The Leopard's Cubs (open)

Leopardstar's whiskers twitched in anticipation as he crossed the camp clearing. His pelt was glossy again and his broad figure was back to its normal, well-fed state. His sense of complete isolation had lifted entirely with the birth of his new kits. Part of him regretted not having them with Shimmerheart, but the rest of him new she would be glad for his new-found happiness. Smallstorm had birthed five healthy little kits, four tomkits and a single she-kit. They all had his spotted pelt although they came in several different shades of color. Lizardkit, Breezekit, Olivekit, Falconkit, and Cobrakit. Just thinking about the little kits made his heart swell with emotion in a way that it hadn't in many, many seasons. Perhaps things were finally looking up for the new leader.

The spotted tomcat reached the nursery and looked in to find his litter. It had been several sunrises now, and they would be opening their eyes and exploring the camp at any moment. He wanted to be there when they started learning more about their world. He wanted to be a part of their lives in a way that he wasn't for his last litter. Maybe these five wouldn't take cross-clan mates or betray him to the Dark Forest. A guy could hope, right?

Everything was black with hints of blurry lightness as a silver bengal kit opened his eyes, his eyes feeling watery with the light as it blinded him. Breezekit shut his eyes once more with annoyance, a pitiful squeak erupted from his mouth as he tried to complain about the sunshine that was getting in his eyes. The kitten turned and shuffled, flopping over on unsteady legs more than enough times as he opened his eyes away from the sun.

Breezekit's eye-lids finally pried themselves open, revealing blue kitten eyes. It took a lot of pensive staring into the dark before the kitten looked down at his litter-mates then to his father, his fur fluffing up as he looked upon the tom. Then at his own pelt, seeing the resemblance through blurry vision that struggled to adjust to the lighting. Tilting his kitten-fluff covered head the tom gave a squeak before stumbling to his paws before slumping forwards with front paws trapped below his body, a whine drawing from his maw.

The small kitten whom looked almost exactly like his father but smaller tried his best opening his eyes slowly. The light bugged the runt but he made no complaint at first as he let his small blue eyes,that would lighter be a bright green, adjust at first to the lighting before he gave squeak spotting their father thoughts out of his mind. Cobrakit struggled to his paws which wobbled under the kitten's weight. Taking one step once managing to stand,he slipped. Falling down the kitten gave a whine of complaint before getting back up just as quickly as the kit fell. Standing there for a brief moment wobbling Cobrakit started making his way to his father.

A pale brown, almost gray tom-kit snuggled in deeper when he felt his littermates begin to stir. He didn't want to open his eyes yet. He just wanted to lay there and snuggle with his mother. Then he smelled his father. He knew this smell well as Leopardstar had visited often in the days since he was born. Leopardstar was almost as familiar to him as Smallstorm. Craning his tiny neck cautiously, he turned to the general direction of his father. Slowly, his eyes opened to reveal pools of deep green, which blinked many times to get used to seeing things. He gave a little mewl to draw attention to him.

Look! My eyes are open! Isn't that special? he thought.

Everything was dark. He felt movement- the others were moving around him.
The kit opened bright blue eyes and blinked rapidly, giving small, sharp mews as he struggled to adjust to this new phenomenon- sight. He looked up and saw a cat framed in light and his eyes widened.
Falconkit rose up unsteadily and pushed past his siblings, his vision blurry. He wanted to be the first one to investigate this new cat, and prove that he was the strongest out of his siblings. He squeaked as he felt the cold air away from his mother, but he pushed determinedly onward.
After crawling for a while he reached the cat's paws and slumped against them, looking up at the cat in admiration. His fluffy kitten fur stood on end. This cat looked just like him.

Olivekit was the last to awake among her squirming and, not to mention, loud siblings, but this time was different. Her eyes began to open and the squealed in surprise as she was blinded by a bright light. Whoa! Am I starting to.. What's it called..? See? She wondered excitedly, slowing trying to let her eyes adjust to the light. Letting out a bright squeak, she finally got to where she could keep them fully open, but it was a little blurry. She glanced around her, seeing her sleeping mother, before her dark blue gaze landed on a much bigger cat that seemed to resemble her quite a lot. She let out a purr as she tried to get to her paws, but she ended up stumbling and landing on her rump harshly. Pouting slightly, she glanced around hoping that none of her siblings had seen.

The leader watched the kits begin to wake and move, his gaze growing softer with each heartbeat. He was proud of them, yet they had hardly done anything. It was bittersweet to relive his first days as a father, but he was more determined than ever to do it right this time. For them. Leopardstar watched the silver kit stumble over himself with a whine and chuckled, a deep purr rumbling in his chest. The leader quickly noticed that two others in the litter, Falconkit and Cobrakit, were making their way over to him in short, uncertain pawsteps. "As fierce and determined as your names, I see." He purred to them, dipping his head to lick Falconkit's small forehead in encouragement. His attention was drawn to Lizardkit's mewl before he glanced to see what the only she-kit was doing.

