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Literature Text
ACORNY CLIMB
Nettlekit & Cricketkit
OakClan Roleplay
6108 Words
"Desperate to kill a little boredom, Nettlekit tries to scale the camp’s Great Oak for the sake of a good view. Despite Cricketkit expressing her concerns, she agrees to attempt the climb herself ... and it goes about as well as you’d think. "
Digging his little claws into the tree’s bark, Nettlekit hoisted himself up onto one of the lower branches of the camp’s main tree. It was still only midday judging by the amount of light filtering through the oak’s canopy, and the amount of cats out on patrol was probably the only reason he hasn't been yelled at yet to come down. But for all the complaining the adults did, none of them seemed to be aware of just how boring it was sitting around in the nursery waiting to be apprenticed. The elders told the same six stories and the queens grew tired of their games after they lost most of their baby fluff. So, if he was supposed to entertain himself he would! And though he wasn’t very high off the ground yet, the tabby tom was already enjoying the feeling of having a goal.
Cricketkit sat on the edge of the nursery's entrance, head between her paws as she lay boredly trying not to overheat in the shade. One brother was ill, the other was on patrol to get some herbs for said illness. And yet here the she-kit lay, having interacted many times with many a sick apprentice and kit alike and found herself completely unaffected. She almost wondered if she was immune to it at this point. Yet for all her luck, she wasn't exactly grateful for it when she was so bored. If it weren't for the fact she was literally searching all of camp for something interesting to watch, she wouldn't have noticed the stripey brown fuzzball climbing his way onto a tree branch of The Oak tree. And the fuzzball was much too big for a moth and too small for a warrior. Standing up anxiously, she walked closer to see she in fact found the underside of this kit recognizable as she had hidden under it once before. "...Nettlekit?! What are you doing!?"
Shortly after dismissing the idea that anyone was going to interrupt his climbing, the sound of a voice beneath him was enough of a surprise to make him stumble. He gripped the bark tightly, regaining his balance and slowing his heart-rate before turning to peer over the edge of the branch. Staring back at him was a familiar face, and he recognized the she-kit with a smile. “Oh, hi Cricketkit!” He called down, turning himself on his perch to glance down more comfortably. “I’m just climbing this tree!” Nettlekit’s smile widened to a grin, “isn’t it great?”
Cricketkit flinched when the tom above seemed to suddenly move, only to peer back with a carefree grin. "N-No! I-I mean yes you're very good at climbing but that's so dangerous! How are you going to get down?" She mewed up loudly, terror in her eyes at the idea of the small tom getting in trouble or worse, falling off and to his death. She'd blame herself as well if anything bad happened now that she had found him. She looked cautiously at the bark which had the claw marks of generations of cats finding adventure within their own camp, but to her it just felt dangerous and risky. Brushing her own paw against the large claw marks of an obvious warrior, she doubted she'd be able to ever climb a tree herself with such weak little paws.
He smiled at the thought of being a good climber; it’s true he had been getting a lot of practice in around his littermates lately, but it wasn’t every day that he got the chance to climb a whole tree. He knew that Cricketkit was probably right when it came to the adventure being dangerous, but in a way, so was interacting with the sick cats. That didn’t mean they were just going to be left alone though! With this reasoning, he shrugged it off and thought instead to the issue of getting back down. Nettlekit hummed thoughtfully, mostly to himself. That was… a surprisingly good question. “Well I’m not coming down yet so I can worry about that later!” he chimed, then lit up as if he had suddenly gotten the best of ideas. “Hey! You should come up too! I bet the view will be awesome!” He noticed Cricketkit’s attention towards the claw marks that covered the side of the Oak Tree, and among all of the grooves, the tabby tom felt a swell of pride that his were going to be there, too. Everything was more fun when you got to share it with others however, and he stared down at the brown she-kit hopefully.
