Pain in Glory [open]

When Tawnyflare had agreed to have kits with Fawnstep, she was thinking a little of one, maybe two. Like the litters that the tom had given other she-cats.

She did not expect to have 5 balls of fur at her side. 5 squirming, needy little balls of fur. This was going to be a rough first few moons, and Eris forbid when these kits are old enough to cause mayhem.

Actually, on second thought, that part might be funny, so long as they stayed away from her.

She looked up, glaring at the tom that had forced this upon her, clearly not happy in the slightest. "Well, are you happy now? You got your kits. Was it worth it? Because I hope you know that I am not raising these brats alone. You wanted them, you are stuck with them. Can't believe I even agreed to this, so stupid!"

Her tail began to lash, and eventually, she stood up, leaving the kits behind. "You can start practicing being a father now."

Muddyleap was bouncing outside of the nursery, having been waiting there since he had heard that Tawnyflare had gone into labor. Siblings! And not just any siblings, new ones. He loved his sister and Silverlight but there was an excitement in getting to know his new ones. His ears perked at the sound of voices, mentioning kits. Was it...Over? Could he go in? He dropped onto his haunches, tail lashing as he decided to wait until somebody fetched him...But then a few seconds later, he decided he couldn't wait for it and poked his head in. "C-Can I come see them?" he questioned, glancing at both his father and Tawnyflare - a little surprised to see that she was nowhere near the kits. Huh.

One of the kits, darker in colour with partial patches of orange, meowed in protest as its mother left. It was now cold, and hungry, therefore, it called out to try to communicate that.

Kits so young did not have a higher thought process, nor did they understand or know what was happening around them. Abrupt changes were easily frightening when you were trapped in a world of darkness, where your only sense was one of feeling and smell. It could not hear, could not see, it could only sense warmth, and feel basic primal feelings, like satisfaction or fear.

Unable to find its mother, dappled nose twitching futility, it quickly huddled up with its siblings, continuing to meow occasionally as it sought warmth for its feeble body. Hardly any strength could be sought out in such young kittens. That would be something they gained through the guidance of adults, their personalities, their abilities, they would all depend on how the kits were raised.

If raised correctly they'd end up to be well-adjusted Warriors... though so far it seemed that wouldn't be the case. One parent was already shirking responsibility, it seemed. well... so be it.

The future for these rather pitiful-looking balls of fur was in those two's paws. Whether they would regret it all would be up to them. It was hardly a choice you could abandon halfway and still get good results from. Still, how it would all turn out, the process of getting there, of establishing individual personalities? Well, that in the least... would be interesting to watch.

Henkit was not happy. Warmth and food had gone. Warmth and food were not allowed to go. She mewed loudly and angrily, as to say ‘Remember who you named me after. She wouldn’t be pleased now, would she?’ Squirming around, the she-cat’s colors flashed in the light- almost a perfect replica of her mother, although there was something of Fawnstep already showing about her. She bumped into Sootkit, and snuggled into him, providing as much warmth as she could spare. Mewling, she attracted her siblings to share their warmth. Food would come, by one means or another, but warmth needed to happen right now. If the molly had been old enough to open her eyes or walk or do something useful, she would’ve. For right now, however, she depended on her mother. What Tawnyflare did in these few precious moons would shape the rest of Henkit’s life.

OOC: These kits are not named yet, as this is the immediate aftermath of their birth! I really should have clarified. They will be named in this topic, though, starting with Henkit!

Tawnyflare gave a final glare at Fawnstep before making her way back over to the whiny brats. They were so needy! She rested on her side, struggling to get comfortable with a bunch of kits sucking at her. How exactly did other queens manage this? And then she saw Muddyleap, anxiously waiting to come in. Why was he so concerned about her kits? Was the whole Clan going to come?

"I guess if you want to see the kits, nothing is stopping you? They aren't any different than any other kits, really.... Does every cat in this Clan get all worked up over every birth? Why? Asylum never did that...." She might have forgotten that Muddyleap was Fawnstep's son, so there was also that.

