i threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell [open!]

It had only felt like a few sunrises since Briarthorn had been escorted out of ShadowClan camp, following Bloodstrike and Wolfstar almost defeatedly to her new fate. Reality seemed to warp in the following moon, almost as if time was no longer on a cohesive, linear scale, but rather a tree blossoming with millions of little branches spreading in each possible direction. Almost the entirety of this time was spent wallowing in the nursery, tucked in the far corner, as if it would make her completely disappear. In truth, Briarthorn hadn’t even really met any of her new Clanmates. Those warriors who she’d be expected to defend… even at the cost of her life. If she ever escaped the cursed nursery, that is.

Though she’d spent much time telling herself that she didn’t want the kits growing in her womb, Briarthorn became more and more ornery as each day passed, wishing the kits would make an appearance just so she could escape the living torment that she found herself enduring. Despite that, an intense feeling of dread overpowered her when she felt a tingling sensation, followed by a sharp pain in her belly. Half of her was tied up with the notion that in this new, foreign Clan, she wasn’t entitled to ask for help from their medicine cat (as if Beechface would want to help her anyway). The other half was screaming with a pain so intense it felt as if every nerve, every single vein was alight with flame.

——-

Significant enough time had passed since that night, and in that short time frame, Briarthorn’s five kittens had grown large enough to walk and talk all on their own. The sun was just beginning to peek over the tips of the trees surrounding camp, and Briarthorn still lay fast asleep, each of the sleeping kits tucked into her thick coat of fur in some manner or another. Today, they might finally be able to explore camp on their own, or perhaps they’d meet a new warrior, or hear from the Clan elders.

Spottedkit had spent her entire life in this den, and it was BORING. Day by day, the sun rose, it set, and all she got to see were the shadows that managed to peek through that one lone entrance - the one that was guarded, always. No way out. Spottedkit wanted so desperately to escape, to explore, but mother said it was dangerous, for kits, and so she didn't... she obeyed, though begrudgingly. And today, like most days, she found herself languishing in insufferable boredom within the nursery.

She was lying on her back, upside down, bright white belly exposed and paws splayed in all directions. Perhaps one of her siblings would wake soon, and she'd at least have someone to play with.

Sleeping the whole day was not going to be this new kit's idea of fun.

When he first opened his eyes, he tried as hard as he could to fall back asleep, grumbling quietly and squeezing closer to his mother, but after what felt like a lifetime of wriggling and rolling, he decided he was awake for the day. And being awake meant he got to do his favorite thing: pester any cat in sight.

Blinking his eyes open again, Newtkit wiggled between his siblings until he could find his footing and get to his paws. Now standing up, he was instantly awake, any last traces of sleep gone. ...and it seemed no one else shared his enthusiasm for the day. No matter– he was happy to change that.

"Mom. Mom!" His voice was high pitched as he crawled up onto her, headbutting her shoulder when she didn't rouse herself as quickly as he wanted. "Mom, come on, get up! I want to go outside!" Newtkit's sharp mews had turned into needy whines, and just as quickly as he had started prodding at Briarthorn his attention rounded on the other kits sleeping around him, and almost instantly he zeroed in on Spottedkit. He hadn't even noticed she was awake!

With an excited yip, he pounced off Briarthorn and onto his sister's exposed belly, flashing a toothy smile and threatening to nip at her paws. "Do you think we can go outside? Everyone's being lazy, we might as well go ourselves."

Her father had gotten a Shadowclanner pregnant. He'd brought her here, to Skyclan. How he'd managed that, Beechface didn't know and didn't really care. She begrudgingly helped where needed, it was her role as a medicine cat after all, but it was hard not to feel bitter resentment towards Briarthorn, Bloodstrike, even the kits, though at least they were wholly innocent in all of this. Logically, she had no reason to be upset. Her parents had been done with each other well before she'd even heard Briarthorn's name spoken for the first time. And yet Beechface still wanted to claw what was left of her idiot father's ears off.