The little brown she-kit hummed in annoyance at his devil-may-care attitude to getting down, looking up again with a pout. But before she could vocalize how dumb a plan like that was, his next suggestion left her almost jumping, small ears flattening against her head. She mewed loudly, tone of disapproval in her voice. "N-No way. It's dangerous - and I do care about finding a way to get down afterwards." Yet.. the number of small scratch marks that littered this tree were a clear reminder of how cats much smaller than her had taken the risk and viewed camp from the tree tops. The latest apprentice ceremony had been another kicker to her esteem, as more kits were made apprentices to join her brothers and leave her behind. That mean old warrior Oats had said she was the softest kit in camp.. maybe this would prove her wrong. "I.. I don't even know how to climb though.."
Listening to Cricketkit’s words thoughtfully, he could see the reasoning behind them. But Nettlekit would never just leave it there; he had to try a little, first! The voice in the back of his mind told him not to be that cat - who pressured others to do things they didn’t want to, but despite how high he had climbed, Nettlekit could’ve sworn that the look the brown she-kit shot at the claw marks was almost wistful. He slinked down a branch... and then another... moving slowly and carefully and trying to keep at least two clawed-paws in contact with the bark at all times. Cricketkit had been right to worry, because making his way down even these few short stages was proving to be difficult. But when he was on one of the bottom-most branches, he felt pleased that he could see her better, and didn’t have to yell. “It’s not too hard, you were born with those claws! I can show you some stuff Orchidkit taught me if you’d like?” Nettlekit offered, cocking his head to the side. “ And if you want, we don’t have to go too high, just enough to see the camp real good!”
Cricketkit watched fearfully as her tabbied companion slowly navigated his way down, almost clawing the dirt in suspense until the tom had made it to one of the lowest branches. As he tried to persuade her, she felt herself being convinced a little - after all the claws she had in her little paws were meant to be used somehow. "Well... If you promise to show me how to do it.. And won't leave until I'm safely on the ground again.. I guess it wouldn't be.. too bad to try. Maybe.." She felt as uncertain as she looked with fretful eyes and shaking posture, but she needed to be tough. She needed to learn how eventually. "How should I start?"
Swivelling his ears forward, Nettlekit had to admit that he was a bit surprised that she had agreed to try. "I promise!" He meowed quickly, his tail flicking eagerly behind him. The tabby tom shuffled close to the trees trunk, making sure Cricketkit could see him well enough. "To get up the first ways around the trunk you've gotta give it a hug," he demonstrated, unsheathing his front claws and gripping them around the rough bark. "Your front paws will help keep you on the tree, so you can use your back paws to give you little pushes." Nettlekit did his best to demonstrate, shuffling up the trunk until he was close enough to the next branch to grab it with his front claws and hoist himself up. He turned and peeked over the side to see if Cricketkit had any questions.
Cricketkit watched him as best as she could from the ground, her whole body turned up so she could crane her head around to get a good look as he 'hugged' the tree. Then she had to shuffle up with her back legs. That seemed simple enough in theory, she guessed. Shuffling up to the tree, the fluffy brown she-cat reared onto her hind legs and clung each forepaw on the trunk, claws digging in fiercely before lifting her back legs off and also digging those into the trunk so she found herself literally clinging to the side of the tree. Now she just had to push herself up? Cricket did as she thought, pushing against the tree with her back legs, but found it didn't really move her up the tree, but outwards so her butt stuck out more, her front paws hooked tightly into place on the trunk. "Nettlekit - this isn't working!" She mewed up, her back legs scrabbling a little against the trunk as she tried to 'push'.
Nettlekit mewed a quick oh ; he had forgotten to explain the part where she actually had to move her front paws. He scrambled to correct the situation - he didn't want her to fall over, even though she was still so close to the ground. Nettlekit worried that there was a pretty good chance that if Cricketkit fell she might give up, and he certainly didn't want that. "You're doing great, but you gotta move your front paws up when you push with your hindlegs... you watch bugs a lot, right? Have you ever watched how the caterpillars to it?" He mewed down curiously. "They do a little wiggle, and when they've got their butts where they wanna be, they're able to stretch out their fronts - you gotta do it kind of like that!" The tabby tom grinned, feeling quite proud of his analogy and hoping that it might be one Cricketkit could understand. Wow, explaining was hard; he made a mental note to thank his future mentor. But here and now, Nettlekit simply stared on and began to wonder if it might've been better for him to be beneath rather than above his temporary climbing apprentice.
