Making Time [open for kits/family]

The early-morning air was crisp, but Beechpaw hardly noticed as she made her way out of the medicine cat den with a yawn. Even when they'd moved to Riverclan's camp, the den had always been crowded with four medicine cats and several patients. Now they were back home, the den was empty except for the herbs. Beechpaw had never thought loneliness would be something she had an issue with, but the distinct lack of her own clanmates had left the large she-cat restless. The apprentice den had always been crowded, the nursery had been crowded when she was a kit (and it was certainly more crowded now), and the warriors den was the warriors den. Beechpaw's den had nothing to accompany her but herbs and her own thoughts.

This morning, her paws led her toward the nursery, drawn by the sounds of kits playing. Six siblings, and Beechpaw was still somewhat in awe. All were healthy, all were lively, and their poor mother looked dead on her paws. At least the kits hadn't been driving her parents mad with fighting, like she and Dawnhawk had. At least, Beechpaw hoped they weren't. Her own days were spent chasing down what herbs she could find, and tending to still-healing injuries. She should've spent more time with her younger siblings, but every time the thought popped into her head to do so, she was neck-deep in other work.

Unless some disaster happened today- she tried not to dwell on it lest Starclan take it as a challenge- Beechpaw intended to spend time with the newer members of her family.

Weight perilously shifting between the untested and untried length of her short little limbs, Vulturekit was quick to partially collapse onto her haunches- the exertion of her first steps evidently too much for her small little frame to handle for an extended amount of time. With each and every attempt, the mastery behind walking became a bit more fluid and obtainable; perhaps within the next sunrise or two, she would be wholly sufficient at the daunting task of roaming about. Youthful gaze stretching quite large at the overwhelming display of her admittedly limited surroundings, the little molly's starstruck, spring-sweetened gaze easily portrayed a mirrored image of the slow-going happenings within the relatively empty camp. Little head cocking to the side at Beechpaw's sudden approach, her elder sister's scent made all the more harsh by the faint remnants of bitter herbs and the outside world.

"Hello!" She eventually squawked out, squeaky voice sweetened by the obvious pride in realizing that her somewhat elusive older sister did in fact decide to stop by the overflowing confines of the Nursery. Continuously oozing satisfaction and excitement, Vulturekit's wide gaze remained entirely trained upon Beechpaw, still soft with the lack of focus and sharpness associated with older cats. Feathered tail kinking above the delicate arch of her spine, the young kit was still a bit too unsure to adopt the fierce task of attempting to wobble towards the older she-cat. "Why're you here?"

Copperkit had been napping, fully splayed out on his back and quite.... out. Every now and then he would twitch a toe or something, indicating that he was still alive, but other than that, another cat could be forgiven if they'd had doubts. Upon hearing Vulturekit's voice, he stirred a little and rolled over onto his rather fat, bulging belly. Vulturekit spoke again and Copperkit's eyes eased open. He spotted Beechpaw, whom he knew was his sister but didn't know her other than that. His mother had encouraged him and his siblings to get to know her, but Copperkit remained unsure. He got to his still somewhat wobbly legs, but did not approach. He blinked the sleepiness away and watched what his two sisters might do.

"Uh... Hi... Beechpaw." His voice was soft and his words were slow. He wanted to talk to her more than that, but how? How does one do socializing? Maybe an opportunity would come up for him to say more, but for now, he found himself lacking in words that seemed appropriate to the situation.

Primroselight had been waiting for a good opportunity to properly meet her younger siblings, and this seemed like a perfect time. When the kits were very young, she would often visit Smokefeather in the nursery to keep her company, but once they had started wiggling around and becoming more adventurous, she had kept her distance slightly. She wasn't a particularly large she-cat - unlike her sister - but was very afraid of accidentally squashing one of them. However, now that their mother had deemed them old enough to leave the nursery, Primroselight was very excited to spend time with them, confident that they would be big enough for her to not trip over.

"Hello you two," she said sweetly as she brushed past Beechpaw. As she sat down and swept her tail over her paws, she tried to work out which two kits they were. Telling such similar scents apart was a bit of a challenge, as the littermates were nearly always in the same nest together, therefore there was little difference in their scent. You should know this Prim, she thought, they are your siblings. In time she would learn, but for now she just quietly whispered in Beechpaw's ear. "Which two is it?" She had to stretch up significantly to do so, with her sister being so huge. Hopefully the kits wouldn't notice.

The next kit to rise was Ravenkit, who stretched out her tiny limbs and padded after Vulturekit and Copperkit. She looked around in wonder at the new cats joining the proceedings. They were her siblings, she had been told that much. She had so many siblings! At least she'd never want for company. "Hey! What about me?" She saw all the attention being paid to her other siblings, which she pouted at. Putting on the most serious face a little kit could make, she moved into Primroselight's sight, as if demanding attention for herself as well.

