mealworm march [open after the kits post!]

This was… Uncharacteristic of the multicolored tom. Sure, they're existence was his fault, but when had he ever owned up to anything in his life? ”Stop wandering off! Stay in my line of sight or I'll leave you behind!” He barked annoyed orders at the gaggle of kittens walking either too slow in front, too far behind, or directly under paw. They giggled and bickered during the long journey through neighborhoods and back alleys, finding trouble as they went. He even allowed them to take a break every so often to drink from a mysterious puddle or two and eat scraps they found on the ground. What was it Mr. Worm had said? It helps build the immune system? Whatever. Grub did it all the time and he was absolutely fine and normal, so he guessed it wouldn’t hurt.

Begrudgingly, he had to admit that these little slime balls were his based on their behavior alone - except for the pure white wrinkled one; a straggler they picked up along the way and didn't notice till it was far too late. His own children didn't seem to mind the extra set of paws, but it earned an exhausted groan from the unprepared Father of the Year. Hope a mother isn't desperately missing their child right now because he would NOT be tracking the parents down.

Come to think of it, he didn't know a single thing about taking care of a kid, let alone seven of them! Oh, if it wasn't for the shred of empathy he had left in that crooked head of his, they would have stayed in the cardboard box he found them in outside of Magnolia's house. Speaking of that cold-hearted molly, she didn't seem to have a single care about these little guys except for nursing them for as long as she did. And cats called him rancid… A dismissive wave of her pretty tail before her humans ushered her back inside, scowls on their naked faces. It wasn’t a child's fault for being born, so why should they be punished for it?

”Mealworms! Assemble!” He shouted out the nickname he gave the unorganized mess of kits surrounding him. They were fast approaching the Crew’s camp and he needed to make sure every last one at least made it inside the camp's walls. ”If you had a name before this… No you didn’t. The second we pass through that entrance up ahead is when your new life starts whether you like it or not... Until you’re old enough to make your own choices.” His yellow eyes canned the kits, his singular ear twitching. Right. Now how did one go about names? He couldn’t even remember how he got his own name, let alone having ever given another cat one.

His eyes landed on the light and fluffy orange calico one giving a frantic scratch to his ear, sticking rather close to another of his siblings as though he lived in his fur. ”Louse.” He laughed to himself. One down, six more to go.

Next was an all black and lanky tom. Reminded Grub of this spider he found in the woods the other day; no matter how hard he tried to get it to move, all it did was tuck its legs in like it didn’t care one bit. Same color, too. Long, skinny legs... ”Spider.”

Third in line was a she-kit who looked like two different cats stitched together. ”Echo.” Sticking with the theme of just saying whatever came to mind that he liked in his everyday life, he chose a name based on the echoes a slightly empty dumpster made when he landed at the bottom. He couldn’t put his claw on it, but he enjoyed the noise.

Onto the fourth: another tom with a black pelt, but this time with a flare of orange on his face. This guy looked like him a lot in the right light, so it made this next one a lot easier. ”Fish.” He gave a satisfied nod at that. Fish was his favorite meal so one couldn't go wrong there.

Another son was met in the line, Grubs eyes narrowing warily at such a sickly figure. He reminded him of those weaver ants in the forest. The ones with the spindly bodies almost so thin he often wondered how the wind didn’t snap them in half. ”Weaver.” Someone would have to get this kid checked out before he keeled over.

Kid number six was certainly not his, but under zero circumstances would he be retracing his steps after such an annoyingly exhausting trip here. He hummed to himself as he looked the kit over: pure white, save for a few dirt stains here and there. Fur so short he could see the weird wrinkled skin beneath ripple everytime they moved. ”Maggot.” There wasn’t a more fitting name, honestly.

As he got to the seventh, Grub came to the realization that he was bored of this whole name thing. ”Grub Jr.” The she-kit looked enough like him, right? Though her tongue stuck out in irritation at him giving her his own name, which he returned with his own nasty look. Brat.

”Well… Welcome to your second chance at life, kids.” He flicked a tail full of slicked back fur, beckoning the bundles of mayhem to follow him through the cracked stones that led directly into camp.