Looking down at the 5 little bundles, she noticed a singular pelt that seemed to stand out, and it melted her heart. Sure, this kit looked like her, but that wasn't what got her attention. It was who else she reminded her of.

"Hey, my sister's name was Henkit before the two of us were taken, right? I think I would like to name this one that. What do you think about that, Fawnstep? Our little girl, Henkit."

Silverlight was not surprised in the slightest to find out that Fawnstep had yet again fathered another litter of kits. At this point, did he even remember his kits' names? Probably not but Silver didn't mind. He had Lilac and Amber. To him, they were his only parents and he loved them dearly. The thing that did surprise him with this birth is that they were Tawnyflare's kits too. He would never say this aloud but he wasn't too sure of Tawny as a mother. She didn't really seem like the motherly type to him and Fawn certainly wasn't the fatherly type. That worried him. He hoped these kits would grow up not too scarred or neglected. As their half-brother, he was determined to help them as much as he could... at least, he'll try.

The young warrior went over right behind Muddyleap, anxious to meet his new kin. He offered a polite greeting to Tawny and Fawn before taking a peek at the five squirming bundles of fluff. He was... instantly smitten. They were so cute! Golly... did all kits look that tiny and precious? Probably yes. He couldn't help the stupid smile that overtook his face. "So cute..." he whispered as he continued to watch them in wonder. He shook himself out of his stupor and nodded at the others before leaving to allow more space for others to take a look, smile never leaving his face the whole way.

A brown tabby kit was curled up against his mother. He was quiet but when his mother stood up he started squealing, the warmth, oh the warmth, it had disappeared! His precious warmth! Then it came back. The tabby fell quiet again and began to suckle.

After the tabby had finished he rolled over, he didn't really know left from right, up from down yet. But he was having fun, there was so much more room to wiggle and squirm now. Even with all of that, he stayed close to his mother's side, the kit couldn't ever let go of that heat. Ever.

Yarrowpaw was elated. He was an older brother! Sure, he had plenty of adopted siblings in RiverClan, but none of them had been biological. But here, he had five new, lovely half siblings to love and protect. Especially protect. A lot was going on in WindClan, things Yarrowpaw hasn’t even begun to understand, but he knew he’d protect his siblings and his family with his life. Looking down at them, all tiny and squirmy, Yarrowpaw felt his heart swell. His mother was an ornery one, always will be, and it didn’t surprise him that she was so flippant about her kits. He knew she loved them- she had to. How could she not, with their little noses and little paws? She just… needed some coming around, was all. She was so cold when Yarrowpaw first met her, but now, just a moon later, she was so much warmer to him.

The same will probably happen with her new bundles of joy. Yarrowpaw was willing to wait it out; he was willing to be the loving one in the meantime.

”Mom! I love them!” He mouthed to her, eyes wide and ears twitching. Henkit. He loved it! He never knew his mother had it in her to be so sentimental. “Hey little guys! I’m your big brother!” he mouthed to the kits; they couldn’t have noticed him, with his silence and their shut ears. Yet, Yarrowpaw was content. They would know him soon enough.

Tawnyflare's belly had swollen. At first, the tom thought it had to do with the plentiful prey of greenleaf but as time stretched on, it became apparent his fanciful dreams were about to be a reality. Pride and anticipation made his paws all the lighter. The she-cat's attitude had become more cross - with him and other things, but Fawnstep was used to nearly having his ears clawed off. It was that fiery strength that had attracted him to her after all.

And now, the time had come. At the soft underfur of her stomach were five little kits. It was the largest litter he'd had by far - perhaps another indicator of their future might as Windclan warrior. For a long time, his icy blue eyes simply bore into their tiny fuzzy pelts. This was a surreal sensation, the fierce devotion to such defenseless creatures. They couldn't even fight yet, all of them were soft and useless. He'd change that. Before he could further dwell on such thoughts, the she-cat's snapping caused him to glance up and flick his ear.

