nectarbite entered the nursery, only to be met by the soft but grating sound of claws against bark. tilting curious ears forward, she noted that the friction created didn't seem loud enough to be that of a full-grown cat's claws. no, there were little claws at work here - a kit's claws.

despite herself, a smile flitted fondly across her features as she nosed her way through the den - a space compact to the point of being cramped. weaving through what little space the nests left, nectarbite managed to make her way to the source of the sound. a quick inhale told her that this was indeed a kit.

"hey, kid," the warrior greeted, lowering the moss in her jaws onto the ground. she turned to the closest nest, yanking out layer after layer of dry-smelling moss. dragging her paw across each individual layer, she made a mental catalogue of which ones she would have to throw out, and which ones could last another moon or two. some were worn so thin they were but papery fragments of something once whole; others were still dense enough to provide the queens and kits well-needed warmth.

putting aside the pieces that were obviously unusable, nectarbite placed the oldest sheets of moss in the nest first, and the newest ones last so the nest's occupants would be able to enjoy the soft, smooth lining. while she still had a few more nests to clean out, they could wait. what seemed to be a bored kit wouldn't. 

"bored?" nectarbite questioned, plopping down beside the kit. "my name's nectarbite. what's yours?"

nectarbite couldn't help but smile when the kit explained his assumption. his following question, however, caught her slightly off guard. the curiosity of kits never failed to unsettle her; they hadn't yet caught on to the workings of the world around them - hadn't yet become jaded.

"well, i'm blind," the she-cat said, the simple statement coming across a little more blunt than she would like. a soft grin curved her muzzle up as if to assure the kit she hadn't meant any harm. "but i also want to do a good job. don't you hate sleeping on stale moss?"

rainkit's last question drew an abrupt laugh from her. "i'd put changing the moss at the bottom of my list of duties i like to do," she admitted, her candour softened by her pleasantly honeyed tone. "hunting's better by far. but, yeah, we don't have enough apprentices, so i gotta do my part. plus, it's not so bad. i get to talk to kits like you."