What Goes Up Must Come Down

Fiske

The young kit trotted out of the nursery, not minding any of the other kits as he made his way through camp, paws squishing against the damp ground. Spring showers always made camp wet and being surrounded by water didn't help, it made his paws cold but he'd rather that than to be bored in the dry den.

Stopping in front of a pathetic tree that barely grew a few tail lengths above the camp, Fiske quickly swiped his tongue across his pelt and his paws to clean them before looking back up at the tree. His siblings had tried learning to climb it and of course, being the smaller litter mate, he wanted to see if he could get up on his own and flaunt it to the others. Practice makes perfect after all and he doesn't need to let them know that he was getting in a few extra tries before they would eventually wake up and try scrambling back up it again.

Sigurd

Padding out of the den after asking Orka if he could explore nearby, he took in the stronger scent of sand and salt. It was oddly calming as he continued to look around for something to mess with. His necklace that was too big for his small body dangled but never was in the way for him. Seeing a small black shape make its way across the camp, he recognized it to be another kit he stumbled across a couple times in the nursery. Sigurd made his way over and watched as he cleaned himself as though to prepare for the climb, it looked tall from their height. He'd seen the other kits play with it and the thought of getting higher peaked his interest.

"I haven't tried climbing yet, wanna train? I bet I could make it pretty high up." Sigurd talked casually even though he looked interested, glancing up at the top. He saw Fiske as weaker but figured it'd be more even since he also didn't have as much experience. The kitten loved the thought of showing off though and challenging himself. Sigurd walked up to the tree as though to study and look for the best footholds, "You wanna go first?" The silver tabby looked back at Fiske, tail curling more in a playful way.

Fiske

Glancing to his side he saw a silver tabby approach him with a welcoming aura. Staring at the other kitten for a moment he let out a soft chuckle.

"I already tried yesterday but didn't make it up very high." Looking back at the scrawny branches he continued to speak. "You look like you'd break the branches off but if ya think you can do it then go ahead." Crouching down to ready his jump, Fiske's tail swayed as he instinctively moved from side to side before jumping up and latching onto the side with his claws. Looking back down at the other tom, a grin appeared on his face.

"It's harder than it looks to get down so don't go too high~" He called down, despite being only about a foot off the ground and the tree only going a few feet higher.

Sigurd

"Hmm," the tom looked up at the comment of him breaking the branches, "Am I that chubby?" he asked with a soft playful tone to his voice. Sigurd watched him and looked concentrated, he was excited and jumped up, causing the thin tree to wobble before calming down again. It was fun seeing the leaves shake from his impact, Sigurd's claws dug into the soft bark to stay safe. He couldn't help but grin and look down at Fiske, his fur looking more chaotic, "See I made it!" The silver tabby only got a bit higher but he looked proud.

Sigurd looked up and tried climbing a bit more, his tail flickering around and exposing how much fun he was having climbing something an adult cat could probably easily knock over. "Do you remember how high your siblings got? I bet I can get higher!" Looking at the tree, he tried finding evidence of scratch marks that'd tell him how high they got.

Fiske

The tree swaying caused Fiske to wince as he dug his claws deeper into the bark and whipped his head around to look at Sigurd.

"Careful! It's a small tree so it's best for small kits, so you gotta be more careful or it'll wobble..." He made sure to use a slightly more stern voice, imagining his mama as he scolded the fluffy tom.

Looking back up, his claws awkwardly stuck to the tree a little too well and he struggled climbing up, digging them in and not entirely used to then removing them and pulling himself up. Eventually though he made it to the lowest branches, they were thin, but a small kit like himself could sit on them easily with only a little bend in the branch under his weight.

"Well, we couldn't get too high without getting stuck or falling, that's why I'm practicing! I'm already higher than before." Looking down at Sigurd with a smile, then back up at the top of the small tree. "I'm not sure how high we'll be able to go, but I doubt you'd be able to make it up much higher than me without falling cuz I have more practice than you anyway~"

Sigurd

Chuckling cuz of Fiske's concern, he waved it off, "It's fine! I'm not some scared small fry!" Sigurd watched as he found a branch to settle on. "Falling is part of the fun! I bet I can! Technically I'm doing better than you since this is my-" Sigurd paused to climb up higher, getting past Fiske's branch, "-first time doing this!" The silver kitten bragged, he was getting tired but he refused to be defeated! He blamed the shaking of his legs on the tree being thinner.

Fiske

The black tom watched as Sigurd made his way up the tree, it wobbled more as he climbed and his fur bristled slightly as he had to hold on tight again. Sighing, his eyes scanned the various branches directly above his head before carefully climbing up a little higher and sitting on one right above him.

"I'm not sayin' it cuz I think you'll be scared, it's just cuz I don't feel like hearing you cry when you smack the ground." He responded, Momentarily getting distracted to whack at a leaf that was floating down before continuing, looking up at the silver tabby. "I'm sure your parents wouldn't appreciate having to scrape you off the ground when you faceplant." He joked, the image of the other kit falling and becoming flat like a pancake from the gravity like a cartoon character appeared in his head.

