Don't mind me [P]

[Hornetstripe]

The nursery was quite warm, the bodies of sleeping cats littered around radiated enough heat to keep out the biting head of the frost outside. Sleeping in the cosy ridge of a mothers underside wasn't a choice activity at the moment, however. A certain she-cat wasn't that comfortable with sharing a nest with strange cats, even if they were technically her "family". Though still a kit, she was aware that she wasn't exactly kin to any of the queens. A golden and black tabby with long fur and a completely different build doesn't just come from the cat deemed her mother. She knew she was adopted, that much didn't worry her, but the undeniable strangeness of sleeping next to a litter of strange kits repelled her. So, sitting at the edge of the den, peering out at the camp was how she spent her time tonight. 

The maine coon sat facing the entrance of the den, watching the snow fall softly to the ground outside. The flakes drifted slowly down, and she watched each individual one she laid eyes upon slowly make its decent, melting into the white sheet upon landing. Most cats complained of the cold, but her thick winter pelt helped keep out the temperature and keep the complaints in. Well, not that anyone would really be around to listen to them. She wasn't particularly the most social of cats.
The shift of a body behind her startled her somewhat, but she kept her gaze fixated on the scene before her. If they didn't bother her, that was fine. If they did...she'd just have to see what happened then. 


--Foxstrike--

[Foxstrike]

Foxkit never understood why other kits were so fidgety at night. They were supposed to spend all day running around and playing games so that when the time came to sleep for a change, they actually would. It was hard enough for him to do the same with all the snoring, but one kit had to make it even worse by actually getting out of their nest. The sound of moving bedding and light pawsteps had disturbed Foxkit from his slumber, and while a part of him wanted to scold the kit, the other was curious as to why they had gotten up so late in the night. Clearly it hadn't been to make dirt- they had stopped in front of the entrance, so what was it?

Grumbling quietly to himself, the young tom sighed and got to his paws, avoiding his siblings next to him by scent, and followed the kit who had indirectly woke him up, locating them by remembering the last place he'd heard them make a noise. Another scent and breathing confirmed a presence there, and Foxkit sat a little while away from the kit, listening silently to determine what they were doing.

It seemed that it was snowing. The moisture in the air was the giveaway. Perhaps that was the reason for this kit leaving their nest. Foxkit ruffled his fur, fluffing it out to protect himself from the cold. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked after a while, seeming a bit irritated, as it had been this kit's fault that he was awake in the first place. Kits and their fascination with the night sky, with watching the snow- he would never understand it.

[Hornetstripe]

The cat behind her spoke, and Hornetkit sighed quietly. Great, the one time I'd like to be left alone and this happens. The cat, a tom by the sound of it, seemed slightly annoyed. and she wondered silently what had upset him. Too cold for him, perhaps? Turning her head to the side just enough to acknowledge the other cats presence but not lay eyes upon them, she murmured, "It's too crowded. I don't feel very comfortable."
Not feeling the need to say much more, and having little motivation to bother, she turned her head back towards the camp, not really taking in the view, but awaiting the tom's response.

[Foxstrike]

Foxkit heard her shift slightly, possibly turning to look at him, but she didn't seem to truly look at him for too long- he couldn't feel his fur prickling on the back of his neck as he usually could when he was being watched. "Hmmm. Good enough reason, I suppose," he decided aloud. "I'll forgive you for waking me up." He didn't have to say that, but he didn't see any harm in it. For a minute or two, both were silent. Foxkit strained his ears to hear the ever so quiet fall of the snowflakes, listening to them fall and trying to determine what they would look like. He had to create his own image- descriptions like 'white' did him no good.

"Do you like watching the snow? It seems to fascinate many of the others."