Cricketkit clung to the tree as her friend above tried to correct her, smiling as he mentioned her love of bugs. Of course she loved to watch bugs and how they all skittered, scampered and skulked about the nursery when she was bored. Closing her eyes, she could recall watching the wiggly wave of a caterpillar scooting it's way up a branch and then tried to imagine doing that herself. Securing her back legs in their position under her, she cautiously retracted the claws of one forepaw with some difficulty before stretching it forward, rehooking it above in the bark before doing the same with the other paw. With both paws repositioned, she pushed with her back legs and scooted up the tree a little. She had moved less than a foot in that one movement, but with a little glance to the ground she had in fact moved away from it and that alone was enough to make her eyes sparkle with pride. "S-So just like that right?" She mewed up, a small grin on her face.
Nettlekit felt flooded with relief when Cricketkit made progress, and he grinned widely to show it. She hadn't gotten very far, but she was climbing and if she could climb up one foot she could climb up ten. "Yea!" The tabby called down, wriggling happily on the branch he clung to. "Just like that! Just do that a few more times and you'll already be at the first branch," Nettlekit remembered his first climb; it felt like it had taken forever to even reach the first of the tree's limbs. Then again, he was never the most patient of felines, and his goal was just to get to the top rather than take it one step at a time. Cricketkit definitely seemed more patient from what he could see, and he definitely respected that. "How are you with heights?" He meowed down curiously, not wanting to distract her but curious as to how high she might be willing to go for the sake of a view.
Cricketkit appreciated the encouragement, the idea that she was doing well left a little warm glow in her chest which kept her placing each paw against the trunk and clawing her way up. It didn't matter to her how many times she had to do this, just like the little caterpillar who had many little paws to wiggle their way across sticks, she would keep wiggling her way up the tree until she got there. She kept her gaze focused between the bark in front of her or the grinning face of her friend above, her fluff just a little too much to peer down at the ground by accident. At the question, Cricket paused in her ascent, hooking her little claws in to hold on tightly as she thought, noticing how her front legs seemed to tremble a little at the strain of holding her up. She really wasn't used to this sort of physical activity. "Heights? I don't know really.. I've never reached a 'height' before. Kept my paws on the ground and all that." She mewed, the little brown kit continuing her climb upwards, fighting the feeling to look down now to see how far she had come. After all the lowest branch was only just a few more pushes away.
Nettlekit nodded quickly; that made sense. Guess you couldn't really know what your fears were until the possibility of dealing with them was there. A cat who stayed in the ground probably wouldn't be exposed to heights, but now that Cricketkit was working her way up, the tom hoped that everything would work out fine. He felt a twinge as he realized just how much he was underestimating the smaller kit - sure she had mentioned her fear of "most things" in their last meeting, but Nettlekit wasn't sure it was such a good idea to brace for her literally being scared of everything. That being said, she wasn't scared of flying bugs... That was brave, right? At least Nettlekit thought so, and pushed the thoughts aside in favour of talking. He had never really been 'quiet'. "Oh, alright," the tabby addressed her answer to his question - if she was focused on her paws she might've missed his nod anyway. "Well I wouldn't worry about it, you're doing good!"
Cricketkit kept climbing with each push up the tree, blushing with a little bashful grin at his praise. She rarely ever got told she was doing good at something. In fact ever since her brothers found they could go off alone and not have to drag their sister with them into their games, Cricket's involvement in most things had stopped until she had pushed herself to play a few games with the kits in camp. And she rarely did good at those either. With her paws just reaching the height of the first branch, she clung to the bark with a confused expression. "Uh.. um.." She looked between the gap of the branch from the trunk and placed a hesitant paw onto it, hooking it in before looking at her other paw and wondering whether she was meant to move that one too? But this would be awkward... she didn't trust it. "Uuuh Nettlekit.. what now? How do I get onto the branch?" She mewed beginning to lose that little confidence she had built in the climb.
