From Shadows [open]

The past moons since the kits had arrived had been... stressful. They’d been so full of peace and love, and happiness for certain... But stressful was another way to describe things. Not because the kittens were a burden, but because everything seemed to be dangerous now that they were in the world. Even venturing out towards the fresh-kill pile seemed to poss a myriad of threats that it hadn’t before. Flintstar had been an amazing father, as the tiny she-cat had expected- he fulfilled every need of the kittens and herself, and tried his best to let her catch a wink of sleep when possible. She was, however, beginning to miss the comforts of their usual nest in the leader’s den. The nursery carried a plethora of unusual sights and scents, and she missed cuddling up with him each night after retiring to their nest. One thing she was certain of, though: their kits were well worth it.

Snoozing at her belly sat six precious bundles of fur, limbs tangled as little snorts and groans sounded from their maws. They were so beautiful, and each of them so unique in their own ways. She’d give up anything in the world if it meant they would be happy. Slowly, she stretched out her hind limbs, making sure not to move too much for fear of waking the kittens. The sun had already set below the horizon, but she didn’t want to wake them. Soon enough they’d stir on their own and become the energetic little balls of fur that she’d been chasing around for the past few moons.

Flintstar sat crouched at the freshkill pile, dutifully studying each piece of prey as he tried to pick out which one to bring to Freckleface. It had been...Something, since the kits had arrived. He had spent every moment fretting about his mate before the kits had been born, and how he fretted about the kits. They were so small - some much smaller than the rest - and...He had large paws and he couldn't always keep track on where they were going. It was always stressful when he had to take on the burden of entertaining them when he tried to let Freckleface get some sleep - he never knew what to say, what to do around the kits. But he was doing his best and that was what counted...Right?

With a sigh, he leaned down and picked up a frog - hoping Freckleface wouldn't mind it as he pushed himself to his paws and padded over to the nursery. As he approached, his ears perked but there was silence - the kits were still asleep then. Some of them were...Loud, he had picked that up rather quickly and that was another stressful thing but he knew he couldn't blame them - they were kits. His siblings had been loud, of course they would be as well. He ducked in, eyes lighting up at the sight of Freckleface stirring as the kits were curled up along her stomach. "Hello," he meowed as he approached silently, gently dropping the frog at her paws. "I brought you some fresh-kill. How are you and the kits doing?" he asked, his voice as earnest as it could be as his eyes trailed onto the sleeping bundles of the kits, certain they would awaken with the setting sun soon enough.

Ever since Freckleface and Flintstar had made it public that they were having kits, Redwolf couldn't help but be excited for the new arrivals. Even though she wasn't related to them by blood, she considered them family in the same way that she considered Thornstar's children to be. Despite being close to the family, she was a little apprehensive to visit the kits, as a little seed of doubt still had a hold in her mind about whether they truly considered her to be their family.

She'd visited once when the kits were born, but she didn't want to overstay her welcome, as the kitting surely had been long and tiring, especially with six kits born from such a small cat. Still, she decided to finally visit Freckleface and the kits again, pushing her way gently into the nursery to find both Freckleface and Flintstar there, with all six kits sleeping peacefully in the nest beside their mother. A frog laid beside her, and she picked up the flat voice of Flintstar asking her how she was doing, a mirror to Redwolf's own thoughts. With a small smile, a hunch of her shoulders and a lowering of her head, she slipped to the side of the entrance, trying to not take up too much space in the nursery.

Hesitating a little before speaking, she finally opened her mouth, feeling a bit uncharacteristically sheepish.
"Hey Freckleface, Flintstar. I just figured I'd visit again and see how you guys were doing."

Frogkit was asleep at his mother’s side. His birth had been somewhat strange. At first he was in the warm bubble with all of the squirming things around him, and now he was no longer in that warm bubble. Sadly, the uncomfortable, squirming things were still with them. He knew the scents of his siblings, and of his mother well. He spent nearly all of his time with them. There was also the tom, a large cat he could sense and smell. He radiated such love towards their mother, and towards them, but it was more uncertain. New scents came to his nose sometimes. Especially when he had first been born. It had been quite a flurry of activity, everyone wanting to see them. Why, the young tom was unsure. There wasn’t much interesting things happening, just a lot of squirming around the litter and Freckleface. He didn’t stir as Redwolf came into the den. Her voice reached his consciousness barely, and his ear perked up for a moment, but he decided it was not ve.ry important and drifted back off again.

ShadowClan camp and the vastness of Cinderkit's new surroundings were overwhelming at times. The past few moons had been spent in contemplation and frustration, staring at the distant pine trees beyond the camp wall like they had done something to personally offend her. Cinderkit felt a sense of great responsibility ever since birth, being the largest and fittest of all her siblings. She'd follow their daring escapades out of the nursery, smothering her own desire to play in the name of protecting her littermates. It seemed the only thing she was capable of in her current state of being. When not at her mother's belly, the large smoke she-cat would be preparing herself for warriorhood, already determining how her life was to play out.

