⊗ talk to the olive about what it's like to be a kid with an apprentice
You don't know much about The Olive - well, you don't know much about many of the other slugcats of the clowder yet. You're so young, and they've not really visited the nursery section of the shelter you all reside in, so while their scent is as familiar to you as breathing, that doesn't mean you understand them.
You find The Olive grooming her pelt, still making the purr-chirp to herself that you were hearing her make before. She looks up as you trot over, blinking at you in an not-unfriendly manner.
Ah, squirt. Finally got out of that stuffy den too, did you?
Yeah! You plop down beside her, letting your hind paws stretch out and then stretching each individual toe. You compare your paws to her own, and are surprised to find how big hers are when you're sitting side by side - after all, you're both still slugpups.
But of course, she's nearly done with her growing.
I wanted to ask, 'cause you're still a pup like me - What's it like to have an apprentice already?
She chuckles in response, letting her tail slap the sandy earth below you both, before shifting her tail the other way - giving you a better view of her without being obscured by it.
It's great! Not even a full year old and I've got my own apprentice to boss around, and by "boss around" I totally mean look after, of course.
But seriously, it's awesome. I was always older than wee Rising Sunny and those other apprentices by just a bit, but we still played together. Not like there was anyone else to do it with, right? And now I'm a warrior already, lording it up, while they still know they've gotta keep working and training before they get to be basically an adult before I'm even an adult.
So basically, they're never gonna catch up to me. And they KNOW it. Now Sun is learning from me, even.
Plus, you know, it's just proof that your dad respects my genius.
She smirks in a way that shows her teeth. You reflect that The Wind is right, you really don't have many fangs yet - not the way The Olive does.
What do you mean? What genius?
Ouch! She makes an exaggerated wince, clapping her paw to her chest like you injured her. You're going to be a fiery one, huh? And that wasn't even you trying to insult me!
Well, I don't know you yet! You grasp idly at her paw for emphasis, and she lets you hold it. So I dunno what genius you have.
⊗ Get every pronoun in the world
By the way, You add suddenly, almost as an afterthought. I want to use every pronoun.
The Olive laughs a little, startled but not unwelcoming to the statement. Go ahead! I'll keep it in mind.
But, hah! I'm surprised you didn't hear of my escapades, to be honest; I would have thought your da would have complained about me. Though I guess when you were born I was already all graduated, huh?
Okay, well, let's just say that when I was a pup closer to your age... There's a reason everyone quickly decided to keep the kids safe in camp rather than carrying them along with, for collecting food. And I made an art of it! Escape art, you could say.
You tilt your head to the side. Why did my dad let you graduate early if you were getting up to stuff like that? I thought adults hated that stuff.
To get me off of his pelt? She jokes. Ah, but seriously. Like I said, it was more when I was younger. Now don't get me wrong, I'm still up for mischief and make no doubt about it, so if you want to do something naughty tell Aunt Olive first and I'll give you a hand, but you could say I make my own balance. I create the problems, see, and then I solve them.
She frowns suddenly, an expression that feels out of place on her. It makes the hair on your back prickle. That and, I was the only one of us pups there when...
Well, anyway! The Olive's smile with teeth comes back. I won't bore you with the details. Hope that answered your question. I do have to finish cleaning this fur of mine before the rain comes down and I stink up our shelter, so you should go chat with someone else now.
With a lick on the top of your head, her tail sweeps behind you to nudge you up off your butt again. She gives you a little push with it, and when you start walking, her hand slipping back out of your grasp, she sits back down.
⊗ Talk to the untouched!
The next time you encounter The Untouched, he's once again alone. You don't know where the other two slugpups have gone, nor are you particularly concerned - this pup in particular is the one you were looking for, after all!
You make a beeline directly for him. He looks up at your rapid approach, slightly startled mid-groom - their tongue stays hanging out of their mouth as they stare at you.
