once i was seven years old - playing games with the kits

[Howlfire]

"I thought you wanted to play?" Howlfire questioned, turning to the kit closest behind her. All morning she had been on the receiving end of several kits begging her to either play with them or let them play a game. Now that she was more awake and alert, it seemed the opposite could be said for the kits pestering her earlier, who now seemed tired or downright uninterested in playing. "Don't you want to play mossball anymore?" Howlfire prompted, tilting her head to one side and looking expectantly at the kits. When none of them immediately responded she shrugged her shoulders, feigning indifference. "Well I wouldn't want to play against me either," Howlfire remarked with a playful grin. "When I was your age, I was the best at playing mossball."​

 

[Shimmerkit]

Shimmerkit turned from where he had been settled nearby, shaping some of the fresh fallen snow with small gray forepaws. Losing interest upon hearing Howlfire gloat, he abandoned his project and went bounding in her direction. "I'll play!" he chirped, shoving his way past his less interested denmates. "But...I've never played before." His siblings had had a ball that they'd sometimes played with--it was hard and made a little tinkling noise when they batted it around--but they'd never let him join in.

He looked hopefully up at Howlfire. "Can I still play anyway?"

 

[HAWKSPINE]

"No, mama, mossball is booooring." Hawkkit groans, leaning heavily against Howlfire even as the queen turns to face her much smaller denmates. She's not in the mood for mossball! It's always the same- swat the ball back and forth until they get bored or it inevitably devolves into wrestling, which is much more interesting even if Hawkkit bears the bruised ears from Wolfkit and Blazingkit chewing on them every so often. She winces as she twitches them, though forces a brace face as Howlfire brags about how she'd been the best in the nursery when she was her age. Which, by the way, had to be impossible, everyone knew that queens couldn't have been kits! Just like Blazestar had always been leader and Fireflypaw would always be an apprentice. But a quiet voice drags her attention much closer to her own height.

"You've never played mossball?" Hawkkit meows to Shimmerkit, her voice dripping with scorn. She detaches herself from her mother's side and takes a step towards him, squinting hazel eyes at the (slightly) older kit. Puffing her cheeks out in complaint she turns back to her mother, plumy tail lifted in the air. "Well now we've gotta play, so we can show Shimmerkit the rules."​

 

[Howlfire]

Hawkkit protests and leans against her side, as Howlfire encouraged her to play. She can't help but laugh at her daughter's reaction. Whilst it appeared her own attempts to lure the kits out to play hadn't been overly effective, Shimmerkit apparently not knowing how to play had piqued their interest.

"You've never played mossball, Shimmerkit?" Howlfire prompted, mirroring her own daughter somewhat in her question. Notably, though she was less scornful and more genuinely curious than Hawkkit was. "Don't worry we can show you how to play," Howlfire assured the young kit, smiling faintly at him. Slipping back into the den briefly, Howlfire went in search of one of the mossballs for them to play with, gripping it between her teeth and carrying it outside. She set it down in front of the two kits. "Hawkkit, do you want to show Shimmerkit how we do it?"[/font]​