Not Born, But Made {open for the missing kits}

Locust had not been fond of Eris's plan to lead stray kits away from their families. In fact, he wasn't fond of most things Eris did, however she was a strong leader and as confident as any. When the dingy calico left in the night, the older tom watched her peel back the undergrowth to the exit, feeling apprehensive. It wasn't a new feeling, no. Living with the Asylum had left Locust feeling a lot of things, but he'd gotten used to their strange morals and practices. In fact, so many moons had passed since joining; that if Locust were to leave, he wasn't sure he'd remember how to function without the group. The Asylum was safety, his foundation. No cat ever went hungry, and as long as they pulled their weight, they were protected. Locust was growing old, and felt it in his bones as they creaked below his dusty gray tabby pelt. He could hunt and fight like the rest of the Asylum, and was always encouraged to do better. It was due to this that he hadn't succumbed to his illness last Leafbare, nor did he ever give up on life like he'd considered before.

Eris gave Locust solid ground to rest his paws on, and for that he was thankful. It was this, and only this, that made it tolerable to witness what he did next. Their Head, Eris, trailed into camp with several kits in tow. Some weren't even of age to began their training, let alone get their first scar. Sorrowful mews squeaked from their maws, while some of the other, older kits remained stoic. Locust felt his heart churn in his chest but pressed it down, muttering something fowl under his breath before confronting Eris. "Well come on then, give 'em here. 'S a miracle you got 'em this far without dumping the lot off into some river. "I've made a spot for 'em. Far'st away from the 'Strikers as I could."

The dusty tom bent his head down to have a sniff at the kits, green eyes narrowing in thought. While he didn't enjoy the Asylum's practice of transplanting kits from one location to a more suitable dwelling, Locust would be lying if he said their mews didn't tickle his whiskers. He gave a nod to Eris before shoving the kittens through the patchy shrubs that lined the clearing. There wasn't much cover from the light snow where they were going, but it was better than where the 'Strikers slept. "Come on now, stop your whinin' and maybe I'll get you some food, 'eh?"

Tawnykit padded in behind Eris, her eyes wide. It was only recently she had even begun to walk, and yet she still remained one of the loudest criers. But why wouldn't she cry? She knew nothing of this place! It smelled so weird, and it was cold, and the only cats she knew were her sister and Finchkit, although she could care less about the latter. After all, it wasn't like she actually knew Finchkit anyway.

So Tawnykit slowed her pace until she was walking beside Henkit. She didn't say anything, just gave her sister a look. They would have to stick together. They only had each other, after all.

As the two big cats had finished speaking, one had come to sniff them, and Tawnykit recoiled at this. However, she lightened up at the mention of food. "Oh yay! I'm starving!" She squealed, all discomfort she felt having vanished.

Being among the older ones in the pack of kits, Emberkit hadn’t cried. Rather, he’d cried a little right when he’d realized he had no clue where he was, but had managed to keep most of it quiet; now that they’d been walking for a while, most of the evidence was gone. Crying wouldn’t help him be any less lost, anyway. Not to mention it might annoy the she-cat leading them, now only guide they had. She looked a little bit like him, except with golden-tan patches where he had orange. Part of him very much wanted to ask if she recognized him, but she was tall and fierce-looking and inexplicably had extra toes, which he assumed meant extra claws, so he kept his mouth shut.

At last, they marched past a whole lot of rocks (as new as everything else they’d passed on their journey), and were promptly confronted by an old gray tabby. The tabby exchanged some words with the she-cat who’d led them here. Emberkit tried to listen as subtly as possible, up until the tabby mentioned rivers; right about then, though he clamped down even harder on the rising panic, a startled squeak crept out of his throat. I can’t swim!

Apparently done talking to the she-cat, the tabby leaned down to sniff them. Emberkit held his breath. Then he was being nudged forward through some sparse plants, a half-promise of food distant in his ears. He exhaled shakily, peering back at the tabby with wide eyes. Food. Maybe…maybe this wasn’t so bad. One of the other kits began to cheer. The idea did sound more appealing than pretty much everything else he'd seen today, but he couldn’t manage anything more than a quiet “O-okay.”

