Howlingbear padded to Littlepetal and asked of she needed help. When he heard her say her kit was nowher to be found he offered to help her find the kit. "Don't worry. We will find her."

"Allow me to atleast walk with you. There are many dangers on the way to Eclispeclan." Wolfclaw offered, with a small purr. Playing hard to get? Alright. 

Oakpaw stopped when she felt Shadowedkit stir on her back. "Oooh no you don't," she warned softly, crossing the street in order to not tempt the kit further with the large pond. It didn't smell right- nothing here did -and the apprentice was beginning to worry how long the two could walk before Shadowedkit got hungry.

(Have her hop off, jump into traffic, and Oakpaw save her?)

Shadowedkit stirred once more. The water, of course frozen over, was interesting. Plus a distraction from the current issue of mama’s absence. Of the whole clan’s absence. The kit completely ignored Oakpaw’s words as she, in the most ungraceful way imaginable, slid off, and landed hard with a thump. Shadowedkit recovered quickly, and although she was no where near fast, they were close enough to the thunderpath that the kit managed to scuttle a bit into it.

Oakpaw shouted, "Shadowedkit!" as she snatched the kit from the gray stone and slurry, just as a monster appeared at the intersection and roared past, bellowing yellow smoke from its putrid, obnoxiously red skin. Oakpaw hissed through Shadowedkit's fur as she ran for the nearest shelter- the hole across the street. She was glad that her tail was short in this moment- if it was long, it would've been crushed under the monster's foot. Panting and with a fresh cut on her paw-pad, Oakpaw set Shadowedkit down on the other side of the fence, wondering if the mesh was good enough to stop the monster. But it kept rolling along and pretended not to notice them.

"Don't-don't do that," Oakpaw pleaded softly, burying her head in Shadowedkit's fur as she imagined how she'd tell Littlepetal that she'd killed her daughter.

To say the least, Shadowedkit was stunned. Sure, she'd heard countless stories of the thunderpath, and the monsters that roamed them. But that. That was not what she expected. Tears filled her eyes as she looked towards Oakpaw. "I-Im, s-s-sorry," she stuttered. Mixed with fear of that whole episode and the fact that Oakpaw might be upset with her, the kit felt like breaking once again. Shadowedkit did her best to curl against her friend, hoping it would make up for her dire mistake. I miss mama.

Oakpaw shook her head, again feeling her heart speed up at the thought of Shadowedkit crying. "Did you want to look at the pond?" she asked, hoping for a distraction, "We can stay for a little while- I'll see if its thick enough for you to play on," she purred enticingly. She'd tell Shadowedkit that it wasn't thick enough - even if it was - but knew the kit would get a kick out of it anyway.

The pond was in fact exciting. It was tempting. Shadowedkit gave nothing more but a nod of her head and then looked at Oakpaw expectantly. Sure, they were lost, But that didn't mean they couldn't have fun, right? The thought that she may never see her mother again hadn't seemed to cross her mind. She still carried the optimistic kit virtues, never seeing any negative outcome. "Go."

Oakpaw did have a grand time with Shadowedkit at the pond. She'd thrown the kit across once- letting her skid on the ice clear to the other side- and though she didn't trust the ice to hold her own weight, watching Shadowedkit play allowed her vicarious joy. The day had been long as they'd walked, and Shadowedkit had soon made her hunger known.

Oakpaw had reluctantly hidden the kit underneath some twoleg rubbish and had come back with a young rat. She'd caught the thing on a lucky pounce- the one she'd tried to hit had ran and spooked this one into her paws. The rat was young, plump, and smelled healthy, at the very least. Oakpaw had never been taught that eating rats was dangerous, so she wasn't disturbed at pulling its belly open and spilling the bloody innards in front of Shadowedkit at the makeshift den.

"Eat," she said simply as the sun began to set outside. Oakpaw was a little afraid of the city at night, but knew she had no choice but to endure it. I'll stay up, to protect her. she thought as she nosed the entrails away from the kit and gave her the much tenderer pieces.

Yuck! The insides made the kit feel sick. "Eat," she meowed back, quirking a brow. Was she honestly expected to eat this? Memories of suckling from Littlepetal filled her mind. That was the only 'food' she'd ever known. The kit tentatively leaned down to take a sniff, sticking her tongue out in disgust once doing so. Shadowedkit turned her gaze back to Oakpaw, her expression giving away nothing now. This would be a battle and a half. 

Oakpaw pushed the rat's tender organs back towards Shadowedkit, her voice a vague note away from threatening. "Eat," she almost commanded, leaning down and crunching the rat's tail in her jaws to show the kit that it was edible. The SunClan apprentice and kit were going to fill their bellies, and if Oakpaw had to force Shadowedkit to eat it, then that's just what it would take.

Shadowedkit flinched slightly at the words but continued to back away from whatever in Starclan's name laid in front of her. "No," she meowed shakily. Watching Oakpaw start at the tail made her stomach do flips! Why would any cat eat something like this? Sure, she had seen the freshkill pile, seen the cats eat voles, rabbits, and whatnot. But rats?! No, not consumable. They were gross, yucky, disgusting, and everything else. "I can't eat that!" Bam, her first full blown sentence! All over a disgusting creature laid out for her to feast on.

Oakpaw felt mildly frustrated with the kit but her frustration went away as the kit spoke her first sentence. Her eyebrows raised in amazement, Littlepetal missed her first sentence!

"Say that again?" Oakpaw said with a devious plan, placing a paw in the rat to shove a mouthful in Shadowedkit's mouth when it opened to speak. She looked straight at the kit, who seemed unwise to her plan. 

Thoughts raced through her mind at Oakpaw’s strange request, but she did as she was told. Before she could even get her words out, a pawful of disgusting meat was forced into her mouth. The kit gagged. Why?! She chewed, since it was in fact the only option. Disgusting! Horrible! All caused by Oakpaw’s actions. Shadowedkit glared at the apprentice for the first time, but not really with hatred. Simply annoyance. “Why?”

Sweetpoison craned her neck to stare at the tom, giving a sniff of disapprobation but did not protest further to his offer. Rising to her paws, the gray she-cat's expression stayed impassive while she spoke in an exasperated tone, "If you must..." Sweetpoison paused for a brief moment and padded over to the entryway of the building, "We might as well introduce ourselves to each other. You are?"

Wolfclaw walked beside her as they made there way to Eclispeclan camp. I still got the magic touch when it comes to the ladies, it seems anyways. "My name is Wolfclaw. I'm not orginally from the clans, but from a gang instead." He replied his voice laced with confidence.

Oakpaw frowned at Shadowedkit, suddenly feeling very bad about her plan. She felt her breath hitch. "You have to eat," she said cooly, breaking off another piece and laying it down in front of the kit. "Doesn't your tummy feel better with something inside it?" she asked, diving into her own portion with gusto. The rat didn't taste bad at all- it was young enough to be tender but old enough to be substantial, and its meat was sweeter than the rabbits of the plains.

Shadowedkit continued glaring at Oakpaw, giving no response, as always. She observed the apprentice eating some of the rat and began to question if it really was that bad. Hunger did, in fact, knaw at her belly. Sucking in, she bent down and took a small bite, looking up to see if Oakpaw was pleased with her achievement. Once fully chewed she meowed, "Happy?" The rat truly wasn't bad, but the concept was horrible. Bad experience for her first solid food.