Life 1:2

Stepping out of Bluestar's den, Snakekit spotted a stray ginger hair slinging to a tiny crack in the rock. Looking quickly, he caught Firepaw glancing his direction with a hint of nervousness. An eavesdropper. Snakekit knew his apprentice ceremony would commence soon, but he couldn't help going top tease Firepaw a bit for his transgressions. Snakekit waited for Firepaw to become distracted with something else before employing stealth techniques typically not known to kits his age. He approached the apprentice slowly, ensuring his movements were not eye-catching. Soon he was sitting right beside Firepaw, and the apprentice was none the wiser.

Graypaw noticed Snakekit suddenly sitting beside Firepaw. Graypaw was about to say something when Snakekit shot him a mischievous grin. Having bore that look several times himself while pranking someone, Graypaw decided to remain silent and let Snakekit have his moment. Graypaw did his best to ignore Snakekit as the apprentice began making silent gestures without alerting Firepaw. They were the usual kittish gestures meant to be mocking. The standard ones came out like pretending Firepaw smelled bad or squinting like Firepaw was too shiny. Firepaw was always one to talk with his paws when sitting, gesturing at the air. Snakekit picked up on this and began mimicking Firepaw as for the life of him Graypaw could not keep his focus on Firepaw. It was just too comical. He knew Firepaw was trying to ask him something important, but the kit mimicking his every movement in a slightly exaggerated fashion was difficult to not acknowledge.

"Graypaw? Why are you ignoring me? I'm just trying to know about Snakekit. Look at me!" Firepaw finally demanded, stepping forward to force himself into Graypaw's face.

Then he felt another form press up against him. A moment of fear swept over Firepaw as he slowly turned to face whoever crept up on him. A leopard spotted coat greeted him, still soft with kit fuzz. A tiny little face greeted him with a mischievous smile. It was Snakekit. Firepaw instinctively launched into the air with fright, leaving Snakekit to fall to the ground in a laughing fit. Graypaw was right there along with the kit, seemingly having known the whole time Snakekit was there. It took a moment for Firepaw's heart to settle and fur to lie flat. Snakekit took a moment longer to calm his own laughing fit, letting out another giggle when Firepaw reflexively started grooming himself to hide his embarrassment.

"You know, if you want to know about me, all you have to do is ask. Bluestar's not going to be all that happy that you were eavesdropping on us." Snakekit mewed in what appeared to be anger before laughing again. "I kid. I kid. I have eavesdropped plenty of times, and it'd be pretty hypocritical for me to get mad at some cat doing the same to me. Seriously though, if you are going to do it, maybe don't sit in the sun where you glow like a light bug. Also, you gasp rather loudly." Snakekit teased.

"You scared the fur off me! That… wasn't very nice." Firepaw mewed, scrambling for an excuse for why he felt offended at the prank.

"Life's too short to not take the time to have some fun. You never know when it's your last day, so I say make it so you can reflexively say you lived it to the fullest. Sure, it'll twist some tails, but that's just because they didn't have their fun and now think they're too old to do so. Here's a secret, no cat is too old to act like a kit." Snakekit mewed with what appeared to be an odd amount of wisdom.

"That's Snakekit for you. Clever little kit who is wise beyond his years. He's always willing to lend a listening ear, and he's got many fantastical stories all dreamed up in his little head, likely reimagining of some elders' tales." Graypaw mewed.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to flirt with me." Snakekit mewed, causing Graypaw to reel back.

"That's the other thing. He loves to tease. He doesn't mean anything by it, so don't let it get your tail in a twist." Graypaw added, giving Snakekit a stern look. Snakekit responded with a pose that pleaded innocence in the way only a kit could. It was also a tell all sign that Snakekit didn't regret his tease in the slightest, causing Graypaw to sigh and shake his head, letting Snakekit off without a fight.

"So, Snakekit, Bluestar said something about you having lived multiple lives." Firepaw began slowly.

"Not here! Every time I get talking about it around certain cats, it causes this daze. On the rare occasion, some cats have turned violent on me. I'm sure Bleustar will get us together soon and then I'll answer all of your questions, but I can't promise it won't leave you with more. All I can say is that I'm older than I look." Snakekit answered hastily.

Firepaw took a moment to process what Snakekit said, suddenly getting the instinctive thought to look at Graypaw. Graypaw's eyes were slightly glossy and seemed to be staring blankly into the air before clearing up. Graypaw somehow seemed to have only caught part of the conversation somehow, completely unaware of the time he spent in the daze.

"Yeah. Today's actually the day Snakekit gets apprenticed. You can't really tell with his kit fuzz, but he's six moons old." Graypaw added, suddenly taking in the weird look Firepaw was shooting him. "What's up? You look like you've seen a spirit or something." Graypaw mewed.

Firepaw paused a moment, unsure how to answer his friend without setting off whatever just happened again. Finally, he thought of a little bit of a white lie. "It's nothing. I just… didn't really see Snakekit as being that old. He's still so fuzzy."

Graypaw let out a laugh, happy that there wasn't anything actually wrong. "Yeah. We think he may have been a preemie kit or a runt given his size. You have to wonder what type of queen somehow makes their way all the way to Fourtrees without being detected just to abandon a kit. Don't get me wrong. What happened to Snakekit was terrible, but that takes an unusual amount of effort. I wonder if he's the result of an interclan affair?" Graypaw pondered.

"It doesn't matter my parentage. I'm Thunderclan now in body and spirit. Even if I was abandoned, those I care about now and protect are here. Blood is but water in the face of created bonds." Snakekit mewed passionately.

While Graypaw nodded at the sage wisdom of Snakekit, Firepaw couldn't help noticing Snakekit's word choice. Thunderclan now, if I was abandoned, care about now; these were odd ways to phrase things from the perspective of someone only living one life. If Snakekit and Bluestar were to be believed, Snakekit would someday end up reborn somewhere else, maybe even another clan. It almost made Firepaw's head spin. Unfortunately, he couldn't question Snakekit further without harming Graypaw with whatever was causing the daze. He'd have to wait till either Snakekit was alone or Bluestar could facilitate a meeting.