[Hornetstripe]

"Waking you up?" Hornetkit was slightly confused for a moment, trying to recall how much noise she made exiting the nest earlier, before deciding it wasn't worth it furthering the issue. She enjoyed the small expanse of silence, taking the time to adjust her position and turn around a bit so she could see the cat if needed. She snuck a quick glance at him, raking her eyes over his brown and orange tabby pelt before landing on his face. She blinked a few times, before returning her gaze to the snow.
A small smile broke out on her face at his question, and she nodded. "Yes, I do. It's just so...pretty. Each individual flake has its own unique mosaic of patterns, and its so wondrous that they just...disappear when they land. It's strange how such tiny flakes can coat an entire forest-" Blabbering. Stop blabbering. He doesn't care.
Stopping herself mid sentence, she shut her mouth and worryingly turned her gaze back to the tom. She forced herself to look into his eyes for a moment, before saying quietly, "Your eyes are pretty. They look like the snow."

[Foxstrike]

"Yes. You woke me up- I heard you," he stated simply, not elaborating on his seemingly heightened senses. She didn't ask, so there was no reason to. He could tell that now she was actually looking at him, and he was never sure how, but it just felt like it. He only hummed thoughtfully as she described why she admired the snow, as though he could see it himself and even agreed. Admittedly, he did enjoy the way Hornetkit described the snowflakes. She did it differently than other kits, she was more detailed in her words, she admired the small things about them instead of simply saying they were small and white. Foxkit was somewhat disappointed when she stopped speaking suddenly. He would have liked it if she had gone on.

He had opened his mouth to speak, to urge her to continue, when what she said next made his words stop in his throat, breath hitching, and eyes widening in a show of shock he couldn't hide. Such a display was rare from him- he'd never been surprised that much by anyone before. He could always hear a cat before they moved, he could always guess what they were about to say. He prided himself in always being aware of the possibilities of what would happen next and being able to plan ahead, but he could never have predicted this. 

Nobody had ever complimented his eyes. Other cats were disturbed by them, and if they didn't ask what was wrong with them they wouldn't say anything at all. Foxkit had gathered that they must have looked abnormal, there must have been something strange about them, but he'd never been bothered by it. He'd learn to deal with it. He never expected anyone to like them, much less say anything if they had, because they assumed he was sensitive about the topic. He wasn't. But even so, his expectation of others was to not mention it in such a fond manner, and when for the first time, somebody had spoken of them so kindly...it had been a surprise. Foxkit blinked, for a moment, eyebrows furrowing as he struggled to come up with a response. Had Hornetkit even realized that he was blind yet? His mouth opened and closed a few times as he chose his words carefully, and after swallowing and managing to reign in his shock, he spoke.

"D-do they?" he asked, wincing at the way his voice shook. "I suppose I wouldn't know. Nobody has ever complimented them before. They're....useless." That was as good a term for them as 'blind', he guessed. "Nobody likes to talk about them. But thank you. I'm afraid I can't compliment your appearance in return...but I like your voice." That had been painfully awkward- Foxkit was new to compliments. "It's nice to listen to."

[Hornetstripe]

Hornetkit turned her head away from the tom, not really prepared to witness his response to her compliment. The silence that dragged out after she spoke worried her quite a bit, and she bit her lip. Did I make him uncomfortable...? Was..was I not supposed to say anything about? None of the Queens warned me not to... Intensely worried that she had somehow offended the tom, Hornetkit struggled to think of an apology, when he finally spoke. 

His voice broke a little, and she feared momentarily that he was upset, before she relaxed when he continued. She was slightly confused when he vaguely explained that his eyes didn't work, before a million thoughts and queries poured into her head regarding his eyesight. They don't work? At all? H-how does he...what? Forcing herself to stay quiet for the sake of politeness, and not wanting to end up offending the tom due to a few misplaced words if she let her questions slip, Hornetkit "mhmm"'d in understanding and tried to focus on his words. At his compliment, a wide smile formed on her lips, and she awkwardly stared at her paws, trying desperately not to overreact. Calm down, it's just a compliment...it doesn't mean anything, he's just being polite. You're not that special.

