The Joys of Motherhood [C]

Fourtrees was as loud and irritating as ever. Spending a couple hours here once a moon was painful enough, but the Clans had been marooned here for who even knew how many days now and Blackbear was beyond sick of it. Every morning she woke up to the insufferable chatter of all the Clans, the noise so grating to her it was a wonder she hadn't killed someone yet. She'd tried going hunting, her usual release in these situations. But there was a hitch. The kit.

He. Followed. Her. Everywhere. He wasn't loud or touchy about it, but he refused to let her leave without him. She found it intensely annoying at first, especially given that it was preventing her from hunting on her own the way she preferred. Every step she took, he was taking five miniature steps to keep up. She'd lashed her tail, she'd growled and she'd even hissed at him in a poorly contained fit of anger, but the furball was persistent. She'd tried pawning him off to queens and even considered going to Birdchaser about it, though she decided against that one. Asking Birdchaser for help... She shuddered at the thought. Anyway, none of it worked. So, that left her with no options and an incredibly determined clingy kit.

By the third day or so, she found her annoyance ebbing- again, he wasn't loud, and it was actually quite easy to make him settle down and fall asleep. He hung onto her every word and- not that she'd ever say this part out loud- he was quite cute. Fragile and weak, but cute. She even barely minded his habit of sleeping pressed close to her. But the issue of the hunting remained. After days of languishing in Fourtrees and eating food that was caught for her, Blackbear finally had enough. She nudged the sleepy kit with her paw. "Up, kit. I'm taking you hunting." She told the kit gruffly. It was odd calling him 'kit'. Sooner or later she'd have to give him a name.

The two padded through the forest, Blackbear going a lot slower than she would have liked for the kit's sake. It made her tail twitch in irritation. But between this and lazing around in the clearing, she preferred this. "You ever hunted before? 'M guessing not, since your ma never even gave you a name. Doubt she had time to teach ya anything." She said bluntly. "You're too small to hunt anyhow. A squirrel could beat you in a fight. That's why I'm hunting. So you can eat and grow." He couldn't be a SkyClan warrior if he stayed this tiny. She sniffed the air, checking for prey. She could smell a bird, and a squirrel a little further off. Well, if she was hunting for the kit, might as well let him pick. "Squirrel or bird?" She asked briskly.

It was scary - all of the cats. He wasn't used to all of the noise, all of the new scents... It felt better to be near the large she-cat that had found him - after all, others tended to give her a wide berth which was great! There were times she tried to move around but he was determined to stick with her - there was a sinking in his chest whenever she tried to leave him - he...He didn't want to be alone again. She would grumble and hiss at him but he couldn't be afraid of her - she saved him! And so, he stuck as close as he could.

When he was nudged awake, he blinked as he tiredly lifted his head. They were...Going somewhere? ...Alright. He got to his paws and stumbled after her out of the clearing proper and into the nearby trees. He did his best to keep up - taking refunge in the shadow of her large tail  as he meekly peeked out to take in the surrounding area.

His gaze however snapped onto Blackbear as she spoke, trying to make sense of her words. Hunting...? "N-No, momma hunted sometimes but left us alone to do so," he said, his voice cracking a bit at the mention of his mother, feeling the same rush of fear that he felt rise whenever Blackbear tried to leave him strike him for a heartbeat, causing him to wince. Squirrel...Did he know what a squirrel was? Or a bird? He blinked as the question was posed. "Um...Bird?" he offered meekly - not really interested in the thing that could apprently beat him.

Blackbear huffed at the kit's response. She thought as much. His mother sounded like a coward, and a terrible teacher. How were her kits supposed to learn to hunt if she didn't take them hunting? It didn't occur to the grey molly that she'd been trying to do just that only a few days ago. "Bird. Alright." She began to move towards a tree, aiming to climb up to get a proper vantage point, but then a thought occurred to her and she stopped in her tracks. She turned back to the kit. "You should have a name. So you know when I'm calling you." The part she was actually worried about, that he'd be stalked by some predator and she wouldn't have a name to alert him with, went unsaid.

She looked at the tiny cream kit. Cream kit... Creamkit! It suited him, and colour names were good and practical. Not that she was biased or anything. "Creamkit. That's your name now." She said with a nod, giving him only a second to reflect before she turned back to the tree and began to scale it. The further up she went, the closer the scent of bird got. Eventually she could see it, a fat grey creature fluffed up on a branch. She bunched up all her muscles with her eyes trained on the bird, preparing to strike.

She waited for a few seconds before unfurling her body, hooking her claws into the bird's wings before it even had time to squawk. She flung it into her jaws and it was over in one swift bite. She looked down, pleased to see that the ground was actually quite close. Must've been one dumb bird to perch so low. She jumped to the ground, searching for Creamkit for a moment before spotting him by the tree's trunk. She dropped the bird by his tiny feet. "There. Hope you were watching. You're gonna need to know how to catch birds if you're gonna be in SkyClan." A brief thought gave her some pause. Creamkit hadn't been born in the Clans... "Do you... know what SkyClan is?"

Blackbear caught a bird, costing 3SP.

