alabanza [open]

Though her eyes were tightly shut, Ivystar was far from asleep. For the past several sunrises, sleep had been a distant feeling, almost akin to a fever dream at times. It was this impossible, unachievable thing that she felt herself slipping further and further away from as the kits grew an unimaginable amount with each passing day. Exhaustion was consistently on the forefront of her mind, frequently making her consider pawning the kits off on one of her mates just so she could sneak in a nap. They certainly would not mind, but a sense of guilt overcame her whenever she seriously contemplated it, so she opted not to.

Just as she felt herself slipping into a fragile state of sleep, one of the kits began to wriggle and yawn, likely due to the morning sun peeking into the nursery. A pained expression painted her face, but nonetheless she propped herself up on her front legs, tucking her paws neatly underneath and wrapping her tail around the fluffy kittens gently.

Bearspirit hoped that this was okay to do... because he'd already thought about it long enough and committed to it. He had a decent-sized fish dangling from his jaws as he approached the nursery. Hopefully Ivystar would be in the mood for such a thing, but if not, it wouldn't bother him to go get her something different. On the way, he paused when a plant caught his attention. He was no medicine cat, but he did know what a catmint was. Memories of his twolegs mixing his food with many different ingredients popped into his head and he wondered if maybe that flavor combination might be good. Minty fish?

Suddenly he felt stupid... maybe he should just give her the fish and see if she even wanted it before trying to get fancy. He'd go ask Dennis at some point to help him know what plants were poisonous that looked like something harmless so he wouldn't get them mixed up. He remembered something called rosemary was put into his food one time and it was exquisite. Maybe there was something like that in Riverclan territory....

But that was for later. Right now he just wanted to check on his leader and really hoped he wasn't being awkward being the one to bring her a fish and not.... her mate. He poked his head slowly into the nursery with the fish hanging by it's throat from his jaws. The tail had stopped moving several minutes ago, so it was no danger to the kits at her belly. He stared at them for a moment, surprised at how... small they were. Was he really so tiny at one point?

"Ivystar? Can I come in?" He managed to say somewhat clearly while holding the fish. "I brought this for you... I hope that's okay. If you don't want it, that's okay too..." Suddenly the fish didn't feel good enough. Now he was kicking himself for not bringing the mint with him. Too late now though... he was already here and he'd have to deal with it.

The days were only getting warmer, something Perchkit both cherished and dreaded. On one paw, it always felt as if a big pelt was wrapped around his small body, the humidity akin to his mother's warm frame. The kitten found he wasn't as anxious when an artificial Ivystar was always by his side, even if it was just the heat. On the other paw, Greenleaf was relentless and had Perchkit melting in his own skin, trapped in layers of thick fur. This morning was no different, yet the nursery did offer some solace from the sun. The little kitten yawned and stretched, steadily growing too big to sleep at Ivystar's belly, a very distressing realization. But Perchkit was determined, and nuzzled deeper into his mother's soft fur, only truly awakening when a voice sounded at the entrance.

Fish! Perchkit's nose tipped upward, sniffing vigorously at the striped tom. The kit wasn't all too familiar with Bearspirit. Of course he had interviewed his mother all about each and every one of RiverClan's warriors, and if she trusted them, then Perchkit did too. That didn't mean that he wouldn't form his own opinions however. As Bearspirit spoke, the kitten looked towards his mother to wait for her permission, his belly quietly growling, but his hunger wasn't enough to remove his desire for caution.