"Far away from us?" A silky voice interrupted from the shadows, a lithe brown pelt slipping into sight. "Why, I am hurt, Locust. We aren't just brutes, you know. We have feelings," the captain purred, coming to a stop as a muted calico tom followed after her. She raised a paw, hooking it around his shoulders as she leaned against her companion. "How could you say that Roe here won't take good care of those kits? He is an absolute sweetheart!"

Roe shifted on his haunches, ears twitching as he gazed out at the pawful of kits that had been grabbed. It wasn't that he had doubted Eris' plan but it was still something to actually see them... He blinked as a dark brown paw brushed against his cheek, sparing a glance at the she-cat that was draped over him as she picked up her words. "I...Thank you, ma'am," he mumbled softly under his breath, fur pricking a little as he knew it wasn't...Completely a compliment - she had often scolded him for his kindness, whenever he would hesitate. But...That was why he was under her care, he supposed. She still saw him as something that could be still be a great Nightstriker yet, he just had to focus more on the mission at paw.

Theron beamed at that, flashing a toothy grin at Locust. "See! Just look at the manners on him - we'll take great care of our share of the kits..." she purred, before she turned to look at them. "...Small things, aren't they? But I suppose that just means more time for them to get...Used to things before we split them up into our training," she meowed, finally releasing her hold on Roe. She raised a paw, flexing her claws with a huff. "...I do hate being restricted to our camp, at least training these kits will help pass the time."

Eris, who'd relied greatly on a borrowed Pelt Ward to ensure that each kit made the journey, padded into the makeshift camp that had been her home for more moons than she cared to admit. A rather large gaggle of kits followed behind her, and despite her best attempts to quell their tears and sniffles, some of them were still visibly shaken. It was nothing that the she-cat hadn't expected- they were but kits- but it was rather inconvenient for her. "Thank you, Locust." The fluffy she-cat mewed, shaking out her fur. She crouched down to eye-level with the kits, her own blue eyes reflecting the light of the moon overhead. "Now, we're gonna get each of you settled down. I don't want to hear any more crying from the lot of you, okay? I know it's scary, but this is for the best. We're gonna make sure that you're cared for here- you've got nothing to worry about, I promise." She turned to face Locust, who was already directing them towards their new home, for the time being. "Try and keep them warm, will you?" The she-cat promptly turned towards Theron, who'd joined the group in a somewhat timely manner.

"Now now. You'll have plenty of time with the kits once they've grown old enough." Eris' gaze flickered to Roe momentarily, who was clearly uncomfortable. "Sometimes I think you only keep that poor tom with you so that you have someone to pick on, Theron." She meowed sarcastically, ushering the remaining kits through the shrubbery. "Kits any older would've been more of a hassle, don't you think? Besides, it's easier for them to get used to such great changes, as young as they are. They'll hardly know the difference." Eris' fluffy tail waved back and forth as she glanced at their pile of prey, filled with freshly caught food. They'd spent enough time preparing for the kits' arrival that they hardly had anything to worry about when it came to resources. Once she was sure Locust had them all in their little spot, she turned to grab three pieces of prey- a sparrow, a mole, and an owl. The owl wasn't an intentional catch, but Eris wasn't going to turn down food, especially with as many mouths to feed as she had. She motioned for her Pelt Ward to grab the sparrow and mole as she dragged the owl towards the large group of kits, motioning for them to begin eating. "See, isn't this the best prey you kits have ever laid eyes on? Go on now, eat up. You've had a long night, so I'm sure you're hungry."

The Asylum Head's gaze drifted back to Theron as she spoke, the Nightstriker's russet fur fluffed up against the cold. "You haven't got much longer to wait, Theron. Our time will come, and it will come soon." She purred, her tail wrapping over her large paws as she watched the kittens eat.

As they were nudged and led about, Laurelkit - who was among the older kits present - felt incredibly alone. This feeling was not helped by the kits around her, who were just as much strangers as the larger cats leading them; all she really wanted was to see her parents and denmates, but she heard the promise of food in exchange for quiet, and so in that moment she didn't say anything at all.

(Some of the kits around her seemed to be keeping closer together - she wondered what it was like, to have someone else; kin to lean on in moments like this. But was there any point in wondering, when she knew that she didn't have anything of the sort?)

Then the leader of sorts, the one who'd brought them here, promised that they would be cared for; and offered them a type of prey she wasn't sure she'd seen before. Laurelkit stepped forward cautiously, sniffing it - not unlike the one cat had sniffed them - and took a single, cautious bite of it.

