Silence. [private/knotkit]

[Marshpaw]

An indefinite silence filled the nursery one particular morning. It was rather strange, given that kits were often rambunctious and loud, but anything could happen. During this silence, Marshkit sat in one of the far corners of the nursery, alone. Being a relatively new kit to the nursery made playing rather difficult with his lack of friends and young age. In fact, Marshkit wasn't even a shy kit nor was he anti-social in anyway possible, it was simply he had a slight difficulty figuring out what he wanted to do. He was just that little bit indecisive, and at times had trouble thinking of what game he would like to play, and before he knew it, the day was over.

"Moss ball, or tag?" He quietly uttered to himself. Moss ball was a little bit boring, but required less kits. Meanwhile tag was a lot of fun, but required a larger sum of kits. He stared blankly at his white paws, as though they would manage to give him an answer. His black tail swished silently beside him, since he couldn't stand staying still for long periods of time. He had a bad habit of moving his tail back and forth, but it became more common when he was thinking. At this particular time, the young kit was in deep thought, debating on which he would rather play.

[@knot and thanks for offering... kind of offering to join, but more so just doing me a major favor by making it so I don't need to waste a thread, friend. It is appreciated.]

[Deleted]

The nursery was silent. Knotkit felt like he was in the best place possible right now. Nobody was being too loud or anything. It was weird, but at the same time, he wanted it to be a constant. Knotkit still didn't want to do nothing though so he tried to find something to do while still staying silent. He found a kit who was awake, although for a second Knotkit wondered if they were simple asleep while sitting up and with their eyes open. If it hadn't been for the swaying tail he would have assumed they had been asleep.

Knotkit smiled and wandered as quietly as possible over to them. He sat down behind them and started playing a game he liked to call copycat. The premise was simple. You copy another cat. He sat down and stared at his paws just like the other kit had been. He began twitching his tail and he even tried to get into the correct rhythm. Knotkit heard him mumble something about mossballs or tag. Knotkit mumbled the same thing as quietly as he could. If the other kit heard him his game was over, but if he didn't then the stakes were raised.

[Marshpaw]

Marshkit's black tail continued swaying back and forth in a gentle, almost rhythmically. During the whole time of silence, he hadn't even notice the other kit walk over and stationed himself behind him. He hadn't noticed the slightest flickers of movement, but then again his yellow eyes were completely focused on his small, white paws. His tiny claws slide out, scratching at the small amounts of bedding below his paws. Like the rest of the nursery, the bedding was soft and almost acted like a thin padding to keep tumbling kits safe from injury. Only moments after he had spoken, a faint and inaudible mumble just reached his ears. Marshkit's head snapped up and his ears automatically pricked to the sudden sound of noise. Unfortunately for Marshkit, he had been mesmorised by his little debate and had failed to hear where exactly the mumble came from. This made it so he looked forward, rather than behind him, where the copy-cat was. Since his mind had become focused on the mumble, his tail had stopped moving, and other then the darting of his eyes, he was completely frozen. His yellow eyes scanned in front of him, darting from one nest to the next, but to no avail.

The young kit cocked his head slightly to the right, had he heard something? It could've been one of the other nursery occupants muttering in their sleep, or maybe even two kits whispering between each other. However, one thing remained in Marshkit's mind, just how close the mumble had sounded. The creative aspects of the black kit's mind began to rise as he thought of all the possibilities. Maybe it was an unknown creature who wished to befriend him, or one he would be able to fight. The endless amount of possibilities filled his mind, and gave him the bravery to speak out. "Hello? Anyone there?" He called in a quiet voice, trying his best not to disturb the other nursery occupants. If Marshkit had managed to hear that quiet murmur, it had to be near-by, right?

[Deleted]

Knotkit watched the other kit while his head faced his paws. He tried to copy his body to the best of his ability. After he mumbled his copy of the other kit's words the kit's head snapped upwards and their ears stood at attention. Knotkit continued with his game. He copied the alert body language that the other kit now had. He was careful not to move too fast and draw attention to himself from where he was seated behind the other kit. He wanted this game to go on as long as he possibly could. Knotkit no longer moved except to breathe, and even that he tried to match to his target's pattern. It was a pretty big ordeal.

Then the other kit spoke again. Knotkit almost laughed, but he somehow managed to stop himself. It was time for the real test. "Hello? Anyone there?" He repeated as quietly as he deemed legal in his game, which was very quiet. His eyes were trained on the black kit as he waited to see their reaction. So far they hadn't looked behind theirself. Knotkit decided then that if the other kit turned around he might just have to keep his game going, see how the other kitten reacted. Some cats got mad when he repeated what they said and how they moved, but not all of them. Knotkit liked to see where everybody stood on the 'able-to-be-annoyed' scale. It was almost like another game to him.