Clearing her throat, she dipped her head quickly in thanks, before realising her mistake and mewing a quick, "Thank-you." Desperate to have at least a few of her questions answered, the she-cat allowed herself to vocalise the main point that was bugging her. "So, uhm, what exactly do you see? Like are there colours or is it black? And do you see light-wait, no, dumb questions, sorry. I know you can't really, you know, describe colours..." Struggling for words, the maine coon sighed and shuffled her paws. "Sorry. My name's Hornetkit, if you'd...like to know."

[Foxstrike]

He could easily understand her seeming a bit more nervous as she put the pieces together and realized he couldn't see. It must have been strange for a cat to imagine life without one of the apparently crucial senses, as it was for Foxkit to imagine anything other than the nothing he was used to. While imagining what it was like to see things, what they might looks like, it was also strange. His dark, black world was all he knew, and imagining anything else made him feel as strange as it did curious. And for another cat to imagine life without sight? It must have also been strange. Others always seemed surprised by how much he seemed to know about the world as well- Hornetkit's nervousness could have also been in part from realizing that he had reached her without using his eyes to locate her. It could have been unnerving.

Or perhaps she was fidgety over something else entirely. In any case, her pulse had quickened ever so slightly, and the silence that followed his earlier words seemed a little too forced to be intentional. Foxkit nodded his head as if to say, You're welcome before he paused and considered her question. Hornetkit was quickly becoming perhaps one of the least predictable cats he had met- so curious about what he saw, or what he didn't, and much more forward about the subject than anyone else he had met. It was odd to consider how to describe what had always been normal for him. How to describe what it was not to see....

"Hmm...from my...albeit limited understanding of the word, I would describe it as dark," he said, picking his words carefully. "It's...blank. The idea of sight is as foreign to me as the idea of living without it is to you. But I still know where things are. My other senses seem to be more...enhanced, compared to other's. If you want me to go on, you need only ask- I don't mind at all, contrary to popular belief."

"Hornetkit. I am Foxkit. You...were not born here, yes?" She didn't carry the scent of Meadowlark as much as the others. It clung to her fur, yes, yet he could tell it wasn't her scent. "I am sorry if that is a topic I should avoid, I was only curious."

[Hornetstripe]

The willingness the tom had about discussing his blindness was a relief to her, and Hornetkit let his description form some sort of image in her mind. When he said dark, she could easily imagine the black abyss she saw when her eyes were closed, and wondered vaguely how he could put up with the swallowing darkness for so long. The idea was scary to her, and she quickly dismissed the images, silently commending the kit for his efforts to adjust to such a lifestyle. She nodded automatically at the mention of his senses, wondering how much more he could feel the cats around him. A ruffle of fur might be as loud as the howling wind to him for all she knew, which could be quite intimidating at times, but she was glad he gained his heightened senses at the loss of sight.

Hornetkit was more than willing to let the tom continue, especially intrigued with the concept of his lifestyle, but remained silent as he finally introduced himself. "I can see where that came from. Your pelt does rather look like a foxes from what I've heard about them, plus a few stripes," she added as an afterthought, wondering if he'd been given a description of a fox before, before becoming flustered at her ignorance. Don't treat him like an idiot, you mousebrain. If you were him, you wouldn't like it either.

At Foxkit's question, she sighed quietly. "It's fine, really. But yes, that's true. I don't exactly fit in to the most extent, and having a bunch of strange cats around isn't exactly my cup of tea, even if they're technically my 'family'. I don't even know where I came from, to be honest," she said, glancing around at the sleeping bodies deeper in the den. "And it's kind of sad that I never got to meet my parents, let alone know who they are and why they left me."
She glanced back up at Foxkit, forcing a small smile and relaxing her shoulders. "Sorry about that, got a little depressing there. If it's all right with you, could I learn a little more about about your...eyes? Just, you know, how you see things."