There was a small number of things Cinderkit understood about the forest that sired her, but she was aware of her father; leader of ShadowClan. She was aware of the hierarchy of camp, and the system in which they all lived by. Her days of deep thought had brought this realization to her, and Cinderkit already found herself tense, wanting nothing more than to fit perfectly into ShadowClan's system. Luckily for her, the she-cat's only duty now was to slumber peacefully at her mother's belly.

Freckleface was warm, smelling familiar and motherly. When Cinderkit didn't feel strong anymore, she'd retreat to her mother's side, burying her large frame into Freckleface's chest. This was one consistent factor of Cinderkit's new world that remained steadfast. The kit could always fall back on her mother, when she wasn't following her siblings around camp, or frowning at the crows overhead. Flintstar, on the other paw, held a different kind of familiarity. His presence demanded obedience, not from his personality, but from his title. Cinderkit had only been alive for a small amount of moons, and already felt a strong desire to please him. Both as a father and as a leader. Cinderkit had learned this word to be of great importance, yet another fact to add to her list of consistencies. But for now, she slept, as all kits should. In sleeping, her mind didn't have to mull over he forest and all its great wonders. She was just a kit.

Crowkit shifted around next to the warmth of his mother's stomach, the sound of voices stirring him slightly. The little tom's eyes flickered open a bit, and he noticed his father was in the den, along with a cat he didn't think he'd talked to before.

Though he was now at least somewhat awake, the kit made no move to get up, and simply re-adjusted himself lazily. Out of the corner of his eye, which was still slightly open, he stared at the other cat, lightly curious about this new presence. He was content to simply lie around and drowsily watch for now, comfortably floating in the balance between being asleep and being awake.

But eventually his curiosity at meeting a new cat outweighed his interest in falling back asleep, and he shifted upward, stumbling into a sitting position. He shook his small head, trying to cast away the remains of sleep. "Mom....Dad..." he muttered drowsily, then tried to blink himself further into alertness. His still sleep-glazed eyes shifted towards the new cat. "Hi...I haven't met you yet?" the dark-pelted kit questioned, staring upward.

Being smaller than his siblings hadn’t stopped Tinykit one bit since they’d all gotten old enough to leave the nursery to explore the camp beyond. Despite being the runt of the large litter, he was probably the loudest out of all of them, never missing a chance to ask the nearest cat about this wide world he’d been only recently born into. It was all so big, and even from within the safe walls of camp, Tinykit could see the towering pines beyond, and he knew that it stretched even further than he could see with his own eyes. He wanted to know each and everything about it all-- and what he couldn’t find out from other cats, he would imagine for himself.
Tinykit was having a particularly wonderful dream about flying salamanders when he picked up the hazy mumblings from somewhere nearby. His ears twitched as he recognized his brother’s voice-- it must be time to wake up. Slowly, the little tom opened his eyes to look around the nursery. He could make out the shape of his father and another cat by the entrance. With a mighty yawn, he rolled onto his side, resting his chin on the nearest sibling’s side. “Is it time to get up yet?” He asked, his small voice quickly swallowed up by another yawn.

Though he had tried his best to stay asleep for as long as he could, the movement of his siblings as they awoke nearby and the increasing number of voices around him finally ended Amberkit's slumber. As he rose to his feet, he noticed that while Crowkit, Tinykit and Gravelkit had all started to actually wake up, Frogkit and Cinderkit were still fast asleep. The sleepy kit stretched out as much as he could in the cramped nursery and let out a mighty yawn as he struggled to fully wake up.

Amberkit noticed a vaguely familiar scent in the nursery and turned his head, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He realized that, while he may have seen her once or twice while playing with his siblings outside, he did not know the red tabby who appeared to have just entered the nursery by name. Unafraid, he approached the she-cat to greet her, but another huge yawn hit him right as he was about to speak and it took him a moment to get the words out. "Hi, who're you? I'm Amberkit!"

Out of the corner of his eye, the young tom spotted one of his siblings' tails twitch and was immediately distracted from his goal of meeting this new cat. He dropped to a crouch, feeling a bit more alert, and playfully wriggled with excitement. He batted at the tail with not a clue as to whose it was (everyone was still pretty close together, and most of his siblings honestly looked like little clones of their father), hoping that, whoever it belonged to, they wouldn't be too mad that he had decided to choose them as a playmate so soon after waking up.

