TBS RP - Painful Resurgence

Kain
Kivah

Kain had just woken up for the day, even if the sun had already been out for a while."Must've been more tired than I thought..." He thought to himself as he slowly emerged from the empty Searcher's den. He knew he screwed up today and that he wasn't going to perform very well, but he might as well try and get something done. After eating something from the prey pile, which wasn't good-tasting in the slightest, he aimed to make his way out of camp, but was crossing through the entire East camp in order to go into the direction he wanted to today.

Kivah was playing alone nearby the Nursery, pouncing on leaves and poking at small plants that were just making it out of the ground. Kivah had been surprised at how green they were, when spring first set in. When he was born, the forest was already dead, ready for winter. Everything seemed so grey then, and the sudden surge of spring colors was more than enough to keep a kit's eyes busy. Looking up, he noticed a cat eating something at the prey pile, looking as if he had just woken up. Kivah recalled earlier that day when all of the other cats had left camp to do whatever they did out there. He had wished to go with them, just like he wished every day. Camp was so empty without them.
The grey tomcat was crossing the camp now, and Kivah raced to intercept him. "Hey, wait!" He called, huffing as he caught up with the tom. "Are you leaving camp?" He of course knew that the tom was leaving, but asked the question anyway to feel out his mood. He knew that if the grey tom gave him a look of annoyance, as some of the adults did when he interrupted their routines, he would have to make this quick and interesting or he would leave without giving Kivah the time of day.

Kain didn't even notice that he was being followed by anything until he got close to actually leaving the camp, a which was when he heard a sound coming from behind. He turned around to see what it was, and his face almost dropped. He knew who this was: he was a kitten of Ainsley's and August's. He had hoped that he could stay away from anything to do with them for as long as he could. However, he knew he did have to give a response or else things might only get worse. "What do you want?" he asked back to Kivah, his voice as cold and bland as it was to every new cat he met. 'Please let this end easily...' He thought to himself.

The cat's reaction to Kivah was as though he was the last cat he had wanted to see that day. This was only shown for the slightest trace of a moment however, and although Kivah noticed it, he didn't understand what it meant, and therefore ignored it for the time being. The cat gave him a cold response, meaning Kivah would have to try harder to keep his attention or he would leave. That's how adults were.
He tried desperately to remember the cat's name. He had heard it spoken many times, but since it served no importance to a kit at the time, he had forgotten.

He decided to ask questions about the cat. Who doesn't love talking about themselves? That'll put him in a good mood, and then maybe he won't leave so hurriedly. Looking him over more carefully, he noticed the little bag that only Searchers or sometimes Crafters would wear. "You're a Searcher, right? How come you wanted to be a Searcher?" In case those questions weren't enough to keep the cat interested, he added, "I'm just curious, 'cause I don't know which rank I should be." Giving a sly smile, he mewed, "If I decide to be a Searcher, I could be your Rookie someday." That had to work. Adults seemed to like having Rookies, it made others respect them. Maybe this tom would tell him all about Searching, and hopefully teach him some things. Kivah really wished he could learn all of the ranks duties, and the only time it would be acceptable to do so, would be when he's a kit.

Kain stood still and listened to everything that Kivah had said. Upon hearing why he wanted to become a Searcher, Kain felt conflicted. Did he want to tell this kit he barely even knew and was the offspring of cats he wasn't particularly fond of, or should he play along just to get Kivah off him faster? He decided to go with the latter to help prevent gaining more possible hatred and fear from Ainsley and August, moreso Ainsley since he was going to be stuck in her region. Kain thought only for a moment longer before responding to Kivah's first question with "Yes, and I don't like to fight is why." He made the response so short when there really was a lot more to it, but he wasn't going to divulge into that right now.

The rookie remark almost made Kain give a small hiss, but he kept it inside. Part of him didn't want to have Kivah or his siblings as a rookie despite how self-centered that line of thinking was. If it were any other kit, he would be more willing to want to show them things and explain what Searcher's do. Kain's mind went back to his reasoning for explaining things earlier, so with that in mind, he said to Kivah "Takes a diligent eye. I'm about to head out, so tag along if you must." He was almost surprised at what he was saying to Kivah, but he did make a personal vow to also never hurt the kits because of what the parents did now that he thought more about the whole thing.

Don't like to fight..? I guess that isn't too weird, even for a creature born with claws. Kivah turned the cat's sentence over in his head, thinking carefully. "Makes sense, I don't particularly care for it either." He seemed to have struck the Searcher's interest enough to keep asking questions, while hopefully not annoying him. "You weren't interested in healing, taming or crafting?"
He waited to see how the tom would take the Rookie comment. Kivah thought for sure he had him on this one. Sure enough, there were the magic words! Is he actually asking me to tag along? The excitement made his tail poof out. Looking around to make sure none of his family members were watching, he mewed hurriedly, "Sure! Lets go." He let Kain lead the way- wait Kain? The tom's name seemed to have sprung up out of no where in his mind, and he wouldn't forget it this time.

All these questions, he sort of didn't like it. Kain didn't like to talk to new cats period, but Kivah wasn't even giving him a choice in this matter it seemed. Taking a small sigh, mostly mentally, Kain responded to Kivah while moving forward with "I can't heal, not fond of companions right now, and don't want to be a crafter right now." He could dwell on the first two, but the last one was a subject he hoped Kivah wouldn't want to press further on.