Sigurd

His tail curled, he loved the competition and seeing Fiske push himself. Sigurd searched for the next branch to beat Fiske with, it almost felt like they were playing 'leap-fish' as they passed each other with a branch. "I won't cry! If anything you'll cry cuz I'll destroy you!" His banter was kind of dumb cuz Fiske wasn't really emotional like that. "Well if I had parents, yea," Sigurd tries to sound casual about it, "It'd be Orka's job, but it won't happen!" The kitten brushed over his growing anxiety and climbed higher, now getting kind of paranoid about his necklace getting caught. His little heart was racing from excitement. Nothing really felt stable but he didn't care as he reached the last evidence of claws he could find, "Ha! I did it! In your face, Fiske!" The tom looked down, looking cocky almost.

Fiske

He rolled his eyes at the halfhearted threat, watching as he climbed up higher and continued to push it farther and farther. Fiske stood up and started climbing again, feeling a slight irritation that Sigurd was doing so well compared to him on his first try. When the silver tom responded to his parent joke, he hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"Oh... well I'm sure Orka wouldn't wanna either. She seems to love the kits like a parent anyway." He responded in an attempt to lighten the situation . Happy that the other kit had instead decided to focus on the height that he reached instead of the conversation they were awkwardly starting. "Oh please, I can make it that high too I'm sure, you're just lucky that the tree is more stable today than it was when i tried before!" Fiske answered, despite that not exactly being how trees work.

As he caught up with Sigurd, a grin formed on his face, head held high for being able to match the tom's height he reached.

Before the tree started bending from the combined weight. Scrambling to get a good hold so that he didn't fall off of it, Fiske felt his heart practically stop at the sudden movement. There was a pause, a sigh of relief that was taken too soon, before the top half of the tree snapped off all together and the two fell. They seemed to smack every branch on the way down, luckily the tree was extremely small so the fall wasn't enough to break anything but a loud oomf escaped his throat as he felt as the air was squished out of his lungs.

Sigurd

Unadmitted exhaustion kept him where he was as Fiske followed him up. He looked around him for a minute to take in the higher view, the other cats all seemed so busy, making him wonder what his parents must have done to assist the city around them. Orka did mean a lot to him, and it made him realize how he'd feel bad if she was worried but right now he just wanted to have fun and improve! "Then prove it!" Sigurd shouted playfully, he was impressed with Fiske's improvement and thought it was really fun watching him push himself.

"There! You made it! And see! We're just fin-" the tom started but then everything fell apart, at first he tried clinging on harder to the tree but that didn't help at all. Hitting all the branches he just made sure to keep his necklace close so he wouldn't get caught. Once Sigurd hit the ground he felt the wind get knocked out of him and he looked surprised at Fiske to make sure he was ok.

Once they both seemed ok he started laughing and trying to shake it off, standing up he was in pain but acted like it was fine, "You good, Fiske? Wow we really flopped didn't we?" Sigurd stretched and winced, his muscles hurt both from working out and falling, "Maybe we should, uh, take a break for today and go take a nap."

Fiske

Catching his breath finally, the young tom slowly lifted his head up to look at Sigurd, a surprised expression on his features before the other kitten started talking. Taking a moment to look down at the thin tree that had broken off and landed next to them, then looking back at his new buddy, the black kit let out an awkward chuckle.

"Y-yeah... I'm good. Just hurt my shoulder I think-" He looked around at the surrounding cats, some obviously noticed but he was happy no one approached, he guessed they could tell the two were alright. "Guess we won't be climbing that tree again. Kinda glad Linnea and Gymir weren't here to see it." Fiske replied with a relieved tone. Finally standing up and shaking his pelt off before testing to make sure he could walk just fine. Just a bit of pain on his shoulder but for the most part he was fine.

"I... could really use a nap. Wanna find a comfy spot in the sun?" The kit asked, gesturing to a nice grassy spot that was dry and not covered in rocks. "I'm not sure if I wanna go inside the nursery just yet, I doubt Orka and my parents would care." Padding over to it he plopped down and curled up, the blades of green being taller than he was and covering a decent amount of him, but still visible enough to not go missing if he took a nap for an hour or so. Leaving a spot if Sigurd did decide he wanted to join him, but not making any more comments after the first to not seem clingy.

Sigurd

He was happy to hear that Fiske wasn't badly hurt and they were both safe, it was a lot of fun though! Getting to really test himself and get Fiske to follow him and go even higher than he probably would. Sigurd pulled a twig out of his fur and looked around when the darker tom mentioned others seeing it. "Yea, I think we'd get made fun of for cycles if they saw us fall like that. Maybe since they didn't see we can tell them we took it down after reaching the top?"

When the other tom stood up he watched to make sure he was fine and wouldn't fall before listening to the offer to take a nap in the sun, "Sure! I think as long as they can poke their heads out and see us we'll be fine!" The spotted tom followed Fiske to the spot he pointed out, he laid down by him and felt comfortable. Listening to the blades of grass shift in the wind, the clouds above them moving at a snail's pace, and the soft spring sun all lulled him to sleep. As he closed his eyes, he listened to Fiske breathing and the noises of the city faded away.

Fiske | 1150 words

Sigurd | 1059 words