Ebonysong padded into the nursery to see Flintstar and Freckleface’s new litter. ”Oh! The kits! Hello! I’m Ebonysong, a warrior of ShadowClan.” Smiling at the tiny kits gently, she wondered if she would ever have kits too. Maybe when I find my mate. Ebonysong chuckled to herself, before staring at each of them individually. ”They seem very lively.” She exclaimed in wonder, still rather oblivious to pregnancy and births. Ebonysong hesitated, before looking at the queen. ”May I...play with them for a while?”

As the kits stirred at her arrival, Redwolf hesitated as some of the kits regarded her with caution, but an uncharacteristically wide smile crossed her face as Amberkit hopped up, ran right up to her, and asked who she was, right before immediately turning to attack one of his siblings' tail. She chuckled as she turned to respond to Crowkit. She fumbled over her words, trying to find a way to describe her relations to the kits in a way that they could understand.
"I visited once when you and your littermates were really tiny! Your eyes weren't open yet then. I'm Redwolf. I'm Flintstar's sister... kinda. That sorta makes me your aunt."

"Redwolf! That's such a cool name!" Crowkit said. He probably would've said so regardless; but he actually did think it was a cool name. "I don't really know what you mean by 'sorta', so can I just call you Aunt Redwolf? I'm Crowkit, I'm the oldest!" the little tom looked up at the warrior, eyes shining with pride. He didn't actually know for sure whether he was the oldest, but he'd decided he liked the idea of it, so that's what he was going to tell everyone was true.

Crowkit then turned his attention to the other new cat who had arrived, not wanting to miss the opportunity to meet someone else new. He was too young to have fully formed motives for why, but already the kit felt a need to get in the good graces of as many cats as possible. "Ebonysong is a really pretty name, too!" he chirped, then flashed a little smile at both his new acquaintances.

In hearing the ruckus of new visitors, Cinderkit reluctantly pulled her sleepy head away from her mother's belly. She sat up in a daze, hazel eyes blinking away sleep in the gloom. Two new she-cats resided in the nursery. They didn't smell of milk or kits, so why were they here? Cinderkit wrinkled her nose as she attempted to think of a logical solution, forgetting that socialization was an adamant excuse to visit. The two older cats introduced themselves as Ebonysong and Redwolf, and Cinderkit's eyes instinctively found her father's, wondering what he thought of the pair. Should she trust them? Were her siblings safe around them? Amberkit and Crowkit jumped to introduce themselves, their recklessness making Cinderkit shiver. She pulled her large frame from Freckleface's belly, coming to stand between her two brothers, fluffing out her pelt protectively.

The kit's hazel eyes flickered between Redwolf and Ebonysong, neck fur bristling. With her pelt on edge, she rivaled even the largest apprentices in size. "Be careful." She hissed to her brothers, annoyed at their impulsive ways. Cinderkit's eyes drifted up to her father's, searching his gaze for something to ease her hesitation.

The movement around him urged Frogkit awake. He sat close to Freckleface still, observing from a distance: Having missed the introductions, he asked, ”Uh, who are you?” They seemed like warriors. Obviously, that was cool, but why were they in the nursery? This was a place for queens and kits, although sometimes his father would come in. But he loved mama and the litter, so it made sense. Those two...he was unsure. He spent a lot of time sleeping, or having some milk rather than bouncing around like some of his siblings. They seemed to have an endless supply of energy sometimes. But honestly, their games were not that entertaining, either. Frogkit prefered to watch the activity around camp. Or maybe just play by himself. Being around other cats was...well, alright at the least. The young tom preferred his own company heavily against another’s.

Freckleface's eyes were just beginning to slip shut again when she heard the faint rustling of Flintstar's paws outside the nursery, and she opened them just in time to watch him approach. She smiled gently when he offered the frog, nosing it to the side as she looked up at him. "It turns out being rambunctious and energetic all day can tire a kit out." She said with a slight giggle, her fluffy tail wrapping around the kits affectionately. Her gaze shifted slightly to the entrance when Redwolf pushed her way through, and she offered a bright smile to the she-cat. "It's a pleasure to see you, Redwolf! The kits should be awake soon," She said as she felt them stir a bit. It seemed like they rose earlier and earlier every day, but she didn't mind at all.

"Redwolf is a cool name for a cool cat," Freckleface mewed, nudging Crowkit gently with a forepaw. She repeated the same process of greetings and welcomes when Ebonysong entered, watching as her kits rose one by one and spoke to the she-cats. "Of course, Ebonysong. I'll surely appreciate the break," She mewed jokingly, shifting backward and settling onto her haunches. The kits would also enjoy time with the warriors, and she loved watching them play. "Have you eaten yet?" She mewed to Flintstar, looking up at him as she nudged the frog between them. "I surely can't eat this entire thing myself."