The member 'Snickerdoodle' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

The kit happily waddled after Blackbear as she moved towards a tree, before coming to a stop as she turned to look at him. He tilted his head at the mention of giving him a name - he had gotten the loose idea of what a name was but the thought of him getting one hadn't crossed his little kit mind. But as he was dubbed Creamkit, he couldn't help but smile and feel his chest swell with pride - only for that pride to turn to terror as she turned and climbed up the tree.

A whimper escaped Creamkit as he stumbled forward, pressing his paws against the tree truck as he tried to peer up to where Blackbear had gone. He could see her in the trees branches but it did little to ease the rising fear in his chest at the idea that she would leave now that she was somewhere that he could not follow, his ears slicking back as his tail curled tightly around him.

He watched with wide eyes as she threw herself at something in the branches, before jumping down to the ground. A whimper of relief escaped him as he scrambled to close the distance between the two only to stop as the grey bird was dropped in his path. Oh! So...This was a bird. He placed his paws on the the bird, giving it a sniff. Right, he had seen a few of the other cats eating this! But...Normally it wasn't so...Fluffy? He leaned forward, taking a bite only to get a mouthful of feathers as he drew back in surprise. He shook his head, coughing up the feathers as he fell back onto his haunches - ears perking as Blackbear posed another question.

"...Sky...Clan?" He questioned, tilting his head in thought. Maybe? It sounded familiar, but he didn't know what it was. No, he had heard it like being spoken by others as he stuck close to Blackbear or...At least things that were similar? The -Clan part was familiar, but suddenly he could recall more words with that part and confusion swept over him as he tried to make sense of it.

This had been a lot for a kit to take in the last few days, that was for sure.

Creamkit's worried face made Blackbear falter for a moment, though the moment passed quickly as the kit approached her with a relieved whimper. Right, she'd almost forgotten he was practically attached to her tail. She watched his attempt to eat the bird with a bemused huff. Had he really never even eaten a bird before? Squirreldung, this kit was helpless. "If you can't eat the feathers, get rid of them first," she chided gruffly. She lowered her massive head to the dead bird, tearing its chest feathers out in one clean movement. She usually just ate it with the feathers, but she wasn't sure if Creamkit could do that without choking. "There. Now eat."

She gave a surprised grunt at Creamkit's answer. Even rogues should tell their kits about the Clans, right? Otherwise some idiot kit could wander into SkyClan territory and get torn to shreds by a patrol. The more Blackbear learned about how much this kit didn't know, the angrier she grew with his 'mother'. "You're lucky I found you. Your ma would've gotten you killed." She growled, sitting down. "SkyClan is one of the five Clans. We're the strongest, and the best climbers. We have a leader, Briarstar, and a deputy, Birdchaser. You listen to them, or else." She fixed him a hard look. "When you're big enough, Birdchaser will give you a mentor. Then you'll learn to hunt and fight properly." Of course, she wasn't going to let her k- uh, this kit- do nothing until his apprenticeship. He had to learn early, else he'd never be a warrior. Not a good one anyway. "Finish your food. I'm gonna teach ya how to climb, so you can hunt birds like I do." She said with a raspy voice- her throat was quite sore. She hadn't talked this much in... Well, ever.

Creamkit titled his head as Blackbear ripped the feathers off, giving a meek nod of his head as he approached the now bare chest and timidly took a bite. As he slowly chewed his food, his ears remained perked as she explained about SkyClan, mentioning a few names that he had to listen to. O-Oh. He glanced up a little unsure at that but if she said to listen to them...Well, he guess he could trust them. He wasn't sure about the learning to fight part - he had watched other kits 'play fighting' but it had never been something that had interested him.

He pouted softly as he swallowed his meal and took another bite, giving a nod as she explained the plan of lessons - climbing. That would be good, right? It would mean he could follow her into the trees and he did like birds! Well, feathers not withstanding. So, he quietly continued his meal until he felt content enough - clamping over what remained of the bird as he looked up to Blackbear in expectation.

Blackbear blinked slowly in appreciation as Creamkit ate. Good, so he wasn't totally clueless. He knew how to eat. She was worried he only drank milk or something, the way he looked at that bird in confusion. He said nothing to her explanation of the Clans. Good, that meant he had no questions. Or maybe he did, but Blackbear wasn't inclined to ask for clarification. She waited for him to finish, tail twitching impatiently as she dug her claws into the dirt to comfort herself. It was hard work, not snapping at the kit. He did make it easier, though. He was very obedient.

Creamkit finally ate his fill of the bird and toddled over to Blackbear, who gave a relieved growl. She didn't know how much longer she could've born the wait. She lifted her paw to show to the kit, her claws unsheathed. "Take out your claws, like this. Can't climb without 'em." Hopefully that much was obvious to him. She stood up on her hind legs and placed her forepaws on the tree she'd been sitting at, hooking her claws into the bark. "Copy me. I'm not explaining every step."

Creamkit tilted his head as Blackbear raised a giant paw, eyes widening in awe at the sheer size of it. He raised his own paw, mimicking her as he fully unsheathed his claws. As she ordered him to copy her, he dutifully did so as he padded over to the tree and put his front paws against the truck - little sharp kitten claws digging into the bark as he looked up at her - tail lashing in excitement. "Like this?" he asked, hoping he was. H-He wanted her to be proud of him! He was gonna make her proud!