Kain made some progress, making sure to slow down just a little bit so that way the kitten could keep up, even if he knew he would be in deep crap if he was caught taking a kit out of the camp like this, but this was better than the alternative of not letting him come along and complaining to his parents that way.


Now that they had made it out of camp, Kivah didn't press anymore personal questions. He also tried to act natural, as if it was perfectly normal for a kitten to be outside of camp. He wondered if Kain even knew that kits weren't allowed out. Well, he wasn't about to remind him. There was a moment of silence before Kivah quietly said, "I think I know why you don't want to be a Crafter." He looked up at Kain before saying, "Its because you don't like my Mother and Gaylen." Kivah had made the observation a while ago, noticing that Kain avoided the two cats and was quick to end conversations with them. However, for all Kivah knew, this could be how he treated anyone. He still had to stay on Kain's good side, so he quickly added, "That's fine though, we don't have to get along with everyone."He then payed more attention to his surroundings, not expecting Kain to answer him. He just wanted to show Kain that he could understand him, even if he didn't know much about him. Once in a while he would find a small stone, and would roll it over with a paw to see if it was an ability stone. No such luck however, it really did take an experienced eye.

Kain's heart seemed to stop beating for a moment as a cold chill came over him as Kivah spoke about Ainsley and Gaylen. The look on his face was almost like an arrow was shot through his heart. With a small gasp for breath and a look that now was like he just saw a ghost, he said "O-oh, uh..." He really didn't know what to say to that; Kivah got it right on the nose. He had to take a few moments in order to begin to regain some of his composure, to which he eventually responded with "Well, yea..." though didn't want to go into any more details about it to Kivah.

A small moment later, he responded to the second inquiry while moving some leaves around; "I know... but a little hard when they get supplies from me." That was a majority of the crafters, and so he often didn't bring much back to them or left it around for Yuki to find to give it to them. He knew he was a wreck when it came to this situation, but the strong feelings he had towards Gaylen and Ainsley were too powerful for his job and duties to overcome.


Kivah would not have noticed Kain's change in demeanor if not for the gasp that had escaped him. He immediately fixated his blue eyes on the tom, a tiny horror creeping into him as he stood stiffly. He had never seen anyone look so troubled before. "Kain..?" He mumbled, not sure what to say now. Perhaps he had dug up something more than just past grudges. What did his Mother and Gaylen do to Kain?
Kivah nodded in acknowledgement to Kain's last sentence. He didn't think the dislike between the adults was too big of a deal, not so much that Kain had a hard time giving them supplies. "Well.. If I become a Searcher, how about I give your supplies to them instead?" Kivah wasn't sure why he was trying to comfort Kain. But the way his stoic face had changed to one of feeling had effected Kivah more than he realized.


He rose an eyebrow, some anguish still across his face at what Kivah said. He barely knew this kit, and yet, the kitten was making big claims about what he could do already. Kain took a little bit to regain his composure, the stoic look mostly returned to his face as he looked to Kivah once more and said "No... I know I have to at some point..." even if his voice gave away that he wasn't even close to ready for that at this point.

Kain really felt like remaining silent about it all right now; he didn't want to bring it up to the kitten as he didn't want to make Ainsley look like a bad mother with her past."Anyways, for searching, leave little un-turned." he informed back to the kitten that followed him, demonstrating some of what he meant to the little one.

The little tom kit was quick to pick up the hint that the conversation was over, and nodded as Kain continued with the Searching instructions. He tried to watch Kain as much as he could, to learn what things stood out the the Searcher as opposed to others. There were things that Kain turned over or passed up that wouldn't have occurred to Kivah. As all of this went on, his mind kept crawling back to the previous conversation. He was dreadfully curious, of course, but at the same time felt that if it was something he was truly meant to know, he would find out eventually.

The moments went by, and Kivah had more questions about Searching. "How do you know what the Crafters will want for supplies? ..And doesn't it get boring checking the same spots all the time?" Once again, he felt as though he might be an annoyance to Kain, and had to remind himself why Kain had let him tag along. The little kit was starting to grow fatigued, and his breathing was rugged as he tried his best not to cough. He scolded himself, How are you supposed to become anything if you can't even walk across the territory? He knew there was still time for him to grow before he became a Rookie, but deep down he was afraid he would always be three steps behind everyone else.

Kain was unaware of anything that was going on with Kivah other than the fact that the kitten was following and asking questions. Reagrdless, when asked if it was boring and what supplies to bring back, the silver tom responded with "I go with what looks nice and is uncommon, and if this were boring, I wouldn't be doing it." He knew that might not be the answer Kivah was expecting, but it was the answer that Kivah was getting...

... And that was due to the fact that Kain was distracted now. He wasn't performing as many of the standard searching procedures that he normally was. He was lost in thoughts, almost all alone. He was thinking about Ainsley mostly, but also partly Gaylen. Reason it was mostly Ainsley was because of the good times they did have, even if that she-cat broke his heart and allowed some western butt get her pregnant. He was being filled with joy, sadness, anger, and trace amounts of desire, all at once. Despite this, his face still looked mostly stoic.