and the encore lasts forever — kits

[DOEBLAZE]

Regardless of the state she'd reached camp in, the moment Bobbie is free to do so, she bounds (as best one can bound with such injuries) across the camp towards the nursery. She's moving as quickly as she's able, which isn't fast when her three-times-bruised body checks her every step and pulls her scratches taut, but she has to see them. Her kits, her poor kits, who she'd left behind to tag along on the patrol and momentarily thought she might be leaving behind forever, stars forbid. The queen deliberately moves away from that line of thought, focusing on the three dark-furred faces waiting for her there; the sight of them makes her forget the various complaints of her wounds as she half-lays, gathering all three kits to her in a hug of sorts if they'll allow it.

"Oh, my darlings," Bobbie purrs, releasing the loving grasp. She blinks hard to push away the tears that always seem to rise so easily to her eyes; these of happiness, her various aches both physical and mental forgotten in the relief of seeing them safe and sound in camp. Momentarily, she seems to have forgotten the state in which she'll appear to her kits—bloodied, beaten, bruised. The queen sighs as she glances down, mewing with unknowing irony, "Are yo-you all alright?"
​

// @DROWSYKIT @CROWKIT! @LUPINEKIT

 

[CROWSIGHT]

Agonizing. He knew his mother had to leave them with other's but he was terrified. He couldn't explain it, but he felt something amiss went down. The queen looking after them while their mother left had to stop him from running off. His mother would kill him if she had learned he started becoming more fussy, crying for a long time. Lupinekit and Drowskykit couldn't calm him down and they did try. The problem was that he didn't have the words to explain that his heart felt as though it was being ripped out of his chest suddenly. The crying stops when he sees his mother, but he is frozen in horror when he sees his mother so battered. He isn't given a chance to ask what happened to her before he's scooped up into a hug with his sister and brother.

The hug is wrong. This is the first time he's smelled blood and it makes him sick. He can't stop himself from crying and nuzzling further into his mother's chest. It becomes all too real that they wouldn't see her again. They don't have a father, so it's not like they would have anyone else to look after them. The other queens are nice, but they aren't his mom. Some of them can't handle or dislike his moody nature. For him, he can't live without his mother. A world without her is daunting. It's a mistake, he realizes when he nuzzles further into her and starts rubbing himself as much as he can against her to comfort himself. The smell. Oh, the smell is awful and he feels something strange on him. It's not wet, but it reminds him of bugs when they crawl on you. Some of his mother's blood ends up on him. When she puts them down, he puts up a little fight that he loses.

Now on the ground, he looks down at his paws. When asked, he tilts his head only a little so she can see his face. Unbeknownst to him, he had some bits of blood on him. Of course, it wasn't his. All that belong to him was the tears running down his face. Crowkit shakes his head. No, everything is not alright. He waddles over and holds onto his mother's leg. It was maybe painful with the way he gripped her, however he just wanted her close. He didn't want to think about her not returning to them. He even started licking her leg, as if to take the pain away. It was times like these he wished he could protect his mother like she did for them.​

 

[DROWSYNOSE]

I'VE LEARNED TO LOVE YOU, HONEY!​

---

it's not often she had nights she can't sleep. days either. it's only happened once before but that one was brought on by the loudness in her own thoughts. this one is simply brought on by anxiety. crowkit wouldn't stop freaking out and she couldn't sleep when he was so antsy. she knew there was something wrong when the queen that watches them tries to usher them back into the nursery and away from the sudden commotion within camp. it makes her mad but like she does, she mimics her brother's anxiety and finds herself unable to truly focus. she's trying to calm him down and make sure that lupine is just as calm, but she can't. she can't and it's confusing her. usually she can, so how come she was so anxious now? what was happening?

the sound of her mom makes her fur spike up and she is gladly engulfed into it until the scent hits her. she's hurt. she's hurt, shes hurt she's bleeding— oh stars their mom is bleeding and she's quick to pull away, eyes shrunk back in fear and worry.

"...bleeding... why... what... you're... i couldn't... i can't..."

she can't help her. there is absolutely nothing she can do right now and its making her head hurt. there has to be something! there just has to be!
​

 

[LUPINESONG]

( tags ) Every day the small world in which Lupinekit resided grew bigger, whether he liked it or not. Leaving the nursery was only the first step, he knew that soon they would be given their apprentice names and they would be in and out of camp every day, training and hunting and all the other things the Skyclan apprentices did. Lupinekit put on his bravest face when their mother left them in the care of the other queens for longer than a short nap's worth of time, tagging along on a patrol through Skyclan territory like he's seen all the warriors go on every day.

Crowkit was taking it the hardest, which Lupine had started to come to expect from his brother, he had a tough time dealing with these disruptions of their cozy daily life that Lupinekit had begun to realize was not going to be the reality of their lives forever. Lupinekit tucked his anxiety into a familiar pocket of his tummy, self-soothing himself with the memories of all the Skyclan warriors and apprentices walking into camp after their patrols, chatting with each other or bringing fresh-kill to add to the camp's pile. It wasn't hard to imagine their mother in the place of those nebulous "warrior" shapes, and Lupinekit had no reason to think that this patrol would be any different than the ones he'd seen dozens of times before. Even still, it was hard, especially as he tried to comfort someone whose anxieties tended to burst outwards rather than sit in their belly like Lupine's did. Crowkit's crying was incurable despite the other two staying by his side and Lupine's attempts at quelling his anxieties with words.

"Mommy'll be back soon, the warriors always come back before sunset! And maybe she'll bring food for everyone!" Nothing he said worked, and eventually he stopped saying anything, simply tucking himself in next to his brother and waiting for Bobbie to come back alongside the two other fuzzy black bodies. It was a long afternoon indeed, Drowsykit couldn't find herself a moment to snooze even once that day, which Lupine had never witnessed before. He jumped to his paws with Drowsykit the moment they heard the commotion at the entrance of camp, mewing in protest at the queens' herding them back into the nursery.