After their tired mother gave a small nod of permission, Leopardstar backed slowly out of the den while flicking his tail to encourage them to follow. He wasn't going to do anything dangerous with the fragile little kits, but he wanted to have more space to watch them play and interact. Perhaps he would be able to see their personalities come through while they were exploring their surroundings and getting used to walking and seeing. He wasn't going to carry them out of the nursery; he wanted to see if his kits were quick enough learners to be able to keep up.

Falconkit looked up blearily as the tom moved away. He mewed as he felt the warm, fuzzy paw he was leaning on disappear. He looked around at the other kits before cautiously padding towards the bright light. He called out to his brothers and sister to follow, his small, pointed tail straight up in the air.

He slowly made his way into the light and stood, shaking, as a breeze ruffled his fluffy kitten fur. He blinked again before turning back and squinting into the darkness of the nursery eagerly, waiting for his companions to join him before venturing further into the unknown.

Cobrakit blinked in confusion as the Tom kit watched their father back out of the den.  The spotted Tom glanced back to his mother before following his brother out of the den. Green eyes following Leopardstar but once the kit was outside the den he blinked and looked around curiously fully his green eyes as he wobbled off to one of the other dens

Lizardkit simply mewled again to get attention. Being a kit, he thought everything came to him (or should come to him). When he realized that his father wasn't coming any closer, he whined once more. Very sloppily, he hooked his tiny paw over the edge of the nest to pull himself out. Perhaps Leopardstar just couldn't see him properly, or he was too far away to be heard. He put his other paw over the edge and yanked his upper body forward, struggling. When he was half way over the edge of the nest, he mewled the loudest he ever had.

Falconkit watched in amusement as his siblings struggled to reach him. He puffed out his chest and began to walk around, testing the strange feel of the marshy ground beneath his pads. Suddenly something wafted towards him on the wind. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes contentedly. This was nothing like the stale air of the nursery.

He began to explore, taking in each new discovery with delight. He found out that there were dry, crinkly things on the ground, and that if he batted them with his claws they'd stick to them. He also found out that there were more of them in the air, hanging from the trees. With a proud mewl he carried one of the leaves that he had shredded with his claws to his father and placed it at his feet, waiting for his approval.

Breezekit stumbled after his brothers and sister, a determined look on his brow as he tried to follow. But as the tom made it to the very entrance he stopped, and sat down. The feeling of the outside word making him scarred and nervous, for him it was so much space and so much uncertainty compared to the safe, warm, confines of the nursery. The silver Bengal's ears flicked back against his head as he blearily watched his littermates prance around, having fun without him. But he didn't mind, he felt comfortable and he wasn't about to go get swallowed by a hawk!

Olivekit didn't even notice at first as her father turned and padded out of the nursery, but she saw his shadow diminishing. Squealing in surprise and fear, she readied herself to pounce on the scary looking creature. What is that! Growling a tiny kit growl, she made a clumsy pounce just as it disappeared, and she stared around, dumbfounded. "Wha..?" She mumbled, brow scrunched up in confusion. Suddenly a thought popped into her head. What if it comes back?! She thought, admittedly a bit nervous at the thought. Then she noticed she was alone in the nursery, besides her mother of course, and she quickly bounded out of the nursery, well as quick as her wobbly legs could carry her, and straight into Breezekit. Quickly getting to her paws, she looked at him sheepishly, tail waving with excitement now.

Leopardstar smiled softly as his kits began to move about, although one of them was moving a little farther than he had anticipated. The leader quickly ducked to catch Cobrakit by the scruff, preventing him from going anywhere else and padding back to the nursery, laying down right next to the entrance. They could get a better look at the camp when they were bigger and a little bit brighter. He set Cobrakit down between his forepaws and turned his head to look at Falconkit, who had brought him a little leaf. "Ah, what an excellent hunter you are!" He purred quietly. Leopardstar was beckoning to Breezekit and Olivekit with his tail when he heard the loud mewl from the nursery. That had to be Lizardkit, since the rest of the litter were either out of the den or just at the entrance. Admittedly, the leader was somewhat concerned for the little tom. Had he hurt himself? When the tomcat got up to glance into the nursery and saw that the kit was simply trying to get his attention, Leopardstar's whiskers twitched in amusement. "Come on, Lizardkit. Come outside with your littermates." He meowed encouragingly.

Falconkit mewed happily and leapt towards Olivekit and Breezekit, jumping around them in an invitation to play. There was so much to explore, so why not do it together?

OOC: SHORT