At the calling of his father, the patchwork kitten was quick to fall into line, amber eyes shining up at Grub in interest.  He was yet to decide on anything or anyone, unsure about how he felt about his unceremonious dumping by the twolegs and then the irksome road trip he had to undertake with his "father". Ma and father were basically the same to him, but he found himself preferring ma, or the life he had there. Warm soft nest, full bellies, infinite playtime! Sure ma hadn't been all that present, but the life there was far better than with father. The kitten doubted he'd ever get use to the dumpster meal he was forced to swallow down, or that his paw pads would ever fully harden. Father had them always moving, he never even got to play!

Maybe if ma had shown the kittens a shred of love he wouldn't feel so indifferent. Having once enjoyed the company of his siblings, the whining and complaining that had taken place over the journey had made him begin to detest them. His claws sliding out whenever he heard a high pitched whine. Couldn't they be quiet? He was mostly quiet, except for when he would hiss at them to shut up, or offer father a thank you for whatever disgusting slob was dropped in front of them. It was best to have some manners than have father cast him out into the grey forest. Slop was better than death. He'd do just about anything to ensure he survived.

Father was speaking again, giving them instructions, describing their new home. Hopefully it had centralised heating, and those pelts that were impossibly soft that the twolegs kept in abundance. But their new home looked unimpressive, and he couldn't see any giant colourful pelts. A disappointed smile flashed across his maw, quick to vanish as his father called his name. Louse. Louse?! Maybe he had gotten his hopes up to high expecting a better name from the father that called himself, grub,  but louse was quite possibly an all time low. The tom kit couldn't pass the put out look from his face, falling back into a sitting position. Had his father really just named his after those bugs that drank blood, and lived in all the damp yucky place? Surely not.

Louse was about to protest his name, but his mouth snapped shut as he heard the other names his father had picked. His name was not the worst of the bunch. The scraggly tom that didn't fit in had earned himself the name maggot, which Louse found fitting, maybe father wasn't so bad with name, and he'd been named first too! Was he the favourite? The disheartenment he had felt just moments ago was replaced with a feeling of self assuredness, though more than likely entirely misplaced. As usual though, one of his siblings had to begin whining again, and his briefly high spirits were ruined. The calico shook his head in exasperation.

The she-cat never felt more confused and saddened than she did at this moment. To be fair, her time in this world has been very little. Her and her siblings entire world had been shifted on this simple day. The world was the exact same. The biting cold air and wind was the same, as well as the look of the trees, but she had never been in a place like this. In fact, she did not even have much experience in the cold before. She shivered ever so slightly, trying to not let the cold impact her that much, but she could not completely cover the feeling. The place with her mother and the humans was warm, normally a little too warm for her to be comfortable with her fur, but that is the way the humans seemed to like it. Her life before was a simple one, but she realized now that she enjoyed it. She always wanted more adventure, more independence, but now that she was forced to leave... she wanted nothing more than to stay by her siblings' sides.

Oh... Echo? She thought. It wasn't just a new home it was a new identity. She needed to be a new cat, that was the only choice here for her. Not only does he take me from my life, he changes who I am. Well, I'm not going to-

Her brother, Fish as his name was now, leaned against her. She looked towards him, more grateful than ever for her siblings as they were the little piece of familiarity she had left. The whining made her flick her tail in annoyance and when it hit the cold dirty ground she scrunched her nose in disgust. Her eyes darted across her surroundings, at the new land which she apparently was going to call her own.

"It's going to be okay, Fish." She meant her comfort, but couldn't help but flinch when she said his new name. "Who knows, maybe our new home will be just so beautiful, and if we stop here, we'll never get the chance to see it."

Oh, of course she did not believe the words coming out of her mouth. She wasn't the most hopeful of cats. She wanted to have some hope, but it was a bit difficult for her, so if she could give even just a little bit to her sibling she wanted to take that chance. She didn't know exactly what else to do, but she wanted to be comforting, so she playfully bopped Fish on his head with her paw.

Her ears twitched a little. Under any sorrow, confusion, or anger she had, she was truly nervous. What would this new life entail for her and her siblings? She knew only time could tell.

