XX As a kit they...
The 8th of October in RiverClan's nursery, Gingerkit was born second after his sister Goldenkit, to Honeybee, and Honeybee only. Remi, their father, had been left unaware of why Honeybee wasn't coming to see him anymore and was not even informed of her pregnancy in the first place. But that didn't bother either kit, as both of them were perfectly happy just being together with their mom and older sister, even if they didn't see the later as much.
Growing up together, Goldenkit and Gingerkit were practically inseparable. If you saw one of them, you'd most likely find the other not far behind. Between the two, Goldenkit was the one who would encourage them to explore and try new things, while Gingerkit would keep them out of trouble (mostly) by compromising with his sister and made sure they got enough rest. Rather quickly, between the two, it became so that Goldenkit was the 'leader' and Gingerkit the 'deputy', just like she wanted them to be once they got older. The two, mainly by Goldenkit's encouragement and ideas, made many plans together for the future, one promise being that they'd explore the territory and outskirts together as soon as they became seven moons of age, per Gingerkit's convincing of waiting until they had at least a bit of training. Throughout it all though, especially Gingerkit, loved to spend as much time as possible huddle close to their mother and sleep.
Misery struck however, when one day they hadn't seen their mother almost all day. The two didn't think much of it at first, and although a bit a worried, Gingerkit had resorted to napping while Goldenkit did what Goldenkit would do.
At some point during the day, Gingerkit got woken up by his sister pulling his ear, and after a lot of urging and convincing, finally got up to help her look for their mother for 'one moment', as he was certain she'd soon return. But when he was about to leave the nursery, Goldenkit didn't follow. He'd only looked away for a few seconds, when he heard an ever so faint thump, that turned out to be his sister falling. She hadn't seemed sick, other than occasional shortness of breath that was always written off as coming from all her running around. And yet, although having looked perfectly fine just a few seconds ago, it seemed like she could barely move or even breathe. Quickly realising how serious this was, yet not knowing what to do, Gingerkit panicked and was soon crying all the tears he had. It was like he could see the life draining from her as she still managed to give him a small smile.
It hadn't taken long for her to pass, but Gingerkit kept nudging her, telling her to get up and that they'd look for their mom - even explore the territory if she so wanted. He'd completely broken down. He wouldn't let anyone come close to her, hissing and calling and swiping his paws at anyone if they tried. In the end, he had to get restraint by a queen for someone to be able to take Goldenkit's body away.
Up to a few days would have passed, Gingerkit refusing to leave his nest and barely eating. Flyfur, a queen who'd given birth a few moons prior and was known to adopt kits with no parents, had been checking up on him in Honeybee's absence; that is, until the news of Honeybee's passing had come shortly after Goldenkit's death. No matter how much he wanted to know, Gingerkit was never told how she exactly died - now doubting whether they even knew in the first place. When the news of Honeybee came, Flyfur took it upon herself to look after Gingerkit and continuing to raise him as one of her own, despite all his refusing at first. It took a while, but as time passed, Gingerkit very slowly started to warm up to Flyfur, resulting in an official adoption of him, by her. Despite his adoption though, he still spend a lot of time sleeping in his old nest as it still held the scent of his biological mother and sister. It was with the help of Flyfur that he managed to keep the old nest unoccupied even once he became a warrior as has was never truly ready to let go (though upon his lengthy disappearance, the nest has finally been cleaned out).
After loosing his sister and mother, Gingerkit changed: He never was very active, but he became significantly lazier, more dull. He started getting irritated at almost every thing and for a long time nothing interested him anymore, neither did he show any care for, well , anything. For all his grumpiness, careless and even lack of respect to anyone, Gingerkit never got into any actual trouble as most queens would turn a blind eye towards his attitude, likely due to his loss.
For moons he shut almost everyone out willingly, except for his adoptive mother. He had no care for interacting with others, or playing with kits he only found irritating. It wasn't until he reached five moons of age that he finally interacted with another kit again, Lotuskit, after she tried to reprimand him for being rude as he called the other kits mousebrains under his breath. This unconventional start to a conversation led to him, in some terms, lazily taking her defence in face of another kit complaining about her being loud. Really, he just didn't feel like listening to the other kit's complaining, yet that interaction between him and Lotuskit somehow led to them playing mossball with his adoptive sister Featherkit, something he hadn't done in moons either, if ever. After that, as she had come to the conclusion that Gingerkit was 'nice', Lotuskit kept coming back to Gingerkit despite all his bluntness, that eventually somehow turning into a relationship that even Gingerkit didn't mind and could be called a frienship.
And soon enough, it was almost time for Gingerkit's apprenticeship, not long after he had met Lotuskit. He was uncertain about his eventual promotion, but even after a talk with Flyfur, wherein she suggested asking Lionstar if he could stay in the nursery for a little longer, Gingerkit declined the offer. He didn't feel ready, but knew his sister wouldn't want that and doubted that Lionstar would approve of that in the first place. Less than a week after that talk, Gingerkit was finally made Gingerpaw alongside Lotuspaw and his adoptive sisters Featherpaw and Berrypaw.
XX As an apprentice they...
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XX As a warrior they...
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