sensitive topics never felt much like a princess // kitting

[Ternfrost.]

CW: this thread will contain mentions of childbirth, delirium, large and graphic amounts of blood, and character death. please read with caution.

WONDERED WHAT IT'S LIKE TO
TOUCH AND FEEL SOMETHING​

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maggotfur ♛ 22 moons ♛ female ♛ she/her ♛ shadowclan queen ​

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The pain is unbearable.

In truth, it is like nothing Maggotfur has ever felt before - paling in comparison to any injury she's ever obtained in battle, far worse then the strange feeling of her little ones kicking tiny paws against her stomach. She thinks, world blurry, that perhaps this is what is feels like to die - surely, nothing else could hurt this much.

It starts long before sunset, with teeth grit against the shockwave that sends jolts down her spine - contractions. She is in labor, at long last. And yet, even as silver flanks rise and fall with panicked breaths, there is little change except in the speed. Again, and again, and again, and again - until she has utterly lost track of jsut how many of these stardamned things she's suffered through.

Sunhigh turns into sunset, and sunset into dusk, until at last stars glow overhead. And yet it doesn't cease - quiet gasps and grunts and groans of pain echoing louder and louder through the once quiet camp. She doesn't mean to cry, but the tears seem to have a mind of their own - head lolling as damp soaked cheek slams against the dirt. There's a familiar scent of metal that she cannot quite place - blood maybe?' But there is no prey, and there's not been a battle, has there? 'There's anxious voices raising around her, echoing far too loudly into tufted ears - something about starlingheart, but the molly really pays no mind to any of it.

She doesn't have the energy anymore - she can barely remember that she is meant to be doing something at all.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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M O N S T E R , - H O W - S H O U L D - I - F E E L - ?

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// @Starlingheart

 

[Starlingheart]

When the labor first started, ShadowClan's medicine cat was at the queen's side in an instant, her apprentice only a short distance away. "Just watch this time" she had instructed her before they had entered the nursery, before Starlingheart knew what horrible night would stretch before them. The sun makes it's descent into the sky long before it is over, the stars and the moon shining overhead the only light Starlingheart has to see by as she desperately tries to coax Maggotfur through this difficult process, as she barks orders through a rasped throat for Marblepaw to fetch her moss soaked in water, and cobwebs, so many cobwebs. An infinite stream of these two things in a desperate attempt to keep Maggotfur on this plane of existence, to prevent her from walking down the same path as her mother.

"Ragwort. Ragwort for-for strength" she murmurs softly, both to her apprentice and to the queen who she is not certain even hears her. She chews the herb to a pulp and lowers herself next to that ivory coated head "Maggotfur- Maggotfur can you hear me?" When she speaks, her voice is impossibly gentle, the tone she would take when soothing one of her kits, though a certain roughness does creep into the edges, the only sign of the tiredness that has started to settle into her bones as she worked tirelessly these long hours "You're doing so good. Just-just a little longer and your kits will be here but- and I know you know this but- you have to be strong okay? For them... for you" with one white-socked paw she pushes the pulp close to the mollies jaws "I need you to eat this, then-then drink some water okay? We'll get through this, I-I swear we will" a dangerous thing, for a medicine cat to make that sort of promise, but she is determined. I will not fail her not in the way she had failed her mother, all those moons ago...

// Apprentice tag @MARBLEPAW

( ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. ) fly me up on a silver wing

• 
  
  
• 
  STARLINGHEART SHADOWCLAN MEDICINE CAT; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO PITCHSTAR, CHITTERTONGUE, NIGHTSWARM, SKUNKTAIL, AND LILACFUR. MOTHER TO NETTLEPAW, FLINTWISH AND GHOSTMASK.
  

  A skinny she cat with short black and white fur littered with scars and one singular green eye.

  ✦ Easy in battle + has little to no formal battle training
  

​

 

[Ternfrost.]

WONDERED WHAT IT'S LIKE TO
TOUCH AND FEEL SOMETHING​

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

maggotfur ♛ 22 moons ♛ female ♛ she/her ♛ shadowclan queen ​

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'... for strength'

There is more she thinks, but she doesn't quite catch it - blue eyes nearly dulled as she does a she's told. It's strange, being this obedient - but Starlingheart knows better then Maggotfur ever could. This... this is a cat who has cared for shdowclan since before she was bron, has kitted herself, and who Magpiepaw trusts - and so Maggotfur places her trust in the black and white molly just the same.

The taste of herbs is bitter upon her tongue, but she swallows without complaint - she's eaten far worse, this is nothing. The water is refreshing, nearly enough to leave her relaxing once more if it weren't for yet another wave of pain. Another groan slips past her lips - teeth clacking loudly as she grits against the next contraction - only, this one feels different. Eyes dilate, shallow breaths coming ever fast - and she can't quite hold back the scream that bubbles up in her throat. 'Be strong, for them' - yes, that's right. She has to be strong.