"Hey, little sis," Beechpaw purred at Vulturekit's approach. A small smile tugged at Beechpaw's maw as she leaned forward, affectionately nudging her younger sister's shoulder, mindful of the size difference between them. Of all her siblings, Vulturekit's fur reminded Beechpaw of their mother the most. It was still soft and downy kit fuzz, but had already grown longer, promising another member of the family to suffer in greenleaf. Copperkit too, seemed to have inherited their mother's long fur. At least they'd all be fine in the upcoming leafbare.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Copperkit was next to offer a greeting. He seemed the most introverted of the bunch.

"Vulturekit and Copperkit..." Beechpaw added in response to Primroselight's question.

"Hey, Ravenkit." She added, noticing the dark she-kit's approach, whiskers twitching at the look on her face.

And just like that, Beechpaw had little idea of what to say, herself. She'd wanted to spend time with her younger siblings, but aside from greeting them, the large medicine cat had very little idea of how to entertain kits.

He had only pretended to be sleeping. He'd been chided many times before about disturbing his littermates when they were trying to sleep so now, finally, he was cautious about their napping, but how could he sleep himself when there were so many exciting things happening? He may have been a bit of a runt, but Lichenkit's personality more than made up for his size. As his older sisters Beechpaw and Primroselight entered the nursery, one blue-green eye opened amidst the kittenfluff of his siblings surrounding him. He quickly closed it again to avoid detection, smiling a little to himself. This would be great. He would spring up to his paws and run at Beechpaw and scare her! Maybe he wouldn't do that to Primroselight, since his mother said she couldn't see...Or maybe he would. A little snicker rose from the mottled brown-and-white lump that was Lichenkit as his tailtip twitched playfully.

Patiently, like a great lion lying in wait for prey, Lichenkit did his best to hold still as his littermates stirred around him and greeted their elder sisters. He waited...and waited...until there was a break in commotion. As fast as his wobbly legs would allow. Lichenkit sprang to his paws with a mighty roar and charged at Beechpaw. "YAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Man, Beechpaw sure was big. Nearly bowling himself over with the effort of running, he bunched up his little hind legs and sprang at the medicine cat, batting at her with soft paws. "Hi Beechpaw! Hi Primroselight! Did I scare you?! I totally did!! I was waiting for the right time to strike, just like Dad! Did  you see it?! Did you see how scary I was?!"

Ashkit slept soundly snuggled against her warm brothers and sisters fur. After a little while, the chatter of her large family woke her, but she continued laying there, still half asleep. When Lichenkit yelled, Ashkit's large yellow eyes popped open. She came to the realization that attempting to sleep was hopeless. She curled out of the tiny ball she scrunched into and stretched her short legs, flopping on her side. Slowly, she wobbled while standing up.

She peered at Beechpaw and smiled. She saw her older sister occasionally, but definitely not as much as her littermates. She liked to see the large cat. Although she did not see her much, Beechpaw appeared to be a very kind cat.

The cat next to Beechpaw, her older sister, she saw even less. Ashkit's mother told them about her. She knew that the cat's name was Primroselight and she was blind. Ashkit was excited to meet her as well, but did not really know what to say to either of them. She did not really know how to talk to older cats.

After a few moments of pondering, she wobbled towards Primroselight. "Hello, Primroselight. Nice to see you." She managed to mumble.

A yowl, and Beechpaw let out a mrrow of laughter as Lichenkit's paws playfully batted at her. Her youngest brother looked like he'd nearly tripped over his paws in his own excitement. Kits, with not a care in the world. So innocent, and Beechpaw could only hope they stayed like that for longer.

"Terrifying, Lichenkit," she mewed cheerfully, "you'll scare all of Skyclan's enemies away!"

She could have sworn that a single gray-green eye cracked open, just for a second before closing again. Or maybe it was Beechpaw's imagination. Or maybe it wasn't. A very faint smirk tugged at the corner of her mother's mouth, gone just as quickly as it seemed to have appeared.

Ashkit was the next of the litter to approach, albeit much more subdued than Lichenkit had been. A soft purr rumbled in Beechpaw's chest as she sat down, fluffy tail idly flicking back and forth.

Tufted little ears swiveling forward to a pert stance of attention and surprise, Vulturekit's hurried attempt at sourcing the newest bought of commotion nearly resulted in her cheek being firmly planted in the soft earth of the camp, newborn deer-like limbs much too unsteady to go swinging about in search of her various siblings. Gaze, softened up by a noticeable lack of worldly understanding and a lingering undercurrent of drowsiness, drifting between Beechpaw and Primroselight as her gaggle of littermates spilled out into the soft chill of the early afternoon, the unruly-furred little molly tucked herself into the safety of Beechpaw's side as Lichenkit came barreling forth. Allowing gravity to pull the entirety of her weight into the soft ground, shoulder pressing sharply into the gentle grasp of the earth as she promptly flopped onto her side- evidently uncaring of the fact that allowing herself to be so thoroughly coated in outside debris would result in a bath sooner rather than later, more preoccupied with watching her littermates bounce about with little supervision.

"You sounded like an angry bird!" Vulturekit proclaimed after a heartbeat of peering at Lichenkit with a wrinkled up little nose, partly amused and partly stunned by his sheer lung capacity.