New Chapters

Sunnyskip returned to the nursery with a small rabbit clasped in her jaws. Her kits had recently started to eat solid foods, weaning slowly off of milk. She was excited to let them explore camp today. The last few days had been rainy, making the camp muddy and giving some cats a sneeze or cough, but today the sun was shining. The ground was still soft, but not soaking wet, and the temperature was nice and warm, especially in the sun. Waking her kits, she set the rabbit in front of them. "Here you are! Eat up, today I'll show you guys around our camp! It's still a bit wet out, but a little mud never hurt any cat." She purred, preparing the rabbit so her kits could eat easily. Maybe they would see Nightwind while they were out there, she wasn't sure if he was out on a patrol or not. She hadn't seen him while she was walking to or from the fresh-kill pile, but she didn't think he'd want to miss out on his kit's first venture out of the nursery. Perhaps if she still couldn't find him she'd talk to another warrior and find out where he'd gone.

OOC: This topic takes place a few moons after the current birth topic, when the kittens can start eating prey. This will be their first adventure out of the nursery!

Duskkit stared at the dark brown chunks in front of him. “What's this!” He mewed softly looking up at his mother. He didn’t wait for a response before biting in to it after a few heartbeats of chewing he realized how delicious it was. He quickly began to finish his chunks than looked up at his mother expectantly. “Outside we’re going in to the camp!” He mewed excitedly.

Ashkit had been in a boring, dreamless slumber before being roused by her mother. Coming to, and slowly coming to a more comfortable standing position, the white and gray kit watched as something that she could only assume was food was placed in front of them. Its scent was wonderful, and something she had been able to smell every so often as the wind changed, blowing the scent of the fresh-kill pile into the nursery. She padded next to Duskkit, nudging him playfully as she meowed, "I'm pretty sure it's food, but I bet you figured that out since you're already eating!" She too began by eating a few mouthfuls, then wondering aloud, "exploring the camp will be good, I wonder if dad will come to help show us around too?" With that, Ashkit looked up to Sunnyskip, her blue eyes filled with curiosity.

As if being summoned, Nightwind padded into camp with a pheasant dangling from his jaws. His eyes always habitually went to the nursery now, knowing that soon his kits would be able to explore outside of it. He had been entirely absent from his first litter, as the Asylum had given him plenty of work to do and now he wasn't even sure how many he'd actually had from his first one. He didn't even know if they were alive. The litter with Honeycomb had been incredibly small, and other than a few brief interactions with Tornkit, he had been fairly absent with them as well.

This time it was different. He was a new cat, Sunnyskip was a fully accepted member of Windclan, and his kits didn't even know who he really was. Hoping for the same amount of love and affection he'd had towards his perfect Skyclan litter, he was eager to start to get to know these new children of his. Upon spotting Sunnyskip with the three clumps of fur known as kittens through the nursery entrance, he veered off course from the freshkill hole and padded towards them.

It was only then that he realized Sunnyskip had already given them meat to try. Ah well... he could at least show them the pheasant. He put the bird down in front of the three kits, which probably looked like a legendary titanic creature in their eyes.

"Good morning kids! Sunnyskip," He nodded once at her though his eyes were soft. "This is a pheasant." He wasted no time explaining to them what it was. The rabbit, he assumed had already been explained by Sunnyskip. "Once you're done tasting the rabbit, try a piece of that and tell me what you think." Let's see how much of this Skyclan blood is going to show up in your tastebuds. There was an opening in the pheasant's breast so that the kits could get to the meat easier without having to fight their way through feathers, though he intended to pull out some tail feathers for them to play with if they seemed interested.

"How are you? Is this the day we walk them around camp? I can take a little time off from patrolling to educate my kits, I highly doubt Lilacstar or Dayspring will care." He directed his words at Sunnyskip.

Duskkit stared at his father as he walked in. He couldn't quite remember seeing him but he knew that he was his father. Duskkit sat up and looked at the pheasant his father had just sat in front of him. He was a little more slow to try this bird however bent his head down and bit into it. "Oops" He squeaked than pushed the pheasant towards Ashkit. "Here you try some" He mewed.

Out of Character: Watch out for the posting order, Mariney! The order right now is Moss, you, Alex, then Tara. Now that I'm jumping in, it'll be Moss, you, Alex, Tara, me. It's okay this time, but keep it in mind for the future! We want to give everyone a turn.

"MAAA!!" Ryekit cried, "I wanted to go out at night! When the stars are out! How come we gotta go in daytime?!" The enormous and thick-legged little kit waddled around his siblings, nearly stepping on Ashkit's tail as he passed. He looked across the two pieces of prey... rabbit and bird. After a very brief period of thought, Ryekit leaped upon the pheasant and gnawed it between his teeth. He was shocked at how... flaky the meat was. Bird meat was very lean, Ryekit noted. He tucked in silently, content to cease his constant yammering for a few moments of delicious bliss, but not content enough to let the matter of their special day rest.