In a rush of lilac-colored fur, familiar yet reeking of something dirty and iron-laced, the three of them are scooped up by Bobbie, momentarily comforted. His heart drops when he realizes that something is off, there's something wrong with their mother. "Mommmyyyyyyy...?!" his voice raised an octave in sheer panic, "I'm scared! What's going on?! YOu ... you.." Lupinekit's tears welled up and fell freely from his face, all he could smell was the awful odor of wrong and he had no idea what to do. In his panicked mind, he tried to recall what he needed to do when there was an emergency, but nothing but the sight and smell of blood filled the forefront of his brain. He could only cry harder at the weight of helplessness atop small shoulders, "MO-O-OMM...!"

He told his siblings that there was nothing to be worried about, why then, was this happening now? Why did something have to happen to their mother, and why did Lupinekit feel like it was his fault for saying it wouldn't?

"SPEECH"

​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

In the sweet and freeing joy of seeing her kits, home and okay and safe, Bobbie had entirely forgotten about the state she was in. Her own blood is dried shaggy on her side, and some that she thinks might be from Blazestar's terrible throat wound is splattered on her chest. Bruises throb painfully across nearly her entire side, and her head aches dully and makes her dizzy—but, of course, upon seeing the three little faces fluffy and safe and sound waiting for her, she had forgotten about this entirely. Crowkit's rising cries remind her of that, the various dark stains on her fur unknowingly transferred to his; her son clings to her leg, licking at it for comfort with tears running down his little face.

She glances around and realizes her other two kits aren't in much better states—Drowsykit's eyes are wide in fear and she seems unable to collect a sentence together. Lupinekit is sobbing loudly alongside his brother, his little voice high-pitched in panic. Bobbie exhales sadly and lowers herself gingerly, laying down on her side that's not aching with three layers of bruising, sad green eyes on her kits; she'd been so happy to see them she'd forgotten how this must feel for them. The queen attempts to extract Crowkit from her leg and pull all three kits towards her to soothe them, licking Lupinekit on the head in an attempt at comforting. She sighs and mews apologetically, "It's alright, loves. I'm ... I'm hurt, but I'm g-going to be alright once I've been treated a-and all that. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to up-upset you all."

"There was a d-d-dog attack, on the patrol I was w-with. I got hurt while I was f-fighting the dog, because ... because dogs are mean. If you all ever see a dog, you should run away f-fast, okay? But I'll be fine, don't worry, lovebugs." She attempts to explain it—the weight of the events rests heavy on her own shoulders, and she has no idea how to put it in perspective for her children. Bobbie's head still aches, but she'll be happy as long as her kits are okay, and they are, physically at least—she might be wounded, but she'll recover. The queen clarifies, "I-It's alright. Everyone there was okay, even if they got h-hurt; Drizzlepaw got some warriors and Bl-Blazestar and they saved us. Blazestar ... he, he lost his life s-saving me. But he has more than w-we do, so he'll be alright..." She seems to be talking to herself a bit with this last.
​

 

[CROWSIGHT]

Crowkit understands that Drowsykit and Lupinekit are trying to calm him down, but he can't voice to them that something feels horribly wrong. It's not a pain that comes from him, which makes it all the more confusing. Maybe it was one of the disadvantages of being sensitive to change among other things. Lupinekit tried the hardest and he understands his brother cares for him, but it feels like Lupinekit isn't sure either. How could he say their mommy would be back before sunset? Did he know that? Seeing was believing and as far as his eyes could see, it was beginning to get dark and there was no sign of their mother. The warmth he feels from Lupinekit is a slight comfort. When the queen herds them back in away from the commotion, he puts up a fight. It doesn't work and he is forced to settle with his brother and sister, sniffling all the while.

It is relieving to know that his siblings are experiencing the same troubles seeing their mother so battered. He is used to being the one who would throw fits or cry, so for once he is not alone. However, he does put up a little fight when his mother tries to extract him from her leg, which ultimately ends in failure. He whines as he is yanked from her leg, but his whines are soothed when he realizes that his mother is only moving him to be much closer to her.

Dog? He doesn't know what a dog is and has never seen one, but with seeing how battered his mother is... He doesn't think he needs to know what a dog looks like to understand that they are mean and dangerous. His mother made it out alive and he should be content with that news, yet he finds himself rattled. She reassures him that she's fine and not to worry. How can she ask him that? Clearly she's not okay and wouldn't be for awhile. He wishes he could take some of her pain as his own, but that's impossible. What he can do is very little. If a dog did that to his mother, then what chance did he have? He wouldn't be able to protect her and if she had to drag him battered and bloody... He shivers at the thought, opting to bury himself against her.

The kit stiffens when Blazestar is mentioned. He doesn't know the concept of lives, so he thinks that Blazestar is dead. When he looks back the leader was very nice and maybe he was too harsh on the cat that protected his mother. Fat tears fall once again, he pulls his head away from his mother. "Buhlaze lost?" He's gotten lost before, but the lost his mother speaks of doesn't feel like the same lost. She says the older tom will be okay and he finds it hard to believe. If his mother looked like this, how did Blazestar look? If it was the leader's job to check up on queens and kits, then how come he wasn't here? Last time he was, so did lost mean he couldn't see Blazestar anymore.

"Where? Buhlaze where? Want see Buhlaze," he mews. How strange it would be for Bobbie, her son seemed to dislike Blazestar. In truth he couldn't hate the older cream colored tom. Not after this, not ever. Whatever lost his mother says, he hopes they can find Blaze so he can thank the leader.​