With the first child, comes a flood of tears - she's done it. And stars, she still has more to go. 'Only one more' she consoles herself, ignoring the way world blurs as she leans - trying desperately to run tongue against damp fur. It's an instinctive thing - she doesn't really understand what she's doing, or why, but her instincts have never led her astray before. She waits only long enough to notice the bundle of fur is alive - breathing - before flopping back over.

She's only half-aware as time passes, slipping in and out of consciousness once more until once again it's time - teeth sinking into her forepaw to muffle her voice. The taste of blood upon her tongue is grounding - blue eyes flickering once more as another child joins the land of the living, pale as though made of moonlight itself.

And yet, the pain doesn't stop - half-hearted glare is leveled upon the medicine cat, ad in truth were shee not so tired she'd certainly have words with the medicine cat. 'So much for two kits,' - and sure, it'd been only a guess, but Maggotfur doesn't know how she is to make it through this horrible night if she has to do this again - stars only know how many times.

But still, she preserves - tears painting white face a mess, blood staining the pitiful scraps of feathers and moss she's turned into a nest, but alive until the very end. A third child decides to join it's siblings, and by now the queen feels almost spiteful - the miracle of childbirth her ass.

Breathing evens out as pain at last begins to fade away, and in the darkness she realizes that this is it. She is a mother now - these kits, so pitiful and small curled into her side, these are hers. Maggotfur has never had many things that are hers, but as she blinks tiredly, she knows that she will keep them safe with her every breath. " I- " voice quickly cuts of into a hacking cough, mouth dry against her tongue as she winces.

" Names -- they need names, " eyes glance at those surrounding her - a family of sorts, for all that they are a strange group.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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M O N S T E R , - H O W - S H O U L D - I - F E E L - ?

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// @greywhisker. @Wormwatcher @Ivorykit @CORNFLOWERKIT @RAINBOWKIT

 

[RAINBOWKIT]

✦ — First, he had been blanketed by warmth before everyone began to grow restless and he finds himself joining in said restlessness as his little paws kicked in every direction. He wanted out. The nameless tomkit recieves his wish after what feels like an eternity and he's greeted by the cold air that nips eagerly at his body, his small jaws parting like a fish out of water as oxygen fills his lungs and he let's out a shrill mewl of protest wishing to return to the warmth that he had once known. The little kitten didn't like the unfamiliar as he continues to be vocal, loud and known, to those around him as his paws push and shove his littermates away.

The rasp of his mother's tongue soothes the little beast briefly before his soft pink nose twitches at the strong milk scent that beckons him forth. It takes all of his strength to push forward despite the bodies of his littermates and he nestles greedily into Maggotfur's belly where he begins to feed with his six toed paws keeping the other beasts (his siblings) at bay and away from his food. An occasional muffled spit or hiss slipping from his mouth if either of his littermates got too close to him.

AM I A TOY TO YOU, MY LOVE? ✦ JUST A THING TO PLAY AND THEN THROW AWAY

• ooc —

• 

• 
  ✦ a unruly furred black and white tomkit with brown eyes & low white
  ✦ rainbowkit, despite his vibrant name, is anything but he tends to come off as dull or boring to those around him since he's moreso fixed on absorbing any knowledge offered to him. he won't entertain kit games and if he continues to be pressured into playing them, he isn't afraid to swat away his denmates with his six-toed paws and sharp words; all his opinions are IC only.
  ✦ 1 moon old; ages the 8th every month
  ✦ sexuality unknown; too young to consider love
  ✦ child of snakehiss and maggotfur
  ✦ brother to ivorykit and cornflowerkit
  ✦ semi-hard to befriend due to how stiff/standoffish he is ; stubborn/will pick fights if he sees necessary
  ✦ "speech", thoughts, attacking
  ✦ peaceful powerplay allowed

​

 

[CORNFLOWERKIT]

LEARNED MY LESSON, WAY TOO LONG AGO​

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darkness. silence. pretty much nothing comes to mind, but two things. cold. and hunger. the need to feed overwhelms her, and she finds herself grumbling loudly, mewling with frustration as she tries her hardest to crawls to wherever her nose takes her. this direction. that direction. all too much and not enough all at once. she knows not of how angry her little brother is, and even if she could hear and see his hisses, she wouldn't care. she pushes herself closer, growling as aims to push under the tom kit's hind legs, in an attempt to push him out of the way, so she could get to her meal. survival of the fittest. she would be the fittest, even if it killed her. no tom cat would ever be better than her, not even her brother.
​

 

[greywhisker.]