Nettlekit hummed thoughtfully; so far they had gotten pretty far with this teach-and-learning thing, but getting onto the branch was the hard part. He shifted his weight; the tabby didn't exactly want to mention that it was the more difficult step in the climbing process, but he knew he'd have to be really clear in his directions without crushing any of her current confidence. It was well-placed confidence, too - she was doing great. "Alright, it is gonna be a little awkward but as soon as you're up you get to sit on the branch and take a break," Nettlekit smiled. "One at a time just move your front paws over onto the side of the branch, and be sure to keep a good grip with your hinds. As soon as you're holding on tightly to it, just pull your lower half up onto it; just pretend you're climbing onto Falconpaw's back or something yea? If at any time you don't feel comfy just let me know and I can try to help alright?" he added at the end, willing away any worried edges to his tone. The tom didn't think little of the faith Cricketkit was putting in him to instruct her up the tree safely.
Cricketkit listened with a small frown, knowing she had never been the strongest with her upper body strength. She could manage kicks with her hind legs, but her forepaws were pretty weak after an incident when she sprained one of her front paws as a kit. But she was almost there... she would just have to try harder. The brown shekit hummed, keeping a tight grip with her claws before shifting her other forepaw over, her body twisted between the two. She was beginning to shake with the effort of holding on in such an awkward position, but closing her eyes to take a small breath, Cricketkit kicked off the tree bark and tried to swing around to pull herself onto the branch in one swift movement. But as her weight shifted to her front paws, in that one in between moment, she felt her front claws drag backwards scraping through the branch, making her squeak in fear as she felt herself slipping. Her hind legs swung to scrabble at the branch for purchase but kicked too low to hook the branch, meaning Cricket felt herself slipping with no way to stop it. Her terrified eyes turned to Nettlekit for help, unsure what to do as she hung onto the branch with just her forepaws, too weak to pull herself up all the way.
Meeting her frightened gaze, Nettlekit felt a rush of panic for the other feline. The telltale creak of bark giving way could be heard from under her claws, and without really thinking he had already sprung into action. Digging his claws in, he held tightly to the branch as he reached to grab Cricketkit's scruff between his teeth, hoping belatedly that he didn't end up hurting her. All he knew was that he couldn't let her fall; with his protective nature he'd likely never forgive himself, and there was a good chance his friend wouldn't either.
Cricketkit's fluffy brown fur tickled the inside of his nose, but the tom willed the sneezes away and focused completely on pulling her onto the tree's lowest limb - which, to be fair, was still quite high up for a pair of cats who should be in the nursery right now. It wasn't until he was sure that she had balanced herself upon the branch that Nettlekit let go, realizing only then how fast his heart was going. He had always been a bit of a worrier, and now that he didn't have to worry about her immediate safety, his mind instead tormented over her reaction . He averted his gaze sheepishly; what if Cricketkit was angry? She had almost fallen!
Cricketkit could feel her entire body tense up as she slipped, her throat tightening and making it impossible to breath. She couldn't even dare to look down, only clenching her eyes shut as she felt herself losing grip. That was until she felt a sharp grip on the back of her neck suddenly pulling her up, making her eyes snap open to only see a cloud of cream fur obscuring her view. As she was lifted up, she rehooked her front claws into the branch and, with her weight shared between her and her rescuer's grip, the shekit pulled herself up until her back paws could scrabble her to safety.
Once all four paws were flatly on top of the branch, she couldn't stop herself digging her claws deeply into the bark, her entire form trembling as she tried to recall how to breathe through a throat that felt as wide as a grass blade. As the first breath of air was sucked in through small stifled gasps, her eyes began to swim with tears and it felt like a dam broke, her entire body shaking badly with each gasp and sob of tears. It was only when she managed to look up at the blur of colours in front of her did she remember she wasn't alone on this tree branch and without hesitation, her claws retracted to let her stumble towards the one thing she could trust. Headbutting her face into his chest without care for her strength was all she could think to do, as the rest of her mind was occupied with racing fear, adrenaline and the sound of her own sobs, too overwhelmed to say anything but lean against the other kit.
