up on the mountain -- private

[Deleted]

Crowkit

Squirrelkit blinked as he stared at the wall of the nursery. It was the middle of the night and the den was filled with the sounds of sleeping kittens, yet he wasn't even tired. Well... okay, maybe he'd been yawning a little, but he was wide awake now.

The grey-and-white tom had found a tiny beetle a few moments ago. Now his entire world seemed to revolve around that tiny bug. It crawled down onto the floor and he stepped back to make more room for it to move, until he felt fur under one of his hind paws. Had he just stepped on somebody? Possibly, but there was no way he'd take his eyes off the beetle to check.

[Crowkit]

(onthemountainssssintheprairiiieesstotheocceeannssslifewilgoooooo)

Crowkit was happy. He was dreaming, and he was happy. In his dream it was warm. Warmer than his mossy nest. Warmer than a few extra feathers in the bedding. The sun was actually out, and warming his pelt. Crowkit had only experienced this warmth for real a few times in the waking world. Iceclan's harsh cold climate and the Winter sun were a bad mix for those who liked warmth. In his dream Crowkit was a warrior. Fast, running for a rabbit. His patrol was behind him, slower. He was about to pounce on the brown creature when he awoke, in mild pain.

He looked up to see another kit walking away. His paw hurt a little, but the pain was already fading away. Had the cat just stepped on him? Crowkit sat up and made an annoyed 'tsk' sound. "Ahem." He whispered, getting to his paws. "Excuse me for being stepped on, I guess?" He said sarcastically, perhaps a bit rudely. He wasn't overly friendly when awoken early, and especially not when he had been having a pleasant dream.

[Deleted]

(not the song I was thinking of but omg)

Squirrel didn't even notice that the other kitten had awoken until a voice was drifting towards his ears. Putting a paw over the beetle so it didn't run away without him looking, he twisted around.

"Huh? Oh! It's okay," the grey cat replied, having completely missed Crow's tone. He then turned back towards the beetle and removed his paw, upon which it scrambled several mouse-lengths away before returning to its slow exploration of the nursery.

"Do you want to watch, too?"

[Crowkit]

Crowkit was...shocked? He wasn't even sure how he felt about this tom's reply. Was he dumb? Crowkit walked closer to the cat and shook his head. "It's...a beetle." He commented, looking at the tom as if he were truly insane, which he appeared to be. "Does it...do..anything?" He asked curiously, somewhat hoping that Squirrelkit would prove the insane theory by saying something like 'It can show me what the other kits are dreaming' or 'Yep! It can talk to me!', both of which would be both horrifying, but amusing.

Ugh, why couldn't he have been left to his dream? Dealing with children was such hard work.

[Deleted]

Oh, this was exciting! The other kitten wanted to watch the beetle too. Surely that meant he'd found something really interesting? Maybe if he told the queens about this when they woke up, they might think he had done a good job in finding this beetle. That sounded like a good idea except for the fact that he had no idea how long the queens would sleep. He'd have to try to remember for later.

"Yep, it's a beetle! And it can do lots of things. Look," Squirrel meowed, then he gently reached forward and prodded the insect. It buzzed against his claws, which produced a rather strange sound, and then it hastened to move away faster.

"It's so cool. I wonder if it has friends somewhere."

[Crowkit]

Crowkit almost felt bad for the beetle when Squirrelkit put his paw on it. As if the insect wasn't likely scared enough of the two gigantic creatures looming over it, now it was stuck in place by a large fur-limb. But Squirrelkit seemed incredibly amused by the buzz sounds it made, which only made Crowkit feel even more uncomfortable. Had this been a mouse or a rabbit or even a robin he may feel differently, as those were prey. But this beetle was worthless, and did not need to be tortured like this.

Crowkit shrugged at Squirrelkit's wonder about the insect's friends. "Maybe. Or maybe it's a loner, away from its little bug Clan." He said, assuming it'd amuse Squirrelkit even further. As odd of a cat as the grey-and-white tom was, he was definitely friendly and innocent enough. Maybe he wasn't worth yelling at, after all.

[Deleted]

"No Clan? But won't it get lonely all by itself?" he asked with a small frown. Lifting his paw away, he watched the beetle carefully. "Maybe we should invite it to IceClan or something… would Robinstar allow that?"

Come to think of it, all of his Clanmates were cats. It'd be sorta difficult to communicate with other creatures. Not to mention, how would the beetle learn to fight and hunt? Maybe it could just hang around camp like the elders. Well, not to say that they did nothing; they had already served their time as warriors and were good for their wisdom. Maybe beetles didn't belong in IceClan after all.