Today was the day, and Lyralei was positively thrilled. She had spent the early hours of the morning scouting the outskirts of the clan territories, familiarizing herself with the outer edges of their claimed lands. She had hurried back after her rounds, stopping only to catch a fat mouse and a raven with beautiful shining feathers, and was slightly disappointed that she wasn't the first to greet the kits - however, she lowered her head in a deep nod to Eris. "I'm pleased that things went well." She mewed, placing her catches on the pile and looking over the kits with sparkling eyes. "A pleasure to meet you, little ones." She mewed, taking up a position nearby to watch the kits eat their fill.

For most kits, being taken out of an environment that they knew with no warning would cause them to cry. It only made sense. New scents that Cloudkit was entirely unfamiliar with flooded her tiny nose. Along with the fact that she had no idea where she was going, and she definitely had no idea who was taking her, the little calico felt as if she was suffocating. Cries of both sadness and confusion erupted from her maw every now and then and they almost blended in harmoniously with the sobs and mewls from the other kits that were bound to the same fate as her. Amongst the group of miserable little kits was Berrykit, Cloudkit's sister. In fact, that was the only cat here that she could recognize properly. Otherwise, there was no one else that Cloudkit could properly call by their name.

Another cat was here, a gray tabby that was, like everyone else, a stranger in the eyes of Cloudkit. The calico found herself shrinking back as she was sniffed. She had no time to try and compose herself. The next moment, she was being huddled forward. In reality, Cloudkit just wanted to lay down. Crying had made her awfully tired. However, hearing that food would be granted to them kindled a tiny flicker of happiness in her yellow eyes. The kit found her energy slowly begin to return. Any remaining trace of fear that she had felt in her heart dispersed as prey was brought forward for their luxury. One of them had wings, and Cloudkit was unsure of what it was, but it was definitely the biggest piece of prey she had ever seen.

The tiny calico didn't attempt to hide her smile or her spontaneous purr of delight as she dug in and began to eat her share.
"This is so good!" The kit chirped with a mouthful of owl between her jaws.

She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but that was the usual. Henkit had woken to some strange cat in the nursery, but that wasn't unusual either, she could hardly remember who was who around camp. So when she was asked if her and Tawnykit to follow the unknown cat, she didn't question it. Though she forgot to ask why they weren't taking Spiderkit with them too. Oops. With all the new sights and smells, she hardly noticed her paws were aching by the time they finally stopped walking. So while the adults talked about things she didn't understand, the fluffy kitten pressed into her sister. who was looking a little strange. Was she tired? This was kind of fun! Even if she had no idea what was going on. At the mention of food, she bounced up and down on her little paws alongside Tawnykit. "Yeah! Food! Food!" She paused for a moment, remembering she had to be polite, especially if she was asking for something, and added, "Please?"

She watched as the nice cat who led them go up to their fresh-kill pile and drag something huge out of it! Her eyes sparkled in wonder as she brought it over for everyone. It looked like a hawk, but so much fluffier. "Wow!" She dove in and took a bite. She never tasted anything like it. Though she remembered her manners, she forgot she shouldn't talk with her mouth full. "Hank oo!"

Berrykit stood on four unsteady legs. Her tiny form trembled as she kept her head high and tail lashing, hanging onto any scrap of defiance left in her. First, these strangers stole her, Duskkit, and Cloudkit from her mother. She had to travel what felt like one edge of camp to the other at least 10 times, which made her paws absolutely scream in distress. In reality, they had traveled much farther, and Berrykit had rested on the jaws of one of the strange big cats for most of the journey, but she hated how they had wronged her. A weird foul stench had hung around them. Fear? She didn't know.

Now presented with strange prey, not the fish Ivystar had promised Berrykit would let to eat, the little she-kit felt a bubble of unhappiness growing in her chest. She didn't want to eat these things. She didn't want to be in the cold or away from her parents. And she didn't want these big cats watching them. "I don't wanna!" Berrykit pouted, forcing her wide-eyed gaze to fixate on Eris. But her stomach grumbled hungrily and her mouth watered, her whole body urging her to eat. No. She couldn't, not yet.