"I told you I'd raise them." Fawnstep's voice was mild and low, almost a grumbling breath as he padded closer to the little kits. Cats had begun to gather, namely some of his other offspring but he hardly thought of that now. The warrior nodded stiffly to Muddyleap as Tawnyflare offered her own sense of approval. His mind was briefly preoccupied with thoughts of asking Smallbean what one was supposed to do with things these small, how to make them grow, and the like... but that would be a conversation for later.

Henkit... It was hardly a name to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies but he wasn't going to argue and instead simply accepted the name with a flicker of his tail. Turning his gaze to some of the other kits, he contributed his own names, "Timberkit. Bearkit. Sootkit." It was a rather unceremonious dubbing and he didn't feel like adding much more than that. If Tawnyflare wanted meaningful names, sure, but he wanted to boast their future vigor and expertise.

He tipped his head to her so she could name the final one before turning to Silverlight, "Think you'll end up training one when they're big enough? Muddyleap, you figure out how a warrior should react maybe you could even mentor one." The words weren't malicious but Fawnstep believed the kit who shared his blood could be more if Hayglow let him and would not miss an opportunity to remind him.

Raisha's kit had joined them too. What a curious creature he was. Fawnstep didn't know how to interact with the tom since he couldn't have a conversation with him. Kits had never meant much to the tom before so he did not quite understand the relationship between the Riverclanner and Tawnyflare but it did not bother him much. All he had to offer Yarrowpaw was a twitch of whiskers before looking back at the newborn kits.

Tawnyflare let out a grunt as she felt a kick in her side, and glared down at her final kit. "Alright, this little bugger gets to be Rabbitkit, since she wants to be a pain in my side. Alright, kits are named, what do I do now? Give them my fox as a nest? I can't get up or the kits will start whining again. This is going to be a long 6 moons, isn't it? Muddyleap, your sister had kits, what did she do? I do kind of want to be better than I was to Yarrowpaw, so do you have any advice? Do I just lay here and do nothing or what?" The calico did not have a single clue what she was supposed to do, all she knew was the basics. And even that was going to be rough for her.

"And what about you, Mr.Den Dad? What happens now? You got your kits, and I am not staying in here every day, especially if the den is going to be as crowded as this. And of all the cats to come, why is Smallbean not here? Isn't the medicine cat supposed to help with this stuff? For the love of Eris, he needs to get his tail in here before he loses it!" Her pelt was bristling as the she-cat became increasingly frustrated and stressed. There were so many cats here that she could barely move, she had no idea what she was doing, and the one cat that had any expertise on births was not here! It was taking all of her willpower to not just make a mad dash for the entrance and never look back. Fawnstep was going to be in so much trouble once this was all over.

Henkit let out a mew as the warmth, safety, and security came back. She wiggled around and began to suckle, tiny sharp claws on her mother’s stomach. Already some protective instinct was showing itself within her. She moved aside so her siblings could feast as well, and curled next to them, sharing her warmth. The she-cat was already the largest and strongest of the kits, powerfully built like her mother with her father’s running talent. But for now, she was just a defenseless kit, and relied on her parents for food, shelter, and love.

The brown tabby, or Timberkit, as he was now named. Had stopped suckling and was now curled up peacefully beside his mother. The little kit had no idea how much his mother despised his existence, Timberkit wasn't really capable of thinking that deeply. All the tabby really cared about was being next to his mother, her scent calmed him and he loved the warmth the she-cat gave him. He wasn't ready for the kind of life he might have, all he wanted was his mother. Timberkit didn't know that he also needed love, yet.

Once the mother returned the newly-named Sootkit settled, squirming and shuffling to rest between two of his siblings, Timberkit and Henkit with his inefficient squirming. Eventually having gotten his fill he too curled up, head resting on Henkit, and drifted to sleep.

The future ahead was rather uncertain, but soon enough the kits would be ready to weather the storm. How they'd come out on the other side, though, was entirely in question.

Now resting, the dark kit was hardly a disturbance.