empty) nursery ;; open

[kitty]

The nursery could get very lonely, with only herself for company. But that was why Ashkit invented games and practiced hunting crouches and battle moves.

It was just after dawn (the gray she-cat always woke up early) and so far Ashkit had already sorted out clean moss from the soiled in the empty nests in the nursery, taking care with her own so as not to get her few possessions mixed in with the soiled needles that would she going straight back to the forest to be dumped there, now unusable. Most of the empty nests in the nursery were made completely out of moss; those were the ones for the nursing queens. That was Ashkit's idea - the pine needles that were mixed in with the other nests might poke the newborns. That wouldn't be good. Ashkit took great care to separate the moss and the pokey needles before she made those nests.

But the rest of the nests, with the exception of her own, had pine needles mixed in with the moss, although there was still mostly moss. The pine needles smelled nice, and were actually rather comfortable. This was the reason she tended to make her nest entirely out of pine needles. Not only did it occupy a lot of her time to sort out the bad needles, take them out of camp, and bring new needles in, but it made her smell nice, too. And she preferred the feel of pine needles to the feel of moss.

After piling the soiled moss and pine needles outside the nursery - she wasn't really allowed outside of camp so she let other cats take care of it - she made a run to the medicine den, where she knew Marshfoot kept a supply of moss just in case. This was where she usually got her moss for nests, although sometimes the apprentices would bring it in for her. She got a big ball of it and, back in the nursery, began repairing the nests she'd damaged. Just in case a queen moved into the nursery.

In no time, she was done, and when her task was completed, Ashkit allowed herself to play. She retrieved a mossball (there was now plenty of moss for that) and began batting it in the air. Her new favorite game was one she called "Keep the Mossball Off the Ground for as Long as Possible", or just "Keep Off" for short. She wasn't very good at it, and as she batted it around in the air, chasing it as quickly as her lopsided gait would allow her, she realized that it would probably be easier with another player.

Well, mousedung. There wasn't anyone in the nursery she could play with. She'd just have to stick with her game herself - maybe next time her mother visited she could talk her into playing with her.

[Yellowstar]

Brownpaw

Chores, chores, more chores. Tour the forest, go hunting for the elders, more chores. The life of an apprentice was starting to become meticulous, and Brownpaw wasn't sure what to think of it so far. Less than a moon had gone by since her apprenticing and most of her time had been spent doing normal things. She hadn't expected much else, but it surprised her how busy she suddenly was. It was rare for her to have time to spend around any of the other apprentices, much less her sister, during the daytime. Usually around sundown she had some time to eat and socialize, but by then she was exhausted from the long day and just wanted to sleep. But then she would have to hunt some more or continue chores. It was exhausting.

Today had started out average so far. She'd had to tend to the elders and give them fresh-kill, then make sure the bedding in their den was fresh. That wasn't such a bad job, except for the grumpy elders who didn't like being disturbed. Brownpaw was then sent to do the same to the nursery, and so she padded over to the den and was about to slip inside when she noticed something unusual. There was a pile of moss outside of the nursery's entrance, and after inspecting the pile Brownpaw realized it was all dirty moss. Had one of the other apprentices already done her job for her? She would be grateful if that was the case, but if an apprentice had already gone through the nursery's dirty moss, why was it dumped here instead of out in the forest? Curious, Brownpaw slipped inside the nursery. The familiar place almost made her think that she was still a kit for a second, filled with all the sights and scents of her kithood. She noticed Ashkit was awake, and felt a pang of sympathy for the other she-cat. She had grown up with Ashkit, and was even younger than her, but Ashkit could never become a warrior due to her... condition. Brownpaw felt sorry that she had become an apprentice but Ashkit had not, however she knew there wasn't much she could do about it. So she smiled faintly upon seeing the kit. "'Morning, Ashkit. Do you know who put that pile of moss outside?"

[kitty]

Ashkit froze from her position on her back on the floor of the nursery, a familiar scent reaching her nose. The mossball dropped to the ground a mouse-length away and rolled, coming to rest a tail-length or so away as the gray cat looked up in greeting as a brown apprentice pushed her way into the nursery. "Brownpaw!" she exclaimed, happy to see her friend. She'd left the nursery about a half moon ago, so she was even younger than the gray she-cat. Luckily there was nothing preventing her from becoming an apprentice, unlike Ashkit. While a bit envious, Ashkit did not hold this against the apprentice. "Good morning!" She flipped to her belly and rose to a sitting position, blinking warmly at the younger cat.

"Oh, that moss out there? That was me. I cleaned up the nests so that the apprentices wouldn't have to do it. I don't have anything better to do, anyway." She shrugged as if it was nothing - which in Ashkit's mind, it was. She wanted to help out her Clan, even in the little ways that wouldn't do much to impact the rest of Clan life, especially since the nursery was otherwise unoccupied save for Ashkit. ]"Sorry for leaving it sitting outside the nursery," Ashkit apologized, grimacing a bit. "I'm not really allowed out of camp without a warrior." That was another thing she envied - normal cats weren't watched warily when they did something as simple as cleaning out nests. "Less work than having to clean out the whole nursery though, right?"

[Yellowstar]

Brownpaw

"Oh... well, thanks." Brownpaw honestly hadn't expected to have half of the work done for her already. She was grateful, though, of course! This meant she only had to carry the moss outside of camp and then hopefully she would have more time to do other things. Whether that was training or relaxing, she would have to ask her mentor if she saw him again. She blinked gratefully at Ashkit, then shook her head. "N-no, it's fine! You're right, it'll be a lot easier now." And Ashkit had done a pretty good job at it, too, from what she could tell by a glance around at the nests. It appeared to be all clean. It was strange that a kit had done the job, though, but she supposed if she had been made an apprentice one moon ago it wouldn't be strange at all.

"I'm sorry you can't become an apprentice... you're really good at it- the chores," Brownpaw looked down slightly, hoping Ashkit wouldn't be upset by her bringing it up.

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