[Foxstrike]

[[ Sorry for such a late reply! I've been traveling and visiting family. ]]

Truthfully, Foxkit didn't mind the dark. It was familiar to him, the black he'd always grown up with, and the idea of anything other than it was foreign and unnerving. The thought of sight scared him as much as it made him curious. He had no longing to see anything, but often wondered what it was like. The thought of never-ending darkness was probably as strange to Hornetkit as the idea of anything else was to Foxkit, though. Even if she felt bad for him, though, her own curiosity seemed to overpower it, and Foxkit was glad she could see past pity and instead take an interest in how he saw. It was nice to speak to someone who didn't assume he was irked by the topic, and instead spoke freely. It made him feel less…abnormal. Less small and pitiful. More like he was actually a part of something.

"It does? Interesting," he murmured, half to himself. He hadn't the slightest idea what a fox was like, but was still somewhat glad to be compared to one- they were respected, even if he wasn't. "Thanks for letting me know." She seemed to get nervous after that comment, too, but he ignored it. Best not to let her know he could tell she was second guessing herself.

"Hmmm. If it helps any, I don't exactly feel like I 'fit in' either. My mother was a rogue- Brissa. My father, a warrior. Despite the remarks of that and my 'disability-'" He said the word with emphasis, as though it was in quotes. He didn't think it was a disability in the slightest- his senses empowered him over others. "-my loyalties lie with TreeClan. Even if most of the cats here are stereotypical loud morons, and most of them barely pay me any mind. I suppose the point is that even though I know where I came from, it doesn't always define where I'll stay. Even if you don't know where you came from, it shouldn't matter. Your actions now define you." With the monologue that had been much longer than he intended it to be out of the way, he sighed and prepared to speak yet again. He somewhat liked talking to Hornetkit. She was concerned with much more than simply games and apprenticeship and fighting. There was a mind behind her words, a thinking, clever mind.

"I 'see' by using scents, sounds. I can locate other cats and determine their size by their paw steps, And to find out where things are, like rocks and trees, I can listen to the way sound bounces around them. I can tell how close they are, how big they are. I've memorized the whole camp by now, actually. Would you like me to prove it?"

[Hornetstripe]

(It's fine, gave me some time to catch up with posts a little)

A little guiltily, Hornetkit was relieved that Foxkit felt the slight inability to fit in that she did, and felt herself warm up a little to the tom. Finding likeable cats wasn't the easiest task for the socially awkward and silently judgemental maine coon, so at the possibility of meeting a new ally, or perhaps even friend, was a huge feat. She took note of the way way he described his blindness, finally coming to the conclusion that he wasn't sensitive to the topic, and a number of new questions surfaced to ask Foxkit later. She snorted quietly at his remark about their fellow Clanmates, and silently agreed, looking back at the rather boisterous conversations she had witnessed outside the Nursery earlier that day. She nodded when he finished, murmuring in agreement while she thought of a response.
"You're pretty wise for your age, you know," she said, lowering her voice. "Just between you and me, I've heard words the equivalent of mouse dung come out of full grown Warriors mouths a lot more often than I'd care to admit. Your intelligence puts a huge portion of this Clan to shame, my friend."

Horneykit's eyes strayed away from Foxkit as she tried to imagine his description. Wow, his hearing must be really good if he can judge size based off pawsteps. How do you even do that? I can barely hear myself think most of the time with the level of noise that Clan makes during the day... Her thoughts trailed off and her gaze slid back over to Foxkit, glancing up at his ears in wonder. At his offer, her eyes widened and she nodded, trying to contain her excitement. Yess, an excuse to go out in the snow, plus a cool demonstration. Tonight is a good night. "You don't have to prove anything," she mewed, trying to keep her cool. "I already believe you. But, if you'd like to, lead the way." Hornetkit rose to her feet and stepped to the side, making room for the tom to exit the den. I wonder how he'll go about traversing the snow? I'm sure he'll be fine, though. He's bound to have practised loads since he was born around Leaf-bare.