Oh, it's our little hunter. He says, recovering his aplomb as he both scents and sees you. Its tongue slides back inside its mouth, grooming session over. You feel the strange urge to slap your paw over the tongue, and then the strange forlornness of a lost opportunity.
I want to know what pebble swing is. You greet him without preamble. Broken never talked about that to me.
The Untouched is also unphased. You are a very young pup, after all. I'm not surprised. You don't really have the space to play it in the nursery, and you only just left it, yeah?
I want to play pebble swing.
Haha, I'm sure you'll get the chance to. The adults here will teach you how to play the version of it they like kids to play, so you don't need me to tell you that one. It's got some quite some rules - you need a team, and some places to call bases.
We came up with a simpler version though - I also call it "pebble toss", because that's the point of the game for us.
What do you do in it? I want to hear you say what pebble swing is like too.
Cute. He chuckles. I guess it's not that complicated, so I can tell you that too. Like I said, there's a couple of rules. There's two teams, one of which is standing at the bases, and one team who stands anywhere else they want.
The non-base team has pebbles, and you're trying to swat them into the base. That team wants to keep your pebbles out of the base, so they're wrapping their tail around it, standing tall over it, crouching over it, all that stuff. You don't wanna hit 'i too hard, you're usually playing with friends after all, and plus that isn't the point of the game.
You see, it's not about force, it's about the ~finesse.~
You tilt your head. Finesse?
You have to hit it smarter, not harder! Figure out how to work with your team-mates to get as many of them in there as possible. Get the slugcat turned around making hisses at your friend so you can swing the pebble in under the arch of their leg, or how to get them to lift on their tiptoes just in time for you to roll the rock over the gap.
You just need to get five pebbles away from you and into their base, and that counts as your victory. Then you can switch sides, and they can work to try to get the pebbles back - so now you have to protect them and not let them be pulled back out.
It can be a lot of fun the more slugcats join in, but you could play it with just two. Like I said though, the adults will show you that! We play it for training our hunting and defending skills. You could use what we learn in all kinds of situations; I like to pretend each pebble is a pup, and I have to fight tooth and spear, or the lizards will eat every last one up.
You don't think you like the idea of lizards.
Oh, okay. What about pebble toss?
Okay! Pebble toss! The Untouched claps its paws together, rubbing the palms against each other with anticipation. Finally, the good stuff. Basically, for pebble toss, we cut out all that complicated crap. Forget everything I just told you. You just need your friends, and pebbles.
The point of pebble toss, is to hit the rocks with your tail, as far as you can, as hard as you can. Bonus points if you knock down a Blue Fruit off a vine, or nail a batfly. For extra spread, you can try to smack all five pebbles at once! I like doing that a lot, even if they do go everywhere. I GUESS we shouldn't have been trying to play that in the camp, though.
I remember when we were young we would play with a pearl, and that was really fun no matter which game you were playing. You could do bonus points for getting it into a base, or protect it extra fiercely - and hitting it hard was extra rewarding, because it would catch the light as it arced. It was beautiful!
I don't know where it went, though. I haven't seen it in a long time.
You wonder what a pearl looks like, but decide you have a more important question. You hold out the squirming thing that's been clenched tight in your paw this whole conversation, shoving it close to The Untouched's face - they yelp and scramble back, tail bushing up in alarm.
Agh! A beetle?! Where did you get that?
I caught it! It was shiny. Would this work for pebble swing? Or pebble toss?
Um, no. You definitely shouldn't use a bug for that, okay? You need something that's not alive, like a rock, or some of the other hard things we find lying around. Did you say you caught it?
Yeah!
That's awesome! You should definitely go show The Bouncy, okay? That's what you can do with insects like that. Show it off to him, or The Wind. The Wind loves bugs. Or, hey, you can even show your dad.
You nod, pleased as punch with this compliment, and more than amenable to the suggestion. With a wave of your free hand, you turn around and trot back away from him, curiosity sated.
The Untouched watches on, eyes bright with amusement as you ambush The Pale with your catch unexpectedly, and his startled squeal splits the air.
