private teardrop lullabies // littlekit

Skyclaw could not claim to say he knows which kitten found them that afternoon - if it had only been one or a dozen, even. All he remembers is hearing a sniffle, watching the bush rattle behind them, and having the sinking feeling that little ears heard too much. He can't even dissuade the worry that it had been a child not of his own kin, for their nursery boomed with more than one family's worth of kittens. At least Flamewhisker's lot had been given too much responsibility to care for eavesdropping... he hoped.

He managed to have a conversation with Scarletkit, finding the she-cat hadn't been the one to tiptoe too closely. Next, he finds Littlekit, who sits delicately in beside a meal she did not finish yet. It's odd to the tom. How can two cats so headstrong and vocal raise a kitten meek and distanced? Maybe her siblings, Beetlekit and Dovekit, hogged the limelight to let their little sister remain shadowed.

"Hey," he chirps to her. "You look down, Littlekit. Is there... something I can do to help?" Skyclaw feigns interest in the kitten's emotions. He cares for his niblings undoubtedly - but he is not their father nor their mother. If it hadn't been such a delicate situation, the tom wouldn't have bothered finding her at all.​
 
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༻ ♥༺ It had been difficult to get out of her nest this morning, to do much of anything really. Skyclaw’s voice had been a plague in the young girls mind, churning over and over until it became distorted, soon it became her own voice echoing her kin’s words.
The prey at her paws was given to her, by one of her parents she thinks. Littlekit feels bad for letting it go cold, and contemplates taking a bite until she catches the dual-toned figure of Skyclaw in her peripheral vision. The chimera tenses for a moment, waiting on baited breath to see where he was heading. He draws closer, and Littlekit knows she’s been caught, just like the time in Gentlestorms den. As he settles, tears are already threatening to fester her water-line.
Is there something I can do to help?
Involuntarily, Littlekit groans, as though upset with the warrior’s kindness- because she was. Why did he have to be so nice and caring? Shame and guilt etched aging lines onto round features as she drags her gaze from the food and up to Skyclaw. “It was me.” She fesses up immediately, because of course Skyclaw knows that already, she was sure he had seen her. “I-I was under… the bush.” The last word is uttered in little less than a squeak. “I heard…” she cannot say what exactly it was, Littlekit doesn’t know.



  • LITTLEKIT she/her, kit of thunderclan, 4 moons.
    Amber-eyed, dense-furred chocolate smoked she-kit with black ribboning stretching across her face, foreleg, and tail.
    daughter of Roeflame && Burnstorm ࿏ sister to Beetlekit && Dovekit
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by Noor@toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 
Ah ha... He's found his nosey culprit. The tom almost has the urge to say that it's always the quiet ones - and yet he knew that if he were any bit younger, and most definitely if he were Littlekit's age, he'd be snooping about the camp too. The she-kit groans and he almost anticipates her to roll her eyes (in the moment, she looks too much like Roeflame, who's gotten on his nerves lately.) Instead, she admits to her fault. Her tone trails into something of a whisper and Skyclaw knows he has to play his cards carefully.

"I'm sorry, Littlekit, that you had to hear that..." he murmurs. His tail drapes near her, offering her the space for comfort should she need it. "It wasn't easy for me to say, either. You know I love Howlingstar... She's as much my grandmother as she is your great grandmother." The mottled tom takes a deliberate pause before laying down beside her, holding his head level with hers, "In fact, did you know that Howlingstar mentored me? My first mentor died when I was... a little older than you, I think. So she took me in, and she was great then." Another deliberate pause, gauging the tears that mist in the kitten's eyes.

"But that was moons ago, Littlekit. If... if Howlingstar were any other cat, she'd be an elder by now. Do you understand that?"
 

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༻ ♥༺ The more her uncle speaks, the more fear and shame begins to give away to genuine interest. He shared her sentiments, it wasn’t easy for him to say those things. Littlekit’s ears flatten as the warrior reveals that Howlingstar actually mentored him. The gears in the kittens mind rigidly churn as she tries to tie together everything in a way that makes sense. Skyclaw shared the same familial love with Howlingstar as she did, and she taught him everything he knew, surely it would be impossible for him to… say any of those things out of malice. Mama had spoken with her once about a form of care called tough love, maybe this was something like that. The tears along the girls waterline don’t wane, but she nods to communicate her understanding. Elders deserved rest because they were too old and frail to hunt and fight, perhaps it was true that Howlingstar deserved to live peacefully now, too. “S-so you don’t ha-hate her?” Littlekit clarifies with a sniffle, “you were on..only saying those things b-because… y-ou care abo..her..” slowly, she is eventually able to verbalize the picture she had put together, and while the kitten does feel better, she cannot help the frown she turns up to Skyclaw. “I understand. I-it still ma..kes me sad, t-though.” Sometimes loving someone wasn’t easy, Littlekit knew that, perhaps Skyclaw was actually being the strong one, making these difficult choices. Maybe… maybe..



  • LITTLEKIT she/her, kit of thunderclan, 4 moons.
    Amber-eyed, dense-furred chocolate smoked she-kit with black ribboning stretching across her face, foreleg, and tail.
    daughter of Roeflame && Burnstorm ࿏ sister to Beetlekit && Dovekit
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by Noor@toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.