Maybe in another universe, she and Briarthorn would have gotten along. Maybe. If she hadn't been so foolish as to get with her father, if her mere presence wasn't a bitter reminder that things were wrong and had little chance of being fixed...

The medicine cat gave her head a shake, a low huff escaping her as she stalked out of the den, tail tip twitching irritably. It was warm, and sunlight filtered into the grassy clearing that was Skyclan's camp. It was almost peaceful. Quiet even.

...And that, naturally, was when the excited squeals of kits from the nursery caught her attention. Only one litter it could be, and just like that, the peace shattered. It had only been a fragile illusion, anyways.

The kits were old enough to have opened their eyes and be out of the nursery by now, but Beechface couldn't muster up the energy to be excited about it. Half-siblings... And she wasn't even sure she counted them as family. Briarthorn certainly wasn't family. Her head turned in the direction of the nursery anyways. Like it or not, they were clanmates... And she'd treat them as such, but no more than that.

That didn't mean she wanted to go out of her way to interact with any of them, however.

((please feel free to approach your half-sister.))

Bearkit didn't mind the idea of sleeping. There was no doubt that she was energetic, but how could she possibly have fun if she was tired all the time? She thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of her mother's fur and the comfort of the nursery. So, when the high-pitched squeaks of her littermates began to echo in her ears and pull her out of the silence of sleep, the she-kit couldn't help but be the slightest bit surprised. She quietly glanced around, her eyes still half-lidded and glazed over with the haze of sleepiness.
"You're all having fun without me?" The brown kit complained through a yawn, "That's not fair!"
Almost instantly, she was up on her paws and smiling as brightly as the sun.

"Maybe we shouldn't bother mama. She might be tired." Bearkit stated as she padded towards the exit of the nursery, glancing back at her littermates.
Truthfully, that was just an excuse so that they could go outside quicker, but she obviously didn't plan on saying that out loud.
"And it's sunny outside! C'mon, c'mon! Last one out is a rotten mouse!"

The rays of the sun hit Bearkit's back almost instantly as she bounded out, eyes wide and curious. In comparison to the warriors, she was extremely small, and it was intimidating to say the least, but it wasn't enough to scare her back into the nursery. In fact, the very first thing she did was approach the first cat that she saw.
"Hello?" Bearkit peered up at Beechface with a curious expression, "It's a pretty day outside, why aren't you smiling?"

With an indignant screech, Spottedkit shoved her brother away, rolled to her paws, and batted him several times in rapid succession about the ears. She pulled away, fur puffed up, and flattened her ears as her siblings suggested they go outside. "But we aren't allowed," she said quietly, glancing over at their dozing mother. Bearkit didn't seem to care, though, and after a moment, Spottedkit decided maybe she didn't, either. She pushed past Newtkit, shoving him gently, playfully, as she passed, and popped out into the clearing after her sister.

"Where are you going?" she asked, blinking against the bright sunlight, but Bearkit was already speaking to someone, the grumpy gray she-cat that smelled of herbs. Spottedkit tilted her head, staring up at Beechface uncertainly.

Spottedkit's return attack sent Newtkit reeling with squeals of laughter, but his joy was short lived. Before he had time to pounce on her again, Bearkit was finally up– and racing him out of the nursery! Spottedkit gave him a shove and followed suit, and with a yelp, the mottled tabby got his balance back and tore after them.

Nearly bowling into Bearkit, he changed directions just in time to avoid her– and ended up running headlong into Beechface's legs. With a huff, he flopped into the earth, placing a paw over his head dramatically.

Letting out a low, indignant oww, he raised his head to look and see who had the audacity to stand in his way, he saw the strange cat he'd seen glaring into the nursery every now and again. Scrambling to his feet and stamping the dirt, he looked up at her with a heavy pout.