Ryekit shook out his short pelt, feeling his rolls of kit-fat jiggle around him. "Can we see Silverpelt tonight, then? Can we stay up late, Ma? Pleeease? How are you gonna teach us about StarClan if we don't even know what it looks like!?"

Sunnyskip smiled as Duskkit tucked in to the rabbit meat before even getting an answer. Ashkit joined her brother, nudging him playfully before turning towards her with another question. "It's a rabbit! One of WindClan's specialties, what do you guys think of it?" She asked, nuzzling each of their heads in turn before directing her next words to her daughter. "I didn't see him out there a moment ago, but if he's out on patrol I'll ask for a warrior to get him. I know he'd want to be here when you go see camp for the first time." As if on cue, her mate appeared with a pheasant in his jaw. Smiling brightly as he set it in front of their kits, she butt her head to his shoulder gently. "Nightwind! Perfect timing." She mewed, watching her kit's reactions to the pheasant with a grin. As she opened her mouth to respond to Nightwind, her other son wailed. Immediately her eyes snapped to him before she realized he was just complaining. She had explained to him over and over again that their first time out of the nursery would be during the day, but little Ryekit had refused to accept that explanation. With a soft sigh, Sunnyskip turned back to Nightwind. "Yes, that's the plan at least. That would be wonderful! I'd love for you to join us on this new adventure."

Turning her attention back to Ryekit, who was now gnawing on the bird, she shook her head slightly. How she had managed to birth such a big kit was beyond her. His physique was nothing like a WindClan cat, but she supposed that Nightwind hadn't been born to WindClan, he had been a loner. Still, though, it was as if her lean, tall figure had played no part in the tom kit's stature. "Ryekit, you must be sure to watch where you place your paws. You almost stepped on your sister's tail!" She scolded him gently. "Like I told you before, if we go at night you won't be able to see anything. Also, everyone will be sleeping. Don't you want to meet your clanmates?" She asked, trying to draw his attention away from exploring the camp at night with visions of meeting new cats. Her tail tip flicked as she thought over his last question, eyes narrowing slightly. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt, for them to stay up for just a little, tiny bit. Casting a glance to Nightwind, she allowed her eyes to betray her emotions for just a moment. She had no idea what she was doing, and she was nervous and scared. Terrified that she would mess this up. Hayglow had been... quiet, and sad, until she and Muddyleap had gotten her to smile again. What would she have said or done? Her expression settled again as a small smile crossed her face. Turning back to her kits, she looked at each one in turn. "Tell you what. As long as you're good, and you are respectful and behave yourselves, I'll let you stay up to see the moon and the stars after sunset. If you misbehave, you will go to bed right at sunset. How does that sound?" She offered, her twitching tail being the only indicator of her uncertainty.

Swiftpaw padded into camp after Nightwind had, dropping a plump hare onto the fresh-kill pile. Spotting Sunnyskip outside of the nursery, the apprentice waved her tail cheerfully. "Hey, Sunnyskip!" She greeted warmly, noting the trio of kits tucking into the fresh-kill. Nightwind had brought them a pheasant, it seemed, "Is this their first time out of the nursery?" She couldn't help being curious, her duties usually kept her too busy to loiter around camp, but she had liked Sunnyskip from their brief interactions with one another. She figured it would be nice to see the kits at some point.

Duskkit padded past Swiftpaw and stuck his nose out of the nursery he could smell the tang of herbs and inhaled a large breath before letting out a small cough. “What’s that smell” he mewed. He turned around and bumped into Swiftpaw on accident. “Oops I'm sorry” he squealed.

Joining the gathering crowd at the nursery, Lilacstar could not help but let out a mrrow of laughter watching the kits. "First time out, I suppose? It seems like you two are going to have your paws full with these ones." Turning towards Nightwind, there was a spark of something in her eyes, though she couldn't say what. Perhaps joy? Jealousy, maybe? She honestly loved that he was being here for his kits, it was amazing seeing such a good father. That was something neither she nor her kits had known, despite the cats who were there to fill that void.

Turning her eyes away, she instead crouched down to speak to the young kits. She should not worry about what she lacked, she had everything she wanted in her life, after all.

"So how are you guys enjoying it? Just stepped out of the nursery and already you get to meet new cats!"

"Woah! There's so many cats here! What's this about?" inquired Silverpaw to nobody in particular as he briskly approached the gathering mass, chipper grin on his face. His green gaze lit up even more as he realized who were in the group and what was occurring. The gray-furred tom picked up his pace and hurried over to them. As he did do, he called out, "Mom! Sunnyskip! Nightwind! Swiftpaw! How's it going guys? Enjoying today?" Once he reached them, the young tom surveyed the smaller figures and couldn't help but chuckle. He certainly remembered his first time out of the nursery. He'd been curious about everything. Every few seconds his attention would be snatched by something else. It was one of his most treasured memories. Even thinking about him warmed him up inside.

