Once Upon a Time...

[Onyxdart]

Once upon a time, there was a magic cat. He'd grown up with a magician, run away, and joined Stoneclan. And he'd stayed, through ruined Gatherings until the Gatherings were no more, and through the war, and in the peace that followed the war.

And then one day, like the magic cat he was, he disappeared. To be more exact, he wandered off when no one was looking, and wandered like a displaced ghost through the territory, playing hide and seek with patrols and managing to convince everyone that he was, indeed, gone, although the occasional cat would catch sight of the light colored tom padding through the rocks too far away to be shouted at.

But finally the magic cat tired of being alone, and reappeared, wandering into camp as if he'd only been out hunting, bringing a couple birds and dropping them in the freshkill pile before he went to sit right in the middle of the camp. He looked around, and sniffed the air, and groomed an ear. Then, with a completely unreadable expression, he settled down into a cat loaf. The magic cat was back, but who could tell if he was the same carefree spirit as before?

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[Prowlkit]

Everything was so quiiiiet.

But then again, little Prowlkit didn’t know anything but the quietness, the peacefulness, and in all honesty he was perfectly alright with such a scenario. Although his size was promising that one day he’d reach his father’s bulk, the fluffy, soft-spoken tom-kit seemed to carry more of his patient mother’s mannerisms…a bit thankfully, because the clan likely didn’t need another Loveless running around – one cheery doof was enough. Perhaps the gentle-seeming kit had a bit of an easy smile, a glitter in olive-green eyes he perhaps never once properly expressed against bolder, more rambunctious kits in Stoneclan.

It was this day, daringly enough, that the kit had chosen to leave his mother’s side and explore the camp himself – not overly paying attention to his siblings’, or parents’, whereabouts as he curiously looked around. The delicate Genesis, feminine and clumsy, was talking with Loveless as the duo were headed from camp – a hunting expedition, most likely, and the kit watched his father and clanmate go before his attention roved again.

To settle, instead, on a cat he couldn’t recall meeting before.

Curiously, tail waving in a friendly manner from side to side in a light, careless flick, Prowlkit padded over to the comfortable looking cat loaf named Spellbound, wandering around the tom for a moment before plopping down onto his belly like a kitty-Sphinx, meowing, “Hello there. I’m Prowlkit. I dunno if we’ve met before, but heya~”

[Onyxdart]

The tom watched quietly as one of Pinedark and Loveless's kits came over to say hello. Yes, he'd been watching, and he knew who had kits and who didn't, and while he didn't know many of their names, he knew all of their scents. He recognized this little one.

Spellbound had once snuck into camp with some freshkill- only fair, since he occasionally ate from the freshkill pile when no one was around, and he couldn't find food off the border in Rogue lands, and he felt like it was traitorous and breaking rules to eat from the Clan's freshkill when he was only marginally acting as a member of the clan. Anyway, he'd come in to camp to drop food on the pile, and he'd taken the time to separate the new smells of the little kits that had been recently born. This little one had been one of them.

He watched, and twitched his tail, and waited for the kit to finish inspecting him. When the kit finally flopped down and said hello, a grin crept onto Spellbound's face. Actually, he hadn't smiled in awhile. It was a nice feeling. He'd been the comic relief around here for a short time.

"Hullo! I'm Spellbound, magic cat extraordinaire," Spellbound answered, putting his paw over a leaf that went by, and then lifting it up. The leaf had disappeared! He lifted his other paw, and it had returned. He blew on it, and it fluttered away into the air.

"So, where is everyone? This was a hoppin' joint back in the day," the tom said, looking around, his eyes falling on rabbit rock. Ah, rabbit rock. Jadepaw had named that rock, and they'd had a grand time with several others joking about the thing. Perhaps he should let some of the local kits in on that story, to see where they'd take it.

[Prowlkit]

Prowlkit wiggled forward a little bit at a slow, almost unperceivable [to his eyes, of course, like most kits he didn’t realize how blaringly obvious his actions were] pace and reeeached out with his muzzle to get an up close and personal greeting to familiarize himself with this tom’s scent – that way, when they met each other again in the future, he wouldn’t forget him.