"Hey! You're in my way!" He groaned, turning to his sisters with a disappointed expression. "How come I go outside and immediately bang my head?" He muttered, sidling up to Bearkit. Looking up at Beechface with as much challenge in his eyes as his little body could muster, he pressed, "What are you doing here? You're like... the only cat out here." He leaned closer to Bearkit to peer around the medicine cat's legs, hoping the camp would come to life soon and he could talk to anyone other than the grouchy looking cat that gave him a head injury.

Maplekit woke with a start, a sudden cold seeping into her bones. Cracking her eyes open, the kit quickly realized that the source of her chills was the absence of her siblings, an empty nest where three kits usually slept. With a languid yawn, Maplekit roused from her spot to begin her search for her littermates, which didn’t last long.

“owww!”

That was Newtkit, all right. Peeking out from the nursery, looking out into the camp, a place Maplekit was forbidden from going, she saw her siblings with a grumpy-looking cat. Newtkit appeared to have fallen over, or had run into the cat, with how he was rubbing his head and grouching as he usually does. The sight was enough to make Maplekit giggle.

The cat with them looked as miserable as ever, which was wonderful, as Maplekit needed someone to bother anyway.

Skipping to her siblings, her mother’s warnings far from her mind, Maplekit inserted herself between Bearkit and Newtkit, pawing playfully at her brother’s ears.

“The sun just rose, mouse-for-brains! Of course there’s no other cat out here!” Turning to the grumpy cat, Maplekit asked, “Who are you? Why do you smell funny? And why did you hurt my brother? That’s not very nice!”

The small voice of one of the kits reached her ears, and Beechface let out a quiet huff at the questions. She was smiling, yes, but that simply wasn't something she did very often. It was just her face, really. She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could the lone tomkit of the litter was stumbling over his own paws, careening into the medicine cat's legs. And dramatically trying to make a scene as only a kit could. A snort escaped the surly medicine cat, the closest to a laugh the kits were likely to see from her. They were still kits, and certainly acted like it.

"I'm Beechface, the medicine cat." She mewed, settling back onto her haunches. "You're smelling the herbs I keep in my den." She added to the last kit that had approached her. Large litters had always seemed to be a thing in Skyclan, and it seemed this litter had been no exception to that.

"Is this your first time out of the nursery?" It had to be, or close to it, at least. She wondered where Bloodstrike was, and figured that Briarthorn was probably still in the den sleeping. Someone would have to keep an eye on them until she woke, and it might as well be Beechface.

Almost immediately upon being awoken by her rowdy kits, Briarthorn's face was painted in a thinly veiled scowl. Though she'd told them many times not to wake her in such a preposterous manner, it seemed they had little care for courtesy when it came to such matters. Despite her best attempts to reassure herself that they were only kits and didn't know any better, she still found their actions to be rather annoying, especially considering that she was still trying to adjust her sleep schedule to fit SkyClan's daytime activities. She would still never understand why they thought going out during the day was more beneficial- there were always more twolegs, predators, and it was generally more of a nuisance than anything.

Once each of the kits had rushed out of the nursery, Briarthorn lifted herself up and ducked out as well, eyes landing on the kits gathered around Beechface. Head hung slightly between her shoulders, she approached the group slowly and sat down, tail tip twitching every so often. "Thank you, Beechface." She murmured simply, taking a quick headcount of all the kits. "Maplekit, be respectful." She chastised, ears flattening ever so slightly.

Maplekit pouted. ”But Mom! That stinky cat hurt Newtkit!”

The kit didn’t understand her mother’s need for napping, only that she had once lived in an area where the cats were mostly nocturnal. Besides, it didn’t concern Maplekit what her mother’s past was- all that mattered was that her mother was awake now, and was available to be annoyed just as Beechface was.

Turning to Beechface, Maplekit answered with a snort. “The herbs are stinky. You should find some nicer smelling herbs. What’s a medicine cat, anyway?” She shook her head and sneezed to emphasize her point. “Mother slept in late today, so we escaped to play! Though… we may not be able to play anymore.. She shot her mother a scathing look.