[Marshpaw]

The black and white kitten hoped for a response. His mind fluttering with wonder at what this "mythical creature" had to offer. Only mere moments after the words spilled from his mouth, the parroting kit repeated them in a tone that was even more inaudible than the last. Marshkit's black ears twitched for a second, and his head took a slightly more frantic look around the nursery. His yellow eyes scanned each spot of the den, taking note to anything that could've made the tiny noise he had barely managed to catch a breath of. Every nest, body and even the walls of the nursery were all taken into register. That was when out of the corner of his eye, he saw it, sitting on a few paw steps behind him, a knotty-furred brown kit. Marshkit re-positioned his sitting position in order to face the kit that had been, to the smallest degree, tormenting him.

Based on the kit's much larger size, Marshkit could already guess he was older than him, or just an extremely large kit. During this occasion, Marshkit had no clue what to say to the kit who had parroted him right down to the very last detail. In fact, it took a few moments before Marshkit had figured out his choice of words. "Hey, were you the one mumbling? Are you shy or something?" Marshkit meowed in a questioning tone. Maybe the kit had heard his own mumbling and wanted to play a game, but was too shy to ask? The black kit wasn't even sure if that was the case, since one would think that a shy kit would, at the very least, speak loud enough for someone to just hear them.

[Deleted]

It was a toss up as to whether or not the other kit might notice him. On one hand if he was noticed then maybe he could continue to bug the other kit more, but on the other hand his game right now was pretty fun, so either way it went was fine with Knotkit. He watched as his target perked up even more. They seemed to be getting more and more frantic each time he repeated something they said. They hadn't looked behind theirself yet so they couldn't even see that it was him making the noises. It was probably freaking them out. Knotkit would probably be freaked out if there was some unknown voice repeating everything he said.

Then Knotkit realized he had zoned out and when he looked back at his target they were looked right at him. Knotkit adjusted his own position into the new sitting position that the kit had. Now that Knotkit had gotten a good look at his target he could see that they were male and they were probably younger than Knotkit. Of course most of the kits in the nursery were, as he was almost an apprentice. The game had to go on though and boy did it go on. The other kit asked a question, whether it was him mumbling and if he was shy. Now it was time for the real test. "Hey, were you the one mumbling? Are you shy or something?" Knotkit repeated, trying to match the other kit's tone perfectly.

[Marshpaw]

Looking the kit made it more obvious that there was some sort of mimicking happening here. The knotty-furred tom had adjusted his own position to replicate Marshkit's, then spoke the same words. The black tuxedo tom gave the brown kit a look of utter confusion. This involved the slight gaping of his mouth and the elevation of one of his eyebrows. That was when it came to him, everything that had just happened was this older kit parroting him. There was no mystic creature nor was there just the simple murmur of another nursery occupant, it was just a parroting kit. "Let me guess, they call you Copykit." Marshkit meowed in an attempt to tease the kit. It was almost like a more verbal game of follow the leader, and it seemed Marshkit was the leader in this situation.

Considering Marshkit was unfamiliar with the kit before him, it was difficult to say if this was the kit's normal behavior. The black kit settled down into a laying position on the floor, thinking about how strange it would be to have a kit randomly copy others. Marshkit gave a slight chuckle at the thought of all the possible rage a cat like that could induce. Speaking of rage, Marshkit had no plans to go to anger quickly, if this kit truly was vent of copying him, why not have some fun? It wasn't every day a he would find a "mirror" to play with after all. He thought for a few moments on what he wanted to do first, all the while presuming that the brown kit was still there.

That was when it came to him, the perfect idea to test his new "mirror" and get a giggle out of it. Marshkit stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes, making a rather ridiculous looking face. If this kit had plans to be his little "mirror" might as well see if it would burst into laughs or copy his ridiculous looking face.

[Deleted]

Knotkit watched as the other kit became a little confused. He matched it as fast and as accurately as he could. Sometimes Knotkit was a little late with the facial cues, but he usually got them pretty quickly. It took a little longer than actual body things since moving a leg or head is larger and easier to catch, so there were different rules for each thing. With other cat's face he gave himself a little leeway. Larger body movements had stricter rules. The rules for talking were pretty easy, but he had to do the best he could to copy it exactly.