Locust stared dryly at Theron as the Nightstriker teased her underling. The wouldn't trade places with Roe if it meant the world, and was glad he'd been chosen to mind the camp all those moons ago. Locust was much better suited for the menial tasks around home base; things his wide shoulders and aging eyes could handle. The brutish war-like tendencies of the 'Strikers belonged to a cat with Theron's speed and waning morals. "'Ey're just kits, Theron. Leave 'em be. Once they get some meat on 'er bones you can take 'em to whatever bloodsport suits your crimson fancy. Look 't 'em. They need a good nap and a warm nest."

The tom gave Eris a silent nod as if to say 'Thank you' as she pulled Theron's attention away. Her Pelt Ward assisted the Head in hauling prey to the sparse bushes where they'd stationed the kits. Most were wide-eyed and skeptical, while others took no time sinking their teeth deep into the warm bodies the Asylum had so graciously provided. Lyralei arrived not but shortly after, seeming way too cheerful for such a dreary night. She purred to the young scraps, taking a seat to watch them eat.

Brow furrowed, Locust sat between the Lead Scout and the kits, wondering what dastardly plans she had in mind for them. The tom would need to teach the younglings to be swift and battle-hardened if they were ever to survive in the Asylum's camp. They were inevitable, their world quickly becoming everyone else's as well.

One of the kits began to whine which caused Locust's head to turn, he scowled and picked her up by the scruff with a sliver of gentleness and placed her near the others, head hunched between his shoulders. "Never say no to food!" He growled, ripping a leg from the owl's carcass to toss it towards the she-cat. "I know 'ts scary, but you're better off here. Leafbare's comin', you need to be stronger if you're ever gonna live through 'e cold!" Locust thought back on the past, and what the snow had taken from him, and sat before the young ones, eyes softening.

"'Spose we should name you lot, you're here for good now." Locust carefully inspected each kit with the accuracy of a father, green eyes narrowed as he muttered to himself. When a kit would pull back from their food, he'd nudge them back, when Theron would look at them funny, he'd glare. Locust would be the scraps' tentative guardian for now, until he was sure they'd live to see Newleaf.

Berrykit heard the word 'bloodsports' and immediately tensed. Blood? What did they do with blood? The scenarios flooded the kit's head, of being eaten, hurt, and killed. Oh, StarClan! They were gonna eat her! Her mouth hung open and her lashing tail slowed to a stop. The whites of her eyes were painfully visible as Locust tore off a limb of the poor owl and tossed it in front of her, body shaking from being lifted off of the ground. While her whole world had been turned upside down, Berrykit really wanted to eat. And she didn't want to fight back anymore; this big tom scared her. Whatever happened, she would find a way out. She looked around to the other kits, including the ones she recognised from RiverClan. They had all started eating, so what harm would it cause to fill her belly?

Berrykit tentatively sniffed at the owl. It didn't smell like fish, but it made her hunger grow. How should she eat it? Some of the bigger kits just... took bites. Ivystar had been chewing her food a bit, making things easier to eat. She didn't want these cats to help her, however. So Berrykit took a big bite. As she ate, the pain from solid food made her wince, but it was bearable. So she kept eating, blocking out everything around her.

A sea of older cats (actually only three, but it felt like a lot more) flooded from the shadows to meet them. Emberkit tried to keep up with their conversation at first; it almost immediately took a sharp turn toward alarming, at which point he tuned out for his own sake. He only understood the worst parts, and even those were near-impossible for him to wrap his head around. “Our share of the kits”? “Bloodsport”?! One of the older cats dropped a mouse and a raven on the growing prey-pile (which already contained a bird so big Emberkit couldn’t tell what other food was hiding beneath it), then settled nearby to watch. Emberkit eyed her nervously.

Several of the other kits—he hadn’t bothered to learn their names yet, nor share his own—had rushed toward the massive bird, eating as if they’d never tasted food before. Emberkit’s own stomach rumbled. He glanced at the older cats again, half of him desperately scrabbling to keep hold of his apprehension, the other half urging him to throw it away and follow the other kits’ lead. Really, what was the worst that could happen?

Suddenly, the dusty tabby tom grabbed the kit who’d protested and dropped her with the rest of them. Emberkit immediately hunched over, tail low, but the tabby wasn’t attacking; instead, he tore a chunk off the massive bird and dropped it near the protesting kit. Well, that settled it. Emberkit didn’t want to get singled out right now, even for food. He approached the prey-pile in something similar to the hunting crouch he’d learned, as if its contents might come to life if they heard him; then he darted forward to snag a tiny bit of bird. To his surprise, it was edible—better than edible—good. Maybe even better than lizard. Aiming for one of the less feathery bits, he took another bite.