“Magic cat?” He questioned, but Spellbound was quick to prove that his words were right. After the clever trick with the leaf the little tom was staring at him, with his bottom jaw literally dropped a little bid in shock, wonderment, and surprise at the action, “Wooooah! That was so cool!” He gave a friendly little smile, ever a gentle boy, before pawing at another little leaf and flicking it over towards the tom – an open invitation for him to perform the trick, or even better yet more!, again.

But the tom was speaking again, a concept confusing for young Prowlkit, so much so that he flicked an ear back and tilted his head to the side in confusion. “What do you mean?” Really…he didn’t know. “It’s always been like this, hasn’t it?” Olive eyes looked around the camp to mimic his visible puzzlement – all was quiet. And boring. As always. He didn’t even know were his siblings were off too right now – they were probably sleeping or something.

[Onyxdart]

Spellbound grinned as the little kit wiggled closer, and especially at the reaction to the disappearing leaf. When another was soon batted his way, he put his paw over it again just to hold it, while the kit explained that the camp had always been boring.

"Oh, but it was no such thing! You see that rock? We called that rock "rabbit rock". We said it was a rabbit that had gotten turned to stone. Not by me, of course. I could never turn anything into stones," he said, face falling comically, ever the showman. Then he tilted his head to the side, "But I always liked feathers, better. See?" he asked, having moved the paw holding down the leaf to reveal a feather that flipped up into the air and landed on his nose, making him sneeze.

[Prowlkit]

Rabbit…rock?

Little Prowlkit, with perhaps a touch more realism in him then most kits, blinked and turned his attention towards the rock in question. At first the boulder could only look like just that, but if he turned his head from side to side and peered at it like sooooo, the sensible kit could see why it had been called that.

Spellbound was quick enough to claim he had nothing to do with it, even as he poofed the leaf into a feather with some fancy paw tricks, leaving the kit in wonderment for a moment. Holy catnip, how did he do that? “You said that you could never turn anything into stone.” The quiet kit cautiously started, flicking the tip of his tail and looking back to the Rabbit Rock, as he probably would forever remember it by now. “Does that mean that you don’t want to, or that you can’t?”

[Onyxdart]

While the little kit examined the rock, Spellbound turned and did the same. He could never see anything but the rabbit, but he supposed once it hadn't looked like a rabbit to him. Or maybe it had! He smiled slightly, pawing at the feather as it fluttered down in front of his nose again. For a moment, he considered it as it lay on the ground. Then he looked at Prowlkit, who was speaking. For a moment Spellbound looked completely clueless, as he'd lost track of what the little one was saying, but then his ears caught up to his brain.

"Well, mostly I never wanted to, so I never tried. Anyway, who would turn a rabbit to stone? They're much better for eating," he said practically. In reality, he could have "turned something to stone" as easily as he turned leaves to bird feathers- it just took distraction, and slight of paw. He could "disappear", too, a skill which came in handy on an oddly frequent basis outside of the circus he'd once called home. No one else had really ever asked him how he did it, though, so he'd never volunteered the information. A good magician never reveals his secrets.

[Prowlkit]

“Who named it the Rabbit Rock?” He innocently inquired – hey, might as well ask Spellbound while he had the chance; he didn’t know if his parents would know. Of course, Pinedark probably did because Prowlkit firmly believed that his mother happened to know everything, but still. Why pass up the opportunity for a good story? And maybe he knew whatever other cats that had been involved; Spellbound had said ‘we’ after all. The little tom-kit ventured another smile, still sweet and kindly as before, and paid close attention to the male before him.

Prowlkit always liked a good story.

…huh. Well, he supposed that made sense…sorta. “Could you teach me?” Uh-oh, Spellbound really should have seen that coming a mile away, but the kit was really now curious on it all!

[Onyxdart]

Oooooh, so Prowlkit wanted to learn? Spellbound grinned just slightly, though he was trying to look inscrutable.