My beautiful granddaughter- you are stronger than you know. He watched in anticipation, his paw resting just by her head for support- to let her know he was here. He'd always be there, his greyed muzzle unflinching at her pained cries. He's seen many childbirths. He's seen his own mate pass away through the birth, and Maggotfurs mother pass- and his heart was still marred despite the years it's been since then. But Margaret would forever be remembered. He would feel her presence even now- or perhaps his own imagination, but it kept ol' greywhisker thriving each day, even on the mornings where achey bones and joints would make him feel useless to his clan, and he'd want to sleep all day.

But he would not. Because of moments like this, where he would rejoice at more family, and be the support it needed despite it seeming like everything was falling apart and some were far from reach.

Three kits, and he could tell she was struggling, wincing as she ground teeth into her own paw to help cope. The scruffy elder would let a hopefully calming purr escape him, pressing his muzzle into her head. "You did wonderful, dear granddaughter, I'm so so proud of you," he rasped, before licking a rough tongue over her forehead. "They're.. quite feisty, aren't they? Already, they remind me of you." A teasing tone, to try to lighten the mood.

She prods on about names, and greywhisker has always been a sentimental being, and his mind wandered to her mother. Viridian would have been so proud of you. "Opal... Rainbow... Iridescent.." he says, lost in thought, his gaze seeming sad as he thought about his daughter. "if you don't mind, naming one after your mother."

His gaze turned gentle again, his raspy purr content as he watched the kittens and his granddaughter. "And if I was to name one after you- Ivory, Cloud, Gentle, I've never been the most decisive or creative." He gave a half hearted laugh, shaking his shaggy head.

​

 

[Ivorykit]

---

IVORYKIT ✧ MAGGOTFUR X SNAKEHISS​

✧ kit of shadowclan // no former ranks.
✧ cis female // she/her // bisexual & biromantic & monogamous.
✧ 01 moons // ages on the 8th of each month.
✧ partially blind in her right eye.
✧ polydactyl // part maine coon.
✧ played by @helly // tags ✧ toyhou.se ✧ adopt thread
✧ speech is in "#aec5d0"

---

Ivorykit's snow white head would be seen among her siblings, marginally larger than both of them and with extra toes on each paw. Her head was heavy, felt as if it were filled with rocks weighing it down to the soft patch of fur that she knew only as her source of life, only as her source of food. She knew only the feeling of her siblings wiggling bodies, of fighting for the milk she preferred rather than the one that was just handed to her. Ivorykit knew only of the heat of those around her, the vibrations of what she would come to know as speech and the language that those she held dear would use to tell her how proud of her they were, how they wished her good health and how she must follow in her mother's love, her mother's steps.

Her oversized ears, even then, were pressed flat against her head. She was too small for the chaos of the world to seep in just yet. She was too precious, too fragile, to take in the sights of Shadowclan, of her mother, of her brother and sister, of her clanmates that would treat her as family even though she was not fully of them. She would find peace in the silence, create only small grievances when pulled from one source of milk to the next. She would just be.​

 

[MARBLEPAW]

Maggotfur is in labor. "Just watch this time," Starlingheart had told her in hushed tones before they'd pushed their way into the small confines of the nursery. The silver queen is sprawled on her side, and her rounded flanks are heaving. There is the scent of blood on the air, and like Maggotfur, she thinks of the lack of fresh prey, of the lack of a recent battle. She thinks Maggotfur is perhaps fighting a battle of her own, though, one Marblepaw will never experience. Her green eyes are round with trepidation as her mentor draws closer to the laboring queen.

"Ragwort for strength." Starlingheart lowers her jaws and pushes a chewed-up poultice toward Maggotfur's face. The new mother's eyes are dull with pain and exhaustion, but she does as asked, lapping the ragwort up with small bites.

It seems like hours before the straining produces anything — but, oh, it does, a squirming bundle of fur; its mother nips the sac, cleans the fur of its grime, and nudges it towards her belly. Marblepaw's breath hitches in her throat at the tenderness the bitter-tongued queen shows her firstborn, at the smallness of the newborn kit. I was that small once... me and Sycamorepaw, we were that little. Our mother cleaned us just like that, once.

Something strange blooms in her stomach, but she does nothing, nothing but observe. Maggotfur's ordeal is far from over. It seems like seasons pass before a second and then a third kit are collected, pushed into place beside their littermate, and then it is over. Marblepaw is sure to back away as Maggotfur's kin come into the den to help her name the kits.

She settles beside Starlingheart. Her body is tired, but her mind buzzes. "That was incredible," she whispers to her mentor.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Marblekit . Marblepaw, she/they w/ feminine and non-gendered terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 8 moons old, ages realistically on the 1st.
  — mentored by Starlingheart ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a
  — shadowclan medicine cat apprentice, formerly a rogue. siltcloud x lilacfur, gen 3.
  — currently mated to n/a.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh fawn tabby with dull green eyes. courageous, curious, introspective, observant, judgmental, snarky.
  
