[ti]Open[/ti]THe Day Everything Changed

[Mama]

Briarfrost has started to kit right in the middle of the night, and luckily everything went well for the new mother. Her kits looked healthy though one didn’t more much and was a bit smaller and clumsier then the others which she shrugged off as normal. After sleeping for a bit she had awakened and was now gazing out of the empty den. The first thing she thought was that she had missed her patrols... but then the nip or rustle of a kitten made her remember. Of course she was anxious and hoping somecat told Wolfclaw, but also a bit... lonely, and scared. What if she was bad at keeping them warm? Or was she doing something wrong the way she was wrapped around them, or if they slept too long?

As Briarfrost stared towards the entrance, her nest in the corner of the empty nursery, she just couldn’t stop thinking.

[M'Lady]

When Owlstar heard that Briarfrost had given birth to her kits in the middle of the night, she couldn't help but feel a bit giddy. She adored kits, her entire clan was her kin, but these kits were actually her flesh and blood. It was lovely, in a way, she was so excited for them. She peered into the nursery, noticing quickly that Briar was both awake and staring out the entrance. Owlstar rose herself up and stepped into the familiar den, yellow eyes gleaming with faint amusement as she recognized the rather panicky look on her clanmate's face.

"Congratulations," She purred, not getting too close but leaning forward to see the kits curled up in the curve of Briarfrost's belly. She smiled warmly, unable to take her eyes off them for a moment. "They're beautiful," Owlstar spoke softly, careful to not wake the poor things up. The leader sat down, and rose her gaze to meet Briar's. "Have you thought of names for them yet?"

[Mama]

When someone’s pawsteps made her alert, her ears had flickered up. However when she saw it was Owlstar, Briarfrost couldn’t help but purring loudly.

Moving her tail from the top of the kits to let her see them, they were rather assorted but all strong and healthy. The black and grey shecat was large and had Owlstar’s and Wolfclaw’s pelt, while the other one was a fluffy tortoiseshell tabby mixture. And the final new kit was much much smaller then the two, with her legs sprawled out in a funny position and seemed to have issues getting up to get milk and other tasks. Then she had Asterkit, the largest of the four, tucked into her belly with her white and cream pelt sticking out. It was a beautiful family.

“I wanted to name the brown and black kitten Sunnykit... she reminds me of a sunrise and a sunset. The black one I think should be Stormykit, she looks like a storm cloud! And the little tabby I thought Wolfclaw would like, since she’s going to be Lilykit after his mother.” Briarfrost said with a small smile, meeting her gaze.

[M'Lady]

A soft sigh of content escaped the leader as she heard the names, eyes even tearing up slightly at the last one. "Oh, Lily... Wolf is going to love that." She spoke softly, watching the little tabby intently as she moved in her sleep. Her eyes flickered over the rest of the small kits, and then brought her gaze back up to meet Briarfrost's. "Lilyheart was such a sweet warrior, but so timid. You only really saw her smile when her mate was out," She sighed, before bowing her head and sending her thoughts up to Starclan. Her next words were whispered in her thoughts, to herself and to her warrior ancestors.

'Warriors of Starclan, my sweet aunt Lilyheart, please protect these kits, make sure they don't lead their lives in their father's pawsteps.'

Owlstar didn't think she'd be able to go through what happened again, let alone Wolfclaw, who she was sure saw them in his nightmares every day. She quickly shook her head. Such dark thoughts shouldn't be remembered in the presence of these sweet little kits. She blinked open bright yellow eyes, her demeanor soft and warm once again.
"Has Wolfclaw been by yet?"

[Mama]

As the queen listened to the leader speak, her paws kneaded against the dirt as she purred lightly. It was so nice to be ina family again, one where her kits would have relatives to play with and meet, cats who trusted her, and if needed ones who she could lean on. Her family was perfect, and she believed Wolfclaw would think the same when he saw the four new additions.

At her question Briarfrost looked up from her kits, her ears flickering down a bit. “No, he hasn’t. I don’t think he’s met Asterkit yet either, but she’s young... she’s young enough for me to tell the other’s she’s her sibling. I hope that no one questions it, even if she doesn’t look like either of us I would prefer for her to treated as if she was born along with the others.” She said with a small smile towards the white kitten. “I hope Wolfclaw wouldn’t mind, when he does come around to see them.”