"A great magician never reveals his secrets," he said, and then, before the kit could get upset, laughed and said, "But then, I was never great! Merely good. If your mother says it's okay, of course I will teach you." Then he paused to think about the kit's other question. Who /had/ been there at the naming of the Rabbit Rock? He rolled his eyes skyward, one bottom fang sticking out as he crossed his jaw and thought very hard. Jadepaw- the Jadekit- of course, and Brighteye. The sweet blind she-cat Blindsong, and he knew there were others...

"Well, you don't know any of them, I don't think. Your mom and dad might have wandered up for the tail-end of the conversation. But there was a young kit named Jadekit- she was Jadepaw later, and another she-cat called Blindsong, and a little puppy- I don't remember how that happened. I think Warfox was probably lurking nearby. If you want to see him jump, just sneak up behind him and say "BOO!" and he'd probably half-die. There was Sapho, too, and maybe Chainless. I think Chainless was training Jadekit at the time... but I don't remember," he said. it was probably more of an answer than the kit was expecting, but once Spellbound started remembering things, it was hard to get him to stop and come back to the present. A few moments after drifting off, he shook his head as if to resettle the thoughts and looked at Prowlkit, not apparently sure what exactly he'd been talking about.

Nearby, but not so close as to be caught listening, Pinedark heard a familiar voice speaking with her son- the returned Spellbound, although she rather thought he'd never really left. She listened with a half-smile as her son marveled at the cat's magic tricks, and then eventually wandered over when Prowlkit asked if Spellbound could teach him.

"Spellbound, it's been awhile! Just don't teach him to disappear. They get into enough mischief without disappearing!" she laughed good-naturedly as she plopped down next to Prowlkit and gave his head a perfunctory lick, as if it was dirty-but-not-really. It was getting close to the time of day when there tended to be more cats out in the main camp- maybe some more folks would be around soon. She knew Loveless had just left, having heard his voice as he went to hunt or patrol. This was her favorite part of the day, when everyone seemed to come out of wherever they'd been hiding all day. While she still retained a lot of the shyness that she'd had since she was a kit, she liked everyone being around. It just felt more friendly. Plus, there was such less likelihood that anyone would get up to no good with a bunch of the grown cats watching. And that was /always/ a blessing!

"Remind me to introduce you to all the other kits next time it rains, and then you can keep them amused for a little while," Pinedark added, nodding her head in the direction of the bird feather that had fluttered away.

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[Prowlkit]

Oh oh…so he would be allowed to learn!

Prowlkit gave a certainly uncharacteristic bounce for a moment, about to rush off and beg his dear momma, but he stopped that rush of excitement to plop himself back down onto his belly and wait for the story that beckoned to come. But…who were all those cats? After Spellbound’s list of names he tilted his head from side to side with a considering look, trying to recall if he’d heard those names before. “I know Warfox! Well….not exactly know know him, he’s so big and lonery, but he’s still around. And auntie Chainless too..”

The kit stopped there, his olive eyes wandering in the general direction of the medicine cat den. Chainless had locked herself from the rest of the world aside from visits from her brother of the clan leader; otherwise the ailing white she-cat was rarely seen. Like that late blooming rose, beautiful against the chilling, bitter snow…fading slowly away as time passed on. Prowlkit quite liked his aunt and always wanted to learn about the herbs she was so knowledgeable about – to be honest, he always wanted to learn about everything – but he was always quickly shooed away by someone.

Wait a minute. "Did you say a puppy? What's that?" Was it something to eat? Man oh man, he still had a lot to find out about.

Before he could insist on having the tom follow him in the general direction of his mother to ask her, it was as if Pinedark had read his mind and saved him the trouble in coming over. The grey, fluffy kit was to his paws and over to his mother with his most pleading of looks, only to be aptly shot down by her words. “Aw mom! I don’t get into trouble!” Sure, it was worth a shot.

[Onyxdart]

What were puppies? What were /puppies/?! This kit had somethin' to learn! At least he looked eager to learn it. Spellbound reckoned this kit would make a fine apprentice to someone someday.

"Well. Puppies are baby dogs. Do you know what a dog is? Four legs, like us, sharp teeth, long noses, bigger ears than us. They bark, too, and a lot of them like chasing cats. I don't like them much, but this little guy was alright, I guess. I heard that one of the other clans has a coyote- they're like dogs, except usually worse. And foxes are kind of like dogs too," he said, standing to draw a somewhat capable picture of a dog, complete with upright ears and a long tail. It looked enough not like a cat to signify, anyway. He nodded satisfactorily.