Nettlekit couldn't help from gaping when the waterworks began. He had been expecting anger, a look of betrayal... maybe even silence. The tabby hadn't been ready for tears, and somehow it was worse than the three aforementioned reactions combined. It made his stomach lurch helplessly, his ears and tail lowering. He didn't often find himself faced with cats crying, and to say he was experienced in soothing others would be a blatant lie. Cats usually didn't cry around him; especially not because of him. It was an unwanted experience, and wow it didn't feel good at all.
He voiced the mantra in his head, not sure of what else to do. "I-I'm so sorry!" Nettlekit squeaked, opening his mouth after a moment to say more but coming up with nothing. The kit glanced down; steadying himself when Cricketkit buried her face into his fur. He blinked in surprise, but at least it made it easier to keep his guilty gaze averted from her eyes. The tabby kept very still - even holding his breath - not wanting to disrupt her sobs but at the same point craving nothing more than to make it all better. "I'm sorry, Cricketkit..." he said again, but this time only as a mumble.
It took a long few moments before the the worst of the trembling began to settle in the small she-kit's body, each sob and gasp for air slowly syncing to a consistent rhythm, but even so Cricketkit still felt terrible. All of her senses were overwhelming and whatever her friend was saying was falling on deaf ears. Her paws hurt from scrabbling, her front legs sore from the strain of her body, and the back of her neck throbbed a little where she had been unceremoniously pulled up. Aside from the physical, emotionally she was caught between her huge relief at surviving safely, and the crippling fear in her heart that she had almost fallen and badly injured herself. So as she fought through the inner turmoil caused by shock, she leaned against Nettlekit, trying instead to focus on the rapid beat of his heart under all that cream fur.
It seemed to flutter at a quick pace, but she supposed it only beat as fast as her own did after a shock like that. It was certainly different to the heartbeat of her mother or father who she used to sleep with, and even different to the beats of her own siblings but she supposed it had been so long since they shared a nest, the kit could hardly compare them from memory.
Soon she found herself feeling a little better, in fact she had almost stopped crying altogether aside from a little sniffle or small gasp, so she carefully drew her head away to look directly at her friend's face, unable to help a doe eyed expression after all the tears. Cricketkit really wasn't sure what to say after a scare like that, especially to this tom, so she said what she usually did.
"I-I'm sorry... f-for falling, for crying.. for making you rescue me..." She almost blushed at the thought that this tom had ran to save her and pulled her to safety, out of embarrassment for needing to be rescued or gratitude that the tom would do so much for her, she wasn't sure which. "... I guess I suck at tree climbing." She said mournfully, casting a nervous glance over the edge of the branch but not yet looking directly down. She wasn't sure whether her frayed nerves would be able to handle directly staring over the edge and at the ground yet.
His ears swivelled forward and eyebrows raised in surprise; she was apologizing, too? Could two cats apologize for the same incident? Surely he was at fault? He considered it briefly; Cricketkit didn't seem upset at him as much as she seemed distressed by the whole ordeal. Mulling over this, Nettlekit allowed himself to relax ever so slightly, and instead focused on correcting Cricketkit now that he had figured out where she stood in all of this.
"It's not your fault!" The tabby insisted, frowning at the wide and teary eyes that the she-kit directed at him. They made his heart tug, and he wasn't sure he really liked the feeling. It felt like being at the peak of a swing - the stillness before the fall. He was worried if he said the wrong thing, she might cry again.
Nettlekit liked to believe that she wasn't fragile, and that maybe she got upset easily because everyone underestimated her. But with eyes like those, it was pretty easy to understand why everyone was always trying to protect her, and he realized he was among the rest of them now. The tom could only hope Cricketkit didn't think less of him for it, but he'd be damned if he was ever going to let her fall.