"You both have got a real good bunch of kits here. They sure are swell! What've ya been teaching them so far? There's a lot to explore here in the camp." Silverpaw asked both Sunnyskip and Nightwind as he made his way over to his mother's side. He gently nudged her before whispering, "Look at 'em, mama. They're so cute! They're gonna bring a lot of joy to the clan." The young apprentice puffed out his chest with pride as he fondly watched his half-sister's kits.

The blue-eyed kit watched with interest as Nightwind entered the nursery, setting another food thing down in front of them. Listening intently as he described it, she began to move towards the pheasant before stopping when Duskkit started pulling it over towards her slightly. She gave a small nod in thanks as she took a few bites of the bird. It was totally different from rabbit, but in a good way! "The pheasant is good tasting!" she meowed, with a small smile at her father. Just as she was pulling away, she watched as Ryekit practically dove into the pheasant, flicking her gray ears with one part surprise and one part that can only be described as why.

Just as Ashkit was starting to pad closer to Ryekit to tell him to eat like a normal cat and not like some feral predator, she noticed cats approaching. Some cat that had gone right up to her parents came close first, and she ignored that, they probably wanted to talk about not-kit stuff. Then though, another cat came up, and the mostly white she-kit cautiously approached. Not only did come up to them, but she asked them a question! "Hi. Outside the nursery is nice, its good to see new things, we had to come out of there eventually if we are ever going to be warriors." Ashkit said this matter of factly, but then remembered her actual manners. "What's your name? I'm Ashkit, my brothers are Ryekit and Duskkit, who are doing-" she quicked turned her head, watching Duskkit bump into the cat that had been talking to her parents, and she couldn't even spot Ryekit with the quick look she gave, "uh, things. They'll probably come here in a moment!" With that, she swished her fluffy tail a bit closer to her body, not wanting to get it stepped on by the sudden influx of new cats.

Nightwind watched the reactions of his kits as they tried the pheasant. Ryekit caught his attention swiftly and he had to stifle a shudder. Starclan... of course Sunnyskip would teach them about those loathesome mouse-hearts. As for now, he didn't have a plan to counteract it, but he would think of something in time. He always did. He did however, see Sunnyskip's silent plea for help. "Ryekit," He spoke strongly and firmly, but not at all with anger. This was the moment he realized that he had never used his "Dad Voice". Not once. He pushed his mixed feelings about it aside and focused his attention on his loud-mouthed son. "Your mother is right. Behave, be respectful and be polite, or I'll make sure you're in bed before the sun sets. Understand?" He gave Sunnyskip a look, one that only she would know. Had he done that right?

His eyes then traveled to Swiftpaw and Lilacstar... and then Silverpaw. Wow. What a crowd. Not that he minded. He was about to address Duskkit running into Swiftpaw, but he certainly caught the look in Lilacstar's eye. It held his attention for a moment before he nodded. "Yep. We figured it was about time to take them around and learn the camp before they're made apprentices and taken out to see the territory." Ashkit chimed in to answer Silverpaw, and for that Nightwind was grateful. He hadn't expected so much attention on his kits.

"Anyway... I'm glad you kits liked the pheasant." He leaned down and plucked the long tail feathers off of the bird and set aside one for each of them. They'd have plenty of fun with those once they returned to the nursery. He took a sizeable chunk from the pheasant breast and set that aside for them too. There was no way they were going to eat the entire bird in one go, especially when they weren't quite used to meat yet, so that ought to be plenty along with the rabbit.

"We need to go patrolling one of these times, Silverpaw." Nightwind said to the apprentice with a wink. He hadn't managed to spend much time with his new brother in law. Hopefully he would fare better than his last brother in law did. Being gutted was a pretty nasty way to go.

Nightwind seemed to notice her silent plea, and jumped in with a firm tone. Her shoulders relaxed slightly in relief as he backed her up, and she smiled as their eyes met again. Giving him a small nod, she pressed her cheek to his for a moment before Swiftpaw approached, and Sunnyskip greeted her warmly. "Hi, Swiftpaw! Yes, this is their first day out of the nursery. They're pretty excited, and so am I!" She purred, looking at her kits warmly. Duskkit bumped into Swiftpaw's paws, and Sunnyskip gently scooted him away. "Make sure you watch where you're walking, Duskkit. There's a lot of cats in camp, you must be mindful of where you're stepping, okay?" She corrected him lightly. A new voice rang out, and Sunnyskip's head rose to greet Lilacstar. "Lilacstar, hi! Yes, we certainly are." She purred, grinning as their leader knelt to greet the kits. Another voice called out, and she purred as she recognized the gray pelt of her half-sibling. "Silverpaw! Hi! It's going wonderfully, it's such a beautiful day!" She mewed, tail curling as he complimented the kits. "Thank you very much! So far I've just started to touch on some of the basics, but soon they'll be learning lots, I'm sure." She answered as he moved to stand next to his mother. She watched with a smile as Ashkit approached Lilacstar and Silverpaw, proud of the way the little she-kit carried herself. Nightwind was speaking to Silverpaw now, having set aside some long feathers and a chunk of the pheasant for the kits to have later. They would certainly love having those feathers in their nest.