  

​

 

[Ternfrost.]

WONDERED WHAT IT'S LIKE TO
TOUCH AND FEEL SOMETHING​

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

maggotfur ♛ 22 moons ♛ female ♛ she/her ♛ shadowclan queen ​

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It's strange, this feeling - contentment. Eyes blink dully once more, nearly glazed over with weariness. But time waits for no on, and this is something she must do. Greywhisker suggests names, and tail tip twitches. There is uncertainty in her mind, but his suggestions at least hold merit - colors are a wonderful thing, untouched and untainted by life. She thinks of bright blues of the sky, the deep earthen shades of the marshes, of the bright greens of frogs and the blue and oranges of the lizards.

' Opal... Rainbow... Iridescent...... if you don't mind, naming one after your mother.'

...should she? Viridianskies is not a cat Maggotfur thinks of often - if only because she is a cat she never really knew. She cannot miss something she has never had, though admittedly she is grateful to her. Without her mother, Maggotfur would not be born, and no matter how pitiful her beginnings Maggotfur has always been a survivor - she is glad to be alive.

It's the next name that truly catches her attention - Ivorykit, for her. Eyes drift once more the the hissing, squealing brood that lingers at her side, not bothering to hde the snort that slips past her lips. Yes, these kits are hers indeed - how could they be anything else, with tempers like that. Eyes are inevitably drawn to the pale, white-dipped head of the first child to be born - a star spot like her own, blessed. " Ivorykit then, " she agrees.

Perhaps, were she a bit more lucid, she'd have taken a bit more discomfort in using anothers suggestion - Greywhisker, for all their shared bloodline, is still a cat she does not yet trust. Their bond is a fragile one, her own bitterness keeping the elder at a distance. And yet-

" ... and Rainbowkit, " she adds, as the suggestion refuses to leave minds eye. Bright and colorful and eye-catching - when there is a rainbow, every cat turns to stare at it. Her only son will be just that - even now, with the white streak of his fur stained red, she cannot look away.

As eyes bore into the last, a silvery-striped figure pale as her own, she spares another thought to her mother - perhaps Viridiankit? But no.... Untainted she reminds herself, and as eyes slip closed, she thinks instead of her own reflection. A pitiful mirror of the mother who'd died to bring her into this world, all except for one thing - " Cornflowerkit, for... the last, " for Maggotfurs own eyes, far more vibrant and blue than any other she's met. There is no guarantee her child will carry such a shade, but it is just another stake claimed - that this child is hers.

Tail wraps possessively around her children, but no longer can the queen keep herself awake. With adrenaline cooled at last, she slips into oblivion - unaware of the voices carrying on around her.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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M O N S T E R , - H O W - S H O U L D - I - F E E L - ?

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// && this is now open! Maggie is down for the count

 

[Wormwatcher]

Wormwatcher sat outside of the den, ears pressed forward as the birth of Maggotfur's kits drew on and on, the tinge of blood wafting from the den. The scent brought a gleam to his eyes, forced the tom to swallow the air hungrily- but the tightness still burned in his chest- as he repressed images of the worse occurring: Maggotfur, dead. It does not matter she is not his mate, not even his love, the she-cat was dear to the tom. Only a "sire," nothing more, Wormwatcher remained outside and forced himself to listen to the anguish and hackles bristled if any bystanders neared too close to the den.

☾

As soon as Wormwatcher hears Maggotfur's strained voice and Greywhisker's, he dares to press into the dim den. He blinks rapidly- partly as his vision adjusts but also to remove the moisturize the once again springs in the corner of pale eyes; Maggotfur gave birth to three mewling heaps. Her children. Not his, never his. It doesn't matter in this moment, as his eyes dance along each kit and across Maggotfur's sleeping form and pride dizzies him.

He lingers for some time, ensuring each kit and Maggotfur are breathing, checking to see that maybe Starclan intervened in some way and a kit somehow (divinely) resembles himself. It does not matter anyways, they are beautiful; he would die for them and Maggotfur in an instant.

Wormwatcher emerges from the den with a new purpose, heart swelling with an unimaginable amount of weight. He knows he will not be anything but some sort of…. familiar presence for those kits and the sad truth is they'll never be his. It won't stop him from always orbiting around Rainbowkit, Ivorykit, Cornflowerkit, to be there when he is wanted.

"Two females and one male," Wormwatcher announces, a half smile tipping his maw upwards. "Strong, just like their mother."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ shapes and colors are all i see

• ooc-
  
  
  
• 
  
  

  WORMWATCHER —— black/blue chimera with low white
  
  
  —— shadowclan warrior
  
  
  —— he/him ⋆ homosexual (closeted)
  
  
  —— 30 moons ⋆ ages every 10th

​