Ughhh.. tired, so tired... Wait... Where are we going? What are we doing?  Who are these cats?  Friends?  Must be!  Guess it's adventure time!  Blazingkit was lead away, blissfully unaware of the consequences.  The young kit followed obediently in line as they went through the woods.  Wow!  There's a lot of others here!  What's that smell?  What's that thing!  What about that!  Thoughts poured through the kit's mind, never once recognizing the possible danger he was in, nor recognizing the pain in his tiny paws after walking who knows how long.

Once they arrived at a strange camp, that's when the pain became noticed.  And on top of it Blazingkit was HUNGRY.  That was a lot of walking!  His small tummy growled as he voiced his displeasure. "Hey, excuse me, weird people?  I'm hungryyyyyy~" The kit gave a small innocent smile, and was delighted when food was brought up by one of the bigger cats.  The innocent kit waddled up, first expecting a lovely meal and then that's when the chunk of meat was thrown about.  Uhhhh... how do I suckle on that?  Waddling up to the killed prey, Blazingkit eyed the meat infront of him and looked at what some of the older kits were doing. Ah!  That's right, big kits eat like that!  AAAAUPHM!

Blazingkit took a mouthful of prey, wriggling it loose from the dead animal.  He then tried to chew and swallow.  guuuuulp.  Ow.. that's hard work!  The kit, oblivious to most his surroundings continued to work on eating, occasionally looking around the new place he found himself in, and you know what?  It seemed pretty cool!

Snakekit... Snakekit didn't know how to even begin to feel about this whole situation. For the first time in her short life, she was genuinely nervous and wary. She didn't cry, like some of the other kits, but felt a bit a pang of... something in her chest that just wouldn't go away. Maybe it was homesickness? She was really missing her adoptive mother right about now, although, she wouldn't outwardly show it. It was like déjà vu all over again and she hated it.. She was once again thrown into a foreign environment with foreign cats that she'll most likely have to learn to adapt to seeing as there was no way she'd be able to leave by herself. She had barely gotten used to her life within RiverClan and now it was all stripped away from her, as if life was playing a practical joke on her. The only redeemable things coming from this all was that she wasn't alone and that they weren't going to starve.

The light-furred she-kit observed the group as well as her surroundings with narrowed, calculating eyes. There seemed to be kits from all the clans here. They varied in age as well. She was aware that Ivystar's litter had left alongside her and honestly, she felt a bit more relaxed knowing she had denmates to keep her company. She felt a bit guilty for thinking like that but it was one of the only ways to soothe her worry away. Knowing that they were a bit younger than her had caused a wave of protectiveness to wash over her. She'd have to keep an eagle eye on them. Her icy green gaze scanned the kits' faces and her nose collected their scents. ThunderClan's smell was the weakest. It belonged to an older she-kit who appeared to be by her lonesome. Snakekit felt a bit bad for her. She didn't have anyone there from her clan. She was completely alone. Without much thought, Snake did something that honestly surprised herself. She, as unnoticeably as she could, made her way over to the patched tabby kit, face void of any emotion apart from diluted compassion. Hopefully she didn't mind unexpected company.

As soon as she arrived to her destination, she immediately sat down right next to the ThunderClanner without uttering a word and began to dig into the meal that was in front. She stopped only to give her a quick yet kind nod as a greeting and then continued. As she ate, the she-kit's gaze trailed upward, shifting her cautious eyes between the older cats as they spoke. She also kept her denmates within her peripheral vision. Couldn't let them out of her sight. She was a bit irritated at herself for not standing up against these strangers but her instincts told her it was best if she held her angry words. In this situation, it's probably best to not be so sharp-tongued. Who knows what they'd do to her if she misbehaved too much.

Snakekit couldn't stop the growl that left her when the tom named Locust had grabbed Berrykit by the scruff. She couldn't let him hurt her! She leaped up onto her paws and was about to rush over with claws ready when he suddenly placed her down and ripped off the owl's leg and tossed it to Berrykit. She relaxed a smidge but it wasn't enough to truly calm her. She slowly sat back down and returned to eating the provided meal, distrusting eyes never leaving Locust nor any of the other strange cats.