He looked up at Pinedark and grinned, and then looked at Prowlkit.

"I will teach you the easy stuff first- which is /not/ disappearing. If you can do the easy stuff, when you are older, if no one objects, I'll teach you how to disappear. Good plan?" he asked. Really, the last thing they needed was kits who knew how to pretend invisibility. He thought he recalled that they got into quite enough mischief without really good hiding skills.

Pinedark had to duck her head to hide a smile as Spellbound went off about the puppy. She didn't remember it all that well, but she knew Spellbound didn't like puppies. That much, she did remember. And she vaguely remembered the rabbit rock. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Prowlkit, though it looked like she was looking elsewhere, gauging his reaction to Spellbound's offer. Not that she thought he'd be rude, mind you, because she would have bopped him on the head if the thought had even crossed his mind, just enough to warn him. No, she was just curious how he was going to react to this compromise.

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[Prowlkit]

Well, it wasn’t as if the fluffball had ever even seen a puppy before, let alone a day. In these times of peace such dangerous threats didn’t seem to be so noticeable, and were especially not to young kits like Prowlkit and his siblings. He gave a bit of a shudder at the tom’s description of the beast, it must’ve been like some horrible monster!, before nodding. “I hope not to meet one of those anytime soon.”

He jumped to his paws all hopeful at Spellbound’s compromise, however, flashing pleading looks over at his wonderful momma again and again as he nodded with more enthusiasm then typical, “Like how you made the leaf turn into a flower? I’d love to learn, please, please! I’ll listen and be a good student!” And then, maybe, when he was bigger and better he’d be taught how to poof too!

Hey, it was something to certainly work towards.

[Onyxdart]

Spellbound looked to Pinedark for her okay, and when the she-cat nodded, looked back at Prowlkit. The little one was so excited an enthusiastic! Spellbound hadn't ever been that enthusiastic, but he'd been taught tricks by the magician who'd owned him- learning to switch out a feather for a leaf or a small stone had been a manner of job security. Watch the humans do it enough times, you could figure it out yourself. And they were always so surprised.

"First, you have to learn the basics- distraction, planning ahead, that sort of thing. I'm afraid it's dreadfully boring, but without knowing how to do those things, you'll never be able to change a feather into a leaf, or make it disappear," he said, reaching out for a leaf that was on the ground.

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[Prowlkit]

With a last pleading glance at his momma, he smiled widely when she nodded in agreement. Yes, yes, this was awesome! The excitement bubbled up inside the quiet, happy little tom, but instead of bursting forth like his father with it here merely sat there with almost hero worshipping eyes towards the tom-cat, tail flicking from side to side.

With the information given to him, the kit seemed to settle for a second, thinking on it as his gaze finally flicked to the leaf as well as the paw resting on it. Here would probably be his chance to bail, if it were just as boring as he said, but there would be real, raw determination on his sweetly stubborn face when he looked again. “Boring or not, I’m ready to learn!” At least Spellbound had a devoted student?

[Onyxdart]

Spellbound grinned at the little kit- so eager to learn! He wasn't sure what he'd just gotten himself into, but for better or worse he was gonna be teaching this kit some magic.

"Alright, then. Distraction first. Keep an eye on my paws while I'm talking to you," he said. He put one paw over the leaf, and started talking. He asked the kit apparently unrelated questions- had he ever heard of the bird that would mimic a broken wing to fool a cat away from its nest? What about the large flocks of birds that would flutter about all around if one of their own was attacked? As he talked, he watched the kit, waiting for him to grow distracted, and then subtly curled his feet under his chest as if he was settling down to tell a tale. As he reached the end of his story, he put his paws back out.

"And then, just like that, they're gone!" he said, bounding up so that the kit could see under both of his front paws. In jumping up, he put one hind paw down on the leaf and flicked it backwards so the leaf just appeared to be one of the many which had been falling from the trees.

"And now... where did the leaf go?" he asked the kit.

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