"Let me guess, they call you Copykit." Knotkit stated. He was laughing in his head, but he didn't dare actually laugh. That was breaking the rules and once he broke the rules the game ended. He then matched the kit laying down. It took him a few seconds at most to match the younger cat exactly. The kit then chuckled and he chuckled too. It was a little harder to match the exact way the kit laughed, but Knotkit was pretty happy with how well he did. It was accurate to say the least.

Then there was just a few moments of them staring at each other. The other kit seemed to look like he was thinking about something. Knotkit didn't even try to copy that look. It was a look in the eyes, not a look on the face. It was one of his many rules. Then something happened. The kit morphed his face into the funniest thing that had ever happened while Knotkit had been playing the game. He tried to copy it, but halfway through he burst into fits of giggling. "I give. You win." He laughed out.

[Marshpaw]

Marshkit's little "mirror" continued replicating his movements and facial expressions at a rather surprising rate. There was no shame in being a few seconds off, seeing as no kit had the capabilities to see in the future. Once he had used his devilish plan to make a ridiculous looking face had worst. His "mirror" was unable to replicate his stuck out tongue and crossed eyes. Rather than replicating it, his "mirror" went into a fit of giggles from his funny looking face. As the brown kit had been trying to copy his facial features, he had nearly cracked under the pressure himself. The face he had made was rather funny, and even if his "mirror" hadn't been capable to replicate it, he could just feel it was rather ridiculous. His funny looking face faded, and was replaced with a triumphant smile.

He hadn't known about the game, but upon hearing about he felt even more proud of his victory. "So, this whole time you were playing a game?" Marshkit meowed, stating the obvious. That was when Marshkit found it suitable to make a joke of sorts. The black and white kit sat up and smiled at the knotty-furred kitten. "Well, I don't think many could withstand the Crossed-Eyed Tongue move." Marshkit meowed, adding a little chuckle to the end of his sentence. Even though the brown kit was the source of some frantic searching, he found that the game the kit had made was rather fun. Marshkit was involuntary thrown into it, but he hadn't mind at all since it had ended with giggles.

[Deleted]

Knotkit watched the other kit closely still. The game was no longer going on, but he was a kit who watched things very closely. The other kit seemed pretty happy that they won the game and they should be, usually he won. Winning the game consisted of the other cat either yelling or running away. It was a fun game, well at least it was fun for Knotkit, many other cats that he played with found it annoying, not this cat thought, they seemed pretty happy that they won, which they should be. "Yea it seems not even I could withstand that." Knotkit meowed in response to their second comment.

"So what's your name?" Knotkit asked. He looked them up and down. Maybe they were like Nightkit or Patchkit or something. "I'm Knotkit." He stated. Knotkit shook his knotted fur to show off why he was named the way he was. Sometime he wished his fur would lay flat like normal cat's fur did, but no matter what he did he always woke up with knotted fur. That's what he gets for being called Knotkit.

[Marshpaw]

Marshkit hadn't noticed how closely he was being observed by the brown kit. The sheer amount of glee he was feeling had managed to blind him in a way. Then again, it wasn't everyday someone wins a game they didn't even know they were participating in. The smile continued to play across Marshkit's face as he calmed, and prior to usual, his tail slowly went back to its' casual swaying habit. He released another little chuckle as the kit agreed about his point on the newly named, "Crossed-Eyed Tongue Move". With the way the sentence was formatted, Marshkit guessed that the knotty-furred kit often won his little game of copy cat.

After everything had seemingly calmed down, the kit asked Marshkit for his name. "The name's Marshkit." Marshkit meowed, introducing himself in a casual way. Upon hearing the kit's name, it was easy to speculate on why the brown kit was referred to as such. "I can see why. Must be annoying having so many knots in your fur," Marshkit presumed. Unlike Knotkit, Marshkit fur was pretty well groom, with the exception of the odd few pieces sticking up at times due to tumbling around the nursery. That was when a thought came across Marshkit's mind, now that this game was done, what were they going to do? He wasn't sure if Knotkit wanted to play another game with him, or go and find another victim. "So, now that your game of copy-cat is done, what should we do now?" Marshkit asked, hoping that he may not have to make the decision. The black tuxedo kit would preferably not want to end up in another heated debate with himself, but anything could happen.

[Deleted]

So the kit's name was Marshkit? Knotkit began trying to figure out why they were called Marshkit. It might have been because of the color of his eyes, which were a greenish color. It was a very nice color and Knotkit began to lean in a little to get a better look at them. He probably looked really weird, but he didn't really care. The other kit said something about the knots in his fur and he just shrugged. "Eh, sometimes they get annoying, but for the most part I don't mind. You get used to them, you know? Sometimes I worry that cats think I just don't clean my fur, but it just stays this way. It's so hard to keep it nice." He rambled, then stopped and realized that he was still looking at the other kit's eyes.