⊗ talk to the little about his job! maybe you can help mom?
⊗ show everyone our bug
Look at what I caught! You don't even wait until you're all the way into the shelter The Little keeps his storage in before you're presenting the metallic beetle to them, tail wagging.
He hadn't even finished turning around yet - you see him swallow something as he moves to face you, casting you an indulgent look as he takes in your sandy coat and kicking prey.
Yes, I heard you show your father before. You're growing up well; it takes a strong, healthy pup to be catching bugs after just leaving the limits of your old world. Have you been having fun exploring outside the confines of the nursery?
You beam at them, chest puffing up at the compliments. Yeah! I talked to the apprentices and learned about pebble games.
Oh? I hope they didn't tell you about that violent one they like playing so much. You know, they come in here with bruises on their tail all the time from how hard they hit those rocks. Then when they end up hitting each other, it can be a bloodbath for me to wade in and fix up.
It sounds fun!
You should certainly at least wait to play it, if you must insist. Your tail will end up crooked if you start hitting things with it before you've finished becoming all grown. The Little strokes the top of your head, and you lean into its touch. A little chrr rises in your throat.
Aw, okay.
...
Um...
You want to talk about the other thing you came here to bring up, but you're not sure how to do it. Your eyes fall down to the insect in your paws, and you start shifting it from hand to hand. It grumpily kicks at your fingers, but there's a lot less strength in it now.
The Little looks at your drooping ears and flat tail, before wrapping his own one around your small body to pull you closer to his side. It's warm, and he smells of flowers and grass. You snuggle close.
Is this about your mother being pregnant?
You're surprised at their guess, but then you remember that they had been there, as they had been who told The Silky. You nod.
I want to help Mama... Like how you can help her.
He pets your head again. Ah, little wings. You're a sweet one, aren't you? So worried about her. You can do a lot to make my job easier if you keep an eye on her for me, okay? Remind her that she might hurt herself if she over-exerts.
I can see you're a little unsure what I mean, so imagine something like.. If The Silky starts going out of her way to climb up structures again just to get you or Broken something to eat, that's too much for her. So you should tell her how sad you'll be if she gets hurt. Got it? Turn those big sad eyes on her, and if she's still not sure, remind her how much you love her.
Okay... I can do that. I'll watch Mama and make sure she doesn't do too much. But what do you do in your job?
Haha, besides making sure all of the slugcats keep their blood in their body and not in others' mouths? Well... Their fingers curl behind your ears, thoughtful. The small scritch is pleasant, and you press yourself up against their palm.
I go around our territory and look for herbs, as well. I have to be careful to make sure I don't take so much that the plant dies, now. Sometimes, if I go further, I can find other plants that we don't have here, and I can take them home. There's a lot that can be useful for us. There's also some that are just in camp; it's convenient to have, near shelters like this.
Not every clowder has someone who knows what kind of plants are poisonous or helpful, or sometimes both, so sometimes more nearby clowders will come to ask me for advice, or carry a sick or injured slugcat to see me. Or I'll go and see them.
They've been moving further away lately, you know, so it's been taking longer to visit or be visited. I'm unsure if you'll see any of them by the time you're old enough to try. Perhaps if you or Broken are interested, I could bring you along on one of my visits? Only if you're good, mind you. I heard tales of what The Olive got up to when they took her out with the others..
You nod, and grip your free paw into his long fluff.
I wanna help you with that, too. The plants. You were talking about bringing some to Mama. Can I bring it? Instead?
Of course, Winged. You can be our very own delivery slugcat. Whenever I've a herb bundle to bring The Silky, I'll let you know.
Okay.
You don't have anything more to say after that, and The Little doesn't seem to have much to say either. It's quiet, but comfortable - like dozing against The Silky's belly, half-asleep, while she licks over your back.
Eventually, they return to sorting the herbs around you. You stay warm in their fur, wrapped in their tail, and watch as they parcel out plants.