Ma wasn't so bad, but it was easy to tell the love wasn't there. The humans weren't any better, though, always yelling at her and her siblings if they did anything but sit there and look cute. That wasn't in the kits blood to sit still and look pretty; the brown mottled she-kit wanted to play. Tag was her favorite, followed closely by knocking stuff off the tables or spilling Ma's water dish and splashing in the room temperature liquid. The toys weren't bad, but she liked what they came in the best. Liked chewing on the cloudy stuff that held it together. Liked the feeling of her teeth poking holes in things.

It was all cut rather short, though. It started with her little teeth gnawing a black string attached to the smooth white wall, followed by a zap that turned her into a little ball of fluff. It hurt, but the humans and Ma didn't do much about it. Her whiskers were now permanently jagged, too. Who really knew what the last straw was that got them put in that box in the cold winter snow, but they were there for a while. Mewling and hungry, bickering amongst themselves from being forced into such a tight space just the six of them. He wasn't a savior. Grub had just... Shown up one day calling for their Ma, only to find her and her siblings huddled in the bottom of a soaked cardboard box. Maybe they would have frozen to death or starved out there if left for much longer, but she didn't see it that way. This tom forced them - although tasty - to eat trash and drink from weird black puddles and then hike up a whole MOUNTAIN during a BLIZZARD! If anyone was the bad guy, it was him. Right?

When they did finally get to rest longer than consuming a meal, it was to order them to sit down and shut up. Without asking, he took their names from them - they had names before this, right? It was 'small one' and 'kit' - and then told them to they lived here now. Wherever here was.

Her mouth hung open in disbelief at the name he bestowed upon her: Grub Jr. To think her siblings were upset over things like echo, fish or louse... Did they not hear what that lazy greaseball just called her? His own name! Her little face scrunched in annoyance, her yellow eyes that mirrored her self-proclaimed papa's closing as she stuck her tongue out at him before leaning in close to the stranger next to her. "Oh, just get a move on, Fish! Anywhere is fine as long as we're together, ain't that right, Maggot?" Her tone was teasing and shrill. She was obviously taking her new name out on the closest cat she could find. To be honest, Grub Jr had no idea where that kit had come from, but she'd been dragging her paws right alongside them for the last day, so she guessed that made them siblings now. Another pelt to pull on when she got bored, or to pin her pinches to the skin on when her boredom took over and her impulse control was all but lost. Not that it ever existed. "Come ON! I wanna see what's behind those ugly rock walls!!!" A claw reached out and stuck both Echo and Weaver in the tail, earning a giggle as she ran off ahead.

At first, the exclamation from Ajex earned an unamused blink. Then his whiskers twitched up in a grin at the thought of feeding into it. "The world is full of surprises, I guess." He shrugged, looking back as his kids either filed in through the broken rocks, or stayed behind in protest. "Ajex, meet my spawn: Echo, Fish, Louse, Weaver, Spider, Maggot, and Grub Jr. Maggot just showed up on the way here, so if any she-cat's come crying that they're missing a kid... It's probably better off you say you don't know anything. Who would lose a kid?" His tail flicked. Part of him wished he'd lost one or two of them on the way here, but that just wasn't in the cards. "Kids, listen up! This is Ajex. Leader to the Crew that stays here; just a rag-tag group of rogues and misfits looking for a little spice in their life. Cats that hold grudges to what the Clans have been doing to the forest and anyone they deem unworthy of their culture. Any problems come up, you go to him. Everything else..." He trailed off, not willing to say out loud that he was available to be bothered. "You know."

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Grub Jr came to a final hop in front of Ajex, giving him a once over after having shoved Maggot in a race to get here first, their little tummies set on food. "You're kind of..." A sneer had her tiny mouth twist upwards as though she were about to say something rather mean, only to stop there. "Come on, Maggot! Looks like they really do have some food laying around! See ya around, Stink Lord!" She nudged her newest sibling they had all silently claimed as she stuck her tongue out at Ajex, her little paws scuttling on the ground before finally gaining traction and speeding her along to scope out the camp.