"You don't suck at tree climbing... do you ever see kits up here?" Nettlekit flicked his tail, beckoning around them. "Nope! Because it's dangerous, and you were super brave!" His eyebrows knitted, he paused the paw he had lifted, thinking better of trying to offer any kind of comforting touch. "You uhm, you don't have to worry about falling now at least. Is your scruff feeling... okay?"
Cricketkit listened with a small frown, blinking the last of the wetness from her eyes and unable to really believe this wasn't her fault. If she were any other cat, she would've probably climbed to the top of the tree and back without slipping and crying like a kit. Yet, she was only herself, and she knew that 'herself' had a long way to go before she would be anything close to that brave cat that she wished to be instead. She couldn't help but smile a little when Nettlekit called her brave however, feeling a little proud that even if it was just nice words, her friend thought she was somewhat not a scaredy cat.
As her striped friend reminded her, the red brown she-kit twitched to look around at her neck, wondering if there was any lasting damage from the bite. It hadn't been that strong of course, not to pierce her skin, but being such a sensitive cat meant that her skin still tingled in slight protest from the rough treatment. She looked back around at Nettlekit, smiling a little more sweetly. "Y-yeah it's fine. I'm sure your tooth didn't leave a lasting impression." She said with a small chuckle, before trailing off looking up earnestly at the tom.
"T-Thank you though. Like really thank you. You saved me." She stood up nervously, a small glance to the fall below before stepping over to him, focus returning to her fellow kit. Now closer, she didn't have to try so hard to speak up to be heard and said quietly, a small sadness clouding over her features. "I almost wish you didn't though. I don't know what I would've done if you got hurt trying to help me.."
Nettlekit visibly relaxed when she assured him that her neck was fine; he had never bitten that hard into another cat before, but he had been too panicked to do anything gingerly. He gave a toothy grin at her reply, baring his snaggled fang in all of its glory and basking in the relief that she was completely okay physically. But hearing her thank him again and then make the sad comment, Nettlekit's expression grew a little pained. Cricketkit would've rather fallen than put him at a little bit of risk? He shook his head ever so slightly; this feline was too selfless. He was almost amazed that she was going to be given a warrior mentor rather than Duscleback.
"Do, uhm, do you remember when I mentioned that some cats would feel better being hurt than seeing somebody else get hurt when they could've done something about it?" He cocked his head to the side with an honest smile, lowering his voice and thinking back to one of their first conversations ever. Something about being spoken to quietly made him mumble in return, but with the proximity he doubted Cricketkit would have any difficulty hearing him. "T-that applies to me too, yea? Even if I had hurt myself somehow, I wouldn't have regretted it one bit!" The tabby hummed honestly, averting his eyes and noticing that even from this branch, they actually had a pretty good view.
"Hey, check it out... we can actually see all of camp from here." He breathed, letting his tail swing calmly over the edge of the branch.
Cricketkit listened to him with a pout, her ears twitching as she recalled their first conversation together. About fears and dangers and cats protecting others from them. It still sounded just as bad a concept to her as the first time, that it shouldn’t matter how the two cats ‘feel’ if physically one is better off had they never intervened. But then, with a glance to the honest speckled face of her friend, the she-kit knew that if Nettlekit were to fall right then and she did nothing, she would never forgive herself. Maybe it was a little hypocritical, to want to protect others without them protecting herself. Was that why she was so afraid of things though? Because deep down, she didn’t want to get into trouble in case it dragged down others?
The reddish-brown kit sighed, looking down to bury her muzzle slightly into her fluffy chest for a moment while in thought, before realising her friend had spoken again. She glanced up to see her tabbied friend staring out at the view, noticing the way the light framed his fur and his happy expression which stared out bravely at the horizon, despite the sudden scary drop only paw steps in front of him. Cricketkit couldn’t help but admire that view for a moment first, quietly getting over the fact that this very tom had saved her life [maybe an exaggeration] and brushed it off as something he wouldn’t regret doing again.