Knotkit leaned back and wrapped his tail around his paws. "I like your eyes. They're a very cool color." He meowed. Knotkit's own eyes were so dark they were almost black, of course they were actually brown. He wished he had some cool color for his eyes, like yellow, or blue, or green. His eyes were just dark. Knotkit looked past the kit at the other cats in the den. Not many of them were sitting up, most of them were laying in their nests and talking with there friends. He wondered if in the future Marshkit would be considered his friend. So far he seemed okay.

[Marshpaw]

After a few moments, Marshkit noticed the dark, almost black, eyes staring into his yellow eyes. It was as though Knotkit was studying them, which was a little abnormal to Marshkit. He wasn't use to other cats looking into his eyes, especially so closely. It was indeed strange, but Marshkit decided it was best to just dismiss the staring. It was a bit awkward, making it difficult, but Marshkit did his best to sit still, and even wrapped his tail around his paws. The tip of his tail moved back and forth in the slightest way. He watched as Knotkit shrugged and explained a few thing about his knotty fur. The idea of knotty fur creating an uncleaned appearance did make sense, and how it was a bother just to keep it nice. After Knotkit had finished his little ramble, he'd leaned back and stopped looking into Marshkit's eyes.

"I can't imagine how much of a bother cleaning it must be. Heh, makes me happy my fur doesn't tangle up all the time." Marshkit personally couldn't care less about what others thought of his fur. Perhaps it was because he was a kit, or maybe it was simply his careless attitude coming into play, but he decided it was best not to say any of this. That was when a compliment was swung Marshkit's way, stating that he had a nice eye color. It took him a moment to think of a way to react, since he hadn't expected to be commented on the color of his eyes. "Thanks," Marshkit meowed, keeping it simple. The kit hadn't thought much about his looks, let alone his eye color, but it appeared the conversation was taking a sharp turn in that direction.

That was when his black ears pricked up to the noises of the nursery, which was mostly casual conversation. Marshkit decided to ignore the noise and stay focused on the conversation at hand. Unfortunately, Knotkit had ignored his prior question about what they were going to do, so Marshkit decided to just keep the conversation going. "So, what games do you like to play?" Marshkit asked curiously. He absolutely loved games, in fact Marshkit couldn't think of anything better to do as a kit, making games a prime target.

[Deleted]

Marshkit stated that his fur didn't get in tangles that often. Knotkit wondered what that was like. Even if he untangled his fur in the morning by the time he went to sleep it was back into knots and he would either have to leave it the next day or go through the process of untangling it all over again. He often just left it and went through the day with tangled fur, only on special days did he actually untangle his fur. When Knotkit commented on the other kit's eyes he seemed like he didn't know what to say to that, so he just said thanks. Knotkit almost laughed at that response. It was just so simple.

Knotkit looked at Marshkit when he asked what he liked to play. He thought for a second. He never really played games with other kits. He usually just played his copycat game, and that was more of a one person game. He had once played a game with a kit named Sunkit and that had been pretty fun, but it didn't seem appropriate for such a quiet room so he decided that it wasn't his favourite game at the moment. "I like that game I just played with you the most, but I also like to explore." He explained. Exploring and climbing were two things he found fun. "What about you?" He asked.

[Marshpaw]

Of course Knotkit enjoyed his little game of copy-cat, but Marshkit wondered why exactly he enjoyed copying other so much. However, he decided it was best not to question him about such. So he dismissed it and focused on the second point, which made him smile. Exploring what something Marshkit really enjoyed, mostly because it was a time to make up stories and pretend to be a warrior. For a second, Marshkit was pondering the idea of adventuring, until realizing the question was swung back at him. "Huh? Oh, sorry, got distracted." Marshkit meow, feeling a bit bad for not paying attention for those few seconds. "Anyways, I like exploring too. However, I'll play anything myself." Marshkit answered, explaining a little bit. He didn't care about what he played, as long as it was a game really.

Marshkit's tiny claws slid out ad clawed at the slight "padding" while he thought of what to say next. He guessed that most of the kits chattering around them knew each other prior, making it easy to move onto another topic. Meanwhile, this was the first time he had met Knotkit, and he wasn't completely sure what to say next. His yellow eyes stared off at the ground, his talkative trait trying to think of something else to speak of. Then a moment of brilliance came and he had the perfect question to ask. "What adventures have you been on?" Marshkit asked, trying to keep the conversation about adventures going. Marshkit loved stories, so asking about adventures meant that stories would easily go in hand with such.