[M'Lady]

Owlstar dipped her head at Briarfrost's words, yellow eyes flickering as they settled on Asterkit. "I won't say a word, Asterkit is a pure Ivyclan cat under my eyes." The leader spoke simply, gaze dragging across the others. As a leader, she always happened to imagine their lives. She would be the one, most likely, to raise them in the eyes of Starclan, proclaiming their apprentice and warrior names to Silverpelt above. These kits would have good lives, she was sure of it, with her claws and Wolf's defending them till the end.

"He'll be by soon, I'm sure. The poor thing is probably nervous and running himself ragged, he likes to keep his paws busy so his thoughts won't be." She reassured the queen, though she couldn't take her eyes off of the kits. They were so small... Was it possible that her own children were ever that small? She found it hard to remember. She frowned a bit, studying Lilykit. Was it just her, or was she lying down strangely? She'd have to have Larkbeat come by, just to make sure.
"Can I get you anything? Moss, freshkill? I could send the apprentices out to get you a nest full of feathers," She joked, whiskers twitching in her amusement. The lot of them, they'd probably make a game out of it.

[Mama]

lilykit gave a small mew, as the kitten tried to move back towards her mother when she had been nudged away by her siblings. The kitten seemed to try and crawl but her paws batted at the air and refused to go in a normal direction, and she cried out again as she rolled back and seemed to just look... strange. Her paws didn’t crawl like the other kits anencephaly instead spun out in strange directions, while she had no balance at all and couldn’t keep herself up.

Gazing at the little tabby, Briarfrost tried to help her get back to the others but she seemed to not be able to crawl back and simply flipped herself over, so the feline gave a sigh and scooped her up before placing her back with the others.

“I doubt it’ll be long before somecat tells him what happened.” She said with a small smile, and her tail flickered a bit back and forth. “I’m good on that feather nest, but I wouldn’t mind something to eat.” Briarfrost purred.

[M'Lady]

She eyed Lilykit worriedly, but soon nodded at Briarfrost's words, and turned to step out of the den. "One of the hunting patrols should be back soon, I'll see if they brought anything tasty," She promised, before ducking out of the den to greet her warriors as they returned from their patrol.

Sunnykit huffed, as one of her siblings was placed back near her. She didn't like this one being close, she moved too much! In an effort to combat this invasion, she pressed farther into the mound of soft fluff that was her mother's stomach, curling into a tight ball so that all she could feel was the big cat's soft breathing and warmth all around her. She let out a squeaky sigh. Yes this was nice, this was good, hopefully the twitchy one wouldn't bother her anymore.

Owlstar returned shortly, calling a greeting to Firechaser as she passed by him also returning from the patrol, the tom dipping his head in respect to his leader. She carried with her a quail in her jaws, striding up to Briar to place it close to her paws. "There you are," She mused softly, nudging it towards her before sitting up once again. "And don't worry about moving too much, the kits will have to get used to it anyway."

[Mama]

While Owlstar had left to find prey, she glanced towards Lilykit before giving a small sigh and starting to groom all four of them. One thing for sure, Briarfrost was a bit of a neat freak and every hair had to be in place at all times, and since they were little it was pretty easy. Giving a small chirp to Sunnykit as she moved, she lapped the kitten a few times over the head before fixing a little clump of brown which stuck up slightly in the back, and then moved to Stormykit to fix a few of her hairs.

The sound of pawsteps made her glance up from her kit grooming session, and she sent a last twitter towards them before spotting the quail and giving a deep purr. "Thank you, I'm starving." Briarfrost said with a light smile, tugging it towards her before taking a large bite. Despite it still being a bit cold out, the prey was fresh and warm. As she took a few more bites, she quickly cleaned her face off before glancing back up towards the other she-cat. "Are you sure? They might get lost, or stuck on some moss, or worse, trapped in a hole!" The queen said.

[KingHarry]

With no warning, a flurry of white and ginger fur suddenly rolled into the nursery. Cricketjump had spotted Owlstar entering the den and his ever curious mind had wondered why. Was she having more kits? No, it was a bit early for that, right? And besides, she wasn't all round like Briarfrost was.

Oh! Briarfrost! And little, uh... Squeakkit? What had the small runt's name actually been? Cricketjump couldn't remember, but he suddenly found himself wanted to visit the pair again - hence why he'd rushed into the nursery.

"Hey, Briarfrost!" Cricketjump greeted, hopping closer to her. "Hi, Owlstar! What are you two doing- Ooo!"

Were they new kits? Brilliant! The young tom edged closer and, just as he had done with Asterkit before, prodded the grey kit. "These guys look more like Wolfclaw! These ones are actually his, right?"