Then she followed his gaze out, surprised by just how different things looked just by being above it. Of course from this branch, they couldn’t see the tops of trees, but from the Oakclan tree in the middle of a clearing, it meant they could see the sky just above the treeline and the many layers of colorful leaves below that. With her gaze moving down, it was strange to see how tiny the bushes looked, the tall flowers like foxgloves which used to tower over her looking as tall as dandelions from this height, the yellow specks of said flowers too small to really notice unless you looked. However as she slowly panned down, her gaze fell to the ground a dizzying distance away from her. Like reflex she began to feel her heart beat quicken, her claws sliding out to grip the branch below before leaning into the tom next to her, needing to feel her shoulder brush against his before calming down a little. She wasn’t up here alone, she wasn’t in urgent danger. “.. That really is a long way away..” She mumbled quietly, her eyes still focused down.
Though he tried to avoid showing it, having Cricketkit lean against his side was oddly soothing. It calmed his mind and slowed his heart, and even if she wasn’t aware of it, the reddish-brown shekit gave off a safe air. So far, she had never said anything mean or done a single thing with ill-intent; she was just the type of feline that made Nettlekit feel pretty damn lucky to be her friend.
And he was glad she got to see this with him, because this view was pretty cool. Being a kit came with the feeling that everybody was always looking down at you, and the tabby was already itching to grow tall and fix that... but this was a moment remedied that, even if only for a short while. Nobody was looking down at them now, and it brought a toothy smile to the russet tom’s face. From here he could see the well-worn trails across the camp, stretches of grass walked over time and time again by generations of clan cats - the sort of things that he never would’ve taken note of while actually down there. One of his favourite logs to climb over looked like a stick from here!
“Do you want to go back down now?” He asked in a cheery voice, hearing Cricketkit’s remark about their height. He couldn’t blame her; it wasn’t as if being this far from the ground was an everyday occurrence. “It’s okay if you do! We got to see the view, and you can officially tell everyone that you’ve climbed the Great Oak,” Nettlekit laughed under his breath; despite his words, it was hard to imagine the she-cat bragging about anything. Maybe discovering a really cool bug, but other than that Nettlekit had a hard time picturing it. Who knew! He was trying to get a read on how she felt about being up here, but every time he glanced over at her he felt… shy? Maybe he was still flustered over the almost-falling thing.
Cricketkit looked up as her friend cheerfully suggested they could return to the ground, and she smiled weakly, glad to have the tom understand her so well. She’s not sure she would be able to handle climbing onto another branch for a while. “If we could.. I would appreciate it.” She mewed gratefully, sticking her head nervously over the edge of the branch to see how it would be best to maneuver her way down. But her loss of confidence was still present in her mind so she looked to Nettlekit for help. “I’m sorry we couldn’t climb up further, I suppose hanging with me means you’ll have to take stuff slowly. If that’s okay with you?” She smiled softly, tilting her head slightly to motion that she’d like him to take the lead.
The tabby tom nodded, getting up and stepping around her and over to the trunk to show her how to get down. It isn’t too difficult; he was confident that it would go far smoother than the climb. Looking down the span of the trunk at the ground below, he noticed again all of those grooves along the bark from generations of cats doing exactly what they did today. Nettlekit smiled, knowing that among those claw marks were two sets that exist only because of them. He glanced at Cricketkit over his shoulder, thinking about her words and considering having other days like today. He already knew the answer of course, but pausing to think about the future was nice, too. Cricketkit apologized for a lot of things Nettlekit didn’t understand, but what he did understand was that he really wanted to be her friend. So he let the thought trigger a grin, and even though they were going to climb down and go back to doing boring ol’ kit stuff, Cricketkit’s words felt a bit like a promise.”That sounds fine by me.”
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"Desperate to kill a little boredom, Nettlekit tries to scale the camp’s Great Oak for the sake of a good view. Despite Cricketkit expressing her concerns, she agrees to attempt the climb herself ... and it goes about as well as you’d think. "
Nettle's Word Count - 3012
+150 